Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5

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The table includes 8 guide observations and 0 catalog references. These are reference values, not guaranteed sale proceeds.

Graded population

CGC records 4 graded copies for Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5 (2010). Population is the number recorded by this grading source, not the total print run or all surviving copies.

Masquerade

In the present, the Justice League) prepare for the incoming threat of Bruce Wayne), who is traveling forward in time due to a build-up of Omega energy in his body, with potentially disastrous- albeit unknown- consequences if he reaches the present on his own and releases that energy all at once.

Meanwhile, a generation in the past, a man with amnesia wakes up in a hospital, after a woman named Marsha Lamarr took him there. She wants to employ him as a detective to investigate the death of her friend, Martha Wayne), providing him with clothing appropriate to the current fashion, to wear as he carries out his investigations. Acknowledging that Marsha is using him like a chump, he accepts. Meeting with Martha's parents, the chump learns of Thomas Wayne's rumored infidelity and his connection to various orgies, but remains suspicious that he is not being told the whole truth. The chump is provided with a Bat-costume to wear during the final stages of his investigation - the same costume worn by Thomas Wayne a few years ago - and he tracks Marsha to a graveyard, near Wayne Manor. However, the chump is tricked and he falls straight into a trap set by the Black Glove. The group anoint the chump, to use him in the ritual that they say will grant them eternal youth, if they sacrifice the 'Bat-Man' to an ancient demon). However, they also prepare false evidence and footage of the events, to sully the already deceased Waynes with rumors of Satanism. Despite his confusion and weakness, the chump fights off the Black Glove and grabs Carter Nichol's Time Box before he vanishes, at the climax of the ritual, leaving the Black Glove without a sacrifice and its leader vowing to ruin their reputations.

In the present, as Red Robin) and the JLA attempt to analyze the costume Batman was wearing when he was sent into the past for clues that they can use to determine when he shall return to the present, the Watchtower alarms goes off as an unknown intruder has breached their security, revealing an altered Batman emerging in the tower.

| Appearing1 = **Featured Characters:** * "The Chump"/Omega Batman) **Supporting Characters** * Roderick) * Betsy Kane) ** Groves * Dr. Carter Nichols) **Antagonists:** * Black Glove ** Simon Hurt) ** Marsha Lamarr ** John Mayhew) * Hyper-Adapter) **Other Characters:** * Archivist * Justice League of America) ** Black Canary) ** Cyborg) ** Doctor Light) ** The Flash) ** Green Arrow) ** Congorilla) ** Donna Troy) ** Starman) ** Starfire) ** Wonder Woman) * Red Robin) **Locations:** * Gotham City ** Wayne Manor * Justice League Satellite **Items:** * Thomas Wayne's Batman Costume **Vehicles:** * Time Sphere

| Notes = * Marsha Lamarr's speech about the Wayne graveyard references two old stories: ** "Jeremy Coe, the frontiersman" is a reference to Detective Comics Vol 1 205, in which Batman and Robin travel back in time and met a man Coe, who fought evil from the Batcave in that era while wearing a disguise. ** "The Hellerite sect" is a reference to The Brave and the Bold Vol 1 89, in which Batman and the Phantom Stranger met the ghosts of a cult who had owned the land upon which Gotham City was built.

| Trivia = * There's a reference to the famous line *"This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship"* from the movie [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(film) Casablanca]. * There's also a reference to the poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.

| Recommended = | Links =

Creative credits

Writers: Grant Morrison

Interior art: Ryan Sook, Pere Perez

Color: Jose Villarrubia

Source records & attribution

Panel Profits keeps each source identity attached to its edition record.

COMICBASE: comicbase:126967

GCD: 781990

PANEL PROFITS: 3393286