Bruce Wayne’s psyche is still damaged as he struggles with returning to the mantle of being Batman. Wayne is dealing with severe hallucinations of being mayor with the Court of Owls being his advisors to forcing Alfred to allow him into the Batcave in order to don the cape and cowl, who appeared to have turned the cave into his own playground.
His mental illness has Wayne traveling through time and worlds in various incarnations of being the Dark Knight only to have his memories restored through shock therapy.
James Tynion IV has become one of my favorite Batman writers in recent memory, his work on Batman Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and now co-writing with Scott Snyder this incarnation of the Dark Knight has returned Wayne to the detective we all loved leaving behind the notion that he was more Inspector Gadget than World’s Greatest Detective.
Yanick Paquette’s art has been given a lighter tone through coloring of Nathan Fairbairn that helps the audience realize the eventual return of the real Dark Knight and hopefully, retiring Bat-Tick and the giant metal costume.
Batman issue 49 is out today at comic shops and online.
