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Batman #603
Bridget Haines |
| Title: |
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The Turning Point |
| Cover Date: |
July 2002 |
| Story: |
Ed Brubaker |
| Pencils: |
Sean Phillips |
| Inks: |
Sean Phillips |
| Colors and Separations: |
Gregory Wright / Wildstorm FX |
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Synopsis: (WARNING! SPOILERS!)
Part 11 of "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive!"
opens with Batman squaring off
against a
group of ninja before a backdrop
of a tv
store showing multiple images
of an interview
regarding the state of Gotham.
Catwoman appears
to take the final one down. She
was sent
by Leslie Thompkins to find him
and tell
him she needed to talk to him.
Selina offers
her help, he tells her to go
home.
Bruce arrives at Leslie's clinic.
She tells
him Gary Sloan is in the hospital
and asking
to see him, and has less than
a week to live.
Batman looks shocked at the name.
In a flashback
we see a younger Sloan looking
over the crimescene
of the murder of Thomas and Martha
Wayne.
He approacjes from Bruce's view
to talk to
the boy.
Present day Sloan wakes up in
his chair in
the hospital to find Batman there.
He tells
him about his own perceptions
of Batman and
how he affected a case in which
he'd about
given up being able to close
it. An assassinated
Mayoral candidate. It was covered
up and
Sloan couldn't get anywhere with
it. Then
the shooter walked in and confessed.
Batman
had dangled him in front of an
oncoming train
until he agreed to turn himself
in. The man
retired shortly after with only
one case
left opened. He understood then
the need
for Batman. After this bit of
tribute, Sloan
asks a favor of the Bat. Batman
tells him
to name it. He asks that the
vigilante take
over his last case, the unsolved
one.
He had made a promise to little
Bruce Wayne,
that he would never give up trying
to find
who killed his parents. He talks
about how
he had seen the kid's eyes, and
that something
in them made him promise little
Bruce justice.
He hands over all his paperwork
and evidence
on the case, indicating the rest
is probably
still in storage at GCPD Central.
He also
states he doesn't believe Bruce
Wayne murdered
Vesper Fairchild. And he asks
him if maybe
he can help Bruce get back his
life, because
he deserves at least that much
after all
he's been through. He says "...I
just
feel like...like I let him down
so much..."
As he has drifted off Batman
quietly says
"Not at all. If anything
you were an
inspiration." When Sloan
waked, the
Bat is gone.
Batman drives back to the cave and begins
pulling up files on his parent's murder,
then on Vesper's. He then calls Oracle, identifying
himself as BRUCE, and asks for her help in
running some information. Oracle responds
in shock.
Analysis:
Cover:  (4 of 5 cowls)
Not sure who the cover credit belongs too,
as the letters page was absent from this
month's issue. Nevetheless it is a poignant
cover. The grieving bat, the griving little
Bruce, the police officer trying to comfort.
This would have been a 5 cowl cover except
for one thing. I would have liked to have
seen Sloan on the cover somewhere, instead
of just a random police officer. The uniformed
officer is a more striking image, especially
since 9-11, but Sloan is very important in
the story, and deserved a cover. Other than
that it is striking and rings true to the
story inside.
Story: (5 of 5 cowls)
This ranks as my second favorite issue of
this giant crossover so far. My favorite
is still the Rucka/McDaniel teamup on Tec
766 where the 911 tape of Vesper's murder
is played back to Bruce and Sasha in jail.
This issue was so desperately important to
the Fugitive arc, and it was well done. We
are introduced to the detective assigned
to the murder case of Thomas and Martha Wayne,
and we are shown what kind of a man he was.
Proud, tirelessly hard working, but willing
to admit when he needs help. The first two
apply as well to Bruce, the third is what
he NEEDS to do. Then Sloan drops the bomb,
he wants Batman to solve the Wayne murder,
AND help Bruce Wayne clear his name. How
can he refuse after the man spoke about the
Bat with such heartfelt thanks? Having Bruce
finally go to Oracle and reopen the human
line of communication with his people is
indeed a turning point in this story, and
I eagerly await the next installments. Where
my enthusiasm for Fugitive was fading, Brubaker
has rekindled it brightly!
Artwork: (4 of 5 cowls)
Phillips isn't bad. He needs some more work
on his backgrounds and a few other things,
but overall his work reflected this very
important story pretty darn well. His more
realistic style lent the conversation with
Sloan the depth and realism it required to
make it work. Here Mc Daniel's more comic
style would have perhaps faltered. We needed
to see the wrinkles and the age in Sloan's
face, and the conflict in Batman's. Well
done.
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