ALLYSON'S ATTIC


/\ /\ /\ /\ Splash Page from Green Lantern #55 Pencils Doug Mahnke /\ /\ /\

Monday, May 31, 2010

RETURN of BRUCE WAYNE (2010) mini: Information accumulation

Diving into Grant Morrison's mind.

{ SPOILERS for THESE BOOKS} 

This is not a review of the book, and not a retelling of the story. It's just bits and pieces of interesting information that I'm accumulating from various sites into one spot. 




I've tried to put the relevant information under the character's name or under the Subject in Blue.


[I originally started this post as the story was being unfolded before me and the issues became published. I've deleted a few things since then and it has a LOT of SPOILERS if you haven't read it yet, but like Morrison's story it kinda can't be put together until you do read it all. I thought about deleting this but there are a lot of elements that I might reference in the future, so I decided to leave it.]



OKAY.... ARE YOU STRAPPED IN.....Make those knots tight, because  HERE WE GO....

Bruce Wayne: The original Batman,
-Why is he time-jumping from one era to another?
Could he be called from one time period to another?

We see in Final Crisis that Bruce gets shot by Darkseid's Omega Effect and it is confirmed in issue 3, but what is it really doing? We still don't know.

Issue 5: Red Robin says that Bruce accumulates Omega Energy as he travels through time and doing so will blow a Hole in Time.






-His clothes that he is wearing travels with him through time travel with him.


-A Red Sun eclipse causes Bruce to move through time, but in the end he uses human ingenuity to jump to the end of time.








Annie:Issue 2:

-She has a set of  three necklaces each with what looks like a symbols of Wonder Woman, Superman.
-She referred to the Bat-People, the Miagani.
-She curses the Nathaniel Wayne and all his kin, "Until the end of time." Did she curse Bruce and is why he is going through this journey? Was she really a witch?



BELLS(music):
 Issue 4: While in a trance Catherine says,"Gran'Pa Jerome says... A Dark God is opening his box and there's bells...but the bells of the end summon another...from the shadows...One who won't stop until the wicked are brought to account. Grand'Pa Jerome Says he's here now." Later...She also whistles to open the casket(see below)
FINAL CRISIS #7: Superman says to Darkseid before he is destroyed, "The worlds of the multiverse vibrate together Darkseid, and make this sound, like an orchestra. Everything's just vibrations, really.  And counter vibrations that cancel them out."  
BATMAN  702 : The Ancestor Box makes the sound DOMMMDOMMMDOMMM. This may be the cause of the sound that they are referring too.
Issue 5:Wonder Woman says, "What's that sound? Like Bells... 
Then the Bruce as the Archivist pups out of the time bubble he stole.


(The) BLACK PIRATE
Issue 3: Bruce is accused by Blackbeard of being The Black Pirate.

History in Starman #31:writer James Robinson: 

Jon Valor: aka Black Pirate(first): was a Privateer for England and he wore a black mask, so the Spanish called him The Black Pirate.  When the war with Spain ended, he married, and had a son, named Justin. At some point he thought his son died and he gave up being a privateer for many years.  Then the King called him back to service, because there were "Brigands" raiding English ships.  Jon caught, and fought, the brigands chief, only to find out that the chief was his long dead son Justin who was still alive. Justin was a Puritan taking booty to fund more of those in his faith coming to the Americas. They part friends.

Then a couple of years later Jon receives a letter that Justin was in danger. He gathers a crew to help and he comes to a small settlement, the future Opal city.  He was met by a man named Cob Dunning, who set up a meeting in a tavern later.   When Jon Valor arrived at the tavern, he finds his son stabbed in the back with his own dagger, and he was arrested. The trial was swift and Jon Valor was hung for his sons murder.  Fearful of their own crimes, the crew sailed away on the night of the arrest.  Before he is hung he makes a curse:
"I shall walk the berg until the truth, and my innocence, are both, to light. You shall see me in the flicker of candlelight. You shall hear my boots, and the creak of their footfall. And as you die, so you all will walk with me. Through the streets and dales of the land around. None to know peace until I share it with you. Nor my bastard crew who shall sail as laughing fools this day. They'll not laugh the merry hog when death and no heareafter is their tomorrow. That is my curse. Pray to God. Drop to your knees and pray that my words are merely that and nothing more. Pray. But I shall see you all again. Some sooner than you like. "
When the Black Pirate is hung in Starman issue 31, there are people dressed in puritan garb watching him being hanged.
By the end of the Starman series the truth is found out and his ghost is set free.
At some point in Action comics  the Black Pirate got rid of the Black costume, and started wearing a more colorful costume with a purple cape.

Issue 3
Black Pirate Jack Valor:  
aka Jack Loggins: aka BlackPirate(second)
- Jon Valor's grandson and captain of the Black Rose which was on fire in Bristol bay.  
-Later in life, he wrote down the names and places as he promised Bruce and took them to Gotham Town
-There he met a wealthy brother and sister who had a casket with a old book and another mysterious object in it.
CASKET:
Issue 3: A flat wooden box with a bat on the top. Contains Jack Valor's papers, VanDerm's Journal, and something else. Last seen with a Wealthy Brother and sister in Gotham Town.

Issue 4: The casket opens with a whistle from Catherine. Bruce takes the Journal and maybe Jack Valor's papers. Catherine requests Alan to, "Keep it safe and mark it with a bat. He must return."
Batman 702: Could the extra something that everyone is afraid of be the Ancestor Box.

Issue 5: Could everyone be afraid of the TimeBox that Carter made, could it be what is in the casket?


DARKSEID

Darkseid started Bruce's travels. His death is pictured to the right(Final Crisis 6 and 7).
Monitor Uotan said to the Circle of Monitors, ".Well.. Now we know why there's a Black Hoe at the base of creation.  It's where Darkseid fell through existence to his Doom. Leaving Hell Deserted."
Batman 701-702: Retells what happened in the confrontation between Darkseid and Batman/Bruce.
It also added the Hyper Adapter which looks like the Hyperfauna from Issue 2.  The Hyper Adapter was to chase and destroy Bruce.
 
Music/sound/vibrations destroyed Darkseid.


Anne, from issue 2, said that her gods are not their gods and, "My devils are the old lords of the land and the sky. Gods of the wheel of time and the never-ending world. and all the spaces beyond."  Why does she refer to time as a wheel? Could it be the sphere that Rip Hunter uses when he time travels?


DECOY:
Didn't have a part in this story after all...but I'm leaving it here just for future reference.
Duplicate body of Bruce perhaps one of the clones that he was connected to through Lump and the Machine in Batman #683. Used by Darkseid and placed for Superman to find.
In Batman and Robin #9 (panel to the left) the clone was resurrected via Lazerous pitt. His mind wasn't whole, "....Bones cracking like Glass. Born ded. Born frum a Brokn jar." because of the experiment.
Also something went wrong. His "Bud. Tainted. Sour Blud."
After a fight he keeled over dead. After saying,
"I'm wot U wot U will B."






HYPERFAUNA/ Hyper Adapter (Batman 702):


Issue 2:
-The Squid/Hyperfauna could be the monster at the bottom of the well in Batman and Robin #12.
-Cthulhiod is a term being used by other posters for the Hyperfauna.
This term has been over used, from describing Doctor Zoidberg to the god awful looking snack(on your left), so could cause confusion and is not in the actual text of these issues.

Batman 702: After shooting Bruce with the Omega Sanction he releases the Hyper-Adapter from the Ancestor Box. 


BUT to help the understanding of the term Cthulhu, when you see it elsewhere, here is Wiki:
Cthulhu  is a cosmic entity created by horror author H. P. Lovecraft, in 1926. It is one of the central Great Old Ones of the Lovecraft Mythos. It is often cited for the extreme descriptions given of its hideous appearance, its gargantuan size, and the abject terror that it evokes. Cthulhu is often referred to in science fiction and Fantasy(genre)circles as a Tongue-in-cheek Shorthand for extreme horror or evil.

JONAH HEX:
Issue 3: Hired to track down and kill a stranger. The stranger is seen wearing black clothes and in a black mask who uses Baterangs. Hmmm....who could that be?
-Hex also had a poker hand called "Deadmans Hand.", two aces and two eights(all black suit) laid out on a table. He also has the joker as the "kicker" (the fifth card of the poker hand usually left turned over)
-In DC Universe 0 (beginning of Final Crisis Crossover event):The character Joker has a Deadmans hand(eights red, aces black) when Bruce/Batman visited him in jail after he got shot, including the "kicker" joker card.




Melleus "the Hammer":
Issue 2:
-Could the name Melleus have come from "The Malleus Maleficrum"-A famous medievel Treatise on witches?  Also called "The Hammer of the witches" -Hexenhammer:  Its main purpose was to challenge all arguments against the existence of witchcraft and to instruct magistrates on how to identify, interrogate and convict witches.
-Revealed by Annie that his real name is Nathaniel Wayne.  



(The) RELIC: 
Batman and Robin 12 :Batman/Dick Grayson, found a Batman cape draped over deer antlers. 
Issue 3:Because of the Relic Batman/Dick decides to go to Bludhaven, where Darkseid was defeated in Final Crisis, there he found the Psych machine that was used by Lump to siphon Bruce's emotions and Memories.
According to the Bat-People -As long as the relic never leaves the cave, it holds back the terrible day, The "All-Over."

TIME LINE:
When is everything happening? With time travel stories its hard to keep up.
The blogger RetroWarBird has worked up a pretty good timeline to keep track of where/when things are happening (Click Here) for the link.
Ronnie Thunderbolts has a excellent time line line for the Wayne family (link)
Wayne Family Tree with help from the work of  Retro  and Ronnie Thunderbolts, posters on (CBR(link))

Nathanial Wayne (1640)

++begat (?not sure if son or grandson) Dr Thomas Wayne (Dr Simon Hurt) Over 150 years old in Issue 4 and confirmed in B&R 16 as participating in the Dark Knight Dark City Barbatos ceremony. See details below.

+begat (maybe) Darius Wayne around 1777 was a revolutionary hero (has Wayne Manor built in 1795 in a Swamp Thing story but not in this story)

+begat Charles Arwin Wayne, wife is Constance(?) Wayne.

+begat  Judge Solomon Zebediah Wayne(Hanging Judge, died at 104 years old)(built Gotham city) (Brother of Joshua Thomas Wayne), and his wife Dorthea Wayne. (The Pinkney Architect is in,  "The Destroyer." click the Judges name to know more of that story.) Bought the manor that Jerome K Van Derm started building.

+begat Dr. Alan Wayne (Built Railroads, shipping and transportation hub in Gotham, and Wayne Enterprises) married Catherine Van Derm (died in childbirth)  see Van Derm in the listing below for more info.Completed building the Wayne Manor.

+begat Kenneth Wayne(Kenneth added Wayne Chemical), and his wife Laura Elizabeth Wayne

+begat Patrick Morgan Wayne (Brother of Silas and he also founded WayneCorp and WayneTech)

+begat Dr Thomas Wayne, and wife Martha Wayne (a brother Phillip, not sure if it is Thomas' or Martha's)

+begat Bruce Wayne

+Sorta begat Damian Wayne(?) with Talia al Ghul(Ra's al Ghul's daughter)


Thomas Wayne additional info:  
Issue 4: Attended the Barbatos Ceremony and drank the Starry Venom and ate the Barbatos Bat which was the Hyper-Adapter(see above) and went crazy(B&R 16). Could possibly be Jack the Ripper and at the time of the Wild West Gotham was already 150 years old and was looking for the casket( RoBW 4). "He sought in blood the secret of life eternal but that was blood of a different sort." 
Issue 5: Betsey Kane (Martha Wayne's mother) claims she talked to Thomas Wayne(Bruce's father) after his father had died in the mugging. To Betsey this mean that Thomas had faked his death. She said, "Doctor Thomas by day, Bad Tommy at night, Patrick and Silas had to cover up the whole thing. The stolen drugs, the rape charges, the secret room where they treated him for months...." "Then he stood there and admitted he'd turned her into a drug addict and ...and worse."

Dr Simon Hurt (click here): is Thomas Wayne he has been Bruce's nemesis through out the writer's, Grant Morrison, run on Batman. Called himself because of a reference to Simon the Magus(link).


Mad Tony- There is a real person named Anthony Wayne and called Mad Tony fought during the American Revolutionary war.   Bob Kane(creator of Batman) got the name Bruce Wayne from Robert Bruce, the Scottish Patriot, and Anthony Wayne, the American Revolutionary War general. It is rumored that Bruce's middle name is Anthony but never confirmed.

Simon Magus - There is a real person.  per Wiki(link) known as Simon the Sorcerer .  Some early Christion writers whom regarded him as the source of all heresies.  Has been portrayed as both student and teacher of Dositheus, with followers who revered him as the Great Power of God. There were later accusations by Christians that he was a demon in human form, and he was specifically said to possess the ability to levitate and fly at will.

 Wayne Family Tree in a the form of a graph by David Uzumeri
This is a really good graph that has about everyone's connection on it.
Wayne Family Plot in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #45 shows various family names on the Tombstones,
in Batman & Robin the family plot is right next to the Manor.
 


TIME BOX:
Issue 5: Created by Carter Nichols
Carter Nichols use to help Batman & Robin with time travel through Hypnosis. In this issue, which happens way before he meets Batman & Robin, he has created a Timebox which is flat like a mother box and seems the cause of the bells because it opens a door in time.  

Time Masters: 
Issue 2: Superman, Green Lantern/Hal, Booster gold, and Rip Hunter believe that he will cause a catastrophe if Bruce returns to the 21st century on his own, so they are trying to track him down.

In issue 2 the archivist mentions "an immense cosmic loom of converging and separating timelines"

Vanishing Point: Final instant before the universal heat death
Per:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Vanishing_Point
A metaphysical dimension that lies outside the normal space/time continuum. It exists during the last possible moment in the universe, the last nanosecond before entropy ends everything. At the center of Vanishing Point is a floating fortress which serves as the base of operations for the Linear Men, a group of volunteers who have taken it upon themselves to police the timestream.




-Also mentioned in Issue 2 about Vanishing point- "The anti-entrophy aegis will succumb to the unstoppable conclusion of the thermodynamic process."(Why don't you try saying that three times in a row)
Here's another -"Universal molecular motion will cease as deadline time arrives."

-Bruce is revealed to be the Archivist in the Vanishing zone.
Issue 2: This was revealed after the archivist found a infestation of hyperfauna(blue squid creature) which may be how Bruce tracked down the point of Annie's death.

Issue 4: Catherine says, "All the days of the world is one day and he must be strong for us all."

Maps of Space Time:(Issue2) These maps begin with a time point that is without duration or span(without a time limit). The point contains all possibility. Map contains forward, backward and lateral time.  It is a immense cosmic loom of converging and separating time lines (a loom is the gadget you use to weave cloth, see to the right).
Line Space A: Universe-zero from beginning to end plane time. Vanishing point stands at its terminus. Contains the time point.
Line Space B: A separate plane time. Batmite comes from Space B.

There are other planes of time, other line spaces that weave into these and thus you have cube time.


Cubed Time: Not just the forward and backward but also contains the Lateral line. Superman comments, "It certainly fits with what I've experienced." This is a reference to the Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 2008 mini (Panel on left), where he could see in 4-D and he seemed to be able to see Cubed Time.








Tribes?
 Issue 1:
-Anthro's grandson was from the Deer Tribe  made a appearance, and wears a domino mask like Robin.

-Vandal Savage made a appearance as a leader of the Blood People Tribe.
 
Issue 2:
-Annie referred to the Bat-People, the Miagani.

Issue 3:  
-"The last of the divided Deer Tribe retreated to the cave to join the Bat-People" and became the ghost people.
-The Bat-People set traps in the cave: The Whistling Demon(echos cause bat-fletched arrows to shoot out) , The Breath of the Bat (methane gas), The Bridge of Bones(name appropiately) , The River of Night(ends up back in the bay).
-The last of the deer tribe was most likely the grandson of Anthro, because his family was killed before his eyes and he helped Bruce escape the Blood People. 
Carving that appeared in Batman and Robin is shown and it is their god, part man, part bat, "LORD OF THE NIGHT AND THE DARK SUN"

-Ronnie Thunderbolts from CBR and the DC Boards brought up the following:
Maigani:  In the trade paper back Batman:THE CULT,
the first time the Bat-People, AKA Miagani, appeared in real life was the Cult mini series, where Jason and Bruce face a religious Cult led by an ancient Native American priest called Reverend Blackfire, an old outcast member of the Miagani who nearly destroyed his own people and practiced dark witchcraft and worshiped idols of himself rather than their gods/spirits, who we now know was the Bat-God called Barbatos by European colonists.
Barbatos: 

 other similar name Barbathos, was the demon that possessed Gotham in a sacrificial rite where a young girl was abandoned and died (Dominique), a rite conducted in Batman #452-454, Dark Knight Dark City. This ritual was committed by wealthy and powerful men (Jacob Stockman, Thomas Jefferson and Three others) in Gotham and the surrounding area.  (1793 Journal entry). Satanic rituals also referred to in Batman and Robin 10 by Alfred as having involved old Thomas Wayne.
-Recently the name BARBATOS was written in a secret room/cave below Wayne Manor in Batman and Robin #10.

-Issue 4: A man named Dr Thomas Wayne clams to have been at the Barbatos ceremony above.

VANDAL SAVAGE

-Vandal Savage has claimed to have been Blackbeard. Issue three didn't prove or disprove that he was Blackbeard.
-Blackbeard's ship was called the "Queen Anne's Revenge"
- Issue 4:  Vandal Savage runs a house of Gamblin' & Ill Repute. He sinks to his knees seemingly  to worship Bruce.  Vandal talks about building a New Empire in Mexico and bringing down America, which I believe is alluding to the Illuminati in the old Time Masters series (my review)

VanDerm
MARTIN VanDern
-Issue 2: Flemish painter- who studied at Van Rijin's feet in Rotterdam and was seen painting the famous Mordecai "Wayne" painting which turns out to be Bruce himself.  Bruce asks Martin to "Keep my book safe."
JEROME Van Derm
-Batman:Shadow of the Bat #45: Jerome Van Derm was a magnate that built the manor that Solomon Wayne bought. Jerome was going to build a railroad past it and committed suicide when his company failed. 
CATHERINE Van Derm
Issue 4:  Allan Wayne marries Catherine Van Derm (granddaughter to Jerome Van Derm) and completes the Manor, the house of VanDerm and Wayne.

Interviews: 

Here are some Reviews on Return of Bruce Wayne:


David Uzumeri Return of Bruce Wayne #4 annotations
David Uzumeri Return of Bruce Wayne #2
Andrew Hicky Return of Bruce Wayne #2
Retro's blog with Reveiw of Return of Bruce Wayne #3
Rikdad's Reveiw of Return of Brue Wayne #3

Retro's Blog  Return of Bruce Wayne #4

 Rikdad's Review of Return #6
David Uzumeri Return of Bruce Wayne #6 annotations
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17 comments:

  1. Sorry, but lots of holes here in the snippets you have accumulated. Great start though!

    Cheers!

    Steven G. Willis
    XOWComics.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you are talking about the spacing, I was having trouble with the HTML.

    The HTML wouldn't add some pictures in a way that I wanted it to. So I deleted them.

    For some reason I couldn't get the paragraph of information to go down the side of the pictures, like it did for the first inserted gif file.

    AND I ran out of patience...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Then what holes are you... talking about?
    Are you looking for a repeat of the story itself?
    I'm sorry, I lead you wrong, if that is what you are looking for.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congrats! On starting your own blog.My best wishes to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey Anti,
    I think you got caught by the Omega Sanction yourself.
    Your not on the DC Threads.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Witty as ever! After my 'The last stand' thread I got again banned by the moderators as you predicted. I got really tired
    for fighting for a lost cause, so I decided to go back to my old comics collection of 60's and 70's. I was enjoying them for a while. Last week I read ROBW#2 ( another Morrison *epic*) , I really disliked it and in order to understand it came back on the net. And while surfing stumbled onto you CBR. It seems to me as you have also left DC message board. But that's your decision.......I just hope to read more of your views and insights on Batman in the future too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My decision...WA HA ha ha ah ha ha...

    I... actually stepped in front of the Omega BEAM ...and saw it coming, and... stuck out my tongue.:}

    Lets just say, that the moderator, is not a connoisseur of Shakespeare.

    What's your ID over at CBR, so that I can avoi.. .ah..um.. look you up?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm looking forward to what else you dig up and connect.

    I have to re-read #2 (and #1). I read them (quickly) in the coffee shop and I didn't absorb all of it.

    I did love the curse from Annie because it reminds me of and the curse placed on the Collins family Judah Zachary in the 1692 flashback.

    I am also utterly THRILLED that RETURN is an indirect sequel to FINAL CRISIS and a direct sequel to SUPERMAN BEYOND. If BATMAN BEYOND wasn't already a series of its own, I bet RETURN would have been titled BATMAN BEYOND.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Allyson, Ronnie Thunderbolts here from CBR and the DC Boards, I wanted to give you two pieces of info, one, you have JONAS HEX written instead of JONAH HEX.

    Also, about the Miagani/Bat-People... The Deer-People didn't JUST join the Bat-Tribe, they have the same ancestors as well. Some of the Deer Tribe BECAME the Bat-Tribe, as depicted by Anthro's grandson, the First Boy (and 'first' Robin) claim in issue 1 of ROBW, where he says to Vandal Savage's men "It's not Deer People you face now! The Bat People are here!" showing his choice to start the Bat People, and having previously been a member of the Deer People.

    You also may want to include a mention that the first time the Bat-People, AKA Miagani, appeared in real life was the Cult mini series, where Jason and Bruce face a religious Cult led by an ancient Native American priest called Revered Blackfire, an old outcast member of the Miagani who nearly destroyed his own people and practiced dark witchcraft and worshiped idols of himself rather than their gods/spirits, who we now know was the Bat-God called Barbatos by European colonists. Barbatos, under the other similar name Barbathos, was the demon that possessed Gotham in a sacrificial rite where a young girl was killed, a rite conducted in Batman #452-454, Dark Knight Dark City. This ritual was committed by wealthy land owners and powerful men in Gotham and the surrounding area during the 1760's, most likely the same Satanic rituals referred to in Batman and Robin 10 by Alfred as having involved old Thomas Wayne.

    (I deleted the above comment as I couldn't edit it, but instead re-posted the edited/corrected version).

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, Your right about Jonah...he was the last thing I put in the post and I must have been getting tired, plus I haven't read any of the Jonah Books, so I'm not that knowledgeble about him. I was more concerned with getting the cards right at the time.

    The reason I put Join is because that is what Jack actually said.
    I'll quote you on the Miagani, I was thinking I would put something but...I didn't want to get too wordy, I've been thinking about taking out some of the Black Pirate info, but then I don't see it anywhere else.

    ReplyDelete
  13. good review i think but not sure what to make of the mini. I am however looking forward to all the one shots i n October of what Bruce thinks of all his Bat-fam and a few of thoses outside of it have been doing since he has been gone. I think there will be ten of theme in all

    ReplyDelete
  14. This isn't really a Review.
    I wanted to keep track of things so that I could enjoy Morrison's work, I decided to share various clues on what is going on, then...it started having a mind of its own. I'm not sure of how much help it is.

    Once this mini is over... I might just delete it.
    Delete Delete Delete He he he he he HE HE Ha Ha oh..yes.. delete.

    ReplyDelete