A Batman Bulletin

from

The Blackest Night

Now that Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night has wrapped up and his latest effort “Brightest Day” has begun we are left with a few questions.

First and foremost amongst the questions is the current state of Bruce Wayne’s remains. Now we all know that the current Batman, Dick Grayson, took a set of whole remains to a Lazarus pit over in the UK with less than perfect results. But what of the remains that Black Hand pilfered from the Wayne family plot? Batman and Robin salvaged most of the remains while Black Hand kept the skull and used it as a sort of talisman to channel Nekron's black energy.

So where is the skull? And since we know that Bruce Wayne is traveling through time, whose skull was it really? At the end of Blackest Night #8, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen stand over the graves of Thomas, Martha and Bruce Wayne. They deduce that since the Black Lantern Batman didn’t recognize them then Bruce is alive. Tim Drake was right! This deduction is a leap of faith that has been repeated in many other of the Batman titles. Most notably by Dick Grayson himself and with relative ease. Does that bother anyone?

We’ll set that head-scratcher aside and talk a little about a member of the extended Batman family, Deadman. Deadman played a significant role in Blackest Night. He was a key player in the “Batman: Blackest Night” titles and provided the essential truth that led to Nekron's demise. So where is Boston Brand now? He’s alive! Not only alive but he looks to be a charter member of the new White Lantern Corp. His first act was to bring a baby bird back to life. Hey you have to start somewhere.

I’m not reading all the Bat titles so please fill me in if I’ve missed something. Anyone know where the skull of “Bruce Wayne” is? How do you feel about Deadman being anything but dead? How will the Bat family play a role in Brightest Day? Will Dick Grayson perish to pave the way for Bruce’s return? (A hot topic on the web). Is Deadman's role to eventually resurrect Grayson if he should have to die? Or is that too easy?

Posted by Dark Knight Dave