Batman R.I.P. - Bruce Wayne retires

Bruce Wayne has been through an awful lot in his time. Parents killed when he was young, travelled the World to see what evil lurks in the hearts of men and how to combat it, the rise of a grotesque rogues gallery epitomized by the psychotic Joker, his back broken by Bane, his city almost destroyed in an earth quake, the appearance of a son he did not know he had, fighting, the death (and return) of Jason Todd, the JLA turning on him when they found his plans to take them all down, and so on and so fourth.

Most recently he has descended into madness through the machinations of the Black Glove in Grant Morrison's story arc Batman R.I.P. It was not clear whether this would mean the death of Bruce Wayne but has recently seen the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, a back-up personality that Bruce created in case things went drastically wrong and was mindwiped. Basically a Batman without Bruce Wayne.

Now USA Today have the cover of Batman #681 (above), due Nov. 26, wraps up writer Grant Morrison's Batman R.I.P. story line, in which the crimefighter is so shaken by a secret from his past that a new Batman must be found.

What makes this "death" go beyond the usual circulation booster is the talent involved. Helping to bury Batman will be best-selling novelist Neil Gaiman, who created the goth-cult Sandman comic 20 years ago.

Gaiman is writing a two-issue tribute to the character, starting with Batman #686 and tentatively titled Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, due in February.

The question is who will be the new Batman and Robin? Nightwing (Dick Grayson) has paid his dues and deserves the cowl, or maybe it will be Damien, Wayne's son who recently appeared. As to what the secret is that causes Wayne to retire well until I read the issue I don't know but it could be that his father, Thomas Wayne, is still alive and is the Black Hand or maybe Bruce has developed another personality and is the Black Hand. We will just have to wait and see.
Who do you think will be the new Batman? Do you think DC will make him more along the lines of the Christian Bale version? If you have been following the Batman R.I.P. storyline what did you think of it?

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