Retrospect: Opinions on BRUCE WAYNE FUGITIVE

[Gothos]

I finally read the collected tpbs a little white back for the first time. As with most "events," there was a fair quantity of dead wood, but some interesting dramatic developments overall.

What's the consensus on it here?

[ArnoldoAAD]

personally i think BW: Murderer was much better than the second part
this wasnt bad in the sense that it tried to explore the existence of Batman outside of BW but i fell things like Morrison's run did a much better job using that concept

on Murderer, BW escapes cause he no longer cares about the persona of Bruce Wayne, Fugitive serves as this very long character arc where he accepts who he really is as bruce wayne and as Batman

the Murder mystery is not very good to be honest, is one of the few works of Rucka that i havent really enjoy, it was obvious that he was set up but i think it wasnt well play who did it, there was a full issue in which Nightwing investigates the scene of the crime to just find out that BW didnt do it, the final culprit doesnt feel like fits in the story, im not sure if this was by design or if the editorial wanted to tie this with Cain


I particularly loved the issues of Batgirl, cause this was the event in which she discovers BW is Batman and that issue of her discovering the truth was really well done

ultimately this a little silly, i cannot remember what happen with BW at the end cause he escapes from jail, then he clears his name but he still escaped, which is a crime
the ending with Sasha going to checkmate was well done, i really liked that character and thought she was well used here and for the later series of Checkmate

It was too long for what it was and it never really achieve anything on long term

[bhandelman]

I thought it was ok, but pretty average in a lot of ways.

Bruce Wayne: Murderer has one of my favorite scenes ever though, when he is in prison and the gang comes after him in his cell.

But right now, for these short sharp moments in this dark cell... there is no Bruce Wayne.

Boy do I wish we could get Brubaker back.

[FHIZ]

It was an alright cross over in my opinion. The third trade of it really fell off for me. Didn't enjoy it as much.

[Captain Jim]

I agree that Fugitive wasn't quite as good as Murderer? but it's kind of hard to judge them independently of one another. Personally, I very much enjoyed this entire arc; I thought it held together very well given the number of titles and writers that were involved. But Greg Rucka is my absolute favorite Batman writer, and Brubaker is very good too, so it was hard to go wrong.

[vampiric_cannibal]

Was pretty good, if only because it managed to involve just about every Batcharacter, and all of whom did something interesting and awesome. Not great but good enough.

[Simonc1138]

Having only read this arc in its collected trade format - was the idea that once we got to Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, the Bat books would occasionally go about 'normal' story threads with the events of Fugitive simmering in the background and appearing every so often? That's the impression I get from the multiple truncated moments in the books.

Like others have said, there's a lot of filler but also some genuinely good moments and ideas. The "Batman meets a dying cop who happens to be the guy that investigated his parents murder' is something so simple I'm shocked it wasn't done prior. There are some great aftermath moments too from Vol. 3 including Bruce confronting Sasha post-surgery and Devin Grayson's wonderful '24/7' story.

Which issues comprise Bruce Wayne being given a bodyguard and Sasha finding out his secret and going on patrol with him? I've always wanted to read this and don't think it's been collected.

[Brack360]

Having only read this arc in its collected trade format - was the idea that once we got to Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, the Bat books would occasionally go about 'normal' story threads with the events of Fugitive simmering in the background and appearing every so often? That's the impression I get from the multiple truncated moments in the books.

Correct. Issues that contained a clue about the murderer's identity had a puzzle piece on the cover and were labeled a part of the crossover. The puzzle pieces put together the cover to Batman #605, the final chapter. In some cases, one chapter of the same storyline would be a tie-in while the next wasn't. For example, Batman #601-602 was a two-parter about a new villain named Nicodemus, yet only #601 was labeled a Fugitive tie-in and reprinted in the tpb.

Which issues comprise Bruce Wayne being given a bodyguard and Sasha finding out his secret and going on patrol with him? I've always wanted to read this and don't think it's been collected.

Detective Comics #751-765, which haven't been collected. I highly recommend those issues and the rest of Rucka's run starting with #742. The Sasha storyline then continues through Murderer and Fugitive and concludes in #775 (collected in Fugitive Vol 3).