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| - Detective Comics published the first story of "The Bat-Man" in May of 1939, written by Bill Finger and illustrated by Bob Kane. In the years since then, Batman has become one of DC's premier superheroes; along with Superman and Wonder Woman, Batman comprises a vital part of DC's Trinity. And in the decades that have followed his debut, the Caped Crusader has been influenced by a slew of great artists and writers; each having a unique interpretation of the character and a good number leaving a lasting impression on the Dark Knight and his world. Yet being published in at least one, then two, book(s) continuously for 70 years presents two problems: (1) how to keep the character of Batman interesting and (2) how to keep the character from becoming too esoteric as time goes on. Batman, like most of the DCU, had at least two attempts to reconcile this, by first separating the Golden Age Batman from the Silver Age Batman and then later by partially rebooting Batman's history with the Crisis Crossovers of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour. In the wake of Infinite Crisis, Batman's history was rebooted yet again. But as the readers would soon discover, this reboot would not remove anything from Batman's past this time around; in fact the exact opposite occurred. After the end of Batman's "One Year Later" story, noted writer Grant Morrison became the head writer for the eponymous "Batman" monthly magazine. As Morrison's run went on, fans soon discovered that all of the previously removed portions of Batman's history had been restored to full Canon status in some way or another. ALL OF IT. (Even the bits that contradict the other bits!) Morrison has stated that he intends his work to be part of a series, with "four [collected] volumes and, if the cards are right, a fifth volume, a final volume": The work he has done so far includes the following:
* Batman and Son (After putting most of Gotham's super-criminals away, Batman is introduced to his and Talia's son, Damian al Ghul-Wayne. After looking out for the boy, Batman is forced to fight Talia in a fight which ends with Talia and Damian's temporary disappearance.)
* The Three Ghosts of Batman (A former cop in a Batman costume had shot The Joker and then died. Another "Bat-Cop" is killing prostitutes while taking Venom and Monster Serum. And the threat of another looms in the immediate future. Batman realizes the possibility he may be a target for an unseen foe, which holds ties to the GCPD and possibly Batman's own past.)
* The Third Man has been activated and has returned to attack Gotham PD. The truth behind the "replacement Batman" comes to light as Batman is being held captive by "Bat-Devil". But what other secrets are held by the mysterious doctor behind the program? And what is his connection to the Dark Knight...?
* The Black Glove (A reunion of the International Club of Heroes goes horribly wrong as the "Batmen of All Nations" realize they have been targeted by a person or organization calling itself "The Black Glove". After escaping with his surviving comrades, Batman realizes the threat of the Black Glove is far from finished.)
* Batman R.I.P. (A Bat Family Crossover in several "parts". The main story involves the full assault of the Black Glove against Batman. After trying to destroy Batman's mind, a long forgotten contingency plan comes into play. And no, the R.I.P. was supposed to have been the goal, not what actually happens. Yet.)
* Last Rites ("The Butler Did It" and "What the Butler Saw") (Part R.I.P. epilogue, part Final Crisis tie-in, Batman is experimented on by evil New God scientists in order to create elite soldiers for Darkseid. Upon fully realizing where he is and what had happened to him, Batman escapes by turning his own memories into weapons.)
* The Missing Chapters (A two part story detailed in Batman #701-702, that helps better fill in the mysteries of Bruce Wayne's journey from the end of R.I.P. to the start of "The Return of Bruce Wayne". 701 deals with the immediate aftermath of R.I.P. as Bruce drags himself from the helicopter crash in the Gotham River and details his recovery, having to deal with a revelation that Hurt had found the Hidden Room of Wayne Manor and his being alerted of his "final case". 702 deals with Bruce during the events of Final Crisis in better detail, with the revelation that after being hit by the Omega Sanction, Darkseid released his Omega Adaptor to twist time to push Bruce into becoming a living bomb of Omega energies to destroy everyone in the event of Darkseid's defeat.)
* Batman and Robin (In the aftermath of Battle for the Cowl [which Morrison did not write], Dick Grayson assumes the mantle of Batman with Damian Wayne acting as Robin. So far, the story deals with the emergence of new foe Professor Pyg and the return of the infamous Red Hood who turns out to be none other than Jason Todd...)
* As Dick and Damian continue to act as Batman and Robin, strange mysteries concerning Bruce's ancestors and Wayne Manor begin to come to light. With the discovery that the Batman corpse recovered at the end of Final Crisis was only one of Darkseid's failed clones, it appears that there was more to Bruce's death then what was originally thought...
* Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne (Many have faced Darkseid's Omega powers, but very few have ever survived to tell the tale. Starting from his exile in the Stone Age, Bruce Wayne begins his journey to return back home to his own time while facing one of his greatest obstacles: History itself.)
* Batman #700 (In the landmark 700th issue of the Batman monthly title, we visit upon a long tale whose origins start in the Silver Age. Professor Carter Nichols once developed a form of Mental Time Travel long ago and subjugated Batman and Robin to it while under pressure from a villain team-up led by the Joker. Years later, the former-Robin and current Batman Dick Grayson, along with the current Robin Damian, discover the murdered body of an inexplicably older Nichols. And in a possible future, Damian, under the guise of Batman, winds up in a case with strange ties to the past. The link between Nichols and the mythical Joker Jokebook is explored in a tale that spans three generations of Batmen... and a possible view of what is beyond...)
* Batman: The Return (With Bruce Wayne back and stepping back into the cape-and-cowl, he attempts to begin the shift of the Bat-Family into Batman, Inc. However, information that Bruce seems to have picked up during his stay at Vanishing Point appears to have alerted him to a vast criminal organization in the midst of creating artificial metahumans and it seems that Batman has overcome one vast ordeal just to meet another... The birth of Batman, Inc. starts out knowing the name of its new enemy, "Leviathan"...)
* Batman Inc. (Batman as a megaglobal franchise. A new series inspired by Batman the Brave And The Bold and Peter Sellers' The Magic Christian that'll see Batman taking his brand of justice global with new heroes and allies in various parts of the world.) Previously, Morrison wrote a Batman story called Batman: Gothic, which explores some of the same themes as his current run. While Batman Inc. was not intially included in the New 52 relaunch and had to have it's last two issues released on schedule due to delays (eventually released in a one-shot entitled Leviathan Strikes!, the series as a whole collected in a deluxe edition), a second series, still using the "Batman Inc." name has been added to the second wave of books, continuing the story.
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