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The title storyline is one that’s been running through all the Batman titles in one way or another, and this miniseries reveals what Bruce has been up to lately, or not lately exactly, since he’s in the past. Apparently thrown into the distant past of Gotham City by some event not yet revealed, or in some other book, and then bouncing ahead to more recent eras with each issue. In a way, it’s a bit like Dr. Who: Bruce, whose memory is fragmented, enters the scene, gets into conflicts with the locals of that time, is usually mistaken for one of his ancestors, and picks up a bit more of his memory while trouncing some villainous types, then vanishes into another era at the end. There’s a theme for each one of these, with the first one being primitive cavemen, then witch-tormenting pilgrims, then pirates. Grant seems to be enjoying himself, and it’s generally good reading. There are clues and connections to a larger story, but I don’t mind ignoring those, the main thread works well for me.
The art in all three is quite good: Chris Sprouse on the cavemen (kind of an odd choice, and the cavemen are all built rather heroically, but it works), Frazier Irving on the pilgrims (painted style art, a bit too dark in places, and some of the characters are confusingly similar in their pilgrim garb, but often beautifully done), and Yanick Paquette on the pirates, above. Yanick seems to enjoy this kind of non-superhero setting and produces some of his best work here.
Good fun, interesting time-jumping theme, enjoyably unusual settings for Bruce, kind of a new Elseworlds each issue. Recommended.