Bruce Wayne the Fugitive: The Beginning to Another Classic Batman Tale

Batman has often played the role of fugitive in that the dark knight of Gotham has always been his own law. But what happens if the persona of Bruce Wayne became a fugitive?

Wayne is found with a dead body in his mansion, with him at the scene of the murder, and is accused of being the killer. Wayne stays in prison for a short time before getting embroiled in fights with criminals. Soon he escapes, and becomes a true fugitive. This graphic novel opens with Wayne outside of prison but not actually searching to clear his name.

The story of "Batman, Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" opens with Batman chasing down criminals. Superman appears and stops Batman from beating up one of the criminals. Superman asks Batman-with all his alter ego's problems-why he isn't trying to clear his name. "I have no name to clear," Batman responds to Superman.

Batman's allies-Oracle, Nightwing, and Robin-are trying to solve the mystery behind the death in Wayne manor. Oracle, who once was Batgirl before being crippled by the Joker, tells Nightwing the only way to prove Bruce Wayne's innocent is to find physical evidence and the real killer.

Oracle is disturbed that all the evidence proves Bruce Wayne is guilty of murder. She relates to the new Batgirl that she is unsure of his innocence.

Then Nightwing and Alfred (Bruce Wayne's butler and friend) investigate the bat cave and find the person who framed Bruce Wayne covered his tracks well. The computers show that he or she may have experience as a hacker.

Robin investigates the camera tapes of Wayne Manor and finds a shot of someone who did not want to be seen.

The dialogue of this graphic novel is sparse, which is in the same classic style told by Jeph Loeb in "Batman: The Long Halloween." While not the classic that "The Long Halloween" was, the mystery is widened and not revealed too quickly. This tale has the typical top notch writing and imagery that any Batman graphic novel has. While it may not be called a classic-the story is fairly simple-the character of Batman and his league of friends trying to solve a mystery is very entertaining.

The writers include Chuck Dixon and Devin Grayson, both experienced Batman writers, and top artists are involved including Scott McDaniel. The tale of Batman trying to clear his persona's name does not end with this graphic novel; there are two other volumes that continue this story.