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DC Comics' One Year Later event still has me seriously under whelmed. I guess the whole point for the big three characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) is to return to their classic roots. Which is something I've desired, particularly in Bruce Wayne's case, but the hype surrounding OYL promised even bigger changes, leading to my disappointment. I think I may be in the minority, as one review of James Robinson's Batman story in Detective called it "…the best Batman story I've ever read." I take that to mean that the reviewer never read a Batman comic where Bruce Wayne wasn't an asshole. Robinson's written a decent story, but it's just a reset to a kindler, gentler Batman. Batman #651 shows us that he gets along very well with Tim Drake (Robin), who helps take down Poison Ivy. It's a nice step in the right direction, but in my mind, Batman will be fully revived when Bruce Wayne gets a few pages every once in a while to run Wayne Enterprises, talk with Alfred, and bang some supermodels.
Nightwing 118 seems to have taken the biggest hit in quality OYL. The stories that Devin Grayson had been writing previously had a pretty decent plot and interesting characters. Bruce Jones' first issue lets us know that someone has been pretending to be Nightwing during Dick Grayson's absence. We all know this is Jason (although as Ain't It Cool noted, Jones never once declares him the impostor but the next issue blurb does) because he's using a knife to carve up child molesters. Dick has decided to take up residence in New York City (goodbye Bludhaven) and is fucking the Scarlet Witch (or the DCU equivalent). I think we should applaud Bruce Jones for not wiping out Nightwing's history and reinventing the character from scratch. I should give it more time, but to go from the Grayson-Hester stories to this is a jarring change. If Jones is gonna play the Nightwing-killed-somebody card here, and there's a comment in Robin that makes me think he might, then you've got two series with heroes falsely accused of murder.
Robin 148 uses the OYL event to spin Tim off in a strong new storyline written by newcomer Adam Beechen. In the opening pages, Tim is beaten by a foe who moves so fast that their identity remains hidden. After lashing out with some R-shaped throwing stars, he discovers that his target was Batgirl, and she's dead on the floor. While it is Cassandra Cain's costume, it's not her body-the girl in the suit is Lynx. Naturally the police go after Robin in a big way. This sets up a mystery for Tim to figure out: what happened to Cassandra Cain, and why is someone trying to frame him for murder? As we saw in the last issue of Batgirl, Cassandra appears to have given up her Bat-related identity after snapping her mother's (Lady Shiva) neck. It looks like Cassandra is shadowing Tim in this issue. Is she a villain? If so, Tim's in big trouble, because Batman plainly states that Tim would have no hope against Cassandra in physical combat.
There are some interesting hints to Bruce Wayne's whereabouts during the missing year. Apparently Bruce, Dick, and Tim have been globe-trotting, as he mentions Budapest. There's been some family bonding as the trio has learned to trust each other more completely than in the past, thus leading to the de-asshole-cation of Batman. I can't wait to see what Morrison and Dini are gonna do with the Batman that Robinson is giving them. Nuff said.
And it only took 4 mini-series, countless crossovers, and a cosmic crisis to de-assholify Bruce Wayne.