DETECTIVE COMICS #772

Will Sasha sell Bruce out? Will we care?

By Tony Whitt     July 19, 2002

Ladies and gentlemen, the end is in sight: BATMAN #605 will officially end the lengthy crossover nightmare better known as "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive." In the meantime, though, there are still a few chapters to get through before the long-awaited conclusion, and thankfully, DETECTIVE COMICS #772 is one of them. Honestly, I'm not sure what we poor Batman fans would have done without writers like Greg Rucka around to make this crossover "event" a bit more tolerable. Even for a "necessary" chapter such as this month's Part Sixteen(!), Rucka gives as much effort as he would on any non-crossover script. Pity, then, that this particular issue still treads on ground already covered.

Sasha's been sentenced and has begun serving her time, but an offer from a mysterious man named Amherst to give up Bruce and regain her freedom has her thinking. He's gone on his way, after all, and she's been left behind after taking the proverbial bullet for him. Whatever debts she owes him, she's more than repaid them - hasn't she?

We've seen Sasha go through this particular crisis of faith before - the only difference this time is that Bruce himself isn't around to remind her of why she's going through it - so the resolution will hardly be surprising. It does raise some interesting questions which future issues hopefully won't sweep completely under the carpet: how much does Bruce owe those who work for him? At what point does loyalty need to go by the wayside and good old self-preservation need to be exercised? Sasha may well be one of the most abused Batman protegés this series has ever seen, and the only true crime committed in "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive," apart from going on so damned long, will be if she's not eventually restored to freedom after all she's gone through. The real tension in Rucka's script, then, comes not from our worry about whether Sasha will sell Bruce down the river or not - we know from the moment the offer is made that she won't. The real tension comes from the feeling that she would be perfectly justified if she did. That's not an easy feeling for us to have about the Caped Crusader, even given his extraordinary behavior these last several months.

On a brighter note, the "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" storyline would be lucky to have the sort of satisfying dénouement that Judd Winick and Cliff Chang's JOSIE MAC gets this issue. Josie finally finds out who murdered her father and why, but the answers don't sit very easy - and nor does the new detective's shield she's received for solving the case. This final chapter subverts all of our expectations for this character with a surprising plot twist - I doubt any of us could have seen that last scene coming, but I doubt any of us felt it was out of line. This backup feature's been unfortunately overshadowed by crossover madness, so perhaps the Bat-Editors would consider bringing Josie Mac back sometime - perhaps in her own one-shot?

So while you're counting down the days until all this crossover silliness ends, you can rest assured that at least one Bat-book is somewhat worth the read. Ed Brubaker, take us home...

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