- Title: Bruce Wayne: The Road Home – Oracle (One-shot)
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Marc Andreyko
- Artist: Agustin Padilla
The Insider and Oracle attempt to keep Vicki Vale alive before Ra’s al Ghul‘s hit squad (The Seven Men of Death) permanently silences the reporter. Oracle sends the reserves into battle (Batgirl, Manhunter, Man-Bat, Ragman, Hawk and Dove) while the once-and-future Batman tries to keep the nosy reporter alive.
Most of the action works pretty well, even if we are dealing with baddies not really worth caring about (and a few heroes which you could say the same). Although I’m glad for its inclusion, I wish the flashback to the days after Barbara Gordon was shot, including Bruce visiting her in the hospital and a quick montage of her training for her new role as Oracle, were handled a little better.
On the positive side, we do get 32 pages for $3 (not too shabby) and I am glad that this issue lets Barbara correctly recognize and identify Bruce (even if it does take her more pages than I’d like). The ending leads us to a big showdown between Bruce and Ra’s in the final “Bruce Wayne: The Road Home” One-shot.
[DC $2.99]