If the Christopher Nolan films suffered one major absence from the Bat-Mythos, it was the lack of spiritual significance of Bruce Wayne's roll as Batman. Though not always evident in the comics, there have been writers who have toyed with the idea that it wasn't just the death of Thomas and Martha that spurred Bruce to become what he does, but a more mystical, destiny-inflected movement of the universe. Morrison (of course) plays this up fundamentally in his run on the Bat-titles, and we see him beginning to play with this notion in the story that follows "Shaman" in Legends of the Dark Knight. And while he's probably the most blatant about this aspect of Batman, he's not the only writer to deal with it. O'Neil addresses this facet quite nicely in this issue of LOTDK, linking Bruce's eventual taking on of the Bat mantle to a healing story he is told, and required to tell, in this story. At a key moment in the tale, he puts on his cowl and relates as story that he was told when suffering from hypothermia and close to death, and though his telling is not as expert as the shaman who told it to him, it does, in the end, save the life of an old man. While Bruce, ever rational-minded, cannot explain this, the man's granddaughter counsels him to simply accept it, that there are mysteries in the universe that even his detective's mind cannot unravel.
Of course, there's some superheroic fisticuffs peppered throughout, and the big climactic fight scene is about to happen. Be here tomorrow for the conclusion!
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