A solid compilation of the first third of the "Fugitive" arc, wherein Bruce Wayne is wanted for a murder he might or might not have committed, and Batman having decided to shed the Bruce Wayne identity entirely instead of getting his mission bogged down by this attack on his public persona. The various stories being intercut are fairly well put together, with the one caveat that the Birds of Prey story should clearly have been placed a touch later in the collection, as its conclusion doesn't jive with Barbara Gordon's attitude in the beginning of the next scene we see her in. But it's a nitcpick. I vastly prefer these compilations from the early 2000s that make an effort to sew various books with related stories together into a holistic reading experience to the modern approach of simply putting the entire issues as they are in the collections, with story order barely being given a thought and unrelated scenes being left in. (It's obviously a much superior approach for collectors, who don't end up missing pages of this and that if they don't re-buy the same issues in other collections, but for the casual reader of any individual volume, it's a considerable detriment.)

Anyway, back to this book. Considering it is only the first third of the story and a little scattered by nature of the multiple storylines and protagonists involved, I'm quite engrossed, and the way the Bat-family refuses to give up on Bruce even as Batman himself has done so is very touching. The Brubaker story that ends the volume is what brings it together to an emotional throughline, though, with the surprisingly touching moment of (spoiler alert) Batman deciding to re-open the investigation into his own framing and identifying himself on "Bruce" on the call to Oracle, much to the latter's astonishment. ( )

The plot continues to thicken. This picks up right after Bruce Wayne: Murderer?. Nightwing, Oracle, and the others go about recreating the crime and figuring out how Bruce Wayne could have been framed. Meanwhile, Batman has given up on his Bruce Wayne identity and gone off on his own, alienating even his allies. His allies now know how the frame was done, but not who or why. And an old retired police detective motivates Batman to reconsider his actions as he makes Batman carry on a promise. The pace remains quick in this series, but the plot also gets more complicated. I am definitely moving along to the second volume of the Fugitive series. Very hard to put down. I read this volume pretty much in one sitting before bedtime. ( )

An excellent beginning to a suspenseful tale. Bruce Wayne is "on the run" as he has been accused of murder, and is a wanted man in Gotham. Taking shelter in his alter ego, Batman, Bruce begins to worry those who love him the most with his behavior in his new situation. This is a really good story, and the book had the perfect ending to make me want to read more. Batman dealing with inner turmoil, while around him people are being affected by Bruce Wayne's disappearance, and Batman's unrelenting patrol of Gotham. ( )

A continuation of the compiled "Batman" books following "Bruce Wayne: Murderer", in which Bruce Wayne has been framed for murder and escaped from prison to continue his Batman persona. Here his compatriots are trying to clear his name as he abandons his Bruce Wayne identity. The best parts are the first story, in which Superman shows up to offer help and find out just what's going on, and the final story, in which a dying detective reminds Bruce of the humanity behind his cowl. Otherwise, it's pretty much a lot of running around and sleuthing by Robin, Nightwing and others of the "Batman family". Good, but I hope the conclusion is worth all this leadup. ( )