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Ryan Sook, artist on THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, PART V: MASQUERADE:
"I really enjoyed adapting Bruce into this world of the pseudo 1930's. I love the period in the first place and I really think Grant's whole concept for this story, in my issue and the others, breaks a new ground for the Batman universe. I like the thought that if you remove Bruce from his element, even his memory, and his era, his character remains in tact. THAT is what makes him a HERO, his character. That is my favorite thing about the series and my part in it, that we get to see that it is not just the cape and gadgets that make a Batman, it's Bruce. "I always do a lot of research for projects and that was no different here, but for this I have stacks of stuff from the period already. Not to mention an almost photographic memory for far too many noir films of that time. Which serve little to no purpose in my memory banks until something like this comes up! Hooray for the occasional noir style story!! Which i think Grant did a great job with here, at least from an illustrators stand point. And it was a good excuse for me to 'research' some of my old favorite flicks, like 'The Big Sleep' and 'The Killers'. "I think this is only the second time I've had the chance to work with Grant on something, and while our schedules somehow always seem to go awry from our best intentions, none the less it's a joy to work with a guy who manages, at least in the jobs I've done with him, to take characters who have oft been written with nothing more than an excuse to show how super they are, strip that away, and show that in spite of their frailties and weaknesses, it is their CHARACTER and not their powers that make them super. That is a good writer in my book. The fact that i always find myself truly surprised by what happens next when Grant tells a story is equally exciting. I always end up being just as surprised as the characters he writes" - Ryan Sook
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