Batman # 603 2002 Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, The Turning Point pg 18 by Sean Phillips

Batman # 603 2002
"Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, The Turning Point" pg 18
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils & Inks: Sean Phillips
Letters: John Constanza

Batman is taking down a ninja gang while listening to a talk show about the poor conditions of Gotham City, which only makes him go berserk on the criminals. Once he is done with the ninja gang, Catwoman appears and tells him that he is needed by Leslie Thompkins. Bruce gets going and tells Catwoman to go home.

Batman arrives at the clinic where Leslie is working and asks her about the urgency of the call. Leslie demands some respect from him and then she tells him that a man called Gary Sloan asked to see him, to which Batman is utterly surprised.

Gary used to be a detective of the GCPD by the time Bruce was a kid and he was assigned the case of the Wayne murders. However, he is now retired and has few chances of living through the week. Bruce remembers how Sloan approached him after the murder of his parents and he promised to find the killer. Batman goes to Sloan's room and finds the old man half-asleep waiting for him to come. When Sloan notices Batman he explains that he has called him to ask him a favor. Sloan then tells him the story of the time before Batman and how he used to take on the most challenging cases. However, he explained that around the time Batman and other superheroes started appearing around the world, the situation changed and his skills and abilities weren't enough to solve cases on the modern times. He also remembers how during one of his last cases before retirement, he couldn't catch the killer but instead, the killer turned himself in because of fear of the Batman. Sloan knew then that his time was over and he also noticed the drastic changes in things around the city like Gordon making an alliance with Batman to help against the new kind of super-criminals that started appearing all over Gotham.

Sloan tells Batman that in his entire career, there is one case he couldn't solve and thus he has broken a promise made to a kid. Sloan asks Batman to investigate the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne for him. Sloan explains that because of his experience with thousands of killers, he doesn't believe that Bruce Wayne murdered Vesper. Sloan remembers clearly how Bruce changed ever since the murder of his parents but he knew that whatever he changed into, it wasn't a killer. As a last favor, Sloan asks Batman to investigate the Bruce Wayne case and return the man his life since he feels like he disappointed him since a kid. Batman replies that he is not disappointed, but inspired. However, Sloan has fallen asleep and when the old man wakes up, Batman has left.

On his way to the Batcave, Gary's words resonate on Batman's head and when he arrives at his destination, he opens the Batcomputer and starts looking at all the files and evidence he has of the murder of his parents and also the files and records of the murder of Vesper Fairchild. Bruce takes off his cowl for the first time in a very long time and contacts Oracle to get some information, something that catches her off guard.