Batman R.I.P. said:
Plot
In the beginning, he was pre-occupied with the recovery of Catwoman's heart, as the demented Hush had cut it out and left her on a complicated machine to keep her alive. Once Batman recovered her heart and stopped Hush's twisted plan to take over Bruce Wayne's life, the Batman's life turned in a completely different direction.
[edit]The Batman of Zur-en-arrh
Bruce Wayne was dating Jezebel Jet, a model who was very influential in her home country. Jezebel discovered Bruce was Batman relatively early in their relationship, and the reveal made the relationship easier for Bruce to handle. He let Jezebel so deep into his life, that he even introduced her to the Batcave. And that was where Batman may have made his gravest mistake.
Jezebel tried to convince Batman that he was just living a life he had fabricated in his own head as a child to cope with the death of his parents. This suggestion begins to affect Batman's already strained psyche (he had almost died and was forced to re-live very traumatic moments in his life as Batman just weeks earlier) and he passes out when Jezebel says aloud a word that was on all the Bat-computer's screens: Zur-En-Arrh. As he passed out, Dr. Hurt and minions of his diabolical club, The Black Glove, infiltrated the Bat-cave. They drugged Batman, beat Alfred, and wreaked havoc upon the cave.
When next we see Bruce Wayne, he is waking up in a pile of garbage with no memory of himself. He meets a man named Honor Jackson, who recognizes that Bruce is on serious drugs. As the two spend time together, working in shady dealings that Honor was involved in, Honor gave Bruce an old broken radio as a sentimental gift. After they parted, Bruce found out that Honor had died some time before Bruce met him.
[edit]The Black Glove is taking hold
With this information, Bruce seemed to snap. He made himself a costume out of red, yellow, and purple rags, and began referring to the broken radio as the "Bat-Radia". He then called himself "The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh" and began taking advice from Bat-mite (written as 'Might" in this case, as the character is meant to be a voice of reason to Zur-En-Arrh, as in "the Bat might do this.").
Batman and Bat-mite finally make it to Arkham, where Bat-mite says he cannot follow. Inside, Batman is confronted by Joker, who has Jezebel Jet held captive, and kills her right in front of him using the flowers that make up Jokers laughing Gas. And as Batman regains his sanity and loses consciousness to the same poisonous flowers, Jezebel is okay, the Joker is smiling, Dr. Hurt is there, and everyone is asking Batman: "Now do you get it?"
The story finally comes together when it is revealed that Jezebel Jet had been a part of the Black Glove all along. The word Zur-en-Arrh was written all over the city by Hurt as a subliminal trigger to be used when the time was right to break Batman's mind. While the now mentally stable Batman escaped the shallow grave the Black Glove put him in, Joker pointed out that no one had investigated Batman's "bat-radio". When they did, they activated a transmitter that brought Nightwing, Robin, Damian, and the League of Assassins right to them. Batman hunted down Hurt, who tried to convince Bruce that he was his father, but Batman believed him to be Mangrove Pierce, an actor who had once been his father's double. As Hurt tried to escape, Batman infiltrated his escaping helicopter, causing it to crash in a blazing explosion.
Batman #683 reveals that Batman survived the explosion and returned to the Batcave to examine the gathered evidence on the Black Glove. However, the events of Final Crisis drew his attention elsewhere.
[edit]Final Crisis
Darkseid attempts to mind control Batman, but can't, and only makes clones of him that are imperfect. After Batman escapes and confronts Darkseid, he shoots him with the same gun used to murder Orion as Darkseid's Omega Sanction grants him with "the death that is life", leaving a skeleton in Batman's place.
The Batman is now presumed dead, and The Bat-Family and all of Gotham must figure out what will happen without him.
