This volume of Comic Book Crisis of Faith spotlights Grant Morrison's creative run on DC's Batman. For any newcomers, the Comic Book Crisis of Faith column focuses on macro reviews of particular comic runs, be they by creators or simply a new series or even just a chance to reflect on the past year or so worth of comics from a particular book. You can find some quick examples of these in my previous volumes featuring Blue Beetle or The Immortal Iron Fist. I had originally been debating which book I would do this week. I had narrowed my choices down to Kirkman's The Walking Dead, Dini's Detective Comics and Morrison's Batman until I received several requests to see Morrison's Batman reviewed. This made my decision easier and I hope the rest of you enjoy this week's choice. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions and discussion is always welcome. On with the show!
Grant Morrison's Batman & Son (collects issues #655-658, 663-666) - Written by Grant Morrison with Art by Andy Kubert & John Van Fleet
I hate referring to a long running book, like Batman, as Grant Morrison's book, but for all intents and purposes, this is his Batman. Simply put, Morrison brings his trademark imaginative high concept story telling to the Batman franchise in this opening salvo of his Batman tenure. If you are a long time Batman fan expecting traditional stories from Morrison, you will be sadly disappointed. Morrison presents us with his version of Batman. Batman is still Batman, in so far as he dresses like a bat in the same costume and fights crime to avenge his parents murder just like always, but the style and tone of the book have Grant Morrison written all over it. His very first arc deals with vampire ninja man-bats and retroactively bringing an Elseworlds tale into the main Batman continuity by giving Batman an illegitimate love child from Talia al Ghul. These are the types of stories and outrageous concepts that Grant Morrison is famous for, but they are not the types of things many people read Batman books for and they may or may not impact your enjoyment of this book.
While the 1987, Batman: Son of the Demon, had long been considered an Elseworlds tale, Morrison has seen fit to integrate the classic tale into the Batman canon proper in his opening arc, Batman & Son. The story opens with a bang, literally, as Joker is shot in the face by an impostor Batman and sets the tone for this action packed, anything goes adventure in the Batman universe. The story quickly shifts gears as Bruce Wayne heads to London for a fundraiser event. Morrison does an excellent job with these 'Bruce' moments in his opening issues, something he quickly leaves to the wayside in later arcs. While at this fundraiser, Bruce is quickly drawn into action as giant vampire man-bats attack the pop art museum where it is being held. This action sequence features the best use of sound effects I have seen in a long time. The various pop art pieces on display are used to illustrate the sound effects for many of the scenes, ranging from a giant, "Wow", speech bubble above a beautiful woman to the classic, "Blam", effect in the background art piece as Batman fires his grappling gun. I am not sure if this was Morrison's or Kubert's idea, but someone deserves an award for this as it is extremely well done. While Batman manages to take down several of these abominations, he is quickly overpowered and taken captive back to Talia al Ghul, the mastermind behind their creation and attack. It is here that we are introduced to Batman's son, Damian Wayne, the offspring of Bruce and Talia's evening of passion in Son of the Demon.
The next few issues explore Damian's personality and character and show the effects his upbringing by the League of Assassins has wrought upon him. Many have complained that Damian is far too obnoxious and unlikeable a character and, while I agree with those assessments, I believe that this was Morrison's intention all along. Damian is a spoiled brat that has been trained to take whatever he wants by whatever means necessary. As a child that grew up without his father, he is equally enamoured with Batman and the stories his mother has told him have only served to make him want Bruce's approval that much more. This is best seen in his attempts at fighting crime, and the casualness with which he takes people's lives, and his interactions with and eventual attacking of Robin. He is clearly jealous of Robin and Bruce's adoption of him. He feels his father would rather have the adopted Tim Drake as opposed to his own son and once you realize this, the motivations for everything Damian says and does is painfully clear. The storyline concludes with a rather lackluster and rushed finish as Talia demands that Britain relinquish Gibraltar to her, as her father always had a soft spot for it. Batman and Damian show up to stop her attack and it is revealed that Talia is only interested in uniting Damian and Bruce together and hopes this will cause him to join with her and take his place as her husband. When Batman refuses, Talia and Damian disappear in the explosions as the British fleet opens fire on them. Talia acts irrational throughout this storyline and is written completely out of character and I feel she is the worst part of Morrison's Batman. If you have never read any previous stories with a focus on Talia in it, this will not really affect your enjoyment of this run, but her personality and actions throughout this arc are a major blemish and serve only to pull me out of the story. While an excellent story based on its own merit, Morrison's initial arc leaves a lot to be desired as a Batman story.
After a five issue layoff to allow Kubert to catch up on his workload, Morrison returned with issue #663 with guest penciller Van Fleet. This has come to be known as the 'prose' issue and, as you may have guessed, it is not a traditional comic book with art and speech bubbles, but an illustrated prose book, much like a novel with the occasional picture. I, personally, feel this is the absolute best issue of Morrison's run, as well as one of my favourite Batman stories of all time, and that this was the perfect vignette for the introduction of what could be the definitive Joker interpretation. This issue is almost like a follow up or companion piece to Morrison's previous Arkham Asylum and emphasizes the nature of Batman and Joker and their dual natures. Each requires the other and are inexplicably drawn to each other by their own gravities. Morrison also builds upon his previous Joker interpretation in Arkham and uses this to explain the random evolutions or shifting personalities the Joker has endured throughout the decades. There is also the obvious checkerboard motif that frames this story that mirrors the fractals in Arkham, as well as the general setting of this prose piece mainly in the asylum. This new Joker personality provides a far more menacing and frightening nemesis for Batman and Morrison establishes this new persona with the precision executions of all the Joker's previous 'employees' and culminates with his failed attempt to kill the only person he has ever cared about, Harley Quinn. Van Fleet's incredibly moody and often times disturbing artwork serves to complement the incredible writing and truly makes this tale memorable. My only complaint with the story is the opening chapter or two. Morrison seems overly wordy and possibly carried away with his uninhibited writing prose. These early expositions are probably where the brunt of the online vitriol against this prose issue comes from and, to an extent, I can see their point. However, I also believe that these people more than likely did not finish the issue and simply flipped through the pages to look at the pretty pictures once they grew tired of the overly wordy introduction. I cannot see how anyone was not gripped by the later confrontation with Joker, Harley and Batman and the chilling conclusion and rebirth of the new Joker persona.
The issue also hearkened back and paid homage to Danny O'Neil's, Death Strikes at Midnight and Three, the 1978 prose piece from DC Special Series #15 and later reprinted in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. It was a pulp tale and shares a similar title with Morrison's tale, The Clown at Midnight, where both use Midnight in the title. Further comparison can be drawn when both take time to describe the gritty landscape of Gotham and each lay out the size and scope of the cities limits. It is hard to believe this is the same writer from the old UK annuals where he did the prose based Batman and Catwoman story, The Stalking. Morrison's new work is almost lyrical compared to the dull and generic work from his early days in the medium and his older work only serves to show how much this writer has grown throughout the years.
With his incredible prose issue behind him, and Kubert back in the saddle, Morrison continues his personal take on the Batman mythos with what appears to be a ironic take on the character and a humorous poke at the 90's version of Batman. The first part of this two parter starts off with an inversion of the Batman / Bruce Wayne persona. Typically, Bruce is the weak and ineffective persona while Batman is the faultless hero. This issue opens with Bruce acting as the alpha male, action hero character, using his physical prowess on the ski slopes and even tossing a ski pole at a paparazzi minicopter, all to impress a woman. He even refers to himself as being cooler than James Bond. Batman, on the other hand, comes off completely ineffectual and the Bat-Bane character completely manhandles the usually dominant Batman. It even alludes to the 90's broken back at the end of the initial confrontation with this Bat-Bane character. Both issues are also littered heavily with the hard-boiled inner monologue of Batman, and it often directly contradicts or mocks his current situation, such as when he is face down in the mud after being beaten and thinks there must be a better way to strike terror into the hearts of criminals. It is as if Morrison is mocking this form of story telling that has been prevalent in most Batman comics since Frank Miller's popularization of the technique back in his Dark Knight story. It is not until Batman stops using this cliched storytelling technique that he becomes the effective and brutal Batman we have come to know and love.
The issue, taken at face value, is a very generic story and it is not meant to be enjoyed this way. Without considering the various dualities and symbolic nature of the characters and events, this two issue arc falls flat and fails to impress. These ghosts of the Batman each represent a distorted perspective into Batman's mind and serve to drive the narrative. The first ghost was the gun toting Batman that shot the Joker and reflects Bruce's childhood trauma when his parents were gun down in front of him. This Bat-Bane is easily associated with Bane and the breaking of Batman's back in the Knightfall saga and reflects his greatest defeat.
The final arc continues these ghostly reflections of Batman's inner psyche with the despondent future with Damian as Batman. It reflects a Batman driven by vengeance and one who has sold his soul to the devil in search of it. It is an excellent finish to Morrison's first act of his Batman saga and my only complaint with this 666 issue was that it was too short. I would have liked to have seen more of this Damian version of Batman and the many excellent one-shot villains created for this issue. An expanded build up to the battle with the anti-Christ would have made for a much more dramatic conclusion as well. This one-shot vision of a potential future with Damian as Batman was an excellent stand alone issue and worth checking out by anyone, even if you have not been keeping with Morrison's run.
As a long time Batman reader, my only complaint about Morrison's Batman is that it really is not a Batman book for the most part. Typically, it is merely a vessel for unleashing the limitless imagination and creativity of Morrison. He routinely mischaracterizes long time characters or rewrites continuity to suit his purpose so that he can tell his story, not Batman's. I am willing to look past this minor gripe though, as his current story arc with the International Club of Heroes draws heavily on older continuity and seems like a much better Batman story, while still retaining that Morrison feel to it. This initial outing seems to be setting up a lot of things for future use, especially considering the upcoming Return of Ra's story will feature Damian and Talia heavily. While there are many high points in this run, at the same time it is far from perfect. His run is worth picking up for the prose issue and the highly enjoyable 666 issue and his future issues are looking excellent as well. Whether you agree with his take on the character or not, Morrison's run is definitely enjoyable and I foresee only good things with future offerings.
Verdict - Must Read
Grant Morrison's Batman & Son (collects issues #655-658, 663-666) - Written by Grant Morrison with Art by Andy Kubert & John Van FleetI hate referring to a long running book, like Batman, as Grant Morrison's book, but for all intents and purposes, this is his Batman. Simply put, Morrison brings his trademark imaginative high concept story telling to the Batman franchise in this opening salvo of his Batman tenure. If you are a long time Batman fan expecting traditional stories from Morrison, you will be sadly disappointed. Morrison presents us with his version of Batman. Batman is still Batman, in so far as he dresses like a bat in the same costume and fights crime to avenge his parents murder just like always, but the style and tone of the book have Grant Morrison written all over it. His very first arc deals with vampire ninja man-bats and retroactively bringing an Elseworlds tale into the main Batman continuity by giving Batman an illegitimate love child from Talia al Ghul. These are the types of stories and outrageous concepts that Grant Morrison is famous for, but they are not the types of things many people read Batman books for and they may or may not impact your enjoyment of this book.
While the 1987, Batman: Son of the Demon, had long been considered an Elseworlds tale, Morrison has seen fit to integrate the classic tale into the Batman canon proper in his opening arc, Batman & Son. The story opens with a bang, literally, as Joker is shot in the face by an impostor Batman and sets the tone for this action packed, anything goes adventure in the Batman universe. The story quickly shifts gears as Bruce Wayne heads to London for a fundraiser event. Morrison does an excellent job with these 'Bruce' moments in his opening issues, something he quickly leaves to the wayside in later arcs. While at this fundraiser, Bruce is quickly drawn into action as giant vampire man-bats attack the pop art museum where it is being held. This action sequence features the best use of sound effects I have seen in a long time. The various pop art pieces on display are used to illustrate the sound effects for many of the scenes, ranging from a giant, "Wow", speech bubble above a beautiful woman to the classic, "Blam", effect in the background art piece as Batman fires his grappling gun. I am not sure if this was Morrison's or Kubert's idea, but someone deserves an award for this as it is extremely well done. While Batman manages to take down several of these abominations, he is quickly overpowered and taken captive back to Talia al Ghul, the mastermind behind their creation and attack. It is here that we are introduced to Batman's son, Damian Wayne, the offspring of Bruce and Talia's evening of passion in Son of the Demon.
The next few issues explore Damian's personality and character and show the effects his upbringing by the League of Assassins has wrought upon him. Many have complained that Damian is far too obnoxious and unlikeable a character and, while I agree with those assessments, I believe that this was Morrison's intention all along. Damian is a spoiled brat that has been trained to take whatever he wants by whatever means necessary. As a child that grew up without his father, he is equally enamoured with Batman and the stories his mother has told him have only served to make him want Bruce's approval that much more. This is best seen in his attempts at fighting crime, and the casualness with which he takes people's lives, and his interactions with and eventual attacking of Robin. He is clearly jealous of Robin and Bruce's adoption of him. He feels his father would rather have the adopted Tim Drake as opposed to his own son and once you realize this, the motivations for everything Damian says and does is painfully clear. The storyline concludes with a rather lackluster and rushed finish as Talia demands that Britain relinquish Gibraltar to her, as her father always had a soft spot for it. Batman and Damian show up to stop her attack and it is revealed that Talia is only interested in uniting Damian and Bruce together and hopes this will cause him to join with her and take his place as her husband. When Batman refuses, Talia and Damian disappear in the explosions as the British fleet opens fire on them. Talia acts irrational throughout this storyline and is written completely out of character and I feel she is the worst part of Morrison's Batman. If you have never read any previous stories with a focus on Talia in it, this will not really affect your enjoyment of this run, but her personality and actions throughout this arc are a major blemish and serve only to pull me out of the story. While an excellent story based on its own merit, Morrison's initial arc leaves a lot to be desired as a Batman story.
After a five issue layoff to allow Kubert to catch up on his workload, Morrison returned with issue #663 with guest penciller Van Fleet. This has come to be known as the 'prose' issue and, as you may have guessed, it is not a traditional comic book with art and speech bubbles, but an illustrated prose book, much like a novel with the occasional picture. I, personally, feel this is the absolute best issue of Morrison's run, as well as one of my favourite Batman stories of all time, and that this was the perfect vignette for the introduction of what could be the definitive Joker interpretation. This issue is almost like a follow up or companion piece to Morrison's previous Arkham Asylum and emphasizes the nature of Batman and Joker and their dual natures. Each requires the other and are inexplicably drawn to each other by their own gravities. Morrison also builds upon his previous Joker interpretation in Arkham and uses this to explain the random evolutions or shifting personalities the Joker has endured throughout the decades. There is also the obvious checkerboard motif that frames this story that mirrors the fractals in Arkham, as well as the general setting of this prose piece mainly in the asylum. This new Joker personality provides a far more menacing and frightening nemesis for Batman and Morrison establishes this new persona with the precision executions of all the Joker's previous 'employees' and culminates with his failed attempt to kill the only person he has ever cared about, Harley Quinn. Van Fleet's incredibly moody and often times disturbing artwork serves to complement the incredible writing and truly makes this tale memorable. My only complaint with the story is the opening chapter or two. Morrison seems overly wordy and possibly carried away with his uninhibited writing prose. These early expositions are probably where the brunt of the online vitriol against this prose issue comes from and, to an extent, I can see their point. However, I also believe that these people more than likely did not finish the issue and simply flipped through the pages to look at the pretty pictures once they grew tired of the overly wordy introduction. I cannot see how anyone was not gripped by the later confrontation with Joker, Harley and Batman and the chilling conclusion and rebirth of the new Joker persona.The issue also hearkened back and paid homage to Danny O'Neil's, Death Strikes at Midnight and Three, the 1978 prose piece from DC Special Series #15 and later reprinted in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. It was a pulp tale and shares a similar title with Morrison's tale, The Clown at Midnight, where both use Midnight in the title. Further comparison can be drawn when both take time to describe the gritty landscape of Gotham and each lay out the size and scope of the cities limits. It is hard to believe this is the same writer from the old UK annuals where he did the prose based Batman and Catwoman story, The Stalking. Morrison's new work is almost lyrical compared to the dull and generic work from his early days in the medium and his older work only serves to show how much this writer has grown throughout the years.
With his incredible prose issue behind him, and Kubert back in the saddle, Morrison continues his personal take on the Batman mythos with what appears to be a ironic take on the character and a humorous poke at the 90's version of Batman. The first part of this two parter starts off with an inversion of the Batman / Bruce Wayne persona. Typically, Bruce is the weak and ineffective persona while Batman is the faultless hero. This issue opens with Bruce acting as the alpha male, action hero character, using his physical prowess on the ski slopes and even tossing a ski pole at a paparazzi minicopter, all to impress a woman. He even refers to himself as being cooler than James Bond. Batman, on the other hand, comes off completely ineffectual and the Bat-Bane character completely manhandles the usually dominant Batman. It even alludes to the 90's broken back at the end of the initial confrontation with this Bat-Bane character. Both issues are also littered heavily with the hard-boiled inner monologue of Batman, and it often directly contradicts or mocks his current situation, such as when he is face down in the mud after being beaten and thinks there must be a better way to strike terror into the hearts of criminals. It is as if Morrison is mocking this form of story telling that has been prevalent in most Batman comics since Frank Miller's popularization of the technique back in his Dark Knight story. It is not until Batman stops using this cliched storytelling technique that he becomes the effective and brutal Batman we have come to know and love.The issue, taken at face value, is a very generic story and it is not meant to be enjoyed this way. Without considering the various dualities and symbolic nature of the characters and events, this two issue arc falls flat and fails to impress. These ghosts of the Batman each represent a distorted perspective into Batman's mind and serve to drive the narrative. The first ghost was the gun toting Batman that shot the Joker and reflects Bruce's childhood trauma when his parents were gun down in front of him. This Bat-Bane is easily associated with Bane and the breaking of Batman's back in the Knightfall saga and reflects his greatest defeat.
The final arc continues these ghostly reflections of Batman's inner psyche with the despondent future with Damian as Batman. It reflects a Batman driven by vengeance and one who has sold his soul to the devil in search of it. It is an excellent finish to Morrison's first act of his Batman saga and my only complaint with this 666 issue was that it was too short. I would have liked to have seen more of this Damian version of Batman and the many excellent one-shot villains created for this issue. An expanded build up to the battle with the anti-Christ would have made for a much more dramatic conclusion as well. This one-shot vision of a potential future with Damian as Batman was an excellent stand alone issue and worth checking out by anyone, even if you have not been keeping with Morrison's run.As a long time Batman reader, my only complaint about Morrison's Batman is that it really is not a Batman book for the most part. Typically, it is merely a vessel for unleashing the limitless imagination and creativity of Morrison. He routinely mischaracterizes long time characters or rewrites continuity to suit his purpose so that he can tell his story, not Batman's. I am willing to look past this minor gripe though, as his current story arc with the International Club of Heroes draws heavily on older continuity and seems like a much better Batman story, while still retaining that Morrison feel to it. This initial outing seems to be setting up a lot of things for future use, especially considering the upcoming Return of Ra's story will feature Damian and Talia heavily. While there are many high points in this run, at the same time it is far from perfect. His run is worth picking up for the prose issue and the highly enjoyable 666 issue and his future issues are looking excellent as well. Whether you agree with his take on the character or not, Morrison's run is definitely enjoyable and I foresee only good things with future offerings.
Verdict - Must Read
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