Batman and Robin and Seaguy Hit THE SPLASH PAGE

Chad Nevett and I couldn't resist talking about Grant Morrison comics when two of them shipped on the same day. So that's what we did:

Chad Nevett: Oh my god, we're discussing Grant Morrison again! What a surprise! I am so shocked! This never happens! Ever! Seriously! Er... so... yeah... "Batman and Robin" #1 and "Seaguy" #3. Want to kick things off, Tim?

Tim Callahan: "Batman and Robin" #1? Oh, did that come out?

Honestly, I haven't been anticipating a comic this much since "Final Crisis" #7, how about you?

The first thing that pops to mind is, "yeah, had Quitely drawn all of Morrison's 'Batman' run, our brains would not have been able to handle the awesomeness." Boy, is he the perfect guy to take this Morrisonian weirdness and make it sing. And, yeah, this issue immediately renders all of "Battle for the Cowl" moot, filling in just enough plot details to get everyone up to speed, and then jumping right into the action. This is definitely a much more accessible Morrison Batman comic, with very little in the way of subtext beyond the Dick/Damian relationship and the new strangeness descending on Gotham in the absence of Bruce Wayne. But Morrison's "Batman" run started out simple too, with a Man-Bat Ninja attack and the introduction of his hitherto-unknown son. I think people forget that when they complain about the dense and indecipherable earlier Morrison Batman comics (which, as we both know, were slightly dense but hardly indecipherable). Still, this is a "Batman and Robin" comic for everyone to enjoy. I didn't even miss Jamie Grant's colors as much as I thought I would -- Alex Sinclair does a nice, bold job with the color palatte here, and perhaps Grant would have made it too ephemeral for a Batman comic (although I probably shouldn't assume that, since a pro like Grant would have changed his approach to suit this series).

As much as I liked "Batman and Robin" #1, I think I prefered "Seaguy" #3, though. "Batman and Robin" #1 was great and all, but it seemed to be pretty much exactly what I expected going in -- based on the preview art and the interviews. I never know what to expect from "Seaguy," and this final issue (of the middle series) had it all: action, madness, thrills, nonsense, satire, and most of all, romance! I loved the heck out of this "Seaguy" series. What about you? "Batman and Robin" #1 or "Seaguy" #3? What takes the Nevett Award for Best Morrison Comic of Early June?

CN: Yeah, "Seaguy" was the better comic. I was looking forward to "Batman and Robin" more, but "Seaguy" is just too damn good for a lighter superhero book to really match up. And "Batman and Robin" is very much a light superhero book -- a very good one, but, in many ways, I don't think it quite matches up to what Morrison did up until this point on "Batman." As you said, it's very superficial and lacking in subtext, which is fine and good, but a book like that is always going to look inferior next to one that is so rich and deep like "Seaguy." I love both, but one is going to get reread this weekend and the other isn't.

Actually, there's something about "Batman and Robin" that felt off for me. I didn't mention it in my review of the issue, because I was going for something a bit more objective -- and because I haven't been able to figure out what feels off yet. Maybe it's the lack of subtext. In many ways, this comic feels too easy, too self-explanatory. Too unchallenging. One of the things that we've loved about Morrison's "Batman" run has been that it demands that the reader step up and engage the comic in a far more active way than he or she usually would. Now, maybe we'll discover later that there really was tons of stuff going on here -- because, as you said, Morrison's "Batman" run began similarly -- but, I was maybe just expecting more. That said, "Batman and Robin" is a very smart, well-executed comic that reads briskly. I don't think it's as groundshaking as others have said, but it's a very strong start to this book and this new dynamic duo. Are you missing the subtext like I am?

To Be Continued at GraphiContent!

Batman and Robin #1 Annotations

Like my previous annotations/commentary on Morrison's Batman, this is not so much a scholarly look at a comic book page-by-page as it is me making fun of stuff and/or pointing out what I notice. I may point you in directions you hadn't yet considered, but I would never guarantee anything that foolish.

Batman and Robin #1 Annotations

Cover: I'm not a huge fan of the "Battle of the Planets" Batmobile, but I'm sure it will grow on me as it continues to fly through Gotham and blow stuff up. I do like the utter simplicity of Quitely's Batman design -- classic, yet with a bit of weight in the boots to show this well-grounded Dick Grayson incarnation. I also like the return of the green on the Robin costume, as if Damian insisted "hey, Neal Adams, man! We can't just throw out his design!" and I like the Doc Martens, because Damian Wayne does not wear slippers (in fact, that's the subtitle of the next Robin spin-off miniseries). The best bit of the Robin costume is the black hood on top of the yellow cape because Damian doesn't care about fashion rules. He'll put a damn hood of a different color on top of a a damn yellow cape anytime he wants. He was raised by ninja assassins. Were you?

Page 1: Mr. Toad. Note that "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" isn't actually a ride at Disney World anymore. Instead you can journey through a lame, and pointlessly bouncy, tour of Winne the Pooh's house. Perhaps Morrison's anger at this switch led to the Mickey Eye thing in "Seaguy."

Pages 2-3: Flying Batmobile vs. old-timey car.

Pages 4-5: I imagine Batman says "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Damian" in the tone of a middle school basketball coach, trying his best to be patient and supportive, but really wanting to tell the other kids to beat the little punk up after practice. This Batmobile shoots rockets that go boom.

Pages 6-7: "Never use real names in the field" is code for: "the exposition's over, pal, so start talking like these readers have actually read 'Battle for the Cowl' (even though we're as surprised as anyone that they actually did)." This Batmobile also has grappling powers. All it needs is a pair of metal fists. And Mr. Toad speaks like a carnie.

Pages 8-9: The double punch is a strategy employed heavily in the "Batman" television show from the 1960s, which is the feeling Morrison is apparently aiming for here. No sound effects, though, because that wouldn't make this panel ironic, it would just make it silly. Dominoes are also known as "bones" because doctors, aka "sawbones" used to get paid in dominoes (okay, that is probably not true at all). Does anyone draw gloves better than Frank Quitely? The answer is no.

Pages 10-11: The two pages that render all of "Battle of the Cowl" and its tie-ins completely irrelevant. Good. Also: Batman's grave, but nothing is written on it! Could it be that he's not really dead? Perhaps that final page at the end of "Final Crisis" #7 that showed Bruce Wayne alive in a caveman cave meant that Bruce Wayne is not, in fact, dead but rather alive in a caveman cave.

Page 12: See, I told you dominoes were called bones! Also, this page is a complete rip-off of Chris Ware's "Building Stories" and he should probably sue.

Page 13: The exposition ain't done yet, it turns out. But a European circus performer? That's menacing. And, no, eating chicken and jalapeno sandwiches don't make you a badass, Dick Grayson, as Damian is quick to prove.

Page 14: Who says, "crime is doomed"? Dick Grayson, right? He is turning into the sarcastic middle school basketball coach already. Also, Damian should drop a League of Assassins reference in every conversation. "So, did you catch the 'Lost' season finale?" "No, because I was raised by the masters of my mother's League of Assassins." "Do you like jalapeno sandwiches, with chicken?" "Dick Grayson, I will cut out your pansy tongue with a machete I carved from the spine of Charles Manson as I was taught by the masters of my mother's League of Assassins." Etc.

Pages 15-16: Disrespectful brats always talk about other people having to "earn" their respect. The "Tim Drake" line really puts Damian in his place, though. Dick Grayson may get promoted to junior varsity b-ball coach before this issue is over. Also, Pyg's doll gals are creepy. Pyg and his dolls appeared way back in "Batman" #666, remember that one? The one that was an "alternate future" where Damian was Batman? The one that seems less and less like an alternate future and more and more like what could really happen if Morrison stayed on this comic long enough? That was a good issue, wasn't it? This art is way better.

Pages 17-18: I know it's expressionistic and I understand foreshortening, but Frank Quitely's Batman can reach down and grab hold of his kneecaps without even bending over. His arms must have stretched after all those years of swinging around Gotham. I do like how Robin is bigger and in the foreground. This is the "Robin and Batman" series at this point. Grayson needs to step up and smack the little brat with those baboon arms of his.

Pages 19-20: That guy with the flaming skull? It's not the Flaming Skull. (He's Phosphorus Rex.)

Pages 21-22: Pyg is apparently not a professor yet. He's got a whole Leatherface thing going on here, which is pretty terrifying actually. And the acid mask gag? Didn't the Black Mask used to do something like that? Anyway, things look bleak for Niko and family. I don't think Robin will care too much about saving them. He was raised by assassins.

Page 23: I don't know if that's Jason Todd or not, but in that single panel, he looks cooler than he does in every previous appearance combined. Also: Dr. Hurt returns and he's got the keys to a building that's been blown up. Why is he all braggy about it? Because he's Satan, that's why! Or he's Bruce Wayne's father, that's why! Neither of which were raised by any sort of assassins, as far as I know.

No obscure 1950's "Batman" comics to reference this month? Maybe I'll drop this series and see what Winick's got going on.

Morrison and Quitely!!!

All the Scientists Are Running Around: Batman #682 Review

I'm not assigned to review Batman #682 for CBR, and now that "Batman R.I.P." is over, I'm not going to be doing any more annotations for Morrison's Batman run (and, let's be honest, my annotations had devolved into snarky commentary punctuated by the occasional moment of clarity, anyway).

But I'll talk about this issue anyway, not only because it has my favorite Alex Ross Batman cover, ever. Does anyone else love the day-glow cover as much as I do? It's such a brilliant contrast to the solemn covers of most of the "R.I.P." arc.

So after Morrison's ambiguous ending to "Batman R.I.P." in which he clearly revealed that Dr. Hurt, the leader of the Black Glove organization, was actually the Devil -- okay, it wasn't clear, and Hurt may not be the Devil at all, but it was whatever it was -- Morrison comes back a week later with an issue that is all fragmented memories and sense impressions.

It's not going to help you clear anything up, if the last issue left you with any questions.

Although, SPOILER, Batman is alive. Bet you didn't see that coming! Yup, it turns out that he's alive, and jacked into a Apokoliptic machine for something called "Final Crisis." I'm not sure what that is, but I think there used to be a comic book by that name that started coming out and then kinda stopped. I'll get back to you if I find out more.

Digression #1: Did y'all read the Mike Marts interview at IGN? I love Mike Marts. He does confirm that "that all signs are pointing towards Dr. Hurt not being Thomas Wayne." And he talks about Morrison's future (maybe) return on the book, possibly.

Anyway, back to issue #682. It is indeed a Final Crisis crossover issue, but since Batman pretty much spends Final Crisis out of commission, trapped in a contraption o' life-suckery -- or, as we find out, memory suckery. Because the bad guys want to build an army of Batmen, and they know that the secret to Batman's awesomeness lies not in his DNA, but in his mind.

So we get this issue, which is a "best of" episode -- a clip show -- filtered through Grant Morrison's include-and-transcend approach. This is Morrison running through the highlights of Batman's life, putting all the discordant bits into a single, highly fractured, narrative.

A key visual sequence that gives you a sense of Morrison's approach here: on page two, Alfred cleans up the infamous bat that flew through the infamous window from the infamous origin story. He scoops the smallish bat up with the dust pan and throws a much, much larger bat away with a shovel. It's the Bob Kane bat transforming into the Frank Miller bat in a three-panel sequence. It's a dream-like, highly impressionistic retelling of Batman's history, and we get different eras explored in single panels, and even alternate realities that we've never before seen. (Like when Alfred imagines the variations of Batmen that never were.)

Digression #2: I may not be doing annotations this time, but David Uzumeri is.

I don't know what to make of this issue. It's too incomplete on its own, and it's not even a coda for "Batman R.I.P." really. It's a Morrisonian symbolism issue, like the Rebis spotlight from Doom Patrol #54. In the Rebis issue, the visual cues tied into the symbolism of the alchemical marriage, and it ultimately provided a link which would send Rebis back to Earth, "healed" and ready for action. Maybe that's what's happening here, as Batman is psychically healing after the events of "R.I.P." But because he's Batman, he can only heal by overcoming an obstacle -- in this case, a Jack Kirby villain lodged in his psyche, pretending to be Alfred.

Does that imply that Alfred in Morrison's previous issues was something more that he seemed? Has "The Lump" been affecting Batman's mind for more than this issue? Was Morrison's entire run a bat-dream triggered by one of Darkseid's machines?

I really have no idea at this point, though I suspect there are no simple answers to any of those questions.

I would like to note, however, that the thing Batman is hooked up to on the final page looks suspiciously like a fiction suit.

Batman #681 Hits THE SPLASH PAGE

Sick of talking about the end of "Batman R.I.P" yet?

Chad Nevett and I discuss the issue, its implications for the future of the Bat-franchise, and/or whether or not we "get it" in the newest installment of the internet's best place for comic book dialogue: The Splash Page.

Or, click here.

Batman #681 Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Batman #681 about which I write the following sentences: "Is this issue a satisfying conclusion to 'Batman R.I.P.'? Yes, as the events of recent issues are explained and put into context more explicitly. But yet we're left with plenty of unanswered questions about the larger picture, and the final few sequences seem too abrupt, as if we're flashing toward too many previews of things to come even as some of the dangling threads have been left unresolved."

Read the entire review HERE.

Note: I stand by this spoiler-free review, even though I do say that the "true identity of Dr. Hurt" is revealed. I'm not sure I would say that anymore, because the more I've thought about it, the more I realize how ambiguous the reveal is. When I read it (twice) right before writing my review, it seemed pretty clear that Hurt was being revealed as the Devil. But as you can see even in the review, I conceded that we were left with many unanswered questions.

I do think Batman #681 is a three-and-a-half-star book, since it does plenty of things really well (basically all of the Joker stuff until his ambulance-fall-off-the bridge, the Club of Heroes arrival, the super-plans of the Batman, the flashback with the poison, the betting on Batman, the Zur En Arrh/Zorro in Arkham bit) and other things not so well (the rushed fragments of ending, the lack of a resolution or full explanation, some of the artwork). Still, as I mentioned in a comment on my annotations, I think Batman has been "by far" the best Marvel or DC ongoing series over the past six months. There's more to discuss in any single issue of this series than in a year's worth of other mainstream comics. And anything that provokes thought and discussion is better than something that doesn't as far as I'm concerned.

"Batman R.I.P." Part VI: Batman #681 Annotations

I've been annotating "Batman R.I.P." and discussing Morrison's Batman run nearly issue-by-issue since his "Clown at Midnight" story. Click HERE for all my relevant Morrison Batman posts, and comment below to tell me everything I missed. (Also, this issue seemed even more straightforward than the last issue, but I guess I might as well comment on this one just for the sake of symmetry.)

Batman #681: The Annotations

Cover: Doesn't this Alex Ross cover look like a Matt Wagner composition? It does to me, although I can't come up with a specific reference. Can you?

Page 1: This is the last entry from the Black Casebook, and not only does Batman write about himself in the third person, but he underlines his own name. Thus, he reinforces the notion that Batman is just a persona, perhaps one of many inside the mind of Bruce Wayne.

Pages 2-3: The old hero-buried-alive trope. "Batman thinks of everything," becomes a recurring pattern as we learn more and more about the foresight Batman has -- he plans for eventualities that would never occur to your average fly-by-night superhero.

Also, there's an I Ching "Book of Changes" reference here which relates to the Denny O'Neal-created character (for the mod Wonder Woman era) who popped up in Morrison's "Batman" during the "Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul" crossover.

Page 4: My guess is that this flashback scene takes place sometime during the events of 52, after the Batman-cleanse of issue #30. Not the red and black coloring, which turns out to relate to a Joker-devised pattern (if he is to be believed later on), but also evokes the notion of the Devil as I've been saying for a while.

Page 5: I'm not sure what the "hole in [Bruce's] mind" refers to, exactly. Is it a reference to the Dr. Hurt sensory-deprivation experiments, when Hurt tampered with Batman's brain and inserted stuff that didn't belong? That's what I assume. [Although, Hurt refers himself as the "hole" in things. So there's that.]

But couldn't it also refer to some deeper, more primal psychic scar caused at the moment of Batman's origin?

I think it's too ambiguous to make a positive assertion, but it may not ultimately matter as the important part is the notion that Batman has planned way ahead, and created the Zur En Arrh Batman as an OS reboot for his brain.

Also, the monk apparently works for the Black Glove, or the Devil, or whoever you think is "the Master."

Pages 6-7: Robin vs. Pierrot Lunaire and the Swagman.

Dark Ranger, from the Club of Heroes, shows up. He says, "formerly the Scout," who I assume used to be the Ranger's sidekick, and since the original Dark Ranger died in the story arc running through Batman #667-669, the Scout must have taken his place. Note that this pattern, of the former sidekick taking on the mantle of the hero, is part of Club of Heroes history, as it happened with the Knight and now with Dark Ranger.

Will the same thing happen as a former sidekick (like, say, Nightwing) adopts the role of Batman? One assumes so.

Page 8:Do you think Tony Daniel drew this page and then thought, "geez, I guess I'd better Photoshop some kind of hideous, blurry buildings behind the characters now?" or do you think editorial called up Daniel and said, "geez, Tony, we like the poses here, but could you add something really distracting and out-of-place in the background? Cool. Thanks." Or maybe Guy Major did it.

Anyway, the Club of Heroes has shown up just in time to fight some low-level minions!

From left-to-right, top-to-bottom, we have the Squire, Little Raven (or Red Raven), Man-of-Bats, the Musketeer, the Knight, Dark Ranger, and the Gaucho.

Page 9: More red and black flashback action as we find out that Bruce Wayne has -- aha -- switched the poison goblets because he planned ahead! Or, as he calls it, "force of habit." Or maybe it's because of that Princess Bride marathon he has every year with his best pal Alfred.

Page 10: Dr. Hurt and the members of the Black Glove pay their respects to the buried Batman. Note that he has a purposefully shallow grave because Hurt's plan is to un-bury Batman just after brain-damage sets in. Why? Because.

Jezebel Jet, who has turned out to be EVIL Jezebel Jet, wants to disfigure him. Why? Because.

Pages 11: The Joker reveals that he's not a mere pawn of the Black Glove, as we all suspected, and then revels in actually betting on Batman to take these chumps down. That's the Joker for you -- when the chips are down, he's always going to bet on black.

Page 12: That bat-radia was more than just a crazyperson radio. It was a secret transmitter. Suckers!

And I wonder if Jet's line, "an old broken radio he found in a derelict's abandoned shopping cart," is verification that Honor Jackson was merely a figment of Bruce Wayne's mind (like Bat-Mite). I say, yes.

Page 13: Back at Arkham, Le Bossu (now with a broken nose and/or disfigured face) prepares to lobotomize Dick Grayson as Scorpiana assists. But, silly Le Bossu, Dick Grayson was trained by BATMAN. He's not going to lie back and let you pound a spike into his frontal lobe without a fight.

Page 14: Flashback again. Bruce Wayne saves the life of the monk just so he can tell the bad guy that Batman is ready for him. Also, Bruce Wayne apparently "killed and ate the last traces of fear and doubt," which is nice. And here we were all worried, back when we read 52 #30, that he was going to stop being Batman or something. Ha, that would never happen. Never ever, ever ever.

Except maybe at the end of this issue, because he is dead.

Page 15: I like this silhouette of bustin-out Batman. Nicely done, Tony Daniel.

But when exactly did Batman write this Black Casebook entry? He dies at the end of the issue, and by "dies" I mean, we all know he's not really dead, but he's "dead" for now. But this Black Casebook entry describes everything up through the final confrontation between him and Hurt. So is this him writing about the visions of his future? Or is this him writing about his adventure after he "died"? I say it's a forgery, written by the Richard Gere character.

Page 16: Is Batman hunched a bit awkwardly? Does the shape of the figure and the basic musculature evoke Jim Lee? Is the image not quite as iconic as it should be?

Check. Check. And check.

Then it must be a Tony Daniel splash page!

Pages 17: The Joker takes credit for the red and black motif, referring to the 1980s phone-in death of Robin story. This page makes it seem as if Joker played a much more significant role as a puppet master -- perhaps something even the Black Glove members aren't aware of.

"Apophenia" is when you see symbols and patterns in random and meaningless data. Which is what critics accuse me of doing all the time. And readers accuse Morrison of doing all the time. And it's been part of the Joker's whole deal for the past several issues, implying that Batman sees patterns which aren't even there. Yet, Batman's pattern recognition has been pretty accurate, so what does that mean? It means the Joker is the crazy one.

And here the Joker explicitly calls Dr. Hurt the "devil," and says the the Joker trumps him.

What is beyond Good and Evil? The Joker.

Page 18: Tony Daniel reaches into his bag of tricks and pulls out another Batman pose much like the one a couple of pages ago, except with less shadow!

Jezebel Jet says, "I though I smelled dirt," but, amazingly, Batman has no trace of dirt on him at all. Must be that teflon fabric he started using in preparation for the burial alive he knew was coming.

All of which begs the question: if Batman has such foresight, why does he wait until things look to be at their worst before he reveals his plan? Why not just nip it in the bud like two years ago? I guess Batman likes dramatic tension as much as the next guy.

Pages 19: Batman reveals that he did fall for bad girl Jezebel Jet, but he suspected she was part of the trap from the "second after" he realized he had feelings for her. He's been acting the part of the love interest all along. Sure he has. This was ALL part of his plan.

Page 20: Batman knows everything about Jet's history all of a sudden, which is nice. And he gives props to Alfred for passing along some acting skills to young Master Wayne.

If the Black Glove was around 20 years ago, what does that mean? Does that tell us anything we didn't already know? I don't think so. (Other than the notion that the Black Glove is an organization that wasn't created just to mess with Batman.)

Page 21: Nightwing to the rescue, to which Batman says, "I heart you Dick Grayson with all my hearty heart."

Also, in his Black Casebook entry, he reveals that he couldn't nip the plan in the bud, because he didn't know which bud would blossom into EVIL. A flowering evil of flowery flora. I'm pushing this metaphor too far, and I will stop.

Pages 22: Apparently Robin saved the city while Batman dealt with his own issues.

I don't know how he saved the city, besides punching a few costumed bad guys with the help of Batmen International, but the Squire says he did, so he did.

Robin pulls a wicked sweet wheelie as he races off to Batman's aid. Showboat.

Page 23: The final fate of Joker and an appearance by Damian and Alfred, all in a one-page scene. Talk about compression!

Is there a pattern to the fact that Damian is the one who sends the Joker over the bridge, or is it all randomness? Depends on whether you're Batman or the Joker, I guess.

Page 24: Exposition time. Note that between last issue and this one, Hurt and his cronies must have undressed Batman (who was wearing his purple, red, and yellow Zur En Arrh costume) and then dressed him in his more traditional costume. Then, on this page, he says he wants Batman to "put away the costume." Make up your mind, Dr. Hurt!

Hurt also gives Bats a verbal smackdown for being a trust fund orphan who "vents his rage and frustration on the poor," which is something I've heard Morrison say when he talks about the Marxist aspects of the Batman mythos.

Page 25: Dr. Hurt IS Thomas Wayne.

No, he's not.

He's Mangrove Pierce.

Um, no.

Okay, then he's "the hole in things."

Oh, "the hole." That wasn't on my list of suspects.

But you've gotta interpret "the hole in things...the enemy, the piece that can never fit, there since the beginning" to be the Devil, right?

Right? Just like I mentioned a few months ago.

Page 26: Hurt, or the Devil, or the metaphorical Devil, or whatever, offers Batman a Faustian Bargain: dedicate his life to the corruption of virtue and save the reputation of everyone he ever loved. "Nah," says Batman, before a 39-degree Lightning Dive! (Which he totally must have practiced for just such an eventuality. The old Satan in a helicopter scenario.)

Page 27: The third evil Batman pilots the chopper, and if Hurt is the Devil for real, he doesn't show it by using his Devil powers in this scene. He just kind of whines about everything.

"The Black Glove always wins," Hurt says, as Batman's black gloved-fist makes the helicopter go all explodey.

Page 28: Robin shows up a little too late (maybe if he wasn't hot-doggin' all the way here...)

Then Robin sums up the entire Morrison run in three word balloons, except he left out all the good bits.

Talia shows up, with her League of Assassins and their injections of -- one assumes -- Man-Bat formula.

Page 29: It's a good thing Batman took off his cape and cowl before jumping onto the helicopter. Otherwise, Nightwing wouldn't have had anything cool to hold as he watched the flames from the rooftop. One wonders if he -- recognizing the symbolic importance of the moment -- would have swung by the Batcave, picked up a spare cape and cowl and come out to this spot to do the pose anyway. I can picture Dick Grayson doing that.

Obviously, this implies that Nightwing will become the next Batman until the real Batman inevitably returns (probably after a little bit of negotiation with the Devil -- maybe Batman will ride out of Hell on a flaming motorcycle! Cool idea, eh? What's Mark Texiera drawing next year?)

Page 30: This page doesn't show Jezebel Jet die at the hands of Talia's Ninja Manbats, but I'm pretty sure they didn't fly by just to hang out. Still, I'm sure Jet will appear again sometime in the next ten years. Count on it.

Page 31: Six months later, and no sight of Batman. That Battle for the Cowl thing must have kept him out of the limelight.

Le Bossu's "Even Batman and Robin are dead!" line on this page is answered way back in issue #676, as that Batman and Robin (who I guessed at the time -- and I stand by it -- to be Dick Grayson and Damian) shout "Batman and Robin will never die!"

I like how Morrison doesn't show that part again, but relies on the memories of the reader to connect the two pages -- separated by months and months of real time -- together.

Page 32: [Edited to add: Joe Chill pops up on this final page, foreshadowing the death scene to come. I presume his presence is merely ominous, but I think we can also assume that the Black Glove organization and/or the Devil was involved in Batman's origin. Or if we can't assume it, then we can guess at it.] We all know what happens to momma and poppa Wayne after that night at the movies, and the red and the black coloring ties it all back to the Joker and the Devil once again, but the cool part about this final page is when Thomas Wayne says, "they'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham." To which little Bruce says, "what?"

Then, in backwards lettering "Zur En Arrh." As in a slurring of "Zorro in Arkham." That's what this whole thing has been about -- the crazed Zorro, aka Batman, and his adventures into madness. I like how Morrison turns a 1950s nonsense phrase into something meaningful to the Batman character.

Batman is "dead." The Black Glove defeated -- sort of. Dr. Hurt is exploded. The Devil may or may not have even been part of this. The Joker's in a flying ambulance, headed for the river. Plot threads still dangle, and I wonder how many answers we'll get in the next couple of Morrison issues, which are all about Alfred looking back at Batman's life.

Or maybe anyone looking for a plot in the life of a character merely suffers from apophenia.

When Words Collide: Who is the Black Glove?

With only a couple of weeks left to go before the end of "Batman R.I.P." I had to weigh in on the various Black Glove theories, and that's exactly the kind of thing that's perfect for "When Words Collide."

So, check out my odds-making on the various suspects in "Who is the Black Glove?"

Then, go over to my WWC forum to add your own two cents.

And, if you're into it, you can go back and read all of my relevant Morrison Batman posts over the past couple of years.

After that you can, I don't know, do something more productive with your life. Or not.

Grant Morrison's FIRST Batman Story

Faithful reader Randy Homier sent me an e-mail saying how much he enjoyed reading the Morrison prose Superman story that I posted a while back, and he asked where he could find the Morrison prose Batman story from the UK 1986 Batman Annual. I thought I posted it back when I discussed Batman #663, but I guess I just put up a single page from the three-page story. Well, here's the whole thing, then, in all of it's Garry Leach-illustrated glory. (Click on each page to enlarge.) Enjoy!

"Batman R.I.P." Part V: Batman #680 Annotations

I've been annotating "Batman R.I.P." and discussing Morrison's Batman run nearly issue-by-issue since his "Clown at Midnight" story. Click HERE for all my relevant Morrison Batman posts, and comment below to tell me everything I missed. (Also, this issue seemed so straightforward, I almost thought about skipping the annotations on #680, but maybe I'll have enough to talk about once I get started...)

Batman #680: The Annotations

Cover: Alex Ross continues his metaphorical approach to covering "Batman R.I.P." as Batman wears a completely different costume here than he does in the issue. Also, he doesn't fight the Club of Villains. Also, also, he doesn't breakdance inside, either. I hereby label this cover, "go, Batman, go, Batman, go!"

Page 1: Bossu's minions lurk on the rooftops while Charlie Caligula's centurions provide valet service, apparently.

Pages 2-3: Dr. Hurt in the Thomas Wayne proto-Batman costume describes the "Danse Macabre" which is all about gambling with human lives. The red and black motif, so prominent in this arc -- and in Batman #663 -- continues with the table setting and the roulette wheel.

Page 4: This is a pretty straightforward Dr. Guy Dax-turns-into-Le Bossu sequence (and, honestly, I assumed the two characters were the same guy because they looked similar facially -- that's a knock against Tony Daniel's art, I guess, since his ugly faced guys look like ugly-face-with-mask guys). But, Dax/Bossu does have a line that links thematically to the notion of Batman's duality: "In order to give expression to the honest beast within," he says, "I am compelled to an elaborate process of disguise."

Page 5: Nurse Scorpiana stands over the body of Dick Grayson, who was institutionalized mistakenly a few issues ago.

Pages 6-7: Batman, still wearing the Zur-En-Arrh costume cobbled together on the streets, talks with Bat-Mite, and has two great lines about superhero fashion: "The colors demonstrate total confidence. Robin dressed this way for years and survived."

El Sombrero, master of death traps, has prepared Wayne Manor for Batman's imminent arrival, and tells the minions to assume their positions for the Danse Macbre, but the Joker, a force of chaos, has other plans as he butchers his way to El Sombrero. [Edited to add: this scene takes place at Arkham, apparently.]

Page 8: As he did in the previous issue, Batman calls Bat-Mite, "might," which seems to imply the possibilities inherent in the character, or possibly the concept of strength. Either way, Bat-Mite is part of Batman's psychic reboot, offering some guidance on his journey. "Who is the Black Glove?" is, of course, the big question for Morrison's Batman run, and this issue maybe answers it at the end.

Page 9: Batman refers to Bat-Mite as "soldier" here, which is what Frank Miller's Batman calls Robin. Perhaps it's a sign that he's regaining his sanity or at least his "normal" mental state, because all of a sudden Bat-Mite withdraws. I've proposed that Bat-Mite is just a figment of Batman's imagination -- part of his psychic reboot -- but I didn't expect Batman to come out and ask the question directly. Bat-Mite's response is typical Morrison: "Imagination is the 5th dimension." Oh, yeah. Why didn't I think of that?

Pages 10-11: Is there a precedent for all of these rich guys wearing masks as they attend the Danse Macabre? I don't know of one, but it's a pretty funny image, I think. And I love when the generalissimo whines, "Batman is cool! Batman wears black!" in protest for this weird Zur-En-Arrh Batman on the monitors. I don't know if this is exactly Geoff Johns-channeling-fanboy-rage like Superboy-Prime, but it's close enough to make me laugh.

"I own the keys to Batman's mind" seems to imply a hubris on Dr. Hurt's part, but maybe he has even more tricks up his sleeve still.

El Sobrero flies through the window, courtesy of the crazed Clown at Midnight Joker. Hurt seems to misunderstand everything about the Joker when he says, "you'll be disappointed by the way it messes with your pattern..." The Joker doesn't have a pattern. That's the opposite of the Joker aesthetic.

Pages 12-13: Wayne manor has been booby trapped by El Sombrero, but since he's clearly out of comission, I'm not sure who's talking to Gordon here, but I assume it's Dr. Hurt. The red phone hotline is an allusion to the Adam West Batman television show.

Damian, Talia, and a few of her League of Assassins peeps show up just in time. (And since Damian is surely to be the new Robin by next year, it's important to get him back into the action ASAP.)

Page 14-15: Batman's cat and mouse game with the Joker. His reference to the "Dead Man's Hand" is an allusion to the scene in DC Universe #0 in which Joker showed four of the five Aces and Eights. In their scene from that one issue special, red and black was the major motif, and since it's so pivotal to the climax in this issue, I really don't understand why it wasn't in the main Batman title.

Okay, so, Batman here is all about logic, and the Joker laughs at such notions. But when Batman says, "Cupid and the Devil" in connection with the red and the black, he's not wrong.

Page 16-17: "Love really is blind," says the Joker, giving Batman yet another (quite obvious) clue as to what's going to happen at the end of the issue, but Batman is too stubborn to pick up on it. And, let's be honest, it's tough to really take the Joker at face value. The red and black tiles are a callback to the floor pattern in Batman #663.

Joker even goes so far to say "jet-black irony" to clue everyone in that the word "jet" does indeed mean "black" just in case we didn't make the connection yet.

Oh, yeah, also the Joker slices his tongue because (a) he's crazy, and (b) it's the whole "forked-tongue" thing of the serpent who tempts humanity. It's a biblical allusion and all that. (Keep it in mind for later.)

Pages 18-19: "You think it all breaks down into symbolism and structure..." says the Joker. "No, Batman, that's just Wikipedia." Ha. My Morrison book is all about the symbolism and structure of Morrison's work, so the Joker must not be a fan. The Joker does get off a few more zingers here, dismissing everything Batman tried to do -- like the Dr. Hurt sensory deprivation experiment -- to get inside the mind of the Joker. Batman's "fatal" flaw was in trying to approach the chaotic and insane with a logical, reasonable plan.

The Joker's lines about "it's so simple," "it's all a big joke" reflect the specific situation Batman finds himself in, and the Joker's general worldview. As you'll note, if you've read Grant Morrison: The Early Years (a.k.a. the Joker's least favorite book), when I asked Morrison about his absurdist approach to comics, he said, "you should be able to make people cry and you should be able to make people feel emotions, but underneath it all, it's all bloody ridiculous."

Pages 20-21: The red and black poison petals (as seen in the previous issue) fall as Bruce Wayne struggles with his identity. Is he Batman? Bruce Wayne? The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh?

Page 22: Batman holds the Bat-Radia (which is just a plain old junky radio, actually), ineffective and useless. Clearly the red and black has overtaken the entire color scheme inside Jezebel Jet's chamber.

Pages 23-24: Jezebel Jet is revealed as the Black Glove. Well, she pulls on a literal black glove, and she's clearly working for the bad guys. I suspect, just as I proposed in my annotations for issue #679, that this is the devil incarnate. Although I didn't think Jezebel Jet was the Black Glove herself, it makes sense that the Devil would take the form of a temptress -- "Cupid and the Devil" as Batman said himself earlier in the issue.

"Now do you get it?" the Joker yells at Batman, and it's clearly a message from Morrison to the reader, too. Do you get it? The red and the black? The clues and hints? The devil is in the details.

"Batman R.I.P." Part IV: Batman #679 Annotations

I've been annotating "Batman R.I.P." and discussing Morrison's Batman run nearly issue-by-issue since his "Clown at Midnight" story. Click HERE for all my relevant Morrison Batman posts, and comment below to tell me everything I missed.

Batman #679: The Annotations

Cover: This cover has absolutely no bearing on the story inside. It's not even the same costume. I'd like to see Alex Ross's version of the "Tlano Batman" with the red, yellow, and purple. But instead we get a nice but generic Bat-pose.

Page 1: No more foreshadowing or fancy ideas here. Just Batman smashing his way through a door. He is wearing the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh costume he had sewn in the previous issue. It's a reference to Batman #113, of course, as I detailed in previous posts and annotations.

Pages 2-3: Batman has apparently (off-panel, as has been typical of Morrison lately, now that ellipsis is his technique of choice here and in Final Crisis) tracked down the tailor who has been costuming the demon mask guys he's been punching in previous issues. Bat-Mite, who first appeared in Detective Comics #267, popped up in the final panel of the last issue (and earlier in Morrison's run -- issue #672 -- when Batman seemed to have a heart-attack). Bat-Mite hasn't been in continuity since Crisis on Infinite Earths -- at least practically speaking (but he has popped up in some Elseworlds things and as some kind of Mxyzptlk incarnation) -- and although Morrison has been completely unafraid of using the supernatural and multi-dimensional in other comics (he's embraced such things), I still maintain that Bat-Mite is a hallucination here. I think Morrison's way of explaining every Batman story -- all of which "actually happened," according to Morrison -- is to give some sort of scientific/mind alteration explanation for the weird and wacky occurrences of the Silver Age. Those adventures still happened -- but only inside Batman's mind (or they were distorted versions of what really happened, because of imposed delusions).

Le Bossu first appeared in the initial installment of "Batman R.I.P.," Batman #676. He seems to be the gopher for the Club of Villains. He's always running around taking care of things for the club. Apparently, he's also the costume liaison.

Page 4: I think this page supports my contention that Batman is hallucinating Bat-Mite, since not only does the imp speak to him, but the stone gargoyles do as well. Since we are to assume that Batman is imagining the gargoyles dialogue -- and Batman even says, "Am I nuts or did these things just talk?" to which Bat-Mite responds, "You? Oh, you're totally sane!" -- isn't it safe to assume that he's imagining Bat-Mite as well? Or Morrison could be throwing us off with that kind of misdirection and I could be totally wrong.

By the way, this page is also an allusion to the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with it's hunchback mention and the talking gargoyles who comment on the action. Scoff at Morrison at will.

Page 5: The notion of the "grids" and the city talking to Batman shows his relationship with Gotham, but it also ties in with the supernatural force of Gotham city itself, as established way back in Morrison's "Batman: Gothic" storyline.

Checkerboards are also a motif in Morrison's Batman run -- appearing prominently in the prose story of Batman #663, and reappearing in the Joker scene in DC Universe #0. A checkerboard -- in addition to the notion that it's a kind of blueprint for a "machine designed to make Batman" -- would seem to symbolize duality (black and white, or red and black) and gamesmanship. Both of those ideas fit Morrison's Batman run.

Pages 6-7: The tracking device could have been implanted on Batman at several points in Morrison's run, but it was probably implanted by Dr. Hurt between issues #677 and #678. How Batman (or Bat-Mite) knows that it's in his tooth is unclear, although Batman does have an almost magical awareness of his own body, and Bat-Mite is either a projection of his fractured mind or a superdimensional imp, and either way might have insight that a normal being would not.

There's something disconcerting about seeing Batman in the Zur-En-Arrh costume, isn't there? Tony Daniel's panel of Batman leaping into action would be pretty generic if he had his normal grey and black costume on, wouldn't it? But the purple, red, and yellow adds a deranged beauty to the scene.

Page 8: Ellipsis! This is the type of thing that readers have been complaining about with Morrison lately. All of a sudden, the fight's over, Bruce Wayne's out of costume and somewhere on the internet, someone is asking, "who's that on Page 8? Dick Grayson?"

Anyway, it's clearly Bruce Wayne, and you can see his Honor-Jackson-given (or inherited) shopping cart with the Zur-En-Arrh costume in panel one. Panel two has the "old chum" line -- an allusion to the Adam West incarnation of Batman, although "old chum" in those days was Robin, not Bat-Mite.

Bat-Mite identifies the whole Zur-En-Arrh episode from Batman #113 as a hallucination caused by "professor milo's Gas weapon." Professor Achilles Milo -- he of the Moe Howard haircut -- first appeared in Detective Comics #247.

The final panel on the page is a flashback to young Bruce Wayne, enraged over the death of his parents. Note the red coloring though, which will contrast with the black background in the flashback on the next page.

Page 9: This is one of those times when Morrison uses a character to explain everything to the reader. Here, it's Bat-Mite, who tells us (and Bruce Wayne) how all of the recent craziness fits together. Of course, if Bat-Mite's your source, how reliable can it be? But Morrison used the Mad Hatter as his mouthpiece in Arkham Asylum, so Bat-Mite is probably just laying expository pipe here.

The "isolation experiment" refers to Batman #156, "Robin Dies at Dawn," which is the issue Dr. Hurt comes from, and it's the issue Morrison has referenced directly a number of times in recent issues.

The first flashback here -- panel two shows the eyes, hand, and gun of Joe Chill as he kills Thomas and Martha Wayne. The pearls have been a symbol of Martha Wayne's death since Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns. The second flashback shows the Wayne family just prior to their death, watching "The Mark of Zorro" starring Tyrone Power (the movie the family watched before taking a shortcut through Crime Alley has changed throughout the years depending on who's telling the story, but "The Mark of Zorro" -- was that another Miller addition to the mythos? -- is a common choice).

The final panel clearly establishes that the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh is a defense mechanism Batman created to save himself in the event of a psychological attack. Hence, he's not necessarily going crazy and the hallucinations of Bat-Mite may be something he has programmed into his own brain to get him out of trouble. Bat-Mite is like the the spinning wheel of the computer screen as his psyche reboots.

Pages 10-11: Robin voicemails the Club of Heroes (last seen in Batman #669) and faces off with Swagman (that's apparently his name, although solicits for his first appearance identified him as Spring-heeled Jack) who has a Ned Kelly gang helmet and sings "Waltzin' Matilda, which marks him as Australian and is yet another piece of evidence that he's not the British bomber I originally made him out to be. I assume Swagman is supposed to be an antagonist of the Ranger. (I really thought he was Spring-heeled Jack, though.)

That's Knight and Squire at the end of page 11, the only Club of Heroes members Morrison has used other than in issues #667-669 (they appeared in Morrison's JLA: Classified #1-3). "The lads," of course, would be the other Club of Heroes members.

Page 12: This is Charlie Caligula (nemesis of the Legionary) and King Kraken (nemesis of the Wingman) beating up on a minion of Le Bossu. Infighting amongst the Club of Villains. Perhaps Le Bossu is over-reaching. Charlie Caligula refers to himself as the "God-Emperor of Crime" -- like the historical Caligula (a.k.a. Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) this guy thinks he's a god, apparently.

Page 13: If Charlie Caligula, and presumably other Club of Villain members, thought Batman was dead, then Dr. Hurt must have hidden his true plans from the others. Why did he leave Batman alive, shoot him up with heroin, and leave him on the streets between issues #677 and 678? We'll have to wait and see.

Pages 14-15: I assume Jim Gordon hears Dr. Hurt pretending to be Alfred over the intercom, but I suppose it could be Alfred under duress. Either way, it's a trap, and the bit at the end of page 14 probably shows that Gordon is willing to make small talk because he has no idea that anything's wrong at the mansion.

El Sombrero, master of booby-traps, is the nemesis of the Gaucho, and yet another member of the Club of Villains.

Pages 16-17: Dr. Hurt wears the Thomas Wayne proto-Batman Halloween costume from Detective Comics #235, "The First Batman." He's apparently not just adopting Thomas Wayne's costume--he's claiming to be the actual Thomas Wayne here, accusing Alfred of having an affair with Martha and being the real father of Bruce.

(That's El Sombrero and Scorpiana with Dr. Hurt here, by the way).

Dr. Hurt says, "I'm Dr. Hurt now" in response to Alfred saying he's no Thomas Wayne. But that doesn't dismiss the idea that Alfred is really Batman's father, nor does it dismiss the idea that Dr. Hurt is Thomas Wayne somehow reborn. I don't know what to make of this information, but I'm sure there's far more to the story.

Dr. Hurt also mentions "breaking the Batman" which provides an explanation about why he might not have killed Batman when he had the chance in previous issues. He wants to break him, destroy him, not just kill him. Why? We don't know, but I'll speculate at the end of this post.

(And that's Pierrot Lunaire, the evil mime, with the Swagman [I'm still not positive that the Ned Kelly helmet guy is the Swagman, but I'll go with it now.])

Pages 18-19: This is one of those great scenes where Morrison fills the page with texture, like the details about Charlie Caligula's criminal empire. "Chicken centurions...beaks d-dipped...in...in hemlock," indeed! The Bat-Radia I discussed at length in previous annotations. Short version: it's from Zur-En-Arrh, Batman #113 (by way of Honor Jackson, last issue -- if Bat-Mite is the spinning wheel on Batman's mental reboot screen, what was Honor Jackson? This metaphor is strained, my friends. But I think that character was part of the defense mechanism Batman set up for his mind.)

"Bat"-man gag. Morrison used it in "Batman: Gothic" more explicitly.

Jezebel Jet, Bruce Wayne's current love, has been abducted by the Black Glove. We don't know if she's somehow involved in the organization or not.

Pages 20-21: Doctor Dax is Le Bossu in disguise. The "newcomer" referred to is probably Dick Grayson, who ended up imprisoned in Arkham under false pretenses last issue.

Jeremiah Arkham, who first appeared in Shadow of the Bat #1, is the nephew of Amadeus Arkham and current head of the asylum. Well, he was. Until these pages.

The red and black motif continues here, with the flowers, and we see Jezebel Jet getting dragged around as minions with black and red paint walk towards her.

Le Bossu stands on the checkerboard, calling Joker "master" in French and speaking of the "Dance of Death." But is it a Danse Macabre designed to teach Batman a lesson? Or is it just a fancy way of saying that people will die? I'd guess the former. I think the Black Glove has something didactic in mind for Bruce Wayne, and that's why he's kept him alive.

Page 22: The Clown at Midnight version of the Joker is finally ready to re-engage with Batman for the first time since issue #663 (except the brief scene in DC Universe #0). The red and black fingernails continue that motif, and Batman's coming, Zur-En-Arrh style (with his "bat," of course). The Joker is not the Black Glove. The Black Glove will be revealed after Batman's confrontation with the Joker, I suspect.

A Few Thoughts on Dr. Hurt and the Black Glove: I don't remember who commented on this here, or who e-mailed me about it, but someone proposed the theory that the Black Glove was the Devil. I think that may very well be true. It would fit into Morrison's earlier "Gothic" story, and it would explain why Dr. Hurt (an agent of Satan or an embodiment of the entity) wants to break Batman instead of killing him. That's how the Devil operates.

Morrison did say that the Black Glove is somebody "everyone in the world knows," which REALLY narrows it down. It's not the Joker (who, arguably, isn't know around the entire world anyway). That pretty much leaves Batman -- everyone knows Batman, right? -- and although at first I thought Morrison was implying that Batman himself, or a fragment of his psyche, was the Black Glove, now I'm not so sure. Satan makes sense, and the red and the black would fit his fashion sense, certainly. I don't know that I want it to have such a religious/supernatural explanation, but there you go.

"Batman R.I.P." Part III: Batman #678 Annotations

I've been annotating "Batman R.I.P." and discussing Morrison's Batman run nearly issue-by-issue since his "Clown at Midnight" story. Click HERE for all my relevant Morrison Batman posts, and comment below to tell me where I went wrong.

Batman #678: The Annotations

Page 1: As I mentioned yesterday, the opening dialogue here comes directly from Batman #113, in which Bruce Wayne is transported to the alien world Zur-En-Arrh--a story in which the Bat-Radia plays an important role, and a story which ends with Batman wondering whether or not it was all a dream. But how could it have been, since he end up with the alien Bat-Radia in his hand!

The second panel juxtaposes an excerpt from Batman's Black Casebook--the series of notebooks he has maintained about his strange adventures over the years--with an image reminiscent of "The Rainbow Creature" from Batman #134. In that story, Batman and Robin are turned "two-dimensional" by the attacking Rainbow Creature.

The third panel shows the "Robin Dies at Dawn" entry of the Casebook. As you'll recall, this story is from Batman #156, and it involved a strange sensory-deprivation experiment which caused Batman to fail to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Dr. Hurt the leader (???) of the Club of Villains in Morrison's run, was the scientist who appeared in Batman #156.

The fourth panel is from Batman #153, "Prisoners of Three Worlds," which involved three alien races (the bird people, that purple flying thing, and the little green aliens), the original Batwoman (depicted in the panel as well--in her yellow and red ensemble), Batman, Robin, and the original Bat-Girl.

All four of the stories alluded to on this page dealt not only with science-fiction elements, but caused Batman to question his own perceptions of reality.

Page 2: Tim Drake, Robin, reads excerpts from the Black Casebook, because who wouldn't? He's been worrying about Batman's mental state for a while--he was with Bruce Wayne at the caves of Nanda Parbat in 52, and he knows things aren't right with Batman's head.

The parts about needing to know what goes on inside Joker's head shows that Batman may have undertaken his own explorations into psychosis, and perhaps this whole "Batman R.I.P." descent into madness is a way for him to fight the Joker at a more primal level.

Here's an interesting correspondence that I recently came across in my Batman research--something that might be completely irrelevant, or it might tie Morrison's whole run together. In Batman #152, Batman finds himself infiltrating the "False Face Society" a VERY Club of Villains-type of organization. These aren't the same characters we see in Morrison's Club of Villains, but check out how similar they look:


And at the end of that particular story, the guy with the top hat and mask, the leader of the "False Face Society" is revealed to be the Joker!

Clearly Morrison would have been familiar with this comic, since he's referenced the issues around it, and perhaps there's more than a passing resemblance between the False Face Society and the Club of Villains. The references to the Joker on page two of Batman #678 makes me suspect there is.

Page 3: That's Pierrot Lunaire in the tree and Springheeled Jack waiting by the door. They're bad guys. Members of the Club of Villains/Black Glove organization.

Page 4-5: Pierrot Lunaire is a killer mime, so it's only appropriate that his battle with Tim Drake would be completely silent.

Page 6: This is the second appearance of Honor Jackson, who first appeared on a single page in Batman #676, right after Batman's pursuit of the pathetic Green Vulture. As I said at the time, homeless people love Batman, and I compared the homeless black man to Woodrow from Saturday Night Live, and both Jog and Douglas Wolk compared him to the magical negro cliche. Either way is good. You'll remember, of course, that Batman gave Honor Jackson a big wad of money back in issue #676--because Bats loves the homeless as much as the homeless love Bats--and that plot point will connect to something later in this issue. Oh, Morrison, you expect us to read all the issues, don't you?

Oh, that's Bruce Wayne on the ground, after being induced into some state of delirium by the trigger word "Zur-En-Arrh" at the end of the previous issue, but you all knew that.

Page 7: I like that Batman/Bruce Wayne's first words in this issue are, "Stuff? Don't know stuff." That's the problem, isn't it, Batman? You don't know what's going on and neither do we--even if we have a collection of your Silver Age adventures. But it's fun to guess.

Honor Jackson recognizes Bruce Wayne even though it was Batman who gave him the money two issues earlier. Perhaps Jackson just recognizes the very famous Wayne from some publicity, but he specifically says, "Honor Jackson never forgets a good turn!" seemingly in reference to ye olde wad of cash. Homeless people are not only fun and magical, but they can see through disguises. Good to know for future reference.

In unrelated annotation news, "Soljer" was a character Jim Shooter created for Superboy #210 (featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes). I mention it here, because it's what I think of when I see "soldier" spelled that way, and I like that Legion story a lot (mostly because it has some pretty Mike Grell pencils). It also plays into my theory that Morrison's entire Batman run actually takes place in 3008 and Computo is the Black Glove. J/K! Ha!

Pages 8-9: Here we get the present day homeless action crosscut with the black, white, and red flashbacks to what happened between the last issue and this one. We see Batman going into shock after saying the trigger word, and then Dr. Hurt coming in and doping up Batman with some crystal meth (which is bad for you, kids!).

When Dr. Hurt says "How you've grown, hmm? How long has it been?" we're probably supposed to think that Dr. Hurt is referring to more than just the time they hung out and played with sensory deprivation. No, this Dr. Hurt knows Bruce Wayne from way back. Could it be his long-thought-dead father? His suspiciously rarely referenced older brother? His post-op transgender mother? One can only speculate.

Jackson establishes the structure of this issue as a heroic quest story by calling it an "odyssey," and that makes him the Supernatural Aid. You know, like Gandalf--also a crazy homeless person.

Pages 10-11: Nightwing fights some fourth-rate gladiators and makes jokes that even he knows aren't funny. When I was going back and rereading a lot of the mid-to-late 1950s Batman stories, I was surprised at how often Batman ended up in Rome or ended up fighting people who looked like centurions. I guess Morrison had the same kind of stuff lodged in his brain as well, from all that Bat-research, because here we go with the Roman dudes. They probably work for Charlie Caligula, another Club of Villains guy. Oh, and that's Scorpiana at the end, which doesn't bode well for Nightwing, apparently, because he's never heard from again! Except in Arkham Asylum (as we'll see)!

Pages 12-13: Jackson and the Wayne-with-the-heroin-jones play at Gulf War Veteran for a bit before fighting with the menacing Psycho Riderz. These guys are obviously just an excuse to see Bruce Wayne kick some people in the neck, but they are called the PSYCHO Riderz and Morrison's Batman is all about psychosis, so there's that. Just pointing it out.

There's no dialogue in the final panel of page 13, but you know they're both thinking "feets, don't fail me now!" Especially Honor Jackson, being a cliche and all.

Pages 14-15: "Delta Force," is a reference to Army Special Forces, since Bruce Wayne is all badass with his fighting skillz and all that. But let's not forget that Delta Force is also a movie starring Chuck Norris AND Joey Bishop. Morrison was probably thinking about that cinematic masterpiece while writing every Batman issue ever.

How does Bruce Wayne know what his haircut looks like? One wonders. Does he have a mirror in his slacks?

"Sherlock Holmes" is a fictional detective who Batman met for "real" in Detective Comics #572. Neither Chuck Norris nor Joey Bishop ever played Sherlock Holmes in a movie, sadly.

Jackson hands the Bat-Radia to Bruce Wayne here, although we don't know that until the end of the issue. How he ended up with the Bat-Radia we do not know, although as the Gandalf-analogue in this story, he does have the power to grant sacred boons and all that. Plus, he's like Captain Caveman with that cart of his--he can pull anything out of that sucker.

The quest was to get some booze, which goes to show that it's all about the journey, not the destination. Unless the destination is booze-ville.

As far as I know, this is the first mention of Lone-Eye Lincoln, but I haven't read EVERY Batman comic in the world yet.

Page 16: Ah, Gotham City at sunset. Honor Jackson disappears here because he's a ghost! (As we find out shortly.) Or is he? He's probably a delusion, since Jackson never actually interacts with anyone else in the issue and nobody besides Bruce Wayne talks to him. That would explain how he "recognizes" Bruce Wayne even though he met Batman. You know you've hit rock bottom when your delusional guardian angel is a crazy homeless person.

Page 17: Turns out, Jackson's been dead since yesterday, after blowing a hundred bucks on "smack." That would be the street name for heroin, if you're from 1978. The hundred bucks came from Bruce Wayne two issues earlier. Perhaps you should devote the rest of your life to avenging Honor Jackson's death, eh, Batman?

But even though Lone-Eye Lincoln (if that is his real name) offers Wayne some smack of his own, the real purpose of Jackson sending him here was so Wayne could revisit Crime Alley, the place where his family was gunned down years before. Of course, Morrison has indicated that maybe the Wayne family death was not as it seemed, so perhaps Batman will find some clues here. Or not, because my guess is that the Wayne family died just as they have been shown dying and the rumors around their possibly faked death are just another way to make Batman unstable.

Page 18: Sorry Robin, Nightwing isn't answering the phone because he's locked up in Arkham Asylum. He's frothing at the mouth an the attendants think he's Pierrot Lunaire, but we know he's not (mostly because of the Nightwing mask in panel four--a nice inclusion, since Tony Daniel isn't so great at differentiating faces and who knows what Lunaire would look like without his make-up? Maybe he'd look exactly like Dick Grayson. So the mask helps make sense out of the page).

Notice that now Batman and Nightwing are crazy. Who's next to fall victim to the insanity?

Page 19: Dr. Hurt puts on the "Bat-Man" costume once worn by Thomas Wayne at a costume party--the costume that possibly inspired Batman's own look, years later. In panel two, from left to right, that's Le Bossu, El Sombrero, Scorpiana, Charlie Caligula, and King Kraken--members of the Club of Villains, all.

When a villain says, "nothing can stop us now," you know what happens? They always get stopped! Villains should learn not to say that. From now on, villains should say things like, "we're doing okay, but we could be doing a lot better," and thus not tempt the karmic winds.

Pages 20-22: Bruce Wayne, using the magical shopping cart of the imaginary Honor Jackson, sews himself a new costume. As I mentioned in my look at Batman #113 yesterday, the lines, "...it would be far easier to consider this a dream. But how can I? For in my hand...I hold the Bat-Radia," come word for word from the Zur-En-Arrh space-Batman story in that issue from the 1950s. And, of course, when Batman says "I am the Batman. The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh," and reveals his fancy new costume, it's the one the alien Tlano was wearing in Batman #113. All of which, apparently, were Batman's delusions in the past--Black Casebook stuff and all that.

And, Bat-Mite, hovering behind him, is of course part of his delusion as well. His line, "uh-oh," is pretty great finish to the issue, mocking Batman's new look and at the same time underscoring the butt-kicking that will soon commence.

It's worth noting that Morrison himself has written plenty of stories in which Batman has travelled into alternate dimensions and battled with gods and demons and science. But in his Batman run, he seems to be treating Batman as someone who has imagined practically all of his supernatural adventures. In JLA, it might have been appropriate to show Batman as a science-fictional adventurer, but in his own comic, Morrison has taken a "realistic" approach to the character. The rules of his run here seem to be that everything that doesn't make literal sense must have been part of some delusion on the part of Batman. I don't know if that will play out through the finale, but I suspect it will. His Batman is human--a human who isn't able to process everything he's been through in life.

Batman #678 and Batman #113: The Zur-En-Arrh Connection

I'll post annotations for Morrison's Batman #678 sometime in the next couple of days, but since the annotations will rely heavily on reference to February 1958's Batman #113, I'm going to give you a closer look at Zur-En-Arrh right now. If you're interested, here's a collection of all of my Morrison Batman posts. Also, click on the images below to enlarge them for your viewing pleasure.

Batman #113's cover story, "Batman--the Superman of Planet X" is the relevant bit, although it's the third of three Batman stories in that one issue. The first two stories, "The Menace of False Face," and "Batman Meets Fatman," don't seem to play into Morrison's Batman run, although Fatman--a, you guessed it, overweight guy in a Batman costime--is due for a revival any day now. Perhaps as a a Vertigo book?

Anyway, "Batman--the Superman of Planet X," written by Ed Herron and drawn by Dick Sprang (according to Comic Book DB) begins with Batman sneaking out at night for a little Batplane recon, wondering why he's compelled to go out alone instead of bringing Robin with him (by the way, Batman and Robin slept in the same bedroom in the 1950s--is this common knowledge? Any trivia fiends know when they stopped being shown occupying the same sleeping quarters?). Soon the Batplane gets all whirly and spinny, as you can see here:

And as this page shows, Batman ends up on Zur-En-Arrh, greeted by Tlano, the red, yellow, and purple Batman of this strange planet.

Just like many other Batman doppelgangers (like the Club of Heroes, and, of course, Fatman), Tlano was compelled to become the Batman of his world by watching Batman. Batman's inspirational powers aren't just limited to Earth, obviously. Since Morrison seems to be interested in Batman doubles--and we know he's interested in Silver Age weirdness--it's not suprising to see Zur-En-Arrh/Tlano play such an important role in Morrison's Batman. Well, I guess it might be surprising if you are a casual reader who picks up the much-hyped "Batman R.I.P." and three issues into it your find yourself dealing with a Batman who has stitched together a crazy red, yellow, and purple costume. But really, the Zur-En-Arrh connection is just added texture, and all you really need to know is that Batman's going crazy in Morrison's run. Here, in the Ed Herron story, he's very sane. Super-sane. Or is he?

And this space-travelling Batman hangs out with Tlano and checks out his sweet alien Batcave, filled with an "atomic-powered" Batmobile and a Batplane that looks a lot like a Bat-rocket. (Because space aliens have better tech than earthlings, circa 1958, and have less fear of atomic energy.)

But the coolest, most emphasized, and least defined (well, it's explained, but the explanation doesn't make a whole lot of sense) item in this alien Batcave is actually from Tlano's utility belt. It's his BAT-RADIA, which "issues electronic molecules that cause controlled disturbances in the atmosphere." I'm not sure how that works, but Tlano says he uses it to jam the power to flying cars, so I guess that comes in handy. It's space caltops, then. And our Batman doesn't comment on how awesome the gadget is, perhaps because, like us, he doesn't quite understand the science at work. But the Bat-Radia will come in handy in issue #113, and as far as I know, won't reappear until Batman #678.

As the cover of this issue indicated, this story is all about Batman acting like Superman, because the lower gravity on Zur-En-Arrh gives him the ability to leap tall buildings and punch real hard. So that's what Batman does, helping Tlano and his people repel an alien invasion (an alien invasion featuring an army of giant robots!). But the aliens keep turning invisible before Batman can punch them good enough. What is a space-displaced superhero to do?

The Bat-Radia! Of course! "The Bat-Radia is turned on...the electronic molecules are streaming forth!" That's what Tlano says in the final panel of this page, helping out his Earth chum with his super-alien-science. Dialogue Morrison swipes, word for word (minus the ellipsis and the exclamation point) to begin Batman #678.


The Batmen win, sending the alien invaders away with confidence. Tlano, in particular, is sure that they "never need fear their return." Because why would aliens bother to attack when the Bat-Radia is in the house? Except, as the end of this story shows, the Bat-Radia is actually sent home with Bruce Wayne.

"Tlano throws a switch" and Batman is back in his Batplane over Gotham City. Was it all a dream, Batman wonders: "It would be far easier to consider this a dream...but how can I? For in my hand, I hold the BAT-RADIA!" Dum dum dummmm!

(The musical cue at the end was added in my mind.)

So just as Morrison begins Batman #678 with a direct quote from Batman #113, he ends it with one as well, lifting Batman's final lines and putting them in the mouth of a deranged Bruce Wayne who has crafted himself a Zur-En-Arrh-ian Batman costume. Luckily, he's got the Bat-Radia in his hand. The Club of Villains is doomed.

"Batman R.I.P." Part II: Batman #677 Annotations

People seemed to like my annotations on Batman #676, and who am I not to pander to readers? So here are my page-by-page thoughts on Batman #677:

Page 1: I like that this issue begins with a single word, "Who?" That's the big question of Morrison's whole run on this series, isn't it? Who is behind all of this? Who is the Black Glove? Who hired Tony Daniel? (sorry, it was just too easy and I couldn't resisit.)

Pages 2-3: Batman's line, "...you ever see a Gotham hood dressed like this?" referring to the guy with the rag-tag Halloween costume, complete with sneakers and a demon mask--that's a bit curious isn't it? Aren't Gotham's hoods often dressed almost exactly like this? Doesn't Gotham have hundreds of costumed characters, many of whom dress their minions up in rag-tag Halloween costumes? This isn't the Golden Age Gotham City, when it was just a bunch of gangsters in suits.

The "old movie" Commissioner Gordon refers to is The Black Glove, of course, the John Mayhew film Batman describes on the following page. But there is a real-life "Black Glove" film, at least it was called that in America. In the U.K. it was released as Face the Music, a 1954 film directed by Terence Fisher, known for his lurid Hammer horror films. Here's the IMDB summary of the Fisher flick: "Brad Bradley (Alex Nicol) is a famous trumpet player who is suspected of murdering a blues singer. Using only two minor clues, he narrows the suspects down to four people, after surviving some fights and having poison placed on the mouthpiece of his trumpet." A murder mystery. But it doesn't look at have any other connection to this comic. But surely Morrison is familiar with the work of Terence Fisher.

Page 4: Is that supposed to be the movie poster for The Black Glove film? Didn't it appear in the "Club of Heroes" arc and look a bit more professional? This one looks like it was drawn and lettered by a child. A clue! The Black Glove is Damian! Probably not, as it's just another example of the rushed artwork by Tony Daniel on this particular issue. For another example of the rushed and problematic art, look at the final panel on this page when Alfred comments upon a wound he cannot actually seen according to the way it's drawn here. As I mentioned in my review for this issue, when the comic is a mystery, and visual clues are important, you really need to have an artist who gets it right. Is Alfred's awareness of the wound a clue? How can he possibly see it from that angle? I think it's just inaccurate drawings.

Also on this page, we get the plot of the DC Universe version of The Black Glove movie: "It's the story of two innocent lovers corrupted and destroyed by a group of super-rich gamblers." That parallels the Jezebel Jet/Bruce Wayne romance, and the corruption from outside, although clearly Jezebel and Bruce are anything but innocent.

Page 5: "This thing goes back years and involves people my parents knew," says Batman. This issue is full of such references, although Morrison hasn't mentioned much about the previous generation of Waynes in earlier issues. But perhaps this Black Glove stuff isn't even about Batman. Maybe Bruce Wayne is just the target because of something his parents were involved in years ago. That would be an interesting reversal. So often in recent Batman stories, he's fighting against monsters he has created himself, and sure, he might turn out to be the Black Glove and it might be some kind of multiple personality thing, but what if it's not. What if it's a bunch of things set in motion before he even donned the cape and cowl. That would make it more like a Greek tragedy, then, wouldn't it. Unstoppable force of fate and all that.

Also, Batman says, regarding his relationship with Damian, "That's not what I wanted to happen." Really? Because you brought the kid home and just let him hang out for a while. Is Batman so emotionally obtuse as to not imagine the effect on Tim Drake? Apparently so, and Morrison seems to be exploring Batman's emotional issues--his inability to process normal human emotions, perhaps. After all, he refers to his girlfriend by her last name. Batman, a cold, professional lover.

Page 6: To tie the "super-rich gamblers" of Mayhew's film even more closely to the events of this issue, we see a roulette wheel at the start of this page as the Club of Villains plans their attack. Dr. Hurt claims that the Club has two motivations: "to teach our upstart idealist a lesson," and to do it "as a work of art." These are cliche, evil-villain things to say, but the "teach a lesson" bit implies something patronizing, which strengthens the connection between the villains and the older Wayne generation. And the "work of art" bit is classic Morrison--he frequently connects "evil" schemes to art, as in the rogue Thanagarian "chaos artist" in Animal Man or the Brotherhood of Dada from Doom Patrol.

Page 7: Hurt refers to Batman as "our boy" and says "no one knows him better than I do." Is Dr. Hurt a resurrected (or never dead) Thomas Wayne? That makes no sense, but he does act as if he's an evil father figure, surely. The trigger phrase Hurt refers to is "Zur-En-Arrh" the homeworld of the alien Batman from issue #113. For more on Dr. Hurt and the strange sleep deprivation experiment, see my commentary on Batman #673.

Pages 8-9: I like how Tony Daniel shows Batman sneering when he's got the cowl on--even when he's with his girlfriend on a "romantic getaway" to the batcave--and he only allows Batman's face to soften when he takes the cowl off. I've given Daniel a lot of flak for his work in this issue, but at least the facial expressions come across in these two pages. I also like Batman's comment that "Alfred and I used to huddle around a PC covered in bat droppings." I've seen some criticism of Morrison's dialogue in recent months, and I don't understand that at all. Yes, Morrison is an idea guy, a structure guy, but his dialogue is as good as anyone working today.

Pages 10-11: "Ed Sheldrake" might be a subtle allusion to Rupert Sheldrake, biologist, who Morrison would surely have been familiar with. Rupert Sheldrake is one of the main proponents of the "morphogenic field" a notion which Morrison explored with Buddy Baker's powers in Animal Man.

There's a lot of information on this page that explicitly states things readers have suspected, particularly the notion of Bruce Wayne's schizophrenia. And the connection between Alfred and the Black Glove conspiracy. The scandalous details of Thomas and Martha Wayne's life is new to me--does anyone know of any prior stories implying their secret history?--and the notion that Thomas Wayne may have faked his own death is straight out of any soap opera, but I would be shocked if Morrison actually pulled it off.

Pages 12-13: I like the implied danger of the first panel, as the assault on Wayne mansion begins without Batman's knowledge, while inside he tours through his own fetish objects--his history as a costumed character--on display in the batcave. Jezebel Jet asks the question everyone asks about Batman, "what if you're not well?" When she refers to "those sad, blood-spattered little super hero costumes," it's hearbreaking on more than one level (and it's yet another example of Morrison's ability to write effective bits of dialogue).

Page 14: This splash page, with the bat-gyros and batcopters looming overhead, makes Bruce Wayne seem to be at the bottom of an ocean, with sharks swimming above him. It's a nice visual metaphor for what Batman's going through right now.

Pages 15-17: Morrison loves patterns, and so does Batman. Detective work is, after all, figuring out the patterns in the appearance of randomness. His reference to DC Universe #0, the scene with Joker's incomplete "dead man's hand" shows how integral that scene was to Morrison's overall story--I hope those pages are included in the "Batman R.I.P" collection. Or maybe not integral, but relevant. And the decoded message? "Ha Ha." Perfect.

I like how Batman goes on and on about "numerology" and "qabalistic correspondences" as if his knowledge has become a burden. He can't see the patterns because he's looking at too much stuff. His paranoia has made every piece of information important, which would make him a really bad detective actually. He has to weed out the irrelevant stuff, and he seems incapable of doing that. It's Jezebel Jet who cuts to the heart of the matter: "what if it's you?" she asks, in half-conern, half-fear. All Batman can do is walk away, implying that he knows it might be true.

Pages 18-19: The trigger word, "Zur-En-Arrh" appears on the screen, but all Batman can see is "static." Then the images on the screen are replaced by the face of the alien from Batman #156, which was part of Dr. Hurt's sensory deprivation experiment--the experiment which caused Batman to lose the ability to distinguish hallucination from reality.

Pages 20-22: Is Batman having a stroke? That's how I read it--apparently caused by the trigger word. Le Bossu says "La Bas" in reference to Alfred--meaning "the lower depths" or "deep," implying that they have been looking for him, looking to beat him or kill him. It could also be a reference to Alfred being "deep" undercover, although the final splash page makes it seem as if Alfred's life is in jeopardy. He may not be involved with the Black Glove after all.