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!!!

Review: Batman in Barcelona: Dragon's Knight #1

Boy, I'm not a fan of that Jim Lee cover. It's got a bit of the Spanish architecture in the background, but it's such a generic pose otherwise. Some might call it "iconic," but I'd just call it lifeless and insipid.

Anyway, I didn't review the cover over at CBR, I reviewed the inside bits. You know, the story and the art and the dialogue and the stuff that matters. Because everyone knows that a Batman story from the past about that one time he fought Killer Kroc in Spain is totally essential to understanding the Batman mythos.

But I shouldn't tease, because I did like this issue, and it was fun to see Bruce Wayne doing the Batman thing after reading three issues of the supposed "Battle for the Cowl" that was really not about battling for the cowl at all, was it?

Review: Batman Mad Love and Other Stories

I thought Paul Dini did a decent job on his "Detective Comics" run -- I enjoyed it for what it was, though it suffered in scale compared to Morrison's "Batman" -- but he was definitely responsible for some of the best Batman stories of the 1990s in "Batman: The Animated Series" and the various comic book spin-offs of that project.

This hardcover collection brings all (as far as I know) the Paul Dini/Bruce Timm Batman comics together for a meal-sized romp through Gotham's wacky underworld. And I review the heck out of it.

See what I have to say over at CBR: Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories

And here's a question (or three) for you: Were there any Batman stories set in the regular DCU that were worth reading in the 1990s? Which ones? Why?

Five Reasons Why "Batman: Battle for the Cowl" is Terrible

I know many of you gave up after the first issue, and even more of you passed entirely on Tony Daniel's "Battle for the Cowl," but I stuck it out until the end because that's what I do.

And like everything I do, I do it for you.

So now that I've read all three issues, plus too many tie-ins to bother counting, I can safely say that "Battle for the Cowl" has been a terrible mini-event, not worth the paper it's printed on. Here are just five reasons why, and they're all based on just issue #3:

1) The whole thing about Black Mask unleashing all the villains on Gotham? Ultimately pointless. Though emphasized in the first issue, by issue #3 it's barely an afterthought. More anti-climactic than "Salvation Run"!

2) The Jason Todd/Dick Grayson confrontation becomes Oprah-style pop-psychology and punching.

3) Any time a character faced upwards, Tony Daniel draws their necks and chins as a black slab, as if the neck-to-chin line is as flat as an iron. It's a little thing, but it's the type of approach you see in a lot of amateurish superhero art, and Daniel can do better.

4) SPOILERS! Jason Todd falls to his "death." Again with the falling to the death? See the ending of 99% of superhero movies ever for the same ending.

5) SPOILERS AGAIN! In-story reason for Dick Grayson adopting the Batman identity? None! Not really. He just does because he kind of realizes that he should. In-story reason for Damian adopting the new Robin costume (which will be spotlighted in the Morrison/Quitely "Batman and Robin" comic)? None. At all. So a series seemingly designed to fill in the the gaps between the last Morrison run and the new one just ends up as a bunch of irrelevant fight scenes, an attempt to show how far Jason Todd has fallen (and, by the way, Jason Todd wears the domino mask under the Batman cowl!), and the thinnest of justifications for the new status quo.

When the new "Batman and Robin" series begins with the line, "After the death of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson has adopted the role of his mentor. Joined by young Damian Wayne, they are...Batman and Robin," well, then "Batman: Battle for the Cowl" will be immediately rendered irrelevant.

Raise your hands if you were going to say, "I told you so."

The True Origin of Batman and the Watchmen Legacy

My five-year-old daughter, a big "Tiny Titans" fan, was explaining superhero origins to me today. She told me that Wonder Woman was "a woman. And she has a crown. So she's Wonder Woman."

And then she explained that Batman's first name is "Bat" and his last name is "Bat" and he's a man, so he's "Bat Man." And when I asked about Robin, she said, "well, robins eat bats right? Or, wait, do bats eat robins? They both have wings!"

In unrelated news, I've been thinking about the fallout from "Watchmen" not being a blockbuster, and I'm just totally baffled why any members of the audience would want it to be a blockbuster. Wouldn't it just help usher in that "dark" era of superhero movies that the monstrous success of "The Dark Knight" seemed to make inevitable? Maybe the relative failure of "Watchmen" will dissuade studios from wasting kazillions of dollars on movies where Superman has a mullet and dies. Or where Max Lord guns down Blue Beetle before getting his neck snapped by Wonder Woman.

The "Watchmen" experiment of the R-rated superhero film failed (and when students of mine asked me what I thought of the movie, they always said, "my friends said it's like a porno," so that's what the general public of teens and young adults seems to think of it as), and there won't be any more R-rated super heroes in the cinema anytime soon. Isn't that a good thing?

The Battle for the Cowl #1 Hits THE SPLASH PAGE

Chad Nevett and I couldn't resist talking about "Batman: Battle for the Cowl" this week, given our strong love for Morrison's "Batman" and our strong non-love for Tony Daniel's art. With Daniel on both art and script, how could this comic not be a winner?

Well, you can read Part 1 of our discussion at Chad's blog, and find out why we didn't like the issue very much. Then come back here and read the rest of our chat, which will probably contain spoilers if that matters to you:

Tim Callahan: What I have a problem with is the details of the writing. I have a problem with how Robin's monologue isn't recognizably Robin's without the little "R" insignia to identify it. Tim Drake's voice should be strong enough not to need that, but even if they decide to go with the labelled caption box, at least use it well. It's used overlapping a Catwoman scene at first, and then it's like, "wait, where's Robin? Oh, I guess he's in that Batman costume all of a sudden?"

And though I mentioned that I like the Black Mask as a Batman villain, he's just used here as a generic leader of villains. Take his dialogue and give it to the Penguin, to goddamn Maxie Zeus, and it still works the same. The whole thing about the Black Mask is that he's a screwed up parallel to Bruce Wayne. He's Hush, if Hush were a psychotic self-torturing creep. Oh, wait, Hush turned into that under Paul Dini. So basically Hush became the Black Mask because the Black Mask was supposedly dead. Anyway, Black Mask is back, and he's generic-er than ever! Wahoo!

By the way, might it be confusing to anyone that the whole second half of the Morrison "Batman" run was all about the Black Glove, and now the Black Mask -- who is completely unrelated to the Black Glove in every way -- shows up as a criminal mastermind? It would be like an Avengers comic giving us a big Doctor Doom story, and then following it up with a Doctor Droom story, no relation.

So, wait, Jason Todd is the rampaging Batman? And he just happens to use almost exactly the same mask as the psychotic ex-cop Batman who may or may not have been working for the Devil? That Todd kid has made some interesting costume choices since coming back from the dead, eh?

Chad Nevett: Yeah, here's the line from the solicits: "But when you add a deadly Jason Todd masquerading as a gun-toting Batman to the mix, things have definitely spiraled out of control!" The similarity to the Third Policeman's costume is striking, but, come on, if there's one thing that the Image-style of artist has always lacked, it's originality in design, so I'm not surprised.

Honestly, I don't know Tim Drake's voice or character well enough to judge the narration. I've seen him pop up in Batman books, I've read the odd the issue of "Robin," but, really, I have no sense of the character beyond him, seemingly, being a teenager and kind of responsible, maybe? Of course, those captions are generic enough that I see your point.

The Black Glove/Black Mask thing is a good point, especially because when we last saw the Black Glove, he was in a helicopter explosion. So, it's not a quick leap for a fan to think that, maybe, he was burned horribly or something, had to cover his face and has changed his name. Readers "in the know" know this isn't the case, but it would be an easy mistake to make.

I think my main problem with this book (and the larger "event" surrounding it) is that it doesn't feel that important or like there really is anything at stake. Yes, Gotham is falling apart (again); yes, the Black Mask has an army of bad guys; yes, there's a crazy Batman running around... but, come June, that's all behind us and... it just feels like there's no real tension or drama here. As I said before, the writing is obviously geared towards moving from post-"Final Crisis" to June, so what actually happens in the journey isn't nearly as important as the destination.

TC: It not only reminds me of "Countdown," in the way that it's just so perfunctory, but it's also like "Salvation Run" in its gaggle of costumed characters and its completely bland look and feel. Actually, as much as I despised the end of "Salvation Run," and as bad as the Sean Chen art was (two weeks in a row with me trashing Sean Chen -- sorry, nothing personal), at least "Salvation Run" had the campy sense to amp things up to 12 on the ridiculositity-meter. The Mallah vs. Grodd sequence was insanse fun. "Battle for the Cowl" lacks even that.

"Battle for the Cowl": It's all the pedestrian dullness of "Countdown" without the thrills of "Salvation Run"!

CN: And seeing as how I avoided both of them, I think the remaining two issues plus the various minis and one-shots will similarily get avoided. Bring on "Batman and Robin"!

Morrison and Quitely's "Batman and Robin"

Though DC is being coy (not really very successfully coy, but pretending to be coy at least) with this week's DC Nation page, this is pretty obviously a preview of the Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely "Batman and Robin" comic, and though it's sometimes hard to tell with Quitely, that looks pretty much like how I'd imagine he'd draw Damian as Robin.

But who's behind that Batman mask?

The smart money is on Thomas Wayne, Owlman! (Just kidding. I really can't imagine it would be anyone other than Dick Grayson.)

OR, this series could just be an unofficial "All-Star" take on the characters, with Bruce and Dick's adventures in the past. Check out those retro vehicles!

Batman R.I.P.: The Deluxe Edition Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Batman R.I.P.: The Deluxe Edition, about which I write the following sentences: "But this is still a book worth reading, largely because what it loses in internet-speculation context, it gains in distance from Morrison's own promises. Many readers were annoyed, even angry, by the lack of clear resolution in the final chapter of 'R.I.P.' Here, in this isolated, hardcover context, the final chapter works much better. It's still not a conclusive finale to the larger question of Dr. Hurt's identity, but such a conclusion isn't promised within the book's pages. What's promised within its pages, implicitly, is a resolution to the Batman-gets-broken-mentally storyline. And that does, indeed, resolve, with a mentally-shattered Batman rising up from his own staged death -- as he literally smashes out of his own coffin -- and turning the tables on his enemies. It's a good Batman story, with betrayals and counter-betrayals, with a bravura performance from the Joker, and with enough unique visual concepts (the garish Zur-En-Arrh costume, Bat-Mite, the Club of Villains) to make the story rise well above the fair-to-middling morass of Batman collected editions."

Read the entire review HERE.

Batman: The Strange Deaths of Batman Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Faces of Evil: Deathstroke #1, about which I write the following sentences: "Some might call a collection like 'Batman: The Strange Deaths of Batman' a 'cash-grab' or a 'cynical attempt to make money off Batman's "death" in "Final Crisis."' But it really does make sense to provide some context for the current death of Batman, and a trade paperback reprinting some of Batman's greatest 'deaths' seems like a good idea. It's a fun way to trace the development of storytelling styles over the decades, all handily tied together under one thematic umbrella. Unfortunately, this collection is wildly uneven, and at $19.99, I don't see enough quality here to fully justify that price. Some of the stories are good -- one, in particular, is a work of deranged genius -- but the rest are bottom-of-the-barrel darknight detective episodes, with the most recent stories tending to be the worst."

Read the entire review HERE.

Batman 2.0 Costume Challenge

Project Rooftop, superhero fashion central, is holding a big-time contest to design a brand new costume for the inevitable (maybe, possibly) Dick Grayson-as-Batman!

Here's the info, direct from PR's own Dean Trippe:

You’re going to need every tool in your utility belt for this one! Project: Rooftop is flipping on the signal. That’s right, old chum, in honor of the recent (apparent!) demise of the Dark Knight in Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis, and the likely torch-passing to follow, we’re announcing a very specific new contest: redesign the Batman uniform to suit his most likely successor, Dick Grayson AKA Robin AKA Nightwing.

Think about it, Nightwing was raised to be Batman 2.0, so any uniform he dons as the Caped Crusader should demonstrate that. And sure, Nightwing might not be the next Batman, and Bruce Wayne’s heroic death probably won’t last forever…but let’s enjoy the design opportunity anyway!

More information, and a list of PRIZES can be found at the Project Rooftop site, but all entries must be received by February 4th! So get working!

And you might be interested in this tidbit: In addition to the normal PR judges, the finalists will be judged by a panel of guest judges including J. H. Williams III, Dustin Nguyen, and Geniusboy Firemelon's own...ME. That's right, I've been brought in to judge what will surely be an amazing batch of costume designs.

This is gonna be cool.

Batman Cacophony #2 Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Batman Cacophony #2, about which I write the following sentences: "All of that may be part of Smith's take on the Batman/Joker dynamic, or it might be setting things up for a more fierce showdown in the finale, but it seems to demonstrate a fundamental problem with this series. Smith just seems to be out of touch with these characters as he puts them through the paces of a story that doesn't matter, even to the characters to whom it's happening. Many of the moments seem perfunctory, unspectacular. The characters seem to be going through the motions, without any sense of irony."

Read the entire review HERE.

Wolverine, Batman, and Harry's Moustache

1. So Jason Aaron's writing a new Wolverine ongoing next year called "Wolverine: Weapon X"? And it will be to Wolverine what Fraction's "Invincible Iron Man" was to Iron Man? That sounds good to me. I will buy the heck out of it.

2. And now Rich Johnson reports that Grant Morrison WILL be returning to Batman, with Frank Quitely as the artist? I might possibly check out that series too.

3. But I've been reading my Lee/Romita-era "Spider-Man Masterworks" recently, and I have to say that though the current "Amazing Spider-Man" series kind of recalls the late phase of that era, it can't possibly recapture the spirit of that time until Harry Osborn grows back his "fu manchu" moustache. It was a pretty sweet look for him, and I think it's time to bring it back for a new generation.

Detective Comics #851 Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Detective Comics #851, about which I write the following sentences: "So Batman's M.I.A., and Nightwing is on the case. It's a Nightwing comic masquerading as a Batman story, and it offers nothing you couldn't get from an average issue of his own soon-to-be-cancelled series. O'Neil is an efficient storyteller, using narrative captions and dialogue to move the story along and explain everything along the way, but there's little thematic substance here. It's just another story about a Gotham City madman and a costumed vigilante on the prowl."

Read the entire review HERE.

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!