Batman #655-#658 Mega Review
Grant Morrison is known for his quirky, fantastical, and unending stream of ideas. He is responsible for such brilliantly crazy ideas like Skeets being a villain, and “the white Martians” from his JLA run. I will never say that Grant Morrison doesn't deserve the praise that is showered upon him, but sometimes, a little bit of Grant Morrison goes a long way.
Morrison is currently writing 52, All-Star Superman, the Authority, and Batman. He is flooding the market. So sometimes, his deliciously quirky ideas overstay their welcome, and turn from deliciously quirky, to overly bizarre. This is kind of the case during his first arc on Batman.
The story starts off solid enough. The Joker makes an appearance, as does Commissioner Gordon, Robin, and Alfred. So, the supporting cast is there in full force. About three-quarters into the first issue, Bruce Wayne has decided to go have a little vacation, by going to a gala in London. Bruce then meets up with the ominously scared Kirk “Man-Bat” Langstrom. The issue ends with Wayne doing his playboy act, and Talia Al Ghul, looking onward, accompanied by a boy who claims to be the son of Bruce Wayne. There wasn't anything spectacular, nor wrong with this first issue. I was hoping to be blown out of the water, but was surprised by the fact that Morrison's trademark quirkiness was absent.
That didn't last long. In issue 656, we are treated to the story of the London gala being broken up by a flock of Ninja Man Bats………………I really want to like the idea, I really do, but sometimes, things cross a line, and Ninja Man Bats long jumped over said line. Batman Begins did such a good job of showing that Batman could be grounded in reality, so it was hard for me to see Batman in such an impossible situation. But I digress, and I decided that my belief would be suspended for the rest of the arc. So, Batman combats the Man Bats, and is finally apprehended by Talia, and his son that he never even knew existed.
Then, in issue 657 Batman and son (Damian) returned to Gotham, and the Batcave. In the ensuing pages, Robin meets Damian, Damian shows his brat tendencies, Damian sneaks out and slices the obscure bat villian, the “Spook's” head off, and then fights Robin, and beats him handily. So, this issue featured lots of Damian (a good thing, since he is a new twist added to the Batverse).
In the final issue of the arc, Batman tends to Tim Drakes injuries after his encounter with Damian, and decides that he needs to confront Talia. So, Batman takes Damian with him in his Bat rocket (a definite Morrison “ism”), and battles more Ninja Man Bats. Finally, both Talia, and Damian escape, and this story looks like it will be continued at a later date.
For the first time in a long time, I think that the writer could have decompressed the story a bit. This arc definitely could have used one more issue. The ending seemed really rushed and felt like it was left too wide open. I would go as far as to say that there wasn't much of an ending at all. Either Morrison realized that he was out of room, and needed to end the story quick, or this is another one of his grand plans where he has long term plans in mind.
Andy Kubert's art has never been my favorite. His art in this story reminds me a bit of Jim Lee's art, but on a lesser scale. I thought his art was better than some of his previous efforts, but his name doesn't inspire me to buy something just because he is working on it. So, overall his art was okay, but it failed to portray the big blockbuster feel that Morrison was trying to put across in his story.
Morrison's first arc on Batman was neither terrible, nor fantastic. He crossed a line with the Ninja Man Bats, but I can forgive him. I think that my expectations were quite high for this arc, so maybe that is why I was slightly surprised to find that the story wasn't as epic as I expected. Overall though, you can do a lot worse when it comes to Batman stories. \
Grade: 7/10
Review by Christopher Hoerdemann |
