I have a few tattoo's. In 2001 I had the Batman Symbol from 1993's Batman: Knightfall which tattooed my right shoulder muscle. I chose it because it is the image I remember from my first substantial trip to a comic book shop. It also represents the character who led me into comic books and my favorite work of pop art: The Batman Animated Series of 1992. In Knightfall, our Batman has been plagued by a new villain, Bane, who has broken out all the inmates out of the Arkham Asylum to soften Batman up for their ultimate fight. Bane breaks Batmans back and throws him down into the Gotham Streets and proclaims himself king. Regardless of the age with which I read this, that's still pretty badass. The Batman continues on with another newcomer, Azrael, taking up the mantle of the Bat with the aggressive attitude of the Image Comics heroes of that era. Az-Bats goes overboard and Bruce Wayne (with his eastern-philosophy-healed back) has to come back and reclaim the cowl. There seems to be a similar setup here at the end (for now?) of Grant Morrison's run on Batman. Again Bruce is MIA and it looks as if one of his protégé's will take over the mantle b4 a healed Bruce comes back to set the status quo. Unfortunately, the setup wasn't nearly as good as Knightfall's.
Back in mid 2006, Morrison was announced as the ongoing writer for Batman. As a Morrison follower, I was cautiously excited. His last big run on X-Men was uneven at times, But showed moments of brilliance. I really enjoyed the 1st arc, Batman and Son, which introduces Damian, the love child between Batman and Talia, one of Batman's Femme Fatales. My minor complaints would only be that Damian was quite annoying at times and it does make the Bat-cave a bit crowded with Damian and Tim Drake, our current Robin. However I liked Batman's characterization, the meta-textual aspects of the pop art museum and the rebuilding of the Bat-mobile, and the references to Zur-En-Arhh. Let’s leave Zur-En-Arhh alone for the moment.
However, Morrison would not return to the title until 5 issues later with a 1 shot prose piece concerning the Joker. The 4 month delay hurt the momentum of the book and fact that this book was prose with little action exasperated it. There was continuity in the fact that the Joker was shot in the 1st arc and we're dealing with the aftermath, but there's no mention of Damian and only a slight appearance of Batman. I don't think prose works well in what's deemed to be a "comic book". You're breaking the rules of the medium which angers decent portion of the weekly comic buying crowd and thus don't give the material a fair chance.
Next up is a three parter that introduces the idea of the black casebook. Morrison presents us with the idea that all the far-out and wild stories Batman had in the 1950's and 60's might have only been hallucinations brought on by Joker gas or the Scarecrow's fear Toxin and that these questionable stories go in his 'Black Casebook'. It's a decent trick and presented in true Morrison fashion. Morrison often unveils a new idea as established and without fanfare, which often leads the reader to feel like their two steps behind. The cop conspiracy ending didn't sit too well with me and again I feel like there's not much continuity here. There's no Damian nor Robin, and Bruce is operating out of his Penthouse rather than the cave. No discussion of the implications of Damian, no paternity test and no real impact on our Batman. Morrison claimed early on that he'd be returning Batman to a more well rounded person rather than the antisocial paranoid obsessive maniac he'd turned into in the hands of less capable writers. If that's the case, I think we should then devote a panel or two to Batman processing the idea of a long lost son with an old flame who may or may not be alive.
This is gonna be a long one so lets stop here and break this bad boy into parts.
Back in mid 2006, Morrison was announced as the ongoing writer for Batman. As a Morrison follower, I was cautiously excited. His last big run on X-Men was uneven at times, But showed moments of brilliance. I really enjoyed the 1st arc, Batman and Son, which introduces Damian, the love child between Batman and Talia, one of Batman's Femme Fatales. My minor complaints would only be that Damian was quite annoying at times and it does make the Bat-cave a bit crowded with Damian and Tim Drake, our current Robin. However I liked Batman's characterization, the meta-textual aspects of the pop art museum and the rebuilding of the Bat-mobile, and the references to Zur-En-Arhh. Let’s leave Zur-En-Arhh alone for the moment.
However, Morrison would not return to the title until 5 issues later with a 1 shot prose piece concerning the Joker. The 4 month delay hurt the momentum of the book and fact that this book was prose with little action exasperated it. There was continuity in the fact that the Joker was shot in the 1st arc and we're dealing with the aftermath, but there's no mention of Damian and only a slight appearance of Batman. I don't think prose works well in what's deemed to be a "comic book". You're breaking the rules of the medium which angers decent portion of the weekly comic buying crowd and thus don't give the material a fair chance.
Next up is a three parter that introduces the idea of the black casebook. Morrison presents us with the idea that all the far-out and wild stories Batman had in the 1950's and 60's might have only been hallucinations brought on by Joker gas or the Scarecrow's fear Toxin and that these questionable stories go in his 'Black Casebook'. It's a decent trick and presented in true Morrison fashion. Morrison often unveils a new idea as established and without fanfare, which often leads the reader to feel like their two steps behind. The cop conspiracy ending didn't sit too well with me and again I feel like there's not much continuity here. There's no Damian nor Robin, and Bruce is operating out of his Penthouse rather than the cave. No discussion of the implications of Damian, no paternity test and no real impact on our Batman. Morrison claimed early on that he'd be returning Batman to a more well rounded person rather than the antisocial paranoid obsessive maniac he'd turned into in the hands of less capable writers. If that's the case, I think we should then devote a panel or two to Batman processing the idea of a long lost son with an old flame who may or may not be alive.
This is gonna be a long one so lets stop here and break this bad boy into parts.
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