Batman Incorporated #10 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (story), Chris Burnham, Jason Masters, Andrew Bressan (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors)

The Story: Who needs a corporation when you’ve got a one-man army?

The Review: I used to do workshops in improv comedy—something I highly recommend for anyone who has an opportunity to do it.  As intimidating and nerve-wracking as it can be at times to create something from nothing, to me it feels like the creative process in its purest form: using whatever came to mind as a spark, teasing out every interesting thread, molding it into something coherent by instinct.  There’s a lot of risk, but that’s what makes it so thrilling to do and see.

Morrison writes the same way improvisers act, with similar variation in quality.  When he’s good, his work has an in-the-moment, totally present feeling which is irresistibly engaging.  When he’s not so good, there’s a borderline random looseness which makes you feel that he’s writing himself into a corner that he’s not quite sure how to get out of.  In the case of Batman Incorporated, he’s not quite there yet, but you do sense the story closing in on him.