Batman and Robin #16 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Cameron Stewart, Chris Burnham, Frazer Irving (artists), Alex Sinclair and Frazer Irving (colorists), Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: We see Thomas Wayne in 1765 summoning the demon Barbatos. We then shift forward to now, where Dr. Hurt is facing Batman, Robin, and DC’s spoiler for the whole Return of Batman miniseries. Problem is, Hurt’s got a lot of help, Dick has been shot in the head and the Joker is the wild card (so to speak).

Publishing Issues: I gotta get this out of the way before I do the rest of the review. On my way to my LCS, I was thinking of what a great thing it was that DC had taken its time to fully explore the implications of the death of Bruce Wayne and how I liked how they were taking their time to bring him back right. I thought the same thing contentedly as I read this issue, until I got to page 15, where suddenly I see two Batmans, one of whom is Bruce Wayne. I rubbed my eyes, flipped back a couple of pages, and find that the build up and explanation offered is….”You came through the fireplace.” WTF? OK, I don’t read most of the message boards for a reason. I want to be able to read each comic on its own terms, creator to reader, no intermediary. I think that’s honest. It took me a while to connect some of the whisperings I’d heard about publication schedules and finally realized that this issue occurs *at least* later than The Return of Bruce Wayne #6, if not later. So, I’m not going to get into my frustration, but needless to say, I felt a bit like someone had told me who the killer was before I’d finished my popcorn in the movie. Totally, totally not cool on DC’s part. I don’t care what their editorial/creative problems are. If some fraction of DC’s comics routinely get delayed for one reason or another, DC should build that into their business plan, especially on something as coordinated as an event. Now I don’t even want to read ROBW #6. Nice work, DC.

What’s Good: First part of the book (Thomas Wayne in 1765), was very moody and cool, classic Morrison. And visually impressive, even if that artist’s style isn’t 100% to my taste. The fight between Batman, Batman, Robin and the 99 Fiends was dynamic, but I never felt like anyone but the fiends were in real danger. It felt a bit like filler. Despite this, Damian certainly stole the show. Check out the visuals and the outcome of his fight with the guy with the flame thrower! The Hurt/Batman conflict in the Bat Cave continued the fun, and Pyg was twisted and depraved in central Gotham. The ending with the Joker was unexpected, tone-perfect and satisfying.

Batman and Robin #14 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Frazer Irving (artist), Janelle Siegel (assistant editor), Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: Batman and Robin Must Die, Part 2: Robin is still locked up with the Joker. Batman and Commissioner Gordon are surrounded by the enemy. And the full-on war between the Joker and the Black Glove blows up.

What’s Good: Right off the bat, Batman and Robin under Frazer Irving is visually arresting. Irving does different things. Colors and light become watery and fluid. The camera shots shift disconcertingly (intentionally) between complete pictures and tight close ups that drive up the tension and add to the mood of dislocation. Backgrounds are uneven sprays of paint with no defined source of light, eerie and effective. The villains, psychologically distorted outside of moral boundaries, are chilling, alien, and disturbingly plausible. Irving is my new favorite Batman artist.

Morrison on scripts has moved the plot forward with events and reversals, but this is the least part of the satisfaction of this book. The moody and unhinged dialogue opens crooked windows onto the insides of Pyg, the Joker and Black Hand. The Joker gets some awesome moments against Robin, and says some very revealing things, but at every moment, the cagey look and the mask of his expression scream that he is unreliable and that everything he says is lie or manipulation. Pyg is an utter, utter whack job and the more he talks, the more creeped out I am. The action is intense and fast and tumbling in the confused way that hard-boiled fiction reflects the chaos of the world in its narrative style. The reader is deliberately exposed to a measured amount of confusion and disorientation to bring him closer to the psychological state of the heroes and the victims.

Batman #678 (RIP) – Review

By Grant Morrison (writer), Tony Daniel (pencils), Sandu Florea (inks), Guy Major (colors)

In many ways, Batman RIP is very similar to Final Crisis. Both stories are confusing, abstract, and fragmented, but because Batman’s story is only nestled within the “Bat-Universe” there’s less tabs to put on characters making the story a bit easier to follow. I put a big emphasis on “a bit” easier, because after this issue I was more lost than ever. And you know, I don’t mind being lost as long as I know where the general direction of things are headed. In Final Crisis I can’t make heads or tails of the story without consulting appendices and cliffnotes from the DC elite (thanks guys), but in Batman, Grant Morrison manages to throw us a bone every once in a while, and that I can deal with.

This issue makes me wonder if Morrison is deliberately trying to invoke the same amnesiac feelings amongst his readers as Bruce Wayne stumbles around Gotham City with the ghost of a homeless man. Eventually Wayne wanders to Park Row (the area of Gotham where his parents were killed), and here his mind is ignited (by drugs no less). The end result is something that I can only describe as just plain Silver Age flamboyance at its worst (or best, if you’re into that kind of thing).

The Black Case Studies Wayne’s done on his rogues gallery is particularly fascinating and it makes me wonder what kind of damage had been done with Wayne’s “experimentations” into madness. Robin’s wondering this too. Speaking of which, Nightwing and Robin seem to be getting nowhere in their search, yet their less than covert actions has drawn the attention of the Club of Villains ever closer (and unknowingly). I won’t reveal anything here, but wow… poor Nightwing.

Perhaps my only beef with this issue is the lack of resolution with Alfred. Though we see him for just a brief moment latter half through the issue, nothing new is explained on his past dealings with The Black Glove nor of his fate. Anyway, this issue is weird, but perversely fun? (Grade: B-)

– J. Montes