by Grant Morrison & Tony Daniel
collects Batman # 676-683
the premise: The Black Glove strikes, dealing a devastating blow to Batman's psyche. Batman struggles to regain his sanity while the Black Glove sets up a macabre showdown.
the lowdown: The premise doesn't do this one justice. I'm not sure there is a description that could do this one justice.
This book is made of pure awesome!
Morrison's Batman run pays off in a big way in this arc, with a multi-layered story full of twists, turns and suspense. Plot elements from as far back as 52 come to fruition as Batman's biggest vulnerability stands revealed. Morrison adds something to the Batman mythos that many writers have tried before, but he does it better than any of them. Horror. This book is genuinely scary, and not the kind of faux-scary they've tried before where Batman fights the Spectre or the Scarecrow or something. From minute one - the well-done scene between Batman and the Joker in Arkham, this one is just filled with a sense of dread and foreboding. You keep waiting for Morrison to drop the other shoe, to let you know how and when the Glove will strike. And then when he does, it's totally worth the wait.
The arc doesn't stop there. The aftermath of Batman's fall is spellbinding. The final confrontations with the Black Glove, although a little long, are fantastic, laced with drama and pathos. The big reveals are delivered with maximum effect. It's a triumph all the way around.
Criticism I've seen online have focused on two things - one is the ambiguous ending. I'm not spoiling anything by saying the ending *is* ambiguous. And? Most great endings are ambiguous. This one wraps up the story completely but leaves you wanting more. Isn't that what all stories should do?
The other criticism is that there's no clean reveal of the Black Glove's ID. Apparently Morrison said in an interview there would be this big reveal, and then there's not. I wouldn't know, because who reads interviews for books they're already going to read? Anyway - it doesn't matter who the BG is. That's really not the point.
Tony Daniel takes some grief for his art, and at times deservedly so, but he does nice work here. He's no J.H. Williams III, but there's only one of those. This is not an easy script to draw, and Daniel pulls it off pretty well.
My only real complaint is the two-issue "Last Rites" epilogue, drawn by Lee Garbett. It's cute but not really necessary, and really isn't much more than continuity pr0n. Minor complaint, though - by that time the book was already a smashing success.
the verdict: This is one of the very best Batman stories I've ever read, and I've read a LOT of Batman stories. This is easily top 10, maybe top 5, maybe top 2 - I'll need a little distance before really making that comparison. This is a fantastic psychodrama that rewards multiple readings and demonstrates the very best of Batman. Best comic I've read so far this year! Highly, highly recommended!
18 comments:
Prepare to be murdered for this.
But ya, I liked it, too.
And yes, I talk to you from the afterlife.
The other criticism is that there's no clean reveal of the Black Glove's ID. Apparently Morrison said in an interview there would be this big reveal, and then there's not. I wouldn't know, because who reads interviews for books they're already going to read? Anyway - it doesn't matter who the BG is. That's really not the point.
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I'll add, regarding this, that GM's interviews are a different sort of creature. Very entertaining, so that's why I read them.
However, I'm not complaining about anything, since I loved the story.
Also, the Last Rites issues should have been with the FC trade. (Eager to see how you judge that, btw.)
Yay, another Batman fan who 'gets' it!
I'm amazed by bhow many fans didn't like this story or Morrisons entire run so far. I know it's personal taste but it feels like some people just want to read the same handful of bat stories over and over again.
Morrison taking long forgotten stories and mixing them in with a wonderfully layered pyschodrama had me grinning from ear to ear every month.
I'm now hoping that DC trades Batman & Son through R.I.P in some nice big Absolutes :D
I'm already looking forward to the re-read!
I actually have a few thoughts on the Morrison-hate that I'll get into a future post. I felt like I'd run out of space this time around.
A huge omnibus would be amazing.
Matches, you're going to love Batman & Robin.
I'm totally stoked for it. Morrison is *really* firing on all cylinders right now. Eventually there's going to be a nice Seaguy HC collecting all three miniseries, too. That will be a happy day.
I'm actually finding the reactions to Batman & Robin equally entertaining. It's fun to go through the comment threads and count the people who said they would "never buy DC again and never buy Morrison stuff again" after Final Crisis. The same people now praising the book.
That probably sounds a bit bitter of me to say. Ah well. At this point I think I've become thoroughly disgusted with internet comic fans in general.
I actually looked through your reviews, Matches, but haven't found one for Batman & Son. Did you skip that one? I'm only just now getting around to snatching it; it's going to be a bit of an agonizing wait for the softcover version of RIP (not a Hardcover kind of guy, really).
Batman & Son came out before I started the blog; that's the only reason it's missing. I may go back to it at some point.
I'm pretty down on most internet discussion these days, too, present company excepted. So I feel your pain.
I'm really liking the millarworld forums, actually. They seem quite capable of having convo w/o stupidity (for the most part). I haven't joined yet, but I think I might.
But really, I go to blogs a lot these days. Knowledgeable and entertaining (again, for the most part).
BTW Matches, are you gonna be getting Asterios Polyp this week? The reviews for it are making me really exciting.
And really, more work from Dave Mazzuchelli is just awesome.
Not sure yet. I love Mazzuchelli's work so I'll probably give it a shot. It may not be right away, though - it's on what passes for my "to-do" list.
I find I've been having the best comic conversations away from general comic boards. I frequent a few pairing forums and one forum dedicated to Gambit. Compared to the general sites, things are more relaxed on those sites.
I've all but given up on most comic discussion boards. I just can't deal with the pessimism, incessant negativity and rampant complaining. It's like no one really even likes comics anymore, but just like complaining about them. I don't even go to Comicbloc much anymore.
You know, with all this replacement Batman business, I'm kind of surprised that DC hasn't reprinted Prodigal. I thought that was a no-brainer. I actually can't even find the trade of that for any reasonable amount.
The demise of the Bloc has been sad to watch. It's unofrtunate because it really was an excellent place to either discuss comics or shoot the breeze for a long time.
Millarworld has its own foibles (*cough*thehost*cough*) but overall is a well-run board with a minimum of crap. It has some mindless Marvel-zombie-ism just like the Bloc has always had some mindless DC-zombie-ism, but in general I like it. I post there some as "Steve K".
I think message boards in general are starting to die out. Between blogs, facebook, twitter and such there are more and more places where you can have conversation without putting up with the lowest common denominator.
i treat the Bloc poorly. it's like going to somebody's house and putting your shoes all over the furniture. you don't tend to do that if you respect a place.
i've been frequenting Bleeding Cool but it's amounting to the same--mostly because a lot of CBR got ported over. specifically OM. he's an asshole.
i might try Millarworld for awhile but i've become restless lately.
i don't know. i enjoy interacting with people thru their various blogs, etc.
Yeah, Comicbloc hasn't even been fun for me anymore. There were your snarky fans, of course, but usually they were funny and generally relaxed. Now it's become less tolerant and I just find myself drifting away from it in general. Though I will say that I'd go there to check out what's up in comics over Scans_Daily anyday; I have never despised a community more than that one.
I checked CBR before and just never went back. Then there's Newsarama; the only place as intolerable is probably John Byrnes forum.
I think one of the things that has tipped me away from many comic forums in general has been the whole Spider-Man deal. The vocal minority are incessant. If you so much as say that you like where things are going or have gone you will probably be dog-piled. How a fictional marriage that never added much of anything to any story being dissolved could instill such venom in fans is beyond me. I've always preferred Black Cat to any of Spidey's love interests anyways; she always comes with delicious drama whenever the two are together, which is half of what made Spider-Man so compelling originally.
On message boards, I think it's just the general fan sites that are dying. The other fringe stuff that focuses on specific things tend to do rather well. They're also far easier to have good conversations on.
Oh, and Ian, I'm familiar with OM. I can't help but agree. He pretty much emphasizes the kind of members that have turned me off general comic forums. The kind that can't allow a decent conversation to take place without dickery.
You know, I actually think the Byrne board will survive longer than most. It's flaws are well-documented, of course, but it mostly consists of people who are just ardent fans of Crankypants, and who have pretty similar worldviews in general. Sure, that's partially because he's banned just about everyone else, but still... he may overreach with who he bans, but he does tend to weed out the spammers and many of the idiots.
Where boards really lose their way IMO is when you have to wade through an excessive amount of crap to get to the good discussion. There's still good discussion at the Bloc or even at the DCMBs - but you've got to wade through more and more sewage to get to it. At some point it's no longer time well-spent.
The Spider-Man thing has indeed gotten old. I think the capper for me was someone hoping that Joe Q's marriage would fail so he could "see what it feels like".
Man, I remember that comment about Joey Q's marriage. I was thoroughly disgusted. The internet's anonymity allows far too many people to go over the line and they usually do. I actually got banned from IGN for a little while because I absolutely flipped out in total disgust on someone who wanted Michael Bay to die because they thought his Transformers films were terrible; admittedly, I did go over the line and the ban with the swearing and the ban was justified, I just lost it. Stuff like that sometimes just really nails a part of me that can't believe stuff like that would even be said.
On the Spidey marriage, I actually grew up with it. I was rather mad when I first heard about it. But once I looked back at old stories, I started realizing that the only reason I cared was because I grew up with it and thusly didn't want a piece of childhood to change. Really, Mary Jane and the marriage just killed the books. I still like the Venom stories, but aside from those and your scattered terrific one shots and the like, the time between the marriage and it's dissolution was not a great time for me in Spidey fandom.
On the Byrne boards, it probably will last longer than some others, but it's pretty insular already. I read a thread or two there once; I swear I had a headache and weary eyes from reading so much jadedness, cynicism and vitrol in one place. I think I'm allergic to the Byrne boards.
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