It’s another Wednesday Comics picks appearing on Thursday. I know, I’m sorry. If I have any excuse it’s because I was busy reading a book I want to talk about today, Batman R.I.P.
Batman R.I.P. to most people is old news, but I’m always in a state of playing catch-up so for me, it’s new. It’s also probably the major contributing factor to my being totally lost while reading this book. From start to finish I was so very confused. Confused about characters, their motivations, the backstory, and the significance of the events unfolding before me. It’s with that in mind that I will be writing this review with a lot more aid from the DC Wiki than the book itself. Even then, I’m sure I’m still missing some major points.
While I usually talk a bit about the plot, I am honestly a bit too lost to really rehash but what I will say is that throughout the story Batman is basically in a state of losing his mind. Batman books always tend to deal a lot in the realm of the psychological. This book was the epitome of those types of concepts. From early on when a trigger word drops him into a quivering mass on the floor, to hanging out with a homeless man who turns out to have died before Bruce met him, to running around with a baseball bat in a crazy red, yellow and purple version of the bat suit and calling himself the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh with Bat-Mite tagging along.
So you can see where a Batman lightweight like myself would be in a “WTF mate?” mindset throughout. But here’s the thing: I have read several other Batman storylines where he was working through the Scarecrow’s fear gas or other villains who employ psychological attacks. In each of them, though at times quite trippy, I was able to understand what was going on more or less.
Written by Grant Morrison, Batman R.I.P. left me with way more questions than answers. While the story as I read it (the deluxe edition hardcover) was a compilation of regular issues, it was a bit of a benchmark event. For someone who isn’t so entrenched in the goings on of the Caped Crusader I felt way out of my league throughout the whole issue. While the story in and of itself was fairly self contained it almost relied too heavily on your having a very intimate knowledge of not only Batman, but of many of the characters immediately surrounding him and otherwise.
Past that, the writing, especially in dialouge was just all over the place. Again the story takes on almost a dream-like mentality because Batman is at the edge of reason. But it’s hard to tell at any given time if he is having a moment of awesome Batman detective clarity or a total mental breakdown. Everything is presented so matter-of-factly that you are just along for the ride because any second guessing what’s going on will leave you flat on your face. OK, Batman and Bat-Mite are sitting on a roof and Bat-Mite is trying to convince Batman to hide from criminals but he’s too busy arguing with a pair of Gargoyles about how the city is like a grid. Why? What does this serve for the story?
At one point Bat-Mite tells Batman he can no longer come with him because he is the last sense of reason and if Batman goes any further there can be no more reason. Ok wait, Bat-Mite represents reason? Um, what? This is clearly where you have to start questioning what you’re reading. When you are agreeing totally with a Hyper-Imp from the 5th dimension who may or may not be a figment of Batman’s imagination. It was at this crucial juncture I was feeling like Bat-Mite, wishing I could just stay outside and let the rest blow over.
At any rate, the story by the end was good enough I guess. But on the whole it was a real let-down. My next read is of course Final Crisis, also by Morrison, and I have to say I am worried. I guess some part of me really needs a lot of these stories spelled out for me. I don’t mind doing some thinking to understand these stories but it seems like half of this was so over-thought and could have been stripped out. At it’s essence, the whole story of Black Hand could easily have been condensed down to one issue. The rest was psychobabble fluff that didn’t make sense for all the wrong reasons.
When I read Batman I read it because he has awesome adventures. He’s the worlds greatest Detective and a human being who has pushed himself to a physical peak. While I get that there are many stories like this that wade in the realm of Bruce’s amazing psyche, I’d rather see him applying it to something. This, where for page after page he’s just meandering around seemingly like a loon, just really doesn’t do it for me. At least not for any period of time longer than a few pages.
The Batman that is in total control of the situation, no matter how dangerous or strange or amazing is the Batman we all know and love. The Batman that is in control even when the bad guys think he isn’t and it seems like all hope is lost. In Batman R.I.P. I just wasn’t getting that sense. He seemed more like a whirling dervish going through the motions of the story with little glimpses of the real Batman shining through only when plot points became totally obvious. Yes, you could say the fact that he trained himself so well that he created a backup personality of himself to help if he were ever under mental attack is pretty amazing. But for me, it’s almost too amazing. Though I do have to say I liked the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh running around cracking skulls with his Louisville Slugger.
My sole pick for the week is Brightest Day #1 which I also had the benefit of reading since it is in fact Thursday, and I have to say it was pretty good. It’s setting up some threads for a new mystery and should be a lot of fun. Seems the resurrected heroes aren’t quite done with death just yet. Happy reading!
Tags: Comics, DC, Wednesday Comics Picks
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So you got through RIP. Now I am going to share my take on it. The book was a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME, not only to read but to be written and printed and so on. In the end…nothing happens. The book was stupid, incoherent through out most of it. The artwork was pretty solid but that’s about the only redeeming quality. Like I said to you in private, I believe Grant Morrison gave a plot idea for the story but it was then Ghost Written by a bunch of yutz’s in the DCU. I love DC. I have a great dislike for Grant Morrison. Just because you write one great book Arkham Asylum, doesn’t make you great. That is why Geoff Johns and the rest of the crew have spent the last year plus trying to rebuild and fix the DCU. The next mess coming out is the ‘highly’ anticipating “Return of Bruce Wayne” book due out in the next few months. Folks, spoiler, He’s time traveling sort of like what happened to Steve Rogers “Captain America Returns” book which was a waste of time. Bucky was doing a great job, you don’t need to bring Steve back. But I digress, on the flip side, the Batman books with Dick at the helm, are, well, bleh… They have moments of promise and moments of (raised eyebrows.) As RIP was coming to a close both Dick and Tim were growing darker and brooding and more serious. Once Dick put on the cape and cowl he was the happy go lucky Batman… if this was a realistic world, how could people not tell that this was a different batman? Or that the voice was different. I think when Bruce comes back, he should be in a more advisory role for a while than as being Batman again. And I think if they were smart, calling the book the Return of Bruce Wayne, it should be themed in the idea that, in the end Batman was in control and Bruce Wayne was a shell that Batman lived in and I think a more interesting drama would be Batman trying to revive Bruce Wayne, metaphorically speaking. One of the biggest issues I had with RIP though, since this is the subject at hand, was that when Bruce Wayne (SPOILER) goes missing and gets lost in GOTHAM…not Afghanistan in a cave looking for you know who, in Gotham, you couldn’t call, The Outsiders, The Justice League, Huntress, Oracle, The Flash (Wally or Jay since Barry wasn’t back yet), the League of Assassins, The justice Society, or simply just SUPERMAN, to scan the city to find him???? In other stories, Tim Drake alone could find a needle in a haystack but in RIP all the technology in the world couldn’t find the Richest most powerful man in the world in his own city????
Well, let me say. I’ve now started Final Crisis, and I’m convinced that Morrison himself wrote R.I.P. because it seems that only he is capable of these horrid skips from page to page. One page your in one place with one character, next page a totally different page totally different character. No transition whatsoever.