This hardcover collects Batman #655-658 & #663-666 and is written by Grant Morrison.
Overall- Since I actually read this hardcover about 8 months ago, I'm not going to do a flat out review of this entire hardcover. I can't really type up my initial feelings to the story, since I already know(for the most part)what happens. But Kello, whose blog is a great read by the way, recommended that I take another look at this hardcover in order to better understand the Batman R.I.P. storyline, as well as some insights into what Grant Morrison may have planned for the upcoming Battle for the Cowl storyline. So, without further ado, here are some of my thoughts about the Batman & Son hardcover. In bullet point format!!!
-One of the main things I gleaned from this story was that I really didn't like Damian Wayne. He is such an obnoxious little jerk. But, I think(hope)that was what Grant was aiming for when he created the character(I'll add that I am currently reading through the "Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul" hardcover, and don't dislike Damian nearly as much in that).
-Robin(Tim Drake)sure looked bad in this hardcover. I'm guessing that Grant doesn't like Tim that much, since a 12 year old basically hospitalizes Tim in the Batcave.
-Batman was kind of out of character in these comics to me. Would he really take Damian and bring him into the Batcave just on Talia Al Ghul's say so? Isn't that really irresponsible? On top of that, not only does Bats bring Damian to the Cave/Wayne Manor, he leaves the kid alone with only Alfred watching him. I know Alfred can take care of himself, but it was established that Damian was raised by the League of Assassins, and is one hell of a fighter... What if Talia was lying and Damian was only sent to Bats to disrupt his life by killing Alfred and Robin? The Batman I know is a VERY paranoid individual who I just can't see leaving this potential threat(Damian)alone with two of the few people he actually cares about.
-Talia was kind of weirdly written here as well. She gives Damian over to Bats so Damian can learn from/about his father, and then seems kind of pissed that Damian wants to stay with Bats. What did she think was going to happen? I also thought it was kind of puzzling that Talia seemed willing to almost allow Damian to perish in order to make her getaway. Wouldn't letting Damian die go counter to all of her meticulous planning in regards to creating the genetically perfect child?
-The important issue in this hardcover though was Batman #666. #666 is a self contained story which shows us Gotham City a few years in the future. Bruce Wayne is dead, and there is a new Batman in town. It is revealed that the new Batman is none other than a now grown up Damian Wayne. It also appears that there is an evil impostor Batman running around. The evil Batman seems to worship the devil and is pretty evil. As a matter of fact, the evil Batman kind of resembles the Batman crouching on the Wayne Enterprises box shown in this picture over at Yedna's great blog(wow, I'm linking to all of my favorite blogs in this post!). Now, I guess(and that's exactly what it is, a guess)the evil Batman could be Jason Todd, Azrael or possibly Tim Drake, since the evil Batman mentions that he too was a "son" of Batman(Jason and Tim are Bruce's adopted children). With a nudge, I could see either Azrael or Jason dressing as Bats and going crazy(Jason has already dressed as Nightwing and gone on a rampage, so it wouldn't be out of character). The Damian Batman ultimately kills the evil Batman, while thinking about how disappointed Bruce would have been that he took a life. Some important things I took from this issue were, #1, Tim Drake is never mentioned, so unless he is the evil Batman, he has no impact on Grant's vision of the future of Batman. #2, Damian(or the impostor Batman)apparently killed Jim Gordon, which leads to his daughter, Barbara, becoming the Gotham Police Commissioner.
However, the most important thing I got out of this comic were Damian's thoughts. At one point, Damian thinks to himself that he'll never be able to live up to the legacies of Bruce Wayne AND Dick Grayson. To me, that seems to say that Dick is deceased, but more importantly that Dick is the next in line to become Batman if Bruce Wayne were to die in Final Crisis. If this comic is an actual look into the future and not a random alternate dimension, then Dick Grayson becomes Batman after Bruce dies, and after his own death, Dick is replaced by Damian. The fact that Damian replaces Dick would lead one to think that Dick takes Damian under his wing as the new Robin.
Now, knowing Grant Morrison's style of writing, there is a good chance all of my theories are wrong, and something completely different will happen. One thing Grant is great at is misdirection. During his run on "New X-Men", Grant actually created a character whose mutant power WAS misdirection! I STILL don't know what exactly that means! The bottom line here is that after reading this hardcover, I am pretty sure that the death of Bruce Wayne will usher in Dick Grayson as the new Batman and Damian Wayne as the new Robin. One Batman during the Battle for the Cowl storyline will go completely evil and apparently make some kind of deal with the devil(or an old man or a dragon. Damn, this is confusing...). Most likely, the evil Batman is Azrael or Jason Todd, with an outside chance it is Tim Drake(my money is on Jason though). Oh, and when he is 14, Damian also sells his soul to this devil/old man/dragon... I think... For a score, I would give this entire hardcover a 7 out of 10. It was a fun, but confusing read. If anyone else has read Batman #666, I'd love to hear what exactly you were able to make of it. Tomorrow, I'll probably post the "Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul" hardcover review.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thanks for the shout-out in the post, I'm definitely looking for more readers, although my amount of posting may go down after Christmas Break.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your post: "However, the most important thing I got out of this comic were Damian's thoughts. At one point, Damian thinks to himself that he'll never be able to live up to the legacies of Bruce Wayne AND Dick Grayson. To me, that seems to say that Dick is deceased, but more importantly that Dick is the next in line to become Batman if Bruce Wayne were to die in Final Crisis. If this comic is an actual look into the future and not a random alternate dimension, then Dick Grayson becomes Batman after Bruce dies, and after his own death, Dick is replaced by Damian. The fact that Damian replaces Dick would lead one to think that Dick takes Damian under his wing as the new Robin."
This is what I though too. I truly belive it will be Dick and Damien as Batman and Robin, post Final Crisis. I think if you look at how everything in Morrison's run has fallen into place, the answers to what he has in mind are in issue 666.
I also think the villain Damien defeats in issue 666 is supposed to be the devil himself.
I had purchased the initial "Batman and Son" arc when it came out in comic form, and the ending always kind of fell flat to me. I just wanted more, although I thought the end of the issue where Batman stands on the shore looking at the water was a cool image. After reading the collection presented here, I think Morrison's Batman is a pretty compelling work. I'm really excited to see where this is all leading, I'm just hoping that Tim Drake doesn't become Red Robin permanently. Usually I'm not hurt when characters change or die, but Tim Drake can't go down like that!
I personally would much rather see Dick and Tim as Batman and Robin, but it seems appearent that Grant really likes Damian and that Damian isn't going anywhere as long as Grant is writing for DC. Of course, if Grant were to leave, who knows what would happen.
ReplyDeleteI'll always remember Grant's run on "New X-Men". It was those comics that drew me back to collecting comics after an 8 year hiatus. In the big, climatic battle ending Grant's X-Men run, Wolverine beheads Magneto after Mags kills Jean Grey. That ending was so fitting and perfect to me. After Grant left Marvel to work for DC, the very first month after he was off "New X-Men", Marvel brought back Magneto! 1 month later! Even though Mags was decapitated on panel, in a "make no mistake, this guy is dead" moment! That always drove me crazy.
Sorry about getting off topic there... Getting back to Batman #666, the Evil Batman actually refers to "The Old Man, The Dragon", who "...anointed me his Messiah". Damian also makes reference to this Old Man/Dragon, saying he bargained his soul to this being in order to keep Gotham City safe. Damian refers to this Evil Batman as the Son of Satan, as opposed to the devil himself, and states that the Evil Batman "is the last of three men, insane replacement Batmen who haunted my father years ago.". This line is actually kind of interesting, because it seems to indicate that Bruce Wayne had to deal with the replacement Batmen that will be appearing during the "Battle for the Cowl" storyline. Could this mean that Bruce may survive Final Crisis, but will be unable to fulfill his Batman duties? I'd be interested to know what you think about that.
I hear you concerning Tim Drake. The same thing happened to me with Bart Allen. You see, the very first DC comics books I ever read were the "Young Justice" comics. I liked the Bart Allen character so much that I went out and managed to buy the entire "Impulse" series off of E-Bay. I thought Impulse was such a well written, great character. I wound up collecting the "Flash" comics due to Bart, as well as collecting the current "Teen Titans" series, where Bart changed from Impulse to the previously used Kid Flash. Most of what made Bart Bart changed, and he eventually became the Flash... We all know how THAT turned out...
The reason Impulse succeeded and Kid Flash failed was because Impulse was a "new" character, as opposed to being seen as a rip-off of another character. Whenever a character takes over the role of another character, it almost never works out. Green Arrow(Oliver Queen), Green Lantern(Hal Jordan), Batman(Bruce Wayne)the first time, Superman(Clark Kent), and appearently Flash(Barry Allen), all of these characters have been killed off, crippled or replaced at one time or another, and every one of them has reclaimed their former identity. The bottom line is that if DC sticks Tim Drake with the Red Robin identity, he is doomed. If DC manages to create a new identity for Tim, ala Dick Grayson and Nightwing, I think Tim's chances of survival increase dramatically.
Of course, since Grant Morrison seems to hate Tim, I wouldn't be suprised to see Tim wind up as a crazy villain, much like the horribly misused Jason Todd. I always thought Jason would have worked so much better if he had returned to life and become a sort of Punisher character, as opposed to a crime lord/Batman villain/wannabe Robin and Nightwing/petty street criminal. There were glimmers that Jason would become the character I wanted him to become, but it never materialized.
Wow, I've commented so much, that I won't be able to post a review tonight! I really can't shut-up sometimes. As always, I'd love to know what you think about my comments, Kello(or anybody for that matter!).