Batman: The Return #1. Plus, why Grant Morrison is so much better than GEOFF Johns.

Overall: This comic looks to be setting the stage for the future of the Grant Morrison led Bat-books. Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably know Bruce Wayne has come back from the past and has reclaimed the Batman mantle. As Bruce Wayne he has come out and publicly stated that Wayne Enterprises is backing Batman, and that Batman's operation was going to go global. As such, Bruce takes Damian(Robin)to Yemen so they can go after some crazed villain who has been kidnapping and torturing folks. The villain is a part of something called the Leviathan, and is basically bad news. Bruce and Damian run into some sort of twisted genetic experiment, and during the battle, Damian disobeys Bruce's orders and begins to poke his nose around the base. Damian runs into some bigwig in the Leviathan organization, but the villain escapes, and Bruce is quite upset at Damian's lack of obedience on the field. Back home, Bruce tells Dick Grayson that he wants him to remain as Batman, and that he was leaving Gotham(and Damian)in Dick's hands, while Bruce himself takes a closer look at the Leviathan. And that's basically what this comic was all about.

You know, I want to say something first. I make no bones about the fact that I can barely understand what the hell is going on in most of Grant Morrison's Bat-books. I mean he writes some crazy stuff. I'm STILL puzzling over the events of Return of Bruce Wayne #6... BUT, I want to give him a HUGE amount of credit for actually doing new stuff, using new characters and moving forward. I've been bitching about DC for a while now(pretty much since SAINT Barry Allen returned), and with good reason, since DC, thanks in LARGE part to GEOFF “1959” Johns and his refusal to move out of DC's Silver Age. I mean seriously, look at the comics GEOFF writes(Green Lantern, Flash, Brightest Day)and look at the characters in those books(Hal Jordan, SAINT Barry Allen, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter), and tell me DC hasn't tumbled into some sort of terrible timewarp! Before you know it, SAINT Barry will probably be dealing with that villainous Soviet, Joseph Stalin, while Hal will be battling the menace of Sputnik. Yeah, DC has gotten THAT bad. So yeah, I may complain that I can't understand most of what Grant writes, but at least he is trying new ideas. Batman Incorporated? I'm not sold on it, but at least it's a bold NEW move. Dick Grayson as a second Batman, Damian Wayne(a character who didn't even exist 8 years ago)as Robin, Tim Drake as Red Robin, these are all NEW ideas and NEW concepts. Do I always like what Grant does? Hell no, but I respect the hell out of him for trying NEW stuff. So you want to know what? Let GEOFF live in the past and play with his childhood favorites. Let him drag his corner of the DC Universe back into the Stone Age. Let him tell the SAME boring stories about the SAME boring characters ad nauseum. At least Grant Morrison is trying new stuff. And for that reason alone, from this moment forward, I will not score ANYTHING Grant Morrison does for DC lower than a 6. No matter how confusing/bizarre/insane his work is, at least he's trying NEW ideas. That's more than GEOFF is doing... Huh, that rant came out of left field... Um, yeah, as for this comic, it wasn't really worth the $5 cover price, but it might be worth grabbing if you want to see where Morrison plans on taking DC's Dark Knight.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Look, Damian is disobeying orders again. Big surprise...