I've been out of the batloop for a bit, but I saw that #675 dropped today and I grabbed it.
It's a regrettable bit of artist fill-in, especially after Tony Daniel was really hitting a stride with #674.
On that: I really liked 674, it was good comics. Daniel really did shine there - his Batman figures are always right, even when they're a little awkward or silly (that last reaction panel in #673 is a good example - Batman's chapped-lip stupefication). They just always work, even while other characters in the frame languish in awkward perspective or proportions, even when referencing wildly different incarnations of Batman - from Aparo-style headshots to Miller-referencing fat-chested angry Batmen. That image of BruceBats gloriously Hurt-Stomping 3rd-Man-Bats in is just great. I can hear him yelling when I look at that, like a an angry young upper-class father of two.
I love 3rd Man Bats as a character. Cursed with being nearly as good as Batman and with all that Misery & Tragedy Of The Bat eating at him. I love the way his mood flings from cackling monologue ("Bring me Batman's eyes!") to caged animal ("NOBODY MOVE OR HE'S DEAD!") to nervous excitement ("Where is he? How long does this usually take?") over to something like sober self-loathing, and sympathy for Bruce Wayne. ("Ask yourself why.") I love that panel of him turning with sadness and pity at what he knows is a doomed Batman.
Loved the hilarious delivery of the idea that Bruce Wayne may be the only one manly or wily enough to handle the weight of Batman - with the villain of the issue, faced at last with the overwhelming competence and shiteating grin of the real Batman, literally flinging the bat symbol from his chest. Panicked and in fear of its corrosive properties, screaming "GET IT OFF!"
I wasn't sure if the bit at the end about the King of Crime "telling me his name" was a reference to Black Glove or not, but it seems pretty apparent after #675 that it is.
Anyway, 675.
Good Fat-Insignia'd Miller-style Batman by Daniel.
Morrison Artist-Fill-In-Syndrome(MAFIS, I guess) strikes hard. Ryan Benjamin's done decent Batman, but decent Batman this is not.
Looks really rushed. Any sense of time or place or nuance is lost in the art so I felt like it was sort of just a wet paper bag of plot developments. Whoever the King of Crime/Black Glove is, he knows Batman's Most Intimate Secrets, including his association with the blind 10-eyed Tribes guys. Talia, Damien, & Merlyn are teaming up to solve the mystery of who's hassling Batman. And Jezebel Jet figures out that Bruce Wayne is Batman - making her not long for this title, one way or another.
She doesn't so much figure it out as Bruce Wayne outs himself by going apeshit on their 9-eyed assailant with her in the room.
It's not all bad. There are good moments. Interesting character stuff. Bruce Wayne hating that he feels like he's never grown up (and by inferred extension, the sillier and more child-like elements of Batman) explains a lot. Outing himself by going into Batman mode with Jezebel Jet in the room is interesting as part of a chain of self-destructive behaviors that isn't atypical of depressed and powerful or affluent alpha-males. Wanting to give up control.
I do kind of like that page of Angry Bruce With Exposed Chest and those dirty-inked panels of his angry self-loathing. I wish the good, cheesy, climactic moment of the issue wasn't lost by the art - Robin and Nightwing flinging open the door and letting the light of the Bat-signal burst into the room, where it slams onto Bruce Wayne just as his identity is discovered.
R.I.P. starts in 3 weeks.
Batman #676
Beginning the epic story that will change the legend of the Dark Knight forever! Everything in Grant Morrison's groundbreaking run on Batman has been leading to this story, and nothing will ever be the same again.
Who will live? Who will die? Who will be Batman? The answers are sure to shock you in "Batman R.I.P.," featuring artwork by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea and covers by Alex Ross.
On Sale May 14, 2008
Since the NY Comicon, DC's not been shy about saying "Batman is going to die". I do wonder how literally to take that. I'll be impressed if they let Morrison get away with it, though I'm still expecting a less literal, more transformative death.
When I read #674 I wondered if Dr. Hurt was a red herring, a fake-out or distraction, or if Black Glove was. Then again, the Club of Villains was apparently fake and they're all actually showing up soon, so...
Either way, fun book. I'm glad George is on it for awhile yet. |
