20 Plus Years Of 32 pages

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Batman- The Grant Morrison Odyssey: The End

Part 1: Batman & Son
Part 2: Club of Heroes/Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul
Part 2.1: Devil-Bats & The Bridge to RIP
Part 3: RIP
Part 4: The Missing Chapter/Last Rites/Final Crisis
Part 5: Batman Reborn
Part 6:Blackest Knight/Batman vs. Robin
Part 7: Batman & Robin Must Die!!!
Part 8: Return of Bruce Wayne Part 1
Part 9: Return of Bruce Wayne Part 2
Part 10: Batman Inc. Part 1
Part 11: Batman Inc. Part 2

New 52 Part 1
New 52 Part 2
New 52 Part 3
New 52 Part 4
New 52 Part 5
New 52 Part 6
New 52 Part 7
New 52 Part 8
New 52 Part 9

12/30/11...That was the day I first started this journey through the Opus that is Grant Morrison's Batman saga and here we are over the course of the 20 blogs preceding this one, looking at the end. It's been 838 days, or 2 years, 3 months, 17 days in all since the beginning...yes there was an extended break from April 2012 until September 2013 but I had to wait until Batman Inc Vol. 2 had completed before wrapping up the journey. From Batman and Son through Gotham's Most Wanted as the final hardcover was dubbed, we have witnessed the Dark Knight go through hell and back multiple times over and be reborn in many fashions. Now he stands on the verge one of the most important, and personal, battles of his career as Talia Al Ghul, the mother of his murdered son Damian, enters the Batcave for one last dance of death.

All by its lonesome, this recursive cover tells the never-ending tale of our protagonist. Every Bat-symbol contains another Batman and another and another, ad infinitum; to me it is a commentary (whether intentional or not, and that's the beauty of artistic mediums isn't it? Lots of room for interpretation) on the nature of comics themselves. No matter how Morrison and Burnham end their story, the story of Batman will go on and on and on...

The image on the left is from issue #1 of this volume of Batman Inc while the image on the right is the first page of issue #13...the story coming full circle with one small visual difference. The Bruce in ish #1 is spotless while the Bruce we see in #13 shows the bruises from the battles of the previous issues with Talia and her Leviathan forces. Also in issue #1 we had no idea whose graves Bruce was standing in front of but now, come unlucky #13, we know that one of those graves belongs to now deceased Robin, Damian Wayne.

The fact that it is Jim Gordon questioning Bruce is extremely appropriate as the Commissioner points out. Even if it's not necessarily considered continuity in the New 52, think back to Frank Miller's Year One where Gordon questions Bruce in his search to figure out Batman's identity. Even running under the assumption that Gordon is clueless to Bruce's alter-ego, just think of all of the times Batman has been there for Jim in that pre-New 52 world. For Sarah Essen-Gordon's murder, for Barbara's paralysis, for the Officer Down arc, when Jim nearly died from his smoking addiction, when Bruce revealed himself during No Man's Land...there has long been a bond between the two characters and I, for one, prefer to think Gordon is willfully ignorant to the Bruce/Batman connection.

There is something I truly love about the pages Burnham rendered during Bruce's interrogation; from the decimated face of the billionaire playboy to the little details of that last panel as Gordon puts his glass back on, it's a beautiful piece of work. The dimples on Jim's nose, the mustache, the stitching and bruising on Wayne's face, and for some reason that one open eye of Bruce's staring down at the floor, it all just speaks to me so strongly.

Bruce referring to Talia as "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" sent me off to Wiki-land looking to see if this was a reference to something or just Bruce calling her by a cute name. Turns out that La Belle Dame sans Merci is a John Keats poem circa 1819; once again you can thank comics for educating you and me about things we may not have otherwise ever discovered.

Gordon's unasked question brings us back slightly to where last issue left us hanging, with Talia descending into the Batcave, adorned in her own super-villainess disguise that is very reminiscent of Bat-attire all her own, particularly in a mask that reminds me of Dr. Hurt's attire. It's all show though, theatrics, as she discards first the cape and then the mask as she descends the stairs to meet her beloved/enemy in combat.

Talia's undressing of costume is an undressing of the entire Batman mythos in this sequence and is essentially one of the entire superhero genre with its "...childish game of masks, Halloween costumes, and clues". Talia is verbally shredding Batman's purpose down to its very core while simultaneously discarding any shred of feeling she may have had for her own son AND laying the blame for his death on Bruce's lap.

The interesting thing about this page is that, unlike any previous COMIC BOOK version of the origin story, Morrison & Burnham's flashback to the night the Wayne's were murdered firmly entrenches James Gordon in the picture. As far as a I can think, outside of the Nolan movies, this is the first time Gordon has been made a part of the origin story pre-Year One.

When Bruce says he tried to fight something he barely understood, my take is that he is referring to the obsession disguised as love that Talia brought to the table. Bruce understands fighting, he understands armies and killers and crazy people, he does not grasp some of the most basic of emotions.

The kiss we are seeing is not a memory but rather taking place in the Batcave as evidenced by their attire and the sword while the imagery we see on the above page and the subsequent ones if what is going on in the world around this doomed couple. The various members of the now decimated-Batman Incorporated are still attempting to save Gotham from the "empty" onslaught of Leviathan while Bruce & Talia engage in the only battle that truly means anything in this war.

We see Gordon & Harvey Bullock fighting off mutants and crazy children as well as Red Robin, Nightwing, Knight, Hood, Wingman, and every one in-between fighting for their lives. We see El Gaucho battling for the Oroboro device, we see Red Raven & Man O' Bats, Nightrunner, Batwing, and Jiro all fighting around the world to save it from Leviathan but NONE of that truly matters. It's all about Talia and Bruce Wayne, an Al Ghul versus THE Batman, and the nod to the digitalis is cute as it is something that has popped up before in the interaction of these two individuals.

What I love about this image is it pulls in two of the central themes of Morrison's run. First it has the red and black color scheme that was majorly prevalent during R.I.P in particular and is accentuated by the clothing of Batman and Talia. Second it uses the Oroboro/snake eating its own tail theme that was such a major part of both volumes of Inc and it also representative of that same recursive theme the cover of this issue showcased. It just goes on and on and on, spiraling forever...

I love the crossed swords framing of this page and Talia taunting Batman the whole time is a nice touch as well.

The interrogation of Bruce continues on as Gordon questions the two graves at which he found Bruce earlier but Wayne dodges the question and goes into another story involving the number two; the two bullets that killed his father. It doesn't stop there though as Bruce tells Jim about the third bullet, the one that tore a hole in his mother and left a hole in Bruce as well, "a hole in everything" he says which brings back one of the earlier motifs of Grant's run as well. The hole in everything was used to refer to Dr. Hurt, it was somewhat represented during Return of Bruce Wayne by the eclipse, and here it pops up again in reference to what Bruce experienced at his parents death. This hole, this inability to love, this is one of the driving forces of the Batman and it too, unfortunately, is likely the root cause of all of this chaos Talia unleashed on Gotham.

A poisoned blade sends Bruce towards his dying breath with a top panel that I absolutely love; between that dragon, the melting world, and Batman face down with his cape sprawled around him like a sheet covering a dead body, it's a beautiful thing.

The fact that it is Jason Todd who comes screeching into the rescue is an important one because he owes his very resurrection to Talia Al Ghul AND his status as the black sheep of the Wayne Family also makes him the most believable to betray the cause to save Bruce.

Fortunately for all, JT is merely playing with that image as he hands over a useless Oroboro box to Talia while Bruce drinks the antidote to her poison. Talia, resolute, tells them that she will own Wayne Industries and that Bruce will never rise above his battles with "grotesque mental patients" but, just as she accused Bruce of being a "posturing, patronizing bastard", it is Talia's own posturing that prevents her from seeing the threat before he that Bruce and Jason see.

The return of Kathy Kane! The original Batwoman, long thought dead, but who has in truth been dancing behind the scenes for quite some time as the Headmistress of Spyral. She was there at the Girl's School in Leviathan Strikes! where the uniform of the assassins was essentially a variation on her Batwoman costume...

Just as quickly as Kathy reappears in Bruce's life, she disappears once again and leaves him alone in the cave with Alfred the Cat and Bat-Cow as his only companions. Her influence though is felt once again as Bruce is released from Gordon's custody courtesy of the government and a mystery woman clearing his bail. What's interesting about Bruce's comments to Gordon though are his insistence that Batman is dead...something stated by Talia during their duel that Bruce rebutted, and a statement that also made me think of this from earlier in Morrison's Opus:

Well that statement (made by Dick Grayson we would later find out) was half-right, at least for now...

The interesting thing about this page is that I'm pretty sure it also marks the first time in the New 52 that Morrison has elected to acknowledge the events going on around him in the DCU. In this case it is Gordon's mention of Zero Year which was, at the time, an upcoming story by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo in the Batman book that has essentially been an origin tale for the New 52 version of the Caped Crusader.

I think Gordon's nod to the Batman Incorporate pin to Bruce, when added to his thoughts on the page below, add credence to my belief that James Gordon is willfully ignorant to Bruce's secret. In-between that page above and the one below though we learn that the two graves (presumably that of Talia and Damian, although it isn't specifically stated so it could very well be his parents' graves) have been robbed. This causes Bruce to toss aside his decision to "kill" Batman and we get the enraged hero that was depicted in other Batman books (particularly Batman & Robin) following Damian's death.

But, because it is comics and the drama must never ever end, we revisit an earlier story point of Talia's only this time from the perspective of her father Ra's Al Ghul and under new light with his daughter and grandson now dead. We know because of The Heretic's existence that Damian was cloned, and we have seen in earlier parts of Morrison's story how Talia had a spare Damian laying around the house...

...but know, with Ra's in charge, we can see the truly horrifying scope of those experiments first-hand:

And that is how we end: the snake eating it's own tail, full circle, from Son of Batman to sons of Batman. Some writers, like Brian Michael Bendis when he left Avengers, put all their toys back in the box and essentially reset the status quo when their tenure ends.

Morrison left a Bat-landscape that was forever altered as he both introduced a son for Bruce Wayne and then murdered him (a storyline that Peter Tomasi continues to follow through with expertly in B&R), killed off one of the longest running female figures in Batman's mythos in Talia Al Ghul, introduced an entire alternate future with Damian as Batman, decimated the Wayne name multiple times over, reintegrated the disparate portions of Batman's publishing history into continuity, to say nothing of the monumental task of telling an extremely long-form story. He introduced the concepts of The Black Glove, Leviathan, Dr. Hurt, and reintroduced The Club of Heroes to the world. He played with the very foundation of Batman and left any future writers with numerous toys they could play with if they so choose.

I know there is the Batman Incorporated Special that showcased some of the other members of the group but I don't feel it was anything more than a fun way for various creators to play with Grant's toys and as such was not integral to the larger story of Batman/Talia/Damian that Morrison had been telling since he took over the title.

So now I bid farewell to the world of Batman as through the eyes of Grant Morrison and brought to life by the likes of Chris Burnham, Tony Daniel, Frank Quitely, Andy Kubert, Cameron Stuart, JH Williams, John Van Fleet, and numerous other pencilers, inkers, letterers, colorists, editors, and other creative types.

After devoting so much of my blogspace to this subject, I know must figure out is next for me. Obviously there are endless amounts of material to choose from thanks to the fabulous world of comics. I just have to choose...

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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Batman- The Grant Morrison Odyssey: New 52 Style V9

In the same fashion that issue #5 diverted us from the core story into a glimpse of the Damian Batman, this issue splits from the main narrative with an issue written, rather than art, by Chris Burnham and art from Jorge Lucas. It gives us a look at the adventures of Jiro, the Batman of Japan, in the costume that is a far cry from the one he was originally given when he signed on to The Inc:

Editorial edict? Creator preference? So there was only ONE guy in a Batman costume? For whatever reason, Jiro's official Inc. costume was changed from his bat-clone original to the one featured on the cover of this issue.

I love the very first image on this page:

It's such a sad image of Damian's pet cat Alfred sitting in front of his owner's graveyard but it is very temporary as, almost like a TV screen getting an overlapping signal, the picture goes static and we turn our attention to Japan and some cleavage-wielding biker chicks.

Immediately we see that these women are not just T&A, one of them rips a guy's tongue out of his head because of his coffee choices! They are more upset about blood & coffee getting on their uniform (a choice of word I found interesting because it implies this look is intentional) and seem just as likely to fight one another as the police. There is obviously something more to these ladies as well given that White swings around a human body with an ease that makes it seem as if you or I were hoisting a piece of paper while Green takes three bullets to the helmet while talking about being bulletproof. She could be referring to her "uniform" or to herself, not exactly certain at this point.

As the police call for a Bat-Alarm, our scene then head on over to...

Jiro Osamu (aka The Batman of Japan) and Shy Crazy Lolita Canary of the Super Young Team. The members of the SYT are another of Grant Morrison's creations circa Final Crisis who became mega-celebrities in their native country. Canary, much like the American heroine of similar name, has a sonic scream but is tiny enough to fit in the palm of someone's hand.

The initially awkward interaction of these two is cute, very first date-ish, as Jiro tries to spout off some Casablanca material that initially goes over the head of the 20 year old Lolita. References are made to Jiro's probationary period, to Lolita's 20th birthday in which Jiro was apparently the vomiting one, and that Jiro has been trying to make this date happen for a bit as evidence by his shrink ray request to Batman. There is something about that request I just find insanely humorous, the idea of a shrink ray in the midst of the Bat-World I find so insane yet the concept of monster clones and tiny little winged girls doesn't phase me in the slightest. Silly...

We quickly learn, as the aforementioned Bat-Alarm reaches its target, that this entire date scenario is taken place with the world of Internet 3.0 that was the centerpiece of Batman Inc. (Vol. 1) #8. Lolita makes a joke about how she wishes she could get 3.0 on her phone which leads Jiro to say it's possible with a "chip in your head and a port in your neck"; I read that all I think of is Johnny Mnemonic and The Matrix.

We get a quick glimpse into the Batcave of Japan and see its similarities to that of the Batcave proper (old costumes (including the Mister Unknown & original Batman of Japan outfits), a dinosaur, a coin, and computers) before jumping back to the Biker Chicks. They come off as total badasses (SARCASM) in their threatening of school girls and their hurling of childish insults. In fact, once Jiro & Canary jump into the fray, the insults continue to get even more ridiculous and childish:

I mean comparing a vagina to a Tardis is quite clever and insanely insulting at the same time. This is banter unlike any you would get from the more quippy characters (say a Peter Parker or Dick Grayson) and unlike any I have ever seen in a Batman comic: "The Pink Ranger's Silicon Sisters", and "Better Than Being Built Like A 12 Year Old Boy", or how about "...Her Whole High School Baseball Team"!!! You aren't getting banter like this in a Spider-Man comic!

Suffice it to say the fight does not go the way of Jiro & Canary, they end up encased in Jiro's riot foam after the bikers steal his version of the utility belt and turn it on him. In the process of the fight though we learn that the ladies are apparently immune to Canary's cries and that, after Jiro cuts it open, their helmets repair themselves.

Upon Jiro & Canary's return to the Batcave-Japan, the reader is introduced to just why this young man was made part of Batman Incorporated. Yes he can fight, but we get a look at his detective skills as he analyzes the facts gleamed from his battle. Canary operates in much the same fashion as a Robin might, working as a soundboard for the hero to talk his ideas out, and she also demonstrates that youthful enthusiasm that might come along with being a sidekick. Then again, so does Jiro as they banter about the varied locations they hope their foes use as their bases. There is a joy in their mission, a stark contrast to the mission currently being undertaken by Batman in the main arc.

We then learn the link between this side quest and the core story as the biker gang return to their master:

Leviathan! It has been many issues since we have seen the presence of Talia's organization outside of Gotham but here it is, a Japanese chapter, albeit a chapter that does not seem to rank highly in the larger scheme of things. One interesting item of note in the big bad's dialogue: her remark that it they have been part of the organization for years. It adds a larger scope to Leviathan's operations, emphasizing how this has been a long game for Talia, not just some fling.

Canary and Jiro track down the base of operations, utilizing their combined skills to uncover its hidden location, and when confronted once again by the bikers, Jiro utilizes technology and his brains to get the better of them. This in turn leads to the unveiling of their unique origins:

Yes, Leviathan tried to use the world of competitive sports to conquer the world...so awesome!

The villains team up with the heroes, the big bad is named Lady Tiger Fist and actually has tiger heads for fists, and we are subjected to some seriously violent death scenes for Canary (stomped to a bloody pulp) and Jiro (ripped apart by a tiger head). Ingeniously though, and so subtle I didn't notice it until I reread the page several times, Canary injected Lady Tiger Fist with the Internet 3.0 and allowed her to play out these death scenes virtually: another excellent display of Jiro's brains over brawn approach to handling his foes.

The ending comes full circle as Jiro & Canary go on their BIG date, she gets to hold an apple, and we are treated to one terrifying image heading into next issue and our regularly scheduled program:

While it was an overall pleasant visit with one member of the Batman Inc. family courtesy of Chris Burnham & Jorge Lucas, and it did lightly tie into the core story, it was nowhere near the pain-filled, sorrow-extravaganza that is to come next ish:

What a cover with the Bat-Bots and the assorted members of Inc. watching Bruce taking his vengeance against Talia. You could even interpret this as he's about to break her back a la Bane if you'd like (obviously I do otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it). It's another powerful cover in a series filled with them and it is followed up with a powerful first page that encapsulates the very ideal of Batman:

An amazing page of art from last issue's author, and in that final panel, Skull-Faced Talia hits the nail right on the head there, "Why won't he stop?" Sums up Bruce Wayne in so many ways...

This is another issue where I could really use every single beautiful page to illustrate some of the story points. From Bruce essentially speaking Bat, to the way the rain falls, to the facials on this monstrous incarnation of Batman, each image is just so powerful that words do not do them justice.

Man that electricity!

The fact the blimp is labeled Damrung which is most certainly a play on Dammerung/Gotterdammerung, which is something Morrison also used in The Invisibles...

...the child-like fashion in which Heretic behaves as Bruce taunts him, everything about this issue is masterful and playing off all the build of what has come before. Bruce has undergone change after change under the watch of Grant Morrison: father, the Thogal ritual, R.I.P, Final Crisis/Return, and now this Man-Bat Cyborg Revenge Machine. He has seen his only son murdered by his mother, seen the DNA of that son twisted into the monster who served as the murder weapon, and still her perseveres. Batman does not break...

We cut to two of his "sons" (Red Robin & Nightwing) on the hunt for the third (Jason Todd/Wingman) who was abducted by and then tracked down by Knight and Ranger. Turns out, according to Hood, that the Assassin's Girl's School that Spoiler infiltrated during the Old DCU-set Leviathan Special was all part of a Spyral operation. Also the Headmistress of that school, the one we have heard Hood make reference to before, turns out Nightwing recognizes her voice and she in turn seems to know him...

I love the take on the DOUBLE PUNCH that Nightwing and Knight bust out here using their Escrima sticks, and it also shows us all that Batman is far from alone in his quest. Not only is does he never quit, neither do the members of his extended family.

So it is then, on the doorstep of the Wayne Tower, that Bruce discovers the ugly truth of just what Heretic really is and what Talia, the mother of his son, did to create this monster...

That image is horrifying...truly and utterly disgusting really. A child soldier, the face of Damian Wayne on the body of a forced-grown man, with a bleeding hole in his head. It's quite grotesque and yet this creation is not yet the the worst thing Talia does in this issue. Heretic, for his failure, receives the following reward:

Talia's calling card, as it was in Leviathan Strikes! with the head of Jezebel Jet next to the red phone, and the utter destruction of Wayne Tower. Even with all that, the game still isn't done because Talia needs to put on her party clothes. Donning her own Bat-Mask, her own cape, she descends into the bowels of the Batcave where Batman is waiting. The endgame is here...

She calls herself Tiamat, Kali, Medusa, and The Wire Mommy. The next issue caption calls her The Devil's Daughter. Her aim, since she can't be the LOVE of his life, is to now be THE villain in Batman's life. She killed his/her son, blew up his Tower, decimated his city, and now it comes down to the two of them in the heart of the place where Batman was born...

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Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Batman- The Grant Morrison Odyssey: New 52 Style V8

Another powerful Chris Burnham image for the cover of this issue and one that features a variation on arguably THE most important quote in the history of Batman, "...He Shall Become A Bat!". Here is the original source of that line from Detective Comics #33 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane:

And here is another version of this scene from the seminal Year One story by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli:

It is THE defining line of dialogue in Batman history, the one that set up the future of Bruce Wayne's life and here, for this issue nearly 75 years after his debut, it is borrowed for the cover. That is putting some serious weight on the contents if you ask me (which you kind of did just by reading this blog).

The weight of Batman's history is again brought to bear as soon as you open up the cover and look at the first page. The very first text boxes you read also harken back to that historic 'Tec story from 1939:

In this case though, the disguise pictured is not the cape & cowl of Batman but rather the Suit of Sorrows worn by the Michael Lane version of Azrael. There is a lot of history wrapped up in these elements of the story so I will try to keep it as concise as possible.

The Suit of Sorrows was an armor gifted to Batman from Talia Al Ghul circa Detective Comics #838 that charts its origins to the 12th Century and The Crusades. It bestowed its wearer tremendous power but apparently also drove its original owner insane. The Order of Purity, a splinter sect of The Order of St. Dumas that spawned the Jean Paul Valley Azrael, retrieved the suit at some point and it would eventually fall into the hands of the Al Ghul's. Batman attempted to use it but felt the same pull as its original wearer so he sealed it up in the Batcave where it remained until its disappearance/theft during the chaos of the Batman:R.I.P section of this saga.

Michael Lane, the flagellated man spouting Nostradamus quotes, was one of the "3 Ghosts of Batman" (the one I referred to as Devil Bats in earlier blogs) but prior to that was a GCPD cop who was experimented on by Dr. Hurt/Thomas Wayne. Prior to the experiments though he suffered tremendous loss leading to a mental breakdown as his son died, his wife committed suicide, and his siblings were murdered in a satanic ritual. All this set him up to ultimately be picked by The Order of Purity to become their Azrael which led down a confusing path in which Lane at some point told he is a descendant of Christ and tries to burn down Gotham City. He discovers he's been manipulated by Ra's Al Ghul and goes off into hiding. That bring us to now...

Batman looks to Lane for assistance and finds the man, obviously engaging in some flagellation looking at that back, and spewing a reference to St. John and The Dark Night of the Soul (in short a "spiritual crisis in a journey towards union with God"). Lane makes reference to his destiny to be the Devil's herald on Earth, a potential future for Lane as told in Batman #666 that also included the now deceased Damian as Batman, his walls plastered with a series of pictures that are mostly nondescript except for one:

That image in the first panel is another allusion to Lane's potential future as Devil-Bats but for Bruce it serves as a reminder of his vision, the one that spawned the creation of Batman Incorporated in the first place. It calls back, presumably, to the end of Final Crisis and the beginning of Return of Bruce Wayne with Bruce's talk of dying in a cave. Saying that in that moment Bruce witnessed the end of the world at his son's hands could be interpreted as issue #666 being a look at that vision, of the reader seeing some of Bruce's experience post-FC many months before the story was even written.

Despite his own loose grasp on reality/sanity, Michael Lane's statement that "We're all your sons" is a dead-on perspective of the entire concept of Batman Incorporated (even though Bruce claims it's been liquidated). Whether it's Robin and Nightwing or Man-of-Bats and Red Raven, they are all spawned from the ideals that Batman put into play when he first donned the cape & cowl. He is father to them all but sadly it was only his genetic offspring that paid the ultimate price in this crusade...

Lane, in his quasi-religious ramblings, again nails some points home as he brings up the Number of the Beast (666), drops the assorted names which Damian's clone has been referred to (Heretic, Unborn, Fatherless), and caps it all off with the big bad of this piece: Leviathan. Now, in Lane's perspective, Leviathan is a sea monster from The Old Testament with a big reference point being "Job 41:1–34" but as we know, for Batman, it is the organization ran by Talia Al Ghul.

Speaking of the she-devil...

...as Bruce takes the Suit of Sorrows off Lane's hand, Talia is shown in the Swiss Alps, with a specific reference to the Jungfrau summit (which apparently translates from German as virgin). The most interesting aspect of this page, aside from the wonderful landscape by Burnham, is the usage of the red/black chessboard. The color scheme calls back to aspects of R.I.P while the chessboard not only represents the "game" being played by Talia now but also make me think specifically to the panel from Batman & Son below, the panel that represents the true start of this entire Inc arc:

Although he isn't shown in full, it must be noted that (I believe) this issue of Batman Inc marks the New 52 debut of Ra's Al Ghul.

Visually, I love the addition of the black veil over Talia and from a story perspective, it is also important to note that Damian's death was NOT her intent but rather, in her mind, Batman's fault because he "refused to make a choice". The sequence on the above page also serves to illustrate that this "game" for Talia is about both of the primary men in her life: Batman and Ra's. It's like she is looking to make a point to both of them and, in the case of Ra's here, she is infuriated when it is implied she's overlooking something. The Knight taking The Queen, combined with the almost Joker-like "HAHAHAHAHAHA", serves a perfect close to this interaction...

Yet with the following page, in contrast to Ra's mockery of his daughter's quest, we see how much Leviathan has infiltrated Gotham City. The GCPD and National Guard are overwhelmed, Bruce Wayne and his Batman Incorporated are in the middle of a political nightmare, and Gotham's Mayor Hady has effectively outlawed Batman in the city. That ban provided this image, the top panel reminiscent of the end of The Dark Knight film if you ask me:

And in the vein of Dark Knight, to my eyes, Burnham's take on Lucius Fox is reminiscent of Morgan Freeman:

In the Lucius sequence, we are taken from a press conference in which Fox somewhat addresses the Batman Inc connections to Wayne Enterprises, we see the photonic crystals first introduced in Leviathan Strikes!, Bruce mentions how he needs to turn himself in (ish #1 of this volume), tells Lucius Damian is out of the country, and we get a moment purely in the vein of Lucius' movie role in the above page's unveiling of the massive prototype.

We then jump back to Talia, as if we are following our two leads in the steps to their inevitable confrontation, as she punishes the men responsible for opening fire on Damian during his battle with The Heretic by having her "son" murder them all. Her words, if taken at face value, speak to how highly she actually thought of Damian which stands in stark contrast to how she treated him once he picked Dad over Mom. We also see how Leviathan has its hooks in Mayor Hady and how it can manipulate the very basic necessities of the GCPD.

We join Nightwing & Red Robin as they meet up with The Knight (the former Squire) and Ranger as they track down Wingman/Jason Todd/Red Hood who was nabbed by The Hood and turned over to the Headmistress from Leviathan Strikes! all girls school. What we learn in this sequence though, likely to the surprise of the reader, is that this group is actually in opposition to Talia & Leviathan. In fact, they are attempting to remove a bug Talia has placed on JT.

Jump over to the man behind Talia's Ninja Man-Bat army, Kirk Langstrom, as members of the GCPD bust in on him in search of Batman. Kirk protests Batman's presence there but as we see in this amazing Burnham page...

...Bats was indeed there (I just love the depiction of the bullets on that page), as Kirk insists he was only producing an aerosol antidote to the Man-Bat serum.

We then jump back to Talia & Heretic in a sequence that gives us a look at just how much of a child this clone-monster truly is at heart:

He wants what he wants and he wants it now and will do whatever he has to in order to get it, even hurt his own mother apparently. Yet much like the way in which she wired up Damian in Batman & Robin Vol. 1 to be remote controlled by Deathstroke, she also has her clone-son wired up to prevent him from even engaging in the "disobedience" that Damian did. Talia herself must be disgusted with this creature she has created though because being called "mother" by the clone-beast only agitates her further while being called "Lady Talia" seems to be what draws the electroshock to an end.

Here, as in the Year One version of the "I shall become a Bat" story (which Morrison also used in other parts of his opus), we have a bruised and battered Bruce seated in a chair, only now he is already Batman. So what does this mean? It means its time to step-up his game with an altered Suit of Sorrows and a needle of the Man-Bat serum jabbed into his neck.

Back to Talia as she prepares for the endgame at 11pm:

On top of the roof with the very pool in which she trapped her "beloved" while her son died, this daughter of Al Ghul continues to play her part in this drama, even going so far as to once again don the Leviathan skull mask. It completes her transformation into a stereotypical villain for Batman to fight. Unfortunately for her, this Batman barreling at her is far from typical!

To Be Continued...

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