Batman: The Grant Morrison Odyssey - The 7th Circle

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


So when we last left our intrepid heroes the enigmatic Oberon Sexton, who had been assisting Dick & Damian in their fight against The 99 Fiends, revealed himself to be none other than The Joker, but before we get to that cliffhanger we are treated to some Frazer Irving art depicting an....alternate...version of what happened with Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered.

Nice way to play with a classic Bat-image by having it be Bruce & Martha Wayne who end up dead rather than Thomas & Martha. Grant, and his various artists, do like to play on some of the classic themes of Bat-canon as I will touch upon more later.

So we also departed the previous arc with the knowledge that Dr. Hurt/Thomas Wayne/El Penitente was on his way back to Gotham and we catch back up with that story, as well as see some twisted backstory (paying Joe Chll to kill the Wayne's(?), him saying "now you'll never tell" over Martha's corpse, & in Black Glove gear pouring champagne over a demonic cat-masked woman (Catwoman allegory?) in the midst of a S&M orgy that is done in red & black colors for example), and see him returning to Gotham, claiming to be the long thought dead Thomas Wayne to the media.

Another cut to Hurt (easiest just to call him that) strolling into the scene in full Black Glove regalia, talking about how Wayne Manor & Gotham City are his, alludes to the Black Sun shining, claims to Dick that he will "break and corrupt this boy you so valiantly redeemed", referring to Damian, which makes me think of the whole "deal with the devil" Damian referred to in #666, and then...

Right underneath the painting of Thomas & Martha Wayne no less, the one that concealed the secret passageway from the previous arc. So of course we now jump 3 days back into the past where we left off with Joker's unveiling and his...confession I suppose...about what got him to this point.

Intriguing to me that Joker himself claims some kind of sanity with HIS Batman now gone, and is looking to actually help Dick & Damian, the disguise of Sexton being necessary to earn their trust. Dick lays out how he figured it out, putting together the various symbolisms of the dominoes (also known as "bones" and their container the "boneyard"), the fact that Sexton was nicknamed The Gravedigger & was drawing attention to the crimes he committed himself, the branching trails of his clues that were resemblant of The Mexican Train in dominoes, the Domino Mask symbolic of Robin (as much Joker's obsession as Batman really), they were all clues that led Grayson to the appropriate conclusion.

It's quite amusing for Dick to talk so openly to Joker about his past as Robin ("I had you figured out when I was twelve"), and I figure that actually makes sense. These are two men who have been such an intergral part of each other's lives for a long time, they know each other's secrets, and it creates this twisted bond that is something more than enemies but obviously nowhere near friendship. Oh yeah, and over in England, The Knight finds the dead body over the real Sexton, buried alive with his dead wife. Surprisingly it was Sexton who killed his wife and this was The Joker exacting his form of justice, "That was karma. One last gag..."

Gordon is nauseated that he shook hands with the Joker (as Sexton) and understandably so given how much damage he has done to Jim's life (paralyzing his daughter, murdering his wife, torturing him), and Damian is supremely suspect that "He's laughing at us! The whole thing's an act!" as Joker claims he only came back to warn them, to help. The thought of The Joker helping...hilarious...

Gordon is sick, sneezing, makes note that "The...other Batman called me 'Jim'...", again showing himself more astute about the identity of Bats than he ever lets on, and Dick still calling him Commissioner Gordon only highlights the difference in relationships and how Bruce & Dick each look at Jim. For Bruce, he is an equal, an ally on the same level while for Dick he is still someone he looks up to, someone on a slightly higher level who he highly respects. Or maybe it's just that whole being afraid of your girlfriend's dad syndrome...

Dick takes Gordon to the Bat Cave via Subway TRAIN, mentions that a solar eclipse (Hurt's black sun rise?) is impending in 3 days (you know when Hurt puts a bullet in Dick's head), and Gordon actually tells Dick that the cops prefer him to the other Batman. Not surprising given that Dick is infinitely more of a people person than Bruce, is essentially cool with everyone in the entire DCU, and doesn't feel the need to alienate even his friend's if he feels it will get a case closed quicker. Funny how he says to Gordon that "I like to think I'm just keeping the costume warm" when this whole arc of Dick as Batman has largely pointed out that perhaps Dick is the Batman that Gotham needs...

Gordon & Dick discuss the Joker, Mexican Train, Pyg, 99 Fiends, El Penitente connections in a rather relaxed fashion that would NEVER have happened between Jim & Bruce. It all loops back to the first arc with Professor Pyg though & his whole viral narcotics scheme, to which Dick pontificates if the antidote they found in Pyg's lab was just a "trojan horse", concealing the true virus...meaning a whole lot of Gotham has been infected and are totally unaware. Gordon, as this chatter continues, realizes that he just may be afflicted...

Oh yeah, and Damian is now alone with The Joker. Remember how I said Morrison liked to invert classic Bat-stuff, while here's another example:

Yup, Robin's got the crowbar now.

Turning the tables on "Death in the Family", Damian lays a beating on Joker with the crowbar, just after the clown mutters "You sound just like...like him..." (him=Bruce-Bats) to himself, and while this beating commences, things start to fall apart, symbolized by the dominoes from the beginning of the story tumbling. The flying Batmobile is blown up with Dick & Gordon in it, a legion of Dollotrons descend on the wreckage, the 99 Fiends descend on what I presume is Blackgate to unleash:

Probably the first, and only, time the twisted Professor calls anything perfect. I wonder if there's any significance to the fact that Hurt is a "Doctor" and Pyg is a "Professor"...

Alfred resets the clock that, sometimes, seems to be set to the exact moment the Wayne's died (not sure if that's still the case). Damian is still laying a beating on The Joker, looking to assault the truth out of him, and shockingly it works as Joker confesses to using all of them to get at Dr. Hurt & The Black Glove. Problem is that no one, Damian included, believes a word that Joker says, expecting every things to be a swerve, misdirection, or lie. Kind of plays into Dick's comment to Gordon in the previous issue that Joker's biggest joke would be to get them to take him seriously...

A simple scratch from Joker's envenomed fingernails doses Damian with Joker toxin, turning him into, as Joker says, "A smiling Robin! A laughing young daredevil! That's the way I like it!". In fact Joker is so amused by how well he played Damian he thinks he might be the funniest Robin yet!

I totally dig that rictus scene with Damian in an impossible looking bridge induced by his muscles all tensing up under the influence of Joker juice, but then it's topped by this completely disturbed scene...

Seriously, between this and the infamouse dance sequence, Pyg may take the cake for most disturbing character of the last decade....

So Hurt now has the Bat-Coffin in his hands, outlines to Senator Vine (who I thought he may have killed previously) exactly what Pyg's story is (former circus performer who ate light bulbs & nailed his private parts to wood apparently), and shoots a hole in a pumpkin. Okay...

The Dollotrons surrounded Gordon & the unconscious Dick Grayson as the Batmobile prepares to explode and the abort codes aren't taking. So we started this all with the creation of a new flying Batmobile so of course it must be destroyed before we're through...and as it goes kaboom we are informed that this is "day 2", meaning one more day until the eclipse & Dick's head getting shot off.

Pyg apparently injects himself with Botox as Hurt amps him up for his "performance" before the media, the mayor (who I still think is somehow in cahoots with Black Glove and Gordon did mention him being under investigation last issue), and "the cream of Gotham's underworld royalty". Pyg's response: "Je Suis Showbiz!" or "I am showbiz!" Oh yeah and then he does this...

I repeat, most disturbed character of the decade...

Pyg's viral addication is beginning to take hold on Gotham while Dick is out of it for a few hours after the explosion. He wakes up under Alfred's care, with a call from The Joker, who now has Damian in his possession, and who also provides information that something is going down with Gordon in, of all places, Crime Alley. Ya know...the place where the Wayne's died...

It looks as if Pyg & Hurt are roasting Gordon like a pig on a spit while Gotham, and more specifically Senator Vine, watch on. Now remember, since Joker has killed the rest, Vine is the last surviving member of the Black Glove save Hurt himself, so when Vine pulls a golden domino out of a popcorn box...

...guess who seems to be one step ahead of everyone else...and it certainly ain't Batman this time!

Grayson descends into the chaos, fending off Dollotrons as Gotham begins to tear itself apart under the influence of Pyg's drugs, and attempting to free Gordon. The commish, tempted by Hurt with the offer of more drugs, hits Batman in the head with a fire extinguisher, leaving him at Hurt's mercies... "Your knights have fallen and the board is mine", he screams at the fallen Bat. As for The Joker, he's sitting in The Batcave (indicated by the oversized Joker card in the background) with a nuke at his side & Damian tied up, face painted over with a clown smile.

Well that is a cover that certainly makes you wonder what's in store, especially considering all the suspicions of Hurt being The Devil & Damian's claim in ish #666 to have made a deal with the devil on the night Batman died. Wait, the night Batman died? Well we do know Dick gets shot in the head at some point....

Away from the cover and onto the interiors. The Joker, in full Oberon Sexton gear (fully pointing out that this is just another incarnation of his super-MPD), is dancing with a corpse in a wedding dress, talking to a coffin in which he has placed Damian (the 2nd person he's buried alive so far), and talking about how Dick's head is on the "devil's chopping block" (Devil=Hurt). What is Robin going to do to save his "brother" from the most evil man on Earth as Joker calls him?

Isn't he cute in the make-up & nose?

So finally the story itself catches up to where we started a few issues back as Hurt "returns" as Thomas Wayne, strolling into Wayne Manor where Alfred meeets him and the giant block letters let us know that this is DAY 3; the day of the eclipse, the day Dick eats a bullet. And, as I just learned, the last panel on this particular page (#6 of issue 15) is from the painting "The Triumph of Death"...

News reports scream of riots & quaranite in Gotham City as Pyg's virus takes hold, "Thomas Wayne" begins his move for control by going on the news claiming to know how to save Gotham, and Joker leads Damian (still tied up) through the Garden of Death at Wayne Manor.

Some more Joker wordplay that has multiple layers of meaning kicks into effect here as Damian says pawn, he turns it into prawn, he talks about "Big Mike. God's Top Gun. His Head Banana" while eating a banana. A little bit of homework tells me that "Big Mike" is a type of banana, "God's Top Gun" is a reference to Archangel Michael who led the armies of Heaven against Satan in Revelations, and the Joker continues that biblical theme by likening the banana to The Fall.

I tend to think of Morrison's comics in the same vein as good movie; nothing that makes it in a panel/scene is accidental or without purpose. Keep an eye on that banana peel is all I'm saying...

Gordon is dressed up like a Dollotron while Pyg slams what I assume is a bottle of liquor while rambling about some various imaginary doctors. Damian appears on the scene as Gordon begins to fight off the addiction, kicking Pyg, and causing an accident that throws him from the van.

Pyg, still conscious, rambles on, saying "Bless the snaile. The double is two, the deuce is snail horns, the snail is the devil". Given the Devil reference I assume he means Dr. Hurt, also using the Thomas Wayne name (two names?) but I don't really grasp the snail reference unless he's talking about Hurt being slow???

Damian attempts to take on the 99 Fiends on his own, only managing to get himself captured just in time for Dick to get shot in the head! So that's why he was shooting pumpkins, to figure out just where to shoot Grayson so as not to kill him immediately...it was target pratice!

Hurt smashes the horse on the mantle, the one that served as a sign through the years from Bruce to Dick & Damian that led them to the secret passageway, and offers Damian a deal. He will save Dick in exchange for Damian's soul...and here we have the deal that ish #666 referred to but with some differences. One, Damian said he was 14 when the deal was made and he's still 10 when this is going down. Two, in #666 Devil-Bats is still around, but at this time the man who had that identity, Michael Lane, was Azrael. Three, Damian in #666 said he made the deal to save Gotham's soul, not to save Batman's life.

That being said, #666 only serves as a possible future for Damian, one that could have happened if events had occurred a certain way. I believe that those events are occuring in a wholly different fashion now, potentially changing the mechanics of how/why Damian takes on the cape & cowl in the future, and that is something I will have to address once more when I look at #700 shortly...

Anywho, Damian tells Hurt that "You're a man who lived too long. We know who you are. You shouldn't have come back here". So the dynamic duo have figured it out definitively but the comic book hasn't caught up to them yet I'd say...but that's what Bond-villain monologues are for and of course Hurt provides us with one as his henchmen remove Thomas & Martha Wayne's picture from the wall.

Hurt again mentions the "hole" in reference to Damian's soul, explains how the Wayne's took him in & showed him kindness, and in exchange he took Thomas' face, smeared their names, destroyed their painting, and now looks to desecrate the name of Batman as well by becoming one himself, an evil one, with Damian as his Robin.

Once again the name "Barbatos" comes up, tying this to the ceremony from "Dark Knight, Dark City", as does the black sun/eclipse, while Hurt attempts to summon the demon to open the Bat-Casket. The upper right panel is similar to that of the cover posted earlier...which is also similar to the bottom-center panel of this page from Detective Comics #38 that introduced Robin:

Again with that inversion of classic Bat-Images...

There's a whistle which is the lost-langage of the Miagani Tribe (the ones that worshipped Barbatos), the Bat-Coffin opens for the first time in 100 years (according to Hurt), and inside, along with a batarang/signal is a note & all it says... "GOTCHA!", the same words Bruce said right before he was Omega Sanctioned into time by Darkseid. Hurt is shocked, and as for Dick & Damian...

DOUBLE PUNCH!!!!

Hurt is freaking out, the 99 Fiends break into the scene, Dick and Damian smile as the former Robin says "I don't make plans, but I know someone who does. Devil...meet Bat-God"

Guess who's baaaaaaaack.....

So how the hell did Bruce get from being blasted by Darkseid's Omega Beams to standing inside Wayne Manor ready to kick Dr. Hurt's ass? Well that my friend's is a story for the NEXT blog as I look at "Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne" and Batman & Robin #16!!!

But before we wrap up here, largely because I intially couldn't seem to fit it anywhere else, I need to look at the story in Batman #700 Morrison wrote that was included in the "Time and the Batman" HC along with "The Missing Chapter" and a Fabian Nicieza Bat-story.

Man I dig that cover...

So this was a rather interesting look at three different eras of Batmen (well rather like 6 but more on that in few) as Morrison does a multi-angled tale with Bruce, Dick, and Damian all wearing the cape & cowl at various points.  All three tales center around a Professor Nichols and his Maybe Machine which apparently induces something he calls "time hypnosis" which lets the user see "...visions of how things might have been". Nichols is a perfect example of Morrison's love for using characters & stories from the 40's & 50's and molding them into a modern context, placing them in true continuity.

The first story with Bruce & Dick (as Robin) is set in the past, and as you can see from the image above, in a look straight out of the 60's, the "New Look" era as it's called, complete with the faux-Mad Hatter (NOT Jervis Tetch, rather a guy who impersonated him for several years in the books).  This guy was sane, just really like hats, and certainly not the potential pedophile that Tetch sometimes is portrayed as.

The thing I find the most interesting about a look at this era of Bat-history is, not surprisingly, The Joker.  It's been noted several times over on numerous websites how The Joker changed during the reign of the Comics Code from a psycho murderer to a more "fun" villain and I suppose this is Morrison actually writing that personality change into continuity over the course of the first 3rd of this story.

He does jump from a giggly mess to a sweaty, shaky mess to a sadistic guy channeling Heath Ledger as he threatens to "...put a big cheeky smile on that baby face...", talking about Robin.  It's also cool how Morrison actually puts a time-stamp on this story as Joker looks through his Jokebook (allusion to Batman's Casebook?) and mentions how he might look into "Joker fish".  FYI: check out "Detective Comics #475 for that one.

So he smokes Fear Gas from a pipe, gives Robin a hit of it, but in the process Batman uses the distraction to free himself and lay a whooping on the villains.  Not sure why Bruce gets so pissed when Riddler calls him Caped Crusader but he certainly won't do that again...

Gordon bursts in with the cops following a tip-off from Professor Nichols himself (very curious since he stated earlier he was only expecting Bats & wouldn't have made a chance to make this call being surrounded by villains and all), and Robin wonders at the paradoxes of time travel that come along with every story of the sort.  What would happen if The Joker had accomplished his goal of stopping Batman from ever coming into existence?

For that matter, now that I think about it, that pretty much implies Joker suspects Bats identity & what birthed him...which is basically what we know from "RIP" amongst other stories, it's just that by then he doesn't care, believing Batman to be the true face and anything else a mask.

Off to the present day with Dick now in the Batman role & Damian-Robin as they return to the same scene as the previous chapter, Prof. Nichols basement lab, only now he's an old dead man.  In fact he's about 20 years older than he should be according to Grayson, but let me take one step back real quick like before we move on to point out the little differences...

Seriously could you ever see Bruce doing that?  I mean it is very likely he would remember all that information, but extremely unlikely he would actually talk to the officer in the same fashion as Dick.  Probably one of the reasons Gordon said his cops preferred him to the other Batman...and I've got a sneaking suspicion about Officer Bailey's kid but that comes back later in this story.

Damian off-handedly mentions "no case unsolved tonight", Dick mentions how he was hoping to contact Nichols to help find Bruce (essentially giving me a chronological reference for when this story takes place, between B&R #9 & #10 I'd say, and then we head to Park Row.

As is well known this is the place where Bruce's parents were killed, and now Dick is bringing Damian here to commemorate the anniversary in Bruce's stead.  Dick lays down a black wreath, claiming that's what Bruce does every year, but I could swear that he's been depicted putting down two red roses most times.  This anniversary is also the reason for the "no case unsolved tonight" comment earlier...

Some bad stuff starts to go down which gives us a wonderful little throwback to the first issue of "Batman & Robin" (oh yeah, Frank Quitely is drawing this section which I forgot to mention, Tony Daniel did the first):

I love his fight sequences like this...

Dmian & Dick run into Lone-Eye Lincoln, the guy who Bruce almost bought drugs from back in "RIP", and he agrees to keep his business quiet for the night in exchange for Dick fending off...The Mutants...a reference to the gang that runs shit in Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight" in case you don't know.  BTW, it also seems there's a one-off panel during the Pyg-induced drug riot in "Batman & Robin" that shows Lincoln helping people in trouble.  I guess his genorousity stems from this moment...

Dick & Damian do some hero-work around Gotham, break-up a villainous auction being led by the faux-Hatter (now Hatman), where he's trying to sell The Joker's Jokebook (after already selling Red Hood's guns & Kite-Man's kite collection).   They break that up, Damian of course brags about all the reasons he should be Batman instead of Dick, which leads Grayson to point out the story behind the "Locked Room Killer" as they are referrring to Prof. Nichols death. 

For some reason Damian's comment about Dick's "...insane leaps of logic..." and Grayson's "It'll all make sense one day" somehow seem like Morrison doing meta-commentary on his own writing...or maybe I'm just looking for things that aren't there. Apophenia I believe it's called, something The Joker mentioned to Bats in "RIP"...

Off to the future of Batman #666, once again drawn by Andy Kubert, where Damian serves as Batman, currently in pursuit of a Max Roboto (guy named Max with cyborg body parts to compensate for, say perhaps his natural body not working, could this be son of the police officer Dick talked to?). Just to show you how much more of a heartless prick Damian is than his predecessors, he leaves Max to be eaten by rats after getting the necessary info out of him.

So it's a dude named January Damian is in pursuit of and he has seeded the skies with Joker Venom, creating rain that infects Gotham's population with a non-lethal variant of the juice.  Again we see Commisioner Barbara Gordon allowing her to reinforce the idea that she hates Damian just before Damian uses his father's satellite program Brother I (the one that helped create "Infinite Crisis") to take out (read "kill") some Jokerized/Venomized monsters in cop uniforms.

Damian gets to his destination, January, and finds this:

A man who looks like an even more insane version of Two-Face sits with Professor Nichols (the 80 year old, laser hole in the chest version) at his side & a Jokerized baby on his knee.  This bizarro Two Face reads like a conglomerate of multiple Bat-Villains with the use of Joker Juice, Monster Serum, the coin, & calendar dates, except he's not good at it.  He thought he kidnapped a twin but Damian informs him he screwed the pooch on that one.

Damian takes him out, is approached by the Carter Nichols from the Bruce-Bats story who tells him he needs to go back in time to tip-off the police, as well as drop off his old man body in the Grayson-Bats story.  Damian seems to have some memory of what's going on here, based on his comment of "That door was...locked..." and "I can't let you...kill yourself.", sound more like his kid-self than his uber-bad ass persona.  He also drops some names when he contacts Commish Gordon, informing her to tell Warren & Mary McGinnis their baby's safe, then reading the note from Nichols that repeats something Riddler said earlier, "What can we beat but never defeat?"

In case you are unaware, that baby is none other than Terry McGinnis, the Batman of Batman Beyond, which turns Morrison's story in this issue into a new creature if you ask me. Follow me for a moment: IF "Batman Beyond" continuity is intact as it happened in the TV show & movie, then both Terry McGinnis and Tim Drake were infected with Joker venom (see "Return of The Joker" for more info on Drake), which is quite interesting to me.  Still, in true Beyond continuity it is Bruce who mentors Terry, but it would seem more likely given this panel:

I imagine it's now Damian serving as the mentor in Morrison's official Bat-Continuity, although still Bruce Wayne in DC Animated world.  We are then presented with multiple looks at Batman thru the ages...

Brane (from the year 3000 & Batman #26), maybe another Brane (from the year 3050 & Batman #67), and the DC One Million Batman (created by Morrison for the DC One Million mini-series)....what is it that we can defeat but never beat? 

Two things: Time and The Batman...

Next blog: A whole lot of time and Batman!

Batman: The Grant Morrison Odyssey - Number 6

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

So we left off in Part 5 with Morrison using Red Hood/Jason Todd (literally now the red-headed stepchild former Robin) to question how Dick could NOT use a Lazarus Pit to bring Bruce Wayne...the "real" Batman...back from the dead. So what do we get to kick off this 2nd HC Volume?  That "whoah!" image pasted up above.  Dick, carrying the corpse of Bruce Wayne, presumably headed for a pit...

BLACKEST NIGHT INTERUPPTION!!!

Some quick background information before we get deep into this story and it all centers around that zombie looking Batman above.  For those who may not have cared to read it, and as a refresher for those who did, the Green Lantern opus "Blackest Night" that took over the DCU for several months featured a villain by the name of Black Hand walking around with the skull of Batman for several issues after committing some serious grave robbing.  Eventually, as a way to sucker other formerly dead heroes onto the dark side (Supes, Flash, GL, for example) he resurrected Batman into the Black Lantern Bats you see above.  It was a quick resurrection compared to all the rest, and one that didn't feel quite like the rest (more on that later), but following the close of the "BN" story, in some unseen story beat, Dick Grayson presumable reclaimed the skull and moved it from a graveyard to the safer containment unit we saw at the close of the last volume & the start of this one.

All caught up now? Good...

So we jump head first from that initial page into Batman, now in England, jumping from an exploding ferris wheel, carrying a child, and immediately heading off to avert the next disaster, this time in the form of dirty bombs planted by a King Coal, while being directed by Squire.  What a way to throw the reader straight into chaos! It's an awesome action sequence following Dick as he uses every means possible to cover as much ground as conceivable through London while Squire does the same just in time for the two to meet in mid-air as she crashes out a window on her motorcyle!  Cameron Stewart's awesome...

So they stop the bombs, saving a villain named Smooth Eddie English in the process (whose black & white get-up looks like reversed dominoes to me) then head over to Basement 101 which is described by The Beefeater (the Basement's jailer & one-time member of the Global Guardians) as "her majesty's extra-secure facility for so-called para-criminals".  So something like Iron Heights rather than Arkham I suppose...

Anyway, once there Dick meets up with The Pearly King of Crime (Eddie's pop whose clothes also looks like a reverse domino) and we learn the truth behind the misadventures that opened this story.  It looks like there's an abandoned coal mine in England being contested over between The Pearly Court & The Coals From Newcastle, and Dick's got a sneaking suspicion of just what is in that pit.  Oh, and Pearly just so happens to be playing a game of dominoes...

...specifically a variation called The Mexican Train according to Dick.  Kind of humerous how Pearly remarks that "You're a young man than what I thought" before espousing all his reasons for not revealing just what is in this abandoned mine, yet somehow seeming to state a lot.  Squire inquires as to just what the hell is going on as Bats had her send Knight a diagram, mentioned a Shipment X, and informed her that "my regular partner's out of commission", referring to Damian who was riddled with bullets courtesy of Flamingo when we last saw him.

This scene immediately made me flashback to the initial "Batman & Son" HC where...

 

Talia is quite pissed off at Damian's decision to remain in Gotham with Bruce dead, chalking it up to a phase he's going through before he accepts "his destiny as the heir of Al Ghul".

Back to Bats & Squire who are flying around on nifty little personal Bat-Copters which remind me of something from an older Bat-Time, and they converge on the abandoned mine, which is also a convergence of ley lines (theoretical lines of spiritual power), and this all is going down at Mid-Winter/Winter Solstice/Longest Night of the year. 

Obviously from their conversation Squire is aware of just who stepped into the shoes of Batman, likening Dick to The Knight (who took over the role from his father), but Dick quickly retorts that if all works out "I'll be back in my pixie boots by New Year's".  Once in the mine Dick shows his hand to Squire, so to speak, revealing that Pearly gave him the layout of the mines via the shape of the dominoes.  They are assaulted by King Coal's men, all glowing yellow for whatever reason, perhaps to look like ghosts, and they are quickly subdued by Bats, Squire, and The Knight who is already down in the cavernous maze. 

Coal's men were carrying a coffin and "chanting about the twice-daughter of something" according to The Knight.  Long-time Bat readers will immediately recognize the identity of the person that references, but Morrison doesn't force you to wait long as the coffin explodes and...

Batwoman, who Stewart draws wonderfully just like he does with everything, fills in the blanks as she explains the tie between King Coal & The Religion of Crime. There's a prophecy stating "...the knight of the beast will rise right here, on the darkest night of the year."

Dick immediately straightens that out, telling her that it is Batman being resurrected, not a monster. She questions who she is talking to, Dick explains Batman's death, and how Superman verified the identity of the corpse via bone marrow DNA, just by looking.  Squire makes a comment in the background that The Pit is bubbling, a tell that Batman's corpse has already been dropped in the mire, presumably by The Knight, which he confirms a page later.  Dick approaches The Pit, trying to convince himself he's doing the right thing if you ask me (funny from the guy who talked Tim Drake out of doing the same in "Resurrection"), and prepares for the usual temporary insanity that takes hold post-Lazaraus by donning some serious looking electro-shock gloves.  Here we go...

Given those images at the bottom, this plan obviously goes awry...

But before we can get to that fun, we get the backstory of how Batwoman ended up in the mine tunnels.  It all started when she followed a Crime Coven (like "Mary Poppins with a satanic ninja twist" she says) from Gotham into the undergrounds of England.  Trailing right beind a legion of kids chanting for their Prophet Martyr Mannheim (a reference to crime boss from "52"), she sees Smooth Eddie get loaded into the train Bats saved him from last issue. 

Flashback to a panel of Batwoman telling Batman this story at the side of The Pit, elaborating on the Crime Bible prophecy about the rise of a black messiah at the dawn of the age of crime.  She think putting Batman in The Pit is indicative of the prophecy, Dick obviously refuses to buy into that one ("There is no God of Evil in there", is Darkseid that God?).  Bruce rises from The Pit, The Knight's simple statement of "look at his eyes" screams of something being wrong, and the first words from the resurrected Batman being "AAAAAA!" seconds that notion.  Dick punches him in the face with the shock-knucks, he basically laughs it off, prompting Dick to question, "What are you?"

And the answer is...

One of the clones, as seen in the "Last Rites" chapters of this story, that Darkseid had his minions attempting to create out of the hurt, pain, and memories of Bruce Wayne, the ones who started clawing their own eyes out from the sheer amount of trauma.  Apparently one survived, hence the reason why the DNA looked the exact same to Supes when he scanned it, but also why the resurrected BL Batman didn't react to the heroes around him in "Blackest Night" the same way all the other resurrected Black Lanterns did (so noted by Flash & GL in the last issue of that mini-series).  So what's it time for....

BATFIGHT!!!

This Bat-Clone is too strong, too deadly, and overcomes the combined onslaught of Dick, Knight, Squire, and Batwoman. Fighting to killing according to Dick, which is the giveaway that this is in fact NOT Bruce, prompting a little "told you so" from Batwoman just as King Coal triggers an explosion from up above.  The rubble comes down right on top of Batwoman, allows Bat-Clone to get free, and gives us a moment to flash to Gotham where Alfred goes to check on the vault where the Bat-Corpse was being kept.  To Alfie's shock the corpse is gone...obviously Dick didn't tell him what he was planning either.

Batwoman is dying, Alfred is gathering Damian and informs him that "...Master Richard has taken the taunts of The Red Hood to heart  & done something rather rash".  What I find really interesting here in this single panel is how Alfred calls him Red Hood, not Jason Todd, and definitely not Master Jason like he does the rest of the Wayne family.

Batwoman dies in the arms of Grayson but prior to she recognizes that this Batman is the same as the person (Nightwing) who gave her a Batarang at Christmas (another "52" moment).  Dick removes her wig at BW's request and she says she has an idea.  What that is must remain a secret for the moment as Knight & Squire tunnel to that Bats' location to find the female of the pair dead. Meanwhile, King Coal escapes, joyous that The Beast is loose and the new Age of Crime has come.

Using a stolen plane Bat-Clone returns home to Gotham, Damian discovers what Dick's plan was as Alfred gets tossed into the room by the Clone. Damian looks at the Bat-Clone and says, perhaps hopefully, perhaps questioning, "Father?"

Hold that thought cause we are back to the caverns and Batwoman's dead body.  What was her idea again? Oh yes, to have Dick overdose her on Morphine and toss her corpse into The Lazarus Pit! "I'd heard she was well hard..." as Squire says.

In the midst of digging through rocks & rubble, we get some nice character interaction between Bats, Knight, & Squire as Cyril (Knight) confesses he was terrified of Dick when he was Robin & Cyril was Squire. Dick takes a playful knock at Cyril, calling him "...a spoiled kid with a few boxing and jujitsu lessons who copied my act".  Dick, in another moment of insight, explains how it was all in the fighting style that he realized the Bat-Clone wasn't Batman, "...like a good song in the hands of a really bad singer..."

Back to a wheelchair-bound Damian & the Bat-Clone in Gotham.  Damian realizes it's a copy, "...smells of bleach and rancid flesh", while the combined efforts of he & a barely conscious Alfred do their best to survive.  The broken dialogue of Bat-Clone reveal his mental damage, speaking in single letters, broken words, looking like text messages from a teenager, as he stalks Damian (who has now abandoned his chair) through Wayne Tower.

That page gives us a look at the fractured thoughts & memories that were dumped into the clone body by Darkseid's minions. Stewart makes this look just as painful as described when they were being filtered through The Lump during "Last Rites".  It's great work...

Clone-Bat, in his broken fashion, referes to Damian as a mistake, his replacement, sent to taint the bloodline for all time. Damian, whilst tossing a live eletrical wire at Bat-Clone, retorts with "Stepping in gasoline was your biggest mistake".

Back to the tunnels where Batwoman is reborn from The Lazarus Pit, albeit with none of the psychotic side effects, and her father (she calls him her Military P.O.C in front of the others) finally gets into the caves as well to offer Dick a return ticket to Gotham.

Bat-Clone emerges from the fire Damian started, grabs the boy by the throat, and, with Alfred watching on, tosses the kid off the side of Wayne Tower. 

Nick of time and all that...

The Bat-Clone recounts the death of Martha Wayne in it's own broken fashion, "See hur...hur purls spill down broadway in the rain", while Alfred prepares to fight if necessary.  The Bat-Clone actually asks Alfred to "puh-puh-patch me up", showing that even the bond to Alfred seeped into the clone, while Batwoman & Dick enter the scene for another awesome Stewart fight sequence...

The next page, as has become customary in 2-person fight sequences in this book, end with a DOUBLE PUNCH on Bat-Clone.  Dick hits on Batwoman, citing his love of crimefighting redheads, and questioning whether or not this means the dawn of a new age of crime.  Back in England, Knight & Squire get after King Coal and that scene, of course, end with a DOUBLE PUNCH courtesy of England's version of Batman & Robin!

Dick explains and apologizes (how unlike Bruce) to Damian (who is already on his feet training) & Alfred how he likes to work without a net, possibly ironic considering how it contributed to the death of his parents. Alfie points out Dick's own warnings to Tim about using a Lazarus Pit on loved ones, which brings his train of thought ultimately to the conclusion that Tim Drake was right all along...

Another quick backstory for those who didn't ever pick up "Red Robin"...essentially, from day one, Tim Drake thought that Bruce was still alive, took on the identity of Red Robin once used by Jason Todd after Dick gave Robin to Damian, went on a worldwide quest that brought him into alliegiance with Ra's Al Ghul, before eventually finding evidence of that bat logo on a cave wall (as seen in "Final Crisis" & "Lost Chapter"). There's a lot more to Tim's story but Grant didn't write it so that's just the part that's relevent to Dick's...um....revelation....

So with the next part of our story we've got a new direction, trying to figure out just what the hell is the story with Bruce Wayne?  But first, time to address an issue that has been lingering in the background for the entire run of this series: Wayne Industries.  Several times over, whether it be from Alfred or from Lucius Fox, it was been pushed that Dick Grayson needed to get involved in the family business to which he generally retorted that it wasn't his area of expertise.  Well the littlest Wayne promised to look in the family biz...

Damian, actually standing in front of the board, points out the financial irregularities he's found, primarily a steadily increasing amount of money pooled into the Thomas Wayne fund for victims of railroad accidents.  Lucius states that they are under strict orders to honor that memory but suspicions have been aroused while Damian implies that a member of the board may be guilty of these irregularities.

Meanwhile Bats  meets up with the returning Oberon Sexton to discuss the Domino killer issue that has been floating around since the first issue.  Sexton has amassed a map of the victims thus far, all members of The Black Glove, including the dead Cardinal that was first mentioned/noted in that Le Bossu moment that overlapped into "RIP" & "Batman & Robin".  Also mentioned by Sexton is the missing-presumed-dead Jezebel Jet as well as Bruce Wayne being the next likely target, hence why Sexton is in Gotham City.  He puts it out there that perhaps, in light of the accusations against the Wayne Family (put out by The BG), perhaps Bruce is tied up in The BG as well.  Batman states that the evidence is a joke, but heads off after receiving a call before continuing on with that line of conversation.  What rushed Dick away in such a hurry?

The decision to search Wayne Manor (first time we've seen it since RIP) for clues to just where/when Bruce Wayne may be.  Before the search truly gets underway Dick mentions to Alfred how familiar Sexton seems and that something big is going down.  BTW, it's also nice...in a rather damaged way...to see Alfred make note of the booby traps El Sombrero placed in the mansion.

Dick notes how the JLA believe the Omega Effect displaced Bruce in time and how Tim believes Bruce has left clues in the past to allow those in the present to track him. As Dick puts it, "We can't talk to the past, but the past can talk to the future."

Which brings us to the scene above...a chronologically hung series of portraits of the Wayne family patriarchs beginning with a Mordecai Wayne up through Bruce's father Thomas with one missing gap. Another Thomas Wayne, this one from the 1760s, who apparently led a sect of devil worshippers...our story unites with the story told in "The Missing Chapter" & to a degree in "Dark Knight, Dark City".

The story goes that Thomas & his crew summoned a Bat-Demon of the Miagani Tribe and made all sorts of bargains, leading Dick to question if anything happened to "...associate this place with bat gods and bat tribes and devils?"

Damian notes how much the picture of Mordecai looks like Bruce, leading Alfred to remark the remarkable facial similarities between the Wayne patriarchs. Dick, knowing Bruce like he does, elects to look at everything as a potential clue, starting with the book in Mordecai's hand. Where did it end up? What's Mordecai's story?

There's a casket in Joshua Wayne's hand, another pic that looks a lot like Bruce, and he appears to be looking at something. Where is he? What's the casket?

Dick finds another painting, this one of Darius Wayne, the Revolutionary War hero of the family, riding horseback in front of burning ships and under the constellation of Orion. A coincidence that Orion was also the New God whose death Bruce was investigating in Final Crisis?

Damian begans to question the possibilities of Bruce actually being alive, the possibility that he is in the here & now but changed by his experiences so that the Bat Family doesn't even realize it. 

There's a lot of information filtered into just a few pages by Morrison, but I want to point out something very cool I discovered while doing all this, something I didn't know initially.  All those portraits on the Wayne Manor wall are of characters who actually existed in continuity, not ones Grant made up.  Check this other blog out here to see for yourself.  Warning, it's got some spoilers from "Return of Bruce Wayne"...

We take a break from the Mansion search to check in on Sexton as he gets another mystery phone call, presumably from El Penitente.  What's most interesting about this chat to me is how "Mr. Sexton" is placed in quotes just like that, essentially stating that this man is now who he claims to be.  The Mexican Train is again referenced, the 99 Fiends are mentioned for the first time, and those are likely the individuals creeping up on Sexton's hotel room as he speaks.  Sexton escapes...

Dick & Damian enter the library, the painting of Thomas & Martha Wayne looming large over the fireplace. Alfred informs the duo that the Mordecai painting was only added to the gallery in the 19th century and it doesn't fit the official genealogy, further evidence that it may be a picture of Bruce. He also points out that Joshua & Solomon Wayne were "conductors" on the Underground Railroad.

Damian questions, sorrowfully it seems, if he & Dick will still be B&R if his father is alive? Dick jokes with Damian about how Bruce wouldn't put up with him, perhaps failing to realize the gravity of the question and the level of Damian's worry, more focused on the clue hunting (Bruce would likely be the same, minus the jokes).  On the fireplace Dick discovers a correlation with the Darius Wayne picture (Orion's belt, hunter, horse head) and finds the secret passage aluded to by Bruce in "The Missing Chapter".

Damian flashes back on his time with Talia post-surgery, her insistance that he return to her side, that Dick Grayson isn't fit to be Batman, to which Damian begins to defend him but is abruptly cut off by his mother. The flashback ends with Damian stating that he "...won't be your weapon against them, mother" to which she retorts "We'll see".

The swing fails as Dick falls through a hidden passage, Damian realizes his mother did something to him, and a panel focusing on Talia has her stating "Summon my executioner".  Dick stumbles through another secret passage, his connection to Alfred getting bad, and finds something familar from "Missing Chapter":

Alfred discovers a "Corpse Road" centered around the Wayne family cemetery as well as a Garden of Death while Damian, in shock/panic/horror over whatever Talia has done, stumbles into said cemetary and the arms of Oberon Sexton, still hunted by the 99 Fiends.

Damn that was a dense chapter! But before we can get back to the adventures of Damian & Sexton, it's time for a little detour south of the border...



The "W" on this man's back has a couple of different potential meanings.  We know this is El Penitente from seeing those same scars on his back at the close of the Red Hood arc in the last volume, and as you can read above, it is refered to as a "double you. The mark of the shadow. The dark twin." I suppose that all fits because if the letter V or U were to cast a shadow next to itself, it would look like a W.  Still given the presumed identity of Penitente as Dr. Hurt/Thomas Wayne, a presumption visually confirmed a couple pages later, the "W" is just as likely symbolic of the Wayne family name.  Hurt sets out to "...reclaim what was always rightfully mine" as he boards a helicopter bound for Gotham City.

Back at the Manor Dick has discovered the hidden room, pointing out that despite the fact Thomas Wayne lived & presumably died in the 18th century, the "Barbatos" paint is within a year old, and there's a giant bat-symbol on the ground that, when stood upon, reveals a rail tunnel, likely part of the Wayne's history with the Underground Railroad, and kind of playing into the whole Mexican Train idea too.

Damian & Sexton are surrounded by 4 of the 99 Fiends, all named after demons & denziens of Hell.  They fend them off somewhat easily but Damian again realizes that there's something wrong with him which cues the story over to mommy dearest herself: Talia Al Ghul.  Apparently, with the addition of the new spine, she also installed some virtual control element, enabling the user of this device to essentially control Damian like a puppet.  It also seems she has a specific "consultant" in mind to take control of her son for this operation...

Back to Grayson as he explores the "Corpse Road" under the manor grounds, leading him to some old abandoned water source, a location he immediately recognizes as the one in which the painting of Joshua Wayne is set.  I like the little mention of the Gotham earthquake Dick throws out, just a nod to the book's history that fits perfectly within the framework of what is happening in-panel. 

Dick stumbles upon a giant stalactite carved into what he calls a "half human, half bat guy" which Alfred nails as Barbatos and again mentions the Miagani Tribe and the antics of Thomas Wayne's devil-worshipping cohorts. Dick ventures beyond a twisted gate, broken off its hinges, and begins to lose contact with Alfred as something distorts the signal.

Up above Damian & Sexton continue to fight the Fiends, Naberius mutters something about "...deep underground...Barbatos wakes...", revealing some form of connection between this individuals and the demon, further solidifying for me that Dr. Hurt is the Thomas Wayne that summoned Barbatos since he's the guy directing this party despite Naberius' assertion that the 99 Fiends have no master.

Alfred realizes that Alan Wayne's crypt is the centerpiece of the "Garden of Death" while Sexton comments on the demonic origins of all the Fiends names.  Damian, as astute as his father was, realizes that Sexton (who btw either just produced a domino from his coat or found one on Naberius' body) is faking his British accent.  Damian just has one real question:

Sexton refutes the question, simply stating that he was here to stop Bruce Wayne from being killed, apparently by the Domino Killer. Damian sees through the story, questioning why a killer who has worked alone would suddenly have hired guns, but Sexton keeps moving on, trying to open up the vault of Alan Wayne.  Damian is still struggling inside too, stating "My spine was replaced. My mother put something inside me." as Talia & her Consultant watch on, and with a shovel across Sexton's head, take over.

Grayson emerges from the tomb, clutching the casket seen in the Joshua Wayne painting, only to be met by a shovel attack of his own from Damian.  Who's driving this meat puppet:

Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke...the long-time foe of Dick Grayson & The (Teen) Titans, an appropriate choice for Talia to use to murder Grayson.  Slade pushes Damian's body hard, trying to kill Grayson, and making sure that Dick knows who is running the show.  Damian begins to fight the control, giving Dick the opportunity to use those fancy shock-knucks to disrupt the control, while more of the Fiends begin to converge on the scene.

Control is broken, one of the fiends recovers the Bat-Casket that Dick found underground, yelling "BARBATOS!" just before Alfred turns the giant water cannons on them.  The Fiends flee, Sexton tells Dick to meet him at his hotel so they can talk, "I fear this is only the beginning...", and Deathstroke convulses on the floor.

Dick recalls his memory of the how he found the Bat-Casket, Damian insists they go see Talia, and Alfred reveals some of his findings.  Not only is the initial design of the mansion (circa 1795 & Darius Wayne) a stylized "W" but when you tack on the additions over the years, the outline of the funeral garden paths, it turns into a giant Bat-Signal!

The dynamic duo head to Talia for a little heart-to-heart and while Damian talks to mom, Dick smacks Deathstroke around a bit.  Talia shows Damian his clone prompting the kid to question why his mother can't love him for who he is.  Her response is cold but expected, "That's not my nature. I'm too much of a perfectionist."  So what does Damian have to say...

Back to Gotham where Penitente/Hurt/Thomas Wayne is arriving, the Bat-Casket in the possession of The Fiends, and the last remaining Black Glove member, Senator Vine, at Hurt's side...well at least until he slides on a black glove of his own and presumably kills him. Curious part of their conversation to me is Vine asking "It's him isn't it?" to which Hurt replies "Oh, indeed. Coming at us out of the east".  Its safe to assume this means Vine knows who is killing off the BG members, but what made me curious was the "coming out of the east" line.  Near as I can find that is some biblical reference to the son of man & Matthew 24:27.

Back at Wayne Manor Alfie, Dick, & Damian return to the caverns to verify the Barbatos stalactite as well as find a Bat-Cowl held to the cave walls by antlers with black sun painted over it.  Dick's response, "Alert the Justice League", as he begins to connect the dots between Thomas Wayne, Barbatos, devil worhsip, and the Underground Railroad.  He also connects the dots on Oberon Sexton's identity and heads off to his hotel to close that case.  What does he find, besides the Black Glove connections between the Domino Killer victims?  They were all killed in some form of a joke, and who else could it be:

Getting revenge on The Black Glove for trying to make him a puppet during "RIP" makes sense, but helping out Batman & Robin? That's a new one for The Joker who presumably underwent another of his personality changes after being driven off a bridge by Damian in "RIP". This defintely isn't the "Clown at Midnight" persona we last saw. 

So it's all coming to a head now with Thomas Wayne in Gotham and looking to reclaim what he believes is rightfully his while the Wayne clan begins to unravel the mystery of Bruce's whereabouts. It all continues next time as we look at beginnings of "Batman & Robin Must Die!"