Batman- The Grant Morrison Odyssey: New 52 Style V9

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

I believe due to the nature of issue #11, and the fact that I think the final issue Grant Morrison's Batman Opus deserves its own solo spotlight, it looks like this blog is going to be pulling double duty with Chris Burnham & Jorge Lucas' Batman of Japan-focused ish #11 and issue #12!

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...

The Dark Knight Strikes Again Strikes Back

 

The Dark Knight Strikes Again...I haven't thought about this book in years and haven't read it since it was originally released in three issues between November 2001 and July 2002.  Yes, it took 9 months for three issues; with that in mind everyone should be amazed we even got the 10 issues of All-Star Batman & Robin that we did.

Obviously this is a book that had a lot of hype before it ever came into existence because it was a follow-up to The Dark Knight Returns, one of the most important stories in comic book history for a myriad of reasons.  Just like the Before Watchmen initiative, it was flat-out impossible for DKSA to live up to its predecessor regardless of the level of quality and, having not read the book since its release, let me just spit out a few words that pop in my head when I think about this Frank Miller work...

...disappointing...

...sloppy...

...ugly...

...bad...

...delays delays delays...

...wtf...

So with those recollections in my head WHY on Earth would I BUY the hardcover collection of this book and WHY on Earth would I choose to reread it?

The answer to the first question is because I am (a) a total mark for Batman who has a need to get as many collections of Bat-stories as possible and (b) it was 50% off cover price.

The answer to the second question is this:

Blame Kevin Smith and Grant Morrison's conversation that you can listen to here and Morrison's reflections on DKSA.  It made me curious to read this book again, a decade removed from its publication, and see if my thoughts have changed at all.  So I am going to press pause, so to speak, go read this much-maligned work by Frank Miller & Lynn Varley and will return to the writing upon completion....

Ugly...no doubt about it...Dark Night Strikes Again was an ugly comic just speaking solely of the visuals at the moment. The art, which is the most immediately noticeable thing is a far cry from that of Miller's first venture into this alternate bat-future.  Just compare Dark Knight Returns

 To Dark Knight Strikes Again

 

Messier, uglier, far harder on the eyes than its predecessor and I know that was an immediate turn-off for me 12 years ago when I first spent my money on these books.  Still maybe that is the whole point because DKSA is an ugly comic about an ugly world filled with stupid ugly people doing stupid ugly things and it takes stupid ugly things to even begin to make the slightest change in this stupid ugly world.

This is a world that is LOUD, OBNOXIOUS, and god damn annoying in its god damn chitter chatter about god damn everything and you can see where the god damn Batman got its god damn start in this book with how god damn much god damn pops out of people's mouths. 

I can only assume that this is how Frank Miller either sees the world as it is today or ugly, stupid, and obnoxious is how he expects the masses to become in the future because this is a world in which a hologram can be president, in which Superman is stupid, fights for the status quo, kowtows to the authorities (Luthor & Braniac here) seemingly to protect ONE person, albeit his daughter, over the world and then chooses to risk Earth in favor of Kandor.  This world is littered with media personalities that make the ones in DKReturns (that damn movie makes me feel like I have to point out if DKR refers to Returns or Rises) look like a world filled with Walter Kronkite's.  Stupid, ugly, loud, obnoxious, nameless talking heads, even the one news broadcast that actually seems to be taking a deeper look into the holographic president is presented in the nude.  Hell even the Warriors-esque Happy Hacker talks in nothing but sexual innuendo...


This is a book that is totally lacking in subtlety and again, that is no doubt intentional.  The politics of governmental control are screaming on every page, the condemnation of corporations bleeds out even in the names of those representing the power structure: National Security Enforcement Director Bill PRICK, Secretary of State Robert RUGER-EXXON, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Four Star General CORNELL STARBUCKS.  You have the verbal jousting between Green Arrow & The Question over Communism, Marxism, and whatever other random ideology they can fight about. 

Then there's the random digs at San Francisco like on pages 151 & page 192 of the HC where in the latter an interview subject says "Those people of Metropolis should just get over it." followed by "Yes, I AM from San Francisco. Why do you ask?" and maybe I'm reaching because of the stereotype of San Francisco but then he pulls out a Hawk & Dove who are obviously a gay couple living in NYC off Christopher Street with the line "Don't ask" (a shot at the "don't ask, don't tell" policy perhaps?).

This book is all politics and social commentary, be it government, media, technology, even on our outlook on life which is what I got out of this panel:

The idea that we, as a people, overlook the importance of events because we are either distracted by the barrage of crap thrown our way or we are too cool to appreciate things.  Maybe it's a commentary on comic book fans/creators, maybe this whole book after a point is a reflection, as Morrison pointed out and I never realized in the moment, on the fact that this comic was being produced during the 9/11 terrorists attacks; that wouldn't come as any kind of surprise to me because, from reading this interview from 4thletter! I stumbled across while looking up more background info, Miller actually talks about it quite extensively.

In case you haven't noticed, I am kind of writing this with no flow...just flowing with my thought process I suppose.

I was bothered by the general portrayal of Wonder Woman in this book...I thought the sex between Supes & WW was ugly, what Diana implies when she says Clark "...threw me to the ground and took me as his rightful prize" really bothers me..and the "I am better than the humans" crap their daughter spews is just so the antithesis of everything either of her parents would say in any reality.

The Dick Grayson reveal is...well...whatever, it felt like an attempt at replicating The Joker's arrival after the fall of the Mutants (I just laughed that I typed that...I'm a nerd) in DKReturns and I thought it failed miserably.

The, I suppose I will call it nerd-porn, aspect of throwing in so many damn characters was kind of cool in that "what's character X doing in this world" aspect but did we really need Creeper or Guardian or Lana Lang or a reference to Saturn Girl. 

I think, ultimately, this attempt at social commentary/satire in comic book form was a failure because, well..there's nothing in the book that I find...hopeful.  We've got Flash making bunny ears behind the face of the government (which is admittedly amusing and something most of us would probably like to do), GA & Question bitching, mocking religion, a Superman religion, Supes & Lara kind of declaring Earth THEIR planet, and Batman basically telling us that nostalgia is stupid: "Souvenirs darling. Nothing but souvenirs. I was sentimental- back when I was old."

Ultimately, after reading through these issues, I think the best thing about the entire book may be the opening excerpt from a Vicky Vale newspaper article on Bruce Wayne's funeral...yes it's kind of silly in it's references to Eartha Kitt but the core story itself uses references to the Adam West TV show as a key story point during the Dick & Bruce fight so it works.

All in all, this story make a great attempt at social commentary but it is so god damn heavy-handed and the book is just so god damn ugly to look at that I just didn't get much god damn pleasure out of reading it.  It's not as god damn bad as I remember it being 12 years ago but I'm not sure if I will open these god damn pages again or if it will just become a god damn fixture on my Batman book shelf...