duke101's Full Review: Batman: R.I.P. Deluxe HC (Batman)
I have been a fan of writer Grant Morrison for a long time. Over the years, he has proven himself one of the few writers capable of making a comic book that feels like a great work of literature ("Animal Man" is a prime example), worthy of comparison to comic legends like Alan Moore ("Watchmen") and Neil Gaiman ("Sandman").
Unfortunately, "Baman R.I.P." is not one of those groundbreaking comics, and worse still, it was such a colossal mess as to make me question whether Morrison's still got it (his current work on DC Comics' "Final Crisis" storyline only confirms my doubts). It's difficult to imagine how such a brilliant writer could have taken such a steep decline into mediocrity, and it's sadder still that new readers unfamiliar with his prior work may refuse to ever read some genuine masterpieces after seeing his name attached.
So why is "Batman R.I.P." such a disaster? Perhaps it has partly to do with expectations, and I don't mean knowing what Morrison is capable of as a writer. DC Comics advertises this storyling as involving "The death of The Dark Knight!" An intriguing premise, one that would capture the attention of even most casual comic book readers. Only when you get through the final issue, however, do you realize that the entire premise for the story is misleading. Reluctant though I am to include any spoilers in a review, I feel it is my duty to inform anyone who might pick this up that absolutely nothing happens by the end.
You see, to get the "true" ending to the storyline featuring the "final fate" of Batman (which I will not spoil here), you have to pick up this month's issue of "Final Crisis," also written by Grant Morrison. This slap in the face to a reader picking up the "Batman R.I.P." collection, which does not even include the relevant issue of "Final Crisis," is difficult to even comprehend. It's like watching a movie, only to have the last ten minutes cut off. Quite simply, readers should not have to look outside a storyline for resolution. Worse still, the so-called conclusion to "Batman R.I.P." found in "Final Crisis" does not even resolve many dangling plot threads, such as the true identity of the mystery villian in "Batman R.I.P."
That being said, I could still easily overlook the inherent marketing problems with "Batman R.I.P." if it at least told a good story. And while there are intriguing elements to the storyline (most notably, Morrison presentation of The Joker, which is original and genuinely frightening), it for the most part falls flat. Much of the storyline is devoted to Batman experiencing hallucinations in a drug-enduced state and dressed in an absurd version of the Batman costume having apparently lost his mind. This is amusing for a few panels, but the joke quickly wears thin (particularly "BATman" running around hitting people with a bat, which is not very subtle).
It is also worth mentioning that if you haven't read practically all of Morrison's two-year run leading up to "Batman R.I.P." that you won't understand most of the storyline (in fact, I read the entire run, and still had difficult understanding portions of the story).
A final problem with the writing is how cliched it sounds, which is strange coming from a writer who strives to avoid the cliche as much as possible. At times, I almost wonder if he was intentionally writing the storyline that way to make fun of other comics, but it is unclear. For instance, one of Batman's enemies who knows his secret identity tries to taunt him near the end of the storyline by holding up a hand to say how Bruce Wayne is that rich, and then lifts a hand even higher to say how rich the bad guys are, saying something along the lines of "oh, I just can't reach that high."
If Morrison does one thing right with this storyline, it's showing Batman to be capable of anticipating anything his enemies can throw at him, now matter how unpredictable. In some ways, that's the theme of the entire storyline for reasons I won't spoil here (in case, you're masochistic enough to still want to read this story). Morrison does at least get Batman's voice right, something which few writers have managed to do much justice to, but that's just not enough to save the story.
The artwork from Tony Daniel is a little better than the writing, but often comes across as a derivative version of Jim Lee's artwork, which was far better on the "Hush" storyline released several years ago (although that too was a rather poorly written Batman story). Daniel is best at capturing the manneurisms in Bruce Wayne's face when he's not dressed as Batman, and making him look more like a genuine individual than he is already drawn. Daniel also draws one mean looking Joker enough to give anyone nightmares (in fact, that is one character Daniel draws far better than Jim Lee, who has a bad tendency to give the Joker a nose long enough to belong to Pinnochio).
But the biggest problem with Daniel's artwork is that it just doesn't jive with Morrison's unique style of writing. In contrast to artist Frank Quitely (who worked with Morrison recently on the fantastic storyline "All-Star Superman"), Daniel's style is a bit too mainstream for the intentionally bizarre occurrences that take place in Morrison's stories. Nevertheless, Daniel is a more than capable artist good enough to stay on at least one of the regular Batman titles.
As a final aside, this hardcover collection also includes a 2-part storyline called "Last Rites," which supposedly leads into "Final Crisis," and is considerably better than "Batman R.I.P.," at least in retelling critical moments of Batman's history, but which does little to resolve unanswered questions. The artwork on those two issues by Lee Garbett is strong, and a little more consistent with Morisson's style of writing than that of Tony Daniel. Those two issues may be the best reason to check out this collection.
To sum up, "Batman R.I.P." is a worthwhile story if you're interested in exploring the psychology of Bruce Wayne's mind and what makes him tick, but that's about all it does. There are a few fun moments, including an interesting confrontation between Batman when he's not in his right frame of mind and The Joker, but by the end, you will be left feeling like you didn't even read a story, so much as a rambling collection of ideas not carried out to their true potential. Read "All-Star Superman" or "Animal Man" instead, trust me.
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