12.24.2008
Tonight you get your Christmas Gift from Darkseid Revenge. I give to you an in-depth review of Batman #683 which is part of the Last Rites arc and serves as the bridge between the Batman R.I.P. story and Batman’s place in the Final Crisis event. The story is told from Alfred’s perspective and given to the reader as we follow a origin story in Batman #682 to the present condition of Batman in #683. I’m home for the Holiday so I am going to give you the down and dirty on this. Grant Morrison is back at what he does best and that is making Batman more Godly than the Gods wreaking havoc on the world in Final Crisis, before I get to that let me spin this web for you of how we got where we are.
Okay so what did we really get out of R.I.P.? Nothing! Batman went through the ringer at the hands of the Black Glove and came out virtually unscathed. In the minds of Morrison no harm could possibly be done to the caped crusader because given enough time Batman beats anything and everything you can throw at him right, wait for it because that is going to ring so true in mere moments. Last Rites #682 is really nothing more than a crossover and Morrison’s way of putting a stamp on the character as he gives Batman a clear origin story and a very tight alibi for a timeline that gives Batman fans a sense of relief, finally! This story moves right into Final Crisis on the last couple of pages as we get to see Batman encased in some sort of deprivation tank or another. I could have sworn Batman just went through something like this? I am pretty sure this is how he was able to beat the Black Glove, so why not use it again against the gods of Apokolips.
In Batman #683 it is more origin story and perhaps the best couple of pages where Talia and Batman are getting it on and obviously in the throes of procreating Damian. The better part of this issue though is the mix memories as compared to what Morrison laid for a foundation of the character in #682 tearing down that fine timeline we all thanked him for. Under Torture Batman is still invincible Desaad even in his new disguise can’t compete with Batman because Batman is able to make his memories weapons as he puts it. Why would the Apokolips gods led by Darkseid view Batman as the ultimate genetic material to breed an unstoppable army? I’m thinking your best bet would be Superman, who knows maybe even Captain Marvel, but like I said Morrison feels Batman is the strongest one there is. And Batman proves it by beating the Lump (Clayface) in his mind and then managing to get the Lump to help him free himself from his bondage. Batman’s memories are obviously even too stressful for clones to handle, it smells of one of those cliché moments we have seen before with very powerful characters and their powers overloading a person trying to steal them. I love Batman, but word of advice Morrison, if we are tired of seeing Superman perform unimaginable feats only to then lose in battles thanks to a piece of rock, I definitely don’t want to see Batman, a peak human doing the unimaginable.
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12.02.2008
Writing for this blog is a process. it may seem easy, but it is time consuming and the worst part of it is writing about titles you wish you never had to write about. SUch is the case with Batman and the Outsiders. I can promise you will never see this title on this blog again, unlike Nightwing this is definitely because it is just a horrible read. Nothing exciting happens at all in this series of the Batman R.I.P story arc. Enjoy the scans if you may!
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Nightwing has been a great read through the R.I.P story arc. I have really enjoyed the read as Nightwing has faced off against Two-Face and I couldn’t say more for what Tomasi did with the storyline and making sure there was a stamp on the character in his town of Nueva York. This conclusion rounded out Two-Face’s insanity rather well as he is really pissed at Nightwing for not saving the lawyer from himself, and he finally decides to lash out at the whole city. You don’t get more nutty than that. Nightwing does the best he can to help Two-Face and this is how he is repaid, simply marvelous.
There really isn’t much to flesh out in this issue though which is the only fault, it really is you got what you see. Nightwing takes after Two-Face to prevent him from burning down the city and saves the day. The story could have probably been wrapped up in two issues, but this book felt meaty for some extra scenes of acrobatic goodness. The art wasn’t amazing so if you want to see the slugfest then go ahead and pick up Nightwing #150. To be honest this will probably be the last Nightwing issues you will see on the blog unless it ties in somewhere else.
Oh one more mention, Marvel Evolution is out and the sales appear to be doing well, seriously, the set has sold out from Groovy Gecko’s where I normally do my shopping and I purchased 3 boxes and I have done a fair bit of trading for the rest of the cards I need for the decks I wish to make, Marauders and a little nasty Cyclops/Cable action. I plan on picking up some more boxes soon to see if I cant get some more of those hard to get rare cards. There really doesn’t seem to be any cards I would classify as money rares, but I am sure others will disagree, either way if you are looking at getting into Versus TCG then check out Kamiza’s blog, a link can be found on the left side of the page in my blogroll, it is a great website for new players looking to learn the ins and outs. Don’t forget you can also use MWS to get into the game. Flashback just completed the Marvel Evolution Patch and this should enable a lot of people to use the set as soon as possible. Thanks Flashback.
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Detective Comic’s was really the best part of the Batman R.I.P story, truly Dini wrote a story that appealed to all the readers using a character that permeated the veil of the cowl and got into the mind of Bruce Wayne. The love story with Selina Kyle aka Catwoman only brought more depth to the cowled character and how close to humanity he really is, despite the bravado and machismo we constantly see of him. While in Batman R.I.P we saw him in a lustful affair with Jezebel Jet here we have him truly in love with a woman and fighting to save her life.
The Heart of Hush series feels like a Christopher Nolan directed and inspired 3rd movie, interesting characters and an introspective look at what Batman 3 could be. You have Catwoman who has always been on the fence of good and bad and a long past friend who knows the many secrets of Bruce Wayne in Thomas Elliot aka Hush. Heck you could even throw in Talia Al Ghul to get that whole son of Batman, Damian, story into the mix. Riddler would be a great throw in as a detective hired to figure out who is the Batman.
There is a lot of legs to this story and I like how Hush gets some of Batman’s other villains into the mix and attacks at the heart of Batman, his closest friends and allies in order to get to him. Stealing Selina’s heart was just topping on the cake and a remarkable use of plot induced stupidity. Check out the conclusion to Heart of Hush in Detective Comics.
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