By: Grant Morrison (Writer), Tony Daniel (Pencils), Jonathan Glapion & Sandu Florea (Inks), Guy Major (Colors)
Now this is the Grant Morrison Batman’s been missing. Before he was kind of telling us straight up stories with some outlandish ideas thrown here and there. But this issue… well in true Morrison fashion, it’s a mind bender!
This is a pretty intense, dark story and Tony Daniel’s art style is perfectly suited for this. Batman’s messing with something called The Thogal Ritual – a form of meditation that brings its subject to the brink of death and back over a series of weeks. The issue follows him on his journey giving us flashes of hallucinations and his past. The problem is, we don’t know what’s real and what’s not. There’s definitely an underlying story going on here with Bruce dealing with murderer of his parents, but is this really happening?
Batman #673 is a puzzle, really. If you think there will be answers at the end of the issue, you’re in for a disappointment. In fact, the end (which I won’t go into), just raises more questions. It’s okay though, because there’s an enthralling mystery under all this madness, especially after all that Ras Al Ghul nonsense. (Grade: B)
– J.Montes