By: Grant Morrison (writer), Tony Daniel (artist), Ian Hannin (colors)
The Story: R.I.P. The Missing Chapter, Part Two: Batman’s Last Case. This story fills in the gaps in the story of Batman and the Justice League prepping to face Darkseid, and what happens when they finally do.
What’s Good: Batman #701 had sub-wowed me, so I came to Batman #702 with mixed feelings. Was I going to be disappointed? Was Morrison losing his luster? Hell, no! The uneven start to this 2-issue arc could not hold back this moody, layered narrative. Batman’s monologue and its undercurrents were so strong that I felt like I was swimming in a river.
The big part of this swept-along feeling comes from Batman’s reactions to the situation. This is not some gadget-driven guy, blithely facing off against Superman-level foes with a smile on his face (as so often happens in the world of superhero teams where one guy can run at the speed of light and another happens to be good at gymnastics). This is a soldier in a war realizing that, man for man, he rates about as high as a stormtrooper in a Jedi fight. This is not the story of Achilles the Strong, but of Odysseus the Crafty, tinged with a fatalism that is new to my experience of Batman. A good writer of science fiction and fantasy will tease out all the implications of an idea or situation rather than continue to try and set us a-wonder under a deluge of ideas and tech. The implication that Morrison explores here is simple: what does an essentially normal guy in tights do when he has to face off against a god or monster? This is not Batman thinking about justice, but Batman thinking about his mortality. Can he face this with bravery? What will this drive him to? Odysseus violated the Greek ethic of guesthood. Here, Batman chooses to go against his own ethic never to use a gun. And Batman’s fatalistic thoughts and the psychological effects of his confusion are skillfully shown in Morrison’s running monologue in Bruce’s voice. This not only drives the story, but pulls us deeper into Bruce’s mind as he too is swept along.
Daniel’s artwork did the job, sometimes well, and Hannin on colors brought a richness to the visuals that was awesome. Check out the color work on the page where Batman faces Darkseid, or the Alpha Lantern, or when he finally faces the ancient sky.
What’s Not So Good: I like a lot of Daniel’s artwork, but I found that this issue leaned a lot on heroic posturing that characterized so much bad art in the 90s. It made me feel like the artist was trying to make a cool moment instead of visualizing what is a personal and psychological story. Superman calling the Justice League to amber alert was such a weak artistic choice that it really sets the wrong tone that we don’t recover from for several pages. There are a couple more moments like this and they did detract from the story. Morrison too, while doing a brilliant job on Bruce’s psyche, had some missteps with the other characters, like Superman and Wonder Woman, who didn’t sound like themselves. Luckily, I’m good at ignoring minor writing flaws to get to the really good things that the writer is doing.
Conclusion: Batman #702 was a solid issue with some brilliant writing and relatively strong art. The few creative missteps are ignorable. I think you should get this book, even if you haven’t been following R.I.P., the Return of Batman, etc, because the event is about to happen, and even as a stand-alone story, this one really works.
Grade: B+
-DS Arsenault
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