Batman, Inc. (spoilers)

[E]

Via IGN:

DC Comics will be releasing the Batman Incorporated Special #1 in August, an anthology of sorts featuring a variety of different creators telling all-new stories with these characters. Talent includes Chris Burnham, Ethan Van Sciver, Dan DiDio, Joe Keatinge and more. It'll hit on August 28 for $4.99.

In addition, Batman Inc. artist Chris Burnham will be guest-writing this month's issue #11 with Jorge Lucas taking on art duties for a story that spins away from the primary Leviathan tale.

IGN: What's issue #11 all about?

Burnham: Picking up from their flirtations in Batman Inc #0, Jiro (Batman Japan) and Lolita Canary (of the Super Young Team), are on their first real date when they're interrupted by the Bat-Alarm. A titanic team of malevolent motorcycle mavens in color-coordinated costumes are terrorizing the town, and all-out action ensues! I don't want to say much more than that -- spoilers have been proven to cause headaches in 9 out of 10 comic creators!

Generally speaking, it's got action, gross-out gags, horrible insults, terrible jokes, super science, romance, triumph, tragedy, and a brand new villain that's sure to be the cosplay hit of the summer. Oh! And it's got a beginning, a middle, and an end! All in 20 pages!

IGN: Why the decision to steer clear from the main Leviathan story?

Burnham: The Leviathan story is Grant's to tell, and it wouldn't be fair to him or the readers for me to sweep in for the antepenultimate issue and give Talia laser eyes or reveal that she is her own time-traveling mother. Although…

The whole Bat-team thought it would be fun to hop back into the spirit of the pre-New 52 incarnation of Batman Inc. and do one last done-in-one romp, so we made this issue as self-contained as possible.

 

[E]

Can't believe this is ending next week. From Newsarama today:

Starting with the story "Batman and Son," Morrison has crafted an epic that gave Batman a new sense of family, both literally and figuratively, then systematically destroyed it all, tearing the character to his core. As his epic ends with Batman, Incorporated #13 on July 31, 2013, we caught up with the creator at the red carpet of the Walking Dead anniversary party at Comic-Con International: San Diego for teases about the final issue, what he thinks of Batman, and his upcoming DC work with Multiversity, Wonder Woman, all before a hiatus from superheroes.

Newsarama: Grant, we're coming right up to the very end of Batman, Incorporated. Your entire Batman epic is ending. What does it feel like now that you're looking back and seeing everything that you've done over the years here?

Grant Morrison: I haven't even thought of it yet. I'll get to it when it's done; the last one isn't out yet. I really think a lot of people will hate it, because it's super bleak. It kind of – to a certain extent it destroys the concept of Batman.

So I think a lot of people will not like it. But then a few years will pass, maybe a bit less, several months, and then people will start to say, "oh, this all makes sense."

But I genuinely think it will cause a slight upset. Maybe if I say that it won't!

Nrama: So is this like an "Empire Strikes Back" thing where it's ending on a series of down notes?

Morrison: No, it's not even that…

Part of what the Batman run has been is recapitulating the years of Batman and the different ways that Batman's been dealt with. So I wanted to deal with that modern Batman that has started to get bleak again. The stuff that Scott [Snyder] is doing, that John Layman is doing, everyone is starting to get bleak again. You cannot bring Batman into the light, is basically what I've learned. So we wanted to acknowledge that in this last issue – it's quite nightmarish in a way.

I can't even how much bleaker it can be after they kill a 10 year old kid.

 

[Zombipanda]

Can't believe this is ending next week. From Newsarama today:



I can't even how much bleaker it can be after they kill a 10 year old kid.

It kind of sounds like Grant is sad. Like, he tried to turn Batman in a direction that was more hopeful and fun and no one stuck to it, to rehabilitate the Miller Batman that's dominated the landscape for decades and then was finally just like "No one wants to write that? Okay, I give up."

Poor Grant!

 

[E]

Now *I'M* sad.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

I call bull**** on that.

He created Damien, with the plans of killing him. He gave him a son, made the son basically his protege, created this great relationship, WITH THE PLANS ON KILLING HIM.

I call bull****.

 

[Zombipanda]

I call bull**** on that.

He created Damien, with the plans of killing him. He gave him a son, made the son basically his protege, created this great relationship, WITH THE PLANS ON KILLING HIM.

I call bull****.

That's something I have trouble coming to terms with too.

Morrison says he originally planned to have Damian die at the end of Batman and Son, which strikes me as a mistake of monumental proportions. Luckily he averted it.

We had years developing a character who was well liked, and as a result, his death had a big impact on me. That moment with Dick Grayson before his death was brilliant, almost enough to bring tears to my eyes, but it's hardly indicative of a softer new direction for the Batman mythos.

OTOH, he did bring us Batman and Robin and the big colorful psych-trip of Batman Inc. (season one). It's weird. There was this glimmer of brilliant, psychedelic Batman that came out of Morrison's run, but no matter how you cut it, it seems like he always intended to end things on a nihilistic note. It's a shame, because it feels like he said "Hey. This is what Batman could be but I'm not going to let anyone else explore it, because I'm going to kill off all the threads that allowed this interpretation to exist". It's puzzling. It's sad. It's like he caught a glimpse of what an All-Star Superman interpretation of Batman could have been, but then it was lost. And it seems to be a recursive thing. There was this really brilliant moment in his Batman RIP run where Jezebel Jet is down in the batcave and she's like, "Look at you with your gaudy souvenirs. It's like you're a little eight year old kid who never grew up. When are you going to man up and do something with all your wealth and your adulthood?" but he just never followed through on it. (I had a similar problem with his Action Comics run)

But don't worry guys. In a few years' time, I'll be telling the definitive Batman story. I will do for the early twenty-first century what Frank Miller did for the eighties.

 

[DIrishB]

But don't worry guys. In a few years' time, I'll be telling the definitive Batman story. I will do for the early twenty-first century what Frank Miller did for the eighties.

Why wait a few years? Submit it NOW!

Or did DC find all the naked leprechauns and talking pelicans too weird?

 

[E]

So, #13 is out today. It's good - not what I was expecting, I don't think, but still good.

Sons of Batman seem like an amazing idea. I'm envisioning an army of evil Damians and I like it.

I'm not sure what was so bleak about this issue, or what concept it destroyed. Is it just because everything took Bruce down so far and he has to rebuild? He did seem like he kind of gave up during his fight with Talia but it wasn't anything real overt that made me think "this is really dark."

 

[Zombipanda]

Why wait a few years? Submit it NOW!

Or did DC find all the naked leprechauns and talking pelicans too weird?

There's only one of each. But yeah, sure. Let me make an unsolicited pitch to DC involving their biggest character. I'm sure that will go over well. Scott Snyder is touching briefly on some of the themes I'd address, but his core focus is elsewhere.

So, #13 is out today. It's good - not what I was expecting, I don't think, but still good.

Sons of Batman seem like an amazing idea. I'm envisioning an army of evil Damians and I like it.

I'm not sure what was so bleak about this issue, or what concept it destroyed. Is it just because everything took Bruce down so far and he has to rebuild? He did seem like he kind of gave up during his fight with Talia but it wasn't anything real overt that made me think "this is really dark."

I thought it was pretty bleak. I'll address it in a review/analysis soon.