Written by Grant Morrison
Illustrated by Chris BurnhamSuperstar writer Grant Morrison and artist Chris Burnham have sent The Dark Knight on a trip to Japan and Argentina, but now Batman’s taking a brief breather back in his home base of Gotham City for a team-up with Batwoman!
Don’t let that solicit fool you: while Batman and Batwoman are both certainly in this issue, they do not interact in any way let alone in a capacity that could be considered a team-up. That said, does the story we do get hold up? Click on down to find out, if you dare!
Oh, Batman Incorporated. I think I want to like you so much more than I actually do. Especially with this issue, there is so much to like in it and yet, I’m left with a sour taste in my mouth. We open with current Batwoman Kate Kane mid-fight in the middle of some as yet undefined carnival which, as it’s main attraction, retells the story of the now very dead Kathy Kane, the original Batwoman and first true love of Bruce Wayne. It’s at this point that the book splits off in two other directions. One of which being the history of said original Batwoman and the other being the continuation of last issue’s cliffhanger of Batman and El Gaucho forced into battle to save three blind orphans. In a lot of ways, this issue played out a lot like an episode of Lost, with several different but diverging storylines building to one whole.
The best and most comprehensible storyline is the origin and early days of the original Batwoman. Watching her personality take shape following the death of her husband leading to her obsession with Batman and Robin that builds to their eventual team-up and (even further still) the building of the Bat-Family as her relationship with Bruce grew stronger (much to the chagrin of Robin) was a massively entertaining experience. Grant Morrison has long since been known to write compelling, real and infinitely interesting female characters, and this one is no exception.
The Batwoman tale, which appears to be the one to set up some presumably long-form plot threads, features her re-opening of the Death of Kathy Kane case and investigate the warped carnival that appears to idolize her/use her image for dastardly deeds. Meanwhile, we learn of a long since hidden connection between El Gaucho and Kane that may or may not have resulted in her death. The issue then closes with Batman sneaking up on the Sombrero, the delightfully stereotypical villain of his part of the story.
There’s a lot to like with this one (and not just the appearance of Ace the Bat-Dog), so I think the sour taste I mentioned up at the top arrives from the simple fact that Morrison’s writing style is a double-edged sword that can, from time to time, become its own worst enemy. As a writer, Morrison seems to love pushing the limits of the medium and attempting to redefine what many have come to consider conventional storytelling tropes. This mindset of his has resulted in some of the very best comics of the modern era (We3, Doom Patrol, All-Star Superman), but throughout his most recent tour of duty at DC, he has also proven that he can write competent, straightforward super hero fare, sans mindbending whimsy. I think the primary problem I have with this issue is that it SHOULD have been a straightforward super-hero yarn that had one too many bits of mindbending in there when there really didn’t need to be.
That said, the art was a huge redeeming factor. Burham’s slightly warped approach to character design and facial expression gives his decided Quietly-esque pencils a unique sense of purpose in the issue. Clearly the story was meant to make the reader feel uneasy with its use of several opposing emotional triggers at once, and the art helped that idea along immeasurably. I’m unsure how long Burnham will be sticking around this book, but were he to become the new regular illustrator in lieu of Yanick Paquette, I would not be disappointed.
Overall, while there were a few too many outlandish moments for comfort, I think this one is still worth a read and the series as a whole is one to stick with, at least for the time being. However, if I claimed it was completely safe from the pull list chopping block, I would be lying.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
