Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencils: Chris Burnham
Publisher: DC Comics
And here it is, folks, the end to Grant Morrison’s seven-year epic. With lives destroyed and Gotham practically in ruins (again, as a few lines seem to suggest), it literally comes down to a one-on-one battle between the Batman and Talia al Ghul. So…how’s it go?
Spoiler, Batman wins. Kind of. Gotham City is saved when there is an intervention by Jason Todd, and Kathy Kane stops Talia in her tracks. So Bruce has that, but he’s still down a son and a baby-mama and Inc as a whole. And then, to make matters even worse, he’s grave-robbed, most likely by Ra’s, if I’m reading into the epilogue correctly.
Morrison does what he does best, brings things full circle in a back-and-forth storytelling style. And overall, it was successful, with the story being pretty entertaining. However, there were a few instances that made me pause, like Bruce’s words regarding Damian to Gordon, and then the full on make out in the middle of the battle. It just didn’t seem quite right to me. Also, where the heck did Jason go now? After Kathy disappeared, so did he!
Nonetheless, this issue was action-packed, with everything wrapping up in a ways that might not have been expected. And as upset as I still am with Damian’s death, I was completely satisfied with how open-ended Morrison left it, giving future writers a chance to revive the baby assassin as opposed to forcing a feeling of permanence to the situation and bringing Ra’s back as a potential major baddie. I also really liked how that last page of Ra’s with all the clones is really reminiscent of how this all started back in Batman & Son.
Chris Burnham really carried this series, too, and he really went out with a bang. I loved his layouts, and one of my favorite pages has to be the three panels of Jason, Bruce and Talia noticing Kathy in the cave. And man, was Kathy Kane drawn stylish and classy. Burnham is stellar at emotions, and the panel of Bruce looking into the empty graves made me all kinds of ridiculously sad.
It’s all over, y’all. At points, the story seemed to drag, but suddenly there’s nothing left to be told by Grant Morrison. There were good times and really heartbreaking ones, but in the end it was one heck of a ride. Thanks for the memories, Batman Incorporated.
(Is it too early to start a countdown to Damian’s return?)
4.5 out of 5 nerds
Irwin Fletcher
I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.
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