Batman RIP Final Thoughts SPOILERS

Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers

I was asked to give me two cents on the ending of Batman #681 -- the last part of the "Batman RIP" storyline" -- and so here, in brief, it 'tis.

When I was a teenager, I enjoyed Morrison's Doom Patrol immensely -- to the point where I would literally count the days for the next issue to come out. And when he had a twist ending -- a hero revealed to be a foe -- it really meant something. It also made sense. Also, the comics themselves, the narratives, made sense.

But reading Grant Morrison's take on Batman was, for me, like hearing that "waw-waw-waw-waw" voice from those Peanuts cartoons. Or is that "zur-zur-zur-en-arrrrh?"

I couldn't help but think that some Power That Be finally read Morrison's resolutions to both this and Final Crisis, blinked a few times, then said "hell no" -- leading to the purported rewrites for FC and the absence of Morrison on the follow-up Batman "event." Not because Morrison's take was so bad -- because he is indeed a great comic book writer -- but because it required an annotated study edition to comprehend.


Also, the "reveal" regarding Black Glove towards the end of the issue made the finale of "Batman: Hush" seem like M. Night Shyamalan in comparison.

"Okay, I'm not your dad! I'm the exact double of your dad from that story several issues back remember that one? And I also might be a metaphor for the devil. Also, you could just be crazy. Also, maybe I really was your dad at one point, and Time Warner said "hell no." Or I could be Tim Drake. But most likely I'm the devil, and also that guy from several issues who skinned that guy. Actually, I'm the adopted child of Ralph and Sue Dibny."

That said, I will default to my old mantra "Maybe This Comic Book Wasn't Written For Me." In which case, you really need to read the review of an enthusiast for this sort of thing. It's like reviewing "Buffy" when you're not a Joss Whedon fan.

These books are not written for a general audience. "Batman RIP" was not the great cross-over event that brought the non-comics reader into the stores in droves and reawoken them to the love that is collecting comics on a regular basis -- not even with demure "hints" dropped in the mainstream media. It just wasn't. Books like the Azzarello GN Joker and even the potty-mouth fest Batman: Cacophony are far more likely to reach new readers.

Additionally, though it was certainly written as though it thought it was, "Batman RIP" is far from the definitive Batman story. It's not even the definitive "quirky" Batman story. It's just a quirky Batman story, and in that sense, it succeeds.


Which is why if you really want to read a great Batman tale, read The Untold Legend of the Batman from 1980. Even at the tender age of seven, I realized "Untold Legend" was heads and tails above any Batman story that had been written to that point. I have no doubt that it was this mini-series that Morrison was influenced -- nay, obsessed by.

But that's the thing, you know? I have an obtuse, highly self-referential, highly obsessive-with-the-pop-culture-of-my-youth novel at home too that I wrote. I would love an opportunity to publish it as-is, have my small but devoted band of readers comb the work for "clues" and parallelisms, and totally alienate the wider audience. And get paid for it. And get paid good money for it. But I'm probably going to contact a good friend of mine today who freelance edits books to take a look at my novel and help me turn it into something at least semi-comprehensible and capable of being related to by more than ten goth codebreakers high on life and absinthe.

Am I selling out? Do I sell out by having an editor read and actually edit my work? Do I sell out by wanting the wider audience to understand my story? Am I in favor of killing the Great American (Graphic) Novel by worrying about such matters?

Waw-waw-waw-waw.