Batman and Son
Review by Derek Bowman
October 29, 2008
Writer:
Grant
Morrison
Pencillers:
Andy Kubert and John Van Fleet
Inker:
Jesse Delperdang
Colorist: Guy Major
and Dave
Stewart
Letterers: Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh, Todd
Klein and Nick J. Napolitano
Collects Batman #655-658 &663-666
Batman is a
character that is often perceived as hard to
write. He is a character with numerous fans that
are very defensive on the way that he is
treated, he has a tendency to get boring and
repetitive if the writer doesn’t quite think
outside the box and go in an unexpected
direction, and he has been done so well in other
medias and forms that the writer has to be
compared to the likes of Frank Miller, Denny O’
Neil, and other hugely popular writers. And
placing Grant Morrison on this type of situation
is a risky one, most definitely. He has been on
the title since 2006 now, and has suffered from
numerous delays in his run, not to mention that
his work has been something of a roller coast
ride critically.
This trade collects the first four stories written by
Morrison, and has varying levels of quality
throughout each one. The first story involves
Batman’s son Damien, the second is an all-prose
issue, and the third is a bizarre murder
mystery, and the four is an attempt to play off
of the 666 numbering. For the most part,
Morrison handles Bruce Wayne and Batman both
with skill and ease, making him seem like the
quirky business man that he should be, and he
doesn’t come off as aloof and ambivalent as some
writers make him out to be. Where Morrison
struggles in characterization, however is with
some of the other supporting cast, including the
newly created Jezebel Jet, who comes off as
boring and devoid of personality. Morrison has a
great Batman, but struggles otherwise.
The next four issues are a strange mixture of boring,
confusing, and flat out odd. The first of these
three stories is an all-prose issue of Batman,
and while I see Morrison was trying to do by
being different and unique with it- however, I
feel that prose just doesn’t belong with the
comic book format, and it was boring and
irrelevant. The next story is a confusing story
of a group of f Gotham policemen involving in a
prostitution ring. Morrison attempts to infuse
the story with psychological drama that really
ends up muddling things up and making for a
puzzling read. Lastly, the final issue (#666) is
a play off the superstition surrounding the
number of the issue, and while not a too
terrible story, it just seemed unnecessary and
weirdly executed.
This collection was a mix of both good and bad stories, with
amazing artwork helping make them flow together
at least a little bit better. Morrison hasn’t
quite won me over with these, but I think that
he has proven that he can write Batman as long
as he has a half-decent storyline backing up his
characterization. Kubert really pushes the story
above an average rating, as his art is almost
worth buying the book by itself. I’d say, as
opposed to buying this collection, go back and
find the first four issues of the story, and
skip the other lackluster stories.
Overall Rating:
6 out of 10 (Slightly Above Average)
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