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Grant Morrison's Batman run.


The Natural

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Well, I meant for the time while he was writing them, not for the rest of my life.

I've never stopped reading the X-Men, even when he was writing. His run is definitely my least favorite, though.

The only Batman stuff I read recently, though, was the first Scott Snyder trade, which I liked.

 

The closest anyone has ever come to completely ruining a character for me were probably John Byrne and Howard Mackie. Ever since they wrote Spider-Man in the late 90s I've never read another Spider-Man book again. I did plan to come back at one point though, but then the whole Mephisto stuff happened and as far as I know they still haven't reversed that.

That Mackie was really good. Came closer to feeling like Spider-Man than a lot of 90's stuff. Now I'm not sure how credible your views on Morrison are. And nobody has mentioned this, but Batman spent a decent chunk of his history fighting aliens and stuff. 

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Well, I meant for the time while he was writing them, not for the rest of my life.

I've never stopped reading the X-Men, even when he was writing. His run is definitely my least favorite, though.

The only Batman stuff I read recently, though, was the first Scott Snyder trade, which I liked.

 

The closest anyone has ever come to completely ruining a character for me were probably John Byrne and Howard Mackie. Ever since they wrote Spider-Man in the late 90s I've never read another Spider-Man book again. I did plan to come back at one point though, but then the whole Mephisto stuff happened and as far as I know they still haven't reversed that.

That Mackie was really good. Came closer to feeling like Spider-Man than a lot of 90's stuff. Now I'm not sure how credible your views on Morrison are. And nobody has mentioned this, but Batman spent a decent chunk of his history fighting aliens and stuff. 

 

 

I think the Byrne stuff was worse than the Mackie stuff, but I might be mixing the two runs up a bit, since they happened at the same time.

I forgot there was one instance, when I came back to Spider-Man after Byrne/Mackie, which was the first trade of the JMS run and I think I liked that even less than anything Byrne and Mackie ever did.

I also read the first 100 or so issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, but I'm not counting that since it's not 616 Spidey.

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Ugh, yes you're correct. At the time there was Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker: Spider-Man, both written by Mackie, one was drawn by Byrne, the other by Romita jr.

But around the same time there also was the Spider-Man: Chapter One 12-issue maxi series both written and drawn by Byrne.

Yeah, I didn't like any of that.

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"Doesn't care about what's came before...." 

The fuck?  You mean the guy that brought every Batman story ever back into continuity doesn't care what's come before?  I...  I literally don't understand where that criticism is possibly even coming from.

 

 

Putting every Batman story ever back into continuity doesn't necessarily mean he cares about what's come before him. It read to me more like he wanted to a] show how much past-Batman continuity he could cram into his ever expanding and off-the-rails story and b] show everyone how much better he could play with those toys -- I'm thinking specifically of his use of the 60's kitsch era stuff -- in a post-modern way that would impress readers but is ultimately a shallow exhumation of others original work.

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comicbookresources.com poll asking readers of the site for their favourite story from Grant Morrison's Batman run:

 

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=poll&id=171

 

IGN's top twelve moments and an honourable mention from Grant Morrison's Batman run which contains spoilers:

 

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/08/07/top-12-moments-from-grant-morrisons-batman-run

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SPOILERS AHOY!

 

I don't know if this makes any sense or not, but it was Grant Morrison's run that helped me realize that I just don't genuinely like the current incarnation of Batman the comic book character, the one that's been around for the last 25 years or so. 

 

Looking back after reading Batman Inc., I realized that most of my Bat-title purchases since 1990 have been either Chuck Dixon's Robin or the various incarnations of Batgirl, though primarily Stephanie Brown. 

 

I like the Bat-titles when there's a certain amount of levity to them, Sasha Bordeaux as a smart ass bodyguard comes to mind, but since Knightfall and the near constant stream of "events" in the Bat-titles with Knightfall, No Man's Land, Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Contagion, War Games, R.I.P, Death of the Family, Battle for the Cowl, etc. that's been nearly impossible to find.

 

And of course with Morrison we've had the death of an eight-ten year old boy and his killer being revealed as being an "infant clone" and now Talia (who I know of primarily from her much Lighter and Softer portrayls in Batman: The Animated Series) being turned into an outright genocidal villain has just completely turned me off.

 

That of course is not to acknowledge that Morrison's run has been very popular, just to say that it's not my personal cup of tea.  (After all, I'm only 34, not the "45-year old fanboys" which DC execs now openly admit they market to, so I'm not the target audience).

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 years later...

I still remembered to post my reviews of Grant Morrison's Batman run, wasn't sure when. @Brian Fowler's Facebook post to me today and previously the Batman of Zur-en-Arrh, one of my favourite ever Facebook related things means the time is right.

Batman and Son collects Batman #655-658 and #663-666. In the title story from #655-658, Batman is introduced to his son, Damian Wayne by his mother, Talia al Ghul. Damian Wayne was taught by the League of Assassins so is violent and has an attitude problem which Batman, Robin (Tim Drake) and Alfred has to deal with. A good story, interesting to see where Damian Wayne began having previously read the developments he makes before reading this for the first time. Batman #663 has a prose story about The Joker killing former henchmen. This was a very good story. Batman #664-665 is a great story about three versions of Batman: one introduced in Batman #655 and the second is the feature of this story. Batman once had a vision of them and learns they are real. The highlight of the collection is Batman #666, a great story featuring an adult Damian Wayne as Batman doing battle with the third version of Batman. A collection consistent in quality.

Batman: The Black Glove collects Batman #667-669 and Batman #672-675. In Batman #667-669, there’s a reunion on a private island as Batman takes Robin to meet crime fighters Batman once worked with, the Club of Heroes. All find themselves in a murder mystery as they're being picked off by the Black Glove which takes bets on the outcome. This was a terrific story drawn by one of the best artists in comics, J.H. Williams III, the best story of the collection and one of the best from Grant Morrison’s Batman run. In Batman #672-674, the origin of the three versions of Batman is revealed. This was a great story as well as sad. Batman #675 was a solid story about the Bruce Wayne/Jezebel Jet relationship, a strand in other issues from the run. Batman: The Black Glove is one of the best installments/trades of Grant Morrison’s Batman run.

Batman R.I.P. collects DC Universe #0 and Batman #676-683. DC Universe #0 is a short prologue to the title story, a conversation between Batman and the Joker. Batman #676-681 contains the title story as the Black Glove attacks Batman’s mind and the consequences of it. I liked that idea seeing the reactions to it from Batman, his allies and adversaries. Batman #682-683 takes place just after Batman R.I.P. and during Final Crisis looking at Batman’s history as Darkseid’s minions go through his memories to build an army of Batmen for Darkseid.

The first time I read the title story, it didn’t do much for me and the second time I liked it more. I’ve always liked the brilliant story in Batman #682-683. As I was able to read Grant Morrison’s Batman run in its right order for the first time, I wanted to reread the book. However the two library copies are now missing. I was going to buy this but my Sister beat me to it, getting it for me as an Easter 2013 present. With reading what led up to Batman R.I.P., I got more out of the book and liked everything more the third time. This book is a fine example showing Bruce Wayne’s preparation, determination and perseverance in his mission against crime. Well done.
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Unpopular opinion: I feel like Morrison's Talia is the best take ever on the character. He took a mess of broody femme fatale tropes whose character rarely exceeded alternating exclamations of "FATHER!" and "BELOVED!" in turns. She was a character whose definition was being torn between the men in her life barring the brief addition of Nyssa so turning the obsession that already existed into something genuinely toxic was a great turn. Having her become increasingly petty, vindictive, and evil because she can't control the people she loves is a really interesting and unique villain formed out of a mess of tropes. With Damian she actively MADE HIM TO LOVE HER as well as force Bruce to play house with her and getting none of what she wanted pushes her to make Leviathan and the Heretic...a manchild version of Damian who loves her completely but who she can't love because the very subservience she wants out of Bruce and Damian feels hollow and awful in actuality. Her obsession also drives Leviathan to success because it's a series of traps designed specifically to play to Bruce's skill with puzzles...if he won't pay attention to her as a lover or as head of the League then she'll build a box of death to kill the world for his attention.

 

Just...the layers he added to what was almost a blank slate of a character is amazing to me.

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I generally cite Year One as my favorite Batman story, and that's basically true insomuch as the word story meaning a singular, relatively concise narrative.

But if we can call the combined 52/Batman And Son/The Resurrection of Ra's AL Ghul/The Black Glove/RIP/Final Crisis,/Last Rites/Batman Reborn/Batman vs Robin/Batman and Robin Must Die/The Return of Bruce Wayne/Batman: The Return/Batman Inc Vol 1/The Demon Star/Gotham's Most Wanted as being one story, it's easily my favorite Batman story, and high in the running for my favorite comic run ever (PAD's Supergirl and Sandman are the only two things I'd unquestionably take over it. Probably Waid's Flash)

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2 hours ago, The Unholy Dragon said:

I don't hate Year One like I used to but I still find it super overrated.

 

Snyder's Batman has come to rival Morrison's to me for my top run with the character but it's splitting hairs.

I love Snyder's run and the only thing that puts him a slight notch below Morrison is that I think Morrison finishes stronger. Snyder tends to pull a Stephen King with his endings in that they rarely compare to the epic scope of the beginnings and middles of his stories.

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3 hours ago, WholeFnMachine said:

I love Snyder's run and the only thing that puts him a slight notch below Morrison is that I think Morrison finishes stronger. Snyder tends to pull a Stephen King with his endings in that they rarely compare to the epic scope of the beginnings and middles of his stories.

I don't know that I agree with that. Court of Owls definitely had a *weird* ending but it was certainly big. Death of the Family had a deliberate ambiguity which fits as the first part of a trilogy. Otherwise I find endings range from good (Gates of Gotham, Zero Year, Eternal) to pretty much perfect (Black Mirror, B&R Eternal, Red Hood arc of Zero Year, Endgame, Superheavy)

 

I feel like the bad ending rep really comes from a lot of people being unsatisfied with how Court and DotF ended, but I'm way more positive about those endings generally and otherwise don't aee the beef.

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Black Mirror was great.

 

Otherwise, I *like * Snyder's run but I'm constantly baffled by this "definitive Batman writer of this generation" hype when Morrison's run overlapped his and was not just better but significantly better.

Again, I don't think Snyder has been bad, but having recently caught up to #50, I'm far from blown away. It's good, but not really great, imho

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I think he's really great at Johnsian literalism. Like the Nolan movies, his Batman is framed around fear which is why so often it draws heavily on his horror experience. The villains and situations are always a reflection of fears...both Snyder's and in universe, Batman's. It plays in subtle ways with other characters too. The Joker's arc is all about burying his fears in mad nihilism. Bruce overcomes his fears in large part by finding faith in others. Harper Row learns to let go.

 

And there's a ton of really great moments like Batman's mental 'backup' basically requiring the murder of Bruce Wayne which is why Bruce can make it work when Batman couldn't. Or "I'm just going to lay here with my friend." Or everything about purple gloved dirtbike riding Batman.

 

It's really over the top action played against the fears of Batman and those around him which in turn reflect our own fears. The whole world of Batman is driven by fear and it's how you respond to it that defines you. In a lot of ways it shares the same kind of message as the Nolan films but told in a drastically different way. I dig it a lot.

 

And if nothing else, Zero Year is my favourite Batman origin ever.

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I think the difference between Snyder and Morrison is that Morrison used the entire mythos per his "All Batman stories are a part ofthe mythos" versus Snyder who was rewriting and adding to the mythos.

James

 

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I didn't really care for Zero Year. It was, you know, fine, but I felt it didn't really work in a shared universe. 

Also, I really dislike his version of the Joker. I overall liked most of this run, but I thought Endgame was an actively bad story.

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Honestly, I love Endgame just as an answer to the "Joker could beat Batman if je was REALLY trying" arguments that have cropped up in a post-TDK world. And honestly I find his Joker to be one of the most nuanced along with Morrison's. He sees Bruce as a friend but he also needs to be larger than life. He's building his myth. First as the Red Hood when it's just terrorizing people, but that changes when he gets turned into the Joker. Things get bigger and grander.  He doesn't really care that Batman isn't playing willingly until Death of the Family where Batman tells him he found out his identity. The idea that Batman could humanize him legitimately scares him and breaks the game, so Endgame is him going full tilt, but he's also doing things to sell his immortality to himself. It's a series of power moves to convince himself that he's bigger than Batman and doesn't need him and really is the immortal myth he pretends to be. Only Batman is Batman and even with a year to plan, Joker loses the advantage and ultimately gets outmaneuvered. In the end, he's begging to be released not because he's afraid to die, but because he's afraid to die as a man in the dirt instead of as the immortal myth he was selling.

 

I dunno. I thought it was great.

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