The Revolution is looking forward to the upcoming “Batman R.I.P.” story arc that Morrison has cooked up for us. Batman #675 is a set-up issue as Morrison begins to set the stage for “Batman R.I.P.” I have a feeling that we will get a pretty entertaining little read with Batman #675. Let’s go ahead and hit this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencils: Ryan Benjamin
Inks: Saleem Crawford
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with Nightwing and Robin busting up a bunch of robbers wearing dog masks. We cut to Bruce Wayne and Jezebel Jet having a romantic dinner at an expensive trendy restaurant. Bruce is in his usual carefree dandy form. Jet snaps on Bruce and says that he always disappears and she can never reach him. Jet says that she is not one of Bruce’s bimbo heiresses. That he can’t treat her like dirt. That there is much more than this superficial life.
Jet exclaims that she feels like she only ever sees the mask of a man when she looks at Bruce. That there is something dark in Bruce that he can’t tell her about. Jet then asks if Bruce is into S&M (Nice.) Jet says that she thought they had so much potential, but that their relationship is going nowhere. That they will never be closer than this.
Bruce then finally talks and says that maybe he should cancel his food order. Jet is stunned. She asks if this is how Bruce is going to dump her. With nothing at all to say. Jet is crushed since Bruce said that he loved her. (Oh chica, never believe a guy when he says that. We will say anything to get some.)
Suddenly, a ninja with a blindfold over his eyes and tattoos of eyes on his fingertips. The ninja says that Jet is his prey. The ninja grabs Jet. Bruce gets pissed and tells the ninja to let her go. The ninja then cracks Bruce in the face.
We cut to Merlyn and Talia talking about Jet and Bruce. Talia tells Merlyn to go and kill Jet. That Batman belongs to Talia alone. We slide back to the restaurant where the ninja takes Jet and Bruce prisoner. The ninja tells Jet that her father’s enemies will not rest until her country returns to its knees where it belongs. Jet mentions that Batman will stop the ninja. The ninja is infuriated at the name of the Batman. The ninja says that he was exiled from a desert tribe of unbeatable warriors trained to fight as ghosts fight.
We shift to Nightwing and Robin chasing after the Ray Gun Raider. Robin mentions to Nightwing that he is worried about Bruce. That everything that happened to Bruce in the cave at Nanda Parbat had to impact him. That a person doesn’t’ undergo a death and rebirth experience without consequences. Nightwing dismisses it and says that Bruce knows what he is doing.
We see Robin and Nightwing take out the thug. Robin then notices smoke pouring from the windows at the Alhambra Rooms where Batman is having dinner tonight. We cut back to the restaurant. The ninja drags Jet into the kitchen. Suddenly, the lights go out. Bruce then appears in the kitchen and starts laughing like a madman.
We slide over to Talia’s base. Merlyn informs Talia that terrorists have kidnapped Jet and Bruce. Damian then says that someone is out to get his father. Talia states that they need to formulate a plan.
We hop back to the restaurant and see Nightwing and Robin busting onto the scene. We hear screaming from the kitchen. We see that Bruce has burned the ninja’s eye tattoos off his fingers using hot oil. Bruce then proceeds to brutally pound away on the ninja.
Jet is stunned and shocked. Bruce then stands over the broken body of the knocked out ninja. Bruce snarls to Jet that she should walk away. That she was right. That Bruce Wayne is a shallow, selfish, reckless mask of a man who never grew up. Bruce screams for Jet to walk away.
Jet then mutters that it all makes sense. We see the bat light on in the sky. Nightwing and Robin then enter the kitchen. Jet then places her hands on each side of Bruce’s head and says that Bruce Wayne is Batman. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Batman #675 was a good read. This issue certainly starts off innocuously and the reader is lulled into believing that this is going to be nothing more than a filler issue just prior to the beginning of a new big story arc.
However, Morrison swerves the reader after the obligatory “we are going nowhere” speech from Jet that the reader has been waiting for the minute she and Bruce started dating. Once the ex-member of the Ten Eyed Men Tribe shows up, Morrison begins to ramp up the energy in this story. The pacing builds in intensity as Morrison delivers a heart pounding and adrenaline pumping final scene that has the reader quite surprised by the result.
Morrison uses this issue to continue his wonderful character growth of Batman. Morrison rips off Bruce’s mask and exposes the reader to the madness that lies inside of Bruce’s soul. This is the natural progression of the evil Batmen story arc where Morrison has Bruce questioning his own sanity.
I have really enjoyed how Morrison has handled Bruce’s character. Morrison has done a fine job not just focusing back on the Bruce Wayne playboy billionaire persona, but really making it a critical part of his story. The scene where Jet pours out her heart to Bruce and merely receives a dismissive and indifferent response from Bruce asking if he should go ahead and cancel his order was perfect. What a nice understated way for Morrison to stress Bruce’s vacuous playboy personality.
The Bruce Wayne playboy billionaire mask is then removed by Morrison as Bruce reveals his true face to Jet during the intense final scene. Bruce’s true face is ugly and twisted by rage. There is nothing in his heart other than pain, rage and a burning desire for vengeance. This is as visceral a version of Batman that we have gotten on a title outside of All Star Batman in quite some time.
I loved that Morrison injected plenty of passion and emotion into Batman’s true face. Too often writers deliver a Batman that is ice cold, emotionless, passionless and calm and collected no matter the situation. I dig that Morrison has Bruce spitting fire in this scene. Even though the emotionless detective side of Batman definitely has its place, so does the more emotional Batman brimming full of rage and pain.
The detective persona of Batman gives the appearance that he is always in control at all times. Morrison wisely juxtaposes that with the fact that in reality Batman is just one step away from madness. That Batman is riding a very fine line and could fall over the edge at any point. Bruce is a horridly scarred person and given his childhood trauma it makes sense that he would always be just one step away from insanity.
I enjoyed how Morrison contrasts how Dick and Tim view Bruce. Tim worries greatly for Bruce, while Dick is less concerned. Dick views Bruce as someone who is always in control and always knows what he is doing. Tim, on the other hand, sees more of Bruce’s vulnerable side than Dick. And this makes sense given that Tim in the third Robin. Batman made mistakes with both Dick and Jason. Plus, Batman was older and a bit wiser when Tim became Robin. So, it is logical that Batman would end up showing a bit more of his feelings and weaknesses to Tim. Dick being the first Robin had to grow up with the roughest and most unrefined version of Batman as he was just beginning on his war on crime in Gotham.
Morrison gave us a little bit of action in order to keep this issue lively. It was nice for Morrison to have one of the ex-members of the Ten Eyed Men Tribe that Bruce fought during 52 to make an appearance. We get to see how humiliating of a defeat it was for the Tribe when Batman beat them during 52.
Of course, what made Batman #675 such a wild read was the huge bomb that Morrison drops on the reader as Jet makes the startling realization that Bruce Wayne is Batman. This was a stunning way to end the issue and extremely dramatic. I am curious to see where Morrison goes from this point.
Benjamin and Crawford combine to deliver some slightly above average artwork. It isn’t anything great, but it gets the job done.
The Bad: I have no complaints with this issue.
Overall: Batman #675 was a good issue. Morrison cranks up the intensity on this title and gets the reader on the edge of their seat just before the start of the new Batman R.I.P. story arc. I have a good feeling that Morrison has an excellent story arc in line for us. If you have not jumped on Morrison’s Batman, then it might be worth your while jumping aboard next month just in time for Batman R.I.P.