Batman #678: Batman RIP Review

The Revolution has absolutely loved Batman RIP. Morrison has exceeded my expectation with this story arc. In fact, I am enjoying Batman RIP more than either Secret Invasion or Final Crisis. Morrison is treating us to such an incredibly well written story. The Lit major in me is so impressed with Morrison’s writing skills. I am positive that Morrison will turn in another well crafted issue with Batman #678. Let’s go ahead and hit this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencils: Tony Daniel
Inks: Sandu Florea

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with a hand holding a small electronic device with the bat symbol on it. A voice from off panel says that the Bat-Radia is turned on. That the electronic molecules are streaming forth.

We then shift to Robin in what appears to be a secret hangout. Robin is intently reading Bruce’s black casebook. Bruce writes about the bizarre and unexplained missions that he has documented in the black casebook. Bruce wrote how in the last year the boundaries between what is real and what is illusion have become impossible to tell apart. Bruce wonders how did he learn to think like the monsters he has chosen to fight and not let his own mind be mangled out of all recognition in the process.

Bruce writes that he does not want to know what goes on inside the Joker’s head. He has to know. Bruce wonders if that was part of Joker’s plan to drag Bruce down into his madness. Bruce mentions who it has been five years into his mission and it all feels like a ghost train ride. Bruce writes that he did not expect costumed psychopaths, regular contact with hallucinogenic compounds or seemingly alien interventions.

Suddenly, the bucket headed fellow and the evil mime from the Club of Villains appear on the scene. Robin hops on his bike and makes a run for it. Robin takes out both members of the Club of Villains in his escape.

We shift to an alley in Gotham. A homeless guy finds Bruce Wayne sleeping among the homeless guy’s “stuff.” The homeless guy wakes up Bruce Wayne and calls Bruce a junkie and tells Bruce to get off of his stuff. The homeless guy’s name is Honor Jackson. Honor realizes that he knows Bruce from somewhere. Honor says that he never forgets a good turn. Honor takes a look at Bruce’s muscular large body and starts calling him “soljer.” Honor tells Bruce to get up on his feet.

We flashback to Dr. Hurt arriving at the Batcave. Batman is lying on the floor repeating the word “Zur-en-arrh” over and over. Dr. Hurt injects Batman with a combination of weapons grade crystal meth and heroin. Dr. Hurt says that they will dump him into the streets of Gotham.

We hop back to Honor telling Bruce to walk it off. Bruce begins to throw up. Honor mentions that this is providence. Honor says that he is on a hazardous personal odyssey cross town right now and Bruce has got Special Forces muscles.

Robin radios Nightwing and asks him if he has seen Bruce lately. Nightwing says no. Robin then says that he is worried about Bruce. Robin reveals that back when there was a Club of Heroes, that there was also a Club of Villains. Robin tells Nightwing to swing by the Batcave to check for Bruce and then meet Robin at a checkpoint 5 at seven o’clock.

We see Nightwing agreeing to do so. Suddenly, the female member of the Club of Villains appears behind Nightwing.

We shift back to Honor and Bruce begging for change on the street corner. We zip forward and see Honor and Bruce splitting up the money that they got. Suddenly, a bunch of thugs appear on the scene and pull out a gun and tell Honor and Bruce to give them their money.

Honor tells the thugs to back off and that Bruce is his bodyguard. The thugs laugh and say that Bruce is so high that he is probably seeing ten of them. Bruce suddenly springs to action and beats the hell out of the thugs.

We see Honor and Bruce walking through the city park. Honor calls Bruce “Delta Force” and says that Bruce only looks half-dead now. That Bruce is getting better. Honor tells Bruce to keep walking till he tells Bruce when it is time to stop. Honor says that Bruce has a kind face and that he looks like one of those mystery men on TV who wander from town to town helping people. Honor states that it seems Bruce needs some help right back.

Bruce comments that he has no idea who he is or what is going on. Bruce comments that judging from his accent and clothes that he must be a man of wealth. And that since his hair has been cut recently he could not have been on the street for very long. Honor comments that Bruce is a regular Sherlock Holmes. Honor then adds that even the brightest can fall. Honor says that Bruce has nothing so Honor is going to give him something to put in his pocket.

Honor opens up a handkerchief and hands Bruce an item. Honor says that this item was always good to him. That it was his best friend until he stood on it and broke it. Honor tells Bruce to fix it and maybe it will be his best friend, too. Honor says that one day when Bruce is rich again maybe he will find this item and remember Honor Jackson.

We then see Honor and Bruce arriving at a place to buy some booze. Bruce asks if their cross town “odyssey” was just to buy Honor some booze. Honor replies that it was motivation. Honor says that he had to get Bruce up and walking long enough to get his head clear.

Honor tells Bruce that at 11 o’clock tonight he is to walk eight blocks from here and tell Lone Eye Lincoln that Honor Jackson sent him. Honor says that Bruce can then make his choice with a clear head. That Bruce can fall or he can rise.

We then shift to Honor and Bruce watching the sun set and staring at Gotham’s skyline. Honor says that this is the view from rock bottom. Honor says that he never did anything that he was proud of. Honor says that if he could know that he saved one life then that would mean he was worth something after all. Bruce just stares forward. Bruce then turns to look at Honor and sees that Honor is gone.

Bruce arrives at the location that Honor told him to go. There is a drug dealer standing there. Bruce tells the dealer that Honor Jackson sent him. The drug dealer comments that Bruce must be really high. The dealer says that Honor Jackson came across some money and blew it all on drugs and died yesterday in a drug overdose. Bruce stammers that that is impossible. Bruce says that he has been with Honor all day.

Bruce then looks up and realizes that he know this place. He is at Park Row. The drug dealer says that this is Crime Alley. The drug dealer then pulls out a small bag of drugs and says that he has the keys to heaven right here.

We cut to Robin at Checkpoint 5 and radioing Nightwing. Robin gets no responds. We slide over to Arkham Asylum were Le Bossu from the Club of Villains is working as one of the doctors. Le Bossu has created a fake identity for Nightwing as some French villain and then had Nightwing committed to Arkham Asylum. Nightwing is pumped full of Thorazine and placed in a straight jacket and locked up in a padded room.

We shift back to the Bat-cave where Dr. Hurt has now donned a cape and mask. Dr. Hurt says that the Batcave will make an excellent base for the Club of Villains as they proceed to bring Gotham to its knees. Dr. Hurt says that when the Batman has seen the error of his ways then they will allow him to return, broken, perhaps as his Butler.

Dr. Hurt and the rest of the Club of Villains lift up their champagne glasses in a toast. Dr. Hurt says “The Dark Knight is dead. Here’s to crime. And the Black Glove.” We see Alfred bloodied and beaten and tied to a chair next to Dr. Hurt. Dr. Hurt states that nothing can stop them now.

We cut to Bruce stitching together a Batman styled costume. Bruce repeats the word “Zur-en-arrh” over and over. Bruce says that it would be easier to consider this a dream. But how can he? Bruce says “For in my hand…I hold the Bat-radia. And I…I am the Batman. The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.” We see Bat-mite floating in the air next to Batman. Bat-mite says “Uh-oh.” End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Batman #678 was a brilliant issue. Seriously, Morrison delivered a well written issue. Forget if this was a fun comic book or not. Just as a work of literature, Morrison is crafting a technically impressive story.

Batman #678 was a well paced issue. Morrison constructs a read that has such incredible tension and intrigue. Morrison has the reader completely stunned as the reader has no clue just what in the world Morrison has in store for them next. This issue is a wonderfully balanced read as it delivers well timed action scenes in conjunction with some intense drama and intriguing character work on Bruce Wayne.

Batman #678 is a strongly plotted issue. Morrison continues to deftly manage various complex plotlines and slowly begin to pull them together in a bizarre and intriguing fashion. Morrison has created several mysteries in this story arc and has done his best to keep the reader guessing at each and every step. And with every answer that Morrison feeds the reader, the newfound knowledge simply begs even more questions.

Morrison dishes up plenty of excellent dialogue. Each character has their own unique external voice. There is a pleasant flow to the dialogue. The dialogue between Honor and Bruce was particularly well done. The journal entries by Bruce Wayne were fantastic. Morrison’s literary skill always shines in any monologue or narration.

Morrison pulls off plenty of excellent character work. Robin, Bruce and Honor are all well developed characters. I dig the way that Morrison handles Robin in this issue. The reader gets a good sense of how Tim is much different from Bruce. And that it is Tim’s more positive and well adjusted outlook on life that tethers Bruce to reality.

I liked how Tim voraciously poured through the black casebook. Once again, it is obvious that no detail is trivial in a Morrison story. Morrison revealed to the reader at the beginning of Batman RIP that one of the black casebook journals was missing. We now know that Robin took it so he could read up on what might be plaguing Bruce’s mind. This was clearly Tim’s first look into Bruce’s inner thoughts that he keeps well guarded from everyone.

Morrison pulls off an impressive look into Bruce’s descent into madness. Morrison allows the reader to peak into the black casebook in order to peel back the layers of Bruce’s psyche and to get a good sense of the madness that has become his existence. The journal entries were wonderfully written as the reader gets a raw look into the twisted world that Bruce lives in.

There is a fine line that exists between the villains that Batman combats and the type of hero that Batman is. Batman’s world has always been a dark and twisted place. Morrison has been able to seize upon this fact and expand up this fact. Morrison has Bruce comment that he has been carrying out “the mission” for five years. I am not too sure if that means that in the DCU, Bruce has only been Batman for five years.

I dig how Morrison contrasts the original Robin with the current Robin. Morrison showed that Tim is the one person who constantly worries about Bruce. Alfred and Dick have this supreme confidence that Bruce is indestructible. It is only Tim who apparently sees Bruce’s weakness.

Morrison came up with a wickedly delightful manner of disposing of Dick during this story arc. Being pumped full of drugs and being locked up in a padded room in Arkham Asylum was an unexpected method of removing Dick from the playing field. There is also that ironic twist that a member of the Bat-family would end up where they imprison all of their greatest enemies.

My favorite scenes were the ones with Honor Jackson and Bruce. These were simply fantastic. In this issue, the reader gets a view of Bruce at rock bottom. This is about as bad off as Bruce has ever been. Bruce has no idea who he is. Bruce is all smacked out on crystal meth and heroin. And he is living on the street like a homeless person. For a man as rich and powerful as Bruce Wayne, this is the nadir of his life.

The Black Glove have systematically stripped everything away from Bruce and all that is left is a shell of a man who looks like a common junkie. However, just when it looks the bleakest, Morrison gives Bruce his own guardian angel in the form of Honor Jackson. Honor was saved by Batman in Batman #676. It was a pretty cool move by Morrison to use this character once again. I thought that the scene in Batman #676 involving Honor was a bit random, but once again Morrison shows that he does not do anything in his stories that do not have a purpose.

Honor was a neat character who serves as part guardian angel and part tour guide during Bruce’s lowest moment. I like how Honor clearly recognizes Bruce, even though Bruce has no idea who he is. And it is neat that this was Honor’s one chance to do something important to show that his life was not a total loss.

It was a cool touch how Bruce finds out that Honor had died yesterday of a drug overdose. That money that Honor used to purchase the massive amounts of drugs that he overdosed on must have been the money that Batman gave him. This was a pretty wild twist. Honor is either a ghost or just another hallucination by Bruce. That means if Bruce is hallucinating Honor then the Bat-Radia that Honor gave Bruce is an item that Bruce already had on him.

The scene with the drug dealer on Park Row was well crafted. Morrison takes Bruce back to where everything began and uses this location as the “re-birth” of Bruce as he chooses to rise instead of taking the drugs and falling even further. Also, the realization that he is on Park Row clearly jogs Bruce’s memory as to his identity.

Morrison whips up an excellent hook ending. We see the Dr. Hurt wearing a costume that Thomas Wayne wore during the Golden Age. And we see poor Alfred broken and bloodied. Noticeably absent is Jet Jezebel. This was a smart move by Morrison to immediately get the reader to question if this means that Jet is somehow involved with the Black Glove.

We then get to see Bruce donning an outlandish Silver-Age costume. Bruce then calls himself the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Luckily, a Google image search revealed that some diligent person scanned in a picture of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh from Batman #113 published in 1958. And we can tell that Morrison has Bruce dressed in the same costume as the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh from Batman #113.

I know that at by the time that we arrive at the strange ending of Batman #678, that many readers may be completely mystified by what in the world Morrison is doing with this story arc. And I am sure that many reader feel that a strong knowledge of the Silver Age is a pre-requisite to enjoy Batman RIP.

Even though Morrison is borrowing heavily from the Silver Age with Batman RIP, the fact is that all the reader needs to understand this story arc is what Morrison gave us in the three Batmen story arc and the Club of Heroes story arc. The reader learned that in an effort to better understand the criminal mind, Batman underwent testing conducted by Dr. Hurt including hallucinogenic drugs and time spent in a sensory deprivation tank. This lead Dr. Hurt to try and create three replacement Batmen in case something happened to Batman one day.

This mind altering experience was then compounded by Bruce’s death-like trance that he entered in Nada Parbat during the events of 52. This stress on Bruce’s mind was further impacted by the last story arc with the three Batmen where he was technically dead for several minutes. Batman RIP is a culmination of what Morrison has given us during his run on this title.

Still, it is obvious that a knowledge of the Silver Age enables the reader to view Batman RIP in a much more complex and deep manner. Clearly, Morrison is having fun riffing off the old Silver Age Batman stories and characters. I find this to be absolute genius. We have seen Morrison over on All Star Superman take Silver Age concepts from Superman’s past and re-introduce them with a modern twist.

Morrison is now doing the same thing with Batman. However, there is one critical difference. Superman’s character from the Silver Age is relatively the same as the modern era Superman. On the other hand, the Silver Age Batman is a completely and totally different character than the post-1986 Batman after Frank Miller radically changed Batman’s character.

While it is easy to gel the Silver Age Superman stories with the modern era Superman, it is almost impossible to do the same with Batman. And that is where the magic of Batman RIP becomes apparent. Morrison is attempting to take the Silver Age Batman stories and show that they do exist in some shape and form with the modern era Batman

Morrison is doing this by having these Silver Age Batman stories actually the product of Batman’s drug use and hallucinations. That these bizarre Silver Age stories are hallucinations of outrageously fantastic tales. That Batman begins to keep track of these Silver Age stories in his black casebook.

We see Robin reading the black casebook in the beginning of this issue. One of the entries talks about a mission entitled “Robin Dies At Dawn.” That is the title of the story in Batman #156 published in 1963. Morrison is trying to blend in Batman’s Silver Age stories as bizarre tales that may be the result of Batman’s drug use and frayed mind that he keeps a written account of in his black casebook. This is a brilliant method in which to merge the post-1986 Batman with the Silver Age Batman. And this is about the only way possible to merge the outlandish Silver Age stories with the post-1986 Batman.

Morrison continues to toy with the reader with Bat-Mite’s appearance in the final page of this issue. Bat-Mite is another Silver Age construct as he first appeared in Detective Comics #267 published in 1959. It appears that Bat-Mite is another one of Bruce’s hallucinations. Morrison has already shown us Bat-Mite in Batman #673. Bat-Mite appeared to be a childhood imaginary friend that Bruce creates to deal with the trauma of his parents’ death. This is another nice example of Morrison attempting to mesh the Silver Age Batman adventures with the Post-1986 Batman.

Morrison leaves the reader with multiple mysteries. Who is the Black Glove? What happened to Jet and is she connected to the Black Glove? What is Bat-Mite? Does he really exist or is he just a figment of Bruce’s imagination? What is the Bat-radia? We do know that in Batman #113, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh gives our Batman the Bat-Radia as a gift to remember their mission together. Now, whether the Bat-Radia in this issue is the same one from the Silver Age story remains to be seen. The Bat-Radia in this issue appears to be either a radio, tape recorder or camera.

And finally, we have Bruce declaring himself the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Bruce is totally delusional and is making up a new identity for himself based on a bizarre tale from the black casebook. The question remains if Bruce will now believe that he has all the Superman styled powers that the Batman from Zur-En-Arrh displayed back in Batman #113.

There are so many questions remaining and plenty of time left for Morrison to pull off several more twists and turns to this story. It is always tough to judge a Morrison penned story arc at the half-way point. To properly critique Morrison and to know where he is going, the reader has to reserve judgment until the last issue.

Tony Daniel cranks out plenty of nice artwork. Batman #678 is a good looking issue. My only minor complain would be that Tim and Dick look like twins.

The Bad: I have no complaints with this issue. I will admit that even though I feel that Morrison has made Batman RIP understandable to any reader who has been following Morrison’s run on Batman; this still is not a terribly new reader friendly story arc. In order to fully enjoy each layer of Morrison’s story it is incumbent upon the reader to do a bit of investigating into DC’s rich continuity.

Overall: I found Batman #678 to be a thoroughly enjoyable read. Morrison continues to deliver a mind blowing story that is unlike anything else on the market. To be sure, Morrison makes the reader work. Morrison’s writing challenges the reader’s mind. This is not mindless brain candy like many of the titles currently on the market.

Morrison’s story is so rich and textured that on their second and third read of Batman #678, the reader will pick up little details that they missed during their initial reading of this issue. And that is another amazing aspect of Batman RIP. This issue is one that gets better with the second and third reading. And that is amazingly rare. There are very few titles on the market that cause the reader to read them several times. Most issues are rather thin and straight forward and easily consumed in just one reading.

Still, the fact remains that if you do not like Morrison’s abstract style of writing then you will probably not enjoy Batman RIP at all. It is like recommending someone watch a David Lynch movie. I adore Lynch’s work. However, if you do not dig magical realism then there is just no way that you will like Lynch’s movies. If you don’t mind reading a bizarre story that really engages your mind and keeps you on your toes then I would recommend giving Batman RIP a try.

Of course, this late in the game, you might want to consider simply waiting for Batman RIP to come out in trade format. This story will probably be a stronger read in trade format than it is in a monthly format.