I guess I can say that I'm a GRANT MORRISON Fan. Some of my favorite comics written in the past 20 years are by him. His Vertigo work is beyond impressive. and his JLA run in the 90s (with special note on his handling of Batman) greatly contributed this once-Marvel Zombie into a DC Fan. But I really dislike his current Batman Run.Looking back, I've disliked it from the very beginning. Damien, Man-Bats, Batman of Zur En Arrh, Time-Displaced Bruce Wayne (Caveman Batman, Pirate Batman, etc), turning the Wayne Family history into the "DaVinci Code" and now.... upon Bruce Wayne's return from time-adventuring, Wayne holds a press conference and reveals to the public that He & Wayne Enterprises has been secretly funding Batman for years.
I used to think Morrison "got" Batman. No longer. I don't think he understands the character at all. His entire run feels like a deconstruction into Oblivion. He's now turned [the character] Batman into a Global, Public Franchise; a Corporation. Morrison has undone all the growth and refinement of the past 20 years and dragged Batman back into the Silver Age, which I was never a fan of (Adam West's Batman was Silver Age, to give you an idea of what that Era was like). I feel that Batman works best in the shadows, as an almost urban-myth. Not a global Team of batmen. It's simply a direction I don't enjoy.
In addition, this plot device is extremely played out. Over at Marvel, just about everybody's secret identity has been revealed in the past decade; Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil, and well atleast half of the Marvel Universe Heroes after the event "Civil War". This plot device has been the focus of stories for awhile now, and the "Wayne backing Batman" is a rehash of the Tony Stark/Iron Man relationship for the past 30+ years. The Bruce Wayne "reveal" just feels cheap to me.This is not the Batman comic I want to read. Many others love Morrison's take. So to them I say, "Enjoy!" But I think I'm going jump off the Bat-Wagon. The Bat-Books now have 2 Batman; Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. I think I'll continue to subscribe to the Dick Grayson stuff, for love of the character (although he's teamed up with the little Damien brat). For now, I'm pulling the Bruce Wayne/Morrison/Corporation titles from my Pull List.
Maybe Batman & his "world" will return to something more recognizable & likeable in another 10 years? After all, in the World of Comics, Change is a healthy constant. And who knows, maybe this new direction will bring in lots of entertaining stories. If so, by all means let me know.
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I admit that I am not an avid Batman reader, but how secret can Batman's identity be, when it seems so many people have known it (or would have to be braindead to not know it) for years?
His various partners know it. Some of his hero friends know it. Several love interests know it. Even many of his villains seem to know it.
And that is without even getting into all the people that know Dick Grayson was Robin and can put two and two together to make a rather educated guess. (Plus those other Bat wards and kids and whatnot.)
Then again, maybe that is part of the appeal of the urban legend Batman. First, it disconnects Batman from the outside world of the DC universe. Second, when most people aren't even sure that Batman exists, it helps the reader disconnect from just how many people know who Batman is.
Yeah, there's always been kind of THREE "different" Batman in the DCU:
1) Batman, who's the Urban Myth, operating alone in Gotham's Shadows
2) Batman with his extended Family; Nightwing, Robin, Oracle, etc
3) Batman amongst the rest of the DCU characters; JLA, teamups, etc.
Morrison is now pushing for it to all be #3. Where everyone knows about batman.. he's in the public eye like Superman.
But within the actual comic title "BATMAN" (and "Detective") it has always been more of 1 or 2... which is what I personally prefer.
Batman: The Animated Series vs Super Friends.
:)
I've been buying every Batman title monthly for 22 years now, as long as I've been reading comics. Morrison's run is up there with Knightfall for me in terms of the worst I've ever read.
I like Morrison sometimes, I still credit All Star Superman as the best Superman I've ever read, but sometimes I absolutely hate him. Unfortunately his Batman run falls into the latter.
I will say there were times when I thought maybe he would turn it around, as I enjoyed the Batman and Robin series when it first started up, but even it quickly lost any steam it had and turned into nonsense.
As excited as I was when it was announced that Morrison was taking over Batman, I'm even more excited now that he's gone. Gonna be interesting to see what the poor bastards can do with the mess he's leaving.
ah, crap... David Finch's upcoming book is Bruce (not Dick)... guess I WILL be picking up atleast 1 Bruce Wayne Bat-Book.
I really liked Morrison's run on Batman at first, but around the time of "Batman R.I.P.", it's really felt disjointed and very, very confusing. And the last issue of "The Return of Bruce Wayne" was probably the most incomprehensible comic I've ever read.
I do like the Damian Wayne character though. When I first heard the premise, it sounded horrible. But I've grown to like it.
But I do agree that this "Batman, INC" flies in the face of everything Batman stands for.
By the way things are going in comics these days, here's my guess on how the storyline ends - ever since Batman "returned", we'll find out that it's actually a shape-changing alien that's taken over the identity of Bruce Wayne as well as several other superheroes in the DC Universe that all leads to some sort of secretive invasion force of the DC universe.
to BAINES... ( not an attack)
- Just bc "so many people know his identity" isn't a reason to rationalize and fundamentally change the character and his mythos ( see Spider-Man, and what a f'n HORRIBLE, slap in the face, bullshit excuse it was.) I'm dexterous enough to drive with my feet, but i don't bc its a stupid idea.
- what sounds like a 'good' idea RIGHT NOW, doesn't mean it will be a good one down the road. Once this story plays out, then what? What Pandora's box have you opened. what's next? I wish (all) writers would think a few steps ahead of themselves and the potential devastation and cluster fuck they are leaving behind ( for someone else to try and clean up ). follow your story to a logical conclusion ( or possible outcomes) and a lot of times, they really aren't that good of ideas. ( there are WAY to many examples to even dive in to)
-As for Grant Morrison. I like his Original stuff. But when it comes to established characters I feel he just doesn't care about what the outcome is, it's just an experiment to him, an exercise in 'what if" rather than a serious, well thought out story based on the characters personalities and mythos. I credit him for pretty much single handily ruining the X-Men. ( I know a LOT of people are enamored with that run, but personally THAT run did far more damage than it did good, and completely misrepresented the characters and what they stand for..)
agree with every word. wrote the exat same thing in my blog like 4 days ago, before i've read this.
When this story plays out, I figure things will get reset.
While people mention Iron Man and Spider-Man, Bruce Wayne didn't actually reveal himself to be Batman, did he? He just revealed himself to be the funding for Batman (close to when Tony would claim Iron Man was a Stark employee, but not even that).
I just don't see Batman Inc being intended to be permanent. I don't even see Morrison intending it to be permanent. I could see the X-Corp being intended as permanent in the Marvel universe, but I don't see the same for Batman, Inc. Rather, it seems like something that will run a few years, but the latter part will be the decline that shows why it was a bad idea within the DC universe itself. The end will be done in such a way to publicly disconnect Bruce from Batman again.
Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I see. The X-Men becoming a worldwide mutant affairs corporation in a world increasingly overrun by mutants makes sense. Bruce Wayne's public backing of a worldwide vigilante group is something else, even in a world that has had corporately sponsored groups before. He's made himself liable for what Batman Inc does. And how long until something or someone goes wrong?
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see Morrison overlooking that.
Well said, Baines!
And you've given Hope to those who had none.
"The X-Men becoming a worldwide mutant affairs corporation in a world increasingly overrun by mutants makes sense."
See to me that's what didn't make sense and was wrong with his run. It may not have been his fault, but the idea of SO many mutants, was counter point to the entire IDEA of what the X-men Represent (ed). They were the freaks. they reflected the social outcasts of our youth. the awkwardness of not belonging, or not fitting into the norm for one reason or another ( everyone had thier reason ) They weren't the cool kids. And that's what they became. Your not the outcasts anymore. Your not the freaks, your not different. Your the norm. Your the accapted. Now your what's cool and hip. Your what everyone wants to be. And that's not the X-Men. (that's just my take.)
G, the X-Men have been used for two types of stories. They've been used for "social outcasts" (such as how many teens feel about themselves) stories. But they've also been used for "minorities" stories.
The thing is, the two aren't entirely compatible. Morrison's X-Men was built for "minorities", with his acknowledgment of a mutant population explosion (Marvel was already overflowing with mutants before Morrison. Morrison just acknowledged a large base of non-super mutants, where Marvel before only cared about super mutants.) Morrison opened up possibilities for new and more realistic stories, where "minorities" stories before mostly involved people going all "wipe them off the planet or put them in containment camps".
As for social outcast versus minority metaphor, Marvel tends to lean towards publicizing the minority metaphor, probably because that is the bigger hot button issue. Reflecting teen angst might have gotten you readers in the past, but making a deal about how you are making stories that parallel racial hatred, bigotry, and the like gets you more press, more critical acclaim, and gets your name bandied around more often.
yes, but i wasn't really referring to teen angst. I was referring to not fitting in the norm. examples would be goth, Punk, nerd, the people who, perception wise, did not fit into what would be considered politically/socially/culturally mainstream. They weren't the "cool" glossy kids,..they weren't the hipsters, they weren't 'Hollywood'. And that's what they are now. The problem with them representing the minority culture( which incorporating those ideas is not a bad thing) is that they then get hijacked by that group and leave everyone else in the wake.
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