Writer Grant Morrison (The Invisibles, New X-Men) first got stuck into Batman in the late 1980's with Arkham Asylum, a brilliant deconstruction of both Batman and his rogues gallery, it has since become well known as a classic benchmark for Batman stories (only arguably beaten by Frank Miller's epic Dark Knight Returns). It wasn't until late 2006 however that Morrison began what he called "Batman versus the ultimate evil mastermind." (Ign.com)
Batman & Son
The run which breaks down into smaller storylines, takes place over issues 655 - 658 and then 663 - 683, with Morrison weaving plot strands throughout to create an epic puzzle.
It begins with Batman trying to re-learn how to be Bruce Wayne, a part of his personality that has seemingly become lost in recent years, as Alfred puts it at one point, "That growl in your voice - the one you used to have to practise...you're doing it all the time, sir." With those closest to him becoming ever more on edge, things take a turn for the worse when he becomes obsessed with the contents of an old file known as The Black Casebook.
The Black Glove
Morrison shines when bringing in past continuity, especially when said continuity errs on the side of completely insane. Take for instance, Zur-Eh-Arrh, a tale from Batman #113 in which a Batman from an alternate world (with powers equal to Superman) teleports the 'normal' Batman to his planet to help him.
This kind of offbeat tale is the kind usually resigned to the 'we'll just pretend this never happened' part of comic book continuity, a slightly silly story that was written before people cared about ongoing storylines, or the psychological nature of characters. Instead, Morrison embraces this, bringing Zur-En-Arrh back into the fold, complete with a fairly satisfying explanation.
The Ultimate Batman Story
The arc comes to end with Batman R.I.P, an epic tale bringing together all the strands Morrison spent two years weaving. Tiny clues hidden in amidst the pages of every issue come together in a deliriously exciting way in a story that brings Batman, and Bruce Wayne to the brink of everything he believes in.
Telling too much of the story would cross into the realm of spoiler territory. But suffice to say, that this is an epic novel detailing Batman's fight against the ultimate criminal mastermind, a man whose indentity even now is being hotly debated. For now, what we have is a perfect psychological deconstruction of a man who spends his entire career being prepared for every single eventuality, and what a perfect deconstruction it is.
Grant Morrison will be back in June when he will continue his tale, but for now the stories are collected in:
Batman & Son
Batman: The Club of Heroes
Batman: the Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul
Batman: The Black Glove
Batman R.I.P.
buy them here
