Batman Incorporated #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn
The short of it:
It’s all over, and the police after putting Bruce Wayne under arrest.
Now, let’s go a month previously like they do with page two! Batman and Robin hunt down some guy in a goat mask, chasing him through a butcher and discovering that he has friends with other animal masks there. There’s a beat down in the blood soaked room, where the meat feeds Leviathan, and it’s all a trap to kill Robin. Yes, there’s a half billion dollar bounty on the head of the Boy Wonder, placed by Leviathan, and assassins everywhere are after him. This include Goatboy, our narrator this issue, who wants the money so he can keep his son. Batman and Robin stop a robbery before pieces of the puzzle pull together and they realize just what they’re up against. We discover the fates of several Batman Inc members before seeing Robin be a bad ass. The story cuts forward and we see Goatboy leave us on a cliffhanger, telling Leviathan about the outcome of his assassination attempt.
What I liked:
- I love the layouts here. Everything feels so unique and original, and for as busy as every page is I keep finding more and more to look at. Chris Burnham has a very similar style to Frank Quitely, but at no point do I feel like he’s just trying to emulate the frequent Morrison collaborator. The book looks great.
- Robin: Vegetarian.
- Batman making fun of Robin’s hood.
- The Dead Heroes Club.
- I love how the potential for the scene that opens the book.
- MUTANTS! Straight out of Dark Knight Returns!
What I didn’t like:
- There are definitely scenes and characters that I felt could use expanding on. Goatboy, for instance, could have stood for a real first name. The Brothers Grimm moment could have stood for a few extra panels as well, I was just getting interested and then it’s over.
- I hate the cliché of something horrible having happened and we have to build up to it. It’s so over done these days.
- Curses, now I have to read Batman and Robin to see what Damien has been up to. I had hoped that Grant would just ignore it, but I should have known better. My wallet is not pleased. Though to be fair, I just don’t know anything about Nobody and he gets an offhand mention. My OCD is complaining here.
- Man, the last time I read Batman Inc Stephanie Brown was in it. Where’s Steph?
Final Thoughts:
I didn’t really how much I missed this book until I had it in my hands. There’s something about the way Grant Morrison writes batman where you just forget how perfect and amazing it is until you’re getting another dose. His Superman has made it very easy to forget just how great this book is, because Action Comics….is not his Batman work by a long shot.
Rocket Rifle. At no point looking at it in the book do I see anything that would explain what the hell that is supposed to entail, the map of Gotham showing the distance of his shot makes me think only one word. “Awesome”. High powered super long range sniper rifle. Just like the one in Wanted!
The mask that the leader of Leviathan wears looks like a more mangled version of Black Mask’s face. Really creepy.
Man, those first few pages are ridiculously bloody. I’m expecting a blood bath in the near future now.
With Leviathan making a push on Gotham and talking to the criminal ruling classes…someone with name value would have been nice. The one I thought had name value, Brothers Grimm, wound up being me thinking of Marvel characters that were nothing like this dude. Just one mob boss with name value, it’s Gotham!
Man, Chris Burnham is going to be a superstar.
Overall: 9/10
