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71 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite an Entertaining Read, February 16, 2009
This review is from: Batman: R.I.P. (Hardcover)
Grant Morrison is well known for his trippy stories, and this arc is definitely trippy. It rarely fails to entertain and that is the most important things about comics. I'm not going to spoil anything, but let's just say that Morrison draws back to Batman's Silver Age roots for quite a number of plot threads.
The art is quite good, with Tony Daniel doing a good job and Lee Garbett doing a commendable job trying to mimic other artists as a homage to past storylines.
A word of warning though. This story is NOT stand alone (especially the "Last Rites" segments which directly tie into Final Crisis). In fact, one of the common complaints against this particular arc is that it doesn't answer everything. However, when you read this, you need to take into account that Morrison planned a five book story for his Batman run. Batman R.I.P. is only the fourth book (the previous three Morrison books Batman and Son, Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, and The Black Glove are highly recommended reading prior to reading this book)and the story isn't wrapped up yet! In fact Morrison will come back to Batman this June to finish out his arc.
This is highly recommended, though remember to take my warning in mind before deciding to purchase.
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85 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Complex, psychedelic, and too smart for its own good., February 17, 2009
This review is from: Batman: R.I.P. (Hardcover)
Grant Morrison may be the most polarizing of comic book writers out there today. Depending on who you ask, he's can be either revered as the savior of X-Men comics (with his early 00s New X-Men run), or demonized as the destroyer of quality X-Men comics. His stories are always deep, complex, psychedelic, and sometimes too smart for their own good. And that was before Grant admittedly totally changed the way he writes his comics' narratives.
While Final Crisis is probably the prime example of this new, uber-compressed narrative style, Batman: RIP certainly exhibits it in many, many ways. The premise of RIP is, rather than the death of Batman, it is the reconstruction and redefinition of the character. It takes Batman on a journey through his mind and his history and really attempts to show what Batman is, and why Batman is who he is.
Does it succeed? Well, Morrison certainly does do a good job of making the reader feel as though they're apart of this long, disoriented journey with Batman. You go through the pieces never quite sure exactly what's going on, and we certainly don't have a clue what's going to happen next. And for you guys and girls who like that type of writing? Batman: RIP might be considered a great piece of Batman fiction. It really does embody exactly what Morrison strives for in his work. It's every other Grant Morrison story you've read times a thousand.
But personally, I don't that type of writing. I can't handle some mystery in a story, I can handle some confusing and psychedelic happenings, but I found that Morrison went way, way beyond simply telling an "out there" story about Batman, and quickly deteriorated into the realm of nonsensical. As RIP progresses Morrison presents ideas and depictions of Batman and his universe that aren't just innovative, but are nearly offensive to anyone who holds Batman's long-lasting status-quo close to their hearts. I won't reveal anything specific, but, when you get to certain scenes featuring Batman in a purple and red costume calling himself Zur-En-Arrh, the Joker with a split, reptilian tongue, and Alfred harboring a secret that could forever tarnish his immaculate reputation as the world's best butler and surrogate father, you might begin to realize Morrison is doing things with Batman that maybe shouldn't be done at all.
Outside of the inherent flaws of the premise of the story, definitely my largest complaint is the narrative itself. It's just plain confusing, I think. As I said a few paragraphs above, Morrison paints an extremely disorienting, scattered picture throughout the entire piece. Nothing is explained, nothing is presented, everything is just thrown at you, and you're expected to figure it out yourself, or wait for it to be explained several issues later. I'm not a fan of this style of writing at all. I feel that this style of writing almost guarantees a poor experience the first time reading it, and while subsequent readings improve the story dramatically, it still exposes a very real flaw; why read a story that you have to read multiple times to understand? Doesn't a good story make sense the first time? I understand what Morrison was going for, he tried to weave an intricate and original story that would reveal secrets and nuances every time you read it. But in doing so, I'll argue, Morrison became to heavy handed, and ended up destroying any chance of the book succeeding as a story that needs only to be read once.
The one unarguably great thing about RIP is the art. Tony Daniel is quickly proving to be one of the best fits for Batman art-wise since maybe Jim Aparo. No disrespect to Andy Kubert, Jim Lee, or the dozens of truly fantastic artists that have drawn Batman in the past few years, but Tony Daniel's interpretation of Batman is one that immediately rings true as a classic, timeless vision of the character. Not just a shiny, polished artist's interpretation of Batman, but Batman in his very essence. For me, it visually tied into everyone from Neal Adams, to Aparo, to current day Batman artists. I, for one, hope Daniel remains on Batman for a good long while, and continues to carve out his place in Batman comic history.
Overall, Batman RIP will probably become known as one of those Batman stories everyone has to read once. Either to see just how great an experiment it was, or just how big of an utter failure it proved to be. Much like Frank Miller's All Star Batman & Robin, I think it's a polarizing vision of the character that you either instinctively "get", or automatically dislike. Whichever it may prove to be for you, it will certainly prove to be a Batman story you won't soon forget.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
To R.I.P. or Not To R.I.P., That Is The Question, January 11, 2010
This review is from: Batman: R.I.P. (Hardcover)
Contrary to what some folks will tell you, there are plenty of differences between what draws a reader to a good Batman story (or any Batman comics, for that matter) versus some of the other costumed hero tales out there, but most fans can agree on one central premise: what keeps the reader coming back to Batman stories is the fact that, at the core, lies a character who is driven by his own private psychology -- the desire to face evil at his own peril -- over and over and over again. Batman is the real character in this world, and Bruce Wayne is the facade, and the costumed freaks he faces venture into equally treacherous territory with each subsequent outing ... but, in the end, one can't help but ask "at what cost?"
Grant Morrison has finally provided an answer to that central theme that's equally supported and plagued Batman since his inception seven decades ago, and, like any good story, it's been delivered with measured portions of greatness, silliness (these are comic books, after all), pity, and pathos in BATMAN R.I.P., the tale that many media outlets have openly advertised as the final death of Batman, aka Bruce Wayne. I'll save discussing the ending -- a troubling choice, I know, but I'm trying to respect the reader's right to privacy without spoiling anything earth-shaking -- but I will say that it wasn't quite what industry mags and professional reviewers said it would be, not far off the mark, but more than a few feet shy of a fieldgoal, too.
Confused? You should be, because this is Grant Morrison's story -- not Batman's or Bruce Wayne's -- as one writer who's had a pretty solid career delivering the kinds of characters and situations one would expect from a veteran of comic book prose. In short, Batman's crossed a few lines here: much like the events depicted in the first third of KNIGHTFALL (the last massive coordinated multi-arc event to promise 'the breaking of the Bat'), he's pushed himself to his physical and psychological limits. He's made some choices -- bringing a new love into his life and, even, the BatCave -- that are a bit out-of-character, but he's done so because of 'where' and 'who' he is in the life of Bruce Wayne as much as he is Batman. Those around him -- Alfred, Nightwing, Robin, etc. -- show open concern (if not mild contempt) for some of these choices, but they've always had to tide themselves over with knowing that Batman was going to do what Batman was going to do, despite their protestations, and get on with their lives. However, Bruce's choices do come back to haunt himself, and once's he deprived the psychological facade of 'Bruce Wayne' he can hide behind, Batman is left to roam the streets of Gotham City -- compliments of a drug-induced haze administered by the Black Glove's gang -- trying to put not so much his life back together as he does his psyche.
Now, telling this kind of story -- a mental lapse and possible recovery -- is never an easy thing to do, so hats off to Morrison for giving it the bard's attempt, but there are parts of R.I.P. that make little sense. While under the influence, did Batman actually see these things he believes he sees -- did he actually do some of these things he believes he did -- or is it all in his imagination? The reader's led to believe that one or two of the elements may not have happened the way Bruce/Batman recalls them, so what can be made of them? Did they occur as they were drawn, or are they manifestations of the hero's subconscious? There's no definitive line drawn here -- most like a deliberate device of the writer -- and, in the end, some muddying of the waters serves the story here. It's to be expected. However, I found it hard to accept Batman's broken psyche given the fact that, once the pieces start coming together, they come together relatively quickly. If that's the case, then how far did he truly fall? Wouldn't that uphill climb be a little more difficult? Also, the supporting players here (namely Nightwing and Robin) spend a panel or two talking about how exhausted Batman looks, but the man's actions don't seem quite true, if that's the case. One would expect more of a struggle through that recovery process, and, without spoiling the conclusion (and some pretty nifty character twists regarding the past of Bruce Wayne and his family), I found it hard to accept much of the events of the last third. Plus, come to postscript (a little two-part story that presents an encapsulated history of the Batman up until these events), it's hard to know if Morrison truly told a tale about R.I.P. ... or being R.I.P.P.E.D. off.
Controversy aside, R.I.P. isn't exactly a great jumping on point for new Bat-readers. There are a handful of characters and situations here given very little backstory (one of my chief complaints against graphic novel collections). As a long-time Bat-reader (cripes, is it going on 30 years already?), I can think of many other arcs I've enjoyed much more than this one, but R.I.P. does serve what it set out to do: it presents a solid mystery/adventure of everyone's favorite hero-on-the-edge choosing what he does so well -- to serve justice -- when his best interest may be to hang up that suit for good.
Of course, the Batman can never die. Even if Bruce Wayne did hang it up, someone else would rise up to wear the mantle of the Bat. Everyone knows that going in. Despite that shortcoming, R.I.P. is a solid yarn, if not a bit incomplete ... much like Batman's psyche.
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