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howattp's review against another edition
5.0
This is an excellent--an appropriately epic--tale of Bruce Wayne's return from the beginning of time to the present day. It's long, dark, and twisty, and Bruce Wayne's obsession with maintaining order and justice remains with him despite temporal displacement, memory loss, and the end of the world.
srreid's review against another edition
3.0
A bit too marvel superheroey scifi than DC Gotham crimey grime.
colophonphile's review against another edition
I have read and enjoyed many comics written by Grant Morrison, and then I have read others that struck me as a kind of low-grade metaphysical action writing: a spew of cultural information thrown at the rough grid that is the basic foundation of comics, with the expectation that readers would make sense of it, and credit him with the ability to construct disparate connections between far-flung subjects.
This book fits fully into the latter group. For all the strengths of such Morrison books as We3, his Animal Man writing, his run on the X-Men, his excellent Superman -- well, this collection of stories about Bruce Wayne's return from the depths of time is perhaps the strongest evidence of what could be called the "deceitful claptrap" thread running through other of his work.
On the surface, the idea is strong: Batman is the least super-powered, the least supernatural, of superheroes in the DC pantheon. To have him barrel through time, from prehistoric mythology through sea-faring pirates and Salem-era witchcraft, is to have a study in contrasts. Morrison knows what he's doing. He knows that Batman is a myth of a man, and that no myth as strong as his could grow to the fore without slowly tossing seeds back in the timeline -- all myths build on pre-existing myths, and the stronger the new myth the more likely the older ones are to come to appear less as precedent and more as prefiguring.
But the thesis is where the book stops being enjoyable. Beyond that, it is a series of pastiche renderings of various period cliches, each garbled just enough to appear mysterious, but in truth the mystery is really just sloppiness benefiting from a very strong brain and some accomplished illustrating partners.
I always thought Morrison's best work was his work-for-hire, when he had to limit his fathomless penchant for mythmaking to the contours of a pre-existing character. It was true of his X-Men, and of his Superman, and quite recently of his Batman, but this time around his worst inclinations got the better of him.
This book fits fully into the latter group. For all the strengths of such Morrison books as We3, his Animal Man writing, his run on the X-Men, his excellent Superman -- well, this collection of stories about Bruce Wayne's return from the depths of time is perhaps the strongest evidence of what could be called the "deceitful claptrap" thread running through other of his work.
On the surface, the idea is strong: Batman is the least super-powered, the least supernatural, of superheroes in the DC pantheon. To have him barrel through time, from prehistoric mythology through sea-faring pirates and Salem-era witchcraft, is to have a study in contrasts. Morrison knows what he's doing. He knows that Batman is a myth of a man, and that no myth as strong as his could grow to the fore without slowly tossing seeds back in the timeline -- all myths build on pre-existing myths, and the stronger the new myth the more likely the older ones are to come to appear less as precedent and more as prefiguring.
But the thesis is where the book stops being enjoyable. Beyond that, it is a series of pastiche renderings of various period cliches, each garbled just enough to appear mysterious, but in truth the mystery is really just sloppiness benefiting from a very strong brain and some accomplished illustrating partners.
I always thought Morrison's best work was his work-for-hire, when he had to limit his fathomless penchant for mythmaking to the contours of a pre-existing character. It was true of his X-Men, and of his Superman, and quite recently of his Batman, but this time around his worst inclinations got the better of him.
earlapvaldez's review against another edition
4.0
I would like to see this more of an introduction to post-Crisis DC rather than a Crisis epilogue. Being a Grant Morrison work, I see that the narrating is superb, and it just ties everything left by Final Crisis in the open.
Some notes:
-Gotta love the Jonah Hex appearance here.
Some notes:
-Gotta love the Jonah Hex appearance here.
blackestclovers's review against another edition
3.0
Never liked multiple artists on one series, even if I can understand why it was done. So far, least favourite Morrison Batman stuff, but I still liked and enjoyed it.
pages_and_reels's review against another edition
4.0
Reading a Morrison book is like solving a puzzle. It involves a lot of turning pages back and forth. I had to keep checking [b:Batman & Robin: Batman vs. Robin|7395327|Batman & Robin Batman vs. Robin|Grant Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327948245s/7395327.jpg|9276736], [b:Batman: R.I.P.|3430164|Batman R.I.P.|Grant Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1526770785s/3430164.jpg|3471065] and [b:Batman: The Black Glove, Deluxe Edition|12105291|Batman The Black Glove, Deluxe Edition|Grant Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344370308s/12105291.jpg|44693063], the previous books on his acclaimed Batman run, and it was a treat. This is what I love about Morrison. He expects the readers to make some effort on their part instead of spoonfeeding them.
starrybooker's review against another edition
1.0
If I could give it zero stars, I would. I can honestly say this was the worst comic book/graphic novel I have ever read. The story was awful and confusing, the art was poor and it just felt like a very half-arsed effort. If i'm being honest, I only actually read half of the book, but i'm amazed I got that far through it was so bad. Maybe it picks up later on and improves slightly and if it does then I apologize, though I highly doubt it.
arkhamrazor's review against another edition
4.0
Not a big follower of the Justice League stuff, so I was a bit lost on some of the JL sci fi fantasy stuff but Bruce Wayne being stuck in different time periods of history with some Batman easter eggs in the background was quite cool.
bowienerd_82's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting concept and some gorgeous art, but the story was kind of muddled and hard to follow.