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A review by skolastic
Batman Incorporated, Volume 1: Demon Star by Frazer Irving, Andres Guinaldo, Grant Morrison, Chris Burnham
3.0
I'm gonna start this by saying the same thing I said about the first Batman, Inc. collection (don't let that 1 on the spine fool you, kids -- all of the Jezebel Jet/Doctor Hurt/Prof. Pyg/Bat-Mi[te|ght]/Zur-En-Arrh stuff is very much still in play here) - I wasn't really sure what to write for a while here. Ultimately, I think that with Demon Star, the wheels are starting to come off of Morrison's Damian Wayne saga.
First up is a return to the events of The Black Glove and the first, nameless Inc. collection in "Brand Building" -- unfortunately, this time through the lens of johnny-come-lately Frazer Irving rather than original artist JH Williams III. (Irving's art works for me sometimes, but it's far more miss than hit.) Since Morrison has pretty much decided to ignore any of the New 52 continuity changes, this largely serves as an Inc roll call/examination of little things that weren't really explored in the past (the relationship between the two different French Batmen, the new Dark Ranger). I dig the huge, armored Russian Batman, who is apparently dead already. Way to go, DC!
I actually like the beginning, "Demon Star", a lot - the slaughterhouse fight is cool and gives Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn a chance to shine. The goat-themed hit squad is a nice addition after all of the "goat home Gotham" stuff Morrison has been playing with, and Robin's death "clicks" nicely on the second pass.
"Eye of the Gorgon", the "Talia al Ghul Year One" story (and if you don't think it is, check out that panel of her chopping down a tree Frank Miller-style), is significantly less great. I was hoping we'd get some insight into Talia's motivations for why she's initiated this massive war with Batman, but I'm just left scratching my head. (I've heard a lot of people saying that her characterization in & Son/& Robin/Inc doesn't gel with past portrayals, and I'd like to acknowledge that it's entirely possible she's become a casualty of Morrison's "everything is canon, I'll make it work somehow!" approach to things.) There's some more good work by Burnham here, though - I really dig the pages with Talia and her mother, and the repeated Veruca Salt "I want this!" pose from Li'l Talia cracks me up. I'm really pleased that Morrison took the throwaway "Dad gave me a supervillain lair for my sixteenth birthday" joke from Batman and Son and not only gave it an actual backstory, but also declared it's the same underground hideout that Not-Fu-Manchu uses in the first League of Extraordinary Gentlemen arc. Comics!
"The Hanged Man" is a fun little Matches Malone adventure (I've always enjoyed the Batman-as-master-of-disguise stuff) with Morrison getting in a few digs at the New 52 stuff as well. I don't have a lot to say about this one.
"Kill Box" is where the collection starts to fall apart for me. Burnham's art doesn't hold up for the big fight scenes (can someone explain to me what's up with the panels where Merlyn apparently gets shot through the hand and Damian is shushing him?), and didn't we already get a story where Gaucho and the Hood made peace? Talia sends a zillion of the Man-Bat ninjas, who are built up as super dangerous and then rendered harmless immediately (it doesn't work for the Daleks on Doctor Who and it doesn't work here, either). The Jason Todd-as-Wingman reveal is nice, but at this point in the collection, I sympathize with Damian at the end ("What does everyone know that I don't?!?") a little too much - there are way too many moving parts to the Leviathan masterplan (mind control beef! the League of Assassins! replacing city employees!) and I am baffled by how all of this is going to come together.
"Asylum" is a return to the "Batman 666" future from "Bethlehem" and the "Future" segment from "Time and the Batman", but it feels like someone lost the outline along the way. Terry McGinnis, baby Batman Beyond, turns up again here, but now he's the cure for the airborne Joker toxin rather than an ordinary, kidnapped baby? I had the impression that things had gone south since Bethlehem, but everyone's locked up in Arkham against the hordes? The answers aren't here. Also, there's a terrible reference back to The Killing Joke, a dead baby on panel (comics, kids!) and somehow Doctor Hurt is no longer buried alive and works for the President. The 666 future ends with Gotham getting nuked, and things get even more confusing when we return to the present (is Talia somehow aware of this future? how?) A few positives, though: the crazy rogues' gallery hinted at in the past two visits to quasi-post-apocalyptic (now just post-apocalyptic, I guess) Gotham is still great (the reveal that Jackanapes, the requisite "talking gorilla" villain is also a cigar guy and a molecular biologist, is spectacular), and the Goblin Glider-styled Ro-Bat is perfect for this setting. Ultimately, it feels like someone lost the "hyper-colorful, extra-bizarre" rider that was supposed to go on this "grimdark" future.
"Garland of Skulls" wraps the collection up. Chris Burnham seems to be trying real hard to channel Frank Quitely here, but it's kind of a mixed bag. Cyril's death at the hands of the Heretic is a bit of pointless violence that the title really doesn't need. Upon further reading about Morrison's use of the goatherd parable/story, I like it a bit more, but I have to agree with Batman's request that they just have a "normal conversation". Again, Talia's conversation at the end about the Oroboro power source, mind control, and Damian muddies the waters and continues to confuse me about what's going on here.
In summary: I'm in Morrison's crazy story for the long haul (I am "that guy" who looks forward to new annotations and discussions about what the hell is going on), but I'm getting that feeling that things are going on for too long without answers. It feels like a lot of the fun that was going on in the first Inc collection is gone post-New 52 (I really miss the Adam West titles at the end of issues), and has been replaced by a lot of typical comic book sound and fury. Chris Burnham's art works in some places, but in others, it feels like he's trying to ape the style of someone else and not really succeeding. Hopefully, the next collection will resolve some of this, but from what I've seen in discussions, I'm not going to hold my breath.
First up is a return to the events of The Black Glove and the first, nameless Inc. collection in "Brand Building" -- unfortunately, this time through the lens of johnny-come-lately Frazer Irving rather than original artist JH Williams III. (Irving's art works for me sometimes, but it's far more miss than hit.) Since Morrison has pretty much decided to ignore any of the New 52 continuity changes, this largely serves as an Inc roll call/examination of little things that weren't really explored in the past (the relationship between the two different French Batmen, the new Dark Ranger). I dig the huge, armored Russian Batman, who is apparently dead already. Way to go, DC!
I actually like the beginning, "Demon Star", a lot - the slaughterhouse fight is cool and gives Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn a chance to shine. The goat-themed hit squad is a nice addition after all of the "goat home Gotham" stuff Morrison has been playing with, and Robin's death "clicks" nicely on the second pass.
"Eye of the Gorgon", the "Talia al Ghul Year One" story (and if you don't think it is, check out that panel of her chopping down a tree Frank Miller-style), is significantly less great. I was hoping we'd get some insight into Talia's motivations for why she's initiated this massive war with Batman, but I'm just left scratching my head. (I've heard a lot of people saying that her characterization in & Son/& Robin/Inc doesn't gel with past portrayals, and I'd like to acknowledge that it's entirely possible she's become a casualty of Morrison's "everything is canon, I'll make it work somehow!" approach to things.) There's some more good work by Burnham here, though - I really dig the pages with Talia and her mother, and the repeated Veruca Salt "I want this!" pose from Li'l Talia cracks me up. I'm really pleased that Morrison took the throwaway "Dad gave me a supervillain lair for my sixteenth birthday" joke from Batman and Son and not only gave it an actual backstory, but also declared it's the same underground hideout that Not-Fu-Manchu uses in the first League of Extraordinary Gentlemen arc. Comics!
"The Hanged Man" is a fun little Matches Malone adventure (I've always enjoyed the Batman-as-master-of-disguise stuff) with Morrison getting in a few digs at the New 52 stuff as well. I don't have a lot to say about this one.
"Kill Box" is where the collection starts to fall apart for me. Burnham's art doesn't hold up for the big fight scenes (can someone explain to me what's up with the panels where Merlyn apparently gets shot through the hand and Damian is shushing him?), and didn't we already get a story where Gaucho and the Hood made peace? Talia sends a zillion of the Man-Bat ninjas, who are built up as super dangerous and then rendered harmless immediately (it doesn't work for the Daleks on Doctor Who and it doesn't work here, either). The Jason Todd-as-Wingman reveal is nice, but at this point in the collection, I sympathize with Damian at the end ("What does everyone know that I don't?!?") a little too much - there are way too many moving parts to the Leviathan masterplan (mind control beef! the League of Assassins! replacing city employees!) and I am baffled by how all of this is going to come together.
"Asylum" is a return to the "Batman 666" future from "Bethlehem" and the "Future" segment from "Time and the Batman", but it feels like someone lost the outline along the way. Terry McGinnis, baby Batman Beyond, turns up again here, but now he's the cure for the airborne Joker toxin rather than an ordinary, kidnapped baby? I had the impression that things had gone south since Bethlehem, but everyone's locked up in Arkham against the hordes? The answers aren't here. Also, there's a terrible reference back to The Killing Joke, a dead baby on panel (comics, kids!) and somehow Doctor Hurt is no longer buried alive and works for the President. The 666 future ends with Gotham getting nuked, and things get even more confusing when we return to the present (is Talia somehow aware of this future? how?) A few positives, though: the crazy rogues' gallery hinted at in the past two visits to quasi-post-apocalyptic (now just post-apocalyptic, I guess) Gotham is still great (the reveal that Jackanapes, the requisite "talking gorilla" villain is also a cigar guy and a molecular biologist, is spectacular), and the Goblin Glider-styled Ro-Bat is perfect for this setting. Ultimately, it feels like someone lost the "hyper-colorful, extra-bizarre" rider that was supposed to go on this "grimdark" future.
"Garland of Skulls" wraps the collection up. Chris Burnham seems to be trying real hard to channel Frank Quitely here, but it's kind of a mixed bag. Cyril's death at the hands of the Heretic is a bit of pointless violence that the title really doesn't need. Upon further reading about Morrison's use of the goatherd parable/story, I like it a bit more, but I have to agree with Batman's request that they just have a "normal conversation". Again, Talia's conversation at the end about the Oroboro power source, mind control, and Damian muddies the waters and continues to confuse me about what's going on here.
In summary: I'm in Morrison's crazy story for the long haul (I am "that guy" who looks forward to new annotations and discussions about what the hell is going on), but I'm getting that feeling that things are going on for too long without answers. It feels like a lot of the fun that was going on in the first Inc collection is gone post-New 52 (I really miss the Adam West titles at the end of issues), and has been replaced by a lot of typical comic book sound and fury. Chris Burnham's art works in some places, but in others, it feels like he's trying to ape the style of someone else and not really succeeding. Hopefully, the next collection will resolve some of this, but from what I've seen in discussions, I'm not going to hold my breath.