I've been pretty positive all around on Morrison and company's run on Batman so far, but to be blind to the flaws of something one loves is really not love at all. Love is acceptance, not blindness.
It's a testament to my disinterest in the character of Batman that I do not have any of the other parts of the "Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul" storyline. I'm pretty good, when there's a crossver between series, at getting all the parts, regardless of the creators involved. But with Batman, and believe me, I've tried, I just can't get interested. For me, he's like DC's version of Wolverine (or maybe that's the other way around): too much exposure, too much celebration for a character that really is no better or more interesting than any other in comics. The popularity of these two characters says a great deal about the desire for anger, violence, and darkness that unfortunately seems to prevalently draw people to fictions. I prefer, for myself, the more hopeful and optimistic of the superheroes, the grander stories and concerns. Which, really, is why I ended up reading the Morrison Bat-stories. He manages to push the character out of the gutters of Gotham, if only symbolically, and into a higher level of story. This is not a value judgment on the quality of writers/creators, but a technical appellation based on Frye's levels of story. Batman is interesting because he actively pushes his own stories into the level of myth, while for the most part not actually inhabiting that realm. Morrison actually puts him there, as we'll see.
So, I didn't get the rest of this storyline.
Let's talk, just for a moment, about the art on this issue. Tony Daniel comes out of the second wave of Image-inspired artists. His work is an interesting combination of Jim Lee and J. Scott Campbell, almost what one might consider the Image "house style," and certainly what we could see as the current DC house style. I'm not a big fan. Every prominent (word used pointedly) female character in this issue has barely contained breasts. Literally barely contained. Now, this might be purposeful, as one of the characters even makes a joke about Talia al Ghul's efforts to achieve the "naughty secretary" look, but this is a throwaway joke, and is never dealt with again in the series. The three villainesses in the book, used solely as a distraction for Batman (and probably much of the readership), wear the ridiculous female superhero costumes that must actually be going up inside their bodies if the amount of ass we can see is any indicator. And, every now and then, the perspective of the panels shifts from 3D to 2D, in that in many panels there is representation of depth, which then disappears. It's off-putting. Now, let me just say that, critical as this is, Daniel's work is light-centuries ahead of anything I'll ever be able to do. And, as far as pacing and technique, he's a very talented storyteller. But, as I said above, love is not blindness. Daniel is brought onto this book as a superstar artist, but my sense is, recollecting the last time I read through this run, that his technique and artfulness improves even more over the course of his tenure on the book. Which speaks to the synergy that can be present when you put two powerful creators together. I'm usually quite forgiving of Morrison's work, but even he has some dead spots in his career - I can't for the life of me remember what happens in the issues leading up to the "Batman R.I.P." storyline that starts in a few issues. Not all stories, the writing or the art, can be brilliant. If this project has so far prove one thing, it's that.
Tomorrow we'll be looking at part 4 of the crossover, so there's an excellent chance I'll have no idea what's going on. Join me, won't you?
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