"Grant Morrison Batman Run" Possibly my Favourite Batman Run

 

    Well I did it. When I wrote my review for Batman: Bad Blood, I basically just lamented that it really made me want yo re-read Grant Morrison's Batman run. Don't get me wrong, it gets really messy, but part of it isn't it's own fault. I would not recommend this run to anyone who isn't at least tangentially familiar with Batman and his lore. Not only does it get hit with the event that is Final Crisis about 10 per cent of the way through, killing Bruce Wayne and replacing him with Dick Grayson which in my opinion is just kind of really fun (though I say this as a Dick Grayson fanboy), but shortly after Batman returns, takes over the main stage, and they get hit with the continuity mess that is the New 52. Even still, it's refreshing, I mean it doesn't have any traditional Batman villains other than Ra's Al Ghul, even the Joker is a bit of a footnote in this run, but it's fun to see them go outside of Gotham. Let's talk about it.

    Once again, as I have to say for so many of the comics I review these days, this review will almost certainly be tainted by the nostalgia I had reading this run as a little child. As an adult though? Man it's still cool I'm sorry I refuse to let anyone say anything otherwise. Don't get me wrong, I agree with some of the criticisms involving it. Batman sends out an army of Bat-Robots and everyone for the most part is largely chill about him having his own personal army. This comic basically stretches the separation of Bruce Wayne and Batman to its limits. I mean like everyone is basically just dancing around the fact/okay with Bruce Wayne funding all of these batmen, and no one really bats an eye.

    Also, like I said before, if you want some grounded, Gotham-city centric stories, I would look away. Some of the best work this comic does is outside of Gotham city. You won't get much Two-face, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy or otherwise. The main villain is the Al Ghul family, because this run basically starts with the introduction of Damian Wayne, and ends with his death, rather abruptly might I add. Obviously, I don't mind this that much, I enjoyed reading about El Gaucho or all of the other vigilante crime fighters out there who might not have any powers but are still eager to defend their own country in their own way.

    Lastly, this is less of a gripe but Grant Morrison tries some 3D computer-generated artwork for some of these comics, whether they be that long-joker story (which was kind of whatever) and that weird internet 3.0 story. Basically it makes the comic look like those really bad unity asset-dump porn games or comics you can find online, it has not aged well at all in the slightest. The rest of the comic has aged quite well though. I cannot overstate how fun it was to see Dick Grayson Batman with Damian Wayne Robin, it was so adorable seeing the blood heir meet the real heir-apparent and Dick's struggle to fit into a cowl that doesn't quite fit as well as he'd like.

    That's not to say Bruce doesn't have any good stories either, I quite enjoyed the Club of Heroes story and learning about other characters like the Squire and the Knight or Man-of-Bats. I will say if youi're interested in reading about other members of the Bat family you probably won't get much in that regard. As soon as Bruce comes back it's basically the Damian and Bruce show, Tim is basically a sideplot, Jason coming back and being a good guy was barely an idea at this point with him being wingman, and you don't get much once Dick becomes Nightwing again. But I still loved reading it, in my opinion this was not only a fun, but a good era of Batman comics. It didn't feel too dark, it still had that heroic charm in it's eyes, it felt good.

Final Score: 85/100

    Did I just give this a higher score than The Immortal Hulk? Maybe. Was I practically born as a Batman fanboy and would have given this comic run more grace than it deserves? Yeah. I mean I'm almost kind of nostalgic about the art style, which says a lot about what I remember/enjoyed as a child. this hasn't even been the first time I've read through the Grant Morrison Batman omnibus, but the fact that I've read it through multiple times and still enjoy it is a testament that this run is basically stamped in my eyes, it never does get old. I don't know if you'd be able to return to it ever again, I don't think an idea like Batman Incorporated could have lasted forever, but I enjoyed it while it did.