Batman R.I.P.

[Drz]

Spoiler

It opens with a purple gloved hand holding a thing called The Bat-Radia, and apparently "the electronic molecules are streaming forth." Anyway, Bruce Wayne is a hobo, and Dr. Hurt injected him with street level heroin, so Bruce is all whacked out. He's discovered by a hobo named Honor Jackson who makes him walk around all through Gotham to clear his head so he can meet a guy named Lone-Eye Lincoln. Jackson gives Bruce some glowy red thing that you don't see, and tells Bruce that if he can fix it, it'll be his best friend. Then Honor disappears. Bruce meets Lone-Eye and Lone Eye seemingly gives him some drugs. Meanwhile, Tim is reading Bruce's notes in the Black Case books, which shows some panels of silver-age adventures and a panel with the Robin Dies At Dawn case opened in the book, when he's attacked by that mime dude and the hulking knight guy. He defeats them and tells Nightwing to meet him. Nightwing gets pwned by that chick with the medusa helmet. Hydra, her name is or something? Cuts to Nightwing in Arkham, bonkers out of mind, but the doctors refer to him as the creepy mime guy(a lie obviously to keep him there) and the fat guy who talks to the Joker from a few issues back has Nightwing's mask. Cut to Dr. Hurt in the batcave wearing Thomas Wayne's Batsuit talking more about his plans. Cut to hobo Bruce Wayne sewing something, i guess the red glowy thing, a costume, where Bruce says "Zur-en-Aarh. Zur-en-Aarh...it would be far easier to consider this a dream. But how can i? For in my hands, i hold the bat-radia and i...i and the Batman...The Batman of Zur-En-Aarh." Actually, he looks more like Etrigan the demon, and Bat-Mite is floating above his shoulder.

Again, how this all ties together is beyond me, and i have no idea what the hell really happened in this issue. And if the speculation regarding that this is a story about the fall of a Batman from another earth, there's gonna be hell.

Spoiler

Haha crazy! any chance you could take a scan of Dr. Hurt wearving the Batsuit? :d

 

[360wavesandxbox]

There is talk in this arc about the Butler messing around with Ms. Wayne..this is a stretch..what if Alfred was the Biological father and dr hurt is Bruce's HALF brother...I mean i have seen the theory thrown around that alfred might be bruce's biological father, but what if this is the case for Thomas Wayne Jr.? Maybe Martha had an affair and thomas sr. never knew? I dont know..alot of what ifs but, Alfred didnt get his A$$ handed to him for nothing.. And it would make sense in the way that Hurt knows Bruce so well...He seems to personally know him..Im chalking it up as a bitter older sibling... far fetched but so is Bruce's life story lol..

 

[CrimsonMist]

If you're not familiar with the silver age I could see why this issue will leave you dumbfounded. Here's a quick reference for you guys

http://planetzor.blogspot.com/2007/10/batman-of-zur-en-arrh.html

it helps kind of. I still don't understand what this Bat-Radia does, unless it created the transportation rift to allow Zur-En-Aarh Batman to earth. Or maybe in his mania, Bruce built this device.

OR this Zur-En-Aarh Batman left some stuff lying around that Bruce wasn't aware of.

Regardless, i still didn't understand what happened in this issue. I mean, borrowing silver age stuff and incorporating it into your writing is one thing. But not everyone is familiar with that era of Batman's history. Morrison has access to all of this stuff because he works at DC, but alot of this stuff has yet to see reprint. That and the fact that there's ALOT of obscure silver-age tales that are really over the top.

That being said, that's gonna annoy some people, who don't know about that stuff, seeing it in their current books. And it doesn't help when the whole narrative structure of each issue jumps to five different things at onces. I figure that with the third part done, the next three will have more of a straight foward narrative structure that explains what the hell is going on. It would be far less head-ache inducing for some readers.

 

[360wavesandxbox]

okay..the very first panel is a flashforward..put it after the very last panel...the bat radia is in his hands..now if all of this that happend to Bruce WAS a Hallucination, then i am going to venture and say that the Bat Radia may not be real..Honor gave Bruce a beat down radio transistor in the red and black checkered cloth..this might have been what reminded Bruce of the Bat Radia in his demented state, and triggered for him to begin sewing the ZEA batman costume.. Or maybe this issue is just TOO DARN CONFUSING LOL

 

[AlteredEgo]

so the homeless guy bruce gave a couple hundred to in the first issue, OD'd on heroin he bought with that money? but somehow bruce was saved by him? hallucination?

 

[gqxsensazn]

I'm not interested in RIP anymore. Morrison is all over the place.

 

[twilitezoner]

Morrison can say it's the most yada yada in 70 years, but this arc isn't going to come close to Knightfall in terms of epic scale.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

Morrison can say it's the most yada yada in 70 years, but this arc isn't going to come close to Knightfall in terms of epic scale.

Umm bingo!

 

[javi1024]

has this story spread out into the other Bat-titles yet or is it still only in "Batman"?

 

[Dark Globe]

I like what Grant Morrison does with The Joker, but I can admit, he can mess up batman and everything. He really needs to just get his own Joker series.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

I like what Grant Morrison does with The Joker, but I can admit, he can mess up batman and everything. He really needs to just get his own Joker series.

Yeah, just stay away from Bats.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Hmmmm.......sounds like Grant Morrison's back on those mind-altering drugs.

Nevertheless, I look forward to giving this a read.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

I want to see Tim Drake become batman.... we've all read Teen Titans: The Future is Now.

 

[The Denialist]

Hmmmm.......sounds like Grant Morrison's back on those mind-altering drugs.

Was he ever off them?


Morrison is one of my favorite writers as far as comics go, and part of the reason why is because he's so crazy. I'll admit that things got a little weird in 677 with the whole Alfred/Waynes scandal, although it's really not too hard to believe (it's just hard to believe the liberties that Morrison took with that). But there are just NO words for the latest issue and I can see things making even less sense in the future.

 

[AlteredEgo]

god this arc is confusing the **** outta me, and yet for some reason im really engrossed in the story. it's really interesting doing the homework and finding out what all these little, i dont wanna say easter eggs but i cant think of a better word, eggs are alluding to and how they contribute to the current story line. just the way the story is weaving back and forth all the way back to the 10 cent days (the rainbow monster, robin dies at dawn, Zur-En-Aarh), and all the way up to two issues ago (giving the homeless man who said he had a kind face a couple hundred dollars and having him "save" bruce). my main gripe about this issue is not hearing any more about the developments from the last issue like hints that Thomas Wayne is alive and the possible promiscuous past of Waynes.

 

[Tvar10]

just read this issue...all i can say is wow....im pretty sure that morrison doesnt even know what the heck is goin on....to me the worst thing that happened to batman in the last 70 years was letting morrison write all these wierd arcs

 

[omerhead]

Grant Morrison probably wrote an interesting Batman storyline but just because he kills Batman off doesn't mean he's some Chris Claremont. It's the same thing He did in his run on X-Men comic book's, but Claremont does a better job of killing a character in comic books.

 

[AlteredEgo]

i really dont think that he's actually going to kill bruce now. not after Dr. Hurt saying that "The Dark Knight is Dead" in this issue.

 

[Drz]

need sum scans tbh! >:3

 

[kguillou]

^ here you go: http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/5787917.html#cutid1

 

[Drz]

thanks alot! Tho i feel like i spoiled brat for asking if someone could speficly scan the Joker parts. >:3 haha sorry

 

[JokerLedger]

Batman of Zur-en-arrh?
rrrrrriiiiiiigggghhhhtttt.......

 

[AlteredEgo]

thanks alot! Tho i feel like i spoiled brat for asking if someone could speficly scan the Joker parts. >:3 haha sorry

joker wasnt in this issue.

 

[Drz]

joker wasnt in this issue.

Hmm i thought someone said the headsrhink puts on Nightwing mask and shows it to Joker, guess i misread it pretty badly.

 

[Cain]

it helps kind of. I still don't understand what this Bat-Radia does, unless it created the transportation rift to allow Zur-En-Aarh Batman to earth. Or maybe in his mania, Bruce built this device.

OR this Zur-En-Aarh Batman left some stuff lying around that Bruce wasn't aware of.

Regardless, i still didn't understand what happened in this issue. I mean, borrowing silver age stuff and incorporating it into your writing is one thing. But not everyone is familiar with that era of Batman's history. Morrison has access to all of this stuff because he works at DC, but alot of this stuff has yet to see reprint. That and the fact that there's ALOT of obscure silver-age tales that are really over the top.

That being said, that's gonna annoy some people, who don't know about that stuff, seeing it in their current books. And it doesn't help when the whole narrative structure of each issue jumps to five different things at onces. I figure that with the third part done, the next three will have more of a straight foward narrative structure that explains what the hell is going on. It would be far less head-ache inducing for some readers.

I'm thinking maybe he doesn't have it at all and it's hallucinatory. It looked different in the opening page from what we see in the end. Anyway you could find the Zur En Arrh story in Batman in the Fifties. I collect reprints from golden age to modern so I have read this story before I just re-read it yesterday to refreshen my mind on it.

I'm even looking through old Morrison stories that feature Batman. I noticed somebody bringing up Thomas Wayne Jr. but he's been dead for years if we consider that story canon since Morrison seems to be acknowledging everything he died in Batman's arms. But what about the other Thomas Wayne Jr.? the one from Morrison's JLA Earth 2, Owlman. A man who is obsessed with destroying things and is as calculating as Bruce Wayne himself and hates him cause he lives while the Bruce Wayne he knew and loved as a brother died as a kid. Could he be behind this? maybe not but still possible.

This issue I didn't find hard to follow Bruce has been drugged up and disillusioned to the point of having hallucinations. The Black Glove organization took over the batcave want to raise hell in Gotham and had Nightwing committed to Arkham thanks to a good old switcheroo they're already beginning to affect the people around Batman. They already got to Dick and Alfred this is just the beginning of the breakdown. The beauty of all this is Bruce keeps on fighting even in his drugged induce state which brings back to mind Alfred saying not to underestimate his mind. He's still driven to find out what's good he feels something inside him telling him to fight. That's Batman.

The question is what was real and what wasn't during the Bruce scenes but since this is only issue 3 obviously you can't expect that answer yet. Was Honor a ghost? what exactly is Bat Mite's role in all this? a fail safe created by Batman? what significance does his first appearance in Morrison's run hold now in retrospect. Is Jezebel Jet a black glove agent?That's what's great about this arc Morrison has Batman fans playing detective lol. You know damn well you can't wait for the next issue to see where things go next, great momentum in this arc and it makes me kinda mad that I gave up on Morrison's run initially after the club of heroes arc. Cause looking as far back as Batman and Son there are clues everywhere

The Batman of Zur En Arrh knew everything about Batman as well to the point of being influenced to adopt the mantle in his own world. Seems like Morrison deliberately throwing more stuff out there to keep us guessing. He's another possible Black Glove suspect due to his observations of Batman's life perhaps he wants to trade places make the real Batman think he's Zur En Arrh Batman and have the batcave to himself to destroy everything Batman has built up. But alas that's just another outlandish theory.

Truthfully since Morrison said the craziest stuff to happen in the character's history who could it be behind this? outside of Joe Chill somehow being behind this and his Batman witnessed suicide just being another brainwashing experiment on Batman. But I don't know about that. I'm still sticking with the obvious theory of the black glove being Thomas Wayne Sr. The way this has read so far everything we thought we knew about his parents may be misconception. What if Alfred really is his biological father and not Thomas.

What if Thomas did orchestrate his murder and faked his death while having Martha dead for her infidelity and having him believe the butler's kid was his. What if all along he's been watching from the sideliines watching Bruce develop a life as Batman and surrogate family of his own and wanting to destroy it all out of resentment. Hell could Hurt himself be Thomas Wayne? could this be why he said the only way he'd accept Batman back would be as his butler maybe cause he seems him as being unworthy of carrying his name and feels it's in his nature to follow his biological father's job title. Now that would shock the hell out of many people and would definitely rock Batman's world. But who knows it could all be smoke screens can't wait to see how everything pans out eventually.