I finally read the latest issue of "Batman R.I.P.", and I was totally blown away. I'm frankly surprised to come on here and find that most people have crapped on it. That was one of the best comics I've read all year. Climactic, nerve-shredding stuff.
You can niggle about how the reveal of Jezebel Jet as the Black Glove wasn't surprising all you want. The execution was tremendous. That moment, with Jezebel extending her (black) gloved hand, as the red petal falls onto it, with The Joker screaming "Now do you get it? NOW DO YOU GET IT!?", must surely count as one of the most haunting finales to a comic in quite some time.
The Joker was, in one word, astounding. Grant Morrison's Joker is surely the darkest, most terrifying depiction of the character ever. He was genuinely frightening, a force of nature. It's got a lot of criticism, but I have loved Tony Daniels' interpretation of him, too. He just looks like evil incarnate. And the dialogue is brilliant, laced in equal measure with iconic talk setting up the Batman/Joker rivalry, and ironic asides that seem to be directed at the readers and their expectations, like "I bet you think this is the part where old enemies unite to turn the tables on the new pretenders".
This issue struck a wonderful balance between big revelations and a bundle of unresolved threads being left dangling, and combined with a hell of a cliffhanger, it's left me desperate to get my hands on the concluding issue. Like "Final Crisis", I think it's going to become recognised as an underrated gem thanks to people prematurely rejecting it, but I personally think "Batman R.I.P." has been some astonishing storytelling.