Mar 27 2009
Batman R.I.P., We Hardly Knew Ye
Okay, that’s enough Star Wars . Are you guys following Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s new Batman & Robin series? I didn’t think so. But let’s talk about it anyways.
As you are already morbidy aware, Batman’s dead but we all know he’s not dead but DC’s having a helluva time pretending like we’re all pretending like he’s dead. Batman & Robin, which goes on sale in June, will look at a future Gotham City in which a different Batman (who isn’t Bruce Wayne) and a different Robin (who isn’t Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, or Carrie Kelly) don their respective capes and cowls to continue the legacy of the Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder. The mystery of just who are these caped crusaders is integral to a plot that somehow involves Damian, the bastard child of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul.
Of course, the punchline is that Bruce Wayne is still alive and waiting to finish the unresolved plots of The Black Glove, Batman & Son, and Batman R.I.P., something that DC has no qualms about letting us know.
And if you’ve understood even 50% of what I’ve written here, you qualify as being nerdy enough to read the full CBR News interview with Grant Morrison , who sounds surprisingly sane for being Grant Morrison. Also, be sure to pick up the hardcover edition of Batman R.I.P .
Bruce Wayne will be Batman again, everyone knows that. What the real twist will be is how it will all play out. Can Dick Grayson prove he’s worthy to don the cape and cowl? Will Damian become a larger, more essential character to the DC universe? Is the end of the current Bat-family inevitably coming? Only time will tell (and probably Grant Morrison in his next interview).
Maybe Man-Bat will take over. The day I’ve always been waiting for.
Man-Bat, yeah, that’d be just a step up from Bizarro Batman.