Manbat Incorporated!
i'll admit that i don't understand batman at a deep level, but i will however still review this issue since i believe it too be amazing. after thinking about this issue for a while, i can safely say that this is the very few titles that is worth reading in the new 52.
burnham's art isn't something i've fond of, i think it is a bit rough around the edges, however this isn't all that bad, because some of the arts strengths actually lies in this specific problem of mine. because of the rough edges, the damage is shown in a unique and superb way, you can actually feel the pain from heretics scraped knuckles, or batmans face basically getting crushed.Chris also has the ability to tell the story well, in fact they way he draws things really gets you invested in the action. Batmans and heretics battle across the Sky is nothing BUT amazing, the panels are formulated in way that the action sequences flow smoothly, in fact sometimes Burnham shies away from unnecessary panels which only makes the experience that much greater. So though i am not personally a fan of Chris's style, the art was really amazing here.
As for the story, it is fantastic. Grant morrison knows how to convey feelings through comics, and it actually made sense that batman would ( spoiler) inject himself with the enhanced version of the manbat serum, in order to defeat and enemy much more powerful than he is, he must become full bat, and the story sets things up perfectly. as i mentioned the fight between Bruce and Heretic is amazing, but at some point there was a small problem that just occurred, batman was basically curing man-bat soldiers in the sky, meaning that they could have been killed by the fall, i assume that he would most probably you know, knew what he was doing but it seemed slightly off to me, however it's a minor problem considering to how many things the issue gets right. Batman is in character , he is mad about Damians death, and he wants to take it out on heretic, but not kill him essentially. What i enjoyed the most about this issue is that it exactly showed how damian would have turned out under Talias care, i remember way back in Batman and Robin where Talia tells Damian that she will only accept him if he basically does what she wants and becomes her little mindless soldier, that is exactly what heretic is, a bad version of Damian, which is quite vividly shown here. Damian died as a hero under batmans care, while Heretic died in a way that no one will ever remember, because he was a glorified soldier. This issue also shows just how sick Talia has become, at one point i would have thought that she had good left in her but that basically faded here, Grant Morrison knows how to craft a great dark tale, which is exactly why this is amazing. In short, this is a BATMAN story, a real one, where he uses both brain and Brawn.
Recommendation: I'm Batman!
