I Didn't Care to See the New Tron Either.
Batman, Incorporated becomes another casualty of the September relaunches as it comes to a sudden and unceremonious end with this issue. Even worse, it ends with perhaps the weakest issue of the short-lived series revolving around a story premise that became cliche and silly as far back as the mid-'90s. Rather than end with a bang or a whimper, this book ends with a groan.
It is an issue of Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon fighting viruses in the virtual reality of Internet 3.0. Yes, it is that kind of story. The kind of story that worked for the most part during the '80s and into the '90s, largely due to people generally being a little computer illiterate enough to buy into this notion of virtual reality. Some have fond memories of Tron, and I know I have fond memories of Reboot. But we are well into the 21st century now. This brand of story doesn't cut it anymore, especially when Grant Morrison really doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table.
My reaction to this story as I read it is to ask myself on simple question. Why am I reading this? Or perhaps, why did Morrison bother to write it? Batman, Incorporated was promoted on the premise of Batman putting together a global network of international Batmen, and here I am reading an issue where Batman is teaming up with Barbara Gordon for the millionth time. With so many members of Batman, Incorporated underdeveloped and barely realized, why am I reading a story featuring Babs? I do love Babs, but she isn't why I read this series.
The story reads just as irrelevant to the purpose of the book. At least when we messed around on the reservation with Chief Man-of-Bats and Red Raven, it still served the purpose of letting us get to know those two members of Batman, Incorporated better even though the story itself was weakly linked to the overall plot of Leviathan. This issue's story is basically the same. It is a random adventure that it weakly linked to Leviathan.
The big reveal at the end is about as disappointing as everything else in the issue. It revolves around the return of a character from earlier in Morrison's Batman work. Unfortunately, this character happens to be a particularly weak and forgettable one that Morrison never developed into a believable, three-dimensional person. Ending this series with the promise of her return won't exactly have me eagerly awaiting Morrison getting back to all this.
The art is actually rather incredible. Unfortunately, it is also incredibly painful to follow. I had a headache brewing by the end of the issue, and a mystery story in which one of the characters present is the villain does not work very well when I have a difficult time distinguishing who is who.
Ending Batman, Incorporated with a story that should have been scrapped in the early concept stage is a sad way to go. This final issue leaves me less looking forward to Morrison eventually continuing this series and more looking forward to Judd Winick's Batwing, where I will get to know and enjoy one of the Batman, Incorporated characters like I have been waiting to do from the beginning of this series.
It is an issue of Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon fighting viruses in the virtual reality of Internet 3.0. Yes, it is that kind of story. The kind of story that worked for the most part during the '80s and into the '90s, largely due to people generally being a little computer illiterate enough to buy into this notion of virtual reality. Some have fond memories of Tron, and I know I have fond memories of Reboot. But we are well into the 21st century now. This brand of story doesn't cut it anymore, especially when Grant Morrison really doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table.
My reaction to this story as I read it is to ask myself on simple question. Why am I reading this? Or perhaps, why did Morrison bother to write it? Batman, Incorporated was promoted on the premise of Batman putting together a global network of international Batmen, and here I am reading an issue where Batman is teaming up with Barbara Gordon for the millionth time. With so many members of Batman, Incorporated underdeveloped and barely realized, why am I reading a story featuring Babs? I do love Babs, but she isn't why I read this series.
The story reads just as irrelevant to the purpose of the book. At least when we messed around on the reservation with Chief Man-of-Bats and Red Raven, it still served the purpose of letting us get to know those two members of Batman, Incorporated better even though the story itself was weakly linked to the overall plot of Leviathan. This issue's story is basically the same. It is a random adventure that it weakly linked to Leviathan.
The big reveal at the end is about as disappointing as everything else in the issue. It revolves around the return of a character from earlier in Morrison's Batman work. Unfortunately, this character happens to be a particularly weak and forgettable one that Morrison never developed into a believable, three-dimensional person. Ending this series with the promise of her return won't exactly have me eagerly awaiting Morrison getting back to all this.
The art is actually rather incredible. Unfortunately, it is also incredibly painful to follow. I had a headache brewing by the end of the issue, and a mystery story in which one of the characters present is the villain does not work very well when I have a difficult time distinguishing who is who.
Ending Batman, Incorporated with a story that should have been scrapped in the early concept stage is a sad way to go. This final issue leaves me less looking forward to Morrison eventually continuing this series and more looking forward to Judd Winick's Batwing, where I will get to know and enjoy one of the Batman, Incorporated characters like I have been waiting to do from the beginning of this series.
