Thursday, January 28, 2010

Batman & Robin #7

Grant Morrison lets more new ideas fall out of his head in one issue than some creators will ever publish. The issue opens at a breakneck pace as the Squire and Batman zoom through London, tracking down a mysterious new English villain. After his capture (on a villain's train, of course), Batman visits the basement that houses all of England's para-criminals. It's packed with throwaway names and ideas, all of which would look great in an actual comic. The tour guide for this is Beefeater, the great, campy old hero from Justice League Europe. All the running around and punching is the interesting lead in for a wild idea, Dick Grayson has tracked down a Lazarus Pit and he's going to try and resurrect Bruce Wayne. Has Dick never read a Batman comic? That never works! It should be a neat couple of issues though, since NightBat and Squire are joined by the Knight and Batwoman by the close of the issue. (How great was the off-handed way Morrison added Batwoman? "Oh, some guys wanted to kill me here so now I'm here to help.") It is amusing that I in no way believe that is Bruce Wayne coming back. I'm not sure who it is, but it ain't Bruce!

Cameron Stewart, thank you. Thank you for making the action clear, the character designs fun and original. And extra thank you for actually trying to make your style look a bit like Frank Quitely's while still retaining your own look. Think of the heights of what Morrison could accomplish if he was regularly paired with good artists!

Good

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