Batman #674 Review

Written by: Grant Morrison
Art by: Tony Daniel, Jonathan Glapion
Cover by: Tony Daniel

Synopsis: Morrison has been on a hot streak and he continues this hot streak in this issue. He has stated in several interviews that this upcoming Batman RIP arch is the climax to the previous issues he has been writing. He says that this reads like a novel and this holds true. In the near future we (Sports God) are planning to discuss Morrison and what the various hints he has left as to the course of Batman. Anyway the issue kicks off with the fake Batman getting ready to torture the original Batman. He explains how he was part of an experiment conducted by Dr. Hurt to recreate Batman just in case the original bit the bullet. Batman blacks out and the fake shots an arrow into his hand. Batman continues to hallucinate about the isolation chamber as Bat-mite coaches him through everything. Back on the roof of GCPD, Gordon is recovering and demands to know what up? He asks that red head cop who clearly knows what up what the in the blue hell is going on. He proceeds to cock block him but finally caves and cops (pun) to the experiment. It turns it is conveniently taking place in the basement of this building. Meanwhile, the torture is still going on and Batman is beginning to figure out what is going on. The first two Batmen had failed because they didn't have the edge which is the trauma of losing a loved one. They had a satanic cult attack this one mans family which drove him to being the impostor Batman in question. Batman also reasons that his three Batmen dream was just a fail safe so he doesn't remember what actually went down. We get a brief snippet of what appears to be Dr. Hurt getting caught and most likely gunned down by the GCPD. The impostor Batman decides to stop playing games and goes to cut off Batman's hand. He cuts it but Batman had dislocated his shoulder so he cut nothing and then gets popped by Batman. He starts going to work on the impostor and doesn't kill him. The Venom Batman comes bursting through the wall and is getting ready to go Big Show on Batman when he gets his head blown off by that one cop (who ironically enough is a red head which is funny because as I type this the ginger episode of South Park is on TV, weird right, I know). He then blows the moment by trying a one liner. The cops surround Batman and it is all tense, Batman then disappears the old fashion way, smoke bomb. He is running down the impostor but he manages to get away. They have some conversation which is rather important. Batman reasons that this isn't happening randomly and believes a criminal is pulling all the strings. That being said it implies two things, if he can think one criminal of such caliber exists then it is a definite possibly he exists, and also if this criminal mastermind can fuck with Batman he probably is the biggest badass beast in all of DC. Bruce then proceeds to change back into his parachuting clothe and sneak into a trash can. He calls Alfred and tells him they are going to stage a scene to explain his absence.


Comments: This was just flat out the best comic of the week. It was the perfect lead in into Batman RIP. This issue really got me excited. One thing about Batman is even though his Rouges' gallery is legendary, there is no one to challenge him besides the Joker who is currently on another planet yet this issue strongly hinted at his comeback which will be discussed more in the article that is coming soon to a marvel-vs-dc blog near you. The art was amazing and it seems to fit this new surreal style that Morrison employs among this title. As for some speculation to who the new rouge is, I want to guess a supernatural enemy because there is the overarching theme of satanic worship from Batman #666 but also in the way the impostor Batman's family was killed. Morrison does an amazing job of telling us backstory and also progressing the issue. Most writers would just use this issue as all backstory but Morrison manages to give us both a backstory and progress the issue. I enjoy how Morrison is slowly showing us how Batman is losing it. For one thing we see how obsessed he is to a disturbing degree with fighting crime and being prepared. You don't really notice it during this issue that you should be disturbed by his paranoia and how damaged he is but Morrison manages to subtly point this out. In closing, Morrison is just killing it. We are watching a future absolute edition in the making. You have to dig his approach of basically writing about how Batman's demons are catching up with him. I can't wait for the climax of this epic which should just completely blow us away. Every several years we get a Batman epic and here it is, in all its glory. This issue gets

OWN IT