Reading Through 2021 87: Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume Three, by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham

Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume Three, by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham

Collecting work from the 2010s, published 2020

Omnibus One was fun. Omnibus Two was better. Now for the story of Batman Inc.

It's very good cover, but the set of omnibuses aren't unified as a set outside of the logo

Right up front, this is not as good as Omnibus Two. It has the problems of high expectations working against it. I really enjoyed Two and was hoping for it to keep up the compelling story. And when this was coming out, I remember people praising Batman Inc. as exciting... 

The Japanese here is a fun Easter egg. Mike Marts, Nathan Fairborn, and Morrison himself get shout outs in the signs

Omnibus Two left off with Bruce Wayne announcing Batman Inc, and this book begins with Batman rounding up his international team of Batmen. He starts in Japan, then moves on to Argentina, and South Dakota on a recruiting drive. This part of the book was the most fun for me. The book has two arcs, one for each of the two Batman Inc. series collected. The first arc is building up the organization, and the second is letting all the dominoes Morrison had lined up fall down.

Yeah, I want to see a Native American Batman riding a bison

These recruitment adventures are the most exciting and novel. Seeing how Batman concepts can filter through other cultures is really cool, and the stories are solid. Burnham draws a lot of this, with Yanick Paquette also doing some art chores. Nathan Fairbairn does consistently great colours. You get the feeling that this is an AAA package. No filler. If the story lags, the art and novelty carries it along.

A stunning double-page title card

The story is not flawless. There is too much reliance on double-crosses and triple-crosses and quadruple-crosses. At certain points, I didn't know who was a good guy if they weren't in the immediate Bat-family. If you don't know who you're rooting for, it's hard to be invested in their objectives or care about the dangers. So I ended up reading for the moments rather than for the story. And there are many exciting moments.

Some work better than others. At the end of one issue, they promise a great cyber-Batman story on the Internet 3.0, and I was excited to turn the page.

I'm ready for this!

The next issue was all done with computer rendering, and was unreadable in many places, with muddy images.

Batwoman is outlined in yellow, Bruce in red

It was a single issue that, while it mostly didn't work, it showed Morrison having fun and playing with the book. Internet Batman rendered in 3-D; he had to take it to the next level to make it worth the concept.

There are some side stories with other characters which were mostly enjoyable. And for the most part, I liked the art across this whole book. Most of the art was clean and dynamic, not overly reliant on heavily shadowed capes. If I had a complaint with the second volume, it was that a lot of the art was over-rendered with shadow, which is not an issue with this one.

Cameron Stewart continues to have some of the cleanest forms in mainstream comics

The second half of the book is decent, but not as exciting. Batman Inc. is a great concept, Batmen around the world, but it adds up to about six other Batmen. It ends up feeling much smaller than "worldwide." The villain of the book, Leviathan, is a massive secret organization, but Batman Inc. never seems to be similarly omnipresent.

I love the counter-culture concepts Morrison sneaks in: be afraid of your kids

And the Internet made much so much of Batcow at the time. I wasn't reading it, I wasn't looking for Bat-news, but I heard of Batcow a lot. I don't know what I expected a cow to do, but it mainly just stood there, and was a mascot for Damian. It was cute, but pretty throwaway.

Another writer will take a stab at Bat-Cow in a decade or two

The Leviathan storyline features Talia Al Ghul, a suiting character to tie a run featuring Damian Wayne, her and Batman's son, together. She gets some good character definition, as someone who has capabilities but has been held back by her overprotective father. Her emotional connection to Batman and Damian gives complexity to her dynamic with them.

The Bat-clone Talia grows is a sad, damaged thing

But at the end of the day, I barely remember how the book ends. The book tries to have ramifications as Bruce Wayne becomes a wanted man, and his empire collapses, but it all seems to be back to normal by the end. At the end of the book, a few people are dead, but they've all come back since because it's a comic, so there isn't much point in caring. The book is about the ride, not the impact on continuity.

Some fun storytelling in a Japanese capsule hotel. The top line shows a nice time lapse from evening to night, and the middle row shows a great use of panels to break up a single space

I was surprised how much of the art Chris Burnham did. Most modern mainstream books, artists do three issues and swap out, and Burnham did half this book. His art style wasn't entirely consistent. Sometimes there would be a real janky image and I wouldn't think it was his art. And he would sometimes draw massive eyeballs on characters, which just looked weird. But a majority of his work was clever and clear, with a great balance of cartoonishness and realism. He's not Frank Quitely, but he's a real good substitute. His art can carry a story.

I got a laugh out of seeing Spring-Heeled Jack

I loved the way Morrison mined old, often embarrassing, Batman continuity for his international Batmen. Some adjustments were made, but he used the foundation Silver Age writers had left for him. The detail throughout was impressive, but not surprising from a hyper-literate writer like Morrison.

The first appearance of Spring-Heeled Jack in the 1840s

All in all, I liked this book and will probably revisit it in a decade, though after I re-read the second, more exciting and coherent Omnibus. There was unreached potential in the concept of Batman Inc. It's fun, but the execution felt smaller than the concept. Another writer could take the ball and run with it, but with the current state of dour that guides DC, it's unlikely that a concept as wacky as Batman Inc. will be explored again anytime soon.

 

Omnibus Three was not something that gave me deep thought, or something that I even found particularly easy to follow to as I was reading. It was very much blockbuster entertainment that bounced from crazy set piece to crazy set piece. It had something that I don't associate with Batman these days: fun.

I Really Should Read This 20: The Invisibles Book Four, by Grant Morrison and many, many artists

The Invisibles Book Four, by Grant Morrison and many, many artists 

1999!

What's it all about? I don't know. I understood many of the pieces of this, but I'm not sure it made any sense at all, except in the most vibing of ways. And that's good enough for me.

Rock!

I started reading the Invisibles last summer, starting with book one and finishing book four this week, and that seems to be a fair pace. The series came out in three parts over a number of years, but it's barely coherent as it is, so I can't imagine trying to draw it out for years and stay wrapped up in it. For that matter, I can barely imagine reading any monthly comic anymore, so it's just as well I got this in the collected edition.

Yes, that's right

What's it all about? Something about a demon being crowned king of England, and the secret group called the Invisibles who are out to prevent this reality ending event. That's what it seems to be about, but that's not particularly interesting. So it's about the Invisibles and how they navigate reality. Sometimes the book is about reality warping, and sometimes it's about embracing the subversion of normalcy. Again, I can't say what it is about.

Who are the Invisibles? Anyone. You could be one.

What's this about?

There is a plot, and it's the least satisfying part for me. What I enjoy about the Invisibles is how it embraces the fringe. I really wish I had been reading at the time. I was so into subcultures and anything weird the 90's, and I think the book would have pushed me just that much more into the weird. Morrison took every fringe concept he could get his hands on and inserted them either as a part of the narrative or as set dressing for it. Some of it I knew of at the time, but it would be very minor subculture, not well known at all.  I think those things would have been hooks to get me to use the book as a roadmap to other strange subcultures. For example, in a few places Guy Debord and the Situationists are referenced, something that was very exciting to me as a 20-something, but had pretty much no mainstream representation. In another place, he references Terrance McKenna's self-transforming machine elves of DMT, an exciting concept to psychedelic explorers, but had no place in a mainstream culture that was still just saying no to drugs. And those are but a few references, the book is littered with ideas. Does it pull them all together? Not at all! But this was before Wikipedia and the ability to look up any tossed off reference with the click of a button. Underground culture was something that took a lot of effort to cultivate and learn about. It's just a treat to see them referenced so liberally. Shelly Bond was a generous editor to the series.

Is there a difference?

If the book has a unified idea, it seems to be that much like how the universe is unified, a thousand disparate concepts of the underground share a common thread: they are variations on a theme, there is something else. This thing we see is not what it is. Then the book drops some spy shenanigans on top of that for the sake of making a comic book narrative. It's like a capsule to contain the medicine.

Subtle

I loved Lord Fanny. She is a transgender character, and she is a character. She is equal to any other character and is a lead character. This feels so transgressive now, as media is making an effort to have some trans visibility, often looking clumsy with from the obvious effort involved. 

I loved reading a book that, while having some interest in morality, had no interest in being moral regarding anyone's sexual interests, much less orientation.  Characters have sex and enjoy it as they want to.  And it's very human feeling, not over-romanticized. I love the normalization of the fringe. I don't think they should make a TV show out of this unless it's x-rated. Not XXX, just treating sex as a normal human activity.

Do what you wanna do

I loved Edith, the 99 year old Invisible on the cusp of death. She is an old woman and we see her as a sharp, forward thinking woman. I personally make an assumption with seniors that they just don't have a compelling inner life, and sometimes talk to them as if children: don't swear, mention sex, mention anything other than the weather. It's a stupid thing to do, especially as I'm on my way to becoming one myself. It's a product of being young and thinking adults just don't get anything you do, and grandparents really don't seem to. Seeing a character like Edith, and getting to know her, it's not your typical rock and roll comic fare. 

Edith is endlessly interesting because she is interested in the world

The Invisibles is not a clear comic. It's a collection of concepts mashed together. It's a hodge podge. The first run of the series had multiple artists, and that was blamed for weak sales, so the second series only had two artists in its run. Series three has three arcs, with different artists in the first two. But then the final arc has different artists from page to page. It's a lot of whiplash visually. Characters shift from highly rendered to cartoon, from garish to noir, with each page turn. 

Sean Philips inked by Jay Stephens... When I thought the book couldn't get any weirder

I'm sure it was on purpose. If the book was about mashing a thousand ideas together, then maybe that final arc was about mashing a thousand images together too. Whatever the concept, it wasn't normal. But it all fits together.

Ultimately, the book ends, and there is an epilogue issue which I found very abstract. After reading the whole of it, I want a break from this world.  But if I see an article about it, I'm bound to read it. I don't think the story makes much sense at all, but I'm interested to see if others think it made a lot of sense. Are there folks who analyzed this the way some folks analyzed Inception a decade ago? 

Ten years from now, I'm sure the whole thing will get a re-read from me. There are ideas inside I want to puzzle over.

Lord Fanny took my heart a little

What was it about? A bunch of underground agents save the world.

I Really Should Read This 10: Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume Two, by Grant somebody

Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus 2, by Grant Morrison and a long list of artists

Collecting work from the 2010s, published 2019

Of any comic I could possibly write about, Grant Morrison's Batman is the best selling, most read and written about one, and relatively recently too. Perhaps my main value as a reviewer here is as someone who actively avoids Batman comics. 

For the most part, I just avoid Batman. I was there for Death in the Family, Bat-mania in 1989, I bought Arkham Asylum and Killing Joke on the stands (as well as Son of the Demon!), so I'm up on the character. But somewhere in the 2000's, it stopped being fun for me. Sometimes I was into it (Batman Begins! Arkham Asylum/City on PS3!), but usually I was tired of his saturation in the culture, and the excessive, incessant voices of Batman fanatics (they could give Star Wars fans a run for their money). Good product shines through, but a lot of the Bat-products were coasting on the brand more than quality. 

When Morrison was writing Batman, there was a big shakeup with the character, which was that Batman "died", and Dick Grayson, the first Robin, took over the role. Detective Comics had an arc called The Black Mirror. I read it and it was fresh! Dick brought a whole new vibe to the role, and Batman seemed new again. I read the first arc of Batman and Robin as well (reprinted in this volume), with Morrison reuniting with his All-Star Superman partner, Frank Quitely, and it was exciting! This was the last time I read Batman. When Bruce came back, I stopped. I just wasn't interested in the flawless human that is Bruce Wayne.

Characterization is a key to making this book sing

Why did I decide to read this now? I spent the summer reading Grant Morrison comics, and I wanted more and this was a reasonable price (for an omnibus). My take on Omnibus Two? Because it combines three different series and so many artists, it isn't quite consistent in quality, but it ranges from good to incredible. 

The first thing you notice in it is that Dick Grayson isn't Bruce Wayne. He's thinner, more humble, and more acrobatic in his movements. That's a lot for an artist to convey, but the artists here really do their best to do so. Frank Quitely stands out as the best of the book. He has the line, the design, the movement; pretty much everything he draws is perfect. There was not a thing I would change. He designs a new character, Professor Pyg, who is a disgusting new addition to Batman's rogues gallery, as are his horrific dollotrons.

Oh yeah, Quitely did work the word smash into the wall Damian hit. Frank Quietly is a precious treasure

All of this is personal taste, but I prefer the 'clean' artists in the book; Cameron Stewart, Chris Burnham, and Andy Clarke stood out to me. I'm not so into Tony Daniel, or Andy Kubert's rougher lines. And I actively dislike Philip Tan and Frasier Irving's art, which veered into the grotesque for me. It's all personal taste though, and the art I didn't care for didn't break the book at all.

This was some nice narration from Bruce Wayne

The story has two parallel plots that converge at the end. In one, Gotham is being terrorized by a mysterious criminal organization called the Black Hand, while the second has heroes trying to track down a not-dead Bruce Wayne as he travels in time. I feel this way with a lot of big stories: the big plots make no sense. Bruce Wayne was shot with an Omega Beam which sent him back in time, and he makes time jumps at every solar eclipse, and when he arrives in the present, time will collapse? I don't know, it's gibberish. The Black Hand stuff makes more sense, but it's still a lot of hand-waving. 

That's fine, you don't read a book like this because the over-arching plots all make sense. I had to learn that the hard way with 1985's Secret Wars. This book is about the character, the interaction, and above all, the awesome. Dick Grayson is a great Batman, but Damian Wayne is an incredible Robin. Both of them learning their capabilities at once makes for an engaging read. Damian is an egotistical monster of a kid, but he can do way more than most kids. When he gets in a dangerous situation, you don't know if he's going to surprise you by pulling it off, or if he'll be mortified that he's gotten in way over his head. It is exciting and unpredictable, in a way most superhero comics aren't.

The coloring and the rendering are just not my tastes, but I understand why there has to be a Wild West Batman

I wasn't into the Batman through time story as much, but I get it. Caveman Batman, Pirate Batman, Cowboy Batman. It's almost like Morrison couldn't not do it once he had the concept. Again, the ideas behind why it's happening is absolute nonsense. But Batman is a cowboy, so fine!

I remember reading at the time that Morrison wanted to unify the goofy Batman of the 50s and 60s with the modern one, and to a good extent, he does. He creates a sense of joyous excitement that I don't recall in other Batman comics. Every closing page of the Batman And Robin series ends with a three panel teaser of the next issue. I can hear the rock and roll soundtrack as the credits come in.

It's like he's daring you not to keep reading. It's a great modern update to the Silver Age "Next Month!" box

It's a real shame the Dick Grayson era couldn't have lasted longer. Like, ten years or so. When I read the Black Mirror, it felt like the actual new status quo. Reading this, I see that almost as soon as Dick started as Batman, the 'real' Batman was already being written back into the book. It's a shame, but that simply wasn't what Morrison was writing. Seeing these three omnibuses, it's clear that the death of Batman was simply part two of a three part arc. 

I have Omnibus Three sitting on the shelf, and I'm looking forward to reading Batman Inc, a storyline that was buzzed about at the time, but I've never read. And the number one reason I'm looking forward to reading it is this: it sounds fun.

I Really Should Read This 4: The Invisibles, book 3 by Grant Morrison and Phil Jiminez

The Invisibles, book 3 by Grant Morrison and Phil Jiminez 

late 90's

Look at that cover! Incredible, I want it black and white on a T-shirt! Of all the comics I had laying around the past year, that one got comments from people who noticed it, enough that I started leaving it face down.

I read books 1 and 2 in the summer, and enjoyed them. I'd read the first issue when it came out in the 90's, but it didn't grab me then. It's a book that requires more patience than I had at age 19.

It's a grab bag of cool stuff, especially 90's cool stuff: anarchy, conspiracy, deviancy, technology, spirituality, philosophy. This was all the stuff that was exciting about alternative culture at the time that eventually got squeezed out as companies figured out how to market and exploit the culture more effectively. The Invisibles is 90's culture distilled into an intimate epic.

Book three is the second volume of the series. This collection has one artist instead of a rotating cast, and is slightly more coherent. The first two collections have a lot of tangents. It's not quite as WTF as the first two, but it's a more enjoyable read. I found it easier to binge.

Morrison works really hard to communicate these metaphysical ideas he has, and after enough time, it made sense to me. Sample dialogue:

-"If our words are circles, theirs are bubbles."

-"The universe is a hologram created by the overlapping of two meta-universes."

I really like the attitude and the ideas of this series, and wish I'd been reading it all when it was new!