PREVIEW: Batman, Incorporated #7

[CBR News]

The fight to reclaim Gotham City begins!
Batman, Inc., takes the offensive against Talia and Leviathan!
It's Damian vs. Heretic - and if Damian loses, the city dies!


Full preview here.

[Just Is]

I am REALLY regretting tradewaiting for Batman Inc right now (I tradewait anything Morrison does because, while great individually, they read even better in a trade for me) after that preview...

[Mr. Holmes]

I buy Morrison's stuff monthly, and then I buy it again when they come out in Absolutes or Omibuses.

[Mr Prince]

The Batman delay was just awkward and severed too many good potential follow-up threads, like "Where are Steph and Cass?" or even "Even if Babs is Batgirl again, where is she in this? She was still Oracle, right? Internet 3.0, coordinating Incorporated and operating the Robot Bats?" (Please tell me there's a secret "Batgirl Squad" out there with the sole purpose of taking down Kathy Kane.)

Yes, this please.

[Officersmile1466]

It really was a shame the way the new 52 launch sliced right through the tail end of Morrison's mega arc. He used to be driving force of Batman but now a lot of that spotlight is gone now. Still I guess when he finally finishes Batman will still be in safeish hands.

[nosocialize100]

Highly enjoyable read. Aside from Damian saying a few times that he should have been there with Batman, and thus Robin should be active, not a ton happened in this issue. Still, it looks really great.

Anyone else think Morrison took a shot at Snyder for saying Talia is “Far more dangerous than the Joker…”?

I reviewed the book with some pictures here if anyone is interested.

[darkseidpwns]

Highly enjoyable read. Aside from Damian saying a few times that he should have been there with Batman, and thus Robin should be active, not a ton happened in this issue. Still, it looks really great.

Anyone else think Morrison took a shot at Snyder for saying Talia is “Far more dangerous than the Joker…”?

I reviewed the book with some pictures here if anyone is interested.

She is,she killed him after all

[AJM]

The origin of The Heretic! Definitely my favourite page of this issue, and as always Damian is excellent, especially in the voice recognition scene. This has definitely picked up again, and i can't wait for the showdown between Damian and The Heretic next issue.

Still confused about the two future Damians and Bruce's vision though. Hopefully we can see that explained adequately soon, although if the action and pace is as good as this issue then it will be much easier to ignore.

[thewarning]

Very busy issue, lots going on. Some abrupt pages I didn't quite understand but expect to next month.

Guys, I've grown to like Damian, but I hope he dies at the end of this...

[Kiryu]

So, not much happened?

How can anyone say that?! This issue was an EXPLOSION of plot. This is the Serpent taking a gigantic ass bite out of it's own tail. So much is being revealed and coming to a head here. The stage is being set for the mad-dash towards the finale and even saying that there are still balls in the air like the scene in the graveyard where Bruce is arrested for his actions creating Batman Inc.

SPOILERS IN BOUND FOLKS.

One of the things exciting me the most: The Hood has played his hand, his Loyalty is to Spyral. IMO it's a frigging HUGE advancement of the plot here, the revelation, and the fact that he has presumably dragged Jason Todd to be face to face with the original Batwoman? That's pretty heavy shit and is reaching back to Batman Inc's first volume.

Talia brings us even more full circle, this story ended with a replacement Batman being killed trying to save a school bus full of disabled kids and is now coming to a close with a school bus full of brain-washed murder-children being sent to kill an army of Batman replacements.

THE HERETIC ORIGIN. Thankfully there is no further time travel nonsense to further complicate things.The simplest explanation is the most likely one. And this proves true here, with the Heretic being revealed as a designer genetic abomination murder-machine. A mix of Al Ghul and Batman genes just to get a base going, then fondue dipped into a genepool of superhuman augmentation and then put through a gladiator ring of Superhuman Genetic Augments? This guy is dangerous, deranged, and the showdown next issue is going to be wild.

TALIA. I love her in this. I just love her completely. I know, I know, sympathy and love and all that hippie crap. Let it die, this Talia is so much more interesting a character. The way she expresses just complete disdain for Batman and his entire life, his adventures, his crime fighting, as she is conquering him with his own methods. It's fantastic and PERFECT for the character, who has resented Bruce choosing his life as a crime fighter over a life as a God-King at her side. It's such a credible motivation for Talia engaging in all these Leviathan shenanigans that goes even deeper then "I needed to hide from my darling detective's ever vigilant eye". Fantastic character progression for Talia. I honestly hope she isn't being evil mind controlled or something stupid in the end here.

The two Damians

I'm not entirely certain here. I think Bruce's vision about Damian, our Damian that is, being the Batman who brings ruin to Gotham will come to fruition. I don't see the confusion here myself, as the events that led to Damian becoming a jerk unkillable murdering Batman have yet to transpire. Damian as he leaves this issue could be rushing to a fate where he sees his father killed, kills the Heretic in vengeful response, and then has Talia unearth Dr Hurt to get the Spring Fashion line of designer genetically augmented immortality grafted to his genepool.

Edit

Oh and Alfred. Alfred. Wow, he was fantastic here. Maybe if other writers could use him this well, well, I guess we'll see what happens to poor amazing Alfred

[nosocialize100]

So, not much happened?

How can anyone say that?! This issue was an EXPLOSION of plot. This is the Serpent taking a gigantic ass bite out of it's own tail. So much is being revealed and coming to a head here. The stage is being set for the mad-dash towards the finale and even saying that there are still balls in the air like the scene in the graveyard where Bruce is arrested for his actions creating Batman Inc.

Your mad dash remark is exactly why I wasn't totally happy with this issue. It's like a rush of plot to get from point A to point B without a ton of good dialogue or character development.

[Kiryu]

Your mad dash remark is exactly why I wasn't totally happy with this issue. It's like a rush of plot to get from point A to point B without a ton of good dialogue or character development.

Maybe not a ton, but I though the dialog in this issue was fantastic and that everyone who appeared had pretty fantastic character moments that put their growth throughout the story on display. Dick taking charge of the Bat-family situation. Damian's desire being shown to have fully morphed from "I want to prove to my father I can be Batman" to the much more worthy "I want him to know he's wrong about me". I didn't really feel this issue was poorly paces or lacking in character or dialog at all.

[Cooped]

Holy shit, you're right..I read that through twice and missed that its kathy! I always assumed that Hood was going to betray Inc ( it was there from his introduction in vol 1) but I thought 'oh that's Talia, it's a red dress'. But Christ, different shoes, loyalty to SPYRAL, it fits!!

[nosocialize100]

Maybe not a ton, but I though the dialog in this issue was fantastic and that everyone who appeared had pretty fantastic character moments that put their growth throughout the story on display. Dick taking charge of the Bat-family situation. Damian's desire being shown to have fully morphed from "I want to prove to my father I can be Batman" to the much more worthy "I want him to know he's wrong about me". I didn't really feel this issue was poorly paces or lacking in character or dialog at all.

Fair enough. Do we know for certain if this is taking place before Snyder's Joker storyline? I'm a bit confused by this.

[Kiryu]

I don't think there is a timeline for where this fits in in the new 52 and if there is I'm the wrong guy to ask because I'm not reading the other Batman books at the moment. I guess it depends on the shape Alfred is in and the shape Damian is in after the next issue before we can even attempt to gauge it. In my head all of this is before the nu52 started as Jason working for Batman as Wingman is the perfect set up for his re-integration with the family in the nu52