REVIEW: Batman Incorporated #8

[CBR News]

In one of the worst kept secrets of 2013, "Batman Incorporated" #8 has Grant Morrison, Chris Burnham, and Jason Masters bid goodbye to a member of the Batman Family in a story that is oddly touching.


Full review here.

[InformationGeek]

My reaction is HERE

Touching? Oh yeah totally! It's totally touching that we only got to see one character (the villain) react to his death, that his death did nothing to change anything, and that he was completely and utterly slaughtered by a side villain. One hundred percent completely touching!!

[doopnn]

Meh. I liked it a lot. I found it quite provoking. Including the scene where Batman responds to his death. And that character that's been fairly crucial and casually developed for some time now murders him, which will undoubtedly have future impacts on the next several issues of Inc, and the entire DC universe. I can see how he's supposed to address that in a single comic, though.

But my own trolling aside, I agree that part of Morrison's problem is he has so many threads playing at one given time that a simple emotional punch feels somewhat dulled. The Heretic (see, he even has a name!) will surely prove to be much more substantial. Otherwise I highly doubt Morrison would have made him the murderer. IF, however, in the long run, this does not pan out, then I do agree that fanboys aren't going to jump for joy like they would have had, say, the Joker murdered him. Of course, how many people did he murder at the end of DotF? None. That's right. Because how creative is it that the Joker murders somebody?

[lefthighkick]

Well, on one hand that was one hell of an issue. On the other hand, the best character in the DCU just died. I'll definitely read the remainder of Morrison's run and I have little doubt that Tomasi's B&R will provide the necessary sentimental/reflective scenes we would all expect (when you think about it, Tomasi got screwed here harder than anyone.) Past that, barring a lazarus pit scenario I'm probably done with Batman/B&R/Batman Inc. I'm not the type to drop books out of spite either, I'm just not sure if reading Batman can be compelling enough these days without Damian. Morrison's run has been legendary and taking Damian out the picture at the end really presents a challenge to other Batman writers going forward, like he's saying "go ahead - TRY and do something anywhere near as fun and interesting as what I did." And to them I say: good luck.

[Kiryu]

Well, on one hand that was one hell of an issue. On the other hand, the best character in the DCU just died. I'll definitely read the remainder of Morrison's run and I have little doubt that Tomasi's B&R will provide the necessary sentimental/reflective scenes we would all expect (when you think about it, Tomasi got screwed here harder than anyone.) Past that, barring a lazarus pit scenario I'm probably done with Batman/B&R/Batman Inc. I'm not the type to drop books out of spite either, I'm just not sure if reading Batman can be compelling enough these days without Damian. Morrison's run has been legendary and taking Damian out the picture at the end really presents a challenge to other Batman writers going forward, like he's saying "go ahead - TRY and do something anywhere near as fun and interesting as what I did." And to them I say: good luck.

It's hard to say Tomasi got screwed here. Morrison put in a word for him and I'm sure that combined with Tomasi's writing talents helped an awful lot to get him the B&R gig. It put him on a Batman book with a built-in-fanbase and one of the most popular up and coming characters, exposing his writing to a crapton more people and hopefully making fans out of most of them. Yeah, he's losing one of his leads here but there's still more story to go and maybe there will be some new magic in whatever comes up next.

[lefthighkick]

It's hard to say Tomasi got screwed here. Morrison put in a word for him and I'm sure that combined with Tomasi's writing talents helped an awful lot to get him the B&R gig. It put him on a Batman book with a built-in-fanbase and one of the most popular up and coming characters, exposing his writing to a crapton more people and hopefully making fans out of most of them. Yeah, he's losing one of his leads here but there's still more story to go and maybe there will be some new magic in whatever comes up next.

Some of that is fair as I certainly don't believe Tomasi would be mad at Grant. I was just honed in on the fact that he's now writing Batman & ______. I can't fathom a scenario where a more interesting character than Damian steps in to take his place, but obviously they'll have an opportunity to prove me wrong (or cop out and resurrect him.) As I mentioned, I do think Tomasi's next few issues will be special, but after that... ?

[Cryptid]

It's refreshing to read a CBR review that focuses on (astute) visual analysis instead of reading everything in terms of continuity or spurious industry trends. Let's have more like this.

[iduckles]

It's refreshing to read a CBR review that focuses on (astute) visual analysis instead of reading everything in terms of continuity or spurious industry trends. Let's have more like this.

I agree! I came on to comment on exactly this point in the review. I would very much like to see reviews that take this sort of approach to analyzing and discussing comics. It also helps to have issues of a comic this good that allow for such insightful and interesting comments.

[Officersmile1466]

Really strong analysis. Hopefully more of the bat issues get this sort of treatment.

[Coal Tiger]

This is the best written review I've ever seen on the site. Totally love to see more of this level of analysis on more books, assuming the books in question deserve it.

[Cryptid]

Touching? Oh yeah totally! It's totally touching that we only got to see one character (the villain) react to his death, that his death did nothing to change anything, and that he was completely and utterly slaughtered by a side villain. One hundred percent completely touching!!

Well, there is nothing sentimental about the death scene, so "touching" might be too soft a word. But the scene of Damian yelling for both of his parents while he's alone in the middle of their war packs a punch. And the Heretic may not be a marquee villain but there is still some poetry in seeing Damian stand between the world and a twisted version of himself. He wants to kill the bad him...and he paradoxically manages it by dying.

[Jim Thompson]

This is the best written review I've ever seen on the site. Totally love to see more of this level of analysis on more books, assuming the books in question deserve it.

I agree. Very well done review that captures the essence of what happened in the book.

[sunofdarkchild]

Good analysis and it treats the comic like a comic? It's been a long time since I've seen a review do both.

[Basterdshark]

For me, a superlative Batman comic. I adore Chris Burnham's art.

[Trekker4747]

Can't say I was too impressed with the issue. Like much of Morrison's work I found it a bit disjointed and hard to follow (nowhere near as bad as his Action Comics stuff, however) I had to re-read sections just to be sure I "got" what was going on, who was talking, etc. I only picked up the issue for the death of Damien which did seem to be pretty much done as a shrug -freaking Jason Todd got a better "death scene" that meant more. But, as someone who is not a fan of Damien to begin with I just look at this with a shrug. Killing Damien did seem like an extreme thing to do, isn't Batman messed up in the head enough as it is?!