Grant Morrison's Batman Annotations: 52 #30 & 47

The Give Me Comics or Give Me Death podcast is available from all your usual podcast providers, or see all episodes here

See the index for all entries in these Batman annotations here

The weekly series 52 span out of the Infinite Crisis comic/event, following which the holy trinity of DC Comics - Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman - look a year-long leave of absence (hence the title, it covered 52 weeks in the DC universe in 'real time').   At the conclusion of Infinite Crisis Bruce tells the other two-thirds of that trinity that he intends to 'retrace the steps I first took when I left Gotham. I'll be rebuilding Batman.  But this time it's going to be different....I'm not going alone.'  Accompanied by (at that time the only) Robins (Dick Grayson and Tim Drake), this sets up the premise of Morrison's mission for Batman - to turn him from the dark violent soldier-vigilante character he had become into a brighter better-adjusted superhero.

 

52 #30

This issue catches up with the Batman family and what they're up to during this period, but also clarifying where they stand in the New 52 continuity. Much of the story concentrates on Batwoman - later with Nightwing - and her attempts to tackle Intergang and their leader Mannheim.  However, we also get Morrison's pages featuring Batman, Nightwing, and Robin.  The latter two are on the trail of Batman, who has disappeared into the desert, whilst also discussing whether Bruce has "cracked".  We then find Bruce wandering the desert, when he is set upon by the Ten-Eyed Men of the Empty Quarter, who he allows to attack him in order to kill his 'demon'.

The Cover

 

Based on 14th and 15th century altar pieces and paintings of the Archangel Michael fighting Satan (see below), it here represents Bruce Wayne slaying his demon - the dark Batman personality that he had become.  There is also the clear foreshadowing of the conflict to come when Batman will fight Dr Hurt who may, or may not, be the Devil himself.  Furthermore, the biblical account of the Archangel Michael fighting Satan occurs during the War in Heaven, when Lucifer rebelled against God and was cast down to Earth.  This is essentially the start of Final Crisis, where the New Gods fight their own war and 'fall' to Earth, and is a key part of Morrison's Batman story.

 

 

Page 1

 

It's so appropriate for Morrison's Batman saga to start right back at the beginning.  Here we have early Batman in his original costume (as seen below in Detective Comics #27, his first appearance).  "Things started out so well" goes the Dick Grayson narration.  This doesn't quite fit the story Morrison is telling, because early Batman was pretty dark and violent, before becoming more light-hearted with the introduction of Grayson himself as the first Robin.  

Page 2

 

Here we go on a quick tour through the history of Batman.  Grayson's narration continues, "when you think about everything that happened - it's too much for any man.  Even the strongest".  So on just the second page of Morrison's Batman project the basis of Batman R.I.P. is laid out - all the crazy and traumatic events from Batman's continuity all happened, which begs the question, what would that do to a man?  

 

Panel 3 - Dick Grayson moving out and going to college (Batman #217 - 1969), leaving Batman without the key anchor to his humanity.  Robin's introduction had forced him to become a father figure and a role model with responsibilities. 

  

Panel 4 - The first appearance of Jason Todd in the new Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity (Batman #408 - 1987).  Batman discovers the street orphan stealing the Batmobile's wheels, and recruits him as his new Robin.

 

Panel 5 - Jason Todd's tenure as Robin does not go well.  Here we see Batman carrying Jason's lifeless body after he was beaten to death by the Joker.  In reality, this was the result of a phone-in stunt by DC Comics, where readers voted whether the character should live or die.  The fans, who never took to the surly and angry Robin, narrowly voted to kill him off 5,343 votes to 5,271.

 

 

 

Page 3

 

 

The Batman history tour continues.

 

Panel 1 - Joker shooting, and crippling, Barbara Gordon (Batman: The Killing Joke - 1988).  In the post-Crisis continuity, Barbara had never been Batgirl, and was the niece/adopted daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon.  Following her paralysis, she would go on to adopt the Oracle moniker and become a provider of intelligence support for various super-heroes.

 

Panel 2 - Bane breaking Batman's back (Batman #497 - July 1993) which would put him out of action for some time.  Batman anointed Jean-Paul Valley (aka Azrael) to take his place.  He turns out to be dangerous and murderous, and is taken down by Batman once his physical recovery is complete.  Interestingly, despite the obvious parallels with Morrison's story, it is barely referenced by them.  

Panel 3 - The panel isn't particularly clear, but it appears to be representing the Cataclysm and No Man's Land storylines (various Batman titles - 1999), in which Gotham City is struck by a massive earthquake.  Following the evacuation and abandonment of the city by the federal government, Batman must try and reclaim a lawless city overrun by gangs and super-villains.

 

Panel 4 - Of course in comics N.E.R.D. (No-one Ever Really Dies), so here we have Batman fighting with the new violent Gotham vigilante The Red Hood, only to discover it is his former Robin, Jason Todd, who has returned from the dead (Batman #641 - 2005).

  

Panel 5 - Tim Drake (the third Robin) and Batman arrive at Tim's father's house too late, and find his body following his murder by Captain Boomerang (Identity Crisis #6 - 2004)

 

Panel 6 - I'm not sure what this panel is depicting.  It potentially looks like Batman holding a gun to the head of Joe Chill (sometimes identified as the murderer of Bruce Wayne's parents), though I'm not aware of any specific comic that occurs in.  Any suggestions welcome!

 

 

 

Page 4 

 

Panel 2 - Tim Drake suspects Bruce wants him and Dick to become the new Batman and Robin, foreshadowing the new dynamic duo in Batman and Robin - though it won't be Tim in the Robin role.

 

Page 14

 

Panel 1.  "My soul is black and I feel sick.  I've lost my resolve."  This is the in story explanation for Morrison's revision of the charatcter.  Bruce himself has had enough of the dark and moody Batman.  It's hampering him.  

 

Page 16

 

Panel 5 - Bruce is making clear his agenda.  He considers the person Batman had become a 'demon' that needed to be killed, and he had been corrupted by "dark, fearful, paranoid urges".

 

Panel 6 - "Batman is gone".  Of course, he isn't, but Morrison is saying that version of Batman is gone, and a new version is coming.  It also anticipates Bruce's death/disappearance in Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis.

 

  

52 #47

Most of this issue is given over to the ongoing efforts of Batwoman, Nightwing, and The Question, to battle Intergang/the Crime Bible.  We also get updates on Animanl Man, and what's going down in Metropolis - all part of the ongoing 52 storyline.  However, we do get a few pages from Morrison continuing the set-up for their Batman run by undergoing the The Thörgal ritual.

 

Page 1

 

Panel 1 - Nanda Parbat - 'the mountain of delight' in Hindi, is a fictional city high in the mountains near Afghanistan and Pakistan.  It is home to an order of monks and watched over by Rama Kushna - a godlike being.  It is clearly influenced by Shangri-La, the famous fictional secret Tibetan valley that also influenced Marvel's Kunlun (as seen in Iron Fist).  Nanda Parbat is featured again in The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul storyline early in Morrison's run.

 

Panel 2 - "Bruce isn't my Dad."  The timeline is a bit confusing here as Bruce had actually adopted Tim about a year earlier in publication time, however that occurred in the One Year Later storyline which actually took place after the events of 52.  It also reminds us that Tim's real father was murdered, another dark chapter in Batman's history.

 

The monk explains to Tim - and the reader - that Batman is undergoing the Thörgal ordeal (often later referred to as a ritual) that will cause him to become changed.  It is explained that Bruce will spend seven days in darkness.  But it's worthwhile looking at the Thörgal ritual in more detail, as it is key to Batman R.I.P. 

Thörgal, or Tögal, is a Buddhist ritual, and according to The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying the aim of is to 'enable a person to actualize all the different aspects of enlightenment within themselves in one lifetime'.  This is Morrison's mission statement for the first third of their Batman run; every Batman story happened, so all these different aspects of Batman over the years are real and reflections of the same man.  Morrison intends to make a new, better, Batman, and that can only be achieved by reconciling these differing aspects of Bruce Wayne.  It is said that the ritual requires enormous discipline - and who has more discipline than Batman?  The ritual is practiced in a completely dark setting - in this case a cave, which of course echoes the place most readily associated with Batman.

 

Page 3

 

Panel 3 - "It's like an ordeal...of spiritual purification" - Bruce is purifying himself of the Batman he had become, he's using the ritual to shed the darkness that's increasingly dominated his life and personality.

  

Panel 6 - In the Thörgal ritual one experiences multiple visions - given the horrors that Bruce is trying to move past, it's not surprising he might see such things that would cause a reaction like this.  Note the shadows forming a Batman logo over his face.

 

 

Page 19

 

Panel 5 - The ritual is over and Bruce is reappearing from the cave, by moving the boulder blocking the entrance.  There are obvious links here to the resurrection of Jesus, signifying the resurrection of Batman from the dark 80s/90s character to someone more rounded.  Religious allusions are used throughout Morrison's Batman run.   

 

Page 20

 

Bruce emerges into the daylight, purified of his demons.  By putting a confident happy looking Bruce wayne at the front and the shadow of Batman behind him, we can now see that Bruce is in control of Batman now.

Grant Morrison's Batman Annotations: Recommended Reading Part 1

The Give Me Comics or Give Me Death podcast is available from all your usual podcast providers, or see all episodes here

See the index for all entries in these Batman annotations here

Grant Morrison's epic Batman tale not only uses previous Batman stories for its inspiration, plot, and themes, it is predicated on the very fact that there are previous Batman stories - that everything that was printed did in fact happen.  From the sci-fi madness of the Silver Age to the gritty violence of the 90s, no story was out of bounds for Morrison or for Batman himself.  Grant does a decent job of weaving these parts of Batman continuity into its own story so that reading these earlier comics is not necessary to understand and enjoy it, but reading them - or at least these summaries! - will help illuminate the saga in ways that can only enhance it.

There is, admittedly, a lot to get through, so I've broken this down into two parts to make it somewhat easier to digest.  This first part will focus on other Grant Morrison work, and the second on comics by other writers.  Grant's comics have often tackled similar themes and ideas, and there is a crossover of many of these in most of their work for DC Comics, so in theory one could recommend reading the entire back catalogue of Morrison!  Don't worry, I'm not going to do that.  I'm going to focus on the most relevant comics to this run, particularly the key themes, plot points, and characters that shape it.

 

Arkham Asylum (1989)
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Dave McKean

Probably the work that put Grant Morrison on the map – when released Arkham Asylum was the biggest selling graphic novel of all time (I believe Morrison claims it still is).  The multitudes who picked up this prestige format comic, with fully painted art by Dave McKean, must have been bemused by the story that they encountered.  Far from an action-packed adventure, or mystery solving plot, it is instead a slow labyrinthian examination of Batman’s psyche.  Batman arrives at the mental institution, Arkham Asylum, at the behest of the Joker who has taken its staff hostage.  Batmen enters the gothic mansion to try and resolve the situation.  In there he confronts a gallery of his rogues, each partly reflecting a piece of his own personality.  In flashback we also get the history of Amadeus Arkham, who founded the asylum, and this plays into why one of the doctors released the inmates from their cells initiating the whole escapade.  However, it’s not particularly clear whether these events actually happen or if they all occur in Batman’s mind.

Like much of Morrison’s previous Batman work, there are no specific connections made in his Batman run to this story. In fact, one of the more interesting points of his epic tale is that really only the Joker and Talia Al Ghul from his rogue’s gallery make appearances, other key characters from Arkham Asylum; Two-Face, Scarecrow, Clayface, Killer Coc, etc, are ignored completely.  However, there are some more thematic and symbolic connections:

• The point of the story is to examine Batman, who he is and how he works, which is also ultimately the point of Morrison’s full Batman run but on a much larger scale.  Though the main difference is that here we take a look at Bruce Wayne from the inside of his head, whereas stories like Batman R.I.P. and The Return of Bruce Wayne use the actions of other characters and Bruce’s response to them to demonstrate the key elements of the Batman character.  

• The key antagonist in Arkham Asylum is the Joker, who after forcing Batman to enter the asylum challenges him to a game of hide and seek – this is reminiscent of Batman R.I.P. and The Return of Bruce Wayne, where the Joker and Dr Hurt play out a metaphorical game of chess with each other, and where games, including dominos, are a recurring theme.   The story also brings up the idea that the Joker is not insane, but rather “super-sane”, constantly reconstructing himself in response to the ever-changing zeitgeist. Morrison explores this in much more detail in Batman R.I.P.  Furthermore, the Joker’s motivation here is not to attack Batman physically but psychologically, which is not only the motivation of Dr Hurt but also key to the conflict between him and the Joker.  

   

  

• The Joker’s dialogue is presented in a different colour scheme to the other characters – in this case red with a white drop shadow – a technique that is used to particular effect in Batman R.I.P.

• Much of Arkham Asylum revolves around the symbolism of the tarot, which is something Morrison uses in a lot of his work – they are strongly influenced by magic and have said one of their first real uses of it was giving a tarot reading to friends and acquaintances.  Whilst much less integral to the story than in Arkham Asylum there are allusions to the tarot in Morrison’s Batman run, most obviously in Batman Incorporated which reflects the Tower card – quite literally at the conclusion.  

Batman: Gothic
Originally published in Legends of The Dark Knight #6-10 (1990)
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Klaus Janson

Morrison’s second Batman story is much more conventional than Arkham Asylum, and whilst it has less to say about Batman as a character than his other work, it does have some thematic links to his later Batman run.  The plot of Gothic is fairly straightforward, though its mysteries are slowly revealed with skill by Morrison.  Someone is killing off various mob bosses in Gotham.  The criminals, surprisingly, turn to Batman for help, claiming they know the murderer is a ‘Mr Whisper’ a child-killer who the believed they had murdered 20 years ago, and is now back wreaking his revenge.  It is subsequently revealed that ‘Mr Whisper’ is Bruce Wayne’s old headmaster ‘Mr Winchester’, and that Bruce was to be his next victim until his father pulled him out of the school furious at the corporal punishment being administered to his son.  To celebrate, Wayne the elder suggests they all go out to see a film – this turns out to be the infamous night Bruce’s parents are killed and his journey to becoming Batman begins.  Linking events in a story back to key moments in Batman’s life; his parent’s death, the bat breaking through his window, the death of Jason Todd, is something that is used repeatedly throughout Morrison’s Batman run.  

 

The mystery doesn’t end there – the true identity of the villain turns out to be Brother Manfred, a monk who sold his soul to the Devil in return for 300 more years of life.   The machinations of Whisper/Winchester/Manfred all turn out to be an attempt to cheat his way out of the deal, as his 300 years are now up.  Batman stops his plan, and the Devil – in the form of a nun – appears and takes his soul to hell.  Here, Morrison has clearly solidified the supernatural into the Batman mythos, and also established the Devil (and his deal making) as existing in the DC universe, which plays a key part in his later stories with both Dr Hurt and Damian.  Surprisingly though, despite one key premise of Batman R.I.P. being that all these stories happened, there are no overt references to Gothic or any suggestion that Dr Hurt and Brother Manfred share any connection.

 

JLA (1996-2005)

JLA #1-17, 22-31, 34-41, 1,000,000

JLA: Secret Files and Origins

Written by Grant Morrison

Art by Howard Porter (plus a few fill-ins issues by other artists)

JLA: Classified #1-3

Written by Grant Morrison

Art by Ed McGuinness 

Morrison’s seminal run on DC’s flagship title JLA (traditioanly called the Justice Leage of America, but not referred to as such in this title, given their more global scope) involved Batman as one of the key members of the team.  Morrison made sure all members got their moment in the sun, and as the team expanded this meant there was less room to comment on Batman specifically.  However, covering almost 50 issues they are several issues to take note of:

• Morrison has often talked about superheroes in comparison with mythological gods and heroes – hence the title of his superhero analysis/autobiography book Supergods.  In JLA he takes this idea literally, portraying the team as the modern-day incarnation of the Greek god pantheon; Superman is Zeus the king of the Gods, The Flash is Hermes the god of speed, and Aquaman is Poseidon god of the seas, to pick the most obvious ones.  In this take Batman is Hades, the god of the dead and the underworld.  Hades was depicted by the Greeks as being cold and stern, traits typically associated with Batman – though part of Morrison’s aims for the character in Batman R.I.P thru Batman Incorporated was to break him out of such restrictive characterisation.  In Morrison’s Batman it’s suggested that death is a key component of the character and his mythos; not only was death of Bruce Wayne’s parents the catalyst for his transformation to Batman, but the death of those close to him (even if many are resurrected) is an almost routine occurrence and central to many Batman stories.  Hades’ realm of the underworld is also something often referenced by Morrison, most obviously in the metaphor of the Batcave, but also in the notion of Batman descending into the underworld to obtain knowledge or understanding.  As Batman, Dick Grayson does this twice in Morrison‘s run; when he goes deep into a British mine in search of a Lazarus pit to resurrect Bruce Wayne, and when he discovers previously unknown tunnels and ‘Batcave’ under Wayne Manor leading to the return of Bruce Wayne.

• At the start of the JLA run Batamn tells the league that he’s only prepared to act in an “advisory capacity” because for him “Gotham comes first”.  This is the restriction – self-imposed in this JLA story, but meta-textually one that has been imposed on Batman by a succession of writers, particularly since the ‘dark and gritty’ version of the character from the late 80s onwards – and it is part of Morrison’s mission in his run to break Batman out of this geographical restriction. 

   

  
   

• When the JLA are attacked by the villain The Key, the team are subjected to a neural virus that transports their minds to alternate lives.  In Batman’s alternative he is living in retirement with Selina Kyle (Catwoman), and the mantle of Batman has passed on to Tim Drake with Bruce Wayne Jr as his Robin.  This is a quite different outcome to the events in Morrison’s Batman run where Dick Grayson becomes the new Batman, with the son of Bruce and Talia Al Ghul, Damian, as his Robin – who in a potential future then goes on to become Batman himself.  #8 also sees the phrase "Batman and Robin can never die", which, in the slighty different form of "Batman and Robin will never die!", will feature several times in the Batman run - and is probably the overaching message of the whole story.

   

  
   

• In the Rock of Ages storyline, which pitches the JLA against Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang, the latter approach their conflict as “the corporate takeover of the Justice League’.  This, Luthor suggests, means employing the tactics of “identify their weak spots, destabilize their figureheads, headhunt the up-and-coming young hotshots’.  However, they are undone by Bruce Wayne’s superior corporate knowledge and tactics.  Not only is this echoed in that last third of Morrison’s run as Batman Incorporated take on Talia Al Ghul’s Leviathan organisation, Luthor’s tactics are employed by the latter during their war.  Morrison has repeatedly used the idea of corporations within their work; The Invisibles, Marvel Boy, and Seaguy, to name just a few.

• In a possible future Batman confronts Darkseid and is struck by the latter’s Omega Effect beams.  Exactly the same thing will happen in Morrison’s Final Crisis which causes Batman to be thrown back in time, leading to the events of The Return of Bruce Wayne.  However, in the JLA story the beams are said to send Batman “out of time, out of space..beyond what the gods even know”.  The heroes save the day in their ‘now’, so that future never comes to pass, and we don’t get any follow up on this Batman’s fate – but it's interesting that Morrison re-ran the exact scene in Final Crisis but with (it appears)  different consequences.  

   

  

There are other connections to Morrison’s Batman in JLA – both specific and more general – though it also shares some of them with their other work through the years as well.  The climatic storyline in JLA builds upon several of the shorter arcs throughout the series, and many of the previously featured characters return.   The climax of The Return of Bruce Wayne builds upon the series to date, and ties together plot lines from the very first issue, though Final Crisis, and Batman and Robin.  Whilst Batman Incorporated acts in many ways as a fresh start as it moves on from the Joker and Dr Hurt, it ultimately ends with huge conflict between the characters that featured in Morrison’s opening arc Batman and Son, whilst also includes many of the characters (re)introduced along the way.  The JLA run also features characters from the New Gods – particularly in its final story – who are key parts of Final Crisis and its impact on Batman and his supporting cast.  Interestingly, whilst the Joker does appear in JLA as part of Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang, he has little more than cameo appearances and has a much more traditional presentation that he will in Batman R.I.P. – Morrison has little to say here about the Joker, saving that deeper exploration for his longer Batman project.

 

52 (2006-2007)

Written by Grant Morrison and others

Art by various

 

The weekly series 52 span out of the Infinite Crisis comic/event, following which the holy trinity of DC Comics - Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman - look a year-long leave of absence (hence the title, it covered 52 weeks in the DC universe in 'real time').   At the conclusion of Infinite Crisis Bruce tells the other two-thirds of that trinity that he intends to 'retrace the steps I first took when I left Gotham. I'll be rebuilding Batman.  But this time it's going to be different....I'm not going alone.'  Accompanied by (at that time the only) Robins (Dick Grayson and Tim Drake), this sets up the premise of Morrison's mission for Batman - to turn him from the dark violent soldier-vigilante character he had become into a brighter better-adjusted superhero.  Batman plays a very small part in the 52 series, but the few pages dedicated to him are incredibly important to what comes next.  Indeed, in the omnibus reprints of Batman R.I.P. the relevant pages are included as a prologue of sorts, and therefore I will address these in their own blog and annotations rather than just summarising them here,  

In the next blog I'll take a look at some of the Batman comics not written by Grant Morrrison that tie into their Batman run.  

 

Mike