Batman R.I.P. Deluxe Edition
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via DC Comics
Writer/Artist: Grant Morrison, Tony Daniel, Sandu Florea
Publisher: DC, $24.99
Why You Should Know It:
This was a majorly hyped Batman event that for many didn't deliver, but I would blame that more on the way it was marketed than I actually would on the story itself. We had a lot of customers come in off the street who were either the occasional reader or new to comics hearing about the hype of DC possibly 'killing' Batman off. While some readers did enjoy the single issues, I find most enjoy the bulk of Morrison's work once it has been collected. Morrison's writing style can be incredibly non-linear and often requires a hefty amount of good faith for the final finished product.
via Currion (who really really didn't like the ending, so it's handy to read to get an idea of the different views on this story)
My best advice for any readers showing interest in this would be to convince them to actually read Morrion's Batman run from the beginning, which would be the trade Batman And Son. Then that has to be followed up with The Black Glove, and sorta maybe The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, but not so much. There are a lot of elements in Batman R.I.P. that pull from across all his previous story lines, and just plopping someone down at the end is kind of a weak way of introducing them to entire thing. The DC marketing should really have included something along the lines of ".....And the culmination of everything Morrison has been working towards for the past year or two! Oh, and don't bother unless you plan to read the 2 issues afterwards and probably Final Crisis. Actually, just go buy that too, screw it."
via Comicbooknews
It's kind of hard to just boil down a summary of this single volume in the entire work, but basically a mysterious villain(s?) has orchestrated Batman's mental breakdown. After having his purpose in Gotham questioned, his relationships put to the test, and his own sanity put through a blender Batman has a final showdown with the Black Glove and the Joker to boot. And really, that summary does sound kind of meh because that's not really the entire package. What Morrison really does is explore Batman's past through his random and weird adventures of the 60's all the way through to the dark and grim 80's and 90's. While Batman himself is put through mental torture, Morrison also basically pegs down the very essence of Batman and what makes him tick. This is an interesting parallel to what Morrison did with Superman in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, where he also tries to explain what Superman stands for and what the essence of superhero fiction is as well.
If you can successfully convince a reader to try all of this out from the beginning, what is really handy is to have a bunch of resource material ready to help them along the way. One of the main ones I would recommend, besides wikipedia, would be the following: http://www.comicmix.com/news/2008/11/26/the-stories-that-informed-batman-r-i-p/
If the readers find themselves to be enjoying everything and all their homework, DC does plan to reprint much of the resource material listed in that previous link in the Batman: Black Casebook collection.
via Fanpop
Personal Review:
Back when I started to read the single issues of Batman And Son last year, I really didn't enjoy them. Much of Morrison's work was kind of pissing me off actually. I did decide to give it all another chance though through the collected editions and I found that I not only enjoyed them but really wanted to do the extra research on older Batman stories that they presented. I was equally hyped about Final Crisis, also written by Morrison, because of the heavy Kirby influence obvious throughout all the work. When you put it all together, along with the rest of his major DCU work (Seven Soldiers, JLA Classified, 52), it's actually very interesting to put the puzzle pieces together and just have fun with the crazy stuff being thrown out there.
via 606
The thing you do have to get used to is Morrison's unusual pacing and general lack of.....I don't know, temporal cohesion? It's a bit jumpy, and you can tell he often figures you don't have to see everything yourself because your own imagination should be at work between the panels. Which I can certainly appreciate, but it is murder on new readers or people who just want a straight up traditional story. For example, the last chapter of the HC has Alfred mentioning that Batman will always prevail and always escape when the enemy least expects it. Then over in Final Crisis #6 (which is where events in the DC Universe lead Batman right after RIP), Batman totally does that off panel to the extent that he's free and up to his usual shenanigans without us seeing him escape from his prison.
The part of me that loves that style of storytelling is the part that agrees that yes, if you know anything about Batman you know he will escape and pretty much beat the crap out of whoever he's after, and we probably don't need to waste time seeing his escape. A lot of readers though would prefer to see the actual escape, so it just comes down to personal preference there. I've had a lot of customers just not understand what happened in that sequence of events and it did turn them off from the story. My only real issue with R.I.P. is the art. I am not the biggest Tony Daniel fan, and while there are actual parts of the story that he does a great job with I couldn't help but feel there would have been a better choice for the project. Daniel has a very mid to late '90's Image style to his art, and while it's not as strong as it used to be it's still not something that drew me in. In contrast to the fantastic J.H. Williams III art from the Black Glove story, Tony Daniel just felt like an odd coupling with Morrison and the overall style of the story.
via Pullbot
If you like this, then try:
Seven Soldiers of Victory, JLA (Morrison run), Invisibles, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, We3, Seaguy, The Filth, All Star Superman
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