Prelude - 52 Week 30 and 52 Week 47

Not too much to say about these issues, although they do introduce a lot of the important concepts that overarch Morrison's run on Batman.



52 Week 30:

Page 2: "The Joker gave up being a murderer," a reference to the Joker's changing personality, of which there will be many

Page 4: Batman sets up Dick and Tim as replacements, which may or may not happen in issues of Batman following 683

Page 12: If you're gonna have surgery, ten eyes beats two any day. Another ten eyed man is featured in 675.

52 Week 47:

Bruce endures the Thogal ritual (which gains importance later in the run) over the course of this issue.

Second to Last Page: The Goose represents Batman, and the bottle represents the form to which previous writers have fit him, in particular, the morose Dark Knight we've seen for the last 20 years. As Robin says, "There's only a goose (Batman) in a bottle because you (the writers and readers) said so." Robin's (Morrison's) realization frees Bruce from the grim mode he's been locked in for years and...

Last Page: Bruce emerges with an "uncharacteristic" smile on his face.