Anyway.
I must admit that it was with considerable trepidation that I relapsed into this project. Summer laze aside, I feared that Morrison's latest would prove too fluid and informal for my notes to penetrate. Thumbing through this new #1, unfortunately, does little to allay this dread. We're back, it seems, at Batman and Son - Steranko with fangs, y'know - and you can check for yourself how sparse my notes were for those issues.
Of course, Batman and Robin maintains the top notch craftsmanship you'd expect from a Morrison/Quitely team-up (though with a might more exposition than the tone rightly lets), but where, for example, are the clues to suss out? Where are those grand puzzles to chart in the annotations? Sure, Morrison hasn't forgotten what came before, trotting out Professor Pyg and his Dollotrons for the devotees, but everything's bubbling right there at the surface. There's none of that angst about overlooking some remote Silver Age nod, pondering in your third read, "What am I missing?"
But if we're not missing anything, then what are we getting? Well, B&R has lots of splash pages, bright primary colors, wide screen Quitely artwork, wordless panels, and iconized sound effects - all of which sum up to a type of music like the catchy tune at the top, except much more savage, with violins screeching a Psycho-esque accompaniment, while swine men and marionettes hack away at your nerves. But honestly, I'm hardselling this more than it deserves. Morrison teases a lot here, from the offbeat Circus of the Strange to a possible coup attempt by Damian, but all in all, the final product of this first issue treads mostly on familiar territory, between its easily dispatched threat to showcase the heroes in action, character moments and exposition, its fade-out on a mysterious evil mastermind, and, wow, that's really about it.
Being a Quitely/Morrison formula crank isn't such a bad thing, of course, it's just that these types of stories don't demand much in the way of annotations. To be perfectly frank, I can see myself ditching this undertaking midway through, ala Tucker Stone, but for now, let's just keep it on (and on and on and on).
Page 1: Mr. Toad, on loan from Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, is seen here boasting his characteristic ego and falling pray to Le Bossu's blunder in 681, that is, assuming that Batman could die. Aptly, we follow Mr. Toad in a "wild ride," which concludes with a "brief spell in prison," just as in the novel.
Minger (from Urban Dictionary):
Although now more commonly used to define an extremely visually challenging appearance, the word "minger" originally came from Scottish Gaelic, meaning "septic vagina," now often used by chavs all over Britain to define anything remotely disgusting."Septic vagina," eh? I must've missed that part of the Disney ride. And beats me what a "chav" is.
Pages 4-5: It may interest all cave dwellers to learn that Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne took up the Dynamic Duo mantle after a long drudge through a Tony Daniel mini. It was called Struggle for the Mask, I think, or Row for the Utility Belt, something insipid like that, it just escapes me right now.
Page 7: Mr. Toad mentions the name "Pyg," as in "Professor Pyg," who met his final fate at the hands of a demoniac Batman in the prophetic 666. In case you've forgotten, he was...
p a !
Do you get it? And who says this isn't the DC Age of gauche witticisms?
Page 9: "Nanti" is European circus slang for "nothing" and "dinari," without looking it up, you may guess means "money."
Page 10: The bat cave lies in wreckage after Hush's attack in Detective 850 and possibly after its invasion by Dr. Hurt in RIP.
Beaming back at us from the photograph Dick holds, the treasured heart of the Bat mythos summons our sorrow at his recent stay of absence. Ace, oh Ace, how we miss you so! Actually, with a touch of luck, Batman and Robin might yet see the return of Ace the Bathound, the tone thusfar certainly allowing the possibility.
Page 11: I like that the top of Bruce's headstone (I'm assuming) is masoned in the shape of a bat. It fits well with the series' level of camp. I don't, however, like that Thomas and Martha Wayne's grave has yet again refigured, this time as an angel. Recall that I touched on the issue of amorphous graves in the annotations for 679, and note also that the Christ pose remains constant despite the different tomb.
Page 12: Old-school-awesome artistic conceit. Nice cutaway, Quitely. Bruce Wayne installed himself in this penthouse back in the 70s, most notably in the famed Englehart stories. The complex last surfaced in 681 as a relay tower which signaled the release of Arkham's locks. Way at the bottom, the Rail-mobile was introduced by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan in their part, the only palatable part, of Knightquest.
I always thought "bones" were dice, but I suppose the two things (dice and dominoes) look similar enough that it could be either.
Page 13: Damian tinkers with the new Batmobile, which I posited way back in Batman 657 would parallel the Dark Knight's outlook. For example, in RIP, it was red and black, the shades then haunting Bruce's mind. Later, in a flashback to the Golden Age and the arrival of the first Robin (682), the Batmobile, little more than a sportscar, glitters a bright red, "adding color to [Bruce's] monochrome life." And now, it flies and wears an off-looking exterior, not terribly removed from the overall tenor of Batman and Robin, and well in keeping with Nightwing's Tomasi-established habit of taking to the skies (e.g. HALO jumps and, as we'll soon see, "paracaping").Batman quickly downs the sandwiches Alfred prepared on the previous page, setting him apart from the old, fasting Batman and greatly boosting Chris Eckert's theory about the importance of food in Morrison's run. Not to diminish either of our efforts on the matter, but I can't help but wonder if Morrison, who is known to regularly peruse web speculation on his comics, was inspired by these possibly pre-emptive theories, and decided, based on them, to MAKE food important in his run. In other words, I wonder if reader brainstorming on the internet plays any part in Morrison's creative process. Thoughts?
You may recall the "International Club of Heroes" from the Williams III arc, numbers 667 to 669. Also, in three weeks, be sure to show your support for all things Williams by snagging yourself a copy of Detective Comics 854, (DC you may advance my compensation through PayPal; my account number is...)
Page 14: It shouldn't be more than a head-length from somebody's chin to his clavicle. Who will become Batman when Dick completes his transformation into a giraffe? Find out in 2010's Batman: Row for the Utility Belt!
Page 15: The Circus of the Strange emerges.
Page 18: Kickass. Please poster-ize. I must have this on my wall!
Page 20: Lev and this wiry fellow, Niko, managed at the beginning of the book to duck capture by Batman and Robin, who were naturally more concerned with their freakish driver, Mr. Toad. No idea what's in the bag here, though we're sure to find out soon.
Page 21: Here we meet the original Dollotrons, whose appearance strays far from Andy Kubert's original conception of them in 666. I imagine it has to do with a description of the Dollotrons as Raggedy Ann look-alikes, each of the two artists taking away a different subset of the doll's features when referencing it for the homage. Andy Kubert's dolls are pale-faced and rosy-cheeked while Frank Quitely's have fat faces and short hair.
Page 23: Real quick -
Panel 1: Damian appears to be quitting the Robin gig, as much squinting reveals the lighted circle on the floor to be a disembodied "R" patch from his costume.
Panel 2: A new Red Hood, possibly in connection with The Killing Joke, since we already have a circus freakshow, and Morrison has promised a Joker appearance. His sidekick is, with small doubt, a dollified Sasha, the teenage girl from the last three pages. Follow the link for a better view of this Devilish Duo.
Panel 3: One Batman, Dick I presume, battles Kate Kane while another rises from what looks like magma.
Panel 4: Dr. Hurt dangles the keys to Wayne Manor in front of his face, indicating, most importantly, that 681's helicopter crash failed to end his threat. As I've said elsewhere, given he is so paranoid and ready for every eventuality, you would imagine the ever-calculating Bruce Wayne would've thought better than to mark his address on his keys.
EDITED TO ADD:
I realize that it may seem odd, me going on in a big rigamarole lamenting Batman and Robin's annotative inaccessibility, and then launching into a 1000-word, page-by-page exegesis on the issue. I'll cop to hyperbole in the remarks, but there remains a big distinction. With stuff like RIP, I could simply jump to a page, think it over for a few minutes, and then clack out a few hundred words which would undoubtedly include references to at least two different eras of Bat lore. It would've been impossible to track onto the site everything that popped up at me while I was reading RIP, but with this, I've hardly spared any of my observations. Plus, I'm actively LOOKING for things to write. As I've said a couple of times, this is a very good comic, but just not a particularly challenging one. I guess we'll see how it goes next month. Same Bat time. Same Bat channel. Stay tuned.
I agree.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually become weird to me to read a Batman book that doesn't require research.
Still, there was a ton to appreciate here. The cutaway of Wayne Tower, for one. I miss cutaways, they're the old standby of comics. Especially 60's and 70's comics, come to think of it, so this homage to the Penthouse, the Bunker, and the 60's TV show is the perfect time for it to come out and play.
Still, I have a feeling, apart from the inherent notions of a virtuous young Batman and a Robin that's ... "half-demon" destined to be a "Bat out of Hell", things won't be as deep as before.
That being said ... I think there's a good chance that as this progresses, it'll do the same thing Morrison's "last chapter" did. It'll steadily grow more complex. After all, we're looking very likely at the notion of "brother vs. brother" with Dick vs. Jason ... personality vs. personality. And then there's the inevitible involvement of Dr. Hurt and the Joker. Plus, Morrison has dabbled with Alan Moore's Killing Joke circus themes once already - revisiting the clowns and midgets back in The Clown at Midnight. So if the Circus of Strange blends that with Dick Grayson's experience as circus-folk, it could at least open a whole new line of thoughts.
By the way, nice catch with the para-capes, the flying car, and Dick Grayson's recent addiction to aerial, death-defying maneuvers that Tomasi laid down.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, warbird. "Bat out of hell" is a good catch, because we know that Morrison does draw inspiration from things like old songs and oddball phrases, the saying maybe an early kernel of an idea that sprouted eventually into 666.
ReplyDeleteIs it confirmed that the new Red Hood is Jason Todd? I'm presuming that's what you meant by a "likely" bout between Jason and Dick. It's possible, yeah, but I just have trouble believing that Morrison would be interested in modern Jason Todd and his tremendous Bat baggage. Plus, with Winnick on Batman, I thought Jason would show up in that title, Winnick being his de facto resuscitator and all.
It seem to me that Jason lives in that realm of sort of edgy, gritty, non-classic characters that Morrison often avoids (like you're not gonna see Mr. Sinister in New X-Men, for example). But then, what the fuck do I know, since I was 99% that it would be Tim as the new Batman.
Finally, on the Killing Joke connection, we're definitely both onto something. A commenter on David Uzumeri's site (www.funnybookbabylon.com) pointed out that the sign "Ghost Train" looming near the emerging Dollotrons had appeared once before in Alan Moore's classic GN, strongly indicating that Professor Pyg operates out of the Joker's old digs. Perhaps this connection will lead us somehow to the J-man's promised appearance in Batman and Robin. I guess time will tell.