I’m not going to lie and say that I completely understand everything Grant Morrison crammed into his story Batman R.I.P. a couple years ago, or even most of it for that matter. There’s no denying though, the Morrison has a great grasp on the characters of Batman and Bruce Wayne all throughout his history and that he had an ambitious story to tell. I also have to say that I’m not always the biggest fan of Grant Morrison; sometimes his stories just come off as unnecessarily complicated or heady to me. All that being said, I did enjoy R.I.P. back when I read it and was always curious just how Batman made it from the end of that story to Final Crisis #6, and that’s just what Batman #701 starts out to do.
Morrison wastes no time, focuses on Batman/Bruce Wayne immediately after his helicopter crash that he shared with Doctor Hurt at the end of Batman R.I.P. From here, the reader follows Batman as he tries to recover and follow up on these events both through his own internal narration and his interactions with others. I really do have to say, Morrison really does know just how to write Batman. His Batman is equal parts the calculating , strong character many see him as but also empathic and human, just as he should be. There are some truly great scenes of Bruce in this issue and in just his narration, it plainly obvious that Bruce is both determined to end the problems he’s facing, but also extremely tired, though he won’t let that stop his work. This is easily some of the best, and most faithful, characterization I’ve seen in a superhero book recently. There’s a particularly great panel in which Bruce is talking to Superman and thinks to himself “They sometimes forget I’m flesh and blood.” It’s really refreshing to see Batman treated as a human being and not some unstoppable machine.
Where I do have problems with this issue is in the art of Tony Daniel. There’s no denying that Daniel is talented, but his artwork can change drastically from panel to panel, and rarely for the better. Batman changes body shape and size every other page and sometimes the art is just plain unrecognizable. When it looks good, it looks great, but when it doesn’t, it really doesn’t. In one panel, it looks as though he channeling Frank Quitely, which is not a good thing in my eyes as I’m not a quietly fan. There are some truly stellar pages though and I love the cover.
This is easily one of the more straightforward issues I think Grant Morrison has ever written, but this makes it one his better issues for it. Even though the art is wildly inconsistent, the good pages and characterization make it all worth it, especially if you want some insight into both Morrison’s current stories and his from the recent past. I’m personally more excited for the next issue as the story heads into the events of Final Crisis, but this is still definitely worth checking out, especially for all of those that miss Bruce Wayne as Batman.
Overall: 8.1/10
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