Leroy Douresseaux on BATMAN: TIME AND THE BATMAN

BATMAN: TIME AND THE BATMAN

DC COMICS

WRITERS: Grant Morrison and Fabian Nicieza
ARTISTS: Tony S. Daniel, Cliff Richards, Andy Kubert, Frank Quitely, David Finch, Richard Friend, and Scott Kolins
COLORS: Ian Hannin, Alex Sinclair, Tony Aviña, Brand Anderson, and Peter Steigerwald
LETTERS: Jared K. Fletcher and Travis Lanham
COVER: David Finch and Scott Williams
EXTRAS ART: Mike Mignola, Kevin Nowlan, Dave Stewart, Shane Davis, Sandra Hope, Barbara Ciardo, Juan Doe, Dustin Nguyen, Guillem March, Tim Sale, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Philip Tan
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2989-4; hardcover
128pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $22.99 CAN

DC Comics recently published a hardcover comic book collection entitled Batman: Time and the Batman. It collects Batman issues 700 to 703 with some extras, including variant covers and a peak inside the Batcave rendered with 3-D modeling.

There is also a gallery of Batman illustrations, a portfolio of sorts entitled “Creatures of the Night: A Batman Gallery.” I won’t say that this gallery is worth the cost of the book, but it is worth at least a quarter of this book’s cover price. There are two hot pieces from Dustin Nguyen and a striking piece by Guillem March, among others.

Batman: Time and the Batman is essentially a bridge story arc that connects Batman R.I.P., Final Crisis, and Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne to one another. In the opening chapter, “Time and the Batman,” the three Batmen: Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Damian Wayne fight the past, present, and future. Batman’s most dangerous adversary, the Joker, and a few others use the Maybe Machine, the invention of Professor Carter Nichols, to raise hell in Gotham City across decades.

Next, in a missing chapter of R.I.P., Batman faces Darkseid and trap that will have him doubting his own mind and perceptions and also lost in time. Finally, in “The Great Escape,” the new Batman and Robin face the Gateway Genius and Damian is confronted by how little he knows about his father. It is a sentimental and highly-enjoyable story from the underrated Fabian Nicieza and artist Cliff Richards.

I recently saw an article that began by describing Grant Morrison as a god to fans, and yes, I’m tired of hearing about fanboy gods. Still, there is reason to love some Grant Morrison because his current run on Batman has been so much fun to read. Let’s face it, pretty much every Batman comic book since Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns has lived in the shadow of (ominous music) The Dark Knight Returns.

To me, at least, Grant Morrison’s Batman is more Dennis O’Neil than it is Frank Miller, but what defines Morrison’s Batman is what defines most of his work, imagination. From page to page, the reader never really knows what to expect and from panel to panel the reader never knows what will come out of the characters’ mouths. After 70 years, Batman can be forgiven for suffering from sameness. In Morrison’s hands, Batman is fresh and bouncy. I swear that when I read this I sometimes think that the whole Batman universe is brand new.

Now, this doesn’t always work that way. “R.I.P. – The Missing Chapter” is a rambling mess; it’s the kind of nonsensical, tie-in comic that is the poster child for why crossover events have been done to death. On the other hand, “Time and the Batman,” the opening story, is sparkly and energetic. The story dances across the pages, as Morrison takes us from one Batman to the next (including Batman Beyond).

Most of this book is good, and although the “missing” chapter of R.I.P. is a true blue misfire, Batman: Time and the Batman is a Grant Morrison Batman book to have.

B+