Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Andy Kubert
Company: DC Comics

Grant Morrison is one in a small handful of creators whose work is about as unpredictable and challenging as you can get. He’s a downright genius to some, constructing mountainous bodies of work that seduce and draw you in with their complex and psychedelic rhythms. But for others, he’s an utter confusion, falling into a stark category of too weird or too out there on the fringe to completely understand. He’s not your typical author, that’s for sure, certainly not one that does the same thing again and again, as he continually tries to do something different with what he gets his hands on. With his Doom Patrol, JLA, New X-Men and All-Star Superman, Morrison takes the traditional superheroics that you’re apt to find in your everyday comics and turns it on it’s head, imposing multilayered plots and a sense of the surreal that makes the mundane absolutely brilliant. Then came Batman. Hearing that he was taking over was like some dream had been answered, and it seemed like a sure thing that his run on Batman would be no different than anything else that he had worked on; fundementally insane while being enjoyable and different at the same time, but after the first issue or two I realized something: The book was boring.

Yes, you heard me correctly, it was boring. The idea of fighting Man-Bat Ninjas, wiping out the majority of crime in Gotham, dealing with the whiny, and extremely annoying, Damian character, and having what was essentially an entire issue composed of large blocks of text with underwhelming computer generated, Sim-like, images just didn’t come close to being the mind-blowing explosion that I had been expecting. Then came along the ominously numbered Batman #666, a little ditty that gives us a glimpse of the future of Gotham City and a battle of epic proportions, Batman versus the Son of Satan.

Holy blazing Apocalypse, Batman, just think of the possibilities!

And what’s even better is that Morrison delivers on those possibilities, creating what is essentially an Elseworlds story that stands on its own and does something memorable with the satirical idea being explored. There’s still a gaping flaw that slightly oozes from between the cracks of the good story being told, and that flaw would be that this is another violent and bloody tale that continues what is now the DC tradition of death and destruction. Morrison goes a little further in places, but who can really blame him really, this is the Antichrist that Batman is fighting. So, if you can accept that and get past it and the fact that the Batman waging the one man war in this future is the sniveling brat, Damian Wayne, then there’s a lot about this story that hits the spot. As you can probably tell though, Damian is a character that simply does nothing for me and mainly proves to detract from whatever scene that he happens to appears in. With this issue, the character is immensely improved upon. Fleshed out and now more like his father, the years still have not been kind to the ilk of Talia and Bruce. His body is a cacophony of pain and anguish, torn by the promise to keep Gotham safe and the violence that has been ingrained upon his mind from his first moments of life. Still, he fights with gusto to save the people around him and that in a nutshell is what any good Batman story is all about.

There are a lot of little things hanging around, odd little asides and humor bits that really give this issue the “whole package” feel. Watching Batman zoom around the busy streets of Gotham in what looks like a slick mini-Batmobile is grin inducing and seeing him talk to his pet cat Alfred goes a long way to make the character more human and approachable. All of this is great but what Morrison and Kubert do best here is the world building. Gotham City, normally a dank and unfriendly place where mobsters feel more at home than anyone, has been splashed by bits and pieces of science fiction, which is normally overwhelming. Here, they go the route of Paul Pope’s Batman Year 100. It’s there and its used, but it’s not overused. Kubert also does a really great job selling this story. His intricate and hatched lines express perfectly the complex and harsh mood of the story. The designs he uses for his characters, especially his Batman, which looks like a cross of the more classic costume with the Gotham by Gaslight look, are completely fluid and fun to look at. The high collar and jacket, used instead of a cape, is an idea that doesn’t sound like it would work but it truly does. Exquisite stuff.

This is Grant Morrison doing what he does best, an odd story made fun, gleefully gift-wrapped in awesome Andy Kubert wrapping paper and then set on fire and lobbed at the masses for all to enjoy. You can’t beat it. Prepare for a party, people, Morrison style.