BATMAN AND ROBIN #8

Review by: TheNextChampion

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Written by Grant Morrison
Art and Variant cover by Cameron Stewart
Cover by Frank Quitely

Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99

This review contains spoilers, click here to read

We're going to be arguing this for a while, I'm sure. So let me get right down to it.

That isn't Bruce Wayne. It's a clone of Bruce Wayne from when Darkseid tried to make an army out of him in Final Crisis. Morrison shows us a quick, half page explaination of this and moves on. What does this mean and is this even the right answer? No idea on both accounts. It makes sense on a bunch of levels though. A) It means that the Omega Sanction does take you; mind and body away from the present. B) Superman could easily mistaken the body of the clone was Bruce since it was a clone. C) Nekron used a corrupt body to influence the heroes. So yes, I don't know the full reasoning behind Morrison's madness here....But it makes sense when you think about it for a long time.

Back on the comic at hand......Yeah it was good. Heh, I'm sorry it is a bit hard to critique this issue to be quite honest. It was a straight forward issue for the most part, or as straight forward you could get with Morrison. Fake Bruce fights the heroes, some guy name Prophet Mannheim causes a mine shaft explosion, Batwoman is killed (but we're near a Lazarus Pit so...), and all the while Fake Bruce decides to meet up with his favorite son in Gotham. That, in a nut shell, is what happened and it's all muddled with bizarre dialogue by Morrison. I will say that the British dialiect got very confusing to read, even after a second read. But for the most part this was an enjoyable, and suspensful comic once again by Morrison.

What I can say quite easily is that Cameron Stewart is doing fantastic stuff with this arc. His layouts aren't as experiment as Quitely's was, but it's pretty damn close. The fistfight Grayson has with Fake Bruce is laid out pretty damn interesting. The characters are in Stewart's style, but it fits. It's cartoony but they look sharp and crisp. I think it helps that Tony Avina's colors make this a bright and cheerful looking book. (Although the latter isn't cheery in context). Great use of greens, oranges, red's and a few others. I would love to see Stewart do a Batwoman book (yes a bit stupid to say with J.H. William III doing an amazing job) cause he seems to make her look extraordinary in his style. Art is downright perfect, can't think of a single problem with it.

So this has a huge moment in the first few pages and some bizarre happening's through out the book. What more can you expect from Morrison at this point? I'd be shocked if a comic by him isn't as confusing or wildy outrageous.

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

drakedangerz says:

February 11, 2010 at 4:48 pm

It’s actually the character King Coal that blows up the mine. He was mentioned in the last issue, but it wasn’t really spelled out that it was him. Just had to assume that because he had a crown, and his minions were chimney sweeps.

Solid review. I’ll talk more about it on XBL, but I think that the body was always a clone’s and when Bruce was zapped in final crisis, his mind, soul and body were sent through time. Either Darkseid placed the dead clone close so that Superman would pick it up, or Superman looked around and ended up stumbling on to the body while he was in Darkseid’s hideout. That part remains to be seen.

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TheNextChampion says:

February 11, 2010 at 4:55 pm

@drake: I didn’t notice it was King Coal, he was never mentioned by name in this issue I think. But thanks for the clarification. Yeah we’ll talk about it more on XBL, but now that seems so 100% of what happened. The Omega Sanction did send Bruce, body and soul, to another timeline. So Superman did take a clone of Bruce and didn’t see the difference.

Why Darkseid would do that I have no idea…..if he did purposely left the body out. Maybe it was a bit of a ‘fuck you’ to everyone thinking they would’ve tried and revive him.

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drakedangerz says:

February 11, 2010 at 5:05 pm

@TNC-Hmm, could be that he wanted them to resurrect his evil clone so that he could cause trouble for the heroes. That’s a pretty dick move, and something the king of dicks, Darkseid, would do.

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TheNextChampion says:

February 11, 2010 at 5:23 pm

@drake: It does sound pretty perfect thing for Darkseid to do. Although that comes off more as a prank from the bullies of Animal House then the lord of Apokolips. lol

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WadeWilson says:

February 11, 2010 at 6:51 pm

My two favourite quotes from the review —

"What does this mean and is this even the right answer? No idea on both accounts. It makes sense on a bunch of levels though."

"So yes, I don’t know the full reasoning behind Morrison’s madness here….But it makes sense when you think about it for a long time."

Your mind is a strange puzzle, filled with mystical ideas, my friend.

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CaptainSweatpants says:

February 11, 2010 at 7:37 pm

The art is awesome.

The plot makes sense to Morrison and his fans I guess but I don’t like it.

IMO Morrison really needs to do new creations and leave the mainstream heroes be. This reads like an Indy comic.

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flapjaxx says:

February 11, 2010 at 8:42 pm

Yeah, it’s definitely King Coal, mentioned last issue.

The "Mannheim" person is apparently a pre-existent villain who (among other things) used to serve as Darkseid’s liaison on earth. At least, that’s what I read on another board. "Mannheim" was just obliquely referenced in this issue, the way Morrison likes to name-drop a lot of criminals. (He did that last issue when Dick was entering the prison.)

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robbydzwonar says:

February 12, 2010 at 12:37 pm

I had to have somebody explain to me that the body was actually Wayne’s clone all this time because I didn’t read much of Final Crisis, but once you put this arc on the burner to cook, it’s ready to satisfy your hunger is mere moments!! I can’t wait for #9!! Just 11 more days to go!!

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flapjaxx says:

February 12, 2010 at 3:14 pm

@robby: "once you put this arc on the burner to cook, it’s ready to satisfy your hunger in mere moments!!"

Haha! Yes! Good way to put it–they should use that quote on the back of a hardcover collection. When you start grooving on this stuff and getting into it, it’s awesome. I’ll write a long review of this issue later tonight, and I’ll point out some of the hidden shit in it.

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BATMAN AND ROBIN #8

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