When Grant Morrison isn’t going to the bizarre or the totally ‘out there’ story line, he really writes one hell of a Batman. I’ve always loved his outrageous approach to Batman but when he goes for a more action oriented approach I find myself enjoying his work more. Maybe it helps that he has such a wonderful artist by his side to aid in the mayhem he’s providing. Whatever the case is, this particular issue of Batman Incorporated was enjoyable because of the fast pace action and tension it provided.

While it is a bit unfortunate that Chris Burnham can’t do an entire issue, his pages are really gorgeous here as always. The opening page alone is worth an entire review for how well it’s set up. The reflection of Bruce as he falls from the sky and then suddenly get snatched by a Man-Bat is really something. He sets the mood pretty well within a page. The playfulness of Damian and his new pet, the bleakness as Squire as she mourns for Knight, and the tension of brainwashed children are easily expressed by Burnham, You can definitely be impressed by Burnham’s inking when you see the pages that aren’t done by him. Jason Masters fills in for three pages and you can clearly see a difference. It doesn’t take you out of it completely, Masters fills in much better than the artists last week, but his disappearance for even a page is too noticeable not to mention.

This issue, if anything, really makes the case that this is a Damian series more than anything else. Yes, we have Batman in peril and the rest of the family isn’t doing hot either. But a good chunk of this issue is Morrison explaining why Damian is integral for the Bat Family and the transformation over the years has been astounding. I HATED Damian the moment he was introduced but Morrison has slowly worked me into loving him over the years. While I love all of the Batman Incorporated members and their adventures, Damian is still the main reason I come back to this book month after month.

This would be almost a perfect issue if it wasn’t for Burnham having a fill-in to get this issue done on time. Apart from that though I really enjoyed this issue for setting up the tension for next month. It really feels like we having an ending coming soon considering all of the story lines that are converging now. As long as Burnham can somehow keep this pace going and do the majority of the artwork I’m hoping we get a really good ending here. Either way, this was a great issue and more action packed Morrison would be nice to see in the future.