I don’t know if it has anything to do with the passing of Grant Morrison Week here on iFanboy, but I found myself inexplicably drawn to the beginning of the whole Batman R.I.P.   It could also be the fact that, when looking at the future of the “Bat Family” books, this current storyline is playing a major part in each of the titles for the next three months.  So, it could also be argued that I felt a little obligated to give it a try as it would determine whether or not I would continue buying the other books.  Regardless of the reasons, I did, in fact, pick this up today, and I’m happy to report that I really enjoyed it.

A brief background for those that haven’t paid attention to any of my earlier posts:  I have disliked a majority of Morrison’s run on Batman.  I bought most of it, but I haven’t picked up the book since the whole Bat-Mite thing, which was a little too out there for my tastes.

With this issue, Morrison seems to be returning to writing a “normal” Batman book.  As it stands, it doesn’t seem that much has happened except for the fact that Bruce Wayne is kind of losing it.  It was actually nice to pick this up and not be completely lost, even though I’ve missed the last four or five months worth of story.

I also really enjoy reading the parts featuring Robin, as we see from his perspective just what is going on with Bruce.  I also think that Morrison really has a strong handle on just what Tim is feeling about the appearance of Damian into Batman’s life.  I enjoy Morrison’s more subtle take on Tim’s jealousy/worry than the whininess that’s been portrayed by other writers.

I don’t really know much about the Black Glove storyline and am uncertain if it’s been in previous issues, but I think this will be a really interesting task for Batman to face.  I get the feeling that this will be a more “detective-y” take on Batman than previously done, and those tend to be some of my more favorite stories.  Add that to the fact that we may see him kind of losing it, and the story  becomes even more interesting.

Quite possibly one of my more favorite moments in the book is the appearance of the Joker at the end of the issue.  The image evokes memories of Morrison’s all text issue from last year, and the thought of that Joker from that issue being involved in this in some way really adds to my excitement for this book.

Lastly, Tony Daniel’s art is really excellent in this issue, and the pacing of the story really has a nice flow to it.  He draws very clean characters, but also has this edgy darkness to his pencils that really fit the mood and the tone of this book.

I went into this book thinking that I wasn’t going to like it, but ended up really enjoying it.  Anybody that left because they thought Morrison was being too weird may just want to jump back on board.  It looks like it’s going to be one hell of a ride.