Any book that has Batman stating “Goodnight, mechanical dinosaur” is more than likely going to be my pick of the week.  There’s just no getting around that. 

Neil Gaiman might very well by my favorite comic writer, at least in the top five so to see him on Batman is a great thing indeed.  Reading last issue was, while good, somewhat difficult to pin down on what was ultimately going to be about.  Whether some might be bothered still by the fluid structure, I think it was a great way to boil Batman down to his most key elements.  In some of the same way how Singer made what some hoped to be an action piece into a character study on Superman, I think Gaiman threw the potential for a big epic for a thematic character piece on the Caped Crusader.  And it worked.  More than anything, this was a really cathartic issue that washed over me like a nice shower.  It’s clear from here that Gaiman’s got a love and respect for the character in all his incarnations.

As far as the art is concerned, there was a moment while driving in the car where I was flipping through to an image I literally thought was a Dave McKean image.  If you can fool me into thinking any piece of your work was done by McKean even for a moment, you’re a fantastic artist.  The other homages to Sprang, Bolland, and Adams (and others) was nice, too, as well as little touches like the Hatter’s buttons.  And I’m not even the biggest fan of Adam Kubert.  Way to step it up.

Overall, this was a great story about the core of Batman.  It’s a beautiful send-off for Bruce Wayne and a nice pivot-point for what Morrison plans to do with the franchise.  Gaiman and Kubert built a far better farewell for the original Dark Knight than could be expected.  Even if the character isn’t ACTUALLY dead…