Hawkeye's Recent Comments
December 12, 2008 1:13 am Oh I don't know if that makes it better or worse...
December 8, 2008 11:49 pm I'm sorry, but in my opinion Grant Morrison is not the end all, be all of comic book writers.
December 8, 2008 11:38 pm

First of all.. Wow, who knew that a quick gut reaction made right after reading this issue could spark such a heated debate. Now second of all I would like to place my reading of this book into context. I am a comic fan through and through, and don't try to claim that you know anything about me just because I don't like Morrison's Batman. I am 23 years old and I have been reading comics for roughly a third of my life, and while I may not be an enthusiast for his work, I can still think he can be a good writer, I loved All-Star Superman and I even own his omnibus from New X-Men. So please don't think that I don't get Morrison, because I know what he does and I know what kind of writer he is, that being said I can't give him a pass just because of his name. But that's true about anyone, I judge every story and issue for itself regardless of the character, writer or artist.

Now that all of that is out of the way maybe I can give you all a more thought out version of my review of this issue. I can remember hearing that Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert would be taking over Batman that I was really excited. However I have been constantly disappointed with not just R.I.P. but his entire run, and I understand that most of that is just his idea of Batman, is not my idea of Batman. I can remember back during Batman & Son, Morrison tries to affirm the idea that Batman thinks of everything and has endless contingency plans by giving him a rocket. Which sets up the idea that Batman thinking that psycological attack is a possibility and decides to prepare for that too. I can see that, and you know what it actually makes sense. However its not that I think that it was a bad idea, the execution just wasn't there for me. Within this issue itself we take a look over the career of the Batman, and we begin to see just how long this has been affecting Bruce. And then at the end he hints that the butler did it, which was actually kind of funny, because the butler is probably the last person you would expect in this case. My real questions with this issue are not really what The Lump was or even the appearance of Dr. Hurt, which apparently I misread. My real issue with this issue is that the "answers" really come out of no where. Morrison writes this completely psycological and complex storyline, that leaves people asking a lot of questions and then he just tries to give you all of them afterward, outside of the story. So I understand what is happening and where we stand now after R.I.P. but I just don't really like the way we got there. I can't claim to know what his intentions for this story were, but if they were to confuse and infuriate the frack out of me, then guess what he succeeded. 

One of my biggest issues with the series as a whole is that I'm not sure where it sits in context to the larger Final Crisis story. Which I am reading by the way, I'm not sure why people thought I wasn't reading it. And since Grant Morrison is writing both I would hope that he would be able to keep them in line with one another. If this falls after Final Crisis, then it spoils the ending of that which is barely half over, and if it falls before then how long before. This two-part story is supposed to tie it together, however this first issue just gave me more questions.

Now onto the idea that just because I or anyone else doesn't like Morrison's Batman that we are neither intelligent or a competent reader are just rediculous. As I read through the comments to my "review" I saw that a lot of people commented that I am being critical of his work. As I recall all that I said was that I, me, myself, have not enjoyed his run, and so Morrison enthusiasts are free to think what the may. I believe that my words are being taken way to seriously here, I was not trying to say that I could not follow the story, its just that the story wasn't for me nor the story telling. Everyone has their own idea of who the favorite character is, and so when you are faced with a contradiction to you long held beliefs its sometimes hard to swallow. 

I'm not gonna spout the same art and literature are subjective thing because its already been said and I think it should go without saying. However what I will say is that I am not afraid to express my opinion and I will defend it as well, but I have to say you sure know how to make a guy feel welcome, I mean this was my first week on here, and I'm already being considered a stupid child.