It’s been a week and I’m no closer to understanding the outcome of the highly-anticipated, widely-publicized finale to Batman R.I.P. Go ahead, call me stupid. I’ve heard and read all the theories. That’s the problem. I shouldn’t have to theorize.
Grant Morrison pulled a lot from Batman’s long and varied past for this series (ComicMix has a great guide up) and I know a lot of that was lost on me but that’s not what’s so bothersome. In my opinion, R.I.P. was billed as it’s own story and something like that should have an explicit ending. Anyone who’s read it, knows it didn’t. We were left with vague explanations of who the villain actually was. Yes, Batman’s story continues after R.I.P. but wasn’t there supposed to be a real conclusion?
Something Morrison said earlier this year had me intrigued as to what amazing ending he’d pull out of his hat, “When we begin to suspect the identity of the villain, I think it’s the most, like I said the other day, it’s possibly the most shocking Batman revelation in 70 years.” If by shocking he meant, everyone will be shocked because they’ll be left empty-handed, then I could understand that statement. Of course, I have no idea what he really meant so now I’m left perplexed.
Message boards lit up the day R.I.P. came out. Some loved it, some hated it and a lot argued over the real meaning behind the ending. Newsarama actually has a poll up asking readers to rate R.I.P. Surprisingly (as of right now) most are voting three stars even if they didn’t get the ending. The most popular opinion seems to be the villain was really the Devil. Yes, THE Devil.
I’ve actually been waiting for Morrison to speak about the series himself. I finally found an interview with him by Times Online from the UK:
Morrison hints that we’ve seen the last of Wayne. But what of Batman? “Well, do you really think a helicopter crash is enough to kill Batman?” he laughs. “The ultimate story of Batman is ongoing. Don’t forget he’s been around a while. He’s 70 next year. The story of these characters is never ending.”
Morrison goes on to say he thinks the status quo will eventually be restored but, “I don’t see the value in killing the character for the sake of it. I like exploring their mortality to see if they can survive in other ways. It gives them more depth.”
So what about the villain in question that caused Batman to explore his own mortality? ”I had a villain using all his resources to destroy Batman. Yet Batman always overcomes everything, including the ultimate evil,” says Morrison. That sounds like a definitive answer squarely in the Devil camp but then why not just say it flat out?
There is no question, however, that debate will rage on about this one for a while. So, it’s been a week. What’s your opinion of Batman R.I.P.?
You can also view and discuss this article at TheNerdyBird.com
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:20 am
Every comic house claims to have their flagship stories plotted out over many years. I doubt them, seriously. I think DC chose to do the exact opposite as what Marvel did with the Death of Captain America which as you may recall was a complete surprise. At Comic Fusion when the boss read CA #25, she pulled all the copies off the shelves to make sure her regulars got dibs since no one knew about it. Back orders at Diamond were fubar! DC did the opposite and touted this death since the opening of Con season. Morrison spewed rhetoric that it wouldn’t be death, it would be worse. Nothing but a line to try and drive sales which is why they crossover into books now canceled; and by “crossover” I mean they had banners on the covers but nothing to do with RIP. Gorgeous artwork couldn’t save this story. Batman will be rezzed Lazarus style rather than have a “clone” excuse but still, Bruce will be back.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Yeah, I’ve had an issue with the RIP “crossovers” as well. Having one of the characters mention Batman is missing does not count.
So, concerning the Lazarus pits, you think he’s really dead then?
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Yeah, I am still trying to make out half the story myself. Honestly, I expected the same as you. A definite ending to the story. Now, I have more questions than I did going in and it really saddens me that the story just… I don’t know. To me it went in every direction just to end up behind where they were before.
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
“RIP” was incredibly disappointing. It was messy, choppy, and had wayy too many references to things way back in Batman history: you should need an encyclopedia to read a comic.
The end issue, I thought, was actually a nice wrap-up—but I’m thinking that I only feel that because it was a crappy storyline, LOL. I’m interested in seeing how Batman “lives on,” but yeah, the villain was unclear and the thing with Jet? I could have cared less.
I agree with Morrison (Gasp! Just hang on!) when he laughed and said, “Well, do you really think a helicopter crash is enough to kill Batman?” Seriously! And I think the ending was pretty suggestive that he’s still out there—in what form, though, is what has me intrigued.
But what does the devil have to do with anything, lol? Unless he’s talking about internal evil that resides in us all, which makes sense with the story … especially the last issue. Hmm.
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Okay, if no one else minds, will one of you actually sum up RIP? What happened? Did Bruce die for real? I don’t think I will read it till it comes out in a trade, but I feel as a comic geek I should know if one of DC’s posterboys died. It sounds like it is a bit up in the air, but anything you want to share would be much appreciated!
December 4th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Check out my DoubleDCoverage this week I pretty much sum it up, but here’s the gist: There is a big explosion and Batman is presumed dead although no body is recovered.
December 12th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
There’s been new developments this week. From Newsarama’s Q&A with Dan Didio:
10. Let’s talk about Batman. Something that came up in a lot of the commentary and criticism of “Batman R.I.P.” is that the storyline was built and built and built – Grant himself made pronouncements about it at the New York Comic Con as being one of the most definition stories for Batman. And then at the end of R.I.P., we get a “death” scene that we have seen before – no body, and a question mark as to what even happened. To me, this seems like it was a case where the hype, or people’s expectations overtook the story’s ability to deliver…
DD: Here’s the conundrum on this one. And this is reflective of the world that we live in now – the world of collected editions. The R.I.P. story was always meant to play through to the end of Final Crisis - always. The thing is, we had to come up with a very complete story in “Batman R.I.P.” as it existed in its title. The reality is that the “Batman R.I.P.” story does not conclude until Final Crisis #6. There are also issues #682 and #683 of Batman that feed directly into Final Crisis #6, and we’ll have a big finale to the Batman storyline. That’s how it plays out.
But as I said, because we live in the world of collected editions, we needed a conclusion in the Batman series, so that we could collect it properly within Batman, without having to bring in segments of Final Crisis to complete the story.
NRAMA: So – fundamentally, “Batman R.I.P” did not end in Batman #681?
DD: Correct. We have the two parts that we’re in the middle of now, and they lead us into Final Crisis #6 which gives us a definite conclusion to the Batman story. That’s how Grant designed the story from the start, and that’s how the story plays out. So, the people who are looking for the big finale, the stuff that Grant was talking about – he knows how big an ending he has, because he wrote it in Final Crisis #6. That story has been so planned out that it reflects events from the pages of Final Crisis #1 in order to pull it all together.
So the Batman story has been hinted at in Final Crisis #1 - we couldn’t allude to it, because we didn’t want to play our hand too early with that. The fascinating thing about what Grant has done is that he’s telling a major story in the life of Batman while he’s telling a major event across the DC Universe with Final Crisis. And the two are linked.
NRAMA: So Final Crisis #6 is like when you’re driving on, say, I-40 and it merges with another for a while, and you get the road signs telling you that you’re on two highways at the same time…and you follow another highway out other than the one you went in on.
DD: Exactly. And Batman #682 and #683 are reflective of things that took place earlier in Final Crisis as well.
11: That said, it took you a few minutes there to explain where the story “really” went and ended, and yet, there’s the clear perception, at least until this word gets out, that R.I.P ended with Batman #681. What can you do, or can you do anything when you see fans reading along, and coming to a point where collectively, they say, “What the hell?” In the meantime, you know where the story goes from where they think it ended, and you know that the story has a more satisfying conclusion than the one they are looking for, but it’s somewhere else. Do just bite the bullet and wait for the tide to turn in regards to fan sentiment?
DD: Honestly, I enjoyed the ending of R.I.P. in Batman, so I felt satisfied at the conclusion. I look at everyone following along, and have the same reaction that anyone in my position has when the readers get a controversial issue – that they don’t say, “Oh, yeah - #681. Didn’t like it, so I’m going to drop Batman and never read another issue.” I’m hoping that’s not the case because, as those who stuck around realized, issue #682 really gets you back into what the story is really about, and that comes across even stronger in #683. Again, we’re trying to create long-term fiction with Batman. In doing so, we want to make sure these things are as compelling as they can be from stage to stage, point to point, and that people ride along all the way with us.
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/120810-DiDio-20.html If you want to read more.