(ed. note: today Eric Kimzey fills in with a review of Batman RIP. We’ll be back on track starting Monday with one of my favorite Dark Horse comics . . . -Dalton)

Batman #679
Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea 

Ever heard the term, “bat-crazy”?  The term could be used best to describe Grant Morrison’s newest take on our favorite Dark Crusader.  The Batman RIP line is as crazy as they come.  Morrison is known for taking us down the road to crazy town.  From his runs on Animal Man to his own series such as WE3, Morrison is as eccentric as it comes in mainstream comics. 

The Batman RIP line is a path that takes us down the road from Bruce Wayne to the Batman of Zurenarah.  I probably spelled that incorrectly so I am just going to call him Bat Z.  So Bat Z is a character Morrison picked up from a past Batman arc — I think it was sometime in the 80s but I am too lazy to look up what exact issues.  Sorry.  Basically all you need to know is that Bat Z was from a different dimension where he was basically Batman with Superman powers, or something like that.  Bat Z is not the Batman we know and love.  Bruce Wayne is aware of Bat Z and has somehow worked the persona into his own psyche. 

The RIP story is currently my favorite story arc.  It is the best Bats Morrison has written since he came on as writer after the Infinite Crisis.  Morrison has implemented very strong attitudes and ideas to the entire Batman mythology.  Alfred is really Bruce Wayne’s father, Thomas Wayne is still alive, and Batman is one string away from becoming crazier than the Joker himself. 

Batman #679 is a culmination of all the suspected inklings many Bat Fanatics have hypothesized.  In the issue Bruce Wayne becomes Bat Z.  We are introduced to a monkey in a bat suit, and gargoyle statues who talk to Bruce about the Matrix.  For those who are unaware of the storyline, Bruce was made crazy by an organization known simply as the “Black Hand”.  The leader of the group is apparently claiming to be Thomas Wayne and accusing Alfred of being Bruce’s real father.  Reminded me more of a soap opera than a comic book, I had to check the title and make sure it was Batman I was reading and not “All My Children”.  For some reason I think Morrison might be a huge Susan Lucci fan since he has been concentrating more on Bruce’s family life, such as Bruce’s son and now his daddy issues. 

The book continues taking us through the craziness that is Morrison’s mind, climaxing with Bat Z, AKA Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman, AKA some crazy bastard with a purple suit, beating some bad guy who looks like the offspring of the Joker and Poison Ivy with a Louisville Slugger.  At the end of the book we finally see what is in my opinion the actual leader of this new group of baddies, The Joker.  Apparently they are leading Bat Z to Arkham for a showdown with our favorite clown. 

As I have stated, this book is awesome.  It shows a Batman like we have never seen him but always suspected he might actually be.  BAT CRAZY, literally.  As Batman describes it himself, “I’m The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.  I’m what you get when you take Bruce out of the equation.”  Which is exactly what many people have wanted to see, he is like the Hulk without Bruce Banner or Mr. Hyde without Dr. Jekyll.  He has no reservations, he has no rules, and he is simply a beast of the night. 

I am going to go a little psychological now, so stay with me.  In my opinion Morrison is using Batman to show us how close we all teeter to the edge.  Many of us who read comics do so in order to identify ourselves with certain characters for whatever reasons.  Many who identify with Batman do so because of his appeal to the common man able to do superhuman feats.  Morrison has taken the human aspect out of Batman and created the beast, Bat Z.  Morrison is using Bat Z as an indicator to show us what people can and do become when pushed over their edge.  Characters such as Hulk or Mr. Hyde do the same thing.  They are tales of morality and psychological tension.  A test to see how far you can push someone before they go over the edge.  In this case, Morrison is using a favorite character of many to speak to us, to show us what can happen.  In a way he may be commenting on the current society we live in.  How we are as a society, so close to going over that edge and leading down a path to becoming beasts.  Morrison has always envisioned himself as a modern day philosopher who happens to use comics as his tool instead of a more traditional method.  In most books written by Morrison there is a morality issue that is taken to one extreme or the other in order to show the reader where exactly one can go when pushed.  RIP is no different. 

Sorry about that, sometimes I go on tangents that may or may not make any sense.  Bottom line, this is some of the best Bats in years.  There are tie-ins from all the bat books including Nightwing, Robin and Detective.  I only pick up Batman and Detective so I may not have the whole story.  All I know is that Morrison is just as Bat Crazy as the characters he writes, and I love it.