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Batman Incorporated (2011/2012) #1-3
Absolute Batman Incorporated
Grant Morrison's epic saga is collected here in its entirety, in this beautiful new Absolute edition. Bruce Wayne publicly announces that he is the financial backer of Batman and establishes a worldwide franchise of Batmen that will protect the entire globe. Joining him are strange heroes such as Knight & Squire, El Gaucho and Batwing, as well as allies Nightwing and his own son, Robin. However, it seems that as soon as Batman creates his own crimefighting force, another organization rises to challenge him: Leviathan. As the war between the two forces reaches its apex, Bruce Wayne will face the greatest tragedy of his life.
This New York Times best-selling epic is given the Absolute treatment, formatted as an oversized slip cased edition with extra bonus materials.
Collecting: Batman Incorporated 1-8, Leviathan Rises; Batman, Incorporated 1-13, Special
This New York Times best-selling epic is given the Absolute treatment, formatted as an oversized slip cased edition with extra bonus materials.
Collecting: Batman Incorporated 1-8, Leviathan Rises; Batman, Incorporated 1-13, Special
648 pages, Hardcover
First published December 2, 2014
6 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
Grant Morrison
1,792 books4,574 followersGrant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 1, 2020
Been reading this off and on for about a month without adding it to goodreads. I think this would have been better to read before the Batman by Grant Morrison omnibus volume 1, became the Batman Inc would’ve made more sense to me and the characters would’ve been established in my head. I think the Native American batman was my favorite.
February 10, 2018
This marks the end of the Morrison run on Batman and it finishes on a high. Incorporated makes Batman global, making this pretty close to a team up book. And batman needs all the help he can get taking on Leviathan.
I think the second half of the Morrison run is much better than the first, which is interesting because most other memorable runs seem to start off really well and then dip in quality nearer to the end (in some cases you can see the creator/s running out of ideas). But it seems Morrison knew where he was going all long, since a lot of this picks up from what happens in Batman &a Son, Black Glove and Batman and Robin. Lots of the supporting characters from a Black Glove return to be a part of Batman Incorporated and a returning Bruce Wayne looks to reestablish his relationship with his son Damien.
I said it feels like a team up book at times and I don't mean that as a negative criticism. We can often mistake Batman for being a loner (especially thanks to The Dark Knight trilogy were a lot of the extended Bat Family are absent), but he's only as good as the people around him. Incorporated is a bold concept, in both executing as a story and as a story itself. It's kinda...obvious the idea can't last too long. But the idea of a Batman in every country leads to some cool stories here.
And then we get to the second half of the book, were it relaunched for the new 52 and where we see a lot of the Bruce/Damien stuff. It's not covered as much as it is in the Tomasi B&R title that was coming out at the same time, because Morrison needs to focus on his overall story more. But Damien is such a bad ass character. And I loved the little scenes between him and Dick Grayson were they acknowledge they were the best Batman and Robin.
And the art is mostly great. Yannick Paquette does a few issues at the beginning with Chris Burnham doing the work for most of the second half. Burnham has a style that's similar to Quietly and Nick Piterra, with that minute detail to faces and it's so nice to look at.
Overall I loved reading through Morrisons whole run. It gets a bit...strange around RIP and Final Crisis, but what comes after makes it worth it.
I think the second half of the Morrison run is much better than the first, which is interesting because most other memorable runs seem to start off really well and then dip in quality nearer to the end (in some cases you can see the creator/s running out of ideas). But it seems Morrison knew where he was going all long, since a lot of this picks up from what happens in Batman &a Son, Black Glove and Batman and Robin. Lots of the supporting characters from a Black Glove return to be a part of Batman Incorporated and a returning Bruce Wayne looks to reestablish his relationship with his son Damien.
I said it feels like a team up book at times and I don't mean that as a negative criticism. We can often mistake Batman for being a loner (especially thanks to The Dark Knight trilogy were a lot of the extended Bat Family are absent), but he's only as good as the people around him. Incorporated is a bold concept, in both executing as a story and as a story itself. It's kinda...obvious the idea can't last too long. But the idea of a Batman in every country leads to some cool stories here.
And then we get to the second half of the book, were it relaunched for the new 52 and where we see a lot of the Bruce/Damien stuff. It's not covered as much as it is in the Tomasi B&R title that was coming out at the same time, because Morrison needs to focus on his overall story more. But Damien is such a bad ass character. And I loved the little scenes between him and Dick Grayson were they acknowledge they were the best Batman and Robin.
And the art is mostly great. Yannick Paquette does a few issues at the beginning with Chris Burnham doing the work for most of the second half. Burnham has a style that's similar to Quietly and Nick Piterra, with that minute detail to faces and it's so nice to look at.
Overall I loved reading through Morrisons whole run. It gets a bit...strange around RIP and Final Crisis, but what comes after makes it worth it.
February 25, 2023
Following the events of Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin, in which Bruce Wayne has returned and has revealed himself as the financial backer behind the Batman and has plans to finance like-minded vigilantes around the world so that Batman is everywhere, hence the title: Batman Incorporated.
Throughout Morrison’s seven-year Bat-run, the thesis behind it is that every aspect of Batman’s comics history is canon and so Morrison embraces even the weird stuff that most people would tend to ignore, including Jiro Kuwata’s Batman manga in the sixties that featured Lord Death Man. Although that character originally appeared in the main Batman title, he was popularised by his appearance in the aforementioned manga and so Morrison brings Lord Death Man as the villain in the first two issues and eventually appears throughout the whole title.
The initial season of Batman Incorporated, which is the nine issues before the New 52 relaunch, is essentially Batman recruits costumed vigilantes for his global causes, some of which were introduced as members of the Club of Heroes, whilst he goes off on global adventures that feel reminiscent of James Bond. Throughout the title, we get to know these characters, some of which have their own issue, showcasing their team-up with the Dark Knight. Some stood out than others, such as the England-based Knight and Squire, and the Lakota-based Man-of-Bats and his son Raven.
I have always liked the Bond-like aspect that you can apply to Batman – something that Christopher Nolan definitely embraced with his movies – and Morrison goes as far as introducing a worldwide criminal organisation known as Leviathan that is supposedly led by Otto Netz/Doctor Dedalus, a Nazi scientist who is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer's. As the ongoing narrative unfolds, it is revealed that the true mastermind leading Leviathan is Talia al Ghul, who was rejected by her former lover and decides to destroy everything that he holds dear, including their son Damien. Kind of coming full circle with the first story arc of Morrison’s run, the whole thing is one big family soap opera.
Being Morrison, someone who embraces the weirdness, does not hold back on how weird Batman’s adventures can get and considering the typical dark routine that Batman has gone through, some of the content in this book is surprisingly out there as Leviathan is indoctrinating youths across the globe. Most of the art throughout this book is Chris Burnham, who has a similar aesthetic to Frank Quitely, in terms of cartoony character designs and experimental panel layouts. Burnham delivers on some upsetting imagery, such as brainwashed children wielding knives, people getting bloodied up and there are even decapitations.
As bombast and violent as the story gets, there are moments of levity that reminds you how ridiculous Batman and his world can be, most notably when Damian adopts Bat-Cow, who gets his own short tale, in which he saves the day. Although Morrison and the variety of artists, whose quality can differ from one another, it is the moments of characterisation that truly stand out, such the backstory issue on Talia, showing how her relationship with her father Ra’s has always been distant and how she fights back against rejection.
And then you have Damian Wayne, the problematic son what is determined to make his father proud whilst defying his mother’s rule. Issue #8 is when the title is at its peak, from a writing and artistic standpoint, showcasing Damian’s finest moment where he reminisces his partnership with Dick Grayson and arguably the best Robin moment ever, where he literally flies into the action wearing a mechanised suit. This is a SPOILER, though it was much publicised when the issue was published, but the death of Damian remains tragic and even though he continues to exist today in other comics and is even teased at the end of Incorporated that he could come back, how his death affects and motivates his father on a rageful mood really hits hard.
One of the most interesting aspects about Batman Incorporated is its place where DC Comics was going as the story was taking place before and after the New 52 relaunch. There are some noticeable changes that have to adjust to some of the continuity that the New 52 established, but Morrison’s story ended up influencing a number of creators who were putting their own spin on the Batman mythos. No doubt, as always with Morrison, the storytelling can get confusing with multiple characters doing many things on a global scale, but never loses sight of what makes Batman special, which is his never-ending crusade to fight crime. In the end, Incorporated brings the Caped Crusader back to the classic status quo and like I said before, Morrison did influence future Batman creators, no one wrote Batman quite like them.
Throughout Morrison’s seven-year Bat-run, the thesis behind it is that every aspect of Batman’s comics history is canon and so Morrison embraces even the weird stuff that most people would tend to ignore, including Jiro Kuwata’s Batman manga in the sixties that featured Lord Death Man. Although that character originally appeared in the main Batman title, he was popularised by his appearance in the aforementioned manga and so Morrison brings Lord Death Man as the villain in the first two issues and eventually appears throughout the whole title.
The initial season of Batman Incorporated, which is the nine issues before the New 52 relaunch, is essentially Batman recruits costumed vigilantes for his global causes, some of which were introduced as members of the Club of Heroes, whilst he goes off on global adventures that feel reminiscent of James Bond. Throughout the title, we get to know these characters, some of which have their own issue, showcasing their team-up with the Dark Knight. Some stood out than others, such as the England-based Knight and Squire, and the Lakota-based Man-of-Bats and his son Raven.
I have always liked the Bond-like aspect that you can apply to Batman – something that Christopher Nolan definitely embraced with his movies – and Morrison goes as far as introducing a worldwide criminal organisation known as Leviathan that is supposedly led by Otto Netz/Doctor Dedalus, a Nazi scientist who is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer's. As the ongoing narrative unfolds, it is revealed that the true mastermind leading Leviathan is Talia al Ghul, who was rejected by her former lover and decides to destroy everything that he holds dear, including their son Damien. Kind of coming full circle with the first story arc of Morrison’s run, the whole thing is one big family soap opera.
Being Morrison, someone who embraces the weirdness, does not hold back on how weird Batman’s adventures can get and considering the typical dark routine that Batman has gone through, some of the content in this book is surprisingly out there as Leviathan is indoctrinating youths across the globe. Most of the art throughout this book is Chris Burnham, who has a similar aesthetic to Frank Quitely, in terms of cartoony character designs and experimental panel layouts. Burnham delivers on some upsetting imagery, such as brainwashed children wielding knives, people getting bloodied up and there are even decapitations.
As bombast and violent as the story gets, there are moments of levity that reminds you how ridiculous Batman and his world can be, most notably when Damian adopts Bat-Cow, who gets his own short tale, in which he saves the day. Although Morrison and the variety of artists, whose quality can differ from one another, it is the moments of characterisation that truly stand out, such the backstory issue on Talia, showing how her relationship with her father Ra’s has always been distant and how she fights back against rejection.
And then you have Damian Wayne, the problematic son what is determined to make his father proud whilst defying his mother’s rule. Issue #8 is when the title is at its peak, from a writing and artistic standpoint, showcasing Damian’s finest moment where he reminisces his partnership with Dick Grayson and arguably the best Robin moment ever, where he literally flies into the action wearing a mechanised suit. This is a SPOILER, though it was much publicised when the issue was published, but the death of Damian remains tragic and even though he continues to exist today in other comics and is even teased at the end of Incorporated that he could come back, how his death affects and motivates his father on a rageful mood really hits hard.
One of the most interesting aspects about Batman Incorporated is its place where DC Comics was going as the story was taking place before and after the New 52 relaunch. There are some noticeable changes that have to adjust to some of the continuity that the New 52 established, but Morrison’s story ended up influencing a number of creators who were putting their own spin on the Batman mythos. No doubt, as always with Morrison, the storytelling can get confusing with multiple characters doing many things on a global scale, but never loses sight of what makes Batman special, which is his never-ending crusade to fight crime. In the end, Incorporated brings the Caped Crusader back to the classic status quo and like I said before, Morrison did influence future Batman creators, no one wrote Batman quite like them.
December 13, 2020
This absolute edition has the same content as Batman By Grant Morrison Omnibus: Volume Three, but came out 3 years before. I had the three individual volumes of Batman: Incorporated, but wanted to have the whole 'story' in one book. I should've waited for the omnibus edition, and for two reasons: (1) this is the first time I read this book since purchasing it when it first came out in 2017 (might as well have waited for the omnibus!), and because (2) this book's binding is not so great: the spine cracked in a few places. This is a problem for quite a number (but definitely not all) of DC's absolute editions. Even the biggest DC omnibus volumes do not have this problem. So if you need to choose between this absolute edition, and the corresponding Batman omnibus, I would recommend you get the omnibus (it's also much cheaper!).
Anyway, to save time, I copied/pasted the reviews I'd previously written for the three individual, original volumes of the series. Re-reading them, I must say that my original ratings remain the same, for an average 4-star rating for this absolute edition. Here they are:
Review of Batman Incorporated, Vol. 1 (4 stars)
As great as Morrison's Batman run had been up until Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman and Robin Must Die! & Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, with this book he cranks it up a notch or two as Batman goes global - by recruiting agents in different parts of the world - to thwart a seemingly ubiquitous criminal organisation named Leviathan.
This is an ambitious project which, in the hands of a lesser writer, might have collapsed before it even got halfway, but with Morrison at the helm you just know he will deliver the goods. His previous large-scale projects, such as his creator-owned The Invisibles, [the original] 52 (with Johns, Rucka & Waid), and Seven Soldiers of Victory (in which he first mentions Leviathan) were just as ambitious and all had this in common: taken as a whole, they were greater than the sum of their parts.
The stories included may vary in length - and may even at first seem unrelated - but in true Morrison fashion, together they form a greater narrative. Some of the elements set up in this book will only get their pay-off in Batman Incorporated, Vol. 1: Demon Star & Batman Incorporated, Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted, but every moment must be cherished, as these books are Morrison's last Batman stuff for the foreseeable future.
Attentive - if not repeated - reading is required, as Morrison is really bombarding the reader with information & flashbacks, not to mention double agents and wacky-yet-oh-so-deadly villains. Some of the stories can be confusing and one cannot be faulted for finding the whole thing a tad inaccessible. Readers who've been following Morrison's Batman run for a long time will get the most out of this book.
Review of Batman Incorporated, Vol. 1: Demon Star (5 stars)
Absolutely fantastic book. The #0 issue bridges the gap between the end of Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman and Robin Must Die! (Black Mass) and the New 52 reboot of Batman, Incorporated, which starts with issue #1 of this collection. At this point I've not read Batman Incorporated, Vol. 1 (the original series), but I do know what it's about and so I have the impression that the aforementioned issue #0 of this book does more than a fair job at catching the reader up with the latest developments in Batman's corner of the New DCU. It even has Frazer Irving on art duties (same as in Batman and Robin Must Die!), so there's continuity there as well.
As for the rest of Demon Star, I can honestly say that it was much more than I expected. You would be excused for thinking that because Grant Morrison's seven-year run on Batman ends with the next volume (Batman Incorporated, Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted), that at this point he'd be out if ideas and resorting to cheap tricks or gimmicks, when in fact it is just the opposite: this book has so much happening in it (and so fast!) that it's all I could do to turn the pages fast enough. And the cliffhanger at the end of this volume is one the best ones I've come across in a long while.
A note on Chris Burnham's art. I don't think I've ever read any of his stuff before, but in this volume I found his art, while being his own, had flavours of Cameron Stewart and maybe even some Frank Quitely/Andy Clarke. Good stuff!
Morrison's landmark run on Batman has been one the most consistently entertaining ones in history and, unlike his New X-Men run (which was plagued with art of inconsistent quality), had consistently good-to-great art as well.
Review of Batman Incorporated, Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted (3 stars)
Kind of disappointed a little by this book. On the one hand, Grant Morrison wraps up his multi-year run on Batman with the battle of Batman's life, but on the other hand everything gets tied up somewhat too neatly at the end. The build-up was so great, Morrison having piled it on so thick, it's no surprise that - even though I had no clear expectations as to the ending (other than being 'awed') - I feel that what I got did not meet what I was led to believe I'd get. If that makes any sense.
However: By far the coolest thing in this book was Bruce Wayne injecting himself with the Man-Bat serum and putting on the exo-skeleton in preparation for the smackdown with the Damian-clone.
And then we're 'treated' to a series of vignettes starring different members of the Batman, Inc. family, which sort of detracted from the intended impact of the end of Morrison's run. I couldn't even be bothered to read all of them.
Anyway, to save time, I copied/pasted the reviews I'd previously written for the three individual, original volumes of the series. Re-reading them, I must say that my original ratings remain the same, for an average 4-star rating for this absolute edition. Here they are:
Review of Batman Incorporated, Vol. 1 (4 stars)
As great as Morrison's Batman run had been up until Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman and Robin Must Die! & Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, with this book he cranks it up a notch or two as Batman goes global - by recruiting agents in different parts of the world - to thwart a seemingly ubiquitous criminal organisation named Leviathan.
This is an ambitious project which, in the hands of a lesser writer, might have collapsed before it even got halfway, but with Morrison at the helm you just know he will deliver the goods. His previous large-scale projects, such as his creator-owned The Invisibles, [the original] 52 (with Johns, Rucka & Waid), and Seven Soldiers of Victory (in which he first mentions Leviathan) were just as ambitious and all had this in common: taken as a whole, they were greater than the sum of their parts.
The stories included may vary in length - and may even at first seem unrelated - but in true Morrison fashion, together they form a greater narrative. Some of the elements set up in this book will only get their pay-off in Batman Incorporated, Vol. 1: Demon Star & Batman Incorporated, Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted, but every moment must be cherished, as these books are Morrison's last Batman stuff for the foreseeable future.
Attentive - if not repeated - reading is required, as Morrison is really bombarding the reader with information & flashbacks, not to mention double agents and wacky-yet-oh-so-deadly villains. Some of the stories can be confusing and one cannot be faulted for finding the whole thing a tad inaccessible. Readers who've been following Morrison's Batman run for a long time will get the most out of this book.
Review of Batman Incorporated, Vol. 1: Demon Star (5 stars)
Absolutely fantastic book. The #0 issue bridges the gap between the end of Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman and Robin Must Die! (Black Mass) and the New 52 reboot of Batman, Incorporated, which starts with issue #1 of this collection. At this point I've not read Batman Incorporated, Vol. 1 (the original series), but I do know what it's about and so I have the impression that the aforementioned issue #0 of this book does more than a fair job at catching the reader up with the latest developments in Batman's corner of the New DCU. It even has Frazer Irving on art duties (same as in Batman and Robin Must Die!), so there's continuity there as well.
As for the rest of Demon Star, I can honestly say that it was much more than I expected. You would be excused for thinking that because Grant Morrison's seven-year run on Batman ends with the next volume (Batman Incorporated, Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted), that at this point he'd be out if ideas and resorting to cheap tricks or gimmicks, when in fact it is just the opposite: this book has so much happening in it (and so fast!) that it's all I could do to turn the pages fast enough. And the cliffhanger at the end of this volume is one the best ones I've come across in a long while.
A note on Chris Burnham's art. I don't think I've ever read any of his stuff before, but in this volume I found his art, while being his own, had flavours of Cameron Stewart and maybe even some Frank Quitely/Andy Clarke. Good stuff!
Morrison's landmark run on Batman has been one the most consistently entertaining ones in history and, unlike his New X-Men run (which was plagued with art of inconsistent quality), had consistently good-to-great art as well.
Review of Batman Incorporated, Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted (3 stars)
Kind of disappointed a little by this book. On the one hand, Grant Morrison wraps up his multi-year run on Batman with the battle of Batman's life, but on the other hand everything gets tied up somewhat too neatly at the end. The build-up was so great, Morrison having piled it on so thick, it's no surprise that - even though I had no clear expectations as to the ending (other than being 'awed') - I feel that what I got did not meet what I was led to believe I'd get. If that makes any sense.
However: By far the coolest thing in this book was Bruce Wayne injecting himself with the Man-Bat serum and putting on the exo-skeleton in preparation for the smackdown with the Damian-clone.
And then we're 'treated' to a series of vignettes starring different members of the Batman, Inc. family, which sort of detracted from the intended impact of the end of Morrison's run. I couldn't even be bothered to read all of them.
May 2, 2019
Here we are at the end of Grant Morrison's epic run of his Batman titles. And once again you need to read the entire run before making your final judgement. Because as usual it seems like incoherent blabber until the last act.
I have to say this was probably the hardest part of his run for me to get into. It was quite a slog to get in the swing of for the first half of the book. Which was disappointing after how much I loved up until that point. But I should have known shouldn't I? After reading so much of Morrison's work I should have known to wait till the third act.
And what do you know? It came together in an epic conclusion that was fitting for his 7 year run on the character. Thinking that this all started ticking over from his first issue on Batman way back when, it's mind boggling. And although I didn't like the Batman Inc era so much, I felt like it took away from Batman as a character too much, I did enjoy this. But I have to say it wasn't as big of an end as his Batman and Robin/Return of Bruce Wayne arc, that was some "holy fuck" territory if I ever read one.
As always I'll need to reread this whole run to get the full scope and feel of what Morrison set out to do. As well as see all the pieces coming together at the start now that I know how it ends. Overall this is a splendid read!
I have to say this was probably the hardest part of his run for me to get into. It was quite a slog to get in the swing of for the first half of the book. Which was disappointing after how much I loved up until that point. But I should have known shouldn't I? After reading so much of Morrison's work I should have known to wait till the third act.
And what do you know? It came together in an epic conclusion that was fitting for his 7 year run on the character. Thinking that this all started ticking over from his first issue on Batman way back when, it's mind boggling. And although I didn't like the Batman Inc era so much, I felt like it took away from Batman as a character too much, I did enjoy this. But I have to say it wasn't as big of an end as his Batman and Robin/Return of Bruce Wayne arc, that was some "holy fuck" territory if I ever read one.
As always I'll need to reread this whole run to get the full scope and feel of what Morrison set out to do. As well as see all the pieces coming together at the start now that I know how it ends. Overall this is a splendid read!
May 27, 2022
Etapa muy controvertida de Grant Morrison, pero muy disfrutable. Se la recomendaría a un cierto sector de seguidores de Batman, ya que creo que no es una historia que vaya a convencer a todos por igual. Argumento: "Bruce Wayne anuncia públicamente que es el patrocinador financiero de Batman y establece una franquicia mundial de Batman que protegerá a todo el mundo. Junto a él se encuentran héroes extraños como Knight & Squire, El Gaucho y Batwing, así como sus aliados Nightwing y su propio hijo, Robin. Sin embargo, parece que tan pronto como Batman crea su propia fuerza de lucha contra el crimen, otra organización surge para desafiarlo: Leviatán. A medida que la guerra entre las dos fuerzas llega a su punto culminante, Bruce Wayne se enfrentará a la mayor tragedia de su vida".
June 11, 2020
Relieved to be done this highly UNEVEN Batman run by Grant Morrison. Clearly the guy is in love with all his own ideas and the use of old and obscure characters from Batman's past. As someone who kept up with Batman after Morrison it is clear many other writers do not share his enthusiasm for many of the characters in use since he started writing Batman. Even after reading the previous omnibus and Batman and Robin absolute I found many parts of Morrison's overall narrative convoluted and confusing.
Only saving grace is some nice art, the lack of the Joker in this volume and some great banter between all 4 of the mainstream Robins. Jason Todd FTW!!!!!!!!
Only saving grace is some nice art, the lack of the Joker in this volume and some great banter between all 4 of the mainstream Robins. Jason Todd FTW!!!!!!!!
March 10, 2020
I never understood the fanboy obsession with Grant Morrison. The idea behind Batman Incorporated simply doesn't make any sense given who Batman is. It makes even less sense in the world of the New 52. This was just an excuse for Morrison to create new characters that won't see the light of day again. The bad idea turns into a Talia Al Ghul story which has some good parts but is too ridiculous to get behind. Damian deserved better than this. Overall, Morrison isn't for me.
July 31, 2020
I’m genuinely shocked by how good this was, I haven’t been a huge fan of Grant Morrison’s run on Batman but this was epic and hell of a way to end it! The first half of this book was decent enough but the second half was amazing and by the end many of the threads that Morrison had laid throughout his tenure were woven together. The only problem is to appreciate and fully understand the plot you need to have read a lot of his previous Batman work and it does vary vastly in quality.
February 4, 2018
This is everything that Batman is about. and adventure that is dizzying, spectacular, and incredible. With art that will dazzle you and story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Highly recommend the ultimate Batman adventure.
December 19, 2019
An absolutely stunning conclusion to a stellar SEVEN year run on Batman. Morrison is a madman.
December 24, 2019
The second half is better and it sticks the landing perfectly
November 18, 2020
4.5 stars overall (-0.5 because of the first part)
So far very mediocre in the first half (till the new52 reboot) - 2/5
Update: First part was very confusing and forgettable. Had to power trough this one but boy was I in for a treat after the new52 reboot!
Second part is 5 stars!
Morrison delivers on so many levels it's simply unbelievable...
I really really don't understand the ratings of this one, I found Incorporated very boring before the new52, but it picked up after the reboot and both volumes are a must!
With this on top of Black glove and RIP, Morrison absolutely dethroned Snyder in my personal chart. Wow!
So far very mediocre in the first half (till the new52 reboot) - 2/5
Update: First part was very confusing and forgettable. Had to power trough this one but boy was I in for a treat after the new52 reboot!
Second part is 5 stars!
Morrison delivers on so many levels it's simply unbelievable...
I really really don't understand the ratings of this one, I found Incorporated very boring before the new52, but it picked up after the reboot and both volumes are a must!
With this on top of Black glove and RIP, Morrison absolutely dethroned Snyder in my personal chart. Wow!
March 18, 2015
This volume concludes my run through Morrison's work on Batman, and finishes up the larger story he began way back in "the Black Glove."
Set immediately following the events in Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn, this volume sees Batman taking his war on crime international in order to fight against a mysterious enemy bent on ruining everything that Batman holds dear.
This book builds on a lot of the threads that Morrison was playing with in the earlier volumes. The international club of heroes from the "Island of Peter Mayhew" arc are brought back, this time as invitees to Batman Incorporated. The identity of the mastermind behind the plot that Batman is trying to unravel is closely tied into events from the earlier volumes, as well. Morrison continues to mine Batman's long and varied history for characters and plot points (the reintroduction of Death Man/Lord Death Man, made popular by the Japanese version of the character, is pretty fun). This book is a solid send-off for Morrison, and, by the end, everything is tied up pretty well, leaving the character fresh for a new writer.
Morrison again pushes the character of Batman in a new direction that still feels like it makes sense to the character. While Batman is often presented as a grim loner or an outsider, the fact remains that this is a character who has gone through more sidekicks than most other heroes combined. He has a whole "bat family" that he surrounds himself with, and he's constantly pushing for better ways to fight crime. Given that, the idea that he might create a whole network of Bat-vigilantes around the world to keep an eye on things is... weird, but not unbelievable.
As with his previous entries, Morrison also introduces a new villain: the enigmatic Doctor Dedalus. Dedalus is fantastic. He's essentially the anti-Batman. A Nazi war criminal super spy turned super villain who is every bit as obsessed with planning and preparation as Batman is. He makes a compelling nemesis for Batman, even if he is only an agent for the larger Leviathan organization.
While I did enjoy this volume, it's not without some flaws. First, the original publication fell during one of DC's attempts to reboot (this time, as "New 52"). To that end, there are some changes that occur midway through without any real explanation. The most obvious/glaring was Dick Grayson losing the Batman identity and becoming Nightwing again (this, despite Bruce Wayne insisting that he wanted Dick and Damian to continue being Batman and Robin in Gotham. *sad trombone*). The change is never mentioned or explained in text. Instead, one chapter has Dick and Damian teamed up as Batman and Robin, the next it's suddenly Bruce and Damian again. To add more confusion: the artists in previous volumes had been careful to distinguish between Dick and Bruce by the costume. Bruce's costume has the yellow oval, while Dick's does not. New 52 dropped the yellow oval, which makes Bruce's costume look a lot more like Dick's costume did. Messy.
Additionally, the art in this volume is not nearly as strong as in previous volumes. There's an obligatory computer generated chapter (set in Web 3.0), and, while there are some standout chapters, I generally didn't appreciate Chris Burnham's work on the title. Under his pencils Bruce Wayne looks... weird:
(also, is that a child manning the desk at Wayne Industries' lobby?)
It also has to be noted that, perhaps by design, there are some pretty confusing chapters in this volume. In particular, there are some puzzling jumps around during the early chapters of the Doctor Dedalus arc, especially when the Batman Inc team is investigating his headquarters. There are a few places where an additional issue or two would probably have been helpful to make the story flow a little more smoothly.
The book itself contains a number of fantastic extras, including some side stories, unreleased covers, and some story boards. It does not, sadly, contain an introduction of any kind, nor is Morrison's farewell letter from his final issues included (you can read it here, though).
Overall, as with the rest of Morrison's run, this is highly recommended reading. This is pretty definitive Batman stuff, despite a few small flaws.
Set immediately following the events in Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn, this volume sees Batman taking his war on crime international in order to fight against a mysterious enemy bent on ruining everything that Batman holds dear.
This book builds on a lot of the threads that Morrison was playing with in the earlier volumes. The international club of heroes from the "Island of Peter Mayhew" arc are brought back, this time as invitees to Batman Incorporated. The identity of the mastermind behind the plot that Batman is trying to unravel is closely tied into events from the earlier volumes, as well. Morrison continues to mine Batman's long and varied history for characters and plot points (the reintroduction of Death Man/Lord Death Man, made popular by the Japanese version of the character, is pretty fun). This book is a solid send-off for Morrison, and, by the end, everything is tied up pretty well, leaving the character fresh for a new writer.
Morrison again pushes the character of Batman in a new direction that still feels like it makes sense to the character. While Batman is often presented as a grim loner or an outsider, the fact remains that this is a character who has gone through more sidekicks than most other heroes combined. He has a whole "bat family" that he surrounds himself with, and he's constantly pushing for better ways to fight crime. Given that, the idea that he might create a whole network of Bat-vigilantes around the world to keep an eye on things is... weird, but not unbelievable.
As with his previous entries, Morrison also introduces a new villain: the enigmatic Doctor Dedalus. Dedalus is fantastic. He's essentially the anti-Batman. A Nazi war criminal super spy turned super villain who is every bit as obsessed with planning and preparation as Batman is. He makes a compelling nemesis for Batman, even if he is only an agent for the larger Leviathan organization.
While I did enjoy this volume, it's not without some flaws. First, the original publication fell during one of DC's attempts to reboot (this time, as "New 52"). To that end, there are some changes that occur midway through without any real explanation. The most obvious/glaring was Dick Grayson losing the Batman identity and becoming Nightwing again (this, despite Bruce Wayne insisting that he wanted Dick and Damian to continue being Batman and Robin in Gotham. *sad trombone*). The change is never mentioned or explained in text. Instead, one chapter has Dick and Damian teamed up as Batman and Robin, the next it's suddenly Bruce and Damian again. To add more confusion: the artists in previous volumes had been careful to distinguish between Dick and Bruce by the costume. Bruce's costume has the yellow oval, while Dick's does not. New 52 dropped the yellow oval, which makes Bruce's costume look a lot more like Dick's costume did. Messy.
Additionally, the art in this volume is not nearly as strong as in previous volumes. There's an obligatory computer generated chapter (set in Web 3.0), and, while there are some standout chapters, I generally didn't appreciate Chris Burnham's work on the title. Under his pencils Bruce Wayne looks... weird:
(also, is that a child manning the desk at Wayne Industries' lobby?)
It also has to be noted that, perhaps by design, there are some pretty confusing chapters in this volume. In particular, there are some puzzling jumps around during the early chapters of the Doctor Dedalus arc, especially when the Batman Inc team is investigating his headquarters. There are a few places where an additional issue or two would probably have been helpful to make the story flow a little more smoothly.
The book itself contains a number of fantastic extras, including some side stories, unreleased covers, and some story boards. It does not, sadly, contain an introduction of any kind, nor is Morrison's farewell letter from his final issues included (you can read it here, though).
Overall, as with the rest of Morrison's run, this is highly recommended reading. This is pretty definitive Batman stuff, despite a few small flaws.
Read
May 29, 2024So good it makes me a little angry at the comparably low quality of other Batman books. The death of one of the leads after possibly the most brutal fight I’ve ever seen in a Batman comic rattled me even when I knew it was coming. While Yannick Paquette isn’t really my cup of tea, Chris Burnham is a new favorite. His art managed to be some of the most beautiful, hilarious, and graphically violent material I’ve seen from DC, save maybe Hitman. Yet his work always adds depth, humanity, and personality to these characters, drawing out both the soap operatic drama and cartoon action simultaneously. And with those poppin Nathan Fairbairn colors? Makes me look back at earlier parts of this run, like Batman RIP, and think “why was this muddy house style even tolerated”?
Unlike the century spanning, science-god and bat-devil vanquishing conclusion to the Return of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Robin, this final third takes team Batman up against international crime and espionage, and it sees Batman arguably lose over and over again. Batman Inc and Leviathan, despite their grand missions, were revealed to just be pawns in a higher power’s game, whose players and machinations can be glimpsed, but never fully seen. Kathy and Spyral called for a Parallax View style follow up, making me wish that what we did get, Grayson, was more paranoid thriller and less super-spy adventure.
After two mega arcs and a crossover that had Batman take definitive wins, it was very satisfying to see Bruce and fam bigger and better than ever continuously get beat. In a perfectly Batman sort of way, immortal devil-relatives and space-gods are no match for Bruce Wayne, yet romance, fatherhood and duplicitous loyalties are his downfall. It’s a fitting conclusion to a run that’s had the trappings of pulp genres but was always really about acceptance and trust within a family. We’re reminded of Morrison’s earliest issues and the more overtly presented themes therein via several rewarding pieces of planting and payoff, from the corpse of Jezebel Jet, to Michael Lane’s retribution, to Ellie the prostitute-turned-receptionist. This run has flirted with Batman’s journey to hell, and it was largely by his own hand that he found himself there.
While this could be the last Batman story, it also puts nearly all the toys back in the box, ending with a classic cliffhanger ending, calling out to future Bat writers to follow up. While several have, I’ll keep waiting for a few of those loose threads to continue weaving. The biggest loss was that Jason’s development gets completely ignored by other writers after this. This is perhaps the best Jason Todd story I’ve read, and it’s achieved mostly off panel! We need more Wingman content.
Unlike the century spanning, science-god and bat-devil vanquishing conclusion to the Return of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Robin, this final third takes team Batman up against international crime and espionage, and it sees Batman arguably lose over and over again. Batman Inc and Leviathan, despite their grand missions, were revealed to just be pawns in a higher power’s game, whose players and machinations can be glimpsed, but never fully seen. Kathy and Spyral called for a Parallax View style follow up, making me wish that what we did get, Grayson, was more paranoid thriller and less super-spy adventure.
After two mega arcs and a crossover that had Batman take definitive wins, it was very satisfying to see Bruce and fam bigger and better than ever continuously get beat. In a perfectly Batman sort of way, immortal devil-relatives and space-gods are no match for Bruce Wayne, yet romance, fatherhood and duplicitous loyalties are his downfall. It’s a fitting conclusion to a run that’s had the trappings of pulp genres but was always really about acceptance and trust within a family. We’re reminded of Morrison’s earliest issues and the more overtly presented themes therein via several rewarding pieces of planting and payoff, from the corpse of Jezebel Jet, to Michael Lane’s retribution, to Ellie the prostitute-turned-receptionist. This run has flirted with Batman’s journey to hell, and it was largely by his own hand that he found himself there.
While this could be the last Batman story, it also puts nearly all the toys back in the box, ending with a classic cliffhanger ending, calling out to future Bat writers to follow up. While several have, I’ll keep waiting for a few of those loose threads to continue weaving. The biggest loss was that Jason’s development gets completely ignored by other writers after this. This is perhaps the best Jason Todd story I’ve read, and it’s achieved mostly off panel! We need more Wingman content.
January 18, 2015
Batcow?
Beautiful book and with over 600 pages at $60 I didn't feel I overpaid compared to typical omnibus prices. This story provides a finish of sorts for Morrison's Batman run as a mysterious criminal organization rises to take on his new worldwide crime fighting organization. We see a couple significant deaths. The artwork is decent and sometimes really good. One of the main artists came back and for the Absolute edition re-drew 21 pages and made corrections on others to better fit what they originally wanted and to keep a more even art flow in the book.
As far as extras go it looks like all the covers were re-printed for this and there is some extra art pencils and character sketches included. The one omission I would have liked to see was an intro or post-script from Morrison.
Beautiful book and with over 600 pages at $60 I didn't feel I overpaid compared to typical omnibus prices. This story provides a finish of sorts for Morrison's Batman run as a mysterious criminal organization rises to take on his new worldwide crime fighting organization. We see a couple significant deaths. The artwork is decent and sometimes really good. One of the main artists came back and for the Absolute edition re-drew 21 pages and made corrections on others to better fit what they originally wanted and to keep a more even art flow in the book.
As far as extras go it looks like all the covers were re-printed for this and there is some extra art pencils and character sketches included. The one omission I would have liked to see was an intro or post-script from Morrison.
April 18, 2016
This is like the other Morrison Batman tomes: It's really fun. It's really bright. It gets confusing without fully clear resolution. It creates a lot of foils for Batman that it's fine with discarding.
It really did seem to me that there were several times when the book skipped past the climax. I can't tell if that's an intentional statement about the pointlessness of comicbook climaxes or if it's just too-creative thinking. Each time I thought, "Oh, this is a big flash-forward so we can fill the story in and have a surprise that way." But, no, we just flashed waaaaay the heck forward.
Also, disappointing to have the Batmans of other cities/countries be treated with such disrespect. Is it really true that none of them is a legitimate successor or regional variant?
It really did seem to me that there were several times when the book skipped past the climax. I can't tell if that's an intentional statement about the pointlessness of comicbook climaxes or if it's just too-creative thinking. Each time I thought, "Oh, this is a big flash-forward so we can fill the story in and have a surprise that way." But, no, we just flashed waaaaay the heck forward.
Also, disappointing to have the Batmans of other cities/countries be treated with such disrespect. Is it really true that none of them is a legitimate successor or regional variant?
January 25, 2015
Not only is this the climax of arguably the single greatest long form comic book story of all time, this particular arc is my favorite Batman story ever. After getting a vision of the future, Batman assembles an international army of crimefighters (they call themselves Batman Incorporated) to take down the mysterious global terror organization known only as Leviathan before they can destroy the world! This edition features redrawn pages, a ton of bonus material, and looks absolutely stunning in the oversized Absolute format.
October 11, 2015
A wonderfully crafted grand scope story. Morrison doesn't disappoint with this one (surprise). Wayne sets out to make Batman's reach world wide by building Batman Incorporated, but a criminal organization called Leviathan is also on a mission to stop him and send the world into chaos. Its a great collection of Bat family characters with delightful twists and turns. It will go down as a must read for Batman fans.
June 11, 2015
Pretty good, but not very self contained. To understand some of what is going in, the reader needs to have read some previous Grant Morrison Batman stuff and understand who Jason Todd is. Solid art all the way through.
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