Review: Return of Bruce Wayne #3
Oh, my heavens, another load of great comics landed last week and I'm still working my way through them. The first one out of the stack and into my hands, however, was the next installment of Grant Morrison's fantastic Return of Bruce Wayne. I have really enjoyed every issue of this book and issue #3 - continuing Grant Morrison's dual love letters, one to Batman and one to nostalgia for classic adventure stories - earns the same affection.
Read on for more!
It was only when I was done with this issue and discussing it with a friend that I realized what Grant Morrison, always one to operate on many levels within one work, is doing with this series: he's paying homage not just to Batman but also to the entire genre of children's adventure stories. This issue is mainly about the pure fan service of Batman meeting and kicking the ass of Blackbeard, sure, but there's way more to it than just that.
Edward Teach - both as historical figure and as an archetype of the romantic view of the days of Atlantic piracy - has more than enough parallels with Batman to make the comic work. Blackbeard may arguably be the most famous pirate in history but his reputation was for never killing his prisoners and he overwhelmed his opponents by cultivating his reputation and exploiting their superstitious fears rather than through bloodshed. It's not hard to see that this is, viewed from certain angles, significantly reminiscent of our own idolized Bruce Wayne. Certainly people died due to Blackbeard's actions - I'm no pirate apologist - but there's is a school of thought or perhaps merely of belief that he was in fact quite gentle by the standards of his chosen trade and feared all the more for his high public profile and outlandish mannerisms and, at the same time, utterly devoted to villainy. In that way he serves as a perfect foil to Bruce Wayne's pathological devotion to fighting crime using fear and superstition as favored tools and it's fun to see them on the same page.
The book could have stopped with the historical fiddling there, of course, but no, I also found allusions to Treasure Island, to the classic Douglas Fairbanks adventure film The Black Pirate, The Princess Bride and probably to every other representative of the swashbuckling genre. It's also one more piece in the puzzle of how Bruce Wayne has laid out the clues encountered by Batman and Robin in their own eponymous book and the cut-away to the Justice League - or whatever they're called now - makes for a genuinely chilling scene in which the JLA has to consider something they would never before have thought possible. I get goosebumps when I think about it.
The allusions aren't just in this book, though. As soon as I realized he was riffing on Treasure Island, et al, I realized that issue #2 was an allusion to the Solomon Kane stories and that issue #1 was a play on Robert Howard's other great creation, Conan the Barbarian. I can't believe I didn't see it before, but there it is: Grant Morrison is weaving Batman into the classics of escapism as a kind of love sonnet to them and to Batman himself. It isn't just a comic book, it's a Weird Tales-esque pulpy adventure revue starring the man who is arguably those genres' most enduring survivor.
The book ends with a teaser for what's to come that left me grinning from ear to ear. I can't wait for issue #4. The art in #3 is mostly fantastic, especially in its use of color and light and - again - darkness to create the high-contrast environment of an adventure reel. I go on and on about how much I love Grant Morrison, but my heavens has DC paired him with some great people for this series. My only complaint is the one panel where a certain supporting character goes into the river. Did he get pushed? Did he jump? The panel seems to be trying to cram too much time into one frame and it looks like he gleefully jumped. Whatever. If one frame is what I have to complain about, well, it's pretty good.
The timelines of the story are rapidly approaching the 20th century, however, and something in the events of this book suggest the possibility that before it's over we might also get to see Batman crossed with none other than H.P. Lovecraft. Is it too much to ask that Bruce Wayne's journey through time include a stop at the Mountains of Madness? I'm pretty sure I'd jizz my shorts. I think I got a little excited just thinking about it.
Klarion
Posted to Review on 1 July 2010
Other stuff like this: Blackbeard, Bruce Wayne, Grant Morrison
