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BATMAN INCORPORATED v2 #13
The Dark Knight and The Devil's Daughter
Written by GRANT MORRISON ; Art by CHRIS BURNHAM; Cover by CHRIS BURNHAM; 1:25 Variant Cover by GRANT MORRISON
DC Comics, September 2013, Color, 32pgs, $2.99
Batman saves the world and loses everything.
Commentary
Commentary
Annotations
Annotations
Cover -
Page 1 - We finally reach the flash forward from the opening pages of Batman Incorporated v2 #1 as Commissioner Gordon arrives to arrest Bruce Wayne on charges of terrorism and murder. This time around we're seeing the scene from Gordon's perspective. The two obelisks in the background mark the graves of Bruce's son Damian, and Damian's mother Talia Al Ghul.
Morrison noted in various interviews preceding this issue's release that he wanted this concluding chapter to be largely told from Gordon's viewpoint, bringing the Batman story full circle - not only his own run that began seven years ago with a panel seen through Gordon's glasses (from Batman #655), but reaching all the way back to Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics #27 75 years ago; a tale framed like this one by a conversation between Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne.
Morrison plays with the age-old conundrum of whether Gordon knows Bruce is Batman or not throughout, and is canny enough with the dialogue to leave the final decision on that to the individual reader.
'Citizen Wayne' - a pun on Orson Welles' Citizen Kane - has been used previously as the title for two different Elseworlds tales based loosely on Welles' movie - Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn and Joe Staton's 'Citizen Wayne' from 1994's Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #4; and a story in Batman Chronicles #21 by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos from 2000.
The Wayne Tower stands in ruins after Talia blew it up last issue.
Page 2 - "There was always this rumour you were into the rough stuff...", Brilliant.
Page 3 - 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' means 'The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy' and is the title of a 19th century poem by John Keats (based on an earlier 15th century work). The poem concerns "a Circe-like figure who attracts lovers only to destroy them [with] her supernatural powers. She destroys because it is her nature to destroy."
The term 'bad seed' for wayward offspring comes from the title of a 1954 novel by William March. March's novel was concerned with the 'nature vs nurture' debate raging in Psychology circles in the wake of the widespread media coverage of juvenile deliquency in the early 1950's. The novel took the stance that a child can be 'born bad' and that undesirable qualities like bloodlust and psychopathy can be inherited traits.
Page 4 - Right back to where we left off on the final page of last issue, as Talia descends into the Batcave to undermine everything that Batman is about.
Page 5 - Once again Chris Burnham's depiction of the Waynes' murder site is straight out of the Miller/Mazuchelli playbook, but this time it's Bruce's guardian-to-be, Dr. Leslie Tompkinson, and Jim Gordon surrounding young Bruce rather than the corpses of his parents. The idea of Gordon being the first on the scene at the Waynes' murder is (like the Monarch Theater that has also appeared in this run) from the 1989 Tim Burton movie, I think - it's certainly not something that comes up in 'Batman: Year One'..
Page 6 - In panel one, Gordon and Lieutenant Harvey Bullock fight off a bunch of mind-controlled Leviathan kids and Mutants gang-members. Nightwing, Red Robin and the new Knight - alongside Lone Eye Lincoln and S'reena (from Frank Quitely's section of Batman #700) - tackle another gang of Mutants in panel two; while The Hood and the girls from the School of Night take on some Leviathan henchmen who look to have taken over a power station of some sort - the map on the computer screen is Elliot R. Brown's map of Gotham City that has been referenced one way or another many times during Morrison's run.
Page 7 - The scope widens once more to take in the remaining international agents of Batman Incorporated. In the top panel, El Gaucho once again descends into the Beunos Aires sewers to tackle the hooded Leviathan cultists we first saw in Batman Incorporated v1 #6. Across the rest of the globe in the next panel we have, from left to right, Chief Man of Bats and Red Raven taking on a skeletal Union Cavalry soldier who we might have seen a hint of in the Chief's Batcave back in Inc. v1 #7; Nightrunner dealing with a tuxedo-sporting blue guy who I think might be inspired by early 20th century French pulp villian Fantomas; Jiro, the Batman of Japan taking on Veiniac (who made his debut in the Burnham-penned Batman Incorporated #0 a few months back); Batwing tackling an unknown Mtamban ne'er do well; and finally, over in the Middle East, Traktir and Spidra taking on Manticore and Chimera from The Jihad, a team of state-sponsored Islamist terrorists who first appeared in the first issue of the 1987 Suicide Squad series. They were created by John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell, though the Chimera who appeared there later turned out to be a double agent - she was actually Suicide Squad member Nightshade in disguise. I don't think the 'real' Chimera has appeared prior to this panel.
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