The Final Punch Line, The Ultimate Gag, The Big Joke
The Good: Oh god, where do I begin? I really disliked Cameron Stewart's art in Blackest Knight, but it looks A LOT better here. Maybe it's because the inks weren't so thick and heavy. The multiple artists was a bit jarring at times, but the way each one represented a different piece of the story was a touch of brilliance.
The opening scene finally serves to explain everything that confused me about Dr. Hurt, and actually I think it was the absolute best way to explain him without making him too much of a mary sue, or too much of a downer. His origin was perfectly balanced.
All of the dialogue was fantastic. Bruce, Dick, and Damian's various talks upon Bruce's return, and Joker's final confrontation with Dr. Hurt especially blew me away.
Batman's entire final battle with Dr. Hurt was a surprisingly satisfying conclusion for a one issue finale of Grant Morrison's nearly 4 year long saga. Bruce was portrayed at his best, and Dr. Hurt made a phenominal villain.
Joker's big scene was equally fantastic after all the build up he's had over this 4 year saga. All of his dialogue dripped with perfect Joker madness.
The big scene wiht Professor Pyg was brilliantly, disturbingly, perfect to wrap up his part in this arc.
The action was all really awesome.
The end had a brilliantly unexpected setup for Batman Inc. It's amazing how good Morrison is at catching readers off guard with the unexpected.
It actually does seem to fit in with the continuity of Road Home, and even makes sense coming after it because it clearly takes place after The Road Home, but isn't tied down by it. Not reading Road Home wouldn't hurt you in the least to read this issue.
The Bad: There was one little scene where I couldn't tell who was talking to Damian, Dick or Bruce, both of them being Batman in the same costume. For most of the issue this wasn't a problem, but there's just once scene where it's unclear.
Batman seems was too accepting of what Joker did at the end. It seemed a little out of character. Of course, judging by the fact that Dr. Hurt might be kind of immortal, who knows what all of that scene really means.
In Conclusion: 5/5
1 or 2 minor glitches don't manage to tarnish the excellent quality of this issue. 4 years of Batman stories have been leading into this one big moment. At $3.99, its longer, and totally worth the extra dollar. Morrison has backed the absolute maximum into this issue. Every big running plot point in Morrison's run has been addressed here. It serves as a perfect finale to his Batman and Robin run especially, and honestly I think DC should just put all 16 issues into one collection. It really does read as one big story in 5 acts, 3 scenes per act. You can read batman and Robin from #1 to #16 without going back to Batman and Son, The Black Glove, or R.I.P., although that does enhance the experience. All in all, this issue is a perfect finale to Batman and Robin, a perfect finale to the entire Dr. Hurt saga, and a perfect new begining for Batman Inc.
