Desire the Right
The only flaw to reading Grant Morrison's Batman monthly is that the pieces to the puzzle come slowly, but surely. There is a great advantage to rereading Morrison's Batman in trade, which I do recommend, since he has really brought back the "Detective Comics" dealing with Batman.
The arc that started in issue #3 is still panning out till now, Bruce and Gaucho don't make as much impact as they could of in this issue, since this issue was more about The oroboro that Morrison is slowly explaining. The earliest mention of this ending loop I believe was in Batman: The Return, when I called it as the Mobius Strip. I was wrong in some aspect that Morrison is just looping, he is using the Oroboros metaphorically tying in everything Batman and I absolutely love it.
The Symbol of the "Bat" is more then just the man and we see this with the new members in Batman inc. With Batwoman in the picture it furthers that the "man" is not important to the symbol of the Bat. The Bat is what the superstitious fear and to further the superstitious Morrison fleshes out more of the Occult in the Batman mythos. Batman has had "Demonic" appearances in past books and stories and to further it, Morrison deals with Devils and Demons in books you can find in Occult shops. Leviathan for one is a major player now and Leviathan in the Satanic Bible is the "devil" associated with Water. This is a great metaphor since Water brings life and it is almost a statement of the "Devil" in us, since our own bodies are made of so much water. This symbolism is highlighted in the Prologue, with the terrorist announcing that they are Leviathan. I wonder if it was Morrison's choice to introduce a "dark Knight" as a visual pun or was that the artist call, I did enjoy it., once again, the "Bat" is more important then the man, black or white.
Morrison's Batman I honestly believe is the best Manstream read on the shelves, since it is his Vertigo Level writing, but written with accessibility. You don't need to be a Hellblazer who goes bump in the night (it might help read the deeper layers), but there is something for everyone in Batman Inc. If you are not loving the story, at least the art is good.
Cheers
- Silkcuts
