Batman # 686 - Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Part 1

BATMAN 676 REVIEW

If you read Batman 676 and found yourself disturbed for you don’t know what the heck is going on in the said title you bought. I’d tell you this. It’s alright. This issue tells a very different Batman origins and deaths from the ones we already knew. I won’t tell you the stories, you must read it yourself. For this will not be a review anymore but a spoiler. Anyways, I think this issue is still connected to what happened to Batman in the Final Crisis. And if you read Final Crisis 1-7 you’ll already know that Batman had been omega sanctioned by Darkseid. If you don’t know what the omega sanction is, then click here. I won’t judge this book yet for it still has its second part. But as a whole, Neil Gaiman’s story telling is great combined with the illustrations of Andy Kubert. You’ll feel like you’re with the characters in the story while you read this issue. The story’s grim way of narrating is commented very well by the art for you’ll see every emotion in the characters that were drawn. I enjoy every pages of this issue. Most of all is how Andy Kubert’s draw different versions of Batman like Bob Kane’s Golden Age Batman, David Mazzuchelli’s Batman: Year One and the 1970’s Adam West’s Batman.

I've always thought of Neil Gaiman as a great writer, but never paid too much attention to his comic book work. Sorry, I know I offended you already. I read Batman & Detective on a regular basis and wasn't too excited for the Gaiman run, I was more excited for Kubert than anything. I read through the book and was immediately sucked in. I'm not sure if what happened in the book is mainstream continuity, but I kind of hope it was. Gaiman brings up some really interesting issues in this first part, none of which I'll say here, just read the damn thing. The issue addresses "what is sanity" quite a bit, but in a way I've never thought of. It's the first time, in a while, where I paid $3.99 for a book, and I'd gladly pay $3.99 more. I didn't think anyone, in my eyes, could topple some of the Batman storylines that Morrison came up with (Three Batmen and Batman and Son are phenomenal stories). This, unless the second part sucks, is right up there with the others. Plus, you're getting 40 pages. You pay a dollar more, and you get more pages, take that Marvel.

Buy it now, or you have brought shame upon your family.

neil gaiman has written the spectacular sandman series and now he's writing the "final" batman story. This is only the first part of "WHATEVER HAPPEND TO THE CAPED CRUSADER?" this is written beautifully by Neil Gaiman as he writes the character's each telling the story of how Batman died. and batman is seen as a shadow talking to another shadow. Andy kubert once again brings beautifull art which parallels the excellent storytelling by Neil Gaiman.  i have to say this is one of the best comics that i've ever read. the second part will be just as good

Neil Gaiman's "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader" Part 1 is another step for the Batman series toward the edge of insanity. With the disembodied voice of Bruce Wayne conversing with another mysterious disembodied voice and questioning the proceedings of his own wake, Selina Kyle and Alfred Pennyworth "say a few words" on behalf of the departed, giving different and ridiculous renditions of how they were responsible for killing Batman in what seem like alternate realities.

If you're not a regular reader & just pick up issues with your favorite villains in it, this one is going to mess with your head.

Just skimming through it told me this was either a dream, an alternate reality, or set in the past....must have something to do with that beam Darkseid hit Batman with in Final Crisis. The Joker looks like his old Batman TAS self & still on speaking terms with Harley. The 2ed thing I noticed is that even in a long dress, Selina Kyle still manages to look like a street hooker. Her looks is pretty inconsistant with the last issue she was in, going from Aeon Flux to Carmen Sandiego. Too add to the puzzlement, Joe Chill shows up at the funeral.

Actualy reading it, one get's the sensation that Batman is Ebenezer Scrooge, traveling with the ghost of Christmas Past, Present, or Future. Every hero & villain in Gotham shows up in their Sunday best to addend a funeral in the slummiest slums, with some kid offering to valet for half a buck. There's an akward conversation between Nigma & Kyle before the Joker & Harley show up in the long-abandoned Jokermobile. Montoya, who is the new Question, is apparently still working with Bullock here. She looks addorably like Dick Tracey with a wig.

It took me a good while to realize that the story was set in the 50s. Apparently no one told the artist that the way the clothes were ment to fit was half the look itself. Selina would have been arrested for indecent exposure by the police attending the funeral for that low cut top.

Alfred's retelling of how Bruce became Batman left an itching sensation in my brain. It gets akward when he claims that many of the villains were old actor friends he hired to keep Master Bruce ammused at night, but then he goes & claims that HE'S the Joker. On the other hand, Alfred looking down on Bruce as a nutcase & then inducing his own brand of psychology through messing with Bruce's head is simply priceless. The part where Catwoman told Penguin off was pretty funny too.

So in the end, it was an akward read. not great, not terrible, not something I'll be forgetting any time soon.

I'm guessing I'm supposed to be as confused as Bats is right now.

There's a funeral for Bats that being held in Crime Alley. (Yeah, THAT Crime Alley.) And everyone's showing up for it, enemies and allies alike. When people are asked to speak their final words, Catwoman (who's the golden age version, apparently) appears and tells the story of how Batman died. She was convinced by Batman to give up crime, and instead tried to fight it. However, Batman didn't approve of her methods. She quit everything and started a pet shop. Time passed, and Batman appears to her, bleeding from a gunshot wound, asking for help. Catwoman lets him bleed to death, saying she did so because she loved him.

The second speaker is Alfred, who reveals that Batman's rouges gallery is completely fake, just actors playing parts to keep Bruce occupied. Heck, Alfred reveals that he's the Joker! Bats gets killed in this story by the actor who played the Riddler, who eventually lost his mind.

Batman, who's watching all of this from somewhere with some unknown woman, points out how ridiculous all these stories are, and how nothing happening here makes any sense. I wholeheartedly agree.

I know there's a second part, but all I can say right now is this: Don't do drugs, kids!