R.I.P Batman...

The death of Batman is something that even the newspapers have been following, similar to the death of Superman in the Doomsday arc back in 1992 and the death of Captain America in Civil War not too long ago. Written by Grant Morrison, Batman R.I.P is the story that has been leading up to this point. As much as I liked the arc overall, then ending was a bit of an anti-climax and therefore slightly disappointing. I don't think it was fully the books fault though as there has been a lot of hype and build up to this issue that it should have lived up to but just didn't. His actually death is dealt in a sloppy way as you see the helicopter he is hanging on to explode but no bodies are found in the river below. A predictable and easy to use ending, which the rest of the arc has not been. Morrison's writing has kept me reading, and trying to figure out what will happen next and nearly always being wrong.
Although the end was a bit disappointing the rest of the story has been very good, not the best Batman story ever but defiantly a good one, very well written with excellent art to keep the story visually interesting.

There were two parts of the story that I enjoyed most and they were both the appearance of characters really, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh and Nightwing. Although I've never really been a big Nightwing fan, not because I dislike the character but because I've never really read any of it, his portrayal in R.I.P was excellent and what I thought was a nice touch was when all of Batman's allies were coming to help towards the end, he was the first to arrive and even Batman recognised this. Something I think Dick Grayson really deserves. A excellent example of his significance is a single page spread where Nightwing is shown, away from the others, after Batman's “death” holding the cape and cowl. Could this suggest that he is the one who will pick up the mantel and become Batman? A nice lead up to the upcoming arc “Battle for the Cowl” that will follow R.I.P.

The idea behind Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was something that really interested me, the ability to have a back up personality that comes into action once you lose your mind. As well as the idea, his costume was something that has stuck with me. In comparison to the dark colours of the normal Batman's costume this one is quite bright but very effective and still quite scary and menacing. Just because there are lighter colours does not mean he has a lighter mood or demeanour. The return of the Bat-Mite was a nice little extra too. To me these were the two best characters in the story, not to say the others weren't any good, but these two were defiantly my favourites.

Overall I really liked this issue and Grant Morrison has done a very good job with the series, in my eyes. His material is also very quotable which is something I enjoy. And the epilogue at the end of Batman 681 was very cool, showing young Bruce's fascination with Zorro the masked vigilante and his fathers belief that “The sad thing is that they’d probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham”.