What Kind of Martial Arts Does Grant Morrison Do
If at that place'south ever a Mount Rushmore of Batman storytellers, Grant Morrison'southward face surely deserves to be carved into that rock. Morrison is the writer of some of the nearly acclaimed and influential Batman comics ever published, from 1989'due south Arkham Asylum graphic novel to a lengthy, game-changing run on DC's monthly Batman comic in the tardily 2000'due south. That latter projection changed the franchise forever, introducing Bruce Wayne's son Damian, ending the reign of the New Gods and transforming Batman from lone vigilante into a worldwide strength for justice.
These days, Morrison is amid a number of comic book creators who've made the jump to Substack. Morrison'south Substack channel Xanaduum has already proven to be a treasure trove of fascinating anecdotes and reflections virtually their storied DC career. Morrison recently wrapped up a multi-part expect back at Superman and the Potency, revealing their surprising motivations for tackling one last DC project. Now the time has come to turn everyone's attention to Batman.
IGN was fortunate enough to be able to join Morrison on this wait back at their sprawling Bat-saga. In the starting time of a two-part retrospective series, we examine the early stories that set the tone for Morrison'due south eight-year run. Read on to learn more about the challenge of introducing Batman'due south son, the origins of mind-bending concepts like the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh and the twisted enigma that is the Joker'due south mind.
Returning to Gotham Metropolis
Morrison was certainly no stranger to Batman by the time they took the reins of DC's flagship series in 2006. Early Bat-tales like Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth and Batman: Gothic helped cement Morrison as 1 of DC'due south rising stars in the early '90s. Morrison later made Batman a focal betoken of their critically acclaimed JLA series, a book that painted the Justice League as godlike beings defending humanity from threats across fourth dimension and space.
Readers could take been forgiven for thinking Morrison had said all there is to be said most the Night Knight past the end of the '90s. Simply that proved to be anything simply the case. 2006's Batman #655 kicked off what eventually became a massive superhero ballsy spanning multiple titles and adding fundamental new characters and ideas to the franchise. Coming off the events of 2005's Space Crisis crossover and the chaotic but critically acclaimed weekly serial 52, Morrison was presented with a blank canvass on which they could nowadays a radically dissimilar take on Batman.
The Creation of Damian Wayne
Morrison's virtually significant addition to the Batman mythos is also ane that was introduced in their very first issue. Batman #655 ends with the surprise debut of Damian Wayne - the son Batman didn't know he had.
Damian'due south genesis dates back to 1987's Batman: Son of the Demon, which sees Bruce Wayne briefly merits his place as Ra'south al Ghul's heir and excogitate a son with Talia. Seeing the profound psychological impact fatherhood has on her beloved, Talia pretends to suffer a miscarriage and has their marriage annulled. But secretly, the son of Batman still lived - a loose end that was finally, definitively addressed almost 20 years later.
Since his initial debut as a hotheaded adversary to Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake, Damian has grown to become a core colonnade of the Batman franchise. Even now, Damian is the star of DC's monthly Robin serial. But for all that this grapheme has managed to strike a chord with DC readers, Morrison admits they weren't overly enamored with Damian at the starting time. In fact, Morrison originally planned on killing off Damian at the end of their opening story arc, "Batman & Son" [note - more on that in Part 2 of this characteristic]. It took some coaxing from so-Editor-in-Chief Dan DiDio before Morrison saw the long-term potential of Batman'southward long-lost son.
A Unified History of Batman
One of the cadre ideas fueling Morrison's Batman saga is the notion that every Batman story - from the Aureate Age tales of a gun-toting vigilante to the campy Silverish Historic period adventures to the modern Dark Knight Detective - happened in some form or another. Not ever in a literal sense, but Morrison oft constitute ways of integrating bizarre, forgotten pieces of Bat-lore into his stories. And for anyone interested in doing a deep read of Morrison's Batman piece of work, those classic stories are reprinted in a companion drove called Batman: The Black Casebook.
For instance, 1958's Batman #113 features a story called "The Superman of Planet 10," where Batman travels to the planet Zur-En-Arrh and meets Tlano, a scientist inspired to to mimic Bruce Wayne's costumed exploits. Morrison gave that tale a completely new context. The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh is really an alternating personality created by Bruce Wayne himself. This garishly costumed figure is designed every bit a mental failsafe, one that can take control of Bruce's body should his heed be overwhelmed by the enemy. Which is exactly what happens in 2008'south Batman RIP, as Dr. Simon Injure and the members of the Black Glove launch a devastating psychological attack on the Bat-family unit.
The name "Zur-En-Arrh" is even revealed to have a heartbreaking connotation. As revealed at the end of Batman RIP, the terminal affair Thomas Wayne said to his son upon leaving the movie theater that fateful night was, "They'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham." That, according to Morrison, is basically Batman in a nutshell.
Joker: Insane or Super-Sane?
No proper Batman run is complete without a good Joker story. The Clown Prince of Offense is never necessarily the main villain of any detail storyline in Morrison'south run. Rather, Joker pops in and out of Morrison'southward work at key points, beginning with "The Clown at Midnight" in Batman #663, an illustrated prose story featuring what may well be Joker's most agonizing transformation.
That event and subsequent stories built on an idea Morrison and creative person Dave McKean originally floated in their Arkham Asylum graphic novel. Morrison suggests Joker isn't criminally insane then much as he's "super-sane." With his mind operating on a higher aeroplane of consciousness, Joker constantly reacts to stimuli and rebuilds his personality in response to the globe around him. Long before writer Geoff Johns teased the existence of 3 versions of Joker, Morrison argued this super-sanity is the reason Joker has evolved from scheming criminal to goofy prankster to deranged lunatic over the decades.
"The Clown at Midnight" shows Joker shedding all trappings of his old life, including Harley Quinn, before transforming into what Morrison dubs "The Thin White Duke of Death." Withal recovering from a gunshot to the caput and the effects of catastrophic facial reconstructive surgery, this Joker is a rasping, barely intelligible murderer whose dialogue is presented in an unnerving, all-lowercase font. That version of Joker returns in Batman RIP, and the graphic symbol later on undergoes another profound shift when he masquerades every bit costumed detective Oberon Sexton. The only abiding for Joker is perpetual alter.
Check dorsum soon for Part 2 of our Batman retrospective, as Morrison looks back at Final Crisis, Dick Grayson's ascension equally Batman and the creation of the global crimefighting empire known as Batman Incorporated.
Until then, you can check out the acme 12 moments from Morrison'southward Batman run and IGN's picks for the 27 best Batman comic books and graphic novels.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter .
Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/batman-grant-morrison-retrospective-interview-joker-damian-wayne
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