Review: Batman #655.

Batman #655. Such an inauspicious, dull number to kick the dust off the title that bears my favorite non-Kirby character’s name. I’ve been waiting, quite literally, more than a decade to read a Batman comic book that’s this enjoyable, this pure, this true to everything I associate with the character. Yes, I love me some modern-era, Frank Miller Bat-dicketry, but the Bruce Wayne that inhabits these pages is a typically Morrisonian example of a creative hybrid. He’s cited the O’Neil / Adams version of the character as a touchstone, but I can also see an older version of the determined young man from Batman: Year One and hints of the sci-fi swashbuckler that Morrison let loose upon the public in JLA.

The story is a thing of lean beauty – after being away from Gotham for a year, Batman cleans up the town in a remarkably short period and is left with…less to do. Alfred takes this opportunity to introduce him to the concept of being Bruce Wayne again and, of course, things go awry to the tune of “Talia.” There’s many moments that will make even embittered, embattled Bat-fans like me crack a grin: Batman and Commissioner Gordon sharing amusement over a particularly grim headline; Alfred informing Robin that he never forgets certain dietary arrangements; Bruce Wayne as playboy again. I don’t know if Morrison’s taken deliberate steps to minimize the jarring transitions and hailstorm of ideas that have typically marked his superhero work, or if Pete Tomasi has some sort of electro-prod that keeps him in line, but between this and All-Star Superman, he’s got to be impressing more people than ever with unconventional, if deliberately friendly stories.

Special note should be made of Andy Kubert’s artwork here, too. His Ultimate X-Men work never really impressed me and I thought Origin was downright ugly, but with this, Kubert takes the Jim Lee Batman and one-ups him with clear, vibrant storytelling and what may be my favorite modern-era, non-Bolland version of the character. (Michael Lark comes very, very close, of course.)