Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert are back. They're teamed up again to bring us a story of arguably the greatest hero out there. But, Andy only does the cover. And it really is a great cover. The inside art is by John VanFleet. It's incredible. It's phenomenal. Each picture, throughout the book, is like a separate frame in an art gallery. This particular issue is set up like one of those story books from the 50's or 60's. You know the ones, with the overly imaged text and prose, reading like a novel through the eyes of an acid haze. Then the pages of the story are littered with panels of over indulgent art as is to distract you from the poetic phrasing of the story. Sheer perfection. I don't know how Grant does it, but he pulls it off issue after issue. This issue also is more about the Joker than it is about the Batman. After the last beating that the Joker took, being shot, and then thrown in the dumpster by Batman, he's been living in Arkham trying to heal and recuperate. At least that's what the world thinks. Actually he's living in Arkham trying to scheme and concoct a new persona so he can metamorphose in to a new improved Joker. The first step is killing all ties to his former life. Which means all of his old henchmen. Unfortunately, or ironically, that includes, much to her dismay . . . Harley Quinn. "Say it isn't so . . . Mistah Jay!", she says with that obnoxious mixture of a New York and Boston accent. He ends up not killing her, but she is disfigured a bit. And as Batman's dragging him back to his cell, Harley is shouting, " . . you gotta stop ignoring me, Mishah Jay. Don'tcha love me no more?" As I said, fantastic story by Grant, and I really love the style of prose that he chose to express his images in. This guy really is a genius. Also I appreciated his nod to all the old Batman history and creators. It's littered throughout the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment