"Absent Fathers" - Batman & Son, Part 4

Writer: Grant Morrison Penciller: Andy Kubert Inker: Jesse Delperdang Colorist: Guy Major Letterer: Rob Leigh Assoc Editor: Michael Siglain Editor: Peter Tomasi

Batman created by Bob Kane

Batman has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. I really wasn't too sure what would happen when Grant Morrison came on board this series. I had my own opinions about how this first story would turn out and I'm glad to say that this has been one of my favorite Batman storylines in a long while. While the end of this issue wraps things up there's still a lot that can be told and I'm curious if or when we'll ever see it brought back. Damian could be a very promising character if given the right opportunities and I'm very interested to see what happens to him after this story arc.

Grant Morrison is one of those writers I've liked here and there but I've never been one to buy everything he does. His style of writing and his perception of the characters he writes has always been interesting and he's always brought new life to existing characters. I have had bad experiences with his writing - New X-Men comes to mind. And while that's the case with the X-Men, Batman is a completely different situation. His work on this series so far has been great. This is what I've been looking for in this series for a while. I'll admit to being worried about Morrison going over the top with Batman.

"Batman & Son" hasn't been close to over the top unless you're counting Damian's actions and even those aren't that over the top because of who the character is and his family life. Hey, you'd be screwed up too if Talia raised you. What this story does do is show that Talia is probably as cunning and as smart as he father before her and has learned from both Ra's Al Ghul and Batman over the years. Talia's reasons for her actions are revealed in this issue and I'm actually quiet surprised by them and loved the scene more than anything in this issue. Its probably the most well played scene I've seen in a comic book in a while.

Andy Kubert continues to pour it on with this issue and proving he is one of the definitive Batman artists. I first saw Kubert's Batman work back when he did the first Batman/Predator miniseries. The grin on Damian's face as Batman tells him, "I have a lot of stuff nobody knows about," was great and shows Kubert's ability to get into the script and pull out those things you can't write into words.

I'm excited about Grant Morrison's run on this series because if its anything like this story arc then its going to be exciting and entertaining and a must read by comic fans!