The Final Battle BEGINS! declares the cover, ring announcer style, and, boy, does it ever! The story so far: Leviathan has taken over Gotham from the ground up, and is now moving into its final phase of destroying the city. Talia Al-Ghul was revealed as the head of Leviathan, exacting vengeance upon Bruce Wayne, Batman Incorporated and Gotham City by unleashing her genetically mutated son, known only as the Heretic. In a climactic and tense battle, Damian Wayne went up against the Heretic only to tragically fall. Blinded by rage, Bruce took Kurt Langstroms Manbat serum to truly become a bat man, suited up, and marshalled the bats and what remain of Batman Inc. into this, the final showdown that has become the most intense lovers spat youve ever seen! After the Terrance and Phillip moment that was Batman Inc #11 where the main story was abandoned in favour of an oddball one-shot featuring the Batman of Japan, scripted by Chris Burnham, I wondered if the momentum had slowed or stopped altogether for Batman Inc #12, the penultimate issue in Grant Morrisons 7 year Batman run - and I was pleased to note that it hadnt. Batman Inc. #12 is 20 pages long but feels about twice that and I dont mean that it drags at all but because so much happens within it to make you feel like youve experienced something larger than what it actually was. Its a trick that Grant Morrison has been able to pull off for some time now, using the limited space hes given to create something ridiculously massive and ambitious in scope, showing how completely he understands comics to be able to manipulate the medium so fluently. The comic opens like the beginning of an epic battle, despite the advancing frontline featuring only one man - Batman! A phalanx of bats charges towards the gathered forces of Leviathan atop the Wayne Enterprises building and we see something extremely rare - Talia Al-Ghul, afraid. Why wont he admit defeat? Why wont he stop? she says, before ordering her manbat army to make him stop - and the manbats fall. Literally, because Batmans bats are carrying the antidote to Langstroms serum.
From there we get the cathartic and satisfying battle weve been waiting to read since Damians death - Batman releasing his pent-up rage on his sons killer, the Heretic. And wow, the Heretic takes some punishment in this issue. Which he really has to, and not just because of Batman Inc. #8 either - following Damians death, DC decided to have all Bat-related titles have a Requiem issue where Damian was mourned by that comics character. Now I liked Damian as much as anyone but those Requiem issues were frankly a bit too much. Batman and Robin #18 was really something, but the others? It just felt overblown and kind of embarrassing. The comic I wanted to read the most that reacted to Damians death was the comic that also killed him - Batman Incorporated, which is why this issue feels like the right place to showcase Bruces grief rather than in the numerous other titles. I wont go through the beats that make up the Batman vs. Heretic fight but it is intense. Batman throws (nearly) everything hes got at the villain, using all kinds of tricks and gadgets. This goes on for a while (though really its just a few pages) before Nightwing and the new Knight, Beryl Hutchinson, show up to land critical hits against Heretic. Its important to get these two in the final fight too as Nightwing wasnt just Damians stepbrother but also his partner when Dick put on the cowl to become Batman to Damians Robin while Bruce was travelling through time (see Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne), and Heretic killed Beryls friend Cyril, the last Knight. I will say this though - Heretic has been masked throughout the series and here we finally get to see his face, and his true face makes so much sense and is both shocking and obvious that its an inspired by Morrison. Bruces disgusted and wounded reaction says it all - Urr. God. (small font) No. As if we didnt already know Talia is the BAD guy and is an unrepentantly EVIL person, Morrison underlines how much we should hate her with her final actions in this comic. Theres a nicely placed small scene in the middle of the comic where the remainder of Batman Inc. discover a larger story going on behind this one (thatll have to be explored by other writers as Morrisons leaving), that features another mysterious figure - and its to Morrisons credit that he keeps throwing in new things and new mysteries even though the series is all but done. Hes so damn brilliant at writing great comics he just cant slow down!
Chris Burnham continues doing flawless work in this comic. I say this every time I read a Batman Inc comic but this guys work is something else. His artwork is always good, its always beautiful, its always damned impressive. If you went into this series not knowing who Burnham was, youll leave knowing that hes an artist youll be following closely from now on. Batman Inc #12 is especially good as this is a comic with no fill in artists and is 100% Burnham art. Not to rag on Jason Masters who did a fine job filling in the last few issues, but Id rather wait longer to read a Batman Inc. comic thats completely drawn by Burnham than not. So the scene is set: Gotham is killed, Batman Inc. is dead, Damian is long gone - all thats left is the last dance between Batman and Talia. To the death? That seems to be what Talia wants - but will Bruce give her that satisfaction? Morrisons final Batman comic, next months Batman Incorporated #13, is sure to be every bit as incredible as #12 was, maybe more. Be there!
Batman Incorporated #12 by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham is out now