While the first five issues of Grant Morrison’s original Batman Incorporated (vol 1) began by introducing us to new characters and a new type of title, the remainder of Morrison’s issues in this pre-New 52 act as a prelude. Leviathan is a villainous organisation that has been prominent in Morrison’s run for some time, and while Morrison spends most of the core Incorporated title exploring one-off stories and new characters in new realms, Leviathan Strikes acts as a single story which sets up the true drama of Batman Incorporated which truly ties up Morrison’s run on the Dark Knight from when it began in 2006. Shall we begin?
Batman Incorporated (vol 1) 6-8 was published from June to October 2011, with the one-off Leviathan Strikes released in February 2012. The stories were written by
Grant Morrison with art by Chris Burnham, Scott Clark, Cameron Stewart, and Scott Beaty. I’ve read these issues in the Batman Incorporated Volume Two hardcover.
Nyktomorph --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Chris Burnham
While Batman spends his time travelling the world to assemble a team of Dark Knights to fight injustice globally, a criminal gang back in Gotham known as the Average Joes, led by an inhuman-looking villain named Joe Average, plans to investigate Bruce Wayne’s funding into the new heroic team. Joe Average has a thing against rich people, and he picks Bruce Wayne as his target. Elsewhere, the true Bat Family are united in that famous cave below the manor. While working on Batman Incorporated’s humble beginnings, Bruce Wayne spends his downtime trolling internet forums about Bruce Wayne’s link with Batman and tricking online nerds regarding rumours. It’s an entertaining scene but it kind of dates the story. Regardless, it’s great to see the large cast of the Bat Family reunite. You really do notice the difference between the Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson Batmans, even if Damian treats them both with contempt. Anyway, events really kick off when Leviathan’s scheme is foiled by the Dark Knight and his allies, with their foes attempting to smuggle children. While this takes Batman Incorporated all over the world to take care of Leviathan’s evil deeds, the real villains themselves watch over events. Elsewhere, Joe Average and his little team do very little, apart from get conned by the real Batman who has been hiding among them for a long time. Nyktomorph, ignoring its strange and rather inexplicable name, is very short in terms of a plot and while it only serves as an interlude in the grand scheme of things, it proves to be of some value and entertainment. Sure, it’s a rather empty story, but overall, it’s nothing terrible or even remotely bad.
With Chris Burnham’s arrival on the title as main artist, his style reminds me of Frank Quitely with its basic yet charming appearance. It may lack some of the drama and strange attractiveness which Quitely possesses, but Burnham’s art suits a title which is effectively a relaunch of The Batmen of All Nations in the 21st century. The inks, although rough, mesh well with Burnham’s pencils and his art becomes the identifiable visuals for Morrison’s third phase on the Dark Knight’s titles.
Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Medicine Soldiers --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Chris Burnham
In the days long before Grant Morrison’s style of comics became mainstream, his scripts retained a large air of uniquity and charm. That’s not to say that Morrison’s writing became boring, but it is fair to say that his time working on Animal Man (vol 1) and Doom Patrol (vol 2) made the way for stories that felt new. Often, they incorporated an old character or two in a modern setting and fabricated a twist in the character’s story or background. Hell, that’s the whole point of Morrison’s twenty-six issues on Animal Man. Batman Incorporated (vol 1) 7, or Medicine Soldiers, is a classic example of Morrison doing this once again. In the dry fields of South Dakota, Man-of-Bats and his sidekick and son Red Raven discover a mother who killed herself in the belief that she couldn’t take care of her baby son. You wouldn’t have got that in the silver age. Anyway, in the meantime, the Native American heroes investigate a criminal gang named the Redz Gang. What makes the relationship between the two heroes so interesting is that Man-of-Bats is deluded, hardened by vigilantism and transformed into a violent pseudo-Dark Knight Returns figure. Meanwhile, Red Raven wants to get out of his life as a superhero, realising that it’s not the life he wants to lead, and he holds it against his father. The two end up going their own way after Man-of-Bats gets into a ruck with the police and one of the Redz, but while Red Raven meets Batman, Man-of-Bats is tricked. The police in South Dakota and the Redz Gang are in cahoots due to their mutual links to Leviathan, and Man-of-Bats is nearly killed. Batman and Red Raven come to the rescue, but the latter too is injured. However, Leviathan’s plan to… do something, possibly destroy Batman Incorporated or defend the drug trade in the forgettable state of South Dakota, is foiled. Medicine Soldiers is, as I was saying earlier, the kind of story which Morrison used to write in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Characters like Man-of-Bats and Red Raven were forgotten for the best part of half-a-century, but Morrison brings them back into the modern world with a three-dimensional story and a powerful one at that. Leviathan finally feel more threatening here as we witness how strong their world power is, while mythos and background that Morrison creates in a mere twenty pages or so is excellent.
Surprisingly, Burnham’s art performs very well here. I’d have a thought, with a setting like this and a story as bloody, dark, and moody as this, that a simplistic art style would fail. However, that proves not to be the case. It appears dramatic and interesting in terms of the storytelling. It does often go a bit over-the-top at some moments for dramatic licence, but it works well with Morrison’s script.
Story: 10/10
Art: 8.5/10
Batman and Oracle in: Nightmares in Numberland --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Scott Clark and David Beaty
And now, when there’s greatness, there’s crapness. There’s always one in the run which leaves a bad taste in your mouth and this virtual reality nightmare is that one. No doubt it was a craze in the early 2010s for stories to focus on VR, particularly since it was upcoming and instantly identified as the future of technology. Morrison clearly wanted to get into some of that, but I’m afraid it just doesn’t work. One day, Bruce Wayne presents a new Wayne Tech invention to some businesspeople: Internet 3.0. Suddenly, the virtual realm is attacked by cyber-terrorists. Fortunately, however, (continued)
thanks to both Batman Incorporated anti-virus software and virtual Batman and Oracle fighters, the terrorists are defeated, and it’s revealed that the businesspeople are involved with it too. The gimmick here must have been amusing for 2011, but over a decade later, this just appears to be a failed tactic to make Batman Incorporated relevant. Perhaps something like this would work successfully if it featured in the background or maybe as an inconsequential scene in a random issue. Making this idea work for a whole issue just doesn’t work. That said, the plot does get interesting after Batman and his chums leave the virtual reality world. By exploring the links between the businesspeople and Leviathan, the Dark Knight works out somehow that Jezebel Jet, that short-term girlfriend of his who faked liking him to further the plans of the Black Glove (yeah, remember her), is still alive. Therefore, that drama isn’t over either. Plain and simple, the idea for this story just doesn’t work and it ends up becoming a confusing mess. The lack of development in the main story, aside from the brief scene at the end, makes it a bit pointless. And one of the issue’s most unavoidable problems does in fact come from the artwork…
In keeping with the VR setting and that kind of plot, Scott Clark and David Beaty are present to transform that virtual reality realm into, well, reality. Unfortunately, in doing so, the story becomes entirely illegible a visual storytelling diarrhoea explosion of biblical proportions. It also doesn’t look much like VR, but more like a bootleg PlayStation game from 2000. Some parts look like there’s been a bit of effort put into it, but it’s never sustained for very long. Can’t imagine either of the artists got much work after that terrific success…
Story: 2/10
Art: 1.5/10
Leviathan Strikes --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Chris Burnham and Cameron Stewart
As the New 52 came along and destroyed virtually any story plans for titles old or new, that’s where Leviathan Strikes comes in as a one-off. Effectively, Leviathan
Strikes compiles what would have been Batman Incorporated (vol 1) 9 and 10 into one issue, therefore bridging the gap between the old title and Batman Incorporated (vol 2). Chapter One focuses mainly on Stephanie Brown, otherwise known as Spoiler in the Bat Family. Wait, I thought she was murdered by Leslie Thompkins in War Crimes? It turns out that everybody comes back sooner or later. Oh, and she’s also Batgirl now. Either way, she is the main focus as she attends a specialist girls’ school which is secretly training Leviathan agents. It’s an interesting idea, but most of the mystery is destroyed in the first few pages as it’s clear from the off that Leviathan are operating since Spoiler is believed to be working for Batman. Things escalate from there as Batgirl is forced to work undercover for Leviathan until, one day when the villainous Son of Pyg arrives (a Leviathan trained Professor Pyg), she is forced to break her cover. Aside from some rather more intriguing scenes when Batgirl fails to convince a friend to leave Leviathan’s grasp, it’s a rather generic tale and one that ends predictably with the whole operation being shut down thanks to some outside help from Batman. It probably wouldn’t work as a regular issue down to its lack of interesting qualities, but it’s not bad at all. It just lacks spectacle and intrigue, something which Chapter Two should hopefully make up with. Remember that crystal Batman and Catwoman nicked from Leviathan from the very first issue? Well, we’re reintroduced to that plot here as we learn nothing that isn’t vague about its attributes and powers. More pressingly however, Bruce, Dick, and Damian have to go after Otto Netz, a Nazi villain who named the mysterious fifth element Oroboro. He’s up to his usual evil schemes, this time threatening Batman and his mission with death as he has poisoned the Dark Knight and tells him that every five minutes, a member of Batman Incorporated will die. This, however, all turns out to mean very little, as when Batman confronts Netz, once again, it’s not really him. Morrison has done that gag once before. Despite it being a bad idea, once is fine. Twice? Just no. Regardless, the whole thing turns out to be a rouse as Batman finds that Leviathan’s agents are dead drugged-up Batman Incorporated members. In addition, El Gaucho has been brainwashed by the real Otto Netz. Elsewhere in this somewhat confusing story, the Outsiders are out there searching for Leviathan, only for them to run into Lord Death Man, who detonates the explosives in Leviathan’s ship, but fortunately, the heroes are rescued by that awful VR system. In the end, Damian is forced to kill Otto Netz as he finds him murdering his father. As for the conclusion to the first part of the third phase of Morrison’s Batman run, the Dark Knight finds the head of ex-lover Jezebel Jet and, far more importantly, a red landline phone in a glass case resembling a lovely reference to that lovable TV series from the 1960s featuring the Caped Crusader. Sorry, back to the misery. Batman answers the phone and hears the voice boast of her control of the world and the League of Assassins, threatening Batman with war. That voice, of course, belongs to Talia Al Ghul. It’s a great ending to Batman Incorporated’s first run and it explains why I’ve basically dismissed it as a prequel. It sets up nicely the events of Batman Incorporated (vol 2), which has a far more coherent structure in terms of an ongoing story. As for Leviathan Strikes, aside from setting the scene, it’s somewhat mixed. The first chapter, although relatively uninteresting, isn’t terrible and serves a purpose, while the second act has some surprises and develops the story well, despite some storytelling confusions. It seems very cluttered at the end, as if there was too much information to be told in a short time span.
Each of the two chapters are drawn by two different artists, specifically Cameron Stewart for the first and Chris Burnham for the second. My views on Burnham are already clear and his work here, although sometimes a bit messy in terms of storytelling, works well. As for Stewart, his art also looks quite basic and often two-dimensional. If it weren’t for the colouring, it would appear that every scene is in broad daylight aside from moments of drama like Son of Pyg sticking a pin through his own palm. Like Burnham, there’s a sense of charm here, but more often than not, it just appears dry and boring.
Story: 7.5/10
Art: 7/10
VERDICT
Overall, Batman: Leviathan Strikes is a good conclusion to Batman Incorporated (vol 1) and it serves brilliantly to bridge the gap between the two runs. The scene is set well for the following stories. While there are some stories like Batman Incorporated (vol 1) 6 or the first story in Leviathan Strikes which lack much interest but still deliver an engaging story, others like Medicine Soldiers are sheer reminders of how great Morrison’s style of writing continues to be. Sure, you get the odd Batman and Oracle in: Nightmares in Numberland with Morrison's writing sometimes, but overall, Batman Incorporated (vol 1) does a great job of beginning the end of Grant Morrison’s seven-year stint on the Dark Knight’s titles.
Stories: 7.5/10
Art: 7/10
Next Week: Superman. Inc. Written by Steve Vance with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Mark Farmer.
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