Monday, July 21, 2014

Batman Incorporated by Grant Morrison issue #8

This issue is illustrated by Scott Clark and Chris Burnham as a collaboration, with inks from David Beatty. I feel that I should mention them foremost in this review because this issue is a visually complex production that made me stop reading once in a while just so I could look at the artwork and the details in each panel. Basically, this is a story set in a virtual reality, otherwise known as Wayne Corporations' projects, Internet 3.0. 

Bruce Wayne is having a meeting with executives and investors via online simulation when a virus invades the premises and proceeds to try and kill them. Oracle and Batman team up to fight these parasites which meant we get some very awesome-looking and cool action sequences in the next pages or so.

As for how this issue progresses the overall plot about the Leviathan, it does provide us some additional information about what exactly they are up against which apparently is more destructive, cunning and prevalent than they originally believed. By the end of the issue, Batman and Oracle have a serious talk regarding the grave circumstances they found themselves in. You get the sense of underlying fear and dread in this conversation even if it is between two of the toughest superheroes in DCverse--they're still mere mortals who are about to go to war with an unknown force that they have never encountered before. 

It's worth noting that since this is old continuity, Barbara Gordon is still paralyzed at this point (hence becoming Oracle for the rest of the storylines before New 52) and it's pretty badass to see her fight in a virtual reality. Her contribution to Batman Incorporated is hefty, given that she handles its communications globally. I'm glad that Batman confined in her in those last pages. It shows that he can trust Barbara to handle the truth better than anyone since she experienced terror firsthand in the hands of the clown prince of crime--and it's only about to get worse with this new flagship of villains rising to power.

Not much is still established about the Leviathan; only that Bruce Wayne acknowledges that their threat is real, considering he saw what the future would become during the events of the Final Crisis storyline. It is in my understanding that Morrison had laid out pieces to this multi-layered story with great care and a clear objective which made every issue for Batman Incorporated relevant, even the ones I did enjoy as much (Scorpion Tango issues #3 to #5). This issue is an indication that things are not what they seem anymore and that the world for Bruce Wayne/Batman has gotten bigger in an impressive scale. Gotham City is not the only place that requires a watchful protector such as he. In fact, it's even selfish to believe that Batman is not needed anywhere else.

And though I don't think Bruce ever expected for things to escalate in such a horrifying way, he's certainly learning to adapt and arm the rest of the world to the teeth, recruiting promising, brilliant and dedicated men and women to fight this war with him. He has built himself an army and like a good soldier he knows that the battlefield will cost him the lives of these upstanding people but that is the ultimate price that must be paid in order to prevent the apocalyptic future he had seen during Final Crisis. I'm very afraid for everyone in this story by now. It only just occurred to me how massive the consequences are and how high the stakes have become to get to the last stage of the game.

There's a ring around the world...and everyone is caught right in the center.


RECOMMENDED: 9/10

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