Everything makes sense, much is revealed, and many of the fears voiced on messageboards since “Batman RIP” was announced are proved to be unfounded.

It looks like Grant Morrison learned a little bit from the death of Superman over a decade ago. Today, I’m left with a completely different perspective on the whole storyline and a greater appreciation for Morrison’s reverence for the entire Batman mythos, similar to his work with All-Star Superman.

In a completely metatextual way, of course.

Without all the interruptions and scheduling snaffs or ridiculous hype; this is a really great Batman mystery.

The funny thing is Batman never need any of this.He’s been the 1# Superhero for a while,he’s been kicking ass for years now,lame characters and comics like Captian America are the ones who needed the shot in the arm that Burbaker gave it.

If Morrison has bigger plans, then you have to take this with a grain of salt. I look back at some of the smaller stories in his X-MEN run and feel underwhelmed but if you look at how they all weave together into this giant tapestry… the story of Sublime and its interaction with mutant evolution… it’s really, really brilliant.

Similarly, I think this might just be the end of an act for Batman. This being billed as the Batman Event to End All Batman Events was a possible misstep on the part of DC Comics marketing.

On the other hand, I heard there is tumult in the DC editorial offices and that Grant will be departing BATMAN sooner than expected.

What is the official story? Is it at all possible that this isn’t the final statement on the character by Morrison, just the conclusion of a specific storyarc?

I don’t get the criticisms that the villain’s identity wasn’t revealed. The Black Glove was the Devil. Or, rather, it was Bruce Wayne’s Personal Satan, the evil within him that was scared out by the Batman. The Bat-Tulpa, if you will. I also don’t think that’s a lame reveal at all. It’s an idea that comes directly from the kind of Asian mysticism that Denny O’Neil added to the character in the 70s, and speaks to what the Batman was intended to do from the outset: terrify evil.

I agree that the issue is totally straightforward, and I probably would have loved it without a doubt if I hadn’t been sitting there at NYCC while Morrison goaded me on to figure out the “obvious” and “shocking” answer to his wicked detective story. Completely divorced from that context, this book kicked ass.

SImply stated by Tim O’Neill, but ultimately the best comment I’ve read about this train wreck. Thank goodness I decided to not waste my money on this arc and simply browsed it at my LCS, which has a couple of chairs near the front and allows people to sit and read.

I don’t buy the “it’s symbolism” talk… Morrison’s entire Bat-run has led up to this and THIS is all it ends up being? A group of bored rich people doing all this simply because they can? It hardly explains all the nonsense that went on. Well, here’s a bored reader who’s loved Batman most of his life and doesn’t understand what the point of any this was. I enjoyed the Heart of Hush story over in ‘Tec (Dini >Morrison), but I’m now done with Batman until DC gets Bruce back in the cowl, where he belongs.

It wasn’t that long ago that DC had a year without Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Now they’re basically taking the characters away AGAIN? I’d ask why I should possibly be interested in any of this, but I already know that I’m not. The Superman books are headed towards a similar mess, so now I’m down to just Green Lantern/GL Corps in my DC reading. I guess I’m glad to be saving the money, but it’s amazing how many DC books I’ve dropped in just the past year. Because I can.

Wait, I’m still getting All Star Batman & Robin too (when it actually comes out). Yeah, it’s a pretty stupid book. But I think, in its own silly, absurd way, it’s a lot more entertaining than Morrison’s Bat-run has been.

That’s why people are so disappointed and feel ripped off by RIP. You give one of the most iconic characters to one of the better writers of comics today, yet he provides an ending that is so stereotypical of a bad comic that it makes the whole medium look bad.

It reads much better if you read it Ryan Higgins suggests. All the grand symbolism and hidden meaning as all that stuff falls into place after that.

I doubt anyone would say that if this had been the ending they were hoping for. Maybe the ending just wasn’t that good.