By Morrison, Irving & Burnham
Publisher: DC
ISBN: 9781401242633
Bruce Wayne’s big idea is to extend the reach of the Batman’s crime fighting abilities by recruiting similar talents throughout the world, hence the title of the book. But all this is very much in the background to the book’s main plot, the repeated attempts on the life of Batman’s son.
Not everyone may be up to speed with this development in the DC Universe, but the story does well to recap and explain how Talia, daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, once tempted Bruce Wayne to her bed which resulted in the birth of Damian. He was raised to be brutal, effective, brilliant and deadly, but ultimately, now aged eleven, ends up leaving his mother’s side to become the new Robin. Now his mother has put a price on his head, so Batman, Robin, and a host of Batman Incorporated heroes attempt to put a stop to the threat while tackling Talia’s global criminal organisation known as Leviathan.
Typically Grant Morrison’s script is a multi-layered affair of past events, present problems and possible futures with a heavy dose of violence, humour and bizarre shenanigans to keep you rooted to the spot. Burnham does an excellent job on the art chores, with a style that’s not a million miles away from Frank Quitely (which can’t be bad).
What didn’t quite work for me was the string of secondary heroes that make up the global team. With the exception of El Gaucho they range from the mediocre to the downright absurd, and while they might work in a book such as Doom Patrol I couldn’t take them seriously enough as credible recruits to Batman’s cause. So not a bad book by any means, just a good one tinged with a little disappointment.
And if you liked that: Catch up on some recent history with Batman & Son
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