Batman and Son

by Grant Morrison, Andy Kubert

English language

Published Aug. 8, 2007

ISBN:: 978-1-4012-1240-7

(9 reviews)

"Batman and Son" is a 2006 comic book story arc featuring the DC Comics character Batman. Written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Andy Kubert, the story was published in four parts in the comic book Batman starting in #655 and ending in #658. The story was the beginning of Morrison's run in the Batman comic as well as their long-term take on the character of Batman through multiple titles over the next seven years. The arc introduced Batman's son, Damian Wayne, bringing him into the mainstream continuity of the DC Universe. Morrison was hired by DC editors to give their take on Batman after having recently given their definitive take on the character of Superman in All Star Superman. In writing the arc, they took ideas from past Batman stories, especially the 1987 story Batman: Son of the Demon. Morrison brought back the idea of a son, Damian, being born from a love affair between Batman and Talia al Ghul, the daughter of his nemesis, Ra's al Ghul. The boy had been trained from birth by the League of Assassins and was sent by Talia to live with Batman in a plot to disrupt his crime-fighting and distract him. It also includes the use of sometime Batman adversary, Dr. Kirk Langstrom and the serum he uses to become the creature Man-Bat. The arc served as the beginning of Morrison's Batman run and was followed by a prose story about the Joker in Batman #663 and then the fan-named story arc The Three Ghosts of Batman (Batman #664–666). These two arcs and the Joker story were ultimately collected together in trade paperback form since many elements introduced in the first arc were used and expanded upon in the second arc. The story had a lasting impact on the DC Universe, introducing the character of Damian who would go on to co-star in two on-going monthly series for DC and appear in other comic books frequently.

1 edition

A. Rivera reviewed Batman and Son by Grant Morrison

Review of 'Batman and Son' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I started this really looking forward to it, and somehow the author just dropped the ball on the plot towards the end. Now, in the interest of disclosure, I am not a comics fanboy or expert, more like a casual reader. But I have to agree with some of the commenters here that Morrison simply lost control of the plot somewhere along the way. The thing is that the premise of this graphic novel is simply great; the potential for a great story was there. Somehow, after the Interlude segment with the Joker, Morrison simply loses it. There is no other way to say it. The story simply becomes a fairly chaotic mess. The whole deal with the 3 Batman ghosts? I am not quite sure where he was supposed to go with it. It just seemed to meander from one story to the other with no connection.

Now, some readers here have wondered about that Interlude segment, the Joker story. I kind of took like the intermission in an opera, only with a different story. I actually liked that interlude. I think it could have made a decent story on its own. I found it to be reminiscent of Morrison's Arkham Asylum in terms of the feel and look as well as the way the story was told. And I loved Arkham Asylum (I did review it here positively). So go figure.

The end of the story, or the last chapter offers an interesting possibility for Batman's son, but there is no continuity to get from where Morrison started to that ending. Overall, not the best Batman work, at least when it comes to everything after the interlude. The book starts strong and then falls down. A pity, for as I said, they had a great story premise that I think they could have done better with it.