Trade Issues: Batman-Gothic

Trade Issues: Where Chris reads comics he should have read years ago!

A while back, IGN composed a list of the top comic runs of the past decade. A lot of my favorites were on there! Peter David's X-Factor run, Brian Q Miller's Batgirl run, and, of course, Garth Ennis' run on Punisher. Sitting snugly at number 1 on this list was Grant Morrison's run on Batman. Sadly, this is one of the runs I haven't read. I know Grant Morrison mostly from his run on New X-men (FINALLY KILLING JEAN GREY FOR GOOD) and All-Star Superman. So, I will get to his run on Batman eventually. But that's not what I'm talking about in this post.

In the early 90s, Morrison had his first run-in with the caped crusader in the 5 issue mini-series, Batman: Gothic. Gothic was....a very strange turn for Batman. But that's not necessarily a bad thing!

My biggest complaint with the comic is the art. While not bad (by any means!), it goes more for that classic sequential art comic look of old. This nostalgic look was great in it's time but I feel like comics have moved past that and really can do better. This isn't so much of a black mark against the comic as a personal, whiny complaint.

The story is the strangest thing about this comic. It has a very supernatural edge to it and seems like it would be at home in a Hellblazer comic with John Constantine instead of in Gotham with the dark knight. 

An old figure Bruce Wayne's past returns and begins killing off mobsters in Gotham. Mr. Whisper (AKA The Man With No Shadow) has the mobsters running scared and they actually go to Batman for help. He laughs in their faces but can't help but delve into the mystery of this seemingly immortal killer, finding the connection to his own past. Mr. Whisper proves to be the ultimate foe to Batman, being just as intelligent and absolutely unkillable due to a decades old deal with the devil.

This comic is short; I was surprised when I learned that my trade was had five issues in it! The plot also felt a bit jumpy, quickly jumping between locations and events. I'm not going to let that affect my thoughts on future Morrison Batman stories because he definitely got over this problem by the time he made it to Superman and X-men.

The supernatural story with Batman is strange and unusual. He's definitely one of the last heroes I'd imagine sharing a page with Lucifer. And while this isn't the sort of the story I'd want to see on a regular basis, I think it was a nice change of pace and definitely something people should check out

Man, google images kicks ass.