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In the history of iconic comic book characters, very few have issues that will stand out as so controversial, applauded, and despised as Batman 681. Grant Morrison’s epic shaping of the Batman mythos makes a most dramatic turn at the conclusion of the Batman R.I.P. storyline and while some readers will no doubt walk away from the affair scratching their heads and shrugging in bewilderment, those who read a little more deeply and carefully will find a well crafted tale that digs deeply into the heart of the matter of what it really means to be the Batman.
PLEASE NOTE: This review contains spoilers. If you do not wish to have key plot devices revealed to you, stop reading now.
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Let’s start by making one very important caveat: this issue is not for everyone. There are those who enjoy the 4 color exploits of their youth and view reading a comic book as a passive experience that brings them joy by entertaining them in a relaxed atmosphere. Those people will not find satisfaction in the pages of Batman 681, nor in any other issue in Grant Morrison’s run in Batman. Morrison layers his stories like a Mobieus strip that rewards you only after you have realized that the common perceptions don’t apply here and only by moving away from what you find most comfortable will you begin to see how things are truly crafted. Morrison provides you with the answers if you are willing to look for them and sometimes only after you realize that you were really looking for a different answer all along.
The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was an alter ego that Bruce Wayne had constructed to protect himself in the event that his base psyche was under attack. This version of Batman was wild and uninhibited, flaunting himself in a bizarre red and purple Batman suit. He was the version of a hero young Bruce Wayne had imagined as a boy, attacking his parents’ murderer without restraint and bringing him to justice. The phrase “zurenarrh” came from the last thing Bruce’s father had said the night he was murdered. While discussing the movie The Mark of Zorro, Thomas Wayne said that if the masked vigilante ran through the streets, Gotham would think he’s crazy and lock “…Zorro in Arkham.” Bruce didn’t quite hear what his father said and just as he asked, they were attacked. The phrase was locked in his mind and The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was born.
Bruce used this alternate personality to survive the mental attacks by Dr. Hurt and The Black Glove. When he was injected with drugs and left to fight the addiction, The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh took over and the last remaining pieces of Bruce’s sanity manifested in the appearance of Bat-Mite, the scamp from the 5th dimension who often played pranks on Bruce. As Batman descended into madness, it was the reality bending Bat-Mite that became sane, leading him along on his journey. In a similar fashion, The Joker found himself driven closer and closer to sanity as Batman journeyed through insanity. The Joker and the Batman have always had a syncopated relationship, and as Bruce fought to discover what it meant to be the Batman, The Joker saw himself attempting to determine what it meant to be the Batman’s nemesis.
The question of what it means to be the Batman is really the point of Morrison’s story here, and finding the answer leads Bruce Wayne to discover that being the Batman isn’t really what he wants anymore. In his final confrontation with Dr. Hurt, Hurt attempts to play a final round of mind games with Bruce. All of Bruce’s mental training has been confronting his fears head on. As each layer of fear was stripped away, Bruce became more Batman and less Bruce, thus losing his humanity on his journey to become the hero that might have been good enough to save his own parents. Dr. Hurt plays on this, saying that Batman is really no different from some of the villains he fights since he really doesn’t fight them to mete out justice, but to hide the loss he feels from losing his parents. Losing each layer of Bruce’s humanity means that he has come closer and closer to killing off Bruce for good, even though Joe Chill didn’t have the guts to shoot him as a kid in Crime Alley all those years ago.
Dr. Hurt next plays on Bruce’s fear that being the Batman endangers those around him. How many people have gotten hurt or died because Bruce became the Batman? How many people became collateral damage in an effort by a villain to get the Batman’s attention? The death of Jason Todd weighed heavily on the Batman for a long time, and here Dr. Hurt is trying to dredge up these issues again. However, Bruce has already dealt with this issue many times before. Did Dr. Hurt think that bringing it up again would really break the Batman? Of course he didn’t. These two initial attacks on Bruce’s psyche are to push him close to the edge to set him up for the final attack.
The last attack by Dr. Hurt is the most controversial and the point at which some readers will give up on the story completely. Dr. Hurt claims that he is Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s long thought to be dead father. Dr. Hurt is wearing the bat costume that Thomas wore to a Halloween gala which planted the seeds of a Bat-Man in Bruce’s mind. Dr. Hurt also knows about zurrenarrh, that final phrase from the night when Joe Chill attacked. Hurt reveals that he paid Chill to kill Bruce and his mother so that he could fake his own death and leave his old life behind. If this is true, then Bruce’s entire life has been based on a shame. Everything he has ever done has been to honor a man who betrayed his wife and tried to have his own son murdered. Bruce can’t believe that he’s Thomas Wayne. Bruce believes that he is Mangrove Pierce, Thomas Wayne’s double from his days dabbling in the theatre and that Pierce has simply adopted Thomas Wayne’s persona. But the doubt lingers, could he really be Thomas Wayne?
Dr. Hurt finally reveals that he has spread documents and photographs to the press showing that Thomas and Martha Wayne, as well as Bruce’s long-time father figure Alfred Pennyworth, were all drug addicts and criminals. Even if it isn’t true, this is the new reality that Bruce will have to face and even Bruce knows that once something is repeated enough in a public space, it becomes the truth once the people believe it. Hurt promises to make all the evidence go away if Bruce joins him gives into the role of villainy that has been laid out before him. The Batman must become evil in order to avenge his parents for the last time, otherwise Dr. Hurt has won and The Batman will have lost his purpose.
Bruce now has to make a final decision. Reality has failed him. The Batman has failed him. His father has failed him. Bruce sees only one way to save The Batman and the memory of his family and that is to stop Dr. Hurt at all costs. He refuses to give in to Hurt’s demands and refuses to believe that this man is his father. Even if he is Thomas Wayne, he’s not the man who raised Bruce. As Hurt attempts to escape in a waiting helicopter, Bruce punches through the glass and attacks Hurt, crashing the ‘copter and killing them both.
Morrison’s tale began with the event that happens chronologically last in this story. Six months later, the Batman appears with Robin to save the life of a police officer who is about to be tortured to death. The question now is: Who is this Batman? Is it Bruce? Is it Dick Greyson, the original Robin who now goes by the name of Nightwing? Is it Jason Todd, the second Robin who died at the hands of the Joker only to be brought back to life during the reality altering events of Infinite Crisis? While this story doesn’t provide that answer, it gives us a few answers that play to the heart of the Batman character.
First of all, why was this story called Batman R.I.P. if the Batman reappears at the end to proclaim that Batman will never die? Quite simply, the Bruce Wayne character as Batman is dead. Perhaps as a new editor in chief takes over the reins of DC Comics in the future, Bruce Wayne will be pressed back into service, but Morrison is genuinely ending Bruce Wayne’s career here. Is Bruce Wayne dead? Most likely, no. Bruce is done with the Batman and has probably used the helicopter explosion to fake his own death so that he may move on. His eventual fate is no longer tied to the hero and the mythos of the Batman will be changed forever.
As you can see, there’s a lot to digest in Morrison’s story and only certain aspects have been discussed here in the context of this review because these are the pieces that play into the sense of the overall value of this issue to the reader. The first time I read this issue, I left with a feeling like I wasn’t quite sure what I had read and I didn’t know what had happened. After two more read-throughs and some time at Wikipedia, I feel like I have a decent understanding of Morrison’s goals here and thus, I come back to the caveat I spoke of some 1200 or so words ago. If you want a story that shows the Batman’s corpse in a casket and Superman giving the eulogy at his funeral, you will be disappointed that you bought this issue instead of spending the money on candy and soda.
Batman 681 is available now for $3.99 from your local comic book shop. To find a store near you, call 1-888-COMIC-BOOK.