comicbooks

Batman R.I.P.

Taken as a whole, Batman R.I.P. was an OK Batman story.  I haven’t been reading the Batman titles regularly, so I was lost on a lot of the historical references.  Apparently, somewhere in the past, Batman went into a cave (not the Batcave, but a regular cave) for awhile.  Apparently, somebody programmed him with a post-hypnotic suggestion so they could later erase his Batman persona.  Apparently, he planned ahead in case of such an emergency and created a backup personality, which just happens to be loopy as a fruitnut. 

In the end, Batman is still Batman.  He had it all figured out and was well in control of the situation, even when chained and buried alive.  DC isn’t even pretending that Bruce is dead, since the casebook was written by him.  He’ll be back.  The big mystery is: who will be the temporary Batman until Bruce returns?

Probably Nightwing.  And they’ll probably kill him off.  Word is that they wanted to off Dick Grayson during Final Crisis, but decided to do Superboy instead. 

Batman R.I.P. was a good-enough story, but failed to live up to the hype.  DC’s press material said that we wouldn’t believe the ending.  I’m not even sure what aspect they’re referring to.  There was nothing shocking or special at all.  There was a nice full-page panel of Nightwing holding the Batman cowl, though.  At least that’s something…