BATMAN: LEVIATHAN

“The events of this issue take place before FLASHPOINT and the New 52.”

Grrrr.

Batman, Inc. was in my view the Best Grant Morrison Batman Story since “Batman & Son.”  It was odd and often nonlinear, but not so much so as to be frustrating or hopelessly confusing.  It was full of Bat-trivia, but not so obscure that I felt like I was being left out of the joke.  And it portended big BIG changes for Batman.

Then Flashpoint came.  DC promised that Morrison’s Batverse was still canon.

Then the last two issues of Batman, Inc. disappeared, put on hold for several months during the New 52 hype.  And now, at last, the last two issues arrive as a $6.99 one-shot.

But there’s that caveat: “The events of this issue take place before FLASHPOINT and the New 52.”

So, basically, DC lied to us, which we all kinda knew anyway.  Morrison’s Batman is not canon.  And his upcoming

12-issue Batman: Leviathan series, which promises to put a period, once and for all, at the end of the extremely decompressed  Batstory that Morrison has been carefully crafting for 5 years, will arrive in 2012 and…Will it matter?

I’ll still read it, because a good story is a good story, but I’ll be damned if I’m happy about it.

How was the issue, though?  Worth $6.99?

The answer is: Yes and No.  Yes if you bought the first 8 issues, no if you didn’t.  It wrapped up several loose threads, answered some questions, gave a subtle shout out to Nick Spencer’s terrific indie book “Morning Glories” (see picture at right) and offered a hallucinogenic kind of locked-room-mystery, a type of tale that Morrison has spun several times in his years on Batman.

And it’s got hot ninja chicks.  Gotta mention that.

It’s the kind of book you’ll want (need) to reread a few times before you’ve really got a hold on it.

Just like a Morrison book should.

I can’t wait for Batman: Leviathan in 2012, even if DC has completely torked up its continuity and relevance.