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Rating:  -
Writer Grant Morrison and artist Andy Kubert have placed Batman in a real predicament; after battling ninja Man-Bats to the point of losing consciousness, the iconic superhero is then informed by Talia al Ghul that he's the father of her son, Damian. Just another Manic Monday, I guess.
With the plot bouncing from London to Gotham City and ending on Gibraltar, it is a psychological exploration into the relationship between Batman, Robin and Damian, which yields at different points some heartfelt, powerful and unbelievably destructive displays that may ultimately doom the Dark Knight.
This is Morrison's debut with the Batman title and the key elements are ambitious, but the story line when it suddenly retreats to a formulaic ending. This is a father and child reunion that could have blazed through the nighttime sky, if given a full opportunity.
Rating:  -
Review by Brian Grindrod
Since Jim Starlin's departure from the Batman title during the late 1980s, the character and its original premise has been bastardized beyond recognition. The world's greatest detective as well as one of the best trained combatants had been replaced by a paranoiac, manipulative fanatic who is territorial and constantly irate. This modern-era Batman is indistinguishable from the insane criminals he has sworn to protect the innocent from. Incompetent editors have reduced this great icon to a farce by allowing one of the greatest hacks in the industry, Judd Winick, to spit in the faces of Batman fans by not only bringing back Jason Todd (Robin II) but not being able to give his resurrection any plausible credibility.
While Paul Dini's arrival on Detective Comics has been a welcome change of pace from the drivel of the last two decades, I had high expectations from Grant Morrison who had breathed new life into a stifled X-Men franchise. However, with Batman and Son, this proves that Morrison has been riding way too long on the coattails of his groundbreaking Animal Man series. For every Doom Patrol stint, there are far too plenty of Seven Soldiers of Victory, Kill Your Boyfriend and Marvel Boy fiascos to consider him as one of the industry's best comic book writers. Disjointed, abstract expressionism with a healthy dose of kitsch may impress the elitist comic book snob but for those who want a straightforward action-packed super-hero romp, it is nothing but utter rubbish.
For many years, editor Dennis O'Neil had unswervingly maintained that the Batman: Son Of the Demon graphic novel did not from part of the character's continuity. From a marketing point of view, it made perfect sense. After all, corporations who may want to pay Warner Bros. for utilizing the Batman property certainly did not want their product to be associated with a fictional super-hero who had a fictional bastard son. Well, it looks like the insipid Superman Returns film has demonstrated that the times have changed since Morrison's story is contingent on events that transpired in Son Of The Demon. However, retconning an Elseworlds story back into current continuity does not excuse the laziness that Morrison admitted to by not reading the actual tale and using Superboy Prime's reality punch to blanket over all the errors within the Batman and Son story arc. If only the editorial and continuity blunders were the only faults of this claptrap....
First of all, does it make any sense that Batman would accept somebody in his home with open arms after this person has beaten half-to-death his (adopted) son and assaulted his long time friend? Even more ludicrous is that he accepts Talia Al Ghul's word that the boy is theirs without doing a DNA test once they are in the Batcave. Did I forget to mention that the boy brings back a head he decapitated back to the cave? Does Batman approve of murder all of a sudden? The plot holes and character inconsistencies simply make this story a dreadful read altogether. Morrison pathetically attempts to be clever by paying homage to Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein during a fight scene but this trick gets old after one panel. Then for no reason whatsoever, the story is interrupted by a prose with some John Van Fleet artwork thrown in to remind readers that this is still a comic book... not a novel. To add insult to injury, the last chapter of the book is an Elseworld that has no entertainment value whatsoever.
If you enjoy Andy Kubert's artwork, you will be certainly treat yourself to some great eye-candy. The action scenes where Batman fights an army of Man-Bats and the splash pages are quite impressive but it is not enough to warrant this hardcover's purchase at its original cover price due to the weak plot. It is obvious that Grant Morrison took the gig for reasons other than to deliver a noteworthy product that fans of Batman as well as the super-hero genre can enjoy. I am searching for the real Batman. He's been missing for two decades.
Rating:  -
For some reason, Grant Morrison is given opportunity after opportunity by major comic houses after falling flat time and time again. Marvel gave them one of their flagship franchises, the X-Men, and the result was a convoluted mass of silliness, ridiculous plot twists, out of character behavior by long-established characters, and of course gratuitous sex and violence.
In this trade, the reader can see how Morrison (mis)handed one of the biggest opportunities handed to a writer on the Batman franchise in the last 5 years - the opportunity to explore the possibility that Batman and Talia had a child during one of their prior affairs.
This book is ridiculous and utterly free of any creativity or cleverness. See, since Robin is the "good" son, and Talia's son is the bad son, so his name must be...Damien, right? Makes perfect sense. Talia is transformed from the mysterious, conflicted and sympathetic woman Bruce once loved to a cardboard cutout Evil MILF.
Simply awful in ever respect, but of course, rather than reigning Morrison in after this laughable train wreck, DC has seen fit to hand him yet more responsibility - and for those following current events in both Batman and the DC universe, it's pretty clear that the results aren't improving.
Making something incoherent isn't the same as making it intelligent. Morrison and his fans would do well to remember this.
Rating: -
As my title says, I was cringing while reading this book. The plot was boring, and Batman's son irritated me! The only part that caught my intrest, was how the new Batman called his cat "Alfred". Over all, I recomend you check it out from the library before you decide on buying.
Rating:  -
This is Grant Morrison's entry into the world of the Dark Knight. Well, not exactly, he had written Batman in the pages of JLA in the late 90s and did a fabulous job of it. Many people have referred to Morrison's Batman as the Bat-God or uber Bat because Batman managed to pull off feats that appeared to surpass all other heroes. And now he begins to write Batman on a "monthly" basis.
The premise behind this tale is explained by the title. It introduces a son that Batman was not aware of existing. This son was previously introduced in a graphic novel which had previously been retconned. BUT, this story from the graphic novel is not exactly utilized which is particularly irritating as Morrison has clearly done his research into the Dark Knight for other details to be non-contradictory.
The artwork is great. The initial 4 stories in the book are the Batman and son story. The remaining ones are part of this ghosts of Batman storyline that continued into the Black Glove storyline and R.I.P. Actually, the whole book plants the seeds for the currently storyline continuing in Batman.
What's good: The artwork. Some of the nice little touches introducing the aspects of Bruce Wayne which had previously been ignored or not touched upon in years.
What's bad: Morrison is routinely confusing. And the last part of the book will leave many confused unless they get the Black Glove hardcover and the R.I.P. storyline.
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