PUBLIC MARKS with tags dc & batman

Grant Morrison may be the most polarizing of comic book writers out there today. Depending on who you ask, he’s can be either revered as the savior of X-Men comics (with his early 00s New X-Men run), or demonized as the destroyer of quality X-Men comics. His stories are always deep, complex, psychedelic, and sometimes too smart for their own good. And that was before Grant admittedly totally changed the way he writes his comics’ narratives.

“The Killing Joke” is widely considered to be the be-all-end-all of Joker stories, so what better way to pay homage to the greatest comic book villain of all time near the eve of his re-unveiling in The Dark Knight than by reviewing his definitive story? This is the comic that (sort of) revealed the origin of The Clown Prince of Crime, humanizing him to an extent never before, and truly examined -with pictures rather than words- the antagonistic symbiosis that exists between Joker and his arch nemesis, The Batman. A beloved Gotham regular will never be the same and another will be put through hell before this story is done. Oh, and there are creepy little henchmidgets as well. Gotta love the henchmidgets.

Grant Morrison is the most frustrating comic book writer I have ever read. On the one hand he is CLEARLY capable of writing some of the most fabulous stories ever. Problem is he is also capable of producing some unholy messes but with the way the professional reviewers have gushed over The Return of Bruce Wayne it surely falls in the category of Morrison’s masterpieces. “Ain’t it Cool News” is quoted on the back cover saying, “If you don’t pick up this book, you hate comics”. Um, ok. If you haven’t figured it out by now I was not bowled over by The Return of Bruce Wayne.