Good Knight
In Morrison’s Final Crisis 6, Batman is hit by Omega Sanction – the death that is life.
Gaiman picks it up from there and weaves a tale of N.D.E – near death experience. In which the victim attends his own funeral as his friends and foes make-up their accounts as to how he ends up in that coffin and has his whole life flash before his eyes made-up or otherwise.
Now that Batman is a larger-than-life legend who is beyond his creators, he will not die, let alone give up. Even when he dies, he must resurrect. Thanks to the dying-and-rising deities.
When Gaiman was in and there was an allusion to a mysterious character, the speculation that is his beloved Death was quite high. Now when he spills the beans, it’s not Death rather Bruce’s mother, it’s a wow! It’s because on that fateful night he asked his mother to wear that pearl necklace, Joe Chills after snatching it murders both his parents, it is his mother. It’s because in Arkham Asylum he cries out mommy, running in his own head glassing himself, it is his mother. It is also because mother is the only visible god in a sensible sense. He also cries out Jesus there, but it is not Christ because his belief system has evolved since and says here he doesn’t believe in afterlife.
In Final Crisis 7, being thrown into the beginning of a new world, Bruce is carving the bat symbol on the cave. Here that symbol is transformed through panel transitions to hands that hold a child. The child is addressed to as Bruce!
The artist Andy Kubert practices a three-step approach to his pages namely rough pencils, linear breakdown, and finished pencils. Coincidence or not, it occurs to me the story in question has a three-step approach namely trash-telling, cliché'ing, and art'ing. The last half of first part has a story called The Gentleman’s Gentleman’s Tale which speaks volumes for what a writer Gaiman is. The last half of the second part speaks likewise for what an artist Kubert is. All that’s between is hits and misses either for the author or the artist.
Now is the time for the few-dollar question. Are these flaws intended? They are not flaws that will ruin the good story, but nonetheless. Here is a comic-book hero who fits into low-art and high-art. There are one tale too many written and drawn by hundreds of artists over the span of 70 years. Not all of them good and not all of them bad. Two great ones coming to say goodbye, even if a temporary one, to such a luscious hero in itself is history. Now when it’s said it’s nothing short of satisfying.
Good night is something we say to someone when we are done for the day. Good Knight is someone who doesn’t give up even on his worst day. Good Knight Batman.
Gaiman picks it up from there and weaves a tale of N.D.E – near death experience. In which the victim attends his own funeral as his friends and foes make-up their accounts as to how he ends up in that coffin and has his whole life flash before his eyes made-up or otherwise.
Now that Batman is a larger-than-life legend who is beyond his creators, he will not die, let alone give up. Even when he dies, he must resurrect. Thanks to the dying-and-rising deities.
When Gaiman was in and there was an allusion to a mysterious character, the speculation that is his beloved Death was quite high. Now when he spills the beans, it’s not Death rather Bruce’s mother, it’s a wow! It’s because on that fateful night he asked his mother to wear that pearl necklace, Joe Chills after snatching it murders both his parents, it is his mother. It’s because in Arkham Asylum he cries out mommy, running in his own head glassing himself, it is his mother. It is also because mother is the only visible god in a sensible sense. He also cries out Jesus there, but it is not Christ because his belief system has evolved since and says here he doesn’t believe in afterlife.
In Final Crisis 7, being thrown into the beginning of a new world, Bruce is carving the bat symbol on the cave. Here that symbol is transformed through panel transitions to hands that hold a child. The child is addressed to as Bruce!
The artist Andy Kubert practices a three-step approach to his pages namely rough pencils, linear breakdown, and finished pencils. Coincidence or not, it occurs to me the story in question has a three-step approach namely trash-telling, cliché'ing, and art'ing. The last half of first part has a story called The Gentleman’s Gentleman’s Tale which speaks volumes for what a writer Gaiman is. The last half of the second part speaks likewise for what an artist Kubert is. All that’s between is hits and misses either for the author or the artist.
Now is the time for the few-dollar question. Are these flaws intended? They are not flaws that will ruin the good story, but nonetheless. Here is a comic-book hero who fits into low-art and high-art. There are one tale too many written and drawn by hundreds of artists over the span of 70 years. Not all of them good and not all of them bad. Two great ones coming to say goodbye, even if a temporary one, to such a luscious hero in itself is history. Now when it’s said it’s nothing short of satisfying.
Good night is something we say to someone when we are done for the day. Good Knight is someone who doesn’t give up even on his worst day. Good Knight Batman.
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Comment by iBatman on July 4, 2009 at 4:05pm - nice overview, as always!
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