Morrison: 'Batman, Inc inspired by game'

[Hall E Woode]

This is awesome...

Grant Morrison has revealed that his forthcoming Batman, Inc series was inspired by the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Speaking to Wired, the scribe explained that he has attempted to "capture the feeling" of the Rocksteady Studios title with his latest comic project.

"One of the things I wanted to do was capture the feeling of the Batman: Arkham Asylum game that came out in 2009," he said. "When I played that game, it was the first time in my life where I actually felt what it is like to be Batman.

"It was very involving. The way the game and Paul Dini's story was created, crafted and shot made you actually feel like Batman."

Following on from the events of Final Crisis and The Return Of Bruce Wayne, Batman, Inc sees Dick Grayson continue to serve as the Caped Crusader in Gotham, while Bruce Wayne travels overseas to promote the symbolic power of Batman on a global scale.

Arkham Asylum was released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC last year. A sequel - Arkham City - is in development.

Batman, Inc #1 arrives in stores later this month.

http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a286331/morrison-batman-inc-inspired-by-game.html

[Doat1]

Wait until he plays Arkham City lol

[Old_BenKenobi]

I want whatever hes on...

Er, scratch that, I don't wanna fry my brains out.

[Drazar]

I want whatever hes on...

I'm not sure do you exactly wish an explanation, but just incase someone is wondering here's why Inc is inspired by the game. Morrison's entire run so far in Batman is about the ideal of Humans being capable of doing godly acts. Preparation, dedication and the resources that Bruce Wayne pulls allows him to reach a man-made-god status, which resembles Morrison's Superman being a god-who-inspires-men and receives power by being trusted. Return of Bruce Wayne which now concluded is the story of Batman fightning the ultimate evil and actually winning it, among with the realization that he never was actually alone during his entire course of crime fightning career, so why act like he's a lone vigilante?

Morrison feels the "i'm Batman" thru the game with it's gameplay, story and the similiar theme in Arkham Asylum that Batman, a man can get out of trouble with preparation, assistance and crime fightning skills. Thus now Bruce Wayne is taking the Batman symbol global to recruit an whole army of crime fighters.

[Old_BenKenobi]

I stand by what I say. The guy has to be on something truly wacky. :p

Edit: A quick Google out of curiosity told me that he was majorly into hallucinogens in the 90s. Who'd have thought?

[Drazar]

Yeah he's very open minded about his drug experience. He's also a magician like Alan Moore. I don't think his Batman run is wacky compared to his The Invisibles run, but the only thing you kinda need to know is how Morrison's theory of timetravel works when reading Return of Bruce Wayne, since theres alot of different ways time travel works, such as "meddlign the past changes the future or creates an alternate future" Morrison's time travel works that the past, future and present are all happening at the same time, and you cannot alter the past for it has already happened. For example a person couldn't go to the past and kill his grandfather, because he wouldn't be in the present to make such a decision if his grandfather was indeed dead and his father was never born.

Morrison's run is also full of themes from man-to-god, masks and using symbols of evil (darkness, bats, devil) as a force of good. Hence the Yellow oval is making it's comeback as a brand logo for Batman Inc.

[Old_BenKenobi]

Thats kinda what I'm saying. To come up with that you'd have to be seven shades of insane, cause thats the only way you could even begin to start thinking like that. :p

[Drazar]

Thats kinda what I'm saying. To come up with that you'd have to be seven shades of insane, cause thats the only way you could even begin to start thinking like that. :p

If this was the Invisibles we we're talking about, i'd agree. Morrison's Batman run is more akin to "what if Jack Kirby decided to write a Batman run?". Gosh it's hard to think Morrison has written approx 50 Batman issues, not counting Gothic, Arkham Asylum. :eek::thumb:

[Old_BenKenobi]

Jack Kirby was mad too (probably due to all those years working for Stan Lee). :p

[Drazar]

Jack Kirby was mad too (probably due to all those years working for Stan Lee). :p

Oh you're impossible, but fear not! Morrison: Batman Incorporated takes it back to the ground level and grass roots, and feels a little more like Christopher Nolan or Denny O'Neil's Batman to start with. (http://comics.ign.com/articles/113/1133447p1.html) :thumb:

[Old_BenKenobi]

I'm not saying they're bad stories (though not my cup o' tea), just saying they're written by a mad man. ;)

[Drazar]

I'm not saying they're bad stories (though not my cup o' tea)

Oh i'm aware, but i'm just stubborn enough to try and sell the ideal that you should check his stories out.


just saying they're written by a mad man. ;)

No argument there. :thumb:

[Old_BenKenobi]

Well I did try to check his current thing out but found it far too nipple twisty for my liking, I assume because of the relative lack of brevity compared to All Star Superman (which is just twelve issues).

Then again, didn't like Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On A Serious Earth either.

Wait....

If the Arkham Asylum game is inspiring him now, and that was inspired by Morrison's Arkham Asylum book, then.... hes been leaving inspirations in the past for his future self. Son of a *****. :lol:

[Batman The Trailer Hunter]

it far too nipple twisty for my liking

:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

[DarkVictory]

Well I did try to check his current thing out but found it far too nipple twisty for my liking, I assume because of the relative lack of brevity compared to All Star Superman (which is just twelve issues).

Then again, didn't like Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On A Serious Earth either.

Wait....

If the Arkham Asylum game is inspiring him now, and that was inspired by Morrison's Arkham Asylum book, then.... hes been leaving inspirations in the past for his future self. Son of a *****. :lol: This made me laugh out loud.


Also, yeah, Morrison's writing is good, his stories are just too bat***** insane for my personal Batman. I don't think you can really get much further away from what my conception of Batman is about then send him fighting through time and then forming some sort of global Batman company.

[Drazar]

Well I did try to check his current thing out but found it far too nipple twisty for my liking, I assume because of the relative lack of brevity compared to All Star Superman (which is just twelve issues).

Ultimate the runwill be 70 issues unless Morrison wants to write more, but is the current 50 that too much? I understand Morrison's Batman might not be for you, but you got stuff like Ed Brubaker's Captain America which i'd believe you'd really enjoy. You seem to like Green Lantern, but i can't tell how interested are you in Geoff Johns +50 issue run. Personally atleast i don't think Morrison drags his run, but i would be lying if i'd claim that he couldn't do some stories (Return of Bruce Wayne) in fewer issues.

Then again, didn't like Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On A Serious Earth either.

You could always check out Batman: Gothic or his JLA run. ;) :thumb:

[ICK14]

I've grown to have more of an appreciation towards Morrison. I remember hating his Batman stories like RIP and Black Glove, and I still stand by my opinion on that. But I just read Batman Inc. today and it was AWESOME! I also do like his Batman & Robin, and of course Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. I'm glad to see he enjoyed Arkham Asylum video game and was able to get some inspiration from that!

[Old_BenKenobi]

Ultimate the runwill be 70 issues unless Morrison wants to write more, but is the current 50 that too much? I understand Morrison's Batman might not be for you, but you got stuff like Ed Brubaker's Captain America which i'd believe you'd really enjoy. You seem to like Green Lantern, but i can't tell how interested are you in Geoff Johns +50 issue run. Personally atleast i don't think Morrison drags his run, but i would be lying if i'd claim that he couldn't do some stories (Return of Bruce Wayne) in fewer issues.

Length in and of itself doesn't really bother me. I read (then up to date) runs of Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men in a couple days each, and I also marathoned Garth Ennis' Preacher and Punisher MAX series. Its a matter of pacing more than anything. Those series are very much stop and go. Story arc starts, continues and ends in six issues. Then I can clear my brain and move onto the next one, which is marginally related to the last one. When it comes to Morrison's writing (or any writing that is very twisty and mind trippy) I like it to be capped pretty early on because I just lose interest after 12 issues or so. It gets so mind boggling that instead of trying to figure everything out and keep track of everything my brain crashes and blanks out on it. I just can't process that much. :rasp:

Call me a dumbass but I like to keep it simple, neat and to the point. I'm probably the exact type of reader who Morrison hates. :p

And funny you bring up Geoff Johns' Green Lantern run. Just yesterday I read Green Lantern: Secret Origin. It was really good, but I dunno if I wanna get into a big 50 issue massive thing with it.

[Drazar]

It gets so mind boggling that instead of trying to figure everything out and keep track of everything my brain crashes and blanks out on it. I just can't process that much. :rasp:

I don't know it seems you're more afraid of getting disappointed. Grant Morrison's Batman run isn't really difficult to understand.

Call me a dumbass but I like to keep it simple, neat and to the point. I'm probably the exact type of reader who Morrison hates. :p


He has alot of books you'd enjoy like We3 and the Justice League run of his. Batman Inc is also (based upon 2 issue i've read, Batman: The Return and Batman: Inc #1) seems very much like Batman: The Brave and Bold written by Christopher Nolan. Outrageous! :thumb:

[Old_BenKenobi]

Well I tried reading Morrison's run a couple times and it just didn't stick to me. I'm just not huge on really big long plots and crossovers.

Not sure how much the idea of Nolan written BATB would appeal to me either, since what makes BATB work in the first place is how all of the Silver Age craziness is played for laughs. Its like if Stan Lee wrote a Batman series, which is about as far as you can get from ultra serious Nolan. :p

[Drazar]

Well I tried reading Morrison's run a couple times and it just didn't stick to me. I'm just not huge on really big long plots and crossovers.

Crossovers? Nothing required reading, tho it was rather bland that it took Morrison a year to answer some questions out of Final Crisis, but luckily trade-wise Batman is readable withouth any DC events.


Not sure how much the idea of Nolan written BATB would appeal to me either, since what makes BATB work in the first place is how all of the Silver Age craziness is played for laughs.

Laughs?! How dare you! *shakes his fists* It is dead serious to see Batman ordering thousands of G.I robots and having Bat-robot costumes and being so badass that he can defuse a bomb and save a child's life while falling off a building. :cool: Still tho the general idea is Batman's league vs. Leviathan, which seems like Shadow Council/HYDRA from Marvel comics. I was rather hoping/thinking Morrison could use the League of Assassins, but went with a new mystery villain now.

[BigBoss]

I don't like morrison much. I have read many authors of batman, and the whole Zur-en-arh thing was just....... well whatever. I like it more in reality

[Zur-en-ah]

c'mon ... the whole Zur-en-arhh thing was CLASS

[BigBoss]

c'mon ... the whole Zur-en-arhh thing was CLASS

Says the guy who's name is.......

[Drazar]

I liked how Zur-en-Aarh was a tribute and mockery of Frank Miller's Batman, and a good way to send off the crazed Batman, into a even more determined crazed Batman. :lol:

USA Today interview with Morrison: (http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2010-12-10-batman-incorporated_N.htm)

All these stories he's told so far, though, are the build-up for his ultimate Batman story, "a real big tragedy" he's planning for the second year of Batman Incorporated.

"I want to do Batman like Othello," Morrison says with a laugh. "I don't mean as beautifully written, but in terms of a proper tragedy about watching someone and seeing things going wrong. It's not going to be who people think it is, I hope, but that's the plan."


Ooh maybe the Leviathan get the upperhand on Bruce? Damian is also going to play a bigger role, but will Morrison go forth and murder Damian with his writing, even tho he has clearly shown joy of the fact Damian is going to broader in DCU. This is really exciting news!

[Zur-en-ah]

I reckon "this tragedy" could well involve a certain Dick Grayson as Batman ... however, i think it will be orchestrated (accidentally or otherwise) by Damian

I can see Morrison going to all this work, setting up a multi-layered plot which allows for the death and reinvention of Batman (hence RIP, Return of Bruce Wayne and then Incorporated)

but at the end of the day, Batman should only ever be ONE man (Bruce!) and this new "international" scale of operations ... well, it can only complicate and make things difficult for Bats

just a hunch

(cue Draz to shoot me down, line-by-line deconstruction style!)

[Drazar]

I reckon "this tragedy" could well involve a certain Dick Grayson as Batman
http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/Drazlol/Randomness/Someonewrotethat.jpg
I don't see how Dick needs to be the tragedy since the whole point of "Batman and Robin MUST DIE!" arc was to demonstrate Dick and Damian can handle Gotham on their own withouth getting the city torn apart.



however, i think it will be orchestrated (accidentally or otherwise) by Damian

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/Drazlol/Randomness/Hacker-Robin.png

Damian is set to make a bigger impact on the 2nd year of Inc. Morrison has never had an issue of killing his own characters, not to mention after succeeding on making this into a very popular character, it would be truly tragic on the comic book community.


but at the end of the day, Batman should only ever be ONE man (Bruce!) and this new "international" scale of operations ... well, it can only complicate and make things difficult for Bats

I like the idea of Batman having his own team that people actually take serious, after all noone really has cared about the Outsiders. Even if Inc fails, i doubt we're going to stop seeing popular new characters such as Knight & Squire, tho sadly that mini-series' #2 dropped alot on sales compared to the strong sales of #1. :( It is going to be interesting to see how Morrison concludes his run.


(cue Draz to shoot me down, line-by-line deconstruction style!)

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/Drazlol/Randomness/nph-wink.gif

[Zur-en-ah]

very good ... but like I said, it was just a hunch

[Drazar]

very good ... but like I said, it was just a hunch

But why constantly Dick Grayson? We've been over and over how irrelevant #666 is as it was nothing more than clues for the Dr. Hurt arc that now ended. Morrison compares the tragedy with Othelo, which is a story about the protagonist murdering his wife. If we must have "death" to have tragic, which i find too forced and irrelevant nowdays in comics since characters constantly receive resurrections, we're looking at the death of either Talia al Ghul or Catwoman.

Even then we really don't need death to close down Inc, but it seems we aint going for a happy ending here, which is rather rare from Morrison.