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Science Fiction & Fantasy |
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Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul
written by Grant Morrison, Paul Dini
Studio : DC Comics
by DC Comics
Release Date : 2008-05-20
Publisher : DC Comics
Released : 2008-05-20
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9781401217853
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 7 reviews)
List Price : $29.99
Our Price : $13.99
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Book Description |
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Batman's immortal foe, Ra's Al Ghul, should be dead at last -- so how has he returned to haunt The Dark Knight? And what does his return have to do with Batman's teenaged son, Damian -- whose mother is Ra's Al Ghul's daughter, Talia? It will take the combined skills of Batman, Robin and Nightwing to get to the bottom of these mysteries and stop Ra's Al Ghul's insidious plans! |
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disappointing |
The storyline of Ra's Al Ghul resurrection is not other than a inoffensive run of great talents (Morrison, Dini, Pearson etc) on a great character, Batman: the mountain gave birth to a little mouse in this case...
A washed out story that leaves you with a "so what?" aftertaste in your brain. The art is consistently good, but imho without any personality.
I hope the rest of the batman run by Morrison will be of another level. |
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Poor! |
Why does DC continue to publish these mega crossovers? Since the early 90's Batman has been subjected to overstreched storylines which run through Detective Comics, Batman, Robin, Nightwing and whatever other monthly Batman comic being published at the time.
The problem with this form of "pass the batton" storytelling is it inevitably streches the story too thin and the artwork ussually suffers at the hands of artists rushing to meet impending deadlines.
The writing on the book is a mishmash. Heavy weight writers Grant Morrison and Paul Dini have written some of the best Batman material, but their work does not come through over the pencil work of so many different artists. The fact that they only wrote four of the seven or so chapters does not help the flow of the storyline either. To get around the crossover story format, Dini and Morrison focus on the story of Batman's search of Ra's Al-Ghul, while other writers focus on Robin and Nightwing's individual dilemma's. This approach only helps to fracture the story into two, hindering momentum.
It should be stated that readers looking for the "realistic" approach of the Christopher Nolan Batman films will be dissapointed with the over-the-top action. The fight between Robin, Nightwing and 200 ninjas in the Batcave, where the ninjas are held at bay while Nightwing and Robin exchange witty banter is paticularly cringeworthy and borders on slapstick. For protege's of a master strategist like Batman, the decision to stand and fight an army of sword weilding assassins seems out of character and works againt the notion of Batman being the most plausable of the DC superheroes. It also diminishes the villains of the story if they cannot win with the odds stack so high in their favor.
The artwork is a mixed bag of good and bad. Fill-in artist David Baldeon and departing regular Robin artist Freddie Williams II do a great job on the Robin Chapters, while departing Detective Comics artist Don Kramer does his usual substandard job on the Nightwing chapters.
Ryan Benjamin and Saleem Crawford draw the Detective Comics chapters and do an above average job, assuring that DC will never hire them for a regular stint on the Batman monthlies; that honour goes to Tony Daniel and Jonthan Glapion, whose extemely sloppy, Jim Lee knockoff style artwork has been deemed worthy of "gracing" Grant Morrison's future issues of Batman by the powers that be at DC Comics.
Although we don't see as many of these mega crossovers anymore, when they do appear they are ussually disruptive to the momentum regular writers of the monthly comics try to build, and this story is no different. New readers looking for the best of Batman should look at some of the classic Batman tales of the 80's such as Year One, the Killing Joke, or Morrison's own Arkham Asylum, as well as more recent classics such as Ego, long Holloween, Batman Black & white, or Paul Dini's current run with artist Dustin Nguyen. The Ressurection of Ra's Al Ghul should be buried in the "soon to be forgotten" pile.
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Damian Wayne; Think I might hurrllll.... |
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I can't wait for Grant Morrison to stop writing Batman. This is some of the worst garbage to spew out of the DC Universe. Ra'a Al Ghul is kinda cool... Talia and her test-tube batbrat not so much. Only Nightwing and Robin redeam this meandering story at all. |
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Father-Son Relationships (spoilers) |
While the events of this graphic novel depict the return of Ra's Al Ghul to the land of the living, I noticed that the real theme of the story was about the relationship between a son and his father. Batman and his two adopted children, Tim Drake (the 3rd Robin) and Dick Grayson (Nightwing), join forces to protect his only biological son, Damian. In the mean time, Ra's Al Ghul is again presented as the complete opposite of Bruce Wayne, as it shows glimpses of his relationship with his father and son. While some thought the action was a little sparse, to me, the relationships explored here were far more interesting.
Damian, Bruce Wayne's son and Ra's Al Ghul's grandson, plays an integral part in the plan to bring Ra's back to life. He has been raised in the lap of luxury and has known no hardship. Naturally, he's completely insufferable, and is a very easy character to hate. In what could perhaps become a redeeming quality, however, what Damian desires above all else is the approval of his father, even though Bruce could really care less, and is much more interested in ensuring Ra's remains comfortably dead.
Nightwing and Robin, Bruce's two "adopted" sons, also seek the respect of Batman, but I think deep down they know they already have it. Neither want to fail him, but also, it seems both would rather have their biological parents back if they could. By far, the best parts of this graphic novel are the scene written by Paul Dini where Ra's tempts Robin with bringing his parents back, and the resolution of that situation later on.
The second Robin, Jason Todd, is only mentioned in passing, but it should be noted that he was killed by the Joker while looking for his biological mother. I'm not sure if that fits into this theme, choosing his biological mother over Batman, as his biological parent was still alive. Batman does feel great responsibility for Jason's death, however, and we know he considers it to be his greatest failing.
Bruce's relationship with his parents is well known. His entire crusade against crime is a result of a promise he made on his parents grave, and he desperately wants his work to be something his parents would be proud of. Alfred is his surrogate father figure, and this is the relationship that is displayed as an ideal father-son relationship in this comic. Both Bruce and Alfred try hard to protect each other and not to let down the other, they care for each other and work together.
Ra's, on the other hand, has a very destructive relationship with his father (Sensei) and son (the White Ghost). He overthrew his father as leader of their clan a young man, and in the course of this story the two attempt to destroy each other completely. Meanwhile, Ra's son, The White Ghost, has been his only faithful servant for centuries, yet Ra's never calls him by his name or refers to him as his son. Ra's only seems to appreciate The White Ghost in the very moment he possesses his body. In the end, Ra's has outlived his father who he despised, and destroyed his son who loved him unconditionally.
In this regard, Talia Al Ghul really doesn't fit in. She's one of the only women in the novel and really just seems to follow Batman and run around punching and kicking ninjas. While she's attempting to protect her son, it's clear he's not interested in her protection, and doesn't seem to think she needs protection herself. She had to be in the story, as she's Ra's daughter and Damian's mother, but there doesn't seem to be much other justification for her being there.
In the end, this graphic novel succeeded in some areas more than others. Some thought there wasn't enough action, but I disagree. Just because people aren't beating each other up doesn't mean there isn't exciting stuff going on. In all, I thought the story was very good, it provided an intriguing look into some of the relationships that make Batman interesting, and it gave a believable way to bring back one of Batman's greatest villains. |
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True Ghul |
The funny thing about comic books is that -- no matter how hard the hero tries -- you can never keep a good (or bad) man down, and Ras al Ghul defies death (kinda/sorta) in the latest hardcover Bat-release, BATMAN: THE RESURRECTION OF RAS AL GHUL.
In a recent radio interview on Coast-to-Coast, Neal Adams remarked that he and Denny O'Neil -- in their massive stint at re-creating the Batman mythology in the 1970's and 1980's -- were tasked at one point in creating a stellar Bat-villain: much like Sherlock Holmes has his Professor Moriarity, they gave Batman his Ras al Ghul ... an almost evil mirror-image to Bruce Wayne: Ras had vastly greater wealth and power than his Gotham playboy counterpart, and he represented the worst the could have happened to Bruce had he allowed the death of his parents to push him onto a more violent, more vengeance-fueled path. Ras was the perfect foil -- where Bruce was a socialite, Ras was an introvert. Where Bruce used his influence in Gotham, Ras' playground was the entire world. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be: Ras perished in a fiery doom and was thought to have at last found rest in peace. His return, however, is far from perfect: his flesh has been denied the healing powers of the Lazarus Pit for far too long so a new host body is required ... and, lo and behold, Batman and Ras' daughter's tryst (oh, the ever lovely Talia) in BATMAN: BRIDE OF THE DEMON produced a male child -- Damian -- and now the Caped Crusader must race against time to thwart his adversary's dark plans to inhabit the soul of the son he never knew he had.
That said, there's probably as much to celebrate in RESURRECTION as there is to -- well -- loath. Young Damian is wreckless and arrogant, reminding Bat-readers of all of the worst elements regarding the short and largely unpopular career of Jason Todd (the second young man to wear the mask of Robin). The cast of characters involved in the tale to resurrect Ras grows to involve some additional mystical ne'er-do-wells, but there's very little backstory provided to justify bringing too many incidentals into the fold. And the ever-lovely Talia is present (mostly) to serve as a butt-kickin' Desperate Housewife -- the kind of Soccer-mom you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley -- and she isn't drawn particularly exotic, she never seems entirely interested in working toward the resurrection of her "deceased" father, and she doesn't appear nearly enough in the 250+ pages. Any Bat-graphic novel (this is a collection of individual issues rather than a brand-spanking-new tale) has plenty of reason to celebrate (there's a massive Ninja showdown at stately Wayne Manor very early in the tale that almost begs to be filmed); but these moments are either too few, too uninspired, or too badly drawn.
Ghulists can still celebrate, though. Ras is back -- maybe not in top form -- but let's hope the next time he rears his ugly head there will be more action, more mayhem, and much much more at stake. |
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