Wednesday, May 22, 2013

365 Comics...141: Batman Incorporated #11 (2013)

This is one of those old-timey "gotcha" filler issues the publishers put out because they know most of the readers will buy it anyway... whether it's because they're completists or because they're not paying attention they know it's going to sell, if not as well than close enough.

Batman Incorporated is Grant Morrison's book, and frankly it doesn't need filler.  We know Morrison is going to be late at some point, he always is. But with Batman Inc. so on the fringes of the Bat Universe (despite the impact Damian's death is having) it's not a big deal to wait for Grant's next issue, especially since we're so close to the end of his Bat-run. This is just a frivolous aside and had I been paying closer attention I wouldn't have bought it (fair warning though, as it wasn't like this fill-in was unplanned and noted accross many blogs).

Had Batman Inc. been more of a Batman Family title each month, perhaps an anthology at twice the size or having a back-up feature with other Inc characters in the spotlight this issue wouldn't stick out and irk me so much.  But they didn't do that and here we are with an exceptionally average (despite a lady with tiger-heads for hands) and unnecessary entry in an otherwise grand-scale series. 

After Morrison wraps up there will be a Morrison-less coda and an extra-sized special which seems commercially exploitative rather than  creatively necessary.
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