The Black Glove shows its Hand

Book: The Black Glove
Pen: Grant Morrison
Pencil: J. H. Williams III, Tony S Daniel, Ryan Benjamin

Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul was fun and all that. Now Mr Morrison has to get back to his day job. We have to start bringing the main villain into the story. And that is the Black Glove. But who is the Black Glove?

Time to go back to the Black Casebook. Batman and Robin get an invitation to visit a Club of Heroes reunion at a faraway island owned by the millionaire John Mayhew. Things did not go exactly like a college reunion. The awkward mood was there, of course. But then people started getting killed. And it is left to the World’s Greatest Detective to solve the case.

The Black Glove is a curiosity. The graphic novel, I mean. There are hints of what Morrison has up his sleeve, but there are also hints that he is trying to fill up the pages with random stuff. Not all which are necessary or would be tied up eventually. The first three issues were drawn by J.H. Williams III. And I can’t say I am a fan. He may be the co-creator of Promethea, but here he is on some acid trip. And bludgeons our sensibilities with some heavy-handed imagery. Images within a black glove? Really?

After a brief intermission for the Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul issues, we are back. With explanation for the three ghosts of Batman and the eye-candy art of Tony S Daniel. There is a seemingly unnecessary episode concerning Joe Chill, the guy who shot Thomas and Martha Wayne. But the cliff-hanger at the end is one for the ages – "How lucky do you feel right now, Batman?

Tony S Daniel ends his brief soiree with the resolution of above-said cliff-hanger. The money shot of Batman getting out of his predicament is awesome, even though it bends anatomy and physics! But who am I to complain. For the final issue Ryan Benjamin takes the pencil and it is angry Bruce all the way. The Black Glove comes to an epic last page with another person finding out Batman’s identity.

Now, re-reading what I have written, it doesn’t seem like The Black Glove is all that bad. There are a lot of interesting bits and one really has to pay attention. But the Mayhew section seems more and more unnecessary. Like Morrison wants to put in the Club of Heroes but has no idea how. So he makes stuff up. But then he did seven-years-worth of Batman. There are bound to be ups and downs. But now it is time to be worried, really worried. Because the next one is Batman RIP.