| Batman Incorporated | |
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The various Operatives of Batman Inc. From left to right: Batwing, Nightrunner, El Gaucho, Blackbat, Red Robin, Mr. Unknown, Dark Ranger, and Batman. Art by Chris Burnham. |
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| Group publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Batman and Robin #16 (November 2010) |
| Created by | Grant Morrison Cameron Stewart Frazer Irving |
| In-story information | |
| Type of organization | team |
| Leader(s) | Bruce Wayne |
| Agent(s) | Batman - Gotham City Robin - Gotham City Red Robin - worldwide Batgirl - Gotham City Batwoman - Gotham City Knight and Squire - Great Britain The Hood - Great Britain El Gaucho - Argentina Nightrunner - France Batwing - Tinasha, Democratic Republic of Congo Blackbat - Hong Kong Mr. Unknown - Japan Dark Ranger - Australia Batman of Moscow (Ravil) - Moscow, Russia |
| Batman, Inc. | |
| Variant cover of Batman, Inc. 1 (November 2010 DC Comics). Published in a 1:25 ratio. Art by Yanick Paquette, pencils, Michel Lacombe, inks, and Nathan Fairbairn, color. | |
| Series publication information | |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | (Batman, Inc.) January – October 2011 () [[ in comics|]] – present |
| Number of issues | 8 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Grant Morrison |
| Artist(s) | Chris Burnham (4, 6-7) |
| Penciller(s) | Yanick Paquette (1-3, 5) Scott Clark (8) |
| Inker(s) | Michel Lacombe (1-3, 5) Scott Clark/Dave Beaty (8) |
| Letterer(s) | John Hill (1-2) Pat Brosseau (3-7) Dave Sharpe (8) |
| Colorist(s) | Nathan Fairbairn (1-7) Dave Beaty (8) |
| Creator(s) | Grant Morrison Cameron Stewart Frazer Irving |
| Editor(s) | Mike Marts Janelle Siegel |
| Collected editions | |
| Batman Incorporated Deluxe Edition, Volume 1 | ISBN 1401232124 |
Batman Incorporated (also known as Batman, Inc.) was a 2010-2011 American comic book ongoing series, written by Grant Morrison and featuring Batman.[1] The debut of the series follows the events of Final Crisis, Batman and Robin, and The Return of Bruce Wayne where, after being stranded in the distant past and believed dead, Bruce Wayne has returned to the present day DC Universe. Now, he is prepared to take his war on crime to the next level, by essentially "franchising" it and drafting, training and commanding a global team of heroes who will answer to Batman himself.[2]
Bruce Wayne travels across the world, seeking to use the symbolic power Batman has on a global scale. Wayne is featured wearing a new costume designed by David Finch, to further distinguish him from Grayson.[3]
Contents |
Batman, Inc. is the direct continuation from Morrison's previous work with the Batman character, following the stories Batman & Son, The Black Glove, R.I.P., Final Crisis, Batman and Robin and The Return of Bruce Wayne.[2] After the October one-shot Batman: The Return, Inc. represents Bruce Wayne's first foray into the present-day DC Universe since December 2008's Final Crisis #6, when he was stranded in the distant past by Darkseid's Omega Sanction.[4] The Return one-shot will feature the debut of a new costume for Bruce Wayne, designed by artist David Finch.[5]
Batman group editor Mike Marts elaborated on the overall theme of the new title, saying, "Grant Morrison, if he's writing Batman or he's writing Batman & Robin or he's writing Batman Inc., his storylines will deal with the big concepts and the epic storyline, and the multi-layered, bigger story. That's Grant's strong point. So that's what Batman Inc. is about. It's about expanding the Batman universe and the Batman line and the Batman cast of characters."[6]
In interviews, Morrison has stated that the animated series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold was a major influence on the premise and tone of the book.[7] The first story arc contains several references to the Batman manga from the 1960s, and even reintroduces Lord Death Man (a villain who appeared in the manga after its introduction as Death Man in the American comic) into the mainstream DC continuity. In addition, a new protagonist named Jiro Osamu is introduced as the sidekick of Mr. Unknown, the Batman of Tokyo.[8]
Batman, Inc. features various global locales as Bruce Wayne searches the globe for "Batmen" to recruit in his new endeavor.
As for the commercial nature of Batman, Inc., Morrison said that he was inspired by real-life tools used to market the image of the title character. "I was looking back at the old Tim Burton Batman movie in 1989, and the way they played that symbol, it was such a major merchandising tool. So I wanted to do something that represented that, or echoed that. So Batman, Inc. is the notion of Batman taking the symbol and saying, 'let's form an international army or team, or police force, which is endorsed by Batman and wears Batman's symbol.'"[9]
Because of the global nature of this series, Grant Morrison has gone on record saying that many of the characters used will be both new and old, and will include previously seen characters such as Knight and Squire, that will contribute to the cause of Batman, Inc. Although, Morrison went on to say that there will be a different primary representative from England. "There's another Batman of England, who is not the Knight. I discovered there was another character called The Hood used more recently in "Batman: Shadow of the Bat." Once I discovered that character, a new idea kind of spun off and it gave me a whole bunch of villains and new stuff to bring in. So yeah, doing the research for it [led to] discovering some obscure characters, including some quite recently from the nineties even. No one looks at the nineties but there's some interesting stuff there."[10]
Morrison also stated that he will revisit El Gaucho, one of the "Batmen of All Nations", in a trip that the Dark Knight takes to recruit a representative from Argentina.[10] Kate Kane, the current Batwoman appeared in issue 4, with her predecessor Kathy Kane featuring very heavily in flashback sequences in the same issue.
In issue #5, Batwing, the Batman from an as-of-yet unnamed North African country is introduced.[11] Nightrunner, the controversial French Muslim vigilante introduced in Detective Comics Annual #12, appeared in Batman Inc. in issue #6, acting as the representative of Paris, France. In the same issue, Cassandra Cain, the former Batgirl prior to the mantle being passed to Stephanie Brown, was introduced as Hong Kong's Batman Inc. representative under the new moniker of Black Bat.
Morrison employed tight, three-issue story arcs in Batman and Robin, and when asked if this is a trend he would be continuing, he said, "Yeah, but it's going to be even different again. It's going to be even more stripped back and pulpy and fast-moving. So the first one's only two. It's really tight. It's like reading about six issues in two. I'm very pleased with the way we've been able to cut this...we want to do very short, punchy stories in it. We may do some that are only one issue, and some that are three issues. And that will be the first year of the book. I call it the first season. It will be 12 issues of one- or two-part stories."[9]
The current storyline sees Batman and his allies fighting a mysterious criminal organization called Leviathan. (With the name borrowed from the book of the same name).
Bruce Wayne is taking the institution of Batman global. At the beginning of this series, he’s enlisted the help of Catwoman to help him steal a special diamond from the armory of Doctor Sivana in Tokyo, Japan while attempting to recruit a hero called Mr. Unknown to become the Japanese "Batman" of Batman Incorporated. Unfortunately for Bruce and Selina, a villain named Lord Death Man has murdered Mr. Unknown, changing Bruce's plans in the region. While Mr. Unknown's body double, a young boy, has escaped, the forces of Lord Death Man have tracked him down and are ready to kill him before Batman and Catwoman arrive on the scene to assist in opposing Lord Death Man's forces. At the climax of the battle, Jiro pulls out a gun and shoots Lord Death Man through the chest, sending him flying out of a window to his apparent death.[8]
However, Lord Death Man - as his name implies - cannot be killed; the awakens in a morgue and murders the doctors. Batman deduces that Lord Death Man will attack the Maritime Museum, where the Poseidonis Jewels will be exhibited. Jiro deduces that the next victim will be Aquazon of the Super Young Team. Batman tells Jiro that he came to Japan to offer Mr. Unknown a position in Batman Incorporated. However, Jiro reveals that Mr. Unknown was about to turn 56 next week. Mr. Unknown only did detective work, while Jiro was the one who did all the physical activities, such as fighting. Jiro tries to take the offer, but Batman refuses, saying that Jiro used a gun and a rule in Batman Incorporated is "no guns."
Lord Death Man and his forces take cars and drive to the Maritime Museum. While Batman and Catwoman go the museum, Jiro puts on the Mr. Unknown costume. In the museum, Batman fights Lord Death Man while Jiro saves Aquazon from Lord Death Man's forces. Jiro then stuns Lord Death Man with darts, and Batman throws him from the rooftop. Catwoman arrives with a safe box and Batman puts him there. However, it appears that Jiro was shot by Lord Death Man. Bruce later reveals to Selina that Jiro faked his own death, and he gave Jiro a three-month probation period to be Tokyo's Batman and a member of Batman Incorporated. Bruce tells Selina that the crown jewels of Poseidonis were crafted at abyssopelagic depths, and a pressure above 1000 atmosphere would make them liquefy. He reveals he deduced that Selina would take the jewels. It is also revealed that Batman placed the immortal Lord Death Man in a rocket ship and fired him into space.[12]
Batman then travels to Argentina in an attempt to recruit El Gaucho into Batman Incorporated. Gaucho refuses, wanting to be his own man. Gaucho informs Batman of a case involving three missing children and a link to a mysterious manipulative figure called Doctor Dedalus. On the trail of the three children Batman and El Gaucho are led into a death trap by El Sombrero and Scorpiana in which they must fight to the death to save the missing children.
Batman and El Gaucho escape the trap but both learn of Gaucho's link to Kathy Kane, the original Batwoman. Batwoman was hired by the 'unrepentant Nazi war criminal' and former superspy Doctor Dedalus to learn Batman's secret identity. However, Kane fell in love with Bruce Wayne after becoming Batwoman and left him. The new Batwoman Kate Kane learns of Dedalus's location in the Falkland Islands where he was imprisoned by a team of British heroes claiming to have made a 'ring around the world' in the form of an unknown master plan.
Batman, Batwoman and El Gaucho converge on Dedalus's location and meet a British superspy known as The Hood (having been sent in secret to infiltrate Batman Inc) where they discover Dedalus had discovered an unknown fifth element known as Ouroboros and had set a 'meta bomb' to destroy the island. Batman uses the batplane to blow up the bomb and then deduces that Dedalus is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and has escaped the island to finish his master plan using the supervillain group known as Leviathan. Batwing is then seen working with Batman to track Leviathan's activities in Africa.
As part of the 2011 DC Universe reboot, DC Comics is planning to continue the series in early 2012. A spin-off series starring Batwing debuted in September 2011 as a part of the New 52 relaunch.[13][14] It is not yet known if the new series will be a new volume of Batman Incorporated, or will carry a different title.[15]
The series is being collected into individual volumes:
The Batman Incorporated batsuit is available as an alternate costume for Batman in Batman: Arkham City, released as a free download on December 20, 2011.[16]
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