Batman Incorporated #8- “Nightmares in Numberland” by Grant Morrison and Scott Clark

In Grant Morrison’s latest issue of Batman Incorporated, we see the new “Internet 3.0” technology Bruce Wayne has developed. This tech is essentially virtual reality. Viruses are supervillains, and Bruce sends virtual Batmen to fight them (“Batman Incorporated Anti-Viral Software”).

Bruce is showing off the new internet to some potential investors, and a supervillain shows up in the form of the old internet, who doesn’t want to be forgotten.

Morrison is so far beyond his peers at Marvel and DC, it’s almost depressing. He consistantly comes up with completely new ideas (or fascinating twists on old ones), and you can tell it makes no difference to him whether he’s writing Batman or King Mob from The Invisibles. He has a strong personal vision, and this story is a perfect example of that. It’s a story about the way we live, acceleration, and being left behind, not to mention the nerve racking cliffhanger which will drive me crazy for months.

Batman Incorporated is coming to a close with a double-sized special later this year, thus ending Morrison’s third Batman epoch before he follows it up with his supposed “final word” on the character in Batman: Leviathan in 2012. His Batman stories have been one of the few consistently excellent things going on in superhero comics for the past five years. That, not to mention his classic Arkham Asylum, makes it hard to see him leave the character behind.