Batman R.I.P.: What the hell is going on?

One of the issues coming out this week is none other than the 4th part of Batman: R.I.P. Now, this story has been a bit...confusing to say the least. Understandably too, there's a lot of things going on. I caught a bit of the preview for this upcoming issue on Newsarama, and so I decided to go back and read all of Morrison's run (though I skipped over the Resurrection of R'as al Ghul story). Along with the help of a few internet blogs & commentaries, I was able to discern this: Grant Morrison has been planning this story THE WHOLE TIME. You want to know how long? Go pull out your trades, first issues, or scans of the first issue of Morrison's run. Part one of "Batman & Son," issue 655, page 6 (if you're not counting ad pages). What's that graffiti on the wall? Shit dog, it's ZUR EN ARRH.

Now Grant Morrison has stated (somewhere) that all things in Batman comics are canon, as far as he's concerned. And so while all this stuff seems extremely bizarre, there's a good reason behind that (sorta): Morrison is pulling tricks from the Silver Age. Not just the Silver Age, but the Zur En Arrh story is. It's about a Batman from a different planet (called Zur En Arrh) that seeks Batman of Earth's aid. There's lots of bits like this throughout. I'm not terribly good at picking out symbolism in comics either, and lots of times people have to point to it for me (like with Watchmen). Things that have been pointed out to me regarding this (from other blogs)? When looking back through the issues you see numerous references to eyes, the combination of black and red, and occasionally red, yellow, and purple (the colours of the Batman of Zur En Arrh).

In terms of what's going in Batman RIP proper. We have The Club of Villains, all characters named in the Club of Heroes story, that have been brought together by the Black Hand. The Black Hand is kind of interesting, as it is both a person and an organization of gamblers (note the use of roulette tables fairly often since the beginning of 667). One of the interesting theories as to the identity of the Black Hand is Alfred, which may be one of Morrison's red herrings he has said to have laid throughout the stories. If you go back and read closely the stories with this in mind, it brings forth quite and interesting possibility. For those not following closely, the doctor with the Villains is Dr. Simon Hurt, from the isolation tests during "Robin Dies at Dawn," another silver age story. He also is the creator of the 3 Batmen.

What Batman is dealing with, before being knocked out and drugged, is that the events in the black casebook may very well be true, instead of being hallucinations from repeated exposure to various chemicals and weird isolation tests. Additionally, with the Club of Villains swooping in to take out Batman, we find him on the street, not knowing who he is. Enter Bat-Mite, who has been appearing periodically throughout Morrison's run, starting from when he had a heart attack. It may well be that Bat-Mite has been at Batman's side for a while when he was a child (as indicated from the scenes where Bat-Mite talks with a young Bruce Wayne). It seems that Bat-Mite wants to help get Batman back on his feet, and Honor Jackson helps out with this. Now, according to a drug dealer who may or may not be One-Eyed Lincoln (EYE!), Honor Jackson died the morning before this adventure of Bum-Bruce Wayne began. So, if that is true, the Honor Jackson is either a) a ghost, b) resurrected for these purposes by Bat-Mite (Honor Jackson does mention something about the rules on the world of Batfairies) or c) Bruce Wayne is crazy and is imaging BOTH. The other possibility is the dealer doesn't know what he's talking about.

Which brings us back to where we're at, with his experience with Honor Jackson and his drug dosing by Simon Hurt (who is wearing a costume worn by Thomas Wayne at some point in time, but I'm unaware of specifically when) bringing him to thinking he is the Batman of Zur En Arrh, and donning the appropriate costume, according to his memory of the adventure.

So things to look out for in the upcoming issues are:
-Any revelation as to what the thing on Bat-Mite's back is. No one sees to know.
-Things involving Alfred. He's been beaten up by the club, which seems to absolve him of being the Black Glove. But we'll see.
-Jezebel Jet's role in this. I feel like she's more involved with this that she appears.
-What the CoV has in mind to do with the Joker. He's been lifted as a piece, but not really placed just yet.
-Any references to eyes, black and red checkers, especially contrasted with purple, red, and yellow. In Morrison's prose story, these are shown as the contrasting colours of Gotham City.