I, for one, am appalled that they keep making good comic books with Batman in them.

I agree. Thank goodness for Paul Dini for that.

I guess that’s why he’s Neil Gaiman, though! He’s so good I bet it’ll still be awesome!

However, what I want to address at the moment is that in reading my comment you can easily infer that I was calling AJ a complainer which was not my intent. That was the royal “you” addressing the fairly common internet practice of people being in such a hurry to make whatever clever comment they’ve come up with in their head that they don’t bother to actually read the article or the previous comments. I’ve been guilty of it myself at least to the level of maybe not reading each and every comment in a 12 page thread before posting. So, anyway blah blah blah 5000 words later my point is that I wasn’t trying to troll or name call however I may have come across.

@AJ -

With regards to your question about what Brian liked about Last Rites… you know that part that comes before you get to the comment section to complain about stuff?

It was in there.

I think AJ pretty much addressed what Brian wrote by pointing out that it was all derivative of other writers that came before. I mean, you can disagree with his conclusions, but I think he read what Brian wrote and responded to it.

With regards to your question about what Brian liked about Last Rites… you know that part that comes before you get to the comment section to complain about stuff?

It was in there.

And Batman captors shot the threat. But Batman sussed out that he was being mind controlled, convinced the threat to help him out and used his own memories to cause the Batman clones he was trying to create to kill themselves. What was great about Last Rites is that it showed just how amazing and irreplaceable Bruce was. Dr. Hurt may have tried to copy him, superheroes around the world may have been imitated him, evil gods may have tried to clone him, but none of them are comparable to the real thing or will ever be.

Batman’s last case throws him into a deeper cliffhanger then ever before, being captured and rendered helpless by the evil gods. But like the Black Hand, like Hush, and like all the other super villains in the past. He’ll find a way to escape and kick all their asses.

So in other words the issue was good, yeah.

If you say “farewell,” then yes, that damn well better be the absolute last appearance of Batman, or you’ll hear the ugly phrase “bait and switch.”

I wish that these two excellent Last Rites comics did not come out and instead we got Denny O’Neil’s story now. I firmly believe that solicitation copy should be taken literally. If you say “farewell,” that damn well better be the absolute last appearance of Batman.

I am still aghast that the internet is still in one piece after Hawkeye came back from the dead in House of M #3.

No, wait – Last Rites: “A spectacular, unforgettable farewell to The Dark Knight…”

No, wait! “Follow the Dark Knight to his last adventure in Final Crisis #6″

Ever get the feeling you’ve been had?