DCU Comic Book Reviews

DETECTIVE COMICS #839

The Resurrection of Ra’ al Ghul, Conclusion:  Entitlement

February 2008

Written by Paul Dini

Pencils by Ryan Benjamin with Don Kramer

Inks by Saleem Crawford with Wayne Faucher

Cover by Simone Bianchi

Synopsis

[Continued from Nightwing, issue #139]

In Nanda Parbat, Ra’s al Ghul attempts to use his grandson Damian as the host for his soul.  Batman, however, stops him.  The League of Assassins join the fight to protect Ra’s.  Nightwing, Robin, and Alfred also join the fight.  Batman encourages Damian to fight, as well.  Talia, however, questions the wisdom of that decision.  Meanwhile, the White Ghost grabs Ra’s and offers himself as the host body, since he is the son of Ra’s al Ghul.  Ra’s then declares he will avenge the White Ghost’s sacrifice by killing one of Batman’s wards.  A son for a son.  Damian wants to defend his father, but Tali decides otherwise and takes him away.  Batman and Ra’s fight, while Nightwing and Robin engage Ra’s men.  The fights are broken up by the monks of Nanda Parbat, who are upset at the defilers and order them to go.  Batman and Ra’s go separate ways, but vow the battle is not over.  As they leave, the path to Nanda Parbat is sealed off forever.  Later, on the plane back to Gotham, the Batman family enjoys a Christmas toast.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I am not really sure an opinion can be provided on a multi-write, multi-artist, multi-title crossover book which began as some editorial driven mandate (I would assume).  It is what it is; anything created by so many people will rarely have a good impact.  Essentially, everyone is trying their best to create a cohesive whole, which automatically means they will scale back ambitions and creativity to make it fit with what everyone else is doing.  As a result, everyone is just going through paces, making sure they don’t mess it up.  Trying not to fail is not the way to create.  Having said that, Dini does an admirable job with the final piece, delivering a script that provides some action, some suspense, and a happy ending (sort of).  Dini even manages to make the White Ghost’s sacrifice seem heroic and Batman’s thirst for revenge palpable.  Sadly, that last moment is undermined by the monks’ actions, which seems shoehorned into the story just to make sure their really is no clear-cut winner in the duel. 

I don’t like the final two or so pages.  It seems out of place in the story, with smiling faces and warm fuzzy feelings that contrast with the sudden realization that Batman gained an enemy and lost a son.  It also looks like this is the part that was drawn by Don Kramer, further suggesting that this scene was not part of the script and may have been added at the last minute. 

It may be just me, but the information that the White Ghost was Ra’s son seemed to come out of left field.  Was the White Ghost’s parents revealed, even obliquely, in the Batman Annual that started this whole story?  It was such a long time ago, that I don’t remember and at the moment I am being too lazy to actually, you know, go look it up.  If this is the first we were told of the White Ghost’s parentage, then I offer this issue as the perfect example of a deus ex machina (in which the resolution to a story seemingly comes of nowhere).  It is hard to imagine that DC would be bold enough to shift Ra’s soul into Damian’s body or now way would DC build up this story and not have Ra’s return.  So there had to be a different solution.  I just wish that there had been more build-up than what we got. 

I am still trying to figure out what role I Ching had in this story.  He appeared briefly in the other titles (and not at all in this issue), occasionally helping to fight or imparting spiritual advice, but there is nothing in his role that would suggest he needed to be there. 

Maybe it is just me, but I wonder what kind of reaction the comic fans would have had if Ra’s al Ghul had taken Talia’s body (since it seems like someone with the same lineage is needed for transference, and she is, after all, his daughter).  Would they have embraced the switch in gender or just howl at the stupidity of it all?