Morrison's Run: Batman and Robin's Blackest Night issues (7 to 9)

[hetchel]

I'm reading the Morrison's run.
I'm not reading Blackest Night, but I will in the future.
What should I do with those Blackest Night issues? Should I skip them, and read them along with Blackest Night in the future? I'm worried that they may spoil Blackest Night for me (I know little about it, and prefer to continue the same).
What is your opinion about this issue?

Please no spoilers of Batman and Robin or Blackest Night.
Thanks in advance.

[PurpleGlovez]

Batman & Robin 7-9 takes place after Blackest Night but does not spoil the story whatsoever. I mean, it... "spoils" a certain aspect of it, but not really. It won't ruin or adversely affect your reading experience either way.

[JBatmanFan05]

My god, Morrison's "Blackest Knight" arc couldn't be less a token relation to DC's Blackest Night. Very much its own thing and infinitely more just Grant building on stuff he already set in motion with Final Crisis. "Blackest Knight" is like a spiritual tie-in to Blackest Night, not a real tie-in.

In fact, I think it can be said technically that B&R "Blackest Knight" doesn't spoil Blackest Night AT ALL, but instead spoils only RIP and Final Crisis (both of which came out before Blackest Knight and should have been read anyway).

Anyway, "Blackest Knight" can't be skipped in reading Morrison's run. The 2 Morrison issues of Res of Ra's Al Ghul are THE only issues skippable in Morrison's long run.

[Clark_Kent]

Blackest Knight is not related to Blackest Night. They're not even spelled the same, you're good OP.

And as JB said, they're not skippable. Pretty much every issue by Morrison is important, and needed to understand the story.

[zep81]

Are these issues in a trade? Or do you need to collect the three issues separate?

[JBatmanFan05]

Are these issues in a trade? Or do you need to collect the three issues separate?

They're in the trades already, B&R Batman vs Robin TPB. B&R is being released as all one trade coming up this fall.

[titansupes]

They're in the trades already, B&R Batman vs Robin TPB. B&R is being released as all one trade coming up this fall.

I did not realise this, and it pleases me (though not as much as an omnibus or two would). May I request an Amazon.com link? Only the old trades are showing up for me.

[zep81]

They're in the trades already, B&R Batman vs Robin TPB. B&R is being released as all one trade coming up this fall.

Oh great, thanks. I did order the first two volumes just yesterday as I found them cheap not knowing about the upcoming all in one release lol. Never mind.

[kevink31593]

I do remember that, at the time, DC delayed the release of Batman and Robin #7, the start of the Blackest Knight arc, by one month, because they didn't want it released until after Blackest Night #6 came out. If you go back and look at the cover dates of the issues, Batman and Robin #6 (the end of the Red Hood arc) was cover dated January 2010, then there was a skipped month, and #7 was March 2010, and #8-9 were early and late April 2010. Blackest Night #6 came out in the B&R skip month, cover date February 2010.

Regardless of the above, it is my personal opinion, as also stated by others above, that you can read Morrison's Batman & Robin run without needing to read Geoff Johns' Blackest Night mini and you'll be just fine. The tie between Blackest Night and Blackest Knight is very thin, but there is a tie. I'll explain below.

spoilers:

In Blackest Night #5 (Jan 2010), Nekron temporarily reanimates Batman's corpse (the corpse from the end of Final Crisis) as a Black Lantern version of Batman. When Black Lantern Batman has served his purpose for Nekron, Black Lantern Batman is dissolved, with the following dialogue from Nekron "You have served your purpose, "Bruce Wayne". Back to rest." Notice Nekron's quotation marks around Bruce's name. Then, in Blackest Night #6 (Feb 2010), there is this dialogue exchange between Flash (Barry) and Green Lantern (Hal)... Flash: Black Hand reanimated Bruce and used him to trigger and emotional reaction in all of us that the black rings latched on to. I ran us two seconds into the future to break it. As long as we don't jump out of our boots again, the rings won't have anything to grab onto. Green Lantern: But why was Bruce the only Black Lantern that combusted on its own? Flash: I don't know. In the Blackest Knight arc in B&R #7-9, Dick puts the Batman corpse into a lazarus pit in #7 (Mar 2010), and in #8 (April 2010) it is revealed that the revived corpse is one of Darkseid's clones and not the real Bruce. I can understand why DC wouldn't want to release this story until after the above scenes in Blackest Night #5-6 had played out.

end of spoilers

[Dr.Octagon]

Oh great, thanks. I did order the first two volumes just yesterday as I found them cheap not knowing about the upcoming all in one release lol. Never mind.

I would stick with the older B&R trades as the 'Time and the Batman' and 'Return of Bruce Wayne' trades Chronolgically occurr and should be read inbetween B&R vol 2 and 3... better for your bookshelf and no need for flicking back and forth between trades.

[JBatmanFan05]

I did not realise this, and it pleases me (though not as much as an omnibus or two would). May I request an Amazon.com link? Only the old trades are showing up for me.

US Amazon link
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14...ichjohnston-20

This here indicates that it might have hit a snag where likely it's just delayed until 2017 perhaps:
http://edelweiss.abovethetreeline.co...sku=1401265464



Batman & Robin By Grant Morrison
On Sale Date: 13 December 2016
9781401265465, 1401265464
Hardcover
$39.99 USD, $48.99 CAD

[Punjabi_Hitman]

Oops wrong thread

[titansupes]

US Amazon link
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14...ichjohnston-20

This here indicates that it might have hit a snag where likely it's just delayed until 2017 perhaps:
http://edelweiss.abovethetreeline.co...sku=1401265464



Batman & Robin By Grant Morrison
On Sale Date: 13 December 2016
9781401265465, 1401265464
Hardcover
$39.99 USD, $48.99 CAD

Bah, that's a pain. Hope it does come out sooner rather than later. Thanks for the links, though.

[hetchel]

Thank you all for your responses, specially for your effort to avoid unwanted spoilers. It is clear to me now that I should/must read those issues when I get there, and that it will not spoil Blackest Night in a significant way.