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GRANT Morrison shouldn't have promised bat fans the most shocking revelation in the character's 70 year history at the end RIP.

That's my biggest qualm with 681, the Scots writer promised an ending on which he did not deliver.

There's hints to what the revelation maybe but at the end of the day we're left with as many questions as we had answers.

Many readers could be forgiven for expecting a dark grizzly end for the caped crusaders in 681, but it was the entire opposite, infact it's a plot device we've seen again and again throughout the hero's history.

Batman as we know him appeared to be finally subdued. The Batcave over ran, the betrayal of Jezebel, the possibility of Batman's origin being based entirely on a lie, and Batman himself, out his mind on heroine and crystal meth. This was a BRILLIANT set up for a tragic demise or spiritual death for the Dark Knight.

This was our chance to see Bruce Wayne pushed beyond his limits, this was our chance to his famous resolve break, to see his iron will shatter. But no, Morrison opted for the almost standard Batman ending, which we've seen time and time again.

Just when you think he's down the count, the Dark Knight explodes out of a coffin, takes back Arkham, mauls the Black Glove lackies and reveals that everything that had happened to him, was planned for, by him because as Morrison put "that's the thing about Batman, he thinks about everything."

To me this was a ridiculous ending and nothing like what we were promised from DC or Grant.

But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. We've still got Batman: Last Rites and also Final Crisis where we'll learn the final fate of Bruce Wayne, post RIP.

But what do you think of Batman's RIP in 681?

So one week today we'll know the ultimate fate of Bruce Wayne.

One week today DC sells out there star hero for comic book sales, one wee today it all ends for The Dark Knight.

One week from today, Grant Morrisson kills Batman.

Nightwing, Robin and Birds of Prey all end this month in a shock announcement by DC.

No reason was given as to why.

Bruce Wayne won't die, but he'll suffer more of a 'spiritual death'.

So whose gonna take his place?

Nightwing aka Dick Grayson.......probably.

How do we know this? Those damn comic blurb teasers for February

Check these out from ign comics.

NIGHTWING #153

A "Batman: Last Rites" tie-in and featuring an "Origins and Omens" backup story! Gotham City has found a new hero and his name is Robin - but with a battle for Batman's cowl looming, is Tim Drake ready to become something more? Guest-starring Jason Todd and Lady Shiva. And don't worry, this final issue doesn't mark the end of Robin - it's just the start of an all-new beginning!

Battle for the Cowl will involve Hush, Nightwing, Catwoman, Tim Drake and Jason Todd.

But there really is only one possible replacement for Bruce Wayne as the Bat, isn't there?

Alfred. Yes Alfred. Okay maybe not the butler but it would be hilarious to see Alfred throw down with Gotham's ugliest.

No we're talking Dick Grayson. That's right Dick Grayson.

He has to be the next Batman. He's got the history, the skills, the respect, the tragedy and is almost Bruce's equal in every respect.

He did it once in Prodigal Son, but can he truly be Batman?

Yeah probably, until the next crisis when Bruce returns as good ol' batty!

Exciting times ahead for Bat fans!

You know that bit in the Simpsons just before they're sitting down to watch the TV, when they have a different skit every time?

Yeah well I could imagine that as the intro this new TV show, John Grayson somersaulting in from a trapeze, his mum....what is Dick's mum's name anyway? Mrs Grayson cart wheeling in from the side. Dick's trumpy, goofy sidekick, Trunkard, the baby Elephant sauntering in and falling, comically in the middle of the scene. And then enters Chris O' Donnell as Dick "DJ" Grayson, on a unicycle wearing that damned stupid Robin-tribute-leotard from Batman Forever, juggling batarangs and gas bombs just for show and cue the title screen in a classy handwriting style on banner being carried by a baby Robin....just for the extra cheese factor.

Seriously, I mean seriously. The CW Network can't be serious about this. Dick Grayson pre-Robin days as a full blown TV show to replace Smallville...it's ridiculous, it'll never work and who ever thought it up should receive a canister of laughing gas from the Joker.

Here's my case. Smallville followed Clark Kent, an Alien from outerspace, in his pre-Superman days discovering his super powers and how he was actually best mates with Lex Luthor before the baldy bam stole his bird. Not the best of shows, but it has the substance, universe and characters for a good TV show. Even though it's not been the best of shows, it was a decent idea to begin with.

This isn't. Dick Grayson, pre-robin, isn't an interesting character, nor are his parents, friends, or girlfriends, or friends of girlfriends!

Now I'm not knocking the character of Dick Grayson here. I'm a big fan of Grayson as Nightwing. But lets face it an entire TV show based on the origin Batman's campy sidekick is inane and will not work.

So for funnies let's have a look at how the pilot episode may go

Cast

Dick Grayson: Chris O Donnell

Ma' Grayson: Jenny McCarthy

Pa' Grayson: John Goodman

Grampa Grayson: Burtward

Trumpy the Elephant: James Earl Jones

Opening Scene: Mrs Grayson is hanging up the grayson leotards outside the family circus tent. She stops and notices what looks like blood stains on Dick's. Dick, 16, emerges from the Tent and approaches his anxious looking mum

Dick: Hey Ma'

She turns and looks at her son, holding his bloody leotard

Ma' Grayson: Dick have you been out fighting with the baboons again?

Dick puts on an innocent face, obviously lying. Cue: Audience Laughter.

Dick: No Ma', I love em darn monkeys [Laughter]. That's just Ketchup.

Ma' looks angry. She knows her son is lying.

Ma' Grayson: Richard, are you lying to me?

Dick: No Ma' why would I do that?

Ma' Grayson (now looking extremely annoyed): Diiickk!

Just as she's about to smack him with a bag of grip powder, in walks Trumpy the Elephant (cue awwwws and laughter from the audience).

Dick: Hey boy, hows things?

Trumpy (voiced by James Earl Jones): Great Dick, my hay was just great this morning.

Dick: Awesome.

Ma' Grayson puts the leotard back up on the line and the scene fades to black.

The next scene opens with Pa' Grayson practicing some new moves in an empty circus tent. Dick walks in, texting his current girlfriend, and getting ready for practice.

Cue a montage of sweaty sporty moves

So here's what we're doing, why don't you guys write the next part? How does this disaster pilot go? You write, I'll put together a blog of the best.

You can write it in the comments below.

Unless you've been living in a cave near the back o' beyond for the past century, chances are that you've probably heard about Batman.

Definitely this year Batman has been pushed to the marketing forefront by Warner Bros & DC with the release of The Dark Knight.

So everyone will at least have a grasp of Bruce Wayne as a character and what drove him to become the Caped Crusader.

Back in 1939 when writer Bob Kane and artist Bill Finger had first created the character, they knew right away that he was to be Batman, a dark vigilante- the antithesis of Superman.

But what was to be his civilian identity?

Finger used an amalgamation of two historical freedom fighters to create Bruce Wayne- The first being, Robert the Bruce and the second being Mad Anthony Wayne, a general from the American revolutionary war.

And there is a few similarities between the two..

First off both are recognised as a sort of vigilante by their respective government authorities. Bruce was a warrior seeking justice for the Scots against the English and Batman deals out his own brand of justice against evil for the innocent people of Gotham City.

Both have a knack for guerilla warfare tactics. Robert the Bruce is considered by many as the greatest guerilla combatant of all time and Batman too has employed the use of guerilla tactics (War Games, No Man's Land, Infinite Crisis etc.)

They both share a deep devotion to their wars. Robert the Bruce was deeply devoted to the Scottish Wars of Indpendence and Batman to his war on crime.

Both deal with themes of duality. The two live lives of rich, noble men, but are merciless on the field of battle (except Batman never kills).

Bruce Wayne lived a life of culture

The Dark Knight is the best comic book movie ever made.

Set almost a year following the events of Batman Begins, we find Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) struggling between the mantle of Batman and his desire for a 'normal life', with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). And he's nearly there, but then a new homicidal maniac pops up by the name of the Joker (Heath Ledger). But that's not all to this very complex plot- there's the addition of Harvey Dent, Gotham's new District Attorney.

The new Gotham D.A., good cop Jim Gordon and the justice seeking Batman create for quite an interesting character relationship. What one does affects the other and in most instances, each choice each person makes fundamentally affects another.

The story is extremely well written- the Nolan brothers have done a great job of turning David S. Goyer's original story into a screenplay. Every character is played with, every relationship is messed with and every character's life is changed forever.

Chris Nolan has done an amazing job in directing the Dark Knight. Each scene is shot beautifully and each actor fits just fine with their character.

The IMAX scenes are breathtaking and tense. It's incredible that no movies have been shot like this before. The cinematography is also spot-on and Gotham is visually stunning.

You can have a huge budget, an all-star cast and a great story, but it's nothing without a dead right, resolute director. Mr. Nolan has not only created the best movie so far this year, he's created one of the greatest films of the past decade. An Oscar nod is an understatement of what he deserves with his work on The Dark Knight.

There is not one bad performance in this film, every actor plays their roles well. Bale is inspiring as a confused Batman, Eckhart portrays Harvey Dent's rise and fall very well and Gary Oldham puts in one of his finest performances yet as James Gordon. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a better Rachel Dawes than Katie Holmes ever was and Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, both turn in their usual standards of excellence.

And then there's Heath Ledger.

Whilst Ledger's Joker is fantastically evil and unique, it is not the awe-inspiring, oscar winning performance than a lot of people seem to be making it out to be. Some of his more extreme scenes felt slightly forced, as if Heath was trying too hard.

He will no doubt at least be considered for an Oscar nomination, it may not be for the performance, but maybe for the tragic circumstances surrounding it.

So was he better than Jack Nicholson's Joker?

You can't actually compare them. They're two different characters, in two very different fictional worlds that are based on the same iconic villain. The only commonality both characters share is the name Joker, but other than that it's like comparing waking up to breathing air.

The Dark Knight (12A) is out in cinemas and IMAX nationwide.

2008 is one big year for DC.

Final Crisis is going to beset fans with whatever its has in store. Evil will apparently triumph over good and several storylines, origins, characters will be revamped or scrapped from continuity.

Not even Superman can save the day this time.

However with this approaching there is one major plot point that has many people wondering, it's a little thing called the death of Batman.

Not a physical death, but a literal one.

Scottish writer Grant Morrison has taken the main role for writing Final Crisis, but is also working on a story by the name of Batman R.I.P.

This summer the Batman the world has known for the last 69 years will cease to exist, with Bruce Wayne no longer dawning the cape and cowl.

Apparently something so tragic is planned for everyone's favourite non-super-powered-super-hero that he will give up his life's work.

Nightwing, the Red Hood (Jason Todd), Tim Drake and even Hush are pipped to replace Wayne and take up the mantle of Batman.

A new villain, Black Glove, is behind one of the most elaborate schemes to destroy Batman. He/she knows who Batman is, what drove Bruce Wayne to be Batman and everyone of his dark secrets.

The rumour mill has been in overdrive and message boards have been set alight with speculation about the identity of Black Glove.

Many have suggested that it is Alfred, others have even said it could possibly be Thomas Wayne (Bruce's supposedly dead father) and some have even said it to be Bruce Wayne himself. These are the very hard-to-imagine scenarios.

However after recent revelations, which may or may not be true, Batman's entire origin maybe a sham and one of the above situations could be highly plausible.

In a recent issue Commissioner Gordon is trying to convince a local newspaper not to publish a story about a dossier that came into a journalist's possession. The dossier was supposedly compiled by a private detective, hired by Martha Wayne's parents to investigate her and her husband's murder.

What it reveals is that Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce's biological father, Thomas Wayne was an alcoholic who got his wife addicted to heroin and it contains several photographs of an orgy involving Martha, Thomas and Alfred a long with the cast of a noir film by the name the Black Glove.

As if this wasn't shocking enough the editor also explains to Gordon that Thomas Wayne may still be alive and that the murder of his wife was part of a convoluted plan to get rid of her and fake his own death.

So, with that, the idea of Thomas or Alfred being the Black Glove may not be so hard to imagine after all. Given that off course the dossier is true and not a ruse.

The other suggestion is Bruce Wayne and that he has developed an evil split persona, named the Black Glove and is trying to sabotage himself.

There is no other character out there more pshycologically tortured than Bruce Wayne. Maybe, as Aaron Eckhart puts in the recent Dark Knight Trailer, he's lived long enough to see himself become the villain.

Or perhaps Alfred is acting under orders from Bruce's new evil persona ? Who knows.

At the climax of the latest issue however, Batman was drugged and fighting for his life in the Batcave. Just as the villains were about to storm his lair and before he passed out, the dark knight asked the Batcomputer to analyse everything it knew about The Black Glove. Its result concluded that the Black Glove was Zur-En-Arrh.

Zur-En-Arrh has only been mentioned in Batman # 113 way back in 1958. In that issue Batman is brought to Zur-En-Arrh by the planet's resident Batman to help him fight evil robots. The interesting thing is that Batman found he had "Superman-like" powers whilst he was on Zur-En-Arrh.

Zur-En-Arrh has appeared throughout Morrison's run as graffiti and hallucinations.

Well considering that Final Crisis and the Batman RIP arcs are supposed to interlink, it could mean anything and I'm not going to speculate to much on it....but there will be a definite link between Batman#113, Bruce Wayne's fate and whatever Final Crisis has in store for the DC Universe.

Feasibly the Batman from, Zur-En-Arrh is acting as Simon Hurt?

So your Monday questions of the day are: What are you looking forward to Final Crisis? What do you think will happen to Bruce Wayne? And what's your theory about the idenity of Black Glove?