Batman R.I.P. is an American comic book story arc published in Batman #676–681 by DC Comics. Written by Grant Morrison, penciled by Tony Daniel, and with covers by Alex Ross, the story pits the superhero Batman against the Black Glove organization as they attempt to destroy everything that he stands for. It has a number of tie-ins in other DC Comics titles describing events not told in the main story.
Plot
The Batman of Zur-en-arrh
The story begins with Batman and Robin perched onto a gothic building lit by lightning, where the former defiantly proclaims, "Batman and Robin will never die!". Events then flash back to Gotham City six months earlier, where Dr. Simon Hurt announces the Black Glove's next venture: the destruction of Batman.
Bruce Wayne is dating Jezebel Jet, a model who is very influential in her home country. Jezebel discovers Bruce was Batman relatively early in their relationship, and the revelation makes the relationship easier for Bruce to handle. He lets Jezebel so deep into his life that he even introduces her to the Batcave. Meanwhile, the Black Glove member, Le Bossu, while in his secret identity as a psychologist, contacts the Joker in Arkham Asylum and offers him a role in their assault on Batman.
Jezebel tries to convince Batman that he is simply living a life he has fabricated in his own head as a child to cope with the death of his parents. This suggestion begins to affect Batman's already-strained psyche (he almost died and was forced to re-live very traumatic moments in his life as Batman just weeks earlier) and he passes out when Jezebel says aloud a word that was on all the Bat-computer's screens: Zur-En-Arrh. As he passes out, Dr. Hurt and minions of his diabolical club, the Black Glove, infiltrate the Batcave. They drug Batman, beat Alfred, and wreak havoc upon the cave.
When Bruce Wayne is seen next, he wakes up in a pile of garbage with no memory of himself. He meets a homeless man named Honor Jackson, who recognizes that Bruce is going through drug withdrawal and helps him. As the two spend time together, traveling in what Honor calls an "odyssey" across the city, Bruce sees more evidence of his forgotten life. The two reflect on the day, and Honor gives Bruce an old broken radio as a sentimental gift. Abruptly, Bruce finds that Honor is no longer sitting next to him and learns from a local dealer that Honor had blown two hundred dollars on smack and overdosed the previous day. This statement leaves Bruce full of despair, grief, and guilt (Bruce, as Batman, had given Honor the two hundred dollars at the end of a car chase, which took place earlier in the story), but also further confuses his sense of reality. At this point, Bruce seems to snap. He makes himself a costume out of red, yellow, and purple rags, and begins referring to the broken radio as the "Bat-radia". He then calls himself "The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh" and begins taking advice from Bat-Mite (written as "might" in this case, as the character is meant to be a voice of reason to Zur-En-Arrh, as in "the Bat might do this").
The Black Glove is taking hold
The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh hunts down and dispatches two small-time members of the Black Glove, and finds that his next destination is Arkham Asylum, armed with nothing but a baseball bat, his Bat-radia, and miscellaneous bits of junk that serve in place of his utility belt. Batman and Bat-Mite ultimately make it to Arkham, where Bat-Mite says he cannot follow. Inside, Batman is confronted by Joker, who holds Jezebel Jet captive and kills her in front of him using the flowers that make up Joker's laughing gas.
As Batman regains his sanity and loses consciousness from the same poisonous flowers, Jezebel appears to be okay, the Joker is smiling, Dr. Hurt is there, and everyone is asking Batman "Now do you get it?" It is revealed that Jezebel Jet has been a part of the Black Glove all along.