On Wednesday July 31, 2013, it all ended. Grant Morrison‘s epic seven-year run with the character of Batman came to a close with Batman Incorporated #13.

This issue marks the end of an emotional run in which Morrison added so much to the mythos of Batman which revived older characters, created new ones, and ultimately told arguably the best Batman story of all time. I’ve been a huge supporter of Morrison’s Batman work for years now, and I’ve enjoyed it every step of the way. As a fan, what I wanted out of this issue was an oversized blowout that gave Morrison a fitting, emotional goodbye to the character and the seven years’ worth of material and life that he put into his Batman work. But that’s not what happened. What happened was more of a sweet kiss goodbye, not a world-burning epic, but honestly? I think this was definitely the right way to go. In retrospect, I can see that Morrison has been saying goodbye since the beginning of the New 52 and even before that with Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne in 2010.