Same as before a repost from Pop Culture Shock now that it is ended. Batman & Robin is my favorite western superhero comics on the stands today.
This was originally posted on May 8th 2010
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Andy Clarke, Dustin Nguyen, and Scott HannaOH MY!
Read that in George Takei’s voice please.
That was this comic book this week my friends. Flyer than the rest of them. Like Bishop Don Magic Juan walking out of his green and gold Cadillac to enter the players ball. In 12 issues, Grant Morrison has crafted a Batman comic for the 21st century. It’s full of new dynamics, new villains, and new settings. So I guess its recap time; We return to our Dynamic duo as Robin, who being controlled Slade by what I call his WiiRobin machine, created by Talia (Robin’s mommy dearest), is attacking Batman. Batman being Batman figures out a quick way to take out Slade and save his partner. The next part of the book, where Batman and Robin go to confront Talia and Slade, is one of the best parts of the series. The scene in which Robin talks to his mother about her actions and disapproval of the life he choose is great, and really brings full circle what Morrison started with his first Batman arc, Batman & Son. He’s taken a kid that you weren’t supposed to like at all and humbled him, humanized him so now you really like Damian. Damian, like all Robins, has in his own way lost a parent. He hopes to be a worthy opponent for his mother since she basically disowns him for following the “circus boy” aka Dick Grayson into, for Damian, what is also the family business as much as assassination and evil-dom, crime fighting in a cape and mask. Andy Clarke shines in this scene as he perfectly shows how gosh darn crazy Talia is. She’s like the worst mother ever.
My other favorite scene is where Batman confronts Slade in a hospital bed after getting beaten thoroughly earlier. It’s interesting that he’s never referred to as Deathstroke in this comic. For me this calls back to the way Robin and Slade were depicted in the Teen Titans cartoons as being archenemies. Like Robin’s Joker. Now in that show, it’s never said that Robin is Dick, but it’s alluded to a lot. And I think Morrison is alluding to this cartoon in this issue. It’s perfect how it alludes to the past 5 of so years of their fights and comes down to “I can drop you like bad habit at any time, old man”.
The last part of this book deals with the reveal of the Domino Killer and the return of a character to the book that isn’t Bruce Wayne, but just as important. It was such a nice way to reveal something we’ve been seeing since the first arc. Dustin Nguyen and Scott Hanna does a great job of keeping a consistent look to the comic with Andy Clarke only able to do 12 pages of pencils. I didn’t even notice it until someone brought it up to me. The colors are a little bright for me at spots but not enough to take me out of this fine story.
So in the end why should you read this comic? I’ll tell you-Bat Electro knuckles punching ninjas in the face.
IN. THE. FACE.
Rating: S rank (higher than A)