The first story arc for the second volume of Batman and Robin is complete, is it any good?
Synopsis
We finally see the relationship between Bruce Wayne and his son Damian. For those of you that are not familiar with recent Batman history, Grant Morrison reintroduced the character of Damian Wayne in 2006. Damian is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. Batman’s untimely death at the hands of Darkseid prevented us from seeing how the father & son team would play off each other. Through most of Damian’s career as Robin, he worked with the new Batman, Dick Grayson..aka Nightwing. Now with the New 52 and the return of Bruce Wayne as Batman, the father and son team are finally working together as crime fighters.
Right off the bat (no pun intended) these two don’t work well together. The reason why Dick and Damian worked well is because they complimented each other. On the other hand Bruce and Damin don’t trust and like each other. This quickly makes their shaky relationship even worse as a new threat to Batman and Batman INC emerges, the assassin everyone calls Nobody AKA Morgan Ducard. And of course, he has a strong tie to Batman’s past.
The Good
The shaky relationship between Bruce and Damian is what makes this story interesting and entertaining to read. With their arrogance they can’t work as a team and Bruce begins to slowly doubt that he can reform his son. This is a whole new side to Batman that’s been rarely explored. We go deeper and deeper into his mind and personal history. The formerly mentioned Nobody wants to recruit Damian as his apprentice because he knows that Bruce’s rules only hold back his true potential. Throughout the whole issue, Batman has to try to save his son while fighting one of his deadliest adversaries.
Nobody brings Bruce to his limits both physically and psychologically like Ducard has. While Damian has to struggle between his killer instincts that he got from his mother and his restraint from his father. Ultimately both of them learn something from this whole experience and not only become better partners but a better family. Writer, Tomasi does a fantastic job with the dialogue and he perfectly captures the very essence of Batman and Robin as super heroes and people. Nobody as a villain is terrifying and he really makes you think whether or not Bruce is right with his no kill rule and does he really help anyone.
The art fits the dark tone well and there are several shots of Batman completely in the shadows with only his white eyes being seen, these shots just look fantastic and very reminiscent of the Animated Series from the 90s
The Bad
While the art does fit the tone well, it does have some weirdness to it in terms of characters. People without masks look very strange sometimes and it takes you out of the story. Something happens to the villain in the end that I won’t spoil. While it is a fitting conclusion to the story and it helps Damian grow as a character it robs us of anymore stories with Nobody.
Final Thoughts
Despite the few issues in art and the conclusion to Nobody, this is easily one of the best Batman and even Robin stories out now, it’s just as good as Snyder’s current work on the Batman ongoing series and it’s a must buy.
Grade: A-
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