JT's Take: Batman and Robin #10

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here once again, hell if I do any more reviews we're gonna have to change the URL of this place! As much as I wanna say this is because I'm filling in for our buddy X, we all know that I would NEVER miss an opportunity to review a book with my namesake, Jason Todd, in it, especially when he's being written by someone who isn't Scott Lobdell or Grant Morrison. So let's see what trouble we can get into in this issue of Batman and Robin(s).

Batman and Robin #10

Summary: Things get underway with us seeing a group of villains that all have grudges with Batman, including a guy who threw Batman's Batarang at Bats and somehow got it lodged in his own head, a girl who has one of Batman's forearm spikes lodged in her ear, a guy who was kicked in the face by Batman while he was wielding flames and has Batman's boot print permanently on his face, and three guys that were in a fire together (I believe when Damian sabotaged their escape vehicle a few issues back) and somehow melted into one person with three faces. This Motley crew of misfits are lead by a man calling himself Terminus, who simply wants to watch Batman die. From there we jump over to Wayne Manor to see the boys getting a Wayne family portrait painted, we see Bruce, Dick, Tim, Damian, Alfred and even Damian's dog Titus. No Jason for those counting. After a bunch of bickering between Tim and Damian, Bruce tells the boys to stop arguing, and that everyone has honored their time as Robin, even Jason, and the fact they were Robin's should be a bond, not a wedge, which causes Damian and Tim to storm off.

We then jump back to Terminus, who literally seems to be falling apart, but he uses some machine to keep himself from dying until his plan can be followed through. From there we quite randomly jump to a scene that has to be during Night of Owls, as Red Hood, Nightwing and Red Robin all meet on a rooftop, and were apparently summoned (unbeknownst to them) by Robin. He tells the former Robins that he's putting them on notice, that soon he will defeat each of them in something they feel unbeatable at. This of course leaves Dick confused, Jason face-palming, and Tim sighing. Damian states he's doing this to prove he's the best Robin, to himself, to them, and to Batman. Nightwing says Damian has nothing to prove, but Damian says forewarned is forearmed and takes off, leaving Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin to ponder his threat. We then jump over to Bruce and Alfred, Alfred discovers that Bruce hasn't told Dick and Tim about Damian killing Nobody, as Bruce says knowing would only divide them even more, and Damian doesn't even know Alfred knows. The conversation is cut short as the Bat-Signal alarm goes off causing Bruce to spring into action. Later, Tim heads to the cave to tell Bruce about Damian's threats but is met by Damian. Damian plays video of Tim almost killing Fist Point after he murdered Artemis in the Teen Titans Annual. Tim yells that he's nothing like Damian, as he stopped himself from killing Fist Point (horrible name) and attacks Robin. The two beat the hell out of one another until Tim asks Damian what he wants from him, as he admits he thought about killing Fist Point. Damian says he wants Tim to accept him for what he is, a Wayne and a Robin. Tim stares at Damian before leaving, and as the issue comes to a close we see Terminus, now seemingly in perfect health for the moment, ready to take on Batman and destroy him and the city of Gotham with a giant nuke.


Thoughts: First things first, no disrespect to Kenneth Rocafort, but THAT is how Jason's mask should be drawn. Man, Patrick Gleason made me legit smile when I saw that shot of Jason's mask. Anyway, this issue was really fun. The Jason fan in me was happy to see him get to interact with Tim, Dick and Damian all at once, but I really loved Damian here. Challenging the other Robin's to prove he's the best is SO something he would do. I'm interested to see if the four Robins will have to team up to save the city or save Batman. And I really have to commend Tomasi on his work here, everyone had their own characteristics as they should. They all seemed like themselves and how they would interact, which is something we don't always see when you get a lot of characters together, this felt like how a Robin Reunion would. As for the villains, I think they have potential, none are really heavy-hitters but seeing their grudges with Batman was interesting. This was a great start to this storyline, I hope it continues to be this good since the next issue is billed as Damian/Jason.

Score:  8.5/10

Nightwing: You've got nothing to prove, none of us do, well maybe actually you (Jason) still do. But you heard what he said at the portrait sitting.

Red Hood: Portrait Sitting? Guess my invitation got lost in the mail.