Batman and Robin #18

Hey crew, JT here with my second review of the week, as we continue on with the Requiem of Damian Wayne. This issue is rare because it's completely silent, there's hardly any text, save for a letter near the end. So let's see how this worked out.

Batman and Robin #18

Summary: We start things out with Bruce sitting in Damian's room, looking at his notebook that's full of sketches, including a robin, Titus, Bruce, Alfred and Bruce's parents graves. Alfred is seen crying at the family painting of Bruce, Dick, Tim, Damian and Alfred from the first issue of Batman (I think it was that.) and coincidentally, Damian's picture is unfinished. Bruce walks over and closes the curtains over the painting then carries it away. From there, Bruce slides down the pole to the Batcave, suits up and goes to fight crime, the whole time seeing memories of Damian, and how happy he was to team with his father. The memories of Damian make him even more upset and he takes it out on villain after villain, leaving them all on the roof by the Bat-Signal, leaving Gordon and Bullock in awe. Bruce eventually returns home, battered and bruised and showers before heading to the lockers where they keep their gear. He mistakenly bumps Damian's locker, causing it to open and finds a note his son left him. The note says he's sorry for disobeying him and going to fight Leviathan but Bruce needs him by his side.  He also delivers an amazing line I'll post below as the line of the issue. Bruce sheds a tear as he reads Damian's letter then just snaps, he starts breaking everything and screaming before cradling Damian's costume as this issue comes to a close.

Thoughts: Amazing. Simply amazing. Tomasi scripted a hell of an issue in pure silence basically, which seems like a very hard thing to do. But he and Gleason, major props to Gleason, manage to show so much emotion through these pages. You can see the hurt on Alfred's face, the regret on Bruce, as well as not just his anger but his depression and the somber tone of the issue. You can even see the sad and bit of scared look on Titus' face while watching Bruce breakdown at the end of an issue. There's so many issues of comics that I love because of the dialogue, hell Batman #18 was one of them, but this took the opposite approach and gave me the same result, a comic I thoroughly enjoyed. This issue was perfect as far as I'm concerned.

Score: 10/10

Damian's letter: Because it will be hard for me to say these words face to face, I want you to know that Mother may have given me life, but you taught me how to live.

Batman and Robin #17

Hey comic crew, it's a JT day, I know, I know, contain yourself. Today's review is Batman and Robin, and with the recent events of Death of the Family and the...um... death of the family, let's see how Batman and Robin cope with the fallout.

Batman and Robin #17

Summary: So this issue is basically three stories about the three main characters, Bruce, Damian and Alfred, having dreams about the recent events in their lives. First up we see Damian's dream, where his mom, Nightwing, Joker, Red Hood, and Nobody are all drowning as Damian looks on from a submarine. Damian is approached by another Damian, showing the two sides of him, as he argues with himself about why he kept a batarang, as it was Bruce's way of showing him two sides of himself, like Damian did, as he holds Bruce's head, cowl attached in his hands. He suddenly notices Alfred drowning as well as the other Damian says there's nothing any of them (the family) can teach him anymore. Damian screams Alfred's name while watching him drown and wakes up. When he wakes up he sees a Robin in his room and he and Titus the Dog follow it and it leads them to Bruce's study as a giant bat is sucking the blood out of his neck, and Bruce asks Damian to join them, so Damian screams and wakes up again. Alfred's dream consists of helping Thomas and Martha Wayne before they went to the theater, then he goes into the Batcave door which is the fridge (?) and asks Bruce and Damian if they need help, and he arrives in the basement to see the Bat-Family all Jokerized and Joker swinging a hammer. Alfred tells Joker to surrender and pulls out a shotgun, but Joker says make me, so Alfred blows his head off... well alrighty. Alfred then wakes up from his dream, smiles and goes back to sleep. Bruce's dream consists of him making a paper boat which turns into a real boat and his parents fall off of it, because why not. (This is the part where I just wanna finish the review) Also, Damian and the rest of the crew drown or something. Bat's boat is then pursued by his Rogue galley and he says he doesn't need them as a giant whale comes up and eats his boat and says "HA HA HA HA HA!" as he jumps off of it and is saved by Damian pulling him out of the water. Bruce wakes up and goes to check on Damian and the issue ends as we see Damian dreaming about being on patrol with his father and the two of them ending the night sitting on top of a church and watching the sunrise.

Thoughts: This comic was weird as hell... I... I don't... have words. I could try to say this was their subconscious telling each of them what they secretly wanted and such but I'm not a philosophy major... I'm a guy that reads comics for enjoyment and reviews them for the same reason. So... yeah... Alfred shooting Joker and the artwork is the only reason this got any points.

Score: 2/10

Alfred: I told you that was enough. (I know Alfred... but I bought this issue anyway...)

Batman and Robin #15

Hey Guys and Gals, JT here for a second day in a row, continuing the "Death of The Family" festivities, this time with Robin taking center stage. With Bruce obviously wanting to keep his son away from this new, even more psychotic Joker, let's see what happens when they finally meet again.

Batman and Robin #15

Summary: This issue does a great job of picking up where Batman #15 left off, with Damian talking to Titus about how Damian's the only one that sided with Bruce during the spat in the last issue, and "The Wing, Reds and the Girl" act as if they've never had anything happen on their watch. Damian decides to look for clues with Titus, and Titus sniffs out some urine left behind and Damian tests the urine, which comes up as Hyena urine, causing Damian to get in his work clothes and head to the Gotham Zoo. When Robin gets there to inspect the Hyena exhibit, someone unlocks the cages electrically and the Hyenas attack Robin. Damian takes them out but was bitten by one, and they apparently had a mild Joker Toxin on them, which knocks Robin out, causing him to fall through the roof of the aviary. When he regains consciousness, Joker is hanging over him, wearing his face upside down, which is a hell of a creepy visual. Joker flips down and taunts Robin, saying how he used a more mild Toxin this time, so Robin wouldn't be stiff as a board, like last time, when Robin hit Joker with a crowbar. Joker restrains Robin from the ceiling while walking among a ton of dead birds and such, then shows Damian a video of him torturing Alfred, to which Damian says he's going to break a solemn promise, he's going to kill The Joker. Joker doesn't seemed worried in the least, and continues to say that Robin, Nightwing and the rest are simply holding Batman back from his full potential, as now he has to worry about a ten year old while he's out trying to be the best Batman he can be. Their a burden and Batman is tired of having to watch over them, being run ragged, and he's there to make sure they don't use him all up and there's none left for Joker. But Jokes says he's a horrible guest and he hasn't even offered any food to his poor, starving Robin. He pulls a rope and drops a ton of Beetles, Earthworms, Caterpillars and the like for Robin. Damian frees himself and heads for Joker as Joker exits the cage they were in, locking Robin in. Robin says he isn't afraid of Joker, and Joker says he knows, Batman's biggest fear is being responsible for the death of Robin, and Robin's biggest fear is being responsible for the death of Batman. As he says this, the bugs all come together and form Batman somehow, ready to attack Robin, as this issue closes.
 
Thoughts: Man.... this was fantastic. You wouldn't think the guy with the least amount of history with Joker would have such a strong tie-in issue. That's a testament to the great job Tomasi did here, I especially loved the fact he mentioned Joker's last run in, which happened back with Dick was Batman. Also, Patrick Gleason may have succeeded, or is at least tying with Capullo for the creepiest Joker so far, because him wearing his face upside down was an excellent touch, but it came off like a mask here more than a face, which makes sense. It's been detached, and now he's been wearing it, it's obviously falling apart, decaying and such, so when it finally DOES come off and we see his face (in the main series, no doubt) It's going to be deliciously gruesome. That stuff aside, the ending lost me, I mean, I know this is Gotham and everything but the bugs turning into Batman...how did that happen? Someone please explain to me, is he confused due to Fear Toxin or something? That aside, I really enjoyed this issue.

Score: 8.5/10 

The Joker: Don't you see--You're the Batman's burden. He's tired of holding all of you--propping you up!

Batman and Robin #14

Hey guys and gals, JT here with my final review of the comic week, and I'm closing things out with Batman and Robin. The last issue ended with Robin dealing with a bunch of zombies in Gotham, because that place is literally THE WORST PLACE to live in the history of existence. So, how will The Dark Knight and The Boy Wonder deal with their own Waslking Dead? Let's see shall we?

Batman and Robin #14

Summary: This issue starts with Batman dealing with a bunch of zombie-like people attacking and trying to eat civilians but of course most are thwarted by Batman. Batman then repeatedly tries to reach Robin for most of the issue to make sure he's okay. Meanwhile, Robin is playing possum as he's being carried by a bunch of the "zombies" to their leader, who proclaims Robin to be a treat that "must be savored". Robin springs into action and sets off a few explosions to put distance between the leaders of the zombies and the civilians that were held captive there. Robin leads most of them to safety and they escape by using an underground train, but the zombies are right on their tails. Robin is ready to try to fight them off when he's joined by Batman, who looks to be in a REALLY foul mood. Batman and Robin make quick work of the zombies... I mean.. like one page's worth of fighting, before Batman scolds Damian for shutting off his com-link. Batman reveals that The Joker was behind this, as he was the hooded leader Damian briefly encountered. Back at the cave, Bruce basically tells Damian that he worries about him because he doesn't want to fail him the way he failed Jason by not being able to save him in time, and he's terrified that Damian only seems to care about himself. Damian proves Bruce wrong as he produces a lone pearl he found in the sewers below Crime Alley, previously belonging to Martha Wayne. The issue comes to a close as Bruce tells his son he's proud of him and they hug.
 
Thoughts: So, this issue was odd for me. I mean... it seemed very rushed. Joker was behind the zombies? If Joker has the ability to make people into zombies... why not just go with that? Also, the people who are zombies, they were never cured or anything. And Bruce and Damian just beat them up... they're not dead or anything. So presumably, there are still zombies in Gotham... they just have to wake up. I mean, I guess this issue served to humanize Damian before his run-in with The Joker but it just seemed all over the place and like nothing really happened or got solved, which really hurt my enjoyment of this.

Score: 4/10 

Bruce: Damian... I'm proud of you.

Batman and Robin #0

Hey guys, JT here with my last post until NCD when a plethora of comics will be released and some will be subsequently reviewed by the best duo since Kenan and Kel, JT and X. So, let's get through this month's Batman and Robin, focusing on the past of Damian Wayne.

Batman and Robin #0

Summary: This issue is about Damian's past, so we start things off a year and a half ago, seeing Damian falling from the sky wielding swords and and fighting a Manbat. Damian says "No more secrets, Mother." or something to the gist of that, as we flashback even further into the past. We see Damian being born in some kind of advanced test tube child scenario, when his mother Talia takes him and lowers him into a pool of water, to show he's strong enough to survive. A woman tells Talia that's not the best idea, ya know, cause it's not... and apparently neither is doubting Talia because she kills the woman with quickness that would surprise Wally West. The woman's corpse and blood fall into the water with Damian, seemingly symbolizing that even out of the womb, he's surrounded by death. From there we jump forward a few years to see Damian and Talia sparring with swords when Damian asks about his father. Talia says he can meet his father when he proves himself worthy, by beating her in a duel on his birthday and earning the opportunity to meet him. Over the next few years we see Damian aging and doing things most people would never dream like, like beheading a Tiger with a scythe (wtf?), Sniping people, killing sharks, and playing classical music, cause he may be a demon spawn, but he knows how to appreciate the fine arts! Each year on his birthday, Damian's mom gives him a gift, the gift of an ass whooping, and the bow she wraps it with is "Happy birthday Damian. You lose." We fast forward to a year and a half ago again, as we see Damian taking out a bunch of his mother's men and a Manbat, before having a brutal fight with Talia where he finally brings the receipt of that ass whooping and exchanges it for his father's name. Talia finally tells Damian about Batman and the issue comes to a close with the exact scene of Damian and Batman meeting that we've all seen before.


Thoughts: Well... Happy Birthday, Damian. You lose. That was my favorite part of this. I can't say I cared for this, but I will explain why. To me, the concept of the Zero issues were either to explain what did and didn't happen, or to show us something completely new. My problem is, we already KNEW all of this. We knew Damian was a test tube baby, we knew he was raised among murderers and criminals, and we know what terms he met Batman under. We didn't really learn anything. This wasn't a bad story, but it seemed like a waste of the Zero issue storytelling. Now if we'd had this issue chronicling a bit about each of the Robin's past, instead of doing that in Batman, then we could get maybe, five or six pages per Robin's past, then the rest could be delved into in other books like Nightwing, Red Hood, and Teen Titans. Or even doing like five pages for those guys and seven or eight dedicated to Damian. That aside, once again, this issue wasn't bad, but I felt it could've explored some different things for Damian's past.

Score: 6/10 

Talia: Happy Birthday, Damian. You lose. (I like mixing it with "YOU LOSE, GOOD DAY SIR!" from Willy Wonka.)

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.

Batman and Robin #9

Now we'll see what that murderous little scamp, Damian is up to during the Night of Owls stuff.

Batman and Robin #9:

Story Points:
-Damian is sent to protect a member of the Gotham City(New Jersey?) National Guard.
-Naturally, the Guardsmen aren't keen on the idea of a 10 year old sneaking onto their base, at least until a Talon attacks.
-The Talon shrugs off being shot, and kills several Guardsmen, with Damian managing to get the target away.
-The Talon follows, but the Guardsmen regroup and follow Damian's lead as he calls strategy.
-Damian's tactics work, as he manages to decapitate the Talon, which is an injury I'm pretty sure it won't be coming back from.

Thoughts: This was another good read, probably a bit better than Batman #9 in my opinion. Yeah, this comic DID make the National Guard look like a bunch of scrubs(a 10 year old was leading them!!! they couldn't beat ONE man!!!), but there was a part of me that enjoyed seeing Damian in a military situation... In a way, that's where he belongs. Plus this issue gave Damian another kill(granted, against a reanimated corpse, but still), bringing his kill total up to 2 for the series. Go Damian!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Batman and Robin #8

Continuing with the DC trend, here's a look at Batman and Robin #8.

Batman and Robin #8:

Summary: Batman takes Robin(who had just murdered Nobody) back to the Batcave to get patched up by Alfred. Bats then gets depressed that Nobody's blood was on Damian's hands as opposed to his own. Bats leaves Damian with a recorded message about Nobody, telling Damian that he had wanted to kill Nobody back in London and then after he brutalized Damian. But Bats managed to fight back his urge to kill. The lesson being? Much like Bruce, Damian has an urge to kill, he has to learn to fight those urges back lest he turns out like the villains he was battling. Bruce and Damian then have a bonding moment and decide to take some time off, as Alfred recommended, and play ball outside with Damian's dog(which he named Titus). Unfortunately for Alfred, while playing ball outside, Bruce and Damian spot the Bat signal high in the Gotham sky, and know what they had to do...

Thoughts: This was a pretty good read. The art was strong(as usual) and the story was solid. Yeah, I was a bit bugged by how easily Bruce pushed aside Damian murdering Nobody right in front of him(can you IMAGINE what he'd have done to Jason Todd had he pulled a stunt like that?!), but I guess I'll chalk that up to Bruce finally looking at Damian as more than another expendable soldier in his war on crime and more like a family member. So yeah, this was a good issue, but it's probably not something I'll remember two months from now.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

That poor dog has no idea where Damian's fingers have been...

Batman and Robin #7

Last review of the night is the first DC comic to be read by me this week. The prior issue of this series ended with a great cliffhanger, now it's a matter of seeing whether Peter Tomasi can build from those final few pages from issue #6.

Batman and Robin #7:

Summary: This issue picks up where the last one left off(duh!), with Nobody torturing Robin while Batman listened. However, some fancy driving gets Bats to Nobody's base(a boat) quicker than Nobody had anticipated. From there we get several pages of a very bloody battle between Nobody and Batman, eventually ending with Bats defeating Nobody. Pissed about the whole, “Torturing his son within an inch of his life” thing, Bats has a momentary lapse in judgment and decides to drown Nobody in the acid bath Nobody eliminated his victims in. Before completing the deed, Bats snaps back to his senses upon seeing Damian and pulls Nobody out of the acid before any real harm is done. With that, Bats checks on Damian and with the boat sinking decides to get the three of them out of the water. While Bats is searching for a way out, Nobody is whispering to Damian that he'd be back to kill them all and that Damian knew what needed to be done... With that, Damian drives his fingers through Nobody's eye-socket(!), apparently killing the villain.

Thoughts: Hey, I have to give kudos to Tomasi, he got me invested in this story big time last issue and he delivered another great issue here. Most of this issue was a fight scene, and it was well put together by Patrick Gleason. The ending here gives us yet another extremely strong cliffhanger, with Damian seemingly murdering Nobody. You'll notice I've used the words “apparently” and “seemingly” when describing Damian's actions, because I'm not sure I buy that Damian actually killed Nobody. I DO think that was his intent, but I can't help but feel that DC will chicken out and have Nobody end up alive with brain damage or something similar. Oh, and one final thing. Why is Bats so angry that one of his villains was trying to murder his son here? Bats is the one putting Damian in harm's way as Robin, so shouldn't he be pointing the finger of blame at himself? Just sayin'... But regardless, after this issue I know I'll be eagerly awaiting the next issue. Again.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Oooooo, it's on now!!!

Batman and Robin #6

One more comic for the night, and it's Batman and Robin. Now, the cover shows Batman and Robin about to fight, and specifically says that the two are going to battle “Above the streets of Gotham”. If that happens, this comic COULD be extremely good...

Batman and Robin #6:

Summary: This issue opens with Robin(Damian Wayne) pulling the trigger to kill the trafficker(!). Didn't see THAT one coming... It turns out the gun was empty, and that Nobody was just testing Damian to see how committed he was to Nobody's cause. Now confident that Damian had truly left Batman, Nobody takes Damian to his hidden lair so Nobody could get information about the trafficker's network. Meanwhile, Batman is racing around Gotham trying to find a trace of Damian while having a flashback to the first time he met Nobody(in the grand scheme of things, it's not that interesting, so I'm just gonna ignore it... Suffice to say, Nobody met Bruce Wayne while he was training to become Batman, and the two became enemies). After getting the trafficker to spill his guts, Nobody decides to toss the trafficker into a vat of acid, thus eliminating that bothersome evidence. Damian doesn't want to see that, and decides to activate his homing beacon, since he had discovered Nobody's lair and proven that he was more useful than Batman thought(oh yeah, and he only pulled the trigger earlier on because he knew the gun was empty due to it's weight or something). Bats gets the signal and begins speeding towards Nobody's hideout. Pissed by Damian's betrayal, Nobody manages to beat the hell out of Damian, while taunting Batman over Damian's communicator, ending this one.

Thoughts: Don't you just love misleading covers? Misleading cover aside, this was a damn good comic book. It was a bit bogged down in the middle, what with the Nobody origin story, but the stuff set in the present was really good. I liked Damian's reason for joining up with Nobody, as it fits with his whole MO of trying to gain his father's approval. I also liked that Nobody beat Damian up WHILE making sure Bruce could hear the whole thing, as it gives us a reason to really despise Nobody, and want to see Bruce catch up to and beat the hell out of him. I have to say, I'm definitely looking forward to the next issue of this series.

Score: 8 out of 10.

“Yaggh”? “Rragh”? That's some inspired dialogue there!

Batman and Robin #5

Wow, we are FINALLY getting towards the end of my seemingly bottomless new comic book pile! First up tonight is the latest issue of Batman and Robin... I don't really care about this series one way or the other, so I really don't have anything else to say here...

Batman and Robin #5:

What Happened: Damian Wayne(that would be Robin) has left Batman and apparently joined up with Nobody. Damian is tired of playing by Batman's rules, and is even more tired of being treated as a simple underling when he feels as Batman's son, he should have been more, thus the sudden change in allegiance. Nobody is pleased by this, and takes Damian under his wing, telling Damian that they were going to put an end to a human trafficking ring... Permanently. Meanwhile, Batman is scouring the streets trying to find any trace of Damian, while recalling his own first meeting with Nobody years ago. This issue concludes with Damian and Nobody fighting their way to the head of the human trafficking ring with Nobody handing Damian a gun and telling him to shoot the trafficker in the head.

Thoughts: Even though the Nobody origin tale took up WAY too much of this comic for my tastes(I can't help but feel it could have been condensed some), the parts set in the present between Damian, Bats and Nobody were VERY well done. I liked the interaction between Nobody and Damian, and it was nice to see that Bruce felt that he had been wrong with the way he had been treating Damian... Damian isn't just another Robin for Bruce, he SHOULD be more than that. The cliffhanger was good as well. I don't expect Damian to pull the trigger and kill the trafficker, but it IS a possibility as Damian has killed villains before, just not since becoming Robin. That's the sure sign of a good cliffhanger, when things could legitimately go either way. So yeah, after a few so-so issues, this one was a major improvement. I still think if DC wanted to do an angsty Damian storyline, they should have added 3 or 4 years to his age with the reboot, but what can ya do?

Score: 8 out of 10.Shoot, shoot, shoot!!!

Batman and Robin #4

Okay, the past few days? I've been reading some lackluster comic books... It's been quite depressing actually. But today is a new day, and I am optimistic that the two books I review tonight will buck the trend and provide me with some comic book awesomeness! Now, let me take a look at what's on tonight's agenda... Oh. Hmm... This isn't going to be pretty...

Batman and Robin #4:

What Happened: Nobody shows Batman and Robin a film about Gotham's criminals, with the moral of the film being that killing these scumbags would do Gotham a world of good. Batman won't do it and Robin is a captive audience... Get it? Because he's tied up!!! Trust me, that's about as much fun as we'll be having with this review... Anyway, Alfred shoots at Nobody with a remote controlled Batplane(Yes, really. And with rubber bullets), which drives Nobody away and allows Bats and Robin to get free. Later at the Batcave, Alfred is sewing Bruce up while Damian bitches about... Well, everything. The bottom line is that he feels Bruce should treat him more like an equal, but Damian hasn't done enough to earn Bruce's trust yet. Damian storms outside to bitch about Bruce to his grandparent's gravestones(which are shockingly minimal! Damn Bruce, you're a billionaire! Couldn't you buy your parents some nice looking tombstones or something?!). While there, Nobody pops up and tells Damian to join him on the dark side, since he wouldn't force Damian to tone down his murderous instincts. Nobody then leaves and Damian ponders things.

The Good: The art was good. I enjoyed Damian(as usual) and laughed when he was telling his grandparents that they raised a stubborn ass...

The Bad: The story here just isn't doing it for me... I mean it's not awful, but it's not that good... I'm already tiring of Bruce and Damian arguing every single issue. Honestly, if they wanted to have an angsty Robin for Bats to contend with, then they should have upped Damian's age from 10 to 13 or so with the reboot. A 13 year old Damian being the moody teenager would have fit better than a 10 year old one. I think I'm already tired of Nobody... The whole film scene was dumb.

The Verdict: Yep, the sucky comic reading streak lives as we reach 5! I just never got into this issue. It started slow, consisted of Nobody telling Bats(and Damian) that he should kill his foes, had Alfred(of all people) rushing in to save the day, and ended with Damian being all moody. The more I think about it, the more I feel Damian should have been aged a few years post-reboot. Especially since he's always yelling at Bruce and acting sullen. So far Peter Tomasi hasn't been able to find the right formula to make Batman and Mini-Batman work as a team. If every issue is going to be like this one(and let's face it, the first four issue all involved Bruce and Damian arguing), why bother reading the rest of the series? I could probably do reviews just by looking at the covers!

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.A simple cross? That's ALL Bruce's parents get?!

Batman and Robin #3

And the last new comic book I'll be reading and reviewing until Wednesday? The comic that was at the bottom of my new comic pile, and as such was the comic book I was least looking forward to reading? None other than Batman and Batman #3! I mean the first two issues of this series have been... Wait, what? That's not the title of this series? It's actually called Batman and Robin?! Balderdash says I! As I was saying, this series has been okay, but the dynamic between the Dynamic Duo still feels somewhat off for me. Maybe things will right themselves with this issue. Or maybe not. What the hell do I know?

Batman and Robin #3:

What Happened: Batman won't let Robin go out on patrol with him since Bats was still trying to draw Nobody out of hiding. Robin won't hear of that and decides to leave anyway, but not before Alfred manages to sneak a tracking device on Robin. Robin manages to beat up some thugs, but is soon confronted by Nobody, who kills the thugs for Robin. Nobody then hits Robin with a paralyzing blow, revealing he knew his secret identity(of course he does!). Bats, who had been following the tracking device, attacks Nobody but is defeated. This issue ends with the Dynamic Duo tied up in an old car being forced to watch a movie by Nobody... Yes, really.

The Good: Alfred was surprisingly awesome in this one. The action scene between Robin and the thugs was fun. Batman considering Robin his son as opposed to his sidekick is an interesting dynamic that begs further inspection.

The Bad: Yes, I know I railed about this last issue, but does EVERYBODY know Batman and Robin's secret identity? The cliffhanger here was one of the weakest I've read in quite some time... THAT was supposed to make me want to read the next issue? That last page did a HUGE job of hurting my enjoyment of what was, before that final page, a borderline above average comic book. Batman being taken down by Nobody with such ease seemed wrong.

The Verdict: Scorewise, this comic was an easy 7 1/2, with a shot at an 8 before the cliffhanger scene... It was that horrible. I honestly don't get why I'd want to pick up the next issue after that last page. So I can read about Batman and Robin watching a film put together by Nobody? Um yeah, no. Overlooking the last scene(which is hard to do since it's what leaves the lingering taste in my mouth), this was a really good comic book. The characterizations between Robin, Alfred and Batman were all nicely done. But that last scene...

Score: 7 out of 10.So he's going to put on porn, right?

Batman and Robin #2

Back to DC and another Bat-book. Man, people may talk about Marvel trying to expand the number of titles their lead characters are in(Cap, FF, Spidey, Wolvie), but they don't have ANYTHING on Bats and his 25 monthly books!

Batman and Robin #2:

What Happened: Bruce is still worried about Damian's aggressive tendencies, but continues taking him out to beat up bad guys. That seems counterproductive, but what do I know? Unlike last issue, this issue Damian shows restraint when dealing with some common villains and gets a lukewarm compliment from Bats, which further annoys Damian. Later on Bruce bumps into some guy named Morgan, who, as Nobody, had been killing criminals and members of Batman Inc since he didn't like the idea of Bats branching out. Morgan obviously knows Bats duel identity, and the two debate to end this issue.

The Good: This Morgan guy has good possibilities when it comes to Damian. I like the idea that at his core Damian is still looking for approval from Bruce and not quite getting what he needs. This issue, at least until the end, was a fast, exciting read.

The Bad: The ending here sucked... Usually you want to end a comic with something that'll get fans coming back. This issue didn't accomplish that. Bruce knows this Morgan guy has been killing people left and right but doesn't seem all that bothered by it. Morgan knowing Bruce's secret identity seems really unnecessary, especially this early into the reboot. It cheapens the feel when a villain finally does learn Bruce's identity if some random new character knows that Bruce is Bats.

The Verdict: This was definitely a tale of two comics for me. The first half was engaging and fun, while the second half wasn't. Plus like I stated above, having a new villain already know about Bruce's duel identity cheapens the importance of when other characters discover the secret. There was a time when only a handful of Bat-villains knew Batman's secret(the Al Ghuls, possibly Joker, Bane). Now every other issue it seems another villain knows. Hell, at this pace Bruce might as well go out on patrol without the mask on...

Score: 7 out of 10.Hell, if my father would have told me anything I did was commendable I'd have been overjoyed!

Batman and Robin #1

Here's a comic that I've been waiting over a week to get my hands on. I have severe reservations about Bruce and Damian Wayne working together in the same title, but maybe DC can get that pairing to work...

Batman & Robin #1:

What Happened: Bruce and Damian Wayne(that would be Batman and Robin for those of you COMPLETELY new to comic books), head out to take down some criminals. However, Bruce soon learns that Damian doesn't want to take orders from him and this almost leads to disaster during a mission. Fortunately, only some scumbag criminals end up dying due to Damian's insubordination... Well, unfortunately if you were the criminals I guess... Meanwhile, some villain named Nobody is killing members of Batman Inc.

The Good: The art was good. I can't help myself, I like Damian. It's taken a while, but he's grown on me. Nobody hunting down Batmen could make for some good storytelling.

The Bad: As I feared, the dynamic between Damian and Bruce just didn't click for me. Dick Grayson and Damian worked because you had the lighthearted Dick to counter the dark, gloomy Damian. Now you have the dark and gloomy Bruce and the darker and gloomier Damian... Bruce and Damian bickering with one another is going to get tiresome quickly for me... Before he died/disappeared, Bruce seemed to have earned Damian's respect, was that wiped out with the reboot?

The Verdict: There's definitely some promise here, but I really hate the Damian/Bruce dynamic. I don't want to read Batman & Batman... That's like having a peanut butter and peanut butter sandwich... You need some jelly too! I won't be dropping this series, but I do hope that Damian either lightens up a bit(and no, I'm not saying he should become Grayson-esque, but just a bit less angry) or Bruce fires him and takes on a new Robin. Give Damian a solo series instead. I know I'd buy it.

Score: 7 out of 10.“I'm Batman!” “No, I'm Batman!!”

Batman and Robin #26 & Birds of Prey #15

So the past couple of comic books I've read have been good. No, scratch that, they've been really good. As a matter of fact, this has been one of the better comic reading weeks I've had in a while. But you know what they say about all good things, right? They MUST come to an end, and damn did my good reviewing streak come to a thudding halt with these two comic books... Read on... If you dare!

Batman and Robin #26:

Summary: Batman(Dick Grayson), Robin and Nightrunner are all in Paris, where the Louvre museum has been turned upside down, inside out and all around thanks to four recent escapees from Paris's version of Arkham Asylum. The four crazies were sprung by a guy named the Son of Man. After some difficulty, the heroes manage to sedate all four of the villains and realize that they were being recorded by little portable cameras. The heroes follow the cameras back to the Son of Man's lair, where he gives his life story(of course...), before revealing that his father had slashed his face while he was a child to give him a Joker-esque smile. Before the heroes can attack him, the Son of Man reveals that he had rigged explosives up somewhere, and he'd blow them up if anybody touched him. Bats wonders why Son of Man was doing this, and he reveals that he was killing people for art(or something like that... To be honest I stopped caring a few pages back). That enrages Nightrunner, who goes after Son of Man, but he's stopped by Robin, who didn't want Son of Man to set off the explosives. In the confusion, Bats fires some quick drying gel at Son of Man's hand, preventing him from pushing the button... But wait! Son of Man then reveals that the explosives were in the portable cameras, and that they were voice activated. With that, Son of Man sets them off, and we find out the explosives were only powerful enough to destroy the cameras. From there, Son of Man reveals that he filmed the whole debacle for his father, who he cut into pieces and put in a giant tube, where his father would watch what had happened on an endless loop.

Thoughts: After I read a comic book, if I'm not near my laptop, I'll usually jot down the title of the comic, the score, and a few words about the comic for when I do the review. For this comic, I put down the title, the score, and one word, “Rubbish”... That, in a nutshell, was exactly what this comic was. Garbage. Seriously, it was one of the worst one-and-done stories I've read in quite some time. The worst thing was the fact that I was kind of looking forward to this issue because I saw that David Hine was writing it. I'm not even going to bother wasting any more time on this comic. If you enjoyed this issue, kudos. Me? I absolutely hated it.

Score: 2 out of 10.Damian has definitely seen better days...


Birds of Prey #15:

Summary: Huntress, Black Canary and Manhunter head to the warehouse where Lady Blackhawk and the Phantom Lady had been captured by clones created by a dead Nazi scientist... Yes, this is one of THOSE comic books! The clones use some sort of evil Nazi machines to recreate the dead Nazi scientist, and the now alive Nazi scientist begins to take the pieces of his persona that he hid in Blackhawk and Phantom Lady's heads WAAAAAAY back in 1940's/1950's. Huntress, BC and Manhunter finally enter the warehouse and the Nazi scientist mistakes BC for her mother and tries to get the final piece of his persona out of BC(since he hid the third piece in BC's mother). Since BC doesn't have the missing piece, the Nazi scientist starts to go crazy and begins absorbing the clone's life-forces to empower himself. Unfortunately for the Nazi scientist, he absorbs too much power and explodes just as the women escape the lab. For the sake of my dwindling sanity, let's just say the issue ended there and leave it at that.

Thoughts: Ugh. Going in I expected this issue to be bad, and boy did it meet my expectations! The story didn't interest me last issue, and it was more of the same this issue. The storyline was basically a spotlight on Phantom Lady and Lady Blackhawk, both of whom I could care less about. Yes, it was cool to see Manhunter, but she didn't really DO anything... Same for BC and Huntress, the two BoP that I like the most. If your idea of a great comic is obscure female DC characters dealing with crazed Nazi clones, then THIS is the comic book for you! For the other 99.99999% of us? Pass.

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.Hit the Nazi, NOT the wire!!

Batman and Robin #25 & Superboy #9

And we're back to DC today... I've got to admit, with the exception of Batman and Robin, none of the DC comics I picked up this week are really that interesting to me... Too bad I don't have some more Marvel/Fear Itself comics left to read. Eh, who knows, maybe DC will surprise me in a good way for once...

Batman and Robin #25:

Summary: We get started with the Red Hood(That would be the awesome Jason Todd to any noobs out there) ditching Batman(Dick Grayson) and Robin so he could rescue Scarlet on his own. After contacting Scarlet's kidnappers, Jason heads to an abandoned middle school, where he finds the mystery woman who took Scarlet. The woman forces Jason to disrobe, and scans him to make sure he wasn't carrying any concealed weapons(must resist urge to make concealed weapon joke...). As soon as the scans come back clean, the mystery woman releases Scarlet, and Jason tells her to run away while she still can. Scarlet doesn't want to, and Batman and Robin arrive on the scene, having tracked Jason thanks to a GPS he swallowed before “ditching” the Dynamic Duo. With the mystery woman and her goons distracted by the new arrivals, Jason gets dressed, grabs his guns and prepares to get some good, old fashioned revenge. Jason begins shooting at the goons, but is quickly jumped by Bats, who gives the whole, “No killing!!!” speech. Jason angrily agrees to play by Dick's rules, until he spots an opportunity to escape with Scarlet. With Bats and Robin dealing with the goons, Jason grabs Scarlet and makes a break for it, getting to the roof of the school and discovering a helicopter. Jason and Scarlet get in and take off, but are soon pursued by Bats and Robin, who... um, I don't know, beat up and then tied up the bad guys, called the police, grab a cup of coffee, learn just what the mystery woman's problem with Jason was, and then were right on Jason's tail. Jason pushes a remote control which sets off a bomb on some train tracks, and radios Dick, telling him that he had 6 other bombs on those tracks, meaning Dick could either follow Jason, or disarm the bombs. With no real choice, Dick goes after the bombs, and Jason and Scarlet get away scot-free.

Thoughts: Oh well. When I first heard about this three part storyline a few months back, I was beyond psyched! I mean it was Jason Todd, probably one of my top 5 favorite DC characters, written by the man who writes him better than anybody else, Judd Winick! I was expecting three consecutive perfect scores! Instead I wound up reading three mediocre comics... After I finished this comic I took a moment to sit back and ruminate on this storyline... Yes, ruminate! “Why wasn't it as good as it should have been?!” I wondered... And then I figured it out. This wasn't Winick writing HIS Jason Todd, it was Winick writing Grant Morrison's Jason Todd! Yes, the dialogue was good-to-great, something Winick is a master at, but the story, and even the look of Jason was the Morrison version! And anybody who knows me knows I hate the red-headed, acne-riddled Morrison version of Jason Todd... Now if Winick would have written HIS version of Jason, I'm SURE this storyline would have been eight different shades of awesome. But he didn't, and so it wasn't.

Score: 7 out of 10.I guess those goons know what Jason's natural hair color is...


Superboy #9:

Summary: Okay, this one isn't going to be easy to review, so bear with me... The Phantom Stranger has brought Superboy, Krypto, Psionic Lad and Simon Valentine: Boy Genius to the bizarre city below Smallville named Hollowville... Oh, and it's named Hollowville because the Hollow Men live there. See, it makes sense now, right? Anyway, The Phantom Stranger tells Psionic Lad and Simon Valentine: Boy Genius to search for the captured Lori Luthor while he takes Superboy and Krypto to destroy the factory in the center of Hollowville. Simon Valentine: Boy Genius, being a genius and all, convinces Psionic Lad to change his name to Psion, so that's what I'll be calling him from this point forward. Simon Valentine: Boy Genius and Psion find Lori tied up in some barn, and while Simon Valentine: Boy Genius is untying Lori, Psion is contacted by his superiors in the future who tell him that he had to kill the future's huge threat now, since the situation in the future had reached a critical stage. The huge threat in question? Simon Valentine: Boy Genius! Yeah, I know, SHOCKING... Anyway, Psion doesn't want to kill Simon Valentine: Boy Genius since they were friends and Simon Valentine: Boy Genius gave him a new codename and all. Psion decides to ignore his superior and is blindsided and knocked out by Parasite, who works for the Hollow Men now. I guess... Maybe... As for Superboy, the Phantom Stranger leads him into the factory where Superboy finds himself surrounded by thousands of cloned bodies of himself. The Phantom Stranger reveals that the evil Took family was planning on powering the Superboy clones with the souls of every living being in Smallville. Upon hearing that, Superboy questions how the Phantom Stranger knew all of this information, and the Phantom Stranger reveals that he was the one who was going to put the souls in the cloned bodies(!!). At this time Eben Took(the head of the crazy Took family) shows up and Took and the Stranger thrash Superboy and Krypto. Superboy asks the Stranger to stop what he was doing, at which point the Stranger reveals that he was an impostor Phantom Stranger, and that he had captured the real Phantom Stranger(!).

Thoughts: Looking back, that review was a bit more sarcastic then it needed to be. I actually enjoyed this issue quite a bit. We finally learn that Psion had been sent to the past to kill Simon Valentine: Boy Genius, which was, in all honesty, no surprise at all, so I'm glad Jeff Lemire just came out with it already. We also learn about how many of the events from earlier in this series were connected to Eben Took and his Hollow Men. Plus the reveal that the Phantom Stranger leading Superboy around was a fake TOTALLY took me by surprise. I definitely didn't see that one coming. Nor did I expect to see the real Stranger a helpless captive at the end of this issue. There are going to be two issues of this series released in August as Lemire has to wrap up his run before the reboot, and if they're as good as this one, I'll definitely be looking forward to them.

Score: 8 out of 10.But he was using the Phantom Stranger's dialogue box!!!

Red Robin #24 & Batman & Robin #24

I've got two DC comics to get through here, both from the Bat-family of books, and both issue #24 of their respective series... Oooo, creepy!

Red Robin #24:

Summary: This issue gets started with Red Robin sending an electric pulse out of his costume to debilitate the various Scarab Assassins who were gunning for him. Unfortunately, the Scarab Assassin Tim freed from Gotham City to lead him to the other Scarabs manages to sneak away. From there Tim learns that somebody was using the weird assassination tournament that was going on as a ruse to kill Viktor Mikalek. Tim heads to the injured Mikalek's hospital room and Mikalek informs Tim that Promise(who Tim had met in Russia a few issues back) was responsible for the assassination attempt. Tim figures Promise would try to complete her hit and scouts nearby buildings, discovering the perfect vantage point to shoot Mikalek from. Tim crashes through the window and discovers a sniper rifle, but no Promise. A giant angry Russian guy in a mask comes barging through the wall and suddenly attacks Tim, nearly beating him, if not for some assistance from Promise and a gun shooting rubber bullets. Tim begins searching the big Russian guy for clues, and gets attacked by Promise, who now has some sort of strange shadowy powers. After a bit, Tim wakes up and finds himself chained on his knees in front of Promise and a strange cloaked figure. The cloaked figure reveals that she knows Tim's secret identity, before pulling off her all of her clothes and telling Tim that before she killed him, she wanted to have Tim's baby... Wait, really?!

Thoughts: What the hell was this?! I'm almost at a loss for words as to what I just read... THIS is what Fabian Nicieza has been building towards? Some bondage fun with Saint Timmy?? I have no clue who the crazy woman in the cloak is(I'm guessing that Al Ghul from early on in this series?), nor why she wants to have Tim's child... I actually didn't understand most of what was going on here. I will say this much, here's hoping the weird cloaked woman has some sort of... medication to help Saint Timmy do the deed, because I don't think he'd be very interested in copulating with her unless she puts on a Superboy t-shirt... If you know what I'm saying...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.When in doubt, always post the full page pictures.


Batman & Robin #24:

Summary: Not trusting the Zoo Crew after they broke him out of his prison transport last issue, Jason Todd(or the Red Hood if you prefer) decides to attack his animal would-be rescuers and escape from them. Unfortunately, Jason has no real weapons and the animal people have the strength, speed, etc of their animal counterparts. Before the animal feebs manage to get Jason back in control, Batman(Dick Grayson for this issue) and Robin arrive on the scene to take the Zoo Crew down and get Jason back into custody. The leader of the animals(a lion naturally), tells the animals that while they were supposed to take Jason to their leader unharmed, Bats and Robin were a different story, and the animals pull out their real guns and knives. After a bit of a battle, Jason manages to get a hold of one of the guns with the live ammo and takes one of the animal people hostage. Jason is ready to escape with his hostage, but the lion tells him he had a phone call from their leader. Jason takes the call and some weird woman tells Jason to head to her headquarters if he ever wanted to see... UGH!!! Scarlet again. From there, Bats and Robin accompany Jason to one of his safe houses where he grabs his weapons, suits up and prepares to head to the mystery woman's base with Bats and Robin to rescue Scarlet.

Thoughts: Well this is turning out to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me... I mean it's Judd Winick, writing Jason Todd!! I should be LOVING this! I should be glowing, and telling everybody within earshot that this is one of my favorite stories of the year... Instead I'm simply wondering what went wrong here... I hated the Grant Morrison take on the Jason Todd character, and I detest Scarlet. So right off the bat, the fact that Scarlet is now playing a major role in things has me annoyed. On the plus side, most of that awful Red Hood costume from the Morrison issues has been done away with, as Jason is now wearing a combination of his original Red Hood outfit(the helmet and jacket) along with the spandex top and bottom from the Morrison storyline. Was this a bad comic? No, it was alright, but that's kind of my problem here... It was JUST alright. I was expecting amazing, and this was simply okay... And for this comic, with this writer and this character, okay is a major letdown.

Score: 7 out of 10.Hell, I wouldn't let a bunch of animal people take me anywhere either!

Batman and Robin #23. Plus a rant on Jason Todd's hair?!

Well I was originally going to review this comic along with Batman: Gates of Gotham#1 in one of those double review posts I do, but after reading this issue, I felt compelled to rant about something in it... Something very strange, but something that I just COULDN'T overlook anymore... Yes X-Maniacs, I am finally going to rant on Jason Todd's hair color!!!

Batman and Robin #23:

Summary: This issue starts with a VERY red-headed Jason Todd(more on THAT in the Thoughts section...) complaining to Batman(Bruce Wayne) that he didn't deserve to be locked in Arkham since he wasn't that much crazier than Bats. Bats wants Jason to stay in Arkham for his own safety, since the Red Hood was notorious for killing criminals, but since Jason was able to pass all of his psyche evaluations, there's not much Bats can do without arousing too much suspicion. With that, Jason gets his transfer to a normal prison and Bats warns Batman(Dick Grayson) and Robin(Damian Wayne) to keep an eye on Jason while Bruce was out of town on Bat business. Upon arriving in prison, Jason is a marked man since he never revealed his real name to the authorities, so everybody KNEW he was the Red Hood, scourge of the criminal community. Jason deals with the various threats hurled his way by killing several criminals, making it look like suicides or fights with other inmates. Eventually Jason manages to poison the prison's food supply, killing dozens of inmates and making hundreds severely ill. Having had enough, the warden decides to send Jason back to Arkham, against the wishes of Bats(Dick), who fears that this was all a part of Jason's escape plan. Sure enough, Jason's convoy gets attacked, and this issue ends with a bunch of walking, talking animals breaking him out of the prison van... Walking, talking, gun-totting animals?!? Really?!?!?

Thoughts: Well this... Was NOT what I was hoping for... First things first though. And it's been pissing me off for a while now. Jason Todd has naturally BLACK hair!!!!!! Goddammit! Let ME set the record straight here, since it's painfully obvious DC has no idea what the deal with Jason is... Jason Todd's first appearance was in 1982/1983(or there about). In those issues he was a circus performer(ala Dick Grayson) whose parents were also circus performers(ala Dick Grayson). Jason was a spunky acrobat with naturally RED hair, whose parents were killed by a criminal(once again, ala Dick Grayson), in his case Killer Croc. From there, Jason DYED his hair black, dressed as Robin once to help Batman(against the Joker I believe), and then continued fighting crime dressed in his circus acrobat costume until Dick Grayson handed over the Robin mantle to Jason. It was all good until DC rebooted Jason's origin following Crisis on Infinite Earths(for some reason). In the reboot version, Jason was a street urchin with naturally BLACK hair, who Batman discovered trying to boost the tires off of the Batmobile. Liking the kid's moxie, Bats takes him in and decides to make him his new Robin, since Bats had a falling out with Dick Grayson. So there. Jason Todd, POST-Crisis does NOT have red hair!!! Yes, he had red hair PRE-Crisis, but that origin was retconned! It pissed me of to NO end to see Jason in this comic with flowing red hair... It's wrong!!! I mean jeez, how the hell can DC fuck up their OWN origins that blatantly?! *sigh* Okay, I'm glad I got that out of my system. Now I can move on to the comic at hand. First things first, I'm a huge fan of Judd Winick(from his Batman run, to his Green Arrow run, from Green Lantern, to Exiles), I love the man's work. Especially his work on the Jason Todd character, who I've always had an affinity for, even before Winick brought Jason back from the dead. So I was REALLY looking forward to this comic... Unfortunately though, it just never came together for me. Maybe it was the red hair, maybe it was the talking animals, I don't know, but for some reason, this issue didn't draw me into the story like I expected it to. It was still better than most of the Batman titles, but it just didn't provide the greatness I was hoping for...

Score: 7 out of 10.Here's PRE-Crisis Jason Todd. Note the red hair.

Here's Jason's FIRST POST-Crisis meeting with Batman. Note the black hair(sorry for the image quality, I don't own this issue yet, although I will soon!). I guess he was stealing those tires to pay for his black hair dye...

Here's a 90's retelling of Batman's first meeting with Jason. Once again, note the BLACK hair.

And here's Jason today, complete with PRE-Crisis red hair...

Batgirl #20 & Batman and Robin #22

Two more DC books to go, both from the Bat-family of titles. One of them actually scores quite a high score, and you may be surprised to learn which one...

Batgirl #20:

Summary: This issue starts off informing us that Slipstream, the speedster working for those Order of the Scythe guys, was actually a student at Steph's college... Yes, that plays into things later on... Anyway, Steph and Proxy know Slipstream is planning on stealing money from a bank, but they aren't exactly sure when he's going to strike. You see, Slipstream sprayed the money at the bank with a tracking spray, so there's no doubt he's going to make his move, it's just a matter of when. Proxy does learn that the bank was planning on moving a large quantity of money, which would make that the ideal time to try to steal the dough. With nothing to do, Steph heads to class, where she is bothered by a student sitting next to her, staring at a map of Gotham, repeating directions to himself. Eventually the bank loads up the money and begins to move it, at which time the student next to Steph takes off. Right after that, Proxy calls Steph and tells her that the money was on the road, at which time Steph realizes that she had Slipstream sitting right next to her, but let him... well, slip away. Steph cuts the trucks off in a tunnel, figuring that would be the most likely spot for Slipstream to make his move, and sure enough, he shows up, knocking out all of the guards, before setting his sights on Steph. Slipstream takes a run at her, but Steph is prepared, waving her cape at him as a distraction before peppering Slipstream with a bunch of electro-magnetic-gooperangs. The electro-magnetism kills Slipstream's suit, while the gooperangs glue the villain to the ground, leaving him helpless. Steph waits for the police to show up, and is a bit disconcerted with how eager Slipstream seemed to be heading to Blackgate Prison. With that, the Order of the Scythe chumps prepare their next challenge for Batgirl, some woman named Harmony.

Thoughts: Meh. I don't know what it was about this issue, but it just didn't do much for me. I mean technically it was fine, we learned about the villains, Steph set up the electro-magnetic-gooperangs earlier in the issue, the story moved smoothly, and the end saw the villain arrested, with the next threat already being prepped. However, I'm just not all that fond of these Order of the Scythe guys... They just don't really impress me much. Maybe when their secretive leader is revealed I'll change my tune, but for now? I wish they'd just go away.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Gooperangs? Okay...


Batman and Robin #22:

Summary: The White Knight tries to have dozens of family members of Arkham's inmates jump to their deaths at once, but Batman(Dick Grayson for this issue) manages to interrupt the signal White Knight was using to control the people he was forcing to jump. Bats and Robin manage to save most of the jumpers, but some still end up as street pizza. Later on, the Knight enters Arkham itself, blinding or knocking out the police and guards who were there to protect the inmates. The Knight floods all of the cells, and we learn that his father was a guard at Arkham who was killed by Dr. Phosphorous. Phosphorous killed the Knight's dad by burning him in the back, leaving him with what looked to be wings, which is why the Knight had been dressing all of his victims like angels. The Knight enters Phosphorus's cell to kill him personally, but is halted by the timely arrival of Bats and Robin. While Bats deals with the Knight, Robin has to wrangle Zsasz, who escaped his flooded cell when the Dynamic Duo entered the Asylum. The Knight and Bats head up to the roof, and after downing Zsasz, Robin reluctantly drains the cells, saving the inmates... Man do I wish he'd have let them drown! Knight stabs Bats and tries to make a getaway, but Bats hits him with a batarang, right in the harness controlling his wings, causing the harness to violently malfunction, and ending Knight's threat. In the end the White Knight is sent to Arkham to live amongst the filth he hated most. However, the doctors can't seem to figure out how he managed to get his skin to glow, nor could they disconnect him from the harness, leaving him a literal White Angel.

Thoughts: Hey, when not shackled by Chairman Johns, Peter Tomasi can STILL write a good story! I mean, I'd always enjoyed Tomasi's work before Brightest Day, but after that absolute piece of sucktitude, I had figured that he'd lost it and was in the same sinking boat Chairman Johns was aboard. But no, as this three part story has proven, Tomasi, unlike Johns, CAN still write something other then self-indulgent crap. I'll be the first to admit that I was a bit dubious when I read the first part of this storyline, since I thought it was going to be a loose tie-in to Brightest Day, but instead, it was a strong story that introduced a new villain with a great look, a well thought out backstory, and huge potential, unlike Grant Morrison's creation, The Hat... So yeah, all in all, great work here, and I'm hoping we'll see more of the White Knight/White Angel in the near future.

Score: 9 out of 10.Yes, Damian is indeed awesome.