|
|
|
Batman and Robin #3
Posted 09 Sep 2009
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Frank Quitely
Letters: Patrick Brosseau
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Publisher: DC
5.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Adam McGovern
|
|
A young man with fresh energy takes on a neglected legacy of
leadership. The problems he faces may already be insurmountable, and
he can’t be sure if even his closest traditional allies have
his back or are preparing to stab it. We haven’t mislabeled the
review for Obama: The Ongoing from IDW or anything, but draw
your own conclusions.
The title and design of Batman and Robin had made me
expect a return to the happy-warrior Caped Crusaders of yore,
especially since the eternally upbeat Dick Grayson was getting
promoted to the left side of the logo. But the good old days
aren’t what they used to be, and in the same way that the
psychedelic sideshow set design of the mid-’60s Batman
TV show was partly an anarchic embrace of the counterculture and
partly a nervous lampoon of social breakdown, this new comic’s
Great Society-era graphics are a flash of tenacious optimism in the
midst of the most modern despair. The awesome/ridiculous gadgets are
there, as well as the loopy acrobatics and no few allusions to the
visual conceits and villainous menagerie from Bob Kane’s
Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse cartoon. But Grayson and his
new sidekick, the cult-raised and thus ya might say at-risk Damian,
have debuted right in the middle of several existential crises.
“We know that Bruce Wayne will be back, but at least in this
book, we have no idea if Dick is going to make it.”
Morrison always plays for the highest stakes, and he’s
devised another terrifying, indiscriminate yet comprehensive menace
for the ordinary people of Gotham and all their social institutions,
at the hands of deranged criminals based on some creepy Weimar
version of Beatrix Potter or Mother Goose. Frank Quitely’s
storybook style is tailor made for this, and it veers right in the
middle of the princely fancy of All-Star Superman and the
grimmer fairytales of We3 here. The Batman strip’s roots
in Depression anxiety and goth bizarreness are traced directly, as is
the exhilaration of later incarnations. Quitely’s choreography
is intricate yet elegant, his flights through skylights and tangled
fight scenes and shattered layouts all welcome refreshers in how
lovely a comic can look and how seemingly effortlessly it can move
along. We feel the fear of Commissioner Gordon, his force and his
city’s people as they don’t know what to make of these
new champions; we watch the wavering allegiance and moral center of
Damian; and we see the strain on Grayson as he fights to embody the
right thing and convince himself and others. This edgy book’s
source of strange charm is our knowledge that, however bad things
get, Dick will stay better than them, and that’s something to
start from.
At three issues, Batman and Robin is the “Batman
Reborn” book I’ve lasted the longest with. Of the ones I
gave up after one issue, Detective/Batwoman, though sublimely
drawn, read like a bad reality dating show (Meltdowns with neglected
girlfriends! Tours of the upscale bat-loft!), and the
smack-talkin’ Gotham City Sirens read like a bad reality
dating show without the dating. I went two rounds with Streets of
Gotham and Red Robin, which had strong and unusual starts
but soon felt straightjacketed by editorial plot imperatives. My
shortest run was technically with Batman itself, whose
slow-moving soap-opera schmaltz lost me before I’d
finished one issue. In general, the other books are already making
the Dick Grayson phase seem less like an era and more like an
interlude. There are few reasons to stay around for the details of
how a foregone conclusion plays out. Not so in Batman and
Robin. It’s the story of a newcomer who’s in over
his head (and yes, up to his ears), who’s feeling his way with
as little certainty as we are but in whose next move we’re very
invested. We know that Bruce Wayne will be back, but at least in this
book, we have no idea if Dick is going to make it. With heroes who
mean well and have our interest at heart, that’s reason to keep
watching carefully and show support. The strange decision not to
suspend Batman while Batman and Robin unfolds suggests
that this is not the “official” batbook. But it is the
essential one.
[Thanks to Steve Price for spotting the cat and
mouse.]
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
|
|
