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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely Not the Second Coming of All-Star Superman, April 19, 2010
This review is from: Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn (Hardcover)
There appear to be two Grant Morrison's. The first Grant Morrison writes spectacular stories like All-Star Superman and Batman R.I.P and then there's the second Grant Morrison who writes terrible ones such as Final Crisis and JLA: Ultramarine Corps. One Grant Morrison pushes comic writing to the edge while the other pushes it right off into a deep ravine. So where does Batman and Robin fall on the Morrison scale. I would put it somewhere in the middle leaning closer to the quality of R.I.P.
One of the big differences between Batman and Robin and All-Star Superman is that BaR is canonical with the rest of the DCU following sometime after the events of Batman R.I.P. I really like the fact that Dick Grayson has taken over the mantle of Batman and hope that he retains the moniker for a significant run. The relationship between Grayson and Damian Wayne is the main strength of the series. We are reminded throughout that this is the Grayson Batman and although he doesn't operate exactly like Bruce he is a formidable hero with a wealth of experience. Unlike previous Robin's Damian has no problem challenging Grayson's authority and despite his tender age of ten he is the son of Bruce Wayne and was trained by the League of Assassins so he can more than handle himself.
One of the great decisions Morrison made was to give Grayson a new set of villains rather than recycle Bruce Wayne's. I know that Jason Todd/Red Hood fought Wayne but he does seem like the perfect foil for Grayson pitting Robin vs Robin. The other villains include a sinister and twisted circus troupe led by the insane Professor Pyg and a grotesque assassin named the Flamingo. I'm not sure if these will be reoccurring foes but Grayson should definitely get his own rogues gallery.
Frank Quitely once again comes through in spectacular fashion with his awesome bold clean style. In fact I would credit Quitely with at least half of the success of All-Star Superman. My only issue is that I question how appropriate his bright upbeat visuals are along side Morrison's much darker story. The second story arc was drawn by Philip Tan and in this case Tan was not living up to the potential I saw in Green Lantern "Agent Orange". I found his visuals muddy and confusing although some of the blame might fall on the inkers and colorists. It's a shame that Quitely only drew the first three issue story arc although he's been doing all of the covers and so far and they're all fantastic.
Now to the complaints. I read a quote about Professor Pyg describing him as, "One of the weirdest, most insane characters that's ever been in Batman". Mind you that's a quote from Grant Morrison talking about his own creation. Pyg was apparently an homage to the song "Pygmalism" by Nick Currie as will as the play by George Bernard Shaw. In this books summary Morrison wrote, "Batman R.I.P had been inspired by industrial music, the Tibetan Book of the Dead and pop psychology". The reason I bring this up is that sometimes I think Morrison pushes way too hard to create a masterpiece and sometimes forgets to just write a good story. I would be more forgiving of his occasional lack of modesty and literary tie-ins if he was more consistent. Morrison's Final Crisis felt like total self indulgence (despite his insistence of its awesomeness) and other stories have been flat out terrible. JLA: Ultramarine Corps, in particular, read like bad fan fiction. Twice in Batman and Robin we have characters monologging about being an evolutionary upgrade. First Jason Todd blathers about being the future of crime fighting saying, "It's about the NEXT LEVEL. Smarter, faster, hotter, more in tune with changing time and changing crimes". Meanwhile, one of the crime bosses goes on about how "the new model of crime is grass roots, viral". The speech by Jason Todd is completely out of character and feels like he's just mouthing the words of Morrison who seems obsessed with this idea of transcending to a new level. It feels as if Morrison himself wants to reach a new level of comic writing but often presses way too hard. Alan Moore was an incredible student of literature but he almost always kept his stories accessible and his character dialogue believable and consistent. At least in this series Morrison steered clear of his infamous techno babble.
Morrison was understandably proud that Batman and Robin #1 was one of the best selling comics of the decade but I have this feeling that the engine behind the sales bonanza was the fan belief that they were going to get the quality of All-Star Superman this time with Batman. A lot of things work in this series but it never reaches the level of All-Star or even Batman R.I.P. I'll certainly preorder book 2 but with reduced expectations.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Dark Knight...In Yellow and Pink., April 18, 2010
This review is from: Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn (Hardcover)
It was a rough last decade for Batman. He found out he had a son, he had a complete mental breakdown, he went up against the devil (or the devil pretending to be his father, whichever you like), and then he fatally wounded the god of all evil before falling to the Omega Sanction - from which, beginning this summer, he'll begin working his way back from the dead, and the dawn of history.
Bruce Wayne is dead, but the cowl is in the hands of the first Robin, Dick Grayson, and his son Damien takes up the Robin costume. In a reversal of tone from the accustomed duo, this Batman smiles, and is acrobatic while Robin is cynical and consistently brooding. Together, they must continue the Batman and Robin legacy as Gotham faces a new "American Idol" age of crime, where an organization of circus freaks, a mysterious red-spectacled detective, and the return of an old foe all conspire to put Dick and Damien to task. Not to mention the new guy, Flamingo, who as Morrison puts it could be Batman's most psychotic and dangerous foe yet. Five words for you: Batman & Robin versus Prince.
The first story arc with the circus, drawn by the fantastic Frank Quietly, is probably the best arc (and the comeback of onomatopoeias as drawn into the action is a *great* move). The only way to describe it is Adam West meets David Lynch to do a creepy homage to Rex Harrison in "My Fair Lady." After that, the story is interesting but feels slightly weaker, as there's a little character development for one of the villains but not really for Dick or Damien. In the end, this villain has a good ending, but it makes the second arc more about her. The art also gets handed to someone less capable, in my opinion, of keeping up with Morrison's action - and some scenes feel very lazily drawn. It loses a star for that...but frankly, the arrival of the final villain (directly inspired by "Purple Rain" including what, according to Morrison, will be the first and last pink Batman issue cover) was so much fun that it gets a star back.
My only other real complaint is minor: at one point, remarking on someone's costume, Damien calls it "gay." It definitely is a silly looking costume, and realistically a 12-year-old would probably be snarky and call it "gay" but as a queer guy myself, I'm less concerned with being "PC" and more with the fact that Morrison should know better, or could have been a bit more creative than that.
At any rate: despite the weaknesses with the art and latter issues collected, this is all in all the most fun I've had reading Batman & Robin since...well, maybe ever. I can't wait to see where it goes. Also worth recommending: all you really need to know is that Dick was the first Robin (the one whose circus parents were killed) Damien is Bruce Wayne's son, and that Bruce Wayne is dead. That's it. This is completely accessible.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Beginning of an Entirely New Series That Seems Like It Will Definitely Be Worth Reading, July 8, 2010
This review is from: Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn (Hardcover)
The DC Universe has been through a lot over the past few years. Not a single hero or villain has been immune to the effects of reality-altering circumstances, sudden resurrections, and crazy machinations that threaten to rewrite the entirety of their existence. It's pretty heavy stuff. With everything so mired in complex continuity, it's difficult to just leap into any comic, but Grant Morrison's Batman & Robin presents a good starting point.
Here's what you need to know: Bruce Wayne has disappeared in time, because comics like to do that. The original Robin, Dick Grayson, has returned to Gotham to fight crime as Batman, alongside Bruce Wayne's 10-year-old son, Damian, who is essentially half supervillain and very angry about stuff. Both of these heroes are finding their legs in these iconic roles throughout the course of these six collected issues. Everything else should spell itself out without becoming too confusing.
Grant Morrison is one of my favorite writers. He can write incredibly strange, surreal, psychological fiction and just as easily slip back into writing powerful superhero tales about the X-Men or the Justice League. While it sometimes feels that Morrison is writing weird things for weirdness' sake, the historically bizarre bad guys that attack Gotham are a very good fit for his version of creepy, and there's no better artist to make sense of his strange exhortations than Frank Quitely.
Quitely's artwork, which is used for the first half of the collection, might be an acquired taste. It feels soft and squishy, but it's also ultra-detailed and focuses on a stylized realism, textures, and atmospherics. His characters may sometimes appear a little ugly, but it's a very refreshing approach to the undeniably attractive world of comic-book superheroes, and Quitely is amazingly skilled in depicting just about anything with amazing clarity. Philip Tan takes over art duties on the second half of the book, and while his art is good, it leans toward a more typical comic-book approach.
As a Batman fanatic, I was initially unwilling to accept anyone else in the Batman costume, as are many readers who've become cynical about the disposability of superheroes and the negligible effects that death actually has in comic books. Bruce Wayne has been out of the cowl for various reasons over the years, and the entire "Battle for the Cowl" storyline that preceded this didn't seem to simplify anything at all. What the DC Universe needs after a highly complicated narrative event are titles that distill things back into their essences and don't rely on referencing everything that just happened. Having a Batman and Robin, albeit a different set of them, going out and fighting crime and weirdo criminals is a perfect way to do this and make comics accessible again.
Because this is the mainstream DC Comics universe, there is no profanity or outright sexuality, but because this is also Batman written by Grant Morrison, expect a fair amount of grotesquely broken bones, blood, and people getting disfigured or tortured. Batman's been written into a whole lot of pointless, awkward stories, but this is a good Batman book, as well as the beginning of an entirely new series that seems like it will definitely be worth reading.
-- Collin David
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