Bat-Reviews: Batman and Robin #5-6
Yikes, I’m behind in my Bat-Reviews! It’s been a long, grueling month over here at casa de WITA, but things will eventually calm down. Like it or not (and hopefully you’re thrilled out of your superhero-loving minds), I’m ready to catch up on two month’s worth of Batman comics.
Batman and Robin #5
Grant Morrison whipped up a fairly solid issue with B&R #4, and thankfully October’s Batman and Robin #5 doesn’t stray from that established quality. There are weak spots here and there, but they do nothing to blemish the overall consistency—unlike the maddening new face of Red Hood’s sidekick, Scarlet, who suffered at the mad scientist hands of Professor Pyg. When Robin (Damian) failed to save her, the effects of the torture caused her to snap and murder her father. Along with the slogan-happy Jason Todd (aka the new and stylish Red Hood), the two are making quite an impression on both Gotham and the new wave of criminal professionals walking into town.
B&R #5 focuses on Sasha’s viewpoint in the crazy new life she finds herself kicking butt in, and it’s hard not to feel that she’s head-deep in a world too tangled for her to understand—or endure. For now she’s scraping by, but the final pages suggest a crucial turning point could be upon her. She might not have the stuff of costumed legend, but she’s not stupid, either. In fact, if Todd didn’t have so much cheap talk stuffed up his Lazarus, he might just learn a thing or two.
In the course of the issue, the anti-heroic duo continue to rake in the infamy, scoring points along the way. Oberton “The Gravedigger” Sexton—the suspicious “best-selling author and amateur detective” introduced recently—manages a quick televised cameo, but the real spotlight goes to Eduardo Flamingo, previously hyped. The cannibalistic gore-lover resembles a cross between Ghost Rider and the Punisher … only with a love of bright colors and tropical birds, apparently.
Morrison does an excellent job building the comic, but the otherwise talented Philip Tan does produce a flop or two in his artwork. Let’s just say there’s a moment where Damian looks like a grumpy old man in a boy’s body. Creepy? Hell yes. Don’t even pull that one again, Tan, you hear me?!
Recommendation: Red Hood and Scarlet, sitting in a tree … K-I-S-S-I-N-G. If Morrison keeps this up, that dysfunctional pair can stick around as long as they’d like.
Batman and Robin #6
There’s no real doubt that the final chapter of “Revenge of the Red Hood” furthers the so-called “new age” of Batman comics, particularly when it comes to the Bat-family. In the previous issue, the identity of the re-imagined Red Hood was confirmed to be Jason Todd, the second and failed Robin who died at the hands of the Joker and lived again with the mystical power of the Lazarus Pit. Now, with the emergence of the dreaded Flamingo villain, tensions flair and blood spills, and secrets are even revealed … and the bulk of it all oddly flirts between quality development and paper-thin plot.
Flamingo may have a flamboyant style, but he’s a murderer of few words. Armed with a whip and soon enough, Jason’s crimson gun, he goes toe-to-toe with the red-themed pair of cheap crime killers. For all of Flamingo’s eccentricity, he’s not a guy you want to run into on a good day—and his unbridled pleasure in violence proves (as predicted beforehand) to be too much for Jason’s partner to handle. Turns out Scarlet is more of a phase than a career goal.
Philip Tan—along with the others artists—redeems himself from last issue’s minor problem spots with a unique half-smudged, half crisp style. But where Tan earns the reader’s applause, Morrison repeats the same old tune on a one-note streak. The slogans, once serving the mere purpose to emphasize the two-dimensional nature of Red Hood and Scarlet’s crusade, now feel uselessly recycled and thrown in just to top off the issue. There’s not much content to Batman and Robin #6, when you think about it. Action spreads upon more action, and the scenes themselves aren’t particularly enthralling.
But through them, somehow Morrison and Tan achieve a mood that—well, to mimic Red Hood and his sidekick—fits the comic. You can virtually smell the reckless desperation that emanates from Jason, taste the despair and panic bubbling inside of Scarlet and spilling over onto the surface, and even the usually aloof and stubborn Damian reveals a startling change in heart, only to get the short end of the punishment stick as a reward. If that wasn’t enough, Grayson is once again reminded of the shadow he no longer physically yet will always bask in. Apart from Jason’s final outcry as he challenges Dick’s authority, more is unsaid in the comic than actually dictated.
The last few pages dutifully assemble the upcoming storyline, “Blackest Knight,” as they bombard the reader with a glimpse at El Penitente and his next attack (is it just me, or does he look familiar?) and an unexpected revelation about the original wearer of the black cape and cowl.
Recommendation: No matter how many times you shoot this comic down, it makes like Jason Todd and keeps coming back. If the punishment fits the crime, then bring it on.
Curious how the Bat-books stack up here on the blog? Look here.
Brian Miller (Smallville), who will be helming the new Batgirl title in the fall, cryptically admitted, “There are waffles in the first issue, and we can eliminate one suspect: It’s not Bet Kane.”
To follow up on Battle for the Cowl, Tony Daniel will be coming on Batman for multiple issues in an effort to create a cohesive universe. “There are substantial, long-lasting changes to Gotham, and we’re not gonna let up on that. That’s our promise to you guys.”
