Batman Incorporated #8 – Death of Robin (Damian Wayne)

Just like everyone else, I rushed out to my local comic book store to pick up the most recent issue of Batman Incorporated #8. This is the issue touted as the death of Robin, better known as Damian Wayne, who is the son of Batmand (Bruce Wayne for those of you in a closet for the past 50 years) and Talia Al Ghul. As expected it was sold out at 11am today which, if you have been in a closet for a while, is new comic book release day. I have no idea how an issue this momentous can be out of stock an hour or so after the store opens. Either too few issues were ordered or too many issues were held back and saved to sell at a higher price later. Either way, I decided to pick up issue #7 to see the lead in to his death.

Actually I picked up issue #1 when it first came out and I was not a fan of the story or the artwork so I bagged, boarded and put it away in a box. After reading #7 I decided to order the digital copy of #8 from Comixoligy on my iPad. I have to say that app is pretty cool and I like the way I can easily zoom in and out of the panels.

So here is the play by play in case you can’t get a copy of it either and want to know what happens. Oh yeah, spoiler alert possibility here. Page one, Robin is flying in this jet powered Robin suit and thru his green tinted goggles he comes up on Gotham and further on he sees Commissioner Gordon and Nightwing battling a bunch of kids who happen to be under some spell, each chanting Leviathan. Next page shows Robin flying through the crowd knocking one of the kids over. As he pulls a fly by he drops some smoke bombs on the crowd thereby helping Gordon and Nightwing. Next page he is flying towards Wayne Enterprises Tower where it just so happens Batman is locked in a safe in a pool on the roof. (Talia and Damian’s cloned and super grown brother locked him in there). Next page Batman is listening to Talia drone on and on about nothing really while he picks the locks of his chains and works he way out of the safe. You really don’t see how it happens. Next page Red Robin shows up and walks in to the lobby of Wayne Towers. Fake receptionist, security guard and guy mopping the floor try to take him out, some woman yells for him to look out.

By the way, I have completely lost interest by now. Next page, battle with those three fakes with a little help from the woman who yelled. Next page he knocks a guy out with a mop and dives out-of-the-way, saving the girl, from an army of assassins on the next floor that are shooting at them with machine guns. Blah blah blah, he swings away to save the day. Next page while swinging away he kicks over a massive quarter that rolls in to the steps leading up to the assassins and they all fall over. Unfortunately the plane that he was swinging from falls over and he is under the plane wreckage. More assassins going in for the kill but they turn and yell “What’s that Noise?” Next page, TA DA, it’s Robin flying through the glass window front of the building shooting his wrist guns at everyone. Somehow the kids that were fighting someone else, miles away, are now in the same area as Red Robin and now new Robin. Robin kicks some kid in the face and…Next Page he is fighting guys in white shirts and pants as well as all these kids. The kids are all wet and somehow the rocket jet suit Robin is wearing shoots out electricity and electrocutes them all. Most likely they are not all dead. Final panel, Nightwing comes flying through the glass as well on a motorcycle. Looks like the gang is all here. Next page, Nightwing and Robin bond while hiding behind the Wayne Enterprises concrete receptionist area. Assassins are shooting away at them and missing with every shot. Oh no one of them has a missile launcher and is aiming right at them. More witty banter back and forth while the boys bond and finally they throw some kind of ball over their head behind them at all the assassins. Next page, big explosion and Nightwing and Robin jump over the barrier to kick everyone’s ass as a woman hiding under the tank watches. Next page, too much smoke all the assassins cannot see what is going on but they aim in to the smoke anyway. Out of the elevator comes the much older clone of Damian holder this small box with two chef looking armed guards. Through the smoke Nightwing and Damian and fighting their way through the crowd. Bad guy clone looks on with a question mark bubble out of his ear. Next page both Nightwing and Damian simultaneously punch bad guy clone in the jaw doing no damage at all. Nightwing tells Damian to get out and run away but bad guy grabs Nightwing by the throat and throws him in to some glass case housing a knight in armor. Damian tells bad guy he is going to kill him. Next page, assassins aim at Damian but bad guy waves them off saying no, basically let him for me. Bad guy clone grabs the sword that is now available from the broken case that Nightwing fell in to which is very timely. Next page the battle begins and Damian jumps up as bad guy swings the sword at him breaking more glass, this time with another suit in it that has a spear. You guessed it, Robin (yes I switch back and forth from Damian to Robin) grabs the spear and they go at each other. By the way Robin is 10 years old and looks like a toddler compared to everyone else. Finally bad guy clone kicks Robin in to yet another glass case (face first)…Next page he is laying there asking Talia (mother) to stop the madness and why can’t we all just get along. The chick that was hiding under the tank shows up holding the, very aptly named, World Bomb Trigger. Bad guy asks for it and says give. Robin now has a crossbow…which he got from the most recent glass case smashed open by his face and aims at bad guy. Final panel he says that he promised his dad (the Batman) that he would never kill anyone again but it seems he is going back on that word now. Final image shows the crossbow arrow going through bad guy clone’s heart. Next page…and this is where is gets a bit weird, believe it or not. There are 20 tiny image boxes that show this battle which is EXTREMELY tough to follow where back and forth Damian hits bad guy and vice versa. In one cool panel bad guy clone pulls a Bane and cracks Damian’s back over his knee but he shouts NO like you are not going to break my back like my dad’s back was broken oh so long ago…nope, nah ah. Meanwhile the assassins on the wall shoot arrows in to both little Robin and bad guy clone, who also seems to be on fire somehow that I missed. Robin shouts out that they are cowards for not fighting hand to hand and bad guy clone grabs Robin with his flaming arm and chokes him. Robin spits blood in to the hole in bad guy’s mask while little girl runs away with the World Bomb Trigger. Bad guy yet again throws Robin in to a wall head first and goes after him with the sword. Bad guy is still on fire and completely unfazed. Next panel?…?Batman is finally crawling out of the pool after getting out of the locked safe…seriously it took him a long time. Some huge bat comes swooping in and knocks him down over the side of the building…that is what you get for battling in the penthouse. Out of no where bad guy clone has Robin up in the air with the sword completely through is gut/chest area…Next page? Batman is cradling Robin all bloody and beaten on the ground as the young girl still hold the World Bomb Trigger (WBT)…smaller panels shows Talia crying for her now dead son.

Ok…seriously what the Hell am I missing? 1. How does bad guy stab through Robin and hold him up in the air? 2. Why is Batman not dead after falling from the top floor of Wayne Towers with this huge bat wrapped around him? 3. Where the Hell is bad guy clone and why would he just leave Robin bloody on the ground and run away? 4. Who the Hell is this chick in red holding the weird World Bomb Trigger and WTF is a World Bomb Trigger? 5. Why didn’t bad guy clone Damian guy go after the WBT after stabbing Robin through the gut/chest area and complete whatever his mission was?

There is a good chance this may be one of the most overrated and very quickly hyped comic I have ever read. I mean…Grant Morrison is really good and I like the way he writes but this story just sucks. I am a fan of the Bat stories, for the most part, but this is just stupid. Wait until my next post on the Death of the Family storyline that I also just finished. By the way, can we please not have another Robin right now, I mean we have Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin and a dead kid named Damian that I was sort of getting used to in reading Batman & Robin. I would love to get some comments and debate this a with anyone because I think this could possibly be a good thing. I think it could make Batman better and go where the fucking Death of the Family storyline failed to go. Like I said, my next rant is going to be on that back alley massage without a happy ending.

I’ll leave you with one final thought. a Death in the Family (circa 1988) is to LOST as Death of Damian (2013) is to Barney and his Friends…Nuff said.

New Teen Titans – DC’s New 52

I really, really like this reboot. Way back in the late 80’s and early 90’s I had a few issues that I picked up and read that I liked, but like all comics back then the artwork was nice, but nothing like this. I probably have written this a few times before, but even if the writing is average at best, as long as the artwork is top notch, I can handle reading for a few issues. When you come across a good title with good writing and excellent art, you get a really nice comic that you can collect for a while. The pairing of Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth, in my opinion, is a home run.

This most recent incarnation includes Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash that I know of and it looks like they are adding new characters Skitter, Solstice, someone named Bunker and I assume Superboy eventually. The detail Booth puts in to each page is just really awesome. From the lines in their faces and bodies you get a sense of feeling, depth and emotion as well as the fun happenings in the backgrounds. When Red Robin was shopping at the mall and in the background there was a sign that read “We’re Hot Buy Stuff” you just have to laugh. Obviously they are making fun of the Hollister’s and the Banana Republic’s of the world which is just classic. There are quite a few titles I will not be collecting past the first few issues, but this is definitely one I have to keep reading.

I often times wonder how long it takes an artist to complete a full page and if they have help, who does what? I think you really have to love your job to be a comic book artist because the amount of detail in some of the pages is crazy. It has to take hours and even days to get through a series of pages and if you are not into it, then you need to force yourself to get into it and that cannot be fun.

 

Check out the detail in these two covers…it continues throughout the book! I also like the sexual tension between Red Robin and Wonder Girl. She seems like a hard ass that has been hurt before and for some reason likes the geeky guys now. When they were at the little cafe and while pointing at her eyes she tells him “Yo. Up here. And before you ask–yes, they’re real”. His shy reaction to her bold comment is classic school boy crush. I am a big fan of character development which means I am really hoping for a lot of back story from everyone. Yes I know they are not new characters, but they are new to me and anyone else getting started with the reboot.

So I have to say the artwork is 5 stars, the cover is 5 stars, the character development right now is a 3 (but I am sure it will get better) the story is a solid 4 and the colors/inking is a 5. I really like this book and want to hear any and all comments. Overall, 4.5 stars. I think I need to come up with some kind of rating scale graphic that is specific to me. Something classic yet funny and DC-esque. Suggestions?