The Best Comic I Read Today Is . . . Batman and Robin #37

This week saw two new Grant Morrison comics come out, along with the main Batman comic and Zero by Ales Kot, all among my favorite monthly releases.  Still, Batman and Robin #37 was the best comic I read today, and for one reason:

Fun.



This is the penultimate chapter in the Robin Rises storyline and the issue that sees Robin return from the dead.  No “Spoiler Alert” needed as writer Peter Tomasi already divulged what would happen when he Tweeted a picture of Damian Wayne a week or so ago.  Couple that with the title of the arc, Robin Rises, and you have a pretty good idea of where the story is going.

What made this issue so enjoyable was the flat-out action.  I mean, Batman takes on Darkseid, and wins – again - in a thirteen page fight scene that is nothing short of epic!  The art of Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray and John Kalisz is as dynamic as I have ever seen it in this New 52 book that I feel deserves much more recognition than it gets.

The reason Batman and Robin flies under the radar is due to its simplicity.  This is a story about a father looking for redemption and finding it.  There is no prolonged exposition in this book, and Tomasi and Gleason manage to boil it all down to a single image at the end of the issue of father and son, Batman and Robin, hugging.

The next panel encapsulates the entire Robin Rises arc into five words when Batgirl leans into Alfred and says:

“. . . omigod . . . he really did it . . .”.

And Tomasi and Gleason really did – they created a comic book about a dead kid coming back to life that was action packed and yes . . .

Fun.



Oh – and Robin has super powers now.

- Aloha -

 

The Best Book I Read Today Is . . . Batman & Robin #35

Since the start of the New 52, Batman & Robin, by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, has been my favorite book in the Bat-Family, and also the most underrated.  I enjoyed seeing Damian Wayne fleshed out as a character, and after Grant Morrison killed him in Batman, Inc., I, like many other fans, found the silent “Requiem” issue of Batman & Robin especially moving.  So with that in mind, I have been really enjoying the Robin Rises storyline currently underway.



Batman & Robin #35 amps the action up significantly in this dimension hopping Batman adventure.  Yes – dimension hopping.  Unlike its sister books, Batman & Robin isn’t afraid to explore the less “grim and gritty” aspects of the Batman mythos as the Caped Crusader ventures to Apokolips!  Now keep in mind, Batman is attempting to recover the corpse of his dead son before it can be used for various nefarious misdeeds, so in a way the whole premise of the arc is pretty “grim” - - BUT LOOK AT THAT COVER! Batman’s wearing a cybernetic amorphous battlesuit called the “Hellbat”! How cool is that?

In this issue the rest of the Bat-family enters the fray, hijacking Cyborg and hacking into his mainframe to manufacture a Boom Tube so they can follow their leader to Apokolips.



Yeah – Batman’s on Apokolips, and kicking all sorts of Hunger Dog tail! So even as the Bat-family, dressed in retrofitted Robin gear, arrives on the scene, Kalibak is planning to revive his father, Darkseid.



Will Batman get to his son in time?

Can the Bat-family make it to their mentor before it’s too late?

Could the final act of this outstanding arc be a showdown between Darkseid and the Dark Knight, finishing what they started in the Final Crisis of pre-New 52 continuity?

Tune in next month – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!!!

- Aloha -