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Batman and Robin #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Pencils & Inks by Frank Quitely
DC Comics
$2.99
So, after just a few months, Grant Morrison is back at the helm of writing Batman. After the debacle of last year’s “Batman: RIP” storyline and its less-than-stellar reviews, how’s he doing this time around?
Well, it’s definitely just the start. This is Part One of “Batman: Reborn,” but we’re not told how long this particular arc will last. But, for a first issue, we’ve got all the essential elements for a good Batman story: A new Robin, a new Batman, new villains who are working for somebody Batman’s never heard of and must use his detective skills to find, and the new villainous boss is somebody sadistic and twisted.
Frank Quitely’s art is as visually stunning as ever. The storytelling is clear, the details are prevalent, and everything looks like it should. While I haven’t gone through all of Quitely’s back catalog, this may be the best work I’ve seen from him, yet.
But as far as the story goes? It doesn’t really grab me. As somebody who doesn’t read Batman very frequently, I feel like the new Batman is the most obvious choice, the new Robin feels sort of shoehorned in (I’ve known about this character’s existence, but am not familiar enough with him to really care), and there’s a lot of “Well, now that Bruce is gone we can do THIS!” sort of stuff.
Don’t get me wrong, a flying Batmobile is cool, and it’s certainly a vehicle that’s reminiscent of Terry McGinnis’s Batmobile in the Batman: Beyond animated series. But nothing about this new Batman really grips me as being A Very Big Deal.
But, I’ll give Morrison the benefit of the doubt. His run on New X-Men was spectacular and really shook up the status quo of Marvel’s Mutants (which was, unfortunately, then promptly shut down by the events of House of M), and I’m interested to see what he can do with the Dark Knight Detective.
And, hey. At least everything in this comic made sense! That’s got to count for something, right?