Batman & Robin – The Series So Far
The Dynamic Duo are Back in a New Ongoing Comic Book From DC Comics
Sep 28, 2009
Although the current Batman & Robin series has only just begun, Morrison has been working on the Caped Crusader for some time. He began writing the ongoing Batman series with #655, introducing the superhero’s previously unseen son Damian. The storylines begun there culminated in #683, with a story provocatively entitled ‘Batman R.I.P.’ and spilling into the large-scale ‘Final Crisis’ storyline, also written by Morrison.
As the ‘R.I.P.’ title had always suggested, readers here saw the apparent death of Bruce Wayne, the man who had worn the Batman costume since the 1940s. Following a short ‘Battle For The Cowl’ storyline by other creators, in which various other characters fought over who had the right to succeed Wayne, former Robin Dick Grayson took up the role.
Batman Reborn
It was from this starting point that the new Batman & Robin series began, with Dick Grayson installed as the new Batman and the afore-mentioned Damian Wayne as Robin. Damian’s obnoxious attitude, after a childhood spent with assassins and the supervillain Ra’s Al Ghul, contrasts sharply with the usual perky demeanour expected from Batman’s sidekicks.
Similarly, the ‘new’ Batman is much more upbeat and optimistic than his obsessive and often grim predecessor. It is this new dynamic between the partners which has given the series a fresh feel that is credited with reinvigorating the Batman family of comics. The Batman series also remains ongoing, along with some others, but Batman & Robin is unmistakably the flagship series.
Artistic Collaborators
In addition to a fresh approach, the Batman & Robin series has benefited from some top-grade art, provided first by long-time Morrison cohort Frank Quitely. Their last project together, All-Star Superman, won an Eisner Award, and before that, they produced the acclaimed, innovative comic We3, a heavily armed take on Watership Down. In Batman & Robin, Quitely has been providing the innovative layouts for which he is known, incorporating lettering and panel shapes to tell the story.
However, although Quitely’s work has been well received, he has proven historically unable to meet a regular monthly schedule, so subsequent storylines will be drawn by other artist. Upcoming DC Comics talent Phillip Tan has drawn the second story, the first issue of which has just been released, in a more gritty, claustrophobic style, reflecting the storyline in which Batman is contrasted sharply with a new, brutal Gotham vigilante.
Future artists to work on Batman & Robin include Cameron Stewart, who previously worked with Grant Morrison on Seaguy, and Frazer Irving, fresh from an Azrael mini-series for the Batman line. Speculation remains that Quitely will return to the series for a final storyline.
Rapturous Reception
The reader response to the new series has been overwhelmingly positive. Even though Morrison’s preceding Batman stories were widely seeing as a overly obtuse at times, the new Batman & Robin material has been well received as a return to classic, straight-forward yet stylish adventure stories. Paul O’Brien, of review site If Destroyed, Still True, described it as “what you want from a Batman comic”.
The sales figures for the series have been similarly impressive, charting in the top five comics for each month of its publication so far. It seems that the supposed death of Bruce Wayne has not turned off his audience, who remain hungry to see where the reputed hyper-imaginative mind of Grant Morrison will take them next.
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