Batman And Robin since it’s inception under Grant M
orrison has been a large roller coaster of ups and downs. Picked up and continued post reboot by Peter Tomasi and mostly helmed by the art team of penciler Patrick Gleason, inker Mick Gray, and colors by John Kalisz, the second volume, having Bruce and Damian now working together as a team, made for an overall thrilling ride.
POSITIVES
Totally consistent, the Batman And Robin title was about Bruce Wayne and his son, Damian both with and without. And it has been a treat to read.
One of Morrison’s critiques about Batman and why he killed Damian was that DC will (much like the loop Barbara Gordon has returned to) will never let Bruce grow and let others take the mantle. It will always cycle back to Bruce. Having kids, happiness can’t happen because that because that ages Bruce. Damian was a sign of him aging. Bruce has to stay the grizzled 35-42 year old forever as per rule of comics (and I will not contest that). While I do agree a bit, Damian’s popularity and his relatively (a year and half?) short comic book death and “Super-Robin” revival however show that Morrison is…somewhat wrong. Damian is here to stay it seems and Bruce is well on his way towards learning the pitfalls of pituitary glands all over again.
This team has overall have never failed to disappoint (what did happen to Carrie Kelley? I guess I missed something) and their send-off to Batman & Robin before Gleason himself embarks on its sequel Robin: Son of Batman is equally professional. There is no better way to send this heartfelt (no really, it’s a heartfelt book) comic off than Damian fighting alongside the Justice League (however fake it was) and then alongside his Dad.
 This issue is pretty simple; Justice League takes out a robot (a staged one) in an attempt to drain Damian’s chaos shard powers. Basically tiring out a puppy. It works. No more, for what we can see, powers.
Damian acts 
like a 11-12ish year old throughout and his pompous stoicism when dealing with Shazam was funny. Poor Billy he just wants a friend. Damian then finishes the professional portrait of Bruce and his sons, returning himself back into the painting.
Batman and Robin are a seventy-five year old concept. Making Robin his son has added an extra dimension and I’m excited to see what happens next.
This final issue was jammed packed with allusions. It even features a cameo of Bat-Cow and Alfred the cat, two of Damian’s three current pets along with his dog Titus. This really couldn’t get more endearing. And that’s been the heart of this series, that Bruce Wayne is a compassionate father who is absolutely mad about Damian. The love there is really beautiful and I welcome more masculine wish-fulfillment power fantasy juggernauts like Batman acting that tender and loving.
NEGATIVES
None. Wonderful art. Heartfelt fun writing. What more could you want?
VERDICT
A great wonderful end with gentle dry humor (Bruce is hilarious people forget how funny this guy is) to a pretty much a great series. Sad to see Batman And Robin go. But having a Robin solo after a period of no Robin solo since the early 90s, well, it’s about time.
