Review: Damian: Son of Batman #4

by Joey Garces
0 comment

 

And with that we close the book on the Damian miniseries by Andy Kubert. From this series we were gifted with phenomenal artwork by Kubert and a lot of questions. A true example of a roller coaster of a series Issue #4 was more or less as entertaining and confusing as the previous three installments. With this issue we had to come to grips with a new Joker, deal with forced emotions following a major Bat family death and watch Damian develop his new relationship with…a cat. Let us pray.

Positives

As has been the case with the series as a whole the artwork stands above as the best thing of this series. For what Kubert lacks in writing he makes up for with precise and fantastic artwork. Exempt from the weird facial expressions and anatomically incorrect body parts that were flashed in the first issue, Issue #4 produces awesome fight sequences and perfectly coordinated colors and ink that makes everything much easier to look at.

smal panel of damina

panel of damian

For all the issues the series had with dialogue and storytelling, #4 made a noble attempt to convey actually emotions that we could all recognize as not forced. This issue did a better job of letting us sympathize with Damian and feel for him. For example in the panel below I actually felt the guilt and struggle Damian was going through as he tries to balance his promise to not kill and the instincts he has as a natural born killer.

damian beat up

 

Negatives

So many questions. So many left unanswered. As far as closure goes, there pretty much was none. Throughout the series we’ve accumulated so many questions and banked on them all to be answered with this last issue. But it didn’t even seem like an effort was made to help us out a little bit. Let’s get the obvious out of the way, we are no closer to understanding the significance of Dick Grayson’s death nor finding out who his killer is at all.

Mentioned throughout the series as a key focal point in Damian and Bruce’s relationship we have no idea who killed Dick which is beyond frustrating. Was Jim Gordon indeed the priest Damian confessed to for the series, and is Alfred now reduced to being Damian’s pet cat for all of eternity?
The other negative being prevalent throughout the series is the amount of inorganic dialogue. This issue does a better job yes, but it still is rich with old movie line cliches that Damian throws around every couple sentences.

Verdict

3/5: rating3outof5

I held off on giving this issue a 2 because there was an opportunity presented to us with a sequel series following this issue. The return of the real Joker offers  new life and the investigation of Dick Grayson could proved entertaining at least.

But there must be a different writer who can convey and evoke real emotions that doesn’t feel forced. Andy Kubert does a commendable job this whole series as an artist and I think I speak for everyone who says he definitely can draw with the best of them and should continue to do so for any Batman series. But his writing left us severely wanting more. With a different writer the sequel series has the potential to be very fun though.

You may also like