Earlier I complained that Green Lantern failed because it literally did nothing to differentiate itself from the previous version. Well….Sometimes I do contradict myself it must be said. Because other then Batman going back to Bruce Wayne in this title, nothing is different about this book. You would think that this would be a bad thing right? But with Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason back together again the same truth is that….I don’t care.

It really feels like these two didn’t miss a step once they left a few months ago. Tomasi, once again, introduces a new villain who is both unique and ultimately terrifying at the same time. We only get a glimpse at who this ‘Nobody’ is but suffice to say that he’s an intriguing villain who dispatches his enemies in disturbing ways. (The final page sequence is something I didn’t see coming) With regards to Bruce and Damien, there is a completely new take on Bruce in this and I’m not sure if people will realize it right away. Bruce is essentially changing his motto from focusing on death to being more update and living for life. It might be a bit controversial for some (especially for major Batman fans) but I like the way Tomasi handles it. By making it the focus of his parents it’ll keep the idea of Batman still strong without making it feel like an arbitrary change. Also, Tomasi does suffer a tad with making Damien go back to square one in his attitude. The changes he made throughout the old Batman & Robin run is practically gone so now he’s back to being uptight and downright nasty again. But since it’s a relaunch the change in attitude makes sense and hey it also makes sense that Damien isn’t all that comfortable running around with his Dad yet. I’m sure over time Damien will be back to what he was before the relaunch and for now he reads perfectly fine.

Then we have Patrick Gleason back on art and boy how I’ve missed him. The opening sequence of the Russian Batman being taken out by ‘Nobody’ was so great to look at. He puts a real effort in the layouts of his panel and his action sequences are some of the best in the industry. I would love to get a poster of that two-page spread of Batman and Robin kicking the bad guys in the face. (Sans lame joke that Damien says) The coloring does look a bit different though at times which threw me off just a tiny bit. It’s not Alex Sinclair so maybe that’s why it looks a bit weird to me. It’s not a deal breaker but it is noticeable. But hey, when you got pages of a sub-sphere swimming through a pool, to someone dying in acid it’s hard to complain.

So yes, I loved this book for the same reason that I hate another nuDCU book earlier. With the combo of Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason though it’s hard to find much faults in the book. Tomasi is putting a subtle new spin on Bruce Wayne and it’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here. Even with Damien going back to square one Tomasi is able to keep it fresh without making it annoying to read. With Gleason art it’s gorgeous to look at from the first page to the last. If this is how Batman and Robin is going to be for the near future then I’m all aboard for this ‘new’ take on the dynamic duo.