BATMAN AND ROBIN #12

Review by: akamuu

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

1095
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.4
 
Users who pulled this comic:
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art by ANDY CLARKE and SCOTT HANNA
Cover by FRANK QUITELY
Variant cover by ANDY CLARKE

Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99

Uggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg.

I’m dropping this book.  The reveal is utterly terrible, and Andy Clarke’s art isn’t technically bad, I just don’t like it.

I feel like this is the issue when some people will realize that while Morris’s writing is certainly stylistically different than most people in comics, in the end, he still doesn’t have very many original ideas.

Story: 2 - Average
Art: 2 - Average

Comments

  1. Sending Bruce Wayne back into the past to recreate himself anew in different eras.

    Totally reversing the Batman/Robin dynamic by having an optimistic Batman and a mean-spirited Robin.

    Turning Wayne Manor into a living organism of clues sent by Bruce into the future.

    Having another Deathstroke vs. Dick Grayson fight…except Deathstroke is fighting via remote control using Robin’s body.

    Nope, "Morris" doesn’t have "very many original ideas".

  2. Those aren’t original ideas, those are interesting takes on things that have been done before.

    Sending Bruce Wayne back into the past to recreate himself anew in different eras = Elseworlds

    Totally reversing the Batman/Robin dynamic by having an optimistic Batman and a mean-spirited Robin. = Jason Todd

    Turning Wayne Manor into a living organism of clues sent by Bruce into the future. = a variation on Arkham Asylum (which, to be fair, he wrote)

    Having another Deathstroke vs. Dick Grayson fight…except Deathstroke is fighting via remote control using Robin’s body. = a possession story used more literally

    I know you love his work, but I’d be shocked if you found his last page reveal anything but extremely lame.

  3. Everything is derivative.

  4. @gnanniv: I agree with that sentiment.  I do not mean to trash Morrison for not being original.  His narrative voice is definitely somewhere between rare and unique, but I also have a problem with people continually remarking on how original he is.  He’s not breaking new ground, he’s just using unusual tools to dig around in the dirt.

  5. Well that’s kinda a downer.  I’ve been looking forward to this for so long.  I guess Oberon Sexton wasn’t the Joker after all, huh?

  6. @akamuu I always love it when criticism of your criticism comes before anyone reads the actual comic.

  7. SPOILER

     

    @akamuu: So it doesn’t excite you that Joker’s been the Gravedigger this whole time? Put aside for the moment any opinions regarding originality and just look at it as a Batman fan. Here we have Joker working with Grayson Batman for like 3 or 4 issues, and running around the Wayne estate with Damian. There’s a very good possibility that he knows Bruce Wayne was Batman. This doesn’t rev your engine? At all?

    I don’t mean to prod ya. This just surprises me because normally I enjoy reading your reviews because of the thought you put in to them. And I can’t help but feel like you’re letting some Morrison hate get in the way of enjoying the story. I mean to each his own, but I find it hard to believe that you’re not the slightest bit curious to see what happens next. 

  8. This is the most horrible cover to any comic I have ever seen.

  9. But you can criticize a criticism that criticizes a body of work from a writer without reading the specific comic that is under criticism.

    Glad I dropped this with the last issue.

  10. lol. you crack my shit up bro

  11. I’m here to serve.

  12. ***SPOILER BELOW***

     

    @Wheelhands: I have a friend who is a devout Morrison fan (I’m sure I have several dozen, actually, but I"m thinking of one in particular).  We usually finish Morrison books and have vastly different opinions.  I loved Morrison’s X-Men run, right up until the Magneto/Xorn debacle (which I think this issue is a huge parallel for), my friend hates it.  He loved RIP and Final Crisis, I was not a fan.  So when I saw him last night and he opened the conversation with a wide eyed "Did you read Batman & Robin #12?"  I expected him to go on and on about why he liked it.  Instead, he said "What a festering load of horseshit."  And I thought, ok, so it wasn’t JUST my Morrison bias (which I’m sure is part of it).

    Were this the end of Morrison’s run, and someone else were handling the Joker knowing that Batman was Bruce, I might be curious; but with Morrison writing it, I am 95% sure I’m going to hate it, so rather than endure the frustration, I’ll drop the book.  I will, however, continue to read other peoples’ reviews to see if and when it turns into something I should check out.

    @hailscott: It’s definitely not good at all.  But worse than http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1/18863/1033779-26970new_storyimage0021489_full_super.jpg?

  13. @akamuu: Fair enough. And kudos for sticking to your guns. I’ll envy you if all this ends up being a festering load of horseshit. I’m a Morrison fan, but I won’t follow him blindly. For now I’m still on board.

  14. @wheelhands: I’d rather not be enviable in this way.  I’m not so anti-Morrison that I *want* the book to be bad.  No, I’d love the halcyon days of the first B&R storyarc.  I thought that was some of the best comic booking of ’09.  I just can’t get behind another Xorn/Magneto debacle (though, to be fair, The Gravedigger was never anywhere near as likable as Xorn).

     I am genuinely surprised at how many people LOVE this reveal.  Clearly, Morrison’s doing something right that people are on board for it.  I’ve just been sitting in the lifeboats for so many issues that when we hit this particular iceberg, it seemed like the right time to cut loose and try and paddle myself to safer waters.

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