“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

With Grant Morrison gone from this series and a pretty shaky arc by Paul Cornell, I gotta admit I was a little worried about this new team. I mean the team of Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason worked wonderfully with Green Lantern Corps. But I had no idea if this team could work with a Batman and Robin series, especially with the more ‘surreal’ art style that Gleason has. After reading this issue I do have to ask myself one question:

What on Earth was I worried about?

The moment I read the first page of this, I immedately knew that Tomasi ‘gets this’. He knows how to write these characters and make their interactions mesh perfectly. You see the family enjoy a night together and other times just see Dick and Alfred trade quips. Already I can tell Tomasi has an idea of how closeknit this ‘family’ is and he’s going to play with it a lot. He also has a great voice for Damien and he really reminds me a lot like a rebellious kid here then in most Bat-books now a days. When you actually get into the story with these ‘angels’, you can also see Tomasi has a good handle of the mystery and the dark elements too. When Dick and Damien are suited up and interacting with Gordon or having the big chase at the end there is just some great writing going on and a good pace to it.

Then you have Patrick Gleason and his glorious pencils. I mean I knew he was great at drawing GLC because of the wacky aliens and huge action peices. But before we get any action in this I loved how he expressed the ‘family’ aspect of Tomasi’s script. Dick and Tim getting snacks ready, or Dick and Damien getting ready for an opera was composed really well. I will admit there are some freaky looking faces at times in the beginning but they are few and far between. When the issue goes into full ‘Batman and Robin’ mode it is real easy to tell Gleason was inspired by Frank Quitely. The opening with them tying up a gang really made me thought Quitely was doing it for a second. But once we get into the chase with Man-Bat and also that wonderful two page, two panel spread…..it was just amazing to look at. It’s Gleason at his best with just an epic scale of the chase and having so much detail with the page with the tiny bats all around. Just really amazing stuff in these pages.

It’s only the first issue of this new run and I’m already sold on it. Peter Tomasi, again, just gets it with the whole theme about family and also with the big mystery of the plot. Then you have the absolutely gorgeous pencils by Patrick Gleason and that wonderful two page spread towards the end. I cannot wait to see more of this series and it finally seems like this is going to be in great hands for the future. Never again will I doubt the team that is Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason.