The future of ‘Batman and Robin’ seems to be in question right about now. With Grant Morrison off the book we seem to be getting a revolving door of talent to do a storyline now. There’s nothing wrong with that on paper, but with the book being so integral in the past you’d think DC would let a creator come in with a bigger game plan then just one story. Putting that aside we have the first issue of Judd Winick’s story on the title. Even though I am not a huge fan of his superhero work I am willing to give this storyline a shot.

Here’s my big problem with this issue: It’s too generic. For a man who is apparently great at writing Jason Todd he sure isn’t showing it here. (That and his Under the Red: Hood movie too) What is different about Todd here that we couldn’t put a random villain in place? Todd has an obvious history with the Bat-family but other then a early flashback we get nothing to really confirm that. All this issue is, is showing how badass Todd is which we already knew when Morrison covered Todd in his second arc on the title. In fact this felt like a generic prison issue you would see in most comics with the bad guy killing his way out of there. I would’ve loved to see more of Bruce talking to Todd actually, because with that complicated past Winick could’ve shown his dramatic chops he’s known for in his non-superhero work. But no, we need to see an endless parade of prisoners getting killed instead of having any emotional investment with the characters.

Another disappointment in this issue is that Guillem March did not to the entire issue. I knew he wasn’t here for the entire arc, but to not even do a full issue? I mean don’t get me wrong, what is here with March and second penciller Andrei Bresson is pretty good. You get some shakey anatomy with March, but the flashback scenes with old-school Batman and Bruce’s conversation with Todd looks great. Although Todd does look like he should be a model for Playgirl then a supervillain. I can see why they brought in Bresson because he kinda has the same style as March. That and Alex Sinclair tries to keep it similar with the colors, but the difference is there. I kinda wished they could’ve just had Bresson do the entire issue if March couldn’t finish.

I gotta admit that I didn’t see the last page coming. This story seemed to go from somewhat normal to golden age craziness. Why the shift in tone is beyond me but it really adds nothing to the issue. This isn’t a bad comic by any means, but it seems like no one tried their hardest here. Winick is telling a generic story with Todd, March couldn’t finish the damn issue, and the only one really trying is Bresson and Sinclair. It’s a shame really, cause I was hoping Winick could finally win me over with his superhero work. Oh well, this arc is only three issues and then we get David Hine. How worse could it get?