BATMAN AND ROBIN #6

Review by: TheNextChampion

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Size: pages
Price: 2.99

This is more like it!

After a very disappointing last issue, Grant Morrison comes back to finish off an arc not so exciting as the first. It’s amazing how my thoughts about this arc before and after have flipped. It’s a weird world when Philip Tan has excelled in the art for this entire arc while Morrison should a boring side to him. The final issue involving Red Hood, Scarlett, and Flamingo was an entertaining, yet flawed issue.

I’m a bit confused on how this issue started. Last time I check, Batman and Robin were not inside Red Hood’s HQ and definitely not tied up near a webcam. But here the two are, naked mind you, while Todd and Scarlett fight off Flamingo. At first I was thinking to myself, “Oh here we go, starts of confusing and it’ll be two straight disappointing issues by Morrison”. But as the issue went on, I started to enjoy myself with reading this. Flamingo, even with a silly outfit and name, is a fucking beast and you shouldn’t mess with him. I liked it that I didn’t know where this fight was gonna go. Was Morrson going to change status quo again? (By the way I love that metajoke where Todd says he’ll come back) By the time the fight ended, Morrison showed why he’s a great writer. Todd’s speech to the police was profound and then there was that sad ending for Scarlett. At least I think it was a sad ending, either way it was very moving.

Once again Phillip Tan is showing why he was the best choice for this particular arc. Why would you want another artist to do this dark and violent story? Quitely is more of a whimsical artist, and I don’t see Irving or Stewart making the tone fit for this arc. Philip Tan knows how to draw very violent fights and just show the ugly side of Batman’s family. Sure the panel layout isn’t as exciting as what we saw with Quitely; but he makes it up with some great drawings. The design for Flamingo is pretty damn insane, but Tan makes sure your going to remember this character for a long time. Towards the end, once Todd is arrested, I was really loving what were on the panels. The models looked great and the coloring also changed a bit; making Batman and Todd stand out more. Philip Tan started this arc off strong and he ended it strong, you can’t ask more then that.

The ending of this issue excites but confuses me as well. Why is Dick also using the ‘Zur-En-Arrh’ saying in the Batcave? Is he slowly succumbing to insanity like Bruce? Also….who is in that Batsuit!? This might’ve been one of the less memorible Morrison stories; but he ends it in the most exciting way possible. It might sound insane to put this but: I wish Philip Tan could continue with this series. I would love to see where this comic can go with him as artist.

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 4 - Very Good

Comments

  1. "I’m a bit confused on how this issue started. Last time I check, Batman and Robin were not inside Red Hood’s HQ and definitely not tied up near a webcam."

    Nah, I thought the same thing at first, but go back to the end of issue 5. There’s a gap of lost time between the getaway at the bottom of the third-to-last page and the top of the second-to-last page. Jason says "…There, that’s done". It wasn’t clear at the time, but if you go back now and look at it, what he just finished doing was tying Dick and Damian up, evidently.

    "But here the two are, naked mind you"

    Whoawhoawhoa! They have shorts on! Look at the bottom of the first page! NOT naked! The giddy Gothamites might have thought they were going to see Batman and Robin naked, but even Jason isn’t that bad.

  2. @flapjaxx: Your right there was a bit of a time lapse in the last issue. I dont know if that is Morrison’s fault or Tan’s for not making it clearer. But I thought they were naked! Maybe I was focusing on what that old couple we’re saying. lol

  3. I’m not sure if it’s anyone’s fault, except maybe the readers’. We should/could have asked ourselves what Jason was referring to when he said he had just "done" something. And we should/could have asked ourselves where Dick and Damian went all of a sudden. Those were clues to the fact that time had passed. Either way, in the larger scheme of things, it only meant waiting another couple pages–to the first page of the next issue–to discover what had really happened.

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