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BATMAN AND ROBIN #19

Batman and Robin have found The Absence, but a deathtrap awaits them. How do you prove a negative? How do you escape nothing? When there’s nothing at the center of a life, madness can stick its claws in!

Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Scott McDaniel and Rob Hunter
Cover by Patrick Gleason
Variant cover by Gene Ha

Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.1%

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Comments

  1. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:04 pm

    That’s clearly not their logo. As 18 previous issues of the covers have shown. Still, that’s a nice tease with Gleason’s take on the duo.

  2. Avatar photo JesTr says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    Looks like they changed the logo, reminds me of the Supes/Batman symbol.

  3. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    @TheNextChampion  DC is showcasing the character logos, not the book logos. The book logos are on the books every other month. Those are indeed the character logos.

  4. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    @conor: I get that but….you’ve had 18 issues with A logo. I would assume that would be their logo.

  5. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    @TheNextChampion  Again, that’s the BOOK’s logo, not the CHARACTERS’ logos.

  6. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    @conor: Okay don’t get so defensive about it.

  7. Avatar photo leigh says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    thats also not really this Robin’s logo though

  8. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:31 pm

    @TheNextChampion  I’m not at all. I’m emphasizing words.

    @leigh  Yes, it is. They haven’t made a new one for Damian.

  9. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    I personally was hoping for Absence to be on the cover so her logo would be a bloody sack.

  10. Avatar photo tschafer says:
    January 10, 2011 at 3:36 pm

    @TheNextChampion HA!

  11. Avatar photo PraxJarvin says:
    January 10, 2011 at 4:02 pm

    Like this cover a lot.

    @Conor actually, Damian’s logo is a stylized R (instead of the swoop on the top of the R, it’s on the return of the R) inside of a closed yellow circle. As seen on the cover above and on B&R #1. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Damian_Wayne_as_Robin.jpg

  12. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    January 10, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    @PraxJarvin  That’s not a logo (which is a real thing in the real world and is trademarkable) that is a symbol on a costume.

  13. Avatar photo PraxJarvin says:
    January 10, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    @conor Oh, whoops, I misread your original comment. Thought you meant they didn’t make a new symbol for his uniform. You’re right, they have just been using Tim Drake-Wayne’s Robin Logo (Just shy of 2 decades old now I think.) Seeing as how they’re using Quitely’s redesigned R symbol so consistently across books, I’m a bit surprised they haven’t changed it over yet.

  14. Avatar photo Slockhart says:
    January 10, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    After all the debate this cover has caused, I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when we start discussing the logos they picked for books like Zatanna (a top hop) or The Spirit (his name)

  15. Avatar photo misterckent says:
    January 10, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    I’m still having fun with this one.  It’s a great story and that villain is over the top.  What’s not to like?

  16. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    January 10, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    Is it me or do the capes on the cover seem, like really big and flowy, more flowy than usual

  17. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 10, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    @RoiVampire: That’s pure Gleason baby.

  18. Avatar photo MegaPhilip says:
    January 10, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    Regardless, I dig the cover. Looking forward to the climax of the Absence story (or not) and ready for some Tomasi B&R!

  19. Avatar photo robbydzwonar says:
    January 10, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    This story wasn’t as bad as I thought it was gonna end up being like, but I’m still very glad this is the end of it!!

  20. Avatar photo AmirCat says:
    January 10, 2011 at 7:51 pm

    I think the Logos are a ploy by DC to divert attention from the fact this arc is not nearly as good as the previous ones. Conspiracy!!!

  21. Avatar photo AmirCat says:
    January 10, 2011 at 7:52 pm

    @TNC – They’re pitting us against eachother so that we argue about Logos! Can’t you see that!!!

  22. Avatar photo rottenjorge says:
    January 10, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    2 more days until everyone reads this It’s nice to know this story will wrap up

  23. Avatar photo Andrew says:
    January 10, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    I really like the covers DC is doing this month. Curiously, I am not picking up as many DC books this week as I usually do.

  24. MisterJ says:
    January 10, 2011 at 9:52 pm

    Getting dangerously near the chopping block…

  25. Avatar photo neums says:
    January 11, 2011 at 12:47 am

    @djd  I think that’s what Gleason was going for, most likely. That’s the feeling I got when I saw this cover, too.

  26. Avatar photo ctrosejr says:
    January 11, 2011 at 10:13 am

    Damian really needs to trim those long laces.  He’s going to snag them on a fence or a loose screw somewhere while jumping from rooftop to rooftop.  Safety first, gentlemen.  

  27. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    January 11, 2011 at 12:16 pm

    @ctrosejr  I just hope he double knots those suckers. Don’t wanna trip over your own costume while you’re chasing the riddler down an alley. You’ll get a question mark cane upside your head as your picking yourself up off the pavement.

  28. Avatar photo ResurrectionFlan says:
    January 11, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    I still don’t really get what the idea behind these covers is really. They should do a month where all the DC covers look like Smiths / Belle & Sebastian record sleeves.

  29. froggulper says:
    January 11, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    @AmirCat: I agree! lol

  30. Avatar photo WinTheWonderboy says:
    January 11, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    @ResurrectionFlan  I’d be down with that!!! I’d love to see an all indie record cover tribute on all the DC covers one month! My vote for the Superman/Batman cover that month would be Suede’s debut album. 🙂

  31. Onlyjosh says:
    January 11, 2011 at 5:55 pm

    I’d like to take a moment to be thankful for the debate over whether a book is good or not, or why. It puts things in perspective when held up against debates such as the current Heavy Ink Comic row where its president advocates murder as an acceptable tool against democracy. Give me DC v. Marvel all day, Indie v. Big 2; just respect Paul Cornell’s wishes and buy his material from someone other than Heavy Ink.

  32. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 12, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    Thank god this crap is over with. Bad issue all around and I’m pissed Cornell took back the bloody sack so quickly. Again, that should be her logo. Bring on Gleason and Tomasi!

    2/5 

  33. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    January 12, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    @TheNextChampion  It was supposed to be a one-off gag. Prolonged exposure would’ve ruined the joke.

  34. Avatar photo ScorpionMasada says:
    January 12, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    So I haven’t read a Paul Cornell book in quite a long time. I like his writing.

    But I got a feeling today that I haven’t felt since the last time I read one of his books.

    His dialogue confuses me unlike any other writer.

    I don’t think it is the grammar. It is something strange that gets me hung up on character interactions in dialogue . . .

    I have to reread speech bubbles two to three times and still I’m a bit confused and just move on.

    It probably happened three to four times in this issue.

    What the fuck is up with that?

    I don’t think he gets how people speak with each other quite as well as most writers . . .

    I enjoyed this issue anyway 3/5. 

  35. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 12, 2011 at 11:21 pm

    @comicbookchris: Was it a joke? Yes

    But was it also the perfect example to show just how bat-shit crazy this lady was? Yes.

    Having her commit to actually kill Bruce’s old girlfriends and have a bloody SACK of their body parts was just a sight to see. Maybe it still shows how crazy she is because she took the time to make the sack and giant scissors (someone was playing Clock Tower). But still….it was one of the only good things about this entire arc and I just didn’t like it that Cornell cop out to it that it was all fake.

  36. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    January 12, 2011 at 11:53 pm

    It wasn’t a cop out. Cornell knows about comedic timing, and knows that if you overly discect or overexpose a funny scene, it loses all of its value. Family Guy is a prime example of something exercising both of these mess ups.

  37. Avatar photo WadeWilson says:
    January 13, 2011 at 4:09 am

    I thought this whole story was pretty weak. Cornell seemed more interested in trying to be clever than telling a good story.
    About 80 times on each page there was a lame attempt at clever word-play about “nothing” or “what’s missing” by Absense. *rolls eyes*

  38. Avatar photo WadeWilson says:
    January 13, 2011 at 4:13 am

    My last post had the absence of correct spelling.

  39. Avatar photo zombox says:
    January 13, 2011 at 8:09 am

    Personally, I enjoyed the brief arc as a fun diversion. He had two issues to tell a story, I was told a decent story and I am happy enough with that. I could wish for better art, but it wasn’t horrible. I could wish for the story to have had a little more play to explore nuance, but it was given 2 issues. It was adequately entertaining.

  40. Avatar photo ScorpionMasada says:
    January 13, 2011 at 12:57 pm

    Batman & Robin “lost” in this arc, correct?

    That is kind of refreshing.

  41. Avatar photo ResurrectionFlan says:
    January 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    CARDBOARD!

  42. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    January 13, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    One thing that bugs me about the plot is:

    If her goal was to kill the robbers who ruined her life, why did she have to go through all of these diversions? I’m pretty sure the jails at Gotham have lack of security to begin with and why didn’t she just kill them while Dick and Damien were pre-occupied at the Church in the first issue? 

  43. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    January 14, 2011 at 11:05 am

    @TheNextChampion  Because she also wanted to get Bruce’s attention. She wanted Bruce to show up which is why she drug it out like this.

  44. Avatar photo stuclach says:
    January 14, 2011 at 5:11 pm

    This one didn’t work all that well for me.

  45. Avatar photo PraxJarvin says:
    January 14, 2011 at 11:02 pm

    I think this arc would have benefitted from not being rushed to bridge a gap between Morrison and Tomasi. I appreciated all the ideas and concepts Cornell was playing with, but they seemed to be handled badly in story form. And Batman lost! That’s great.  3/5

  46. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    January 15, 2011 at 2:18 am

    I liked this just fine…wasn’t anything too heavy plotwise, but had some clever moments from Cornell. I hope that he comes back to writting Batman, but is a little more prepared next time.

  47. Avatar photo glwarm76 says:
    January 16, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    Bring on tomasi. This arc really fell flat. It was boring and irrelevant. 

  48. Avatar photo magnum240 says:
    January 17, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    The only bit I didn’t like was Dick and Damian fighting a Bruce inspired villain. The early issues were a build up to the return of Bruce, and now a Bruce villain. I’m really ready for these two to have independent adventures.

  49. Avatar photo jlddlj11 says:
    January 22, 2011 at 10:55 am

    Really impressive issue concerning the villainess.  What magnum240 says makes sense but the fact she somewhat played that Bruce bit as a distraction was well done.  I agree in hoping to see the team face more villains without the connection to Bruce but it’s hard to separate out the rogues gallery when so many all started with Bruce.  Nevertheless, good story and now to see what Peter J. Tomasi brings to the title (hopefully some of that Nightwing goodness before that title got canned).

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