In this second issue of B&R, it was nice to see a somewhat more tame version of Damian, although I do like, for some reason, when he’s an over-the-top brat as we saw in issue #1. Quiet moments like when he grabs the screeching bat from the air and breaks its neck and Alfred’s disappointed reaction were fantastic.

Along with that disappointment, the scenes where Damian trains and Alfred tries to get Bruce to be more fatherly towards his son really help to set up the fact that Bruce hasn’t been a part of Damian’s life. Being a father could be a bigger challenge for Batman than even his greatest foe.

It was also great to see that Tomasi introduced Nolan’s Batman Begins villain Ducard into the New 52 with a brief mention. Had he been around before or was he purely a creation for the movie since he turned out to be *spoiler* Ra’s al Ghul in the end?

The art was good, but not Gleason/Gray’s best work. It looked like some panels/pages were rushed while others were the great art I’ve grown to love from the duo. Hopefully, rushed or inconsistent art will not be the norm in the new 52. But I fear with the strict “meet the deadline, meet the deadline” policy DC seems to have going, this will be more and more the norm.