To say that below my following review will be full of
spoilers is pretty redundant at this point seeing as we got the new from the
New York post about the big moment in it. We will get to that a little bit
later as there is a good amount of story that happened as well.
Batman Inc. has seemed like a slow beast getting to this
point of the Leviathan Story line but we are soon getting to the end and here
is one of the, if not the darkest chapter in it. Do not be fooled by the title
of the series, this is a straight Damian story from start to finish. While the
rest of the Batman Inc group is struggling to fight their way to get to Batman,
currently trapped, it is Robin who comes flying in to suddenly even the odds,
taking the fight straight to the tower. And while this is going on, it shows
how far Damian Wayne has gone as a character in the books. He might have first
shown up and pushed the idea he was ‘the proper’ person to become Batman and
take control of his legacy, here it is more about wanting to save his father
and call off his mother in her actions.
The best scene in the whole Book is when Nightwing and Robin
get to work together again even for the briefest of moments. They lay down the
feelings on how much they meant to one another. It is a wonderful written scene
harking back to the period of time Nightwing was Batman. Times almost forgotten
now save for Morrison who wrote it. It also has this wonder action quality to
it all with them sitting and talking this out while hail of gunfire is upon
them, before moving out with smoke bombs and classic 60’s style fight sound
affects right out of Adam West show. But, with the knowledge we knew going into
this, it was bitter sweet as we knew what would be coming very soon.
Everything this issue had leaded up to was Damian fighting
against his much larger self, The Heretic. And it is a brutal one at that. It
was more than really just a drawn out fight, this move was enough of a
distraction for the group to grab what Heretic was holding and stop Talia if
only for a brief moment. And Damian went down swinging and insulting his mother’s
followers. And hopefully in this last effort try and convince her to stop this
brutal fighting between this and his father, though that may have cost him his
life in doing so.
The art work put forth by Chris Burnham in these last few
pages is what sells this as not just some would be comic stunt, but a genuine
moment in the history of Batman. Yet another tragedy in an already tragedy filled
world of Bruce Wayne. And while the cynics of the world may have this off as
another Robin dying, we soon forget this was a blood relative of Bruce, and the
last time he lost one of these was when his parents died on that night in Crime
Alley.
While the artwork though out by Burnham was all around
wonderful, there is a credit to Jason Master who did a few pages as well. And
while there is a moment where he tries to use the same style, it is slightly noticeable
in the two change overs. It isn’t bad art work in any shape, but if you are
flipping through it would be little jarring.
The whole series and death is very sad, Damian when
introduced was an unlikeable character at first, but the more he was used and
groomed under Alfred, Dick, and then later Bruce he was a fresh voice to the
Batman Family, he was accepted as well by the fans slowly. So for him to be ‘gone’
is a sad one even it was planned for a while. Will he stay; well I don’t want
to be one of the few who says it will only be a matter of time before his
return happens. But, never can really say in the world of comics anymore.
Though if this is the finale story of this Robin, then it would be a fitting
one.
-TT-
OVERALL 8.5 out of 10
Bryan "BAC" Clendening
Twitter: BAClend
