Batman needs a Robin. A classic statement still wrapped up in debate to this day, yet one that good stories argue and advocate for. The Dark Knight Returns, Dark Victory, and – in the context of this book itself – Batman and Robin (as well as Batman Incorporated) by Grant Morrison et al., as well as the next run of the same title by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason.
I’ll reveal my hand to you, Gothamite. Damian Wayne is my favorite Robin by far. The dynamic he creates purely off of being the biological son of Batman who didn’t raise him for the first ten years of his life is so interesting to dig into – the disconnect from how they were raised – the regrets they have, it’s such a rich pool.
It gets even better when we look at where they are now. It’s been a while since Alfred’s death, Bruce is back to being ‘rich’ – the status quo of Batman in the wider DC Universe has circled back to ‘the beginning of Act 2’ to make it easier for new readers to get into, while also inviting a new creative team to play in the world of the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder.
Meet Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Javier Fernández.
If you’ve been keeping up with DC for the past couple of years, you know PKJ as the writer behind Superman: the Warworld Saga. After the end of that saga, he continued his run on Action Comics, where he expanded on the Superman family with a focus on Metropolis. While that stuff didn’t quite work for me, it was clear that he had a solid foundation for storytelling ideas in that setting, and that left me wondering what he could do with a more focused lens.
Javier Fernández is a name that comes as no surprise to active Gothamites, having drawn Nightwing during the Rebirth era, One Bad Day: Two-Face, Detective Comics #1084 as well as that recent Akira homage variant for Absolute Batman. His art on Detective Comics is when I knew he had the potential to be an A+ Batman artist, playing with page composition in a really dynamic way that I absolutely loved.
I’m happy to report they both live up to the expectations set! PKJ brings in his understanding of how a city is integral to a hero, along with how a superhero father/son relationship works, but through a much tighter lens compared to his work on Action Comics – and certainly through a different perspective. Fernández’s page layouts, and the pages themselves, are absolutely beautiful, and coupled with Marcelo Maiolo’s colors, it’s a feast to look at. Steve Wands also crushes it on lettering, and I really appreciated the more muted colors in the text bubbles to reflect whispering. It rocks.
There’s a really good pace here, introducing us and catching us up to Bruce and Damian’s current dynamic, both as crime fighters and without the mask, while also setting up various conflicts and how they’re interconnected. It especially helps as someone who has not read the last few issues of this book, so it’s a fantastic jumping-on point for anyone who wants some Batman and Robin adventures!
Pick up Batman and Robin! PKJ and Fernandez have a really good handle on these characters and the world they inhabit, and I can’t wait to dive deeper into the mystery of ‘Memento Mori’.
