Batman and Robin #23.3 Review and *SPOILERS*

The Demon's Head comes to a..ah...well Head.

What can one say about Ra's al Ghul?  Well if we take a look at this issue of Batman and Robin, we find that
apparently we can talk about his greatest hits in history.

A messenger is sent by the Secret Society to convince Ra's to join them.  Ra's responds by sicking a bunch of man bats on the messenger's goons, and Ra's throws the messenger a sword.  Let the history lesson sword fight begin.  We're shown Ra's past where he first let a knight of the crusades go back to Rome, to tell the Pope about the demon he confronted.  Ra's then went and learned what he needed to learn, and gathered the people he would need to secure his dream.  He founded the League of Assassins.  We see that Ra's was responsible for the great fire of London, the opium war, introducing cholera to America, and starting World War I.  But the hell with all that, now we see Ra's sword fighting a bare chested Batman (sorry folks Bruce's luxurious hairy chest apparently has been retconned.), the introduction of Talia, Damian, and the Batman Inc story arc.

While the history lesson is fun the best part of this book is when Ra's disarms the messenger during their fight.  The messenger tells Ra's that Batman is dead, and Ra's laughs. "You really think death can stop one such as him?  I have seen the Bat's soul, young pup, and in it I saw my own face staring back at me."  So badass.  So Ra's refuses the offer to join the Secret Society, the messenger tries to kill Ra's but is stopped when he is harpooned to the wall by both arms.

So there ya have it.  Now all you suckers out there not reading the Red Hood and the Outlaws has an excuse to pick up the book.  Oh yeah this issue will tie into the next issues of Red Hood, sorry for the suckers comment.  This book was fun to read, just a little talky, and by talky I mean telling us everything we already new about Ra's.  Immortal bad dude, who fights Batman, and also respects him.  Now Ra's is back which is about time, and we have to wait to find out what he's up to now that the heroes of the world are gone.  I really enjoyed the artwork by Jeremy Haun, and hope that we get him working with James Tynion regularly on Talon, so that that book can be as good as this one was.  Check it out.

7.2/10