Art By: Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: October 15, 2014
Apokolips Or Bust
Last issue of Batman and Robin we saw Batman tell Red Robin, Red Hood and Batgirl his plan to invade Apokolips and get Damian's stolen body back, but that he wanted the three of them to stay behind and protect Gotham in his absence. Since Bruce was finally completely honest with them, they all agreed and went off on their superheroic way. But this trio of heroes weren't the only ones to visit Batman before he took the suicide plunge into Apokolips, it seems that Dick Grayson was waiting in the wings and since he's supposed to be dead waited for everyone to leave to come out and say hello to his former partner. Some touching words went down and finally Batman broke into the Justice League Watchtower and retrieved his "Hellbat" suit and Boom Tubed his way to getting his son's body back. It was a really excellent issue and if you haven't read it yet, you're missing out. So let's get into this story and see how Damian's future will fare and if we might be any closer to getting our Boy Wonder back. Let's check it out.
Explain It!:
Our story begins with Batman looking bad ass as he flies his way through the Boom Tube to Apokolips, but the problem I have here is, Batman activates the suit's cloaking device but then proceeds to save some "Lowlies" that the Parademons were attempting to feed to one of the planet's fire pits. So much for stealth. While I understand that Batman's....... well Batman and that he needed to save people from a horrible death, I don't get why he'd activate the stealth mode just to immediately give himself away so that he could save some folks and then beat Godfrey's location out of a Parademon. Oh well, people are saved and he got the location before punching the Parademon's face in. Batman will later tell Godfrey that he didn't kill anyone, but that Parademon's face looked like all it's insides desperately wanted to be on the outside. Check it out.
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| NOT THE FACE!!!!!!! |
Back on Earth we see that Red Robin, Red Hood and Batgirl have changed their minds about agreeing to Bruce's terms and staying behind because they're back in the Bat Cave and that damn enabler Alfred was all ready for the trio to return and make their trek to Apokolips. Man, does this issue do it's best to pull at your heart strings and really put Damian at the forefront of your mind. When we first enter the Bat Cave we see Alfred feeding Batcow, Alfred the cat and Titus and it truly made me miss my little pumpkin headed boy for the first time in awhile. I was discussing today that I went through the grieving process and I completely accepted Damian's death and for the first time I could say that I was actually okay if Damian wasn't brought back in the end of this story line, but then Tomasi had to go and make me feel feelings again and that's not cool. The son of a bitch actually got me to change my entire opinion on how I want this story to end after just discussing it with Jim earlier in the day. So yeah, I want Damian back just so I can see him be a kid again and play with his animals and interact with his Bat Family and I don't care how cheesy that sounds................ BAH. Alright so our former Robins and Batgirl come back and want to go after Bruce and Damian in Apokolips and since Bruce took his motherbox with him, Alfred suggests that they use Cyborg's and even pulls out Batman's fail safe against the Justice Leaguer to help them with their mission. I know this is a dire situation and all, but that seems a little fucked up to me, especially coming from Alfred, but I guess he's not over his grieving process yet and I'll go with it. The trio trick Cyborg into coming to the Bat Cave to shut down Batman's holographic images that he used to fool the Justice League last issue and when he hooks up to the computer they fit him with a helmet so he can go into the system and BAM! Double cross. Cyborg's out and believes he's reliving one of his glory days from his past and before our heroes activate his motherbox to go after Bruce, Alfred gives them modified armored Robin costumes to help them traverse Apokolips and to help them remember what they're fighting for.
In the end our heroes activate the motherbox but before the Boom Tube closes, Cyborg comes to and follows the trio on their rescue mission. On Apokolips the now foursome realize that things aren't like they are back home, when the first people they come across start talking about eating them and maybe even more urgent is the fact that Kalibak has activated his Chaos Cannon and fires what I hope is just a practice shot at one of the hopefully barren planets orbiting Apokolips. So yeah, shit's getting real.
That's it for this issue of Batman and Robin and why is it that Dick is the only one that listens to Bruce? Is it that he had some important things to take care of and really couldn't afford what could be a one way trip to Darkseid's domain? I'm just wondering because I didn't really expect Red Robin, Red Hood and Batgirl to come back and go on a suicide mission for Bruce since they only just made up last issue. Some bits I didn't get across that you might care about is that Alfred and our heroes got Batwoman and Batwing to take care of Gotham while they're gone, which could be forever and something that I never really realized is that Darkseid is still in a sort of coma since his fight with the Justice League six years ago. I'm not sure if this was ever really talked about before, but it makes sense why he hasn't reared his ugly face in books like Earth 2. So see you next month as we continue our journey into getting our little pumpkin headed boy back. See you then.\
Bits and Pieces:
This book looks amazing and I don't know how it's possible but it seems like Patrick Gleason just keeps giving more and more since Robin Rises has started. I don't know how it's possible, but I truly hopes he keeps it up. As for the story, I thought that last issue was something special by bringing back the entire Bat Family and actually making them feel like the family we want these characters to be, but this almost completely overshadows the feeling of family that I thought was perfect last month. Tomasi has also somehow made me miss Damian again when I thought I was over all my grief in losing the Boy Wonder, lousy feelings. Just a awesome book that's full of feels and brilliant action showing us what the "Hellbat" suit is capable of. Go check this out because it's not something you'll want to miss.
9.3/10
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