Art by: Nikola Čižmešija
Colors by: Rex Lokus
Letters by: Steve Wands
Cover art by: Simone Di Meo
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: April 9, 2024
Batman And Robin #8 sends Damian on a chase to stop Flatline's sister while Batman and Shush form an unlikely alliance to stop Man-Bat.
Is Batman And Robin #8 Good?
Is Batman And Robin #8 Good?
Joshua Williamson's take on the father/son duo gives readers rapid-fire twists, turns, and action-packed developments. However, the number of developments is so quick and frequently inconsistent that you may find the issue is more noise and flash than focused substance.
When last we left the Dynamic Duo, Damian leaped into the Gotham night with Flatline to find Flatline's missing sister, Mila. When Damian and Flatline find Mila, they learn she has powers similar to Flatline, and she's using them to engage in criminal activity. Meanwhile, Batman ran afoul of one of the Cult of Man-Bat's acolytes who used a serum to turn into a monster to kill Batman. Unfortunately, the serum didn't work and killed the acolyte. Suddenly, Shush arrived to offer a partnership to stop Man-Bat.
Now, Damian and Flatline attempt to take Mila down, until Flatline double-crosses Damian to protect her sister and then triple-crosses her sister to get her arrested as part of a D.E.O. sting operation. Damian learns an important lesson about letting your heart cloud your judgment.
Elsewhere, Batman agrees to follow Shush into Man-Bat's lair, not realizing they're being followed by Man-Bat's acolytes. They arrive to find the lair is trashed to cover any incriminating evidence. Before they can dig further, Man-Bat and his acolytes emerge from the shadows to jump the temporary partners.
The next day, Damian heads to school to dig further into his principal, who he believes is Shush, but his attempt at being subtle gets upended when Flatline shows up as a new schoolmate.
What's great about Batman And Robin #8? Well, if you want fast-paced action and plot developments that come at you like setting off a string of firecrackers on the Fourth of July, you're in for a treat. Williamson spares nary a breath before he's on to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.
What's not so great about Batman And Robin #8? Rapid-fire plot and action come at the expense of focus and sense. No scene lasts more than a page or two to develop, frequently requiring both Batman and Robin to just go along with what's happening. How did Flatline jump Damian so easily without him noticing? Where did Flatline get the big gun to take out her sister? How did Man-Bat's acolytes sneak up on Batman and Shush so easily? How does Damian expect to remain undercover with Flatline by his side? Why are the world's greatest detectives unable to confirm whether or not the principal is Shush with a school covered in fingerprints and easy access to hair for DNA sampling?
In other words, Williamson tries to cover what should be a series of common sense decisions and easy-to-solve mysteries with a lot of flash and quick cuts, lowering the competence of the Dynamic Duo at every turn.
How's the Art? Nikola Čižmešija's art style is pleasing enough with Manga-inspired facial expressions and energetic action. That said, the more kinetic fight scenes tend to lose some polish, but the overall art presentation is solid.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:
Batman And Robin #8 delivers plenty of energy and plot developments, but the fast-paced issue frequently leaves sense and focus at the door. Williamson shortcuts several scenes to keep the pace up, lowering the Dynamic Duo's competence. At least the art is better than solid.
5.8/10
To put this in perspective, this title was the one I was looking forward to most when it was announced as the Dawn of DC titles. Back then I was also optimistic about the writer since he hadn't done Knight terrors and all the other issues he has done since.So I wanted to look forward to this so much but this series has been a disappointment from start to finish. None of the characters are themselves so what's the point of reading a batman and robin duo when batman and robin aren't batman and robin? For a more in depth explanation of all the ways the characters are out of character from how they address each other to how they approach crime fighting, I will just send you to my comments for the previous issues of this title. They are very long and everything I said there is still a problem here, I just feel like hopefully more people are realising them. Flatline continues to be a overhyped nothing of a character especially when you can do an exact comparison of a newly introduced character who Damien interacts with in the name of Maya Ducard. The detailed character arc and all the effort put into that character truly made it one of the best new characters introduced this decade ( Williamson himself even wrote a better dynamic for Damian and Rose wilson as a big sister type of dynamic in his previous title). Just compare them and see which one is superficial and nonsensical and which one is a genuinely complex character even if you don't personally like them. I won't say more on that subject. ( incidentally if Williamson wanted to bring a character back from his Robin run, he should have definitely brought back Respawn, his brother/clone. He had an actually interesting dynamic with Damian that had emotional weight to it and there was a lot still to be said there that the writer set up well enough and could have been explored more. But now he just feels like another oc character the writer introduced to be forgotten with a cliff hanger). Everything else in this issue is completely nonsensical. The fact that batman just rushes into that hideout is so baffling that I don't feel like I have to explain why it's awful. The new sister character comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere. The fact that batman goes missing during a raid and damian just chalks that up as batman going undercover something and therefore usual for him is nonsense, there is a difference between bruce going on a mission and him just disappearing during a fight. The fact that just days after flatline showing up with robin, she shows up exactly the same with damian wayne at school is ridiculous and wastes an interesting setup of seeing flatline out of her usual crazy (lame) mode. This is just too nonsensical and on top of that uninteresting to engage with and I have gotten tired of this run and feel like I have already explained exactly why it's horrible so I won't bother with more explanation here. Everything the review above said in terms of faults are accurate except the fact that the rating is way too high. Above five means above average when this issue is definitely not above average. Generously I would give it maybe 4 but it's more like 3 or 3.5
ReplyDeleteI still enjoy the story. For all it's flaws, the run is one of the few DC "fun" reads. I agree that Damian is a little off-for all his growth, he should always be Talia AL Ghul's son. The character is most interesting when he has that edge...without the edge, he might just as well be Tim.
ReplyDeleteI still enjoy Flatline. I don't see her as having the same arc as Maya. Maya and Damian's relationship was portrayed as forgiving and friendship, which in many ways can be deeper than a high school crush. I wish Williamson had brought Damian's crew back, but I'd have rather seen a blended team of old an new. I would also have rather seen less ManBat and more teen mystery.
I do feel the art is improving from both artists, though I'd like to see both work on sequence and conveying emotion. I miss complex facial emotion and body language in Damian stories. Those expressions often conveyed the conflict between what Damian says and what he feeling....
Which, now that I think on it, is the real issue I'm having with the run and why for me it sometimes tips into Tim territory. Tim as a character is pretty straight forward, and yes I see the contradiction in the word choice, his words match his actions and portrayed body language. When we'll written and we'll drawn, Damian is a blend of two worlds, a character with dual nature's that is revealed not only by what he says, or even does in service of the mission/practicality. As a character he's twisty, with even more contradictions than the original (Batman). He's the Batman without Thomas and Martha want to give him a solid foundation. He should have rough edges.
I didn't compare Maya and Flatline for their similarities in arc but rather their quality and the care taken into writing them. What I meant is Maya is a relatively newer character that had been established way better where Flatline is very surface level. People mostly like the idea of her rather than who she really is because there isn't much to her that makes sense, and Williamson rarely pays off what he has setup with the gravity it deserves so anything remotelyinterestingabout her is going to be brushed aside in favor of another setup(again Respawn or even his batman run is a perfect example). Other than that you are spot on with your Tim comparison and especially the detail you mentioned with facial expressions and the conflict Damian has. I said it in in of my previous comments that almost everything in this title is surface level and isn't unique to damian and that's because everyone is out of character here, I would have tolerated this better if the worst case of them all wasn't bruce. Having fun is subjective and so I understand if other readers have fun reading this title. It's relatively harmless compared to some other awful titles in this era but since nothing works in this run when you think about it or go back and reread it, I don't have anything here to have fun with. It's just frustrating. Regardless I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
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