includes: Batman & Robin (2009) # 17-25
the premise: Dick Grayson Batman and Damian Wayne Robin square off against a new villain connected to Bruce Wayne, a killer stalking the relatives of Arkham patients, and The Red Hood.
the lowdown: So they kept publishing this title even after Grant Morrison left, it seems. This title was arguably the flagship Batman book when Morrison was involved, but once he moved on (and with the DC relaunch lurking around the corner), DC elected to slot in arcs by rotating creators. At one point Tomasi & Gleason were to take over as the new regular creative team, but that ended up getting postponed until DCnU began. Instead, this upcoming collection features three three-part arcs, each by a different creative team. All three feature the Dick/ Damian team, although Bruce Wayne makes an appearance in each story as well. There's no common thread or storyline connecting any of them, they're just the continuing adventures of the new Batman & Robin.
Absence, by Paul Cornell & Scott McDaniel, was a last minute fill-in when Tomasi & Gleason got delayed due to working on Brightest Day. It is actually my favorite of the three tales, at least in part due to McDaniel doing the best work I've seen from him in quite awhile. Surprising, really, given that he probably drew the whole story over dinner one evening, but it really looks good. The premise of this one is that an ex-girlfriend of Bruce Wayne's who was apparently murdered has returned - literally with a hole in her head - and is up to all kinds of chicanery in an attempt to get Wayne to notice her. I believe this was the first story where the consequences of Bruce revealing that he funds Batman are explored (though several more such stories are in situ right now). This kind of felt to me like the sort of story Alan Grant would've done back in the day - very "British" somehow. Good stuff.
Dark Knight, White Knight by Peter Tomasi & Patrick Gleason is next up, and it's another pretty enjoyable standalone. Tomasi's writing is, as is often the case, overly sentimental. His Bruce Wayne is a little too on-the-nose about his affection for his family, his Damian Wayne is a little too stereotypically an obnoxious tween. It lacks the subtlety of Morrison's aristocratic twit version. Still, he and Gleason craft a solid story featuring a new villain, albeit one with ties to some old faces. This is the weakest of these three stories, but it's not bad at all.
The Streets Run Red by Judd Winick & Greg Tocchini features Winick's latest tale of RH, and the first set after Morrison's arc from the early days of this series. Guillem March drew the first issue before being replaced so he could go draw the terrible Catwoman relaunch, but Tocchini steps in nicely. Basically the Red Hood gets sprung from prison by some bad dudes who have abducted Scarlet, and he goes to deal with them, with Batman & Robin somewhat reluctantly in tow. This arc is heavy on action and firepower, but Winick once again demonstrates that he "gets" Jason Todd better than any other writer does. He also does a pretty nice job of not just ignoring Morrison's story - often it seems like writers are so flummoxed by Morrison's stuff that they just pretend it doesn't exist. Winick avoids that trap here.
the verdict: To some extent these were destined to be inconsequential fill-ins, sandwiched between Morrison's issues and the relaunch, but all three story arcs turned out pretty well. None are must-reads, but all three are solid tales. With the exception of the Red Hood story, none require much in the way of prior knowledge - just accept that Dick and Damian are Batman & Robin and away you go.
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