Batman and Robin #9 continues the long-term storyline with Man-Bat plot to takeover Gotham City. This time around, Man-Bat has taken his plot to another level as he has created an entire cult around him. To fully embrace being a cult leader Man-Bat is now simply going by The Bat as he has captured Batman. How will Robin handle learning about The Bat capturing his father while continuing his investigation at his corrupted high school? Let’s find out with Batman and Robin #9.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Josua Williamson
Artists: Simone Di Meo and Nikola Čižmešija
Colorists: Rex Lokus and Giovanna Niro
Letterer: Steve Wands
BATMAN AND ROBIN #9 SOLICITATION
“BATMAN OR MAN-BAT?! Who will be Gotham’s true protector? The people of Gotham will decide! While his father fights for his life, Damian now knows Shush’s secrets, and it’s only created more problems for him as a high school student and as Robin! Can the Dynamic Duo find each other before it’s too late?” – DC Comics
REVIEW
Issues like Batman and Robin #9 are examples of how Joshua Williamson has mastered long-form comic book storytelling like few have. We are nine issues into this new Man-Bat/The Bat and there is still enough fresh storytelling to keep your attention to what is going on. There are many points that have manga-style storytelling that make this set itself apart from other Batman titles.
A key to the success of this storyline is how Batman and Robin have been split up. This split accomplishes moving several storylines forward at the same time without disrupting the pacing. At the same time, it builds anticipation for when Bruce and Damian Wayne’s paths merge once again, which happens by the end of Batman and Robin #9.
Opening and closing Batman and Robin #9 with Man-Bat’s continued evolution as the cult leader known as The Bat continues to be well handled. The Bat revealing why he went from being a hero who was even part of the Justice League Dark to his current cult leader status tapped into all of Man-Bat’s continuity. Williamson makes sure to balance out having the reader understand Man-Bat’s turn to the dark side while keeping him in the villain zone.
This in turn does lead The Bat to come across as a convincing, charismatic cult leader who has amassed a strong group around him. That threat level is seen when Damian goes to save his father and The Bat already is executing the next part of his plan. Seeing Batman chained up and getting dragged around the city to end Batman and Robin #9 was an effective ending. It created the hook for what Robin must now do is going to be extremely difficult.
With the darker storytelling revolving around The Bat, having Damian Wayne’s continued high school adventures in the middle helped give us a lighter tone. Williamson is certainly maximizing the school setting to have Damian get out of his shell to be more of a normal kid. Having Flatline join him in his investigation at the school was a great, fun addition. That is best seen when Flatline waste no time to have a massive food fight so she and Damian can get detention.
That detention finally gave Damian the private meeting with Mistress Harsh he has been trying to get. Here we see how quickly Damian, in his own way, can push others buttons so they can no longer hide behind a façade. And Damian knew exactly the buttons to push to get on Mistress Harsh nerves by hitting close to home of her failures as his sensei. It led in well to have Damian show Mistress Harsh how much he has grown as he and Flatline easily defeated the high school students Mistress Harsh trained.
This led into the big reveal of Batman and Robin #9 being the true origin of Shush, the new character introduced in this story. Shush being the other teacher we’ve seen was a good twist on who the identity of Shush was. It balanced out the more predictable origin story that Shush revealed. Shush having close history working with Thomas Elliot was an typical plot for new characters inspired by other villains. While predictable, Williamson at least had Shush not be a pure villain as she at least seems to want to help Batman and Robin.
The artwork for Batman and Robin #9 was more of a mixed bag. Both Simone Di Meo and Nikola Čižmešija are talented artists but their artistic style completely clash. Having Meo draw The Bat segments while Cizmesija handled the high school scenes at least let them each do things that are to their strengths as artists. Though it still makes it more obvious how much more detailed and animated Batman and Robin has been established with Meo as the artist. Cizmesija doesn’t always have that same level of consistency, particularly with characters faces.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Batman and Robin #9 does a great job balancing the dark plot involving Man-Bat’s rise to power with the more light-hearted high school adventures of Damian Wayne. Through it all Joshua Williamson delivers great progress on the multiple storylines going on in the “Cult of Man-Bat” arc.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
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