While Grant Morrison’s Batman Era is over the impact that run left on the franchise is still being felt today. Grant Morrison’s work on Batman is so strong that DC Comics has decided to dedicate a spin-off comic that stars Damian Wayne as an older Robin in an alternate universe where he did not die. Damian: Son of Batman is being written and drawn by one of the creators behind Damian Wayne’s creation, Andy Kubert. While I have always enjoyed Kubert’s artwork I am a bit hesitant with how the quality of this mini-series will be impacted with Kubert pulling double duty. Let’s all cross our fingers and see how Damian: Son of Batman #1 turns out.
Creative Team
Writer and Artist: Andy Kubert
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: On Gotham City’s Tricorner Docks, Batman and Robin find a bunch of dead bodies and fish piled up together. Batman tells Robin that it’ll be hard to find clues so they have to make sure to not overlook anything. Robin surmises that the person who did this did it with cold-blooded efficiency in order to send Batman a message. Robin looks through the pile of dead bodies and finds someone that he mistakes as Tim Drake. Batman tells Robin to stay focus on the mission at hand. Batman soon finds a Jokerized fish. Right when Batman takes a closer look at the fish it blows up right in front of Batman, with the shock of the blast knocking Robin out.
After a few minutes, Robin regains consciousness. Robin desperately looks for Batman in the carnage. When Robin does find Batman’s body Robin finds out that Batman is already dead.
Sometime later, Damian Wayne, Barbara Gordon, and a few others attend Batman’s funeral. During the funeral, Damian thinks about how he was so self-involved that it got in the way of informing Batman about the bomb mechanism he heard during the mission on the docks.
A few weeks later Damian takes a boat out to Isle Murjeno, one of the homes of Ra’s Al Ghul. Once Damian gets inside the League of Assassins facility he is left inside a room filled with his clones while he awaits for Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul to arrive. Soon Ra’s and Talia meet Damian with Talia wondering why he hasn’t visited them in a decade. Ra’s tells his daughter to show her son some courtesy before they say “no” to his favor.
Damian tells his mother and grandfather about Batman’s death and that he needs their help. Talia responds by saying that she was saddened by Batman’s death. She then recalls how she and Batman conceived Damian and how while Damian was raised to be the ultimate leader he decided to join Batman’s side. She finishes her speech by saying that they will not help him. Damian figured his mother would say that and that he will avenge Batman’s death without their help. Ra’s then tells his grandson because of Damian’s decisions that they are severing Damian’s ties to the League of Assassins. He continues on to say that now Damian needs to take the opportunity given to him to become the next Batman. Damian leaves telling his grandfather that he is nuts to think that he would become Batman.
Sometime later Damian uses the Batcomputer to research the people that could’ve been responsible for Batman’s death. During his investigation, Damian sees that various villains and gangs have taken responsibility for killing Batman. Damian does not take this lightly and goes out as Robin in order to take out Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc and, Jakanapes which leaves Damian incredibly injured.
Damian soon goes to a church confessional where he talks to a priest that says he has known the Wayne Family for a long time. (Character design makes him look like James Gordon but he is never identified by name.) The priest reprimands Damian for killing criminals because it goes against his Bruce Wayne’s strong code of ethics. After a brief back and forth Damian yells at the priest and tells him that his methods are honest and bring closure because now the scums that constantly escaped during Batman’s time can’t return. Damian walks out of the church frustrated which saddens the priest since he knows what Batman is all about.
The next morning Alfred reads an article that has a feature about Chipmunk being found dead. Alfred believes that Damian did it do to the information in the paper. Alfred then begins to reprimand Damian for going against every principle Bruce taught him. Damian coldly wonders why Alfred is saying this. Alfred says that he knows that Damian blames himself for Batman’s death but that Batman knew the risks that went with the work he was doing. Alfred continues on to say that Batman would not blame Damian for his death but he would blame Damian for predetermining other people’s deaths. Damian storms out of the kitchen while yelling that Batman is gone and that it is his fault.
Damian goes into the Batcave and suits up as Robin with his sights set on finding the Joker and killing him. Before he can leave Damian is stopped by an older Bruce Wayne, who angrily yells at Damian about his actions. End of issue.
Commentary
The Good: One of the great things about an Elseworld series is the sense of freedom that the comics have. They aren’t tied to the events we have seen unfold in the current DC Universe. Instead, these Elseworld series are able to do just about anything with the characters involved in the story. That is exactly what Damian: Son of Batman #1 is able to take advantage of, though it does run into some problems along the way.
While it was not a big surprise that someone other than Bruce Wayne was the Batman that died Andy Kubert did a good job playing with our expectations. From the get-go Kubert shows that Damian’s relationship with Batman is not like the one he had when Bruce was Batman and he was Robin. Instead, this Damian was a much bigger smartass with his comments similar to when he served as Robin during Dick Grayson’s time as Batman. At the same time, there was enough respect shown between Batman and Damian that it could have just been that the reason Damian was acting the way he did was because he is older. Just like Dick, Jason and Tim before him he was probably at the stage where he was ready to “graduate” from his role as Robin before Batman’s death.
Kubert was also smart in never identifying Batman as anything other than “The Batman.” Even when Damian spoke to Ra’s and Talia he only identified the person behind the cowl as “The Batman.” This added an extra level of excitement to reveal of an older Bruce Wayne entering the Batcave at the end of the issue. It also explains some of the dialogue the Barbara Gordon spoke in Batman #666 future when she said that Damian, who was Batman at the time and she was the Commissioner, was responsible for killing a close friend of hers.
I also like the idea that because Damian was mentored by a Batman who was not Bruce that he was able to grow up to naturally embraced his father’s ideals instead of them being forced on him. This adds the always present family drama in Damian life as he is once again a position to choose between the ideals of his father or mother. On one hand, he is driven to avenge Batman by going to that place neither Bruce nor Dick would go and on the other, he still rejects his mother and grandfather’s way of life. This gives more meaning to Bruce still being around because now we get to see Damian have to confront both sides of his parenting face to face.
Kubert also did a great job with the artwork, which did not skip a beat even with him pulling double duty in Damian: Son of Batman. Even though this is a future that will only get darker I liked that Kubert didn’t go completely grim with his art. Instead, the artwork was vibrant, thanks to some excellent coloring by Brad Anderson, and was nicely detailed in order to showcase both the characters and background.
The Bad: Though Kubert does a great job with the set-up of this Elseworld tale there were a few places where he stumbled. These few problems that Kubert runs into have to do with the Morrison Batman continuity that he decides to use for the story. There are some obvious beats such as the Damian clones and how the Dynamic Duo acted similar to how Morrison wrote them in his run on Batman and Robin. This decision to pick and choose what is part of this universes continuity get in the way of certain things Kubert wanted to do because he makes the reader think about what is in continuity for this book. Instead, Kubert should’ve used the full potential of an Elseworld comic and just shape the world in his image for this universe’s Damian Wayne.
This decision to confuse readers with what is continuity and what isn’t affected the impact of the scene between Damian, Talia and Ra’s Al Ghul. The way that the characters spoke, specifically Talia, made it seem that Bruce was the one that died. The fact that Bruce wasn’t Batman makes Talia’s speech where she recaps her history with Bruce reads awkwardly upon another read through because now it seems she was in a relationship with whoever was the Batman that died. Kubert could’ve done a much better job with his word choices during this scene because now it’s even more questionable about what type of continuity he is using for the story.
Overall: For all its faults Damian: Son of Batman #1 successfully brings Damian Wayne back in his own book that isn’t tied to the New 52. This book won’t be for everyone as it is written for Damian Wayne fans, especially those looking to delve deeper into the world introduced in Batman #666. Luckily I am one of those fans and I greatly enjoyed what Kubert presented to us. With the swerve that Bruce was not the Batman that died and Damian battling the conflicting ideals he was raised on I am fully strapped in for whatever comes next.