Batman and Robin: Year One - #6
Mar. 22nd, 2025 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyIn which truths are revealed and a new dynamic is forged
This series has been excellent, with Mark Waid and Chris Samnee retelling the early days of Batman and the first Robin in a way which seems both classic and fresh.
Robin has been captured by the General, a new mob boss who is using his military experience and tactics to try and take over the underworld. He has no particular ill will towards Robin, even admires his effectiveness in combat, and is not interested in torturing a child for information (a low bar to be fair, but better than many Gotham criminals). He even turns down unmasking him as he knows that whilst Batman might be recognisable under his mask, how many kids are famous enough to be recognisable?
However, he's still a ruthless criminal so is also prepared to set fire to his office block hideout as a distraction, and if Robin burns in it before Batman can rescue him, well, so be it.
Robin congratulating himself when no one is about? Yeah, that feels right! :)
And "Dibny the Contortionist"? Any relation to Ralph I wonder? (Ralph gained his Elonagted Man powers after being fascinated by contortionists for years and deducing that the soft drink they all tended to drink, flavoured with the rare plant gingold root, was the key, and drank a concentrated extract of gingold which gave him his powers. Or he had a metagene which happened to trigger at the same time, you pick whichever version you think is more fun. But I digress...)
Later though back at the Batcave after their eventual escape (which involves Dick jury rigging a tightrope between two office blocks, one of which is burning), Bruce and Dick get into an argument, with Bruce taking Dick to task for being reckless. And then Bruce makes his first mistake, and we see a side of young Dick Grayson we don't often see.
I am not a fan of the oft repeated "Dick was the angry Robin" trope. Yes he could get angry, but normally he didn't, which makes the times he does more impactful.
And it's the fact that Dick is furious because Bruce is disrespecting the work that Dick has put in (and for a much larger proportion of his life than Bruce has) which is interesting to me here. Call him reckless, but DON'T call him undisciplined!
And that Bruce KNOWS that anger is in Dick, and that he shares it too, and controlling it, and channelling it, is something they both have to work on and can work on together, helping each other (Though I think the onus is MUCH more on Bruce, since he's the nominal adult of the paring). Also that Bruce wants Dick to train him in the things he knows that Bruce doesn't. That's a neat idea.
And just because it's a fun image, the variant cover of the upcoming #8, by Evan "Doc" Shaner.
Now THIS is the Dynamic Duo!
This series has been excellent, with Mark Waid and Chris Samnee retelling the early days of Batman and the first Robin in a way which seems both classic and fresh.
Robin has been captured by the General, a new mob boss who is using his military experience and tactics to try and take over the underworld. He has no particular ill will towards Robin, even admires his effectiveness in combat, and is not interested in torturing a child for information (a low bar to be fair, but better than many Gotham criminals). He even turns down unmasking him as he knows that whilst Batman might be recognisable under his mask, how many kids are famous enough to be recognisable?
However, he's still a ruthless criminal so is also prepared to set fire to his office block hideout as a distraction, and if Robin burns in it before Batman can rescue him, well, so be it.
Robin congratulating himself when no one is about? Yeah, that feels right! :)
And "Dibny the Contortionist"? Any relation to Ralph I wonder? (Ralph gained his Elonagted Man powers after being fascinated by contortionists for years and deducing that the soft drink they all tended to drink, flavoured with the rare plant gingold root, was the key, and drank a concentrated extract of gingold which gave him his powers. Or he had a metagene which happened to trigger at the same time, you pick whichever version you think is more fun. But I digress...)
Later though back at the Batcave after their eventual escape (which involves Dick jury rigging a tightrope between two office blocks, one of which is burning), Bruce and Dick get into an argument, with Bruce taking Dick to task for being reckless. And then Bruce makes his first mistake, and we see a side of young Dick Grayson we don't often see.
I am not a fan of the oft repeated "Dick was the angry Robin" trope. Yes he could get angry, but normally he didn't, which makes the times he does more impactful.
And it's the fact that Dick is furious because Bruce is disrespecting the work that Dick has put in (and for a much larger proportion of his life than Bruce has) which is interesting to me here. Call him reckless, but DON'T call him undisciplined!
And that Bruce KNOWS that anger is in Dick, and that he shares it too, and controlling it, and channelling it, is something they both have to work on and can work on together, helping each other (Though I think the onus is MUCH more on Bruce, since he's the nominal adult of the paring). Also that Bruce wants Dick to train him in the things he knows that Bruce doesn't. That's a neat idea.
And just because it's a fun image, the variant cover of the upcoming #8, by Evan "Doc" Shaner.
Now THIS is the Dynamic Duo!
