Batman and Robin #21

[superfangirl1]

First Barbara have a heart to heart talk with her dad about her guilt with "killing" her brother.




Later she confronts Batman about his cold military crazy approach he have been fighting crime lately and his psychological self-destruction. Also Tim told her about what happen with capturing Frankenstein and ran experimanet on him to bring Damian back from the dead.

Comments

[xamda]

I'M BATMAN! I CAN'T CONTROL THE VOLUME OF MY VOIIIICE!

[cyberghostface]

MY PARENTS SON IS DEAAAAAAD!

[mrstatham]

LOOK AT HOW BIG MY MOUTH IS! YOU COULD FIT YOUR HEAD IN HERE BARBARA!

[rainspirit]

YELLING IS THE ONLY EMOTION I ALLOW MYSELF TO HAVE!

[darkknightjrk]

And that's the rub with it--I get what Tomasi's trying to do, but I do think it gets kind of lost in EVERYONE SHOUTING AT EVERYONE. Which feels real when it comes to people who are overcome with grief, but it doesn't necessarily make for a good story.

[thanekos]

I feel like #22 should open right after this scene, with Bruce popping a throat lozenge.

[shadowpsykie]

hmmm is it weird that i want Catwoman to be the one to bring him out of it?

that said... this was actually a nice chapter. Barbara on the window sill "talking" to Jim. and even her concern for batman (and shades of oracle showing through) what chapter was this? Anger?

[mrstatham]

Bargaining, I think? Jason was Anger, from what I recall.

[mrstatham]

Oh god, her moping and overwrought monologuing is spreading to other titles. It's a pandemic.

I was also hoping for so much more than what this story is giving us, too; It feels like it's here more to give Gleason a break before they start up again after Villains Month, because it's just so old hat and dull; We really don't need about.. What, 120 pages of Bruce bellowing at people he's supposed to love and trust.

[starwolf_oakley]

I wonder if there was a conversation like this in the pre-Flashpoint universe about the death of Jack Drake. "Batman needs Robin more than Jack Drake needs his son" or something melodramatic and self-loathing like that.

[icon_uk]

Bruce was actually pretty sensitive to Tim's sense of loss. Of course, he reacted by having an emotionally distraught, newly orphaned teenager move to Bludhaven (in Nightwing's absence) where his only companion was the "never exactly what you'd call fuzzy or sociable" Cass Cain)

[q99]

Hey, anyone remember that one of the great bits of Morrison's run is it finally *succeeded* in bringing Batman out of the 'completely focused on the mission neglects the rest of the Batfamily' rut after a decade or so of it?

[lego_joker]

Sorry, still too busy grimacing at the bit where Morrison condemned the Joker to the deepest depths of the "omniscient murder-god who's No Laughing Matter anymore" rut after a few brave writers (namely Dini) were beginning to dig him out.

~Bitter~

But yeah, I'd take even Morrison over this. At least his stories (some of them) had a sense of fun and community.

[chrisdv]

Oh look, Barbara's now angling to steal Steph's place as the only female Robin.

At least that's how I'm reading it.

[darkknightjrk]

This whole issue is about bargaining. I think Barbara "suggests" it (and I don't think she was being serious, she was using hyperbole to make a point) to say that Bruce needs to let someone in.

[thosefew]

Oh good, a new Robin suit behind glass to smash in every argument, I guess that means Jason's suit is safe now.

[darkknightjrk]

That IS Jason's suit, we've seen him wear that before in flashbacks in Red Hood & The Outlaws.

[zabilac]

You would think after all that smashing, Bruce would invest in some non-breakable glass.

[shadowpsykie]

but then how will he release his feelz?!?!

[skemono]

Obligatory link.

[chipsnopotatoes]

And here I though Tomasi was supposed to be a good writer. Dreading next month with Catwoman.

[mrstatham]

Tomasi *is* a good writer, and the idea he's trying here isn't necessarily bad, it's the execution. I don't think it helps that - to me - it's blatantly clear he'd still rather be writing Damian, and to have an AngrySelfLoathing!Batman kind of goes against what he'd laid down in his early issues.

[silverzeo]

Huh, the guns wih Babs and Jim remind me of that DCAu comic with Batgirl considering using a gun to stop a kung-fu man, and Bruce describes the gun that shot his parents in great detail... why do people, and the companies who publish those comics, under estimate them?

[joetuss]

I don't understand why people get upset about batman's inability to emote. I like him written this way.

[kurenai_tenka]

Wait, so is that Jason's or Damian's uniform? It seems a bit big for Damian's, but if it isn't wth are we smashing up the case (BATPAIN)?

Also this is totally redundant,but they forgot that the Bat symbol is no longer yellow on one panel of the last page.

[superfangirl1]

It's Jason's old uniform.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Anyone else just find reading the Batman/Batgirl argument kind of exhausting?