Robin: Son of Batman #2

[informationgeek]

"The Year of Blood was this period in Damian's life that was this insane run of tests that Ra's and Talia put him through to initiate him into the al Ghul family and to prepare him for his role as the heir to the line. For one intense year, he was charged with specific tests that he had to carry out every day. We've seen that Damian likes to collects trophies. [Laughs] He takes things and holds onto them. And the Year of Blood was something that he held onto, dearly, for some time. And now he sees it as something completely different. Now that his world has flipped and he is a hero, he sees that it might have been dragging him down. It threatens his future and his own legacy. And now he has set out to atone for these sins. And through that, we're going to peel back the layers and see what he got into in the past and how that all affects him now. The actions of his past are still there in the present and there's going to be a reckoning." - Patrick Gleason

Writer & Artist: Patrick Gleason
Inker: Mike Gray
Colorist: John Kalisz



Damian's first stop on his new world tour to make up for the Year of Blood and all the problems he caused is to go to South America. Outside of a little village that is run by the cartels, there is an old temple that the village is built around. Damian and Goliath bring the head of a statue that Damian cut off years ago back (he was originally in the area to steal a valuable sword from the temple) and plop it back on the headless statue.

Naturally like you would expect, the thing comes to life and tries to kill the two and the cartel members that are around the place by turning them all into stone.... cause why not?








While trying to protect the people, the female Nobody's cloaking mechanism breaks and she's forced to attack Damian head on.






Then we get this narration from the villagers watching the fight:

????: I remember him, Oraculo. What did he say on that day years ago? 'I don't care?'

Oraculo: Why does the boy help us now?

????: Perhaps he has found his reason. Perhaps someone has showed him a better path. Perhaps he is running from something... perhaps he is running towards something else.










More later...

Comments

[silicondream]

I feel like much of this dialogue fails the "Did you read this out loud to yourself before writing it down?" test. Just...a lot of grammatical awkwardnesses that really don't seem natural.

[bradygirl_12]

Beautiful colors!

Sadly they're wasted on Damian Wayne. I loathe this character. His contempt for women just grates on my nerves (and I know he was raised that way, but that doesn't make me like it), and the writers seem to have to work hard to make this a character we're supposed to care about. I know a lot of people do, but I just can't. He embodies the worst of not only Talia but Bruce as well (dismissal of people he considers not as smart as him, like the entire JLA, not bothering to be courteous, merely contemptuous, etc.). Frankly, he disgraces the Robin costume.

Ah, well, as I said, the colors are great.

[obsidianwolf]

I agree I mean personally I could deal with Damian's attitude if that was the only problem with him. I mean I wouldn't like him but plenty of asshole characters over the years have been fixed by writers over the years. (See Guy Gardner as an example who while still an ass in most books has grown out of the asshole manchild characterization he had for a while)

However, even if they fix his attitude it still wouldn't fix my other issues with the character. I mean the blatant white washing with him being mini Bruce. I mean yes I know in real life a child can take after one parent but with DC's track record it bugs the crap out of me. Not to mention the whole genetic relations are so special kick that DC keeps going back to which really irritates me.

Of course the biggest reason I will always hate Damian as a character is this is a ten year old child. I can suspend disbelief enough that a teenager in a silly costume can fight adult criminals and come out on top. I cannot pretend a child no matter how much special exotic assassin training he has can do the same.

Tying into that is that this is a child soldier that when Bruce and company got custody of him instead of getting him the help someone who has been that badly abused would need they keep using him as a child soldier just with a different rule book. I can ignore the glaring issues with the Robin character type when it is a teenager fiction does it all the time but when there is a ten year old kid fighting folks like the Joker then something is seriously fucked up in the Wayne family and every character involved comes off looking like a massive abuser and it makes me dislike all involved.

[bradygirl_12]

*nods*

So many problems with this character! I hate that the fact that he's Bruce's biological son is trumpeted as such a big deal. Yes, that is special, but the way it's done pushes aside his adopted sons with a dismissive wave of the hand. Dick and Tim are more Bruce's sons following his philosophy than Damian could ever be (Jason had his own issues).

Damian lost me when he called Alfred 'Pennyworth' in a dismissive tone. And what's worse is that no one in the family told this brat that you speak to Alfred with respect, young man! This is not Namda Parbat. You are not the future king here.

Dick disappoints me. While it's good he has connected with Damian, he lets the kid disrespect Alfred and women in ways I can't abide. Though I suppose he better let Damian call Clark and the other Supers 'alien', as Dear Old Xenophobic Dad has done so many times in the past.

You make good points about him being a child soldier. Somehow I don't find it funny that the other characters sometimes wonder if this ten-year-old will murder them in their sleep.

He just grates on me, and so I prefer to avoid him whenever possible.

[cygnia]

I, uh...want a plush Goliath bat.