batman & robin

batman & robin: born to kill
batman & robin: pearl
batman & robin: death of the family
batman & robin: requiem for damian
peter tomasi, patrick gleason, mick gray & jose luis garcia-lopez
graphics/superheroes
dc comics
published 2012-2014

As Batman begins battling evil with his son, Damian, at his side he now realizes that the hardest part of the job may be trying to work together.  As Batman & Robin try to adjust to their new partnership, a figure emerges from Bruce Wayne's past: His name is Nobody and he's not happy that Batman Incorporated is shining a light on his own shadowy war against evil....

My one major dislike about DC comics (at least the Gotham universe ones) is that there is shit going on across every series and they are all intertwined, but separate.  So I'm reading Batman and realize there's some stuff that contributes to the story in an issue of Nightwing.  Or I'm catching up on Batgirl and find out there was some major betrayal that happened back in Birds of Prey issue #10.  I should be reading them every week across the board, but I started with one series and started collecting another and then another.  But if I were to collect them all, well, that's a lot.  Batman, Detective Comics, Batman Incorporated, Batman & Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood & the Outlaws, Catwoman, Batgirl, Batwoman, Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn, Birds of Prey, Teen Titans....those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.  It's a lot.

Anyway, Damian is a hard character to like at first.  He's a spoiled little brat.  Period.  But he's hilarious at times and brings some light to a mostly dark series.  But not a lot.  After all, he is a killing machine at 10 years old.  Yet there is so much missing, stuff that happens in another series that makes reading this straight through feel as if you're missing giant pieces to a puzzle.  In fact, the most defining moment of this series, the reason for nearly 20 issues after doesn't even happen in this series.

Putting that aside, it is a good series.  Seeing Batman struggle with how to raise his child, how to undo the damage that his mother has done is what keeps you reading.  It's certainly worth the read.