I really miss Bruce Wayne.
That’s all I kept thinking reading through this month’s issue of BATMAN AND ROBIN, the second in a 13-issue run from writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quietly. These aren’t the themes I like to wallow in when reading a Dark Knight yarn. This isn’t the atmosphere that sucked me into this character 20 years ago.
It feels like having an affair with an in-law -- an unattractive in-law.
But we have to take Morrison’s interim run for what it’s worth, and so far, it has provided at least the seeds of an intriguing character study where Dick Grayson is concerned.
This second issue’s narrative is framed by Grayson’s recounting of a disastrous mission against the macabre circus troupe introduced last month (which for me is recalling, perhaps intentionally, the Red Circus gang of Tim Burton’s BATMAN RETURNS). We learn that the disgusting Toad from issue #1 has been mixing it with Russian people traffickers, trading for “next level mind control drugs.” The showdown isn’t much to Grayson’s Caped Crusader or Damian’s Boy Wonder (though “Blunder” was never more applicable), but as we find out, it may have been a hit-mission of sorts.
In telling the story to Alfred back at the new cave, Grayson further indicates a reluctance to take on the mantle of the Bat. Furthermore, he is haunted by the fact that he isn’t fully accepted in the role, that he is somehow unbelievable to the supporting characters, punctuated, of course, by Damian’s consistent disrespect.
Not to beat a dead horse, but is this character (Damian) ever going to provide a thematic purpose? There is potential lurking between the lines. Using him as a way to break down Grayson’s confidence, perhaps, or even to force even more maturity into Grayson, such as the whispered notion, “Who’s gonna save him if we don’t?” But this is friggin’ Nightwing we’re talking about. Since when does this character need some punk kid to pop up out of the ether and flesh him out like this? It’s not computing.
Though for the Damian-bashers, we do get a (perhaps morbid) sense of satisfaction out of the final frames, but Morrison is clearly going to milk this Pyg character for all he’s worth. We’ll have to wait.
The issue features some really interesting visual ideas from Quietly: the specter of Bruce’s costume behind a silhouetted Grayson, the Hamlet reference in the positioning of the cowl in Alfred’s hands (recalling the skull from the bard’s “To be or not to be” moment), not to mention the colors that really pop in Pyg’s lair. But I’m hoping we get more and more nuance, because it seems the visuals are what continue to intrigue me on this arc, not the writing.
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: "In a blazing Gotham City police department, the new Batman and Robin face the bizarre, fighting freakshow that is the Circus of Strange and find that they don't make as good a team as Batman had hoped! Meanwhile, the mysterious Sasha escapes from Professor Pyg and vows vengeance on the people who killed her father."
