Batman and Son?

Tim Drake wasn’t the best Robin, but he was the most unique. Not the fighter Dick Grayson is and not as moody or rebellious as Jason Todd, Drake formed a great tag team with Bruce Wayne, thanks in part to his amazing technical skills and attention to detail.

However, with the arrival of Batman’s apparent son Damian on the scene, Drake ends up out as Robin in one of the best Batman Graphic novels ever produced.

This ultimately could have blown up in DC’s face, but with writer Grant Morrison and artist Adam Kubert at the helm, “Batman and Son” ends up opening many more doors than it closes.

Fans of Drake need not worry either, as his new persona, Red Robin is a pretty cool one and he still manages to pop up from time to time in Gotham. He also has his own series.

As well, the new Robin is more than able to get the job done. Damian isn’t just the byproduct of a crazy night between Bruce Wayne and Talia al-Ghul either. Trained by the League of Shadows, the kid is a master assassin and incredibly intelligent and capable detective. However, it’s these attributes that hurt him the most when dealing with his father. Wanting to teach him ethics, morals and patience before he allows him to fight, the caped crusader is forced to bring his son back down to reality several times in some cleverly written and entertaining scenes.

In spite of this, young Damian has other things in mind. Forcing Tim Drake out of the Batcave, Damian inherits the Robin persona by default, helping forge a new dynamic duo, one that is perhaps more deadly and volatile than ever before. Through Morrison’s excellent writing, we see their relationship develop, adding a sense of unpredictable to the series that it lacked before he took it over. Part of it is charming, as Battie and Alfred are forced to play Dad. The other is quite scary. Make no mistake about it, Damian has been bred to be genetically perfect and in spite of his age, he is a warrior.

And he’s got daddy issues on top of that.

Add in top-shelf art by Adam Kubert, which is easily the best on the series since Jim Lee’s and you have a killer introduction to a great new addition to the Batman universe. While the splash pages and action scenes manage to be dark in tone but vibrant in expression, the best part are the facial expressions. Throughout the tale, you see the frustration on Wayne and Alfred’s face when dealing with the bratty Damian.

Because of this, you have a tale that in spite of its action-packed story has several light-hearted moments that are achieved by a clear synergy between both Morrison and Kubert.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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