Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Batman And Robin Annual #1
DC Comics
Tomasi, Syaf & Cifuentes
Annuals are certainly a tricky business. Sometimes they showcase what the book is all about but in a continuity free story, sometimes they are used to get an extra issues into an arc, while other times they are simply an anthology of different stories about the character. This book is a little different and it pays off great dividends. This is a terrific read.
The story is a simple one: Damian Wayne wants his father out of the house so that he can play Batman for a while. What Damian does is he sends his father on a quest across Europe with Alfred as Bruce traces various landmarks that his parents visited. It's a sweet story as it places Bruce's parents in interesting places doing things that we normally don't get the details on when Thomas and Martha Wayne come up in stories.
While the book has an emotional aspect to the story with Wayne finding out these little tidbits about his parents Tomasi balances it with the antics of Wayne's son running around as Bat-kid. These scenes are fantastic. Tomasi calls on the work of Grant Morrison from Batman #666 as Bat-kid's costume is nearly a carbon copy of the one in that classic issue. Bat-kid's interaction with the criminals, police force and Gordon is tremendous.
The issue only has one drawback and that is the depiction of Alfred and his relationship with Bruce. Their conversations are almost entirely sarcastic and they seem to be too contrary to the family relationship the pair generally displays. This contrast is too striking when done in a story about Bruce discovering information about his parent's past.
The artwork is beautiful. I loved the scenes with Bat-kid as they show a great range of trepidation, confidence, bravado and stupidity. The scenes where Bruce finds the landmarks have a soft touch to them to add some nice emotional depth. Visually, the book is stunning.
This is a near perfect example of a self-enclosed, entertaining and fun comic book. While the "real" Batman doesn't really factor in to the book, the story is a lot of fun and showcases a lot of aspects of the key characters that readers might usually not see. This is a great read and shouldn't be passed up.
4.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
