Batman and Robin #1

Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art and cover by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray
On sale September 14, 2011 - 32 pages for $2.99
Rated T

My rating: 3.5/5
Will it be in my pull list? Yep.

Previews Text: Battling evil with his son, Damian, at his side, Batman now realizes that the hardest part of the job may be trying to work together!

As Batman and 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...VV

Don't ask me why those Vs are there at the end of the Previews text, because I'm really not sure. They were there in the book so I left them there.

Anyway, I know. I'm breaking my own rating system here. It should be pretty easy to decide if this book is 3 or 4 out of a possible 5, but it really isn't. This issue... I can't tell if it was average or a bit better than average. I think the "better than average" idea is based in the previous series of Batman and Robin and how I hoped it would be as good as that. But hey, at least it wasn't bad. So since I'm split on which way I lean, I just decided to give it a 3.5.

Don't worry, this book is still going in my pull list, but I'm currently unsure about it. I have hopes that it will grow on me more.

I think part of the reason I'm not enjoying it as much as the previous series is that the roles have changed. Yes, Damian is still Robin, but the Batman in this series is Bruce, thus changing the feel of the partnership. Instead of a brotherly relationship it's a parental one, with the son being quite resistant to the change. Now, this isn't a bad thing or anything, I just need to get used to it. And hey, even Damian has noticed that it's more parental now, so at least it's not just me!

It was still an interesting read though. But looking back on it after the fact, there wasn't really much about it that really stood out to me. Other books had standout moments. The final page of Detective Comics. Superman holding a man over a balcony in Action Comics. There were two in Animal Man, one being the final page and another being a particular moment when his eyes were called attention to. I won't say any more than that in case someone comes across this review that hasn't read it yet. And those were all books that I read last week.

But with Batman and Robin there weren't really any big stand out moments like that. There were a couple of small things but I'm not sure they're going to stick with me.

I'm still going to continue to pick up the book though. With as much as I liked the previous incarnation of the series I want to give it more of a shot to grab me.