BATMAN & ROBIN (2023-) #2 Review

Batman & Robin #2 is written by Joshua Williamson and published by DC Comics. Artwork and colours are by Simone Di Meo and letters by Steve Wands. Main cover art (left) is also by Di Meo.

Batman & Robin #2 is available now, in print and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold.

Synopsis

Introducing Shush. Who does she work for? And how have they turned one of Batman’s greatest tools against him? Urban Jungle continues as the father and son dynamic duo are on the deadly case! But first, Damian must deal with…his first day of school?!

Review

The Dynamic Duo are back… again! Time for a dramatic follow-up to last month’s debut of Joshua Williamson’s new Batman & Robin series. With a dramatic cliffhanger to pick up from and several new key elements to introduce, there’s a lot going on with issue #2 but Williams is nothing if not adept at spinning multiple plates. But going in to this issue, with The Gotham War raging elsewhere, I had to question whether another Bat-title could justify its existence.

After blasting through issue #2 I think what’s most important to Williamson, to DC and probably also to readers is the tone. Batman & Robin continues to feel different to all the other Gotham-set books currently on the shelves. With the main Batman title caught up in the aforementioned War and Detective Comics still deep in Ram V’s operatic magnum opus there is plenty of room for a Bat-book which which remembers that comic books can be an action-adventure without sacrificing quality.

With that in mind Batman & Robin #2 picks up seconds after we left off last month. With Batman swarmed by bats and potentially falling to his doom. It’s an amazing visual, one which plays to the strengths of Simone Di Meo. The sequence of Bruce falling, surrounded by bats, actually takes up a few pages at the beginning of the book. Complicated by the revelation that the smoke bomb he was hit with in issue #1 has caused him to suddenly look like dinner to the ravenous swarm. It’s a cool twist which, again, plays in to the visual style of the book perfectly.

The consequence of all this is that Batman needs to lie low for a little while until the compound is out of his system. That allows for Damian to take centre stage for the remainder of the issue. The handover works on multiple levels, firstly it give Damian fans something to sink their teeth in to and shows the narrative really lives up to the book’s title. Second it lightens the mood by introducing a series of events that shake the character to his very core… high school.

There’s a brilliant moment as Damian enters the school. Looking ever in the cool kid which his shades on he takes a moment to speak to himself saying “I’ve faced down literal gods”. It’s a moment which perfectly encapsulates who he is and the dread he would feel at having to pretend to be a normal kid. Of course as Bruce Wayne’s child he’s nothing short of a celebrity and that instantly attracts the kind of attention Damian hates. Before we know it the Boy Wonder has gotten himself in to a fight and decided that’s enough school for him.

There’s a really cool setup and handoff between Williamson’s writing and Di Meo’s artwork. The school sequence is a prime example of this. Williamson writes some great character moments for Damian, from this reticence to enter the classroom to his interactions with fellow students. It leads up in to a sharp fight sequence and then a sweeping image of a suited up Robin are he flies across the rooftops of Gotham. This kind of setup and pay off between the two is enough to keep this series going as it is.

On top of this Williamson is introducing a new villain, Shush. It certainly seems like she is taking visual cues from the legendary Hush. It’s a little more contemporary and yes I do mean styled perfectly for Di Meo to render on the page by that. We don’t know much else about her but Williamson is certainly teeing her up to be a brilliant foil for the Dynamic Duo in this first arc.

Verdict

Batman & Robin has really hit its stride. With an intriguing new villain and some of the best father-son dynamics we’ve seen, Williamson and Di Meo are certainly making a great first impression.

⭐⭐⭐⭐