Batman and Robin #14

          I thought my subscriptions had ended for this series, but then this arrived in the mail. I absolutely hated the previous issue, It was one of the worst things I've ever had the misfortune of reading. I hated the plot, the art the writing, I vented to one of my friends about it for an hour straight. I didn't like that Pyg was in it, I didn't like defacing Thomas Wayne, and even suggesting that Joker wants to repent and become a hero was just distasteful.
          In this issue, you find out that "Thomas Wayne" is actually the "Black Glove" (whoever that is) and he tortures Pyg into joining his side, against Batman the Joker kidnaps and beats Robin. Joker puts Robin up for ransom, so that he can have Batman stop Pyg and the Black Glove. Pyg and BG capture commissioner Gordon and are giving him a contagious narcotic when Batman comes in and joker gas' some people.
          I hated the last issue, but I loved this one, and I now understand the last one. Morrison and Irving are doing something really good. They are showing Gotham in as realistic a way as possible. It's villains, and the heroes. This has been tried before, several times. It has never worked out perfectly, Frank Millar's Daredevil did it pretty well, you can argue that Batman the Dark Knight Returns, and Strikes again did it well to, but this is done particularly well. I didn't like his work with Arkham Asylum, it looked like he was trying too hard, but he's doing a much better job with this one.
         He did a great job with the Joker in this issue, especially when he said he liked a Robin that brought his own crowbar. That and Morrison of course made him more realistic. So now that I understand what Morrison is doing with this arc, I like it a lot. This arc is a must buy.




Grade: 9/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com