Comic Books

Is It Good? Batman and Robin #35 Review

October 15, 2014

Last issue left off on heck of a cliffhanger so let’s see where the latest installment of the “Robin Rises” storyline takes us now. Is it good?

Batman and Robin #35 (DC Comics)

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Batman has arrived on Apokolips and is on the hunt for Godfrey, the man/thing that stole Damian’s body and the gem. Back on Earth, the Bat Family has decided to go against Batman’s orders and wants to go to Apokolips to rescue Damian. However, how exactly are they going to get there? Opening a Boom Tube isn’t exactly easy without the right equipment for the job.

Batman always has such cool/downright frightening toys.

There are a couple of different story focuses going on here in this issue: Batman, the Bat-Family, and Kalibak (Darkseid’s son) and I honestly found them all very engaging. Kalibak had the least amount of pages dedicated to him (about three at most) and ironically they were charged with humanity and gave glimpses into his motivations and desires. Sure, he’s still a completely awful person, but has more depth than someone like Godfrey, for instance.

Batman got the second most pages in the book (surprising considering he is one of the title characters), but in comparison, there wasn’t as much emotion or humanity to his portion than Kalibak’s or the Bat-Family’s story. Well, that’s not exactly fair to say — how he’s feeling and why he’s doing what he’s doing is definitely covered, but his portion doesn’t have the subtlety of the others… but makes up for by being the most exciting part of the book.

The story that gets the most focus here is the Bat-Family: Red Robin, Batgirl, and Red Hood deciding to join Batman on Apokolips and finding a way to get there with Alfred and a certain someone else’s help. Their interactions with each other are great, really human, and touching. The only thing that’s rather sketchy about their portion of the issue is what they do to get to their destination and how blindly unaware the person they got help from was. Considering who the person was, you think they would have known better or suspected something. Oh well, the stories in the issue and how they are all coming together were very well done in their own ways and do a good job at keeping us invested in what happens next.

Also making an important cameo appearance is Bat Cow. And the fans go wild!

Peter J. Tomasi’s writing is good overall. The characterization is fine, but a bit suspect given how characters behaved in other comics. The dialogue is very nice and is charged with plenty of heart and emotion. The pacing is nice, though the story flow is sketchy at points since it felt like there were some abrupt scene changes. The ending is pretty epic and intense, making you wonder how exactly our heroes are going to deal with this new danger. Overall, another solid and enjoyable issue from the run. Hopefully the rest of Robin Rises stays this good.

The artwork by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray is always something a bit iffy on when it comes to this book. Again, it’s mostly in the character department with their faces, musculature, and how characters bend and move. Here, it’s not too bad and actually looks decent, along with the rest of the book. I especially like the use of inking and coloring to depict Apokolips and the intense action there as well. It really makes for an enjoyable, visual experience this time in comparison to the previous two issues we had.

Well this is certainly something that I’m looking at.

Is It Good?

Batman and Robin #35 was another stellar, exciting issue to read in the Robin Rises arc. It was exciting, energetic, heartfelt and thrilling. With a solid story, good writing, and fitting artwork I can see this story leading to an epic and heartwarming/heartbreaking conclusion that you won’t want to miss. However, that’s speculation, so let’s just remain hyped for now.