Batman And Robin #18 features something that I haven't seen in the history of me reading comic books and that is that the entire book has no words being said from anyone. Instead you just see Bruce walking around Wayne Manor going from room Damian's room and looking at his drawings, to the family room and sees Alfred crying while looking at an unfinished family portrait of Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Tim, and an incomplete Damian where you only see that the painter got to do Damian's face and shoulders and that was it. Then Bruce comes into the room, sees the painting, covers it up and puts it away so no one can see it ever again. Then Bruce enters the Batcave by sliding down the poles and he envisions Damian sliding down with him and as he gets to the bottom, he notices that there's blood running down his pole but he pays it no mind and continues to suit up for night patrol.
As he's swinging through Gotham he envisions Damian swinging with him but he turns to his right and he only sees his reflection in the glass of the buildings. Fast forward a little bit and Batman has rounded up almost most of all the criminals and leaves them on top of the police station for Gordon, Bullock and the other officers to clean up. Then he goes back to the Batcave, washes up and as he's putting the Batsuit away he sees a note hanging on Damian's Locker, and this is where I teared up while reading it. It was the note that Damian left Bruce as Damian rushed into battle to face Leviathan which led to Damian's death and in the note, Damian tells Bruce that "Mother may have given me life, but you taught me how to live. Love and Respect, Your Son Damian". Upon reading this Batman goes berserk and he starts smashing lockers, punching lockers, throwing shit around, Titus the dog is hiding in a corner cause he's scared as shit, costumes are flying everywhere. Then the last panel/picture you see is Bruce on the floor of the Batcave, crying and clutching Damian's Robin outfit while the shoes, gloves, Robin Shurikens and even the Robin R symbol is on the floor around him. Thus ending the issue and you would think that this would be it and that the next issue would be him swinging through Gotham with one of the former Robins by his side fighting crime, but you would be sorely wrong because the next issue was CRAZY.
Now in issue 19, it started the Batman And ? arc that featured Batman and a member of the Bat-family and the first one was the third Robin, Tim Drake AKA Red Robin. This issue also features the introduction of Carrie Kelley, the girl who donned the Robin title during Frank Miller's 1986 Batman Classic The Dark Knight Returns. In the New 52 universe, Carrie Kelley is a college freshman who is hired by Bruce to be a theatre tutor for Damian and in this issue we see that it's been a few weeks since his death and no one has told Carrie. Next you see Bruce knocking on someone's door and the door opens up and it's Carrie Kelley in the Robin costume that she wore during The Dark Knight Returns. Bruce hands her something and goes to leave and as he gets into the car, Carrie screams out to him about where Damian is and Alfred drives off per order of Bruce. Fast forward to Batman capturing Frakenstein from S.H.A.D.E. organization, taking him to Castle Frankenstein up North and there Batman tells Frakenstein that Batman will use certain parts of Frankenstein to resurrect Damian.
Now let's pause for a minute because I know I miss certain people that are in my life and I would love to see them walk this Earth again, but I would NEVER do some Operation, create a Frankenstein like creature of that person to bring them back. Plus, didn't it cross Batman's mind that he can sneak into Ra's Al Ghul's temple and go to the Lazarus Pit and revive Damian there? Apparently that didn't cross his mind but I digress, as Batman proceeds to dissect and disassemble Frankenstein, Tim Drake comes through a window and then him and Bruce go at it as Tim tries to stop Bruce from doing this and tries to talk sense into him while Bruce is ignoring Tim and pushes Tim back and tries to keep going. Then finally Tim causes an explosion and destroys the machines that Bruce had planned to use to resurrect Damian, Bruce gives Tim a mean look and then disappears. Then the ending scene of the issue is Carrie and her roommate talking about Damian and how he stopped coming by and how she might need a new student and then the last panel you see is a check written to Carrie from Bruce Wayne for 10 G's and that ends issue 19.
In issue 20, Bruce is in the Batcave and running surveillance via the computer to see what is going in Ethiopia when Alfred radios in and says that Bruce has a visitor in Miss Carrie Kelley that wants to see him. Bruce tells her that Damian hasn't been around because he's going to be learning and studying abroad for several years and that the 10,000 dollars was for the lessons and for the future lessons that he will miss but Carrie tells him that he sent Damian away because Damian was cramping Bruce's Bachelor lifestyle and says that she only took 1,000 from the 10,000 because she can't be paid for future lessons that hasn't happened. After this altercation, Jason Todd is getting ready to leave when Batman tells him that he needs Jason help on a mission in Ethiopia and when Jason asks "why me?', Bruce says that it's because he's seeing red.
So in Ethiopia it turns out that the guys that Batman were spying on were actually guys who tried to get paid half a billion dollars from Talia if they killed off Damian, so now Batman wants them to pay for their crimes. After blinding and dazing them with a few Flash Bang Missiles, Batman and Red Hood jump out of a car that was launched out of the Batwing and they exit out guns blazing and ready to disarm guys. Batman grabs a snipers wrists and uses new tech to damage the shooters nerves beyond repair and then after all of the shooters have been taken care of, Batman take Red Hood on a little detour. After about an hour or two of driving in the desert, they arrive to their destination and where they're at is the Magdala Valley, the place where Jason Todd originally died.
Bruce's plan was to bring Jason here to the place where he died and how he was brought back to life so that Batman could apply it to bringing Damian back to life. The fact that Jason is back here to where he died just made Jason mad and him and Bruce proceed to fight and argue and the two of them are scrapping in the middle of the desert and then Jason starts wailing on Bruce's face then takes the car and leaves Batman alone. After that scene, the next scene we see is of a person in a room and then they flip a coin, it bounces across the floor and then it lands on heads and he says "No" thus bringing an end to issue 20. So now we know that Two-Face is going to be in the New 52 but we don't know how and when but he's here.
In issue 21, Batgirl is trying to find the strength to talk to Batman about everything including Damian, The Joker and the broken trust between Bruce and the rest of the gang. Also, Batgirl is in uniform but the yellow bat symbol on her chest has been ripped off and we don't know whether it was her doing or it was ripped off while in battle. During a fight in the docks, Batman notices the symbol is missing on Batgirl's outfit and tells her "I guess it's official then, Good Bye" and then leaves the docks. Later that night, Barbara is on the ledge on the outside of her father's office and is having this father/daughter moment with Jim where you don't know if he hears her or not but Babs is going on and pouring out her heart to her father and then pulls out the grappling gun and leaves. A day or two later, a hostage situation goes down and Batman says that the thugs should let the hostages go and they should have Batman as their hostage.
After the thugs agree, Batman proceeds to beat the living bat guano out of them and while all of this is going on, Batgirl is recording this via her optical recording mechanism from her cowl. Then when Bullock tries to calm Batman down, Batman turns around, cold clocks Bullock and then throws a smoke pellet down and tell Bullock to never touch him again and then Batman leaves. The next scene we see is Batgirl and Batman in the Batcave and Batgirl tries to talk some sense into Bruce and then shows him the footage of the beat down that happened and he destroyed the screen and then she continued to try to talk to Bruce but he ultimately kicked her out of the Batcave that left him standing there by himself thus ending issue 21.
In issue 22, we see the continuation of Carrie Kelley dealing with Bruce and company but this time she has been hired by Alfred to keep and eye on Titus three times a week. She is still asking to hear from Damian and is persistent about it so much to the point that she has made a deal with Bruce that she will give him Damian's student interview and a movie that she made about Titus in exchange to hear from Damian because Damian was like the little brother that she never had. After Carrie leaves, Bruce takes the flash drive that contains Damian's interview, splices it and creates a voice mail message and sends it to Carrie's voicemail.
Meanwhile in another part of Gotham, Catwoman is out doing what she does best when she's not participating in JLA missions and that's being a cat burglar(duh!) when she gets a call from Colonel Trevor about a mission that requires her particular.... talents. Later that night, she shines the Cat symbol to get Batman's attention and then when he gets to her, she tells him about a mission to rescue a spy that's being tortured and when she told Batman that she was in the JLA, he didn't believe her and when she asked him about his Justice League partners? He tells her that they're not partners but associates and then they go towards the Chinese Embassy, beat down guards and then they reach the target but only to see that it's actually a rescue mission for a little girl. After beating down the armored guards, there's a man cowardly behind the little girl and threatens to shoot her but Batman tells her to think again and then he lets her go.
After that Batman and Catwoman proceed to take the little girl back to her parents and for the first since the events that led to Damian's death, Batman is smiling along with Catwoman and the little girl. Soon after that, Catwoman goes back to her penthouse where Batman has left her a gift of a brand new helmet and she looks verrrrrrrrrrry amused by this. After that we go to Carrie's house where she listens to the voicemail that she believes is from Damian but in reality it's the created voicemail that Bruce made for Carrie and in the message, Damian tells Carrie that due to the time differences that they should stay in touch via e-mail. The next scene that we see is Two-Face, in a restaurant, flipping the coin as everyone in the restaurant and then when the coin shows the clean side, he says "No" again and then he leaves the restaurant without hurting anyone, thus ending this issue.
OKAY!!!!!!! I know this post is long and I apologize but I believe that this is better than multiple posts plus, it helps to just knock this post out in one shot anyway.
Okay guys here it is. The final issue of the Batman and ? arc and of course Peter Tomasi and company saved the best for last(No disrespect to the others, but Nightwing's the shit) this issue was the original Dynamic Duo, Bruce and Dick side by side once again in this issue that was entitled Second Chance and one would think that with that title that Bruce finally found a way to save Damian and all is right with the world right? Well sit back relax and let me tell you about it because this issue is definitely one that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat and biting your fingernails like in the cartoons. The issue opens up with Batman in a box with his hands and ankles cuffed while having Talia talk to him from outside of the box.
As Batman is in this box, water is filling up and he is trying to escape from it just like Houdini. Now when I first saw this i was WHAT THE HAM AND EGGS IS GOING ON? And then you see that it's a simulation that Bruce Wayne has made in a way to see what would happen if he had made it to save Damian on that dreadful day. Time and time again he has failed the simulation and while this is going on, Dick Grayson and Alfred are sitting at the monitors and watching him do this. After a while, Dick Grayson grabs a pair of simulation goggles and then the action begins because as soon as Damian is facing his clone and calls for Bruce, Bruce and Dick come crashing into the window ready to join in on the fight against this fake that was wrecking havoc on the Batman Incorporated building.
Throughout the fight, all three heroes are giving everything they got to defeat this Damian clone but he is too powerful for them. Then just as the clone is about to deliver the finishing blow to Damian, the picture is to a beaten down Batman and you see the sound effect of "SHUNK!!!" and then you look and Nightwing has stabbed and killed the Damian clone. Then next thing you see is Damian saying that now that the clone was taken care of, now they can go get Talia and then as Damian continues to talk he starts to fade away as the simulation starts to come to a close. Then the next thing you see is Bruce and Dick in the Batcave talking and Dick tells Bruce to not let Damian's death swallow him into despair but use it as a strength just like how he used the death of his parents to become Batman.
Bruce and Dick walk away from the Simulation and go to another room and Alfred is left alone with the simulation and he goes to it, puts on the goggles and says begin simulation. The next scene you see is Alfred and Damian in the Batcave looking at the carnage that was going down in that issue of Batman Incorporated and we see Damian suit and get ready to go out. Alfred walks up to Damian and taps Damian on his neck and then next thing you know, you see Damian begins to get dizzy, he says,"fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." and falls out because Alfred used a tranquilizing pin that looked like it could've been one of Jokers' pin. I thought it was a nice little one up on Damian because earlier in the Batman and Robin New 52 run, Alfred tried to stealthily put a tracker on Damian's bike as he was heading out one night but Damian found it. Then after Damian passed out, Alfred carries him into his bed and places him there all while telling Damian that along with Bruce, Alfred is mighty proud of him and they only want what's best for him.
While this is going on, Bruce is back in the Batcave, sees Alfred in the simulation and then Alfred wakes up and he starts to cry and Bruce apologizes because he was too selfish to see that Alfred was hurting just as well. Bruce was also selfish to realize that they both lost a son and then after Alfred asks for the machine to be turned off, Bruce obliges and turns off the simulator altogether.
Alright guys that's the Batman and ? in a nutshell and in my honest opinion I like how they did it. I like how when it came to people trying to talk some sense into Bruce, they went from the most recent Robin alive being Tim Drake to the very first Robin in Dick Grayson with Dick being the one that really talks some sense into Batman and he actually listens. I love how they used this arc to introduce us to Carrie Kelley in the New 52 and I wonder if they will make her the new Robin now that she's involved in a way with Wayne Manor. I also love how within this little arc, they are preparing us for another story arc that deals with Two-Face and I can't wait to see what comes out from this.
Alright guys that's all the time for now. Don't forget to comment, like, share, +1, Retweet and donate just as well. Every little bit helps and every little bit counts so please chip in. This is the Black Chivalrous Nerd saying until next time.. LOVE, PEACE AND BACON GREASE *SMOKE BOMBS OUT*
Dedicated to Damian Wayne... R.I.P. TO THE GREATEST AND DEADLIEST ROBIN EVER
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