Category: Batman and Robin
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Batman and Robin is fifteen chapters; all together, it’s just under four and a half hours. It is not a rewarding four and a half hours. Not at all. Of the fourteen credited actors, one gives a good performance. Don C. Harvey. He gets to be chief henchman for a while. But not even half…
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For a few minutes in Batman Victorious, which is mostly a chase sequence–the invisible (though only temporarily) Wizard is on the run from Batman and the cops. There are some questionable (but more ambitious than anything else in the serial) invisible man special effects and a more lively feel to things. Or maybe it just…
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Okay, I’m not wrong–wheelchair-bound, ornery scientist William Fawcett really does just walk around in front of everyone and no one reacts. He’s been zapping himself with electricity to regain use of his legs, making him a suspect for being masked, supercriminal the Wizard. Except only to the audience because no one knows he can walk.…
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If the Wizard has any challenge in The Wizard’s Challenge!, it’s outsmarting Batman and Robin. It doesn’t take much as it turns out. Especially not with Robin (Johnny Duncan) playing with a toy truck when he’s supposed to be on guard duty. See, the Wizard has stolen all the scientific equipment he needs to unleash…
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The chapter title, Robin Rides the Wind, got me hoping Robin would jump out of a plane or something. Without a chute. Sad spoiler: he doesn’t. The chapter does clear one of the Wizard suspects, which would probably be more effective if the character–played by Michael Whalen–appeared more often. He doesn’t appear often. He appears…
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So when Robin (Johnny Duncan) is alone in the Batcave, he doesn’t use the changing room. He puts on his tights in the public area. Off-screen, sure, but Robin’s Ruse confirms it. The titular Ruse isn’t particularly exciting. It’s fairly predictable, especially after the cliffhanger reveal at the beginning, with one adequate surprise. But for…
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The chapter title, Batman’s Last Chance!, must refer to Batman’s last chance to run around in this particular drab office building. I don’t think it’s supposed to be the same one they used earlier, but it definitely appears to be the same set. The last third–maybe less but it feels like a third–of the chapter…
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There’s some family drama for Jane Adams this chapter of Batman and Robin, as George Offerman Jr. returns to provide the main story for The Wizard Strikes Back! Otherwise, it’s just Robert Lowery and Johnny Duncan goofing off and being lousy superheroes. Besides watching Lowery’s Batman cape flail as he tries to flag down a…
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Robin Meets the Wizard! does indeed feature Johnny Duncan’s Robin meeting the Wizard. The masked, unknown (undoubtedly until the last chapter) Wizard knocks Duncan out while Duncan’s on lookout. More like the boy blunder. Wokka wokka. Other than the chapter title actually referring to an event in the chapter, there’s nothing distinctive about this one.…
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Shockingly, there is actually a blast in The Fatal Blast. Sadly it seems unlikely to be fatal enough, as there are eight more chapters to go. Not even halfway through Batman and Robin. After the cliffhanger resolution, which is yet another boring one, everyone thinks–as always–Batman and Robin are dead. Even butler Alfred (Eric Wilton),…
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Sadly, Johnny Duncan’s Robin is not actually a target in Target – Robin!. The chapter wouldn’t be any more compelling if he were, but it get Batman and Robin moving in a new direction. Instead, it’s more of the same. Tepid cliffhanger resolution, bad acting from Robert Lowery and Duncan, some more costumed adventuring, a…
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Once again, the chapter title doesn’t have much to do with the chapter. Robin Rescues Batman. Okay, sure. If you count Robin (Johnny Duncan) hiding until the bad guys leave with the stolen formula then going in and checking on an unconscious Batman (Robert Lowery). The bad guys have this extended escape sequence–Batman and Robin’s…
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Most of this chapter, Batman Trapped, is a resolution of the previous chapter’s cliffhanger. There’s no trapped Batman in this chapter. There’s kidnapped Robin; more on that development in a bit. After the immediate resolution of the cliffhanger–thanks to Batman (Robert Lowery) having a lot of tree climbing skill–the bad guys decided they’re going to…
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I actually can’t figure out why this chapter is called Robin’s Wild Ride. Robin (Johnny Duncan) does not have a wild ride. Unless they mean when he gets to drive the car for a bit at the beginning. The chapter’s cliffhanger resolution is pretty tepid, but Batman and Robin clearly isn’t trying for thrilling cliffhangers,…
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Even with Robert Lowery’s exceptionally questionable performance as Batman and Bruce Wayne, Tunnel of Terror is a relatively fine serial chapter. The cliffhanger resolution at the beginning is pretty weak, but then it turns out Lowery and Johnny Duncan have an almost superpower–they can sneak around really, really quietly. And not just indoors. They can…
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Batman and Robin gets off to a surprisingly reasonable start, even after a spectacularly absurd opening montage sequence. Gotham City is facing an unexplained crime wave; the footage they start with is a dairy hold-up. Then there are some clips from the previous Batman serial, which might be why the chapter, Batman Takes Over, impresses…
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Morrison recovers pretty well for the conclusion. With Batwoman, Batman (Dick Grayson), Damian and Alfred all fighting a zombified Batman… I wish I could say Stewart’s art finally fulfilled the promise his name brings. But it doesn’t. It’s this mainstream, glossy Cameron Stewart. Maybe it’s the colors… but I don’t think so. I think it’s…
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Oh, ok, so this arc is a forerunner to The Return of Bruce Wayne, where it’s explained Darkseid really cloned Batman or something. And then Batwoman dies in Dick’s arms so he can resurrect her in the Lazarus pit. There’s also a big fight between Batman and the clone–insane–Batman. Dick seems like he’s going to…
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I think Morrison likes to be intentionally opaque. It makes him seem mysterious and thoughtful. It’s a shame because he’s a good enough writer he doesn’t need to try so hard to impress. Personally, I imagine it’s an inferiority complex to Alan Moore. No matter how much lauding Morrison gets from the comics’ crowd, it’s…
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I do love this issue for Robin calling the flamboyantly gay South American toreador gay. Or whatever Morrison named his second original villain for the series. The rest? Not wild about it. Batman and Robin get their butts kicked, again. Morrison gets in some meta-textual references to Jason Todd’s resurrection (nothing about Bucky though) as…
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Ok, what? I’m a little groggy or whatever, but why can Jason Todd’s untrained sidekick beat up Damian? Wasn’t he trained by the League of Assassins? It just seems silly. This issue is the first one in the series where it doesn’t feel like Morrison’s got a hold of what he’s doing–Batman and Robin is…
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Philip Tan’s an interesting choice for Batman and Robin. He’s absent any personality, which actually doesn’t hurt the book during the Red Hood’s scenes. Morrison’s characterization of Jason Todd is as a complete nutjob lamer, which works pretty well. He also seems like he’s ready to get creepy with his underage sidekick. There are two…
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This issue’s strange. Not strange creepy, strange it doesn’t fit the first two. It’s like Morrison realized he wasn’t going to have Quitely forever and so he better get some things done. More happens in the third issue than happens in the first two (times two). Damian doesn’t just form an emotional attachment to a…
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Reading this arc–I know, I know, the circus stuff makes it perfectly suited for Dick Grayson–I can’t help but think of Batman Returns and the evil circus in it. Again, this issue is Morrison decompressed. Seeing Quitely do an extended action sequence–the issue is basically just the action scene, with some bookends with Dick and…
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How can Morrison infuse so much humor, so much idealism, in such a nasty story? The book’s full of that buoyant Dick Grayson positivity, which is what makes his scenes with Damian so funny, but it’s juxtaposed with the serious negativity of the Pyg story. See, the issue opens with the Toad and his threats…
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