In this review of Batman and Robin #16, a new player from Bruce’s past enters the search for what is seemingly the return of the serial killer Memento.
Batman and Robin #16 main cover by Javier Fernández
Batman and Robin #16
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Miguel Mendonça, Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Cover Artist: Javier Fernández
Variant Covers: Simone Di Meo, Dan Panosian, Carmine Di Giandomenico
Release Date: December 11, 2024
This review contains spoilers
Batman and Robin #16 begins at the ruins of Arkham Asylum, where a tour of “Mementists” listen with rapt attention as the guide announces the episode is streaming. The Mementists discuss the unsettling possibility that the current killings are not the work of a copycat, but of an actual inhuman force. Then, one of the Mementists, who had been taking selfies, sees some disturbing images on her phone. A voice intones unholy rhymes. Demonic shapes begin to exit the ruined cells and advance on the group. They attack, leaving but three.
Later, Batman and Robin investigate the crime scene. After examining one corpse, Batman finds evidence of the application of a rare hallucinogen. Batman flashes back to his training under Blye, investigating a series of similar murders in London. Young Bruce finds similar evidence that reminds Blye of an even earlier set of murders in 1886. Bruce points out the evidence of substance use and Blye recounts the story of Nicodemus Crowe’s cult in Gotham, which used a toxin called Gravedigger’s Poppy. Flash forward and Gordon appears on the scene, telling Batman and Robin he’s been hired as a private consultant. He introduces Batman to Lieutenant Katherine Lautrec, formerly of Scotland Yard and now of the Police Nationale of Paris. They scope each other out and posture a bit; Lautrec insists the killings are the work of Memento rather than a copycat. They make plans to meet later that night.
Later, Batman and Robin are training and speaking in multiple languages. Batman informs Robin that Lautrec was part of his training cohort with Blye. Seeing that Robin really wants to talk, Batman pauses the training. He notes that Robin has been disengaged on patrol and has been missing school. Robin confesses that he has been skipping school to volunteer at Gotham Hospital, in part to check on the injured girl, Emma, and also to read Thomas Wayne’s journals. Robin indicates he has a scheduled session that evening and suggests he can skip patrol. Batman is shocked, given that in general Robin seems to care for little as much as fighting. They argue and Robin rushes off.
At about 21:00, Lautrec meets Batman at Arkham Tower. They proceed to the cell of Jonathan Crane and ask about Gravedigger’s Poppy. Crane demurs but Lautrec catches him in a lie. Batman escalates and Crane is afraid. Finally he reveals that Memento did indeed come for the drug and crossed an ocean to punish Batman. Seeing a reflection in Crane’s eyeglasses, Batman disables the guard who was pointing a rifle at Crane. The guard was one of the three survivors from the Mementists and triggers a bomb. Batman and Lautrec escape the immediate vicinity but gas begins pouring out of the vents. Batman hands Lautrec his own mask and comms Robin for the spare.
But then Batman hears the unholy rhyming and he realizes, in fact, Memento is here. Shadowy figures begin to race towards Batman and Memento looms behind him.
Analysis:
Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson really knows how to spin a yarn! Part three of the Memento arc digs deeper into the lore of the character and the mystery of his appearance in Gotham. We learn some key additional details in this book, including the connection to the cult of Nicodemus Crowe, the likelihood that Memento somehow survived over at least a century, and the use of a specific hallucinogenic toxin connected to Memento’s murders.
Johnson deftly weaves multiple narrative strands together. In Batman and Robin #16, we not only get a sustained focus on Memento, there are fascinating conversations between Batman and Robin, some of which connect to survivor guilt and the death of Alfred. The introduction of Lautrec is also interesting given her history with Bruce, although it is a bit strange to see Jim Gordon used essentially as a cutout. Still, the argument between Batman and Robin is extremely well-written; too often, the younger Damian Wayne is represented as a petulant teenager. In Johnson’s skilled hands, the argument Robin has with Batman is full of pathos and an all-too-mature anguish. Robin’s plaintive admonition regarding Batman’s own peregrinations as a younger man subtly reinforces the flashbacks to Bruce’s training under Blye. They also remind the audience of a time when Alfred stood in as Bruce’s father figure.
Johnson is incredibly skilled. He certainly is telling a more intricate and detailed story than the straightforward narratives preferred by previous writer Joshua Williamson. And yet The Dynamic Duo remain in the spotlight, as they should in a book named Batman and Robin. The narrative is clear and logical; the flashbacks do not interfere with the chronology and help frame Memento’s
If Johnson’s current run on Hulk is any indication, he has little taste for the playful humor Williamson used to excellent effect, but if in exchange we continue to see a sober and mature Robin, it is a fair exchange.
Batman and Robin #16 features artist Michael Mendonça’s work for all but two pages, continuing the by-now familiar yet still peculiar trend in which DC Comics asks multiple different artists to illustrate a single run. I find this as jarring as most, yet appreciate the spare, somewhat grim representation of The Dark Knight. The dark tones, punctuated only by occasional bursts of color, fit Johnson’s thematic horror and monster stylings. Memento is rendered as a classic Victorian villain, the paradigmatic Dr. Hyde, or, if one prefers a contemporary representation, as The Babadook. While the art worked in this issue, and has indeed worked in the entire 16-issue run so far, I still find myself wishing for a bit more stability in the illustration.
Final Thoughts:
I am just a huge fan of Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s writing and feel extraordinarily lucky to be reading his work in both Marvel and DC, on two of my most treasured superheroes, and on two of my most beloved books. Regular readers know I loved previous writer Joshua Williamson’s run on Batman and Robin, but Johnson seems poised to push the book to the very rooftops of Gotham itself. Batman and Robin is not only the Third Book (Batman; Detective Comics); it has a serious claim to being the best of the bunch right now.
