In this review of Batman and Robin: Year One #8, General Grimaldi enlists Clayface to deduce the secret identities of the Dynamic Duo!
Batman and Robin: Year One #8 main cover by Chris Samnee (DC Comics)
BATMAN & ROBIN: YEAR ONE #8
Written by MARK WAID and CHRIS SAMNEE
Art and Main Cover by CHRIS SAMNEE
Variant Covers MICHAEL CHO, EVAN “DOC” SHANER, ANDREW MacLEAN
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 6/18/25
This review contains spoilers
Recently wealthy men and their young children have been attacked from General Grimaldi and his mob. During the latest attempt at a millionaire’s life, he and his daughter are saved by Batman and Robin, the latter whom snatches a gun to win a fight. Batman quickly reprimands him, saying that the weaponization of fear never requires guns and that they must never wield them.
This scene repeats in Batman’s mind, as he speaks with Commissioner Gordon later that same evening. Confronting Jim about the list of Batman suspects, the Dark Knight also inquires how his friend raises his daughter Barbara, comparing the difficulties to the raising of his young ward.
Later during an evening drive home, Bruce and Alfred are accompanied by an assigned policeman on Gordon’s orders. Suddenly their car is hit and the cop is quickly gunned down, while Clayface emerges, disguised as Wayne and ready to dispose of our surviving heroes. Alfred easily disarms one of the flunkies, while Bruce feigns an escape. Clayface reaches the Manor first, running into Dick who immediately realizes “Bruce” isn’t Bruce. After an attempt to call his partner is thwarted by an enraged Clayface, Dick holds on long enough for Batman to arrive, who then subdues Clayface with vials of liquid nitrogen.
Defeated, Clayface saunters back to his hideout where Two-Face is waiting, ready to plot their next move.
Analysis
This was an enjoyable issue to be sure, with fun scenes and exciting action. Upon a second read, there’s very little development between moments, resulting in a kind of snapshot effect that lessens the resonance of the storytelling for me, personally. It’s still a solid read, but I’m not sure if it’s a strong one.
Once again I’m bothered by the general rushing of Dick into the Robin role. The no-gun rule is an element every Bat-fan knows all about, but should be something instructed before Dick step one green-booted foot onto the Gotham streets. This is Waid’s illustration on an early days Batman delivering that instruction to a newbie Robin, but I just question why he didn’t think this might come up during the training period. Additionally (and despite Mark Waid’s longtime insistence that he’s read every Batman comic ever, I doubt he’d remember this), Bruce has historically trained his partners on how to wield firearms. In that training he points out that they never use them, but they’re not afraid of them. This scene is not only found in Nightwing #33 (1996) but also Batman #410, with Dick and Jason Todd respectively. I’ve always found that to be a wonderfully nuanced illustration of how Batman trains his partners, so for him to see Robin grab and gun and start screaming at him struck me as inartful. I don’t hate the scene, but it’s the return of the kind of scenes in this book that has me going “Why is this the first time the issue comes up between them?”
There’s also the potential character development dropped between them. It’s been eight issues, the trial period is over; we are not getting enough of Dick Grayson’s mental and emotional interiority in this book. We’re not getting enough of Bruce’s either, but Dick’s a worse tradeoff. He tells “Bruce” at the house that he figured he might still be mad, but there’s no representation of what that specific tension might look like. He also quickly deduces that “Bruce” isn’t Bruce, but it’s all shown at a distance. I’m impressed by how fast he put that together, but the quick pace works against the scene, sapping it of more suspense.
There are fine elements to this issue, nevertheless. Batman speaking with Gordon on how to raise kids was decent. I like seeing Alfred easily handle armed thugs. The scene of Clayface attacking Dick in Wayne Manor was fun, as well as his falling in with Two-Face at the end. But again, the story altogether feels too static and platonic of a presentation for this story. In the “Batman and Robin Year One” aspect of the issue, the quick blowup in the beginning about guns is all we see pertaining to this larger saga. General Grimaldi shouldn’t be the story’s central concern, it should be the development between Bruce and Dick. Waid, in my view, should be putting more focus on emotions of trust and faith and confidence. Those qualities are in the book, but secondarily. If you were young Dick Grayson, and you were put into a bright costume to fight armed gunmen, then screamed at when you picked up a gun merely to frighten someone, wouldn’t you think that were odd? Odd enough to reconsider the kind of man you’re living with?
While the book has been a solid read, the character development remains frustratingly shallow. However, I am a biased reader. These are my two favorite characters, and that favoritism was built during a time when the industry specialized in a slower, more methodical form of storytelling. Maybe those days really are behind us. Maybe the last few years writing World’s Finest (where the two-dimensional action packed stories are warranted, as that’s exactly what that book is meant to be) has influenced Waid’s writing to other titles. But I’m at an impasse with Mark Waid similar to the one I had with Tom Taylor during his Nightwing era. The books were always good, but too frustratingly shy of being great. You see the vision, but it’s just out of reach.
