Batman and Robin #21 main cover by Javier Fernández (DC Comics)
Review: Batman and Robin #21
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art by Javi Fernandez and Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colors by Marcelo Maiolo
Batman and Robin #21, The Gotham Cycle, Part Two
Summary
Batman and Robin #21 begins Years ago in London, Bruce and Katherine watch as bodies are carried out of a building after discovering Professor Blye holding a gun on Memento. Blye tells them they are off the case for their own safety and returns home, where Memento ambushes him before he can draw his weapon.
In the present, at the Vauxhall Opera House in Gotham, Katherine and Batman observe a performance of Aida from the catwalks. Katherine is there following a lead from Robin, who believed it would be Memento’s next target. Batman tells her Robin has been taken by Memento and he needs her help to find him. Katherine notes that Robin didn’t want to tell Batman his findings, but he believed Memento only speaks in verse had significance.
Backstage, a red-gloved figure attacks the stage director and goes on stage. Once among the actors with a bomb strapped to his chest, he interrupts the performance, declaring “Memento Mori.” Batman notices a missed cue in the opera and spots the bomber. He disables the man with batarangs. A second bomb goes off, causing a fire. Batman rescues a trapped performer. The bomber flees, and Batman realizes from the scent and behavior that it is not Memento. Katherine stops the attacker, who is revealed to be Travis Grimwell, the Mementalist leader missing since the Arkham ruins attack.
Grimwell cryptically tells Batman that Robin is trapped in a place “beyond time,” and to “follow him in before the Gotham Cycle is complete.” Batman instructs Katherine to get Grimwell to a hospital. He then asks her about Robin’s theory regarding Memento’s speech. Katherine explains Robin had found journals from a follower of Nicodemus Crowe, a 19th-century Gotham occultist who died trying to summon a demon that only spoke in verse. Crowe’s plaster death mask was never recovered. Batman recalls a vision in which Dr. Bashar said the Devil wears Crowe’s face.
Katherine adds that Blye’s research showed Memento’s crimes went back generations and occurred worldwide, not just London years ago. Batman notes Blye was arrested for the murders and died in an asylum. Katherine says she never believed Blye was guilty and had his grave exhumed.
The next day, in Gotham’s financial district, a group of kids steal a wallet and escape into an abandoned subway station. Batman, who is familiar with them, finds them and asks them to help look for Damian, as the Gotham Irregulars know Gotham like no one else, and have eyes in hard to find places.
Elsewhere, Damian is held in a glass cage in a decaying neighborhood. A pale, long-haired man with white eyes speaks to him, saying Damian reminds him of another angry boy. Damian demands to know who the man is, but the man calls himself an unreliable narrator. Batman and Robin #21 ends with a very old, milky eyed Professor Blye looking at Damian.
Review
Batman and Robin #21 is continuing the trend of slowly converting me to like this new creative team’s run. I’m still on the fence about Batman’s characterization and Damian’s plan to drop the Robin persona, but I will everything else is getting better.
Positives – I think I’m going to like the Gotham Irregulars. Anything that adds life and flavor to Gotham is always a plus in my book. Of course having an army of street level informants is nothing new, these kids feel like they have a bit more sole and staying power. They only appear a little, but they already have grown on me.
We also see Damian alive and safe, which, though obvious, I’m happy to see, and hopefully we will see more of him in the coming issues, solving things from his end.
And Carmine’s art at the beginning was so lovely. Every time I see it at the beginning of a book, I feel like I’m reading “The Knight” again and I’m excited for whatever will be next…even if it’s not “The Knight”.
Negatives – Batman is…sigh. Maybe it’s the Grave Digger’s Poppy talking, but even before he was infected, he’s been weird. My big problem in this issue was that he didn’t want to believe Damian’s theory that Memento was a demon who speaks in rhyme or a demon possessing Nicolas Crowe…even though he works with a ghost (Deadman) AND a centuries old demon who speak in rhyme and possess people (Etrigan and Jason Blood). I don’t understand what the hesitancy for Damian’s theory is. Magic and spirituality is incredibly common in world of Batman.
Another element that’s been irking me a bit is that we were shown to the whole Batfamily ready to jump in and help, Batman radios his location on coms…and no one shows up. There are no other Batfamily members in this issue. I really hope they do show up or do something in the near future.
The art…I just really don’t love Fernandez’s art. It’s fine sometimes, and other times not so much. In this issue the Gotham Irregulars have what look like strange face abnormalities, and it’s hard to tell if that’s on purpose or just weird artistic choices. We also have Damian looking like he’s 8 years old again, even though in previous issues Robin has been tall. It’s very inconsistent.
Last Positive Notes – in the vain of adding flavor to characters, I did appreciate Batman’s thought process saving the boy on the opera stage. He’s facing a situation where he feels he can do nothing and will fail, but he imagines Clark telling him “not with that attitude”. I though that was a cute moment. Batman’s relationship with Katherine has also been refreshing, as she isn’t starry eyed by the Great Detective at all, and would just as soon arrest him as work with him. She also really likes Damian, and is not afraid to call Batman out on his endangerment of kids. I wonder what she would think of the Gotham Irregulars?
All in all, I’m sill invested in this series. I do hope Robin comes around to wanting to be Robin and a doctor.
