Friday, April 10, 2020

Convergence: Batman and Robin #1 (2015) Review

Sidekick Complex



Written By: Ron Marz
Art By: Denys Cowan, Klaus Janson, Chris Sotomayor
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 8, 2015



*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

We're back with another installment to the Pre-Flashpoint Gotham and this time around we're looking at our Dynamic Duo: Batman and Robin and I'm just left wondering, Is this the same Pre-Flashpoint Gotham in every title or different ones or just the Domes are open and everyone fends for themselves against whoever may try to kill them........ These are all valid questions and sadly, I don't have any of the answers.  I think I'll just go with "YES" and leave it at that.  All I have is an issue that I'll take at face value and try not to contemplate what it means for all the other Convergence titles that feature the same city.  So yeah, Batman and Robin...Yay!  Let's check out what our heroes are up to here before the Dome disappears and shit gets real.



Explain It!:

Our story begins with us seeing that Poison Ivy has really stepped up and become a hero since the Dome covered the Pre-Flashpoint Gotham because she's using her "non-powered" green thumb to make sure that everyone in the city continues eating thanks to her garden.  It's just too bad that Penguin alongside some muscle he brought like Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze and Killer Croc wants to make some money off of people's need to eat.  It seems like an offer you can't refuse type situation and then our heroes come in and save the day.  While Damian takes care of Man-Bat, Batman goes up against Mr. Freeze; who funny enough doesn't want to play anymore now that the Dynamic Duo has jumped into action and simply leaves Penguin to fend for himself.  If you couldn't guess from the cover, Red Hood joins the fight and takes down Killer Croc after he went and took a bite out of Batman and our former Robin along with his sidekick Scarlet fly away saying that he'll be around to help protect the city.




Once our heroes get back to the Batcave, we realize that Damian is a bit jealous of Jason Todd and actually seems pissed because Batman isn't really talking about the friendly assist............ Which I guess in Damian's mind means that Batman is "wowed" with his former sidekick more than he is with his son............  Come on Damian, you're smarter than that.  Really though, it seems that Batman is perplexed with why Jason out of nowhere has come out of hiding after living a year in the Dome and has decided to get back to his superhero roots.  There isn't much time to think about sons and former foster sons though because the Bat-Signal is back out in the sky and before Bruce can go and get suited up, Alfred comes to him and tells him that Damian and one of the Batmobiles are gone......... Anyone have a guess to where Damian was headed?



In the end, Damian finds Jason and just like the time when he first became Robin and beat the hell out of Tim Drake, our young sidekick feels the need to prove himself............ and what better way than beating the hell out of someone you're jealous over.  Before any real damage can be inflicted, Batman shows up and puts a stop to the fight, but there isn't much time for scolding because all of a sudden the Dome comes down and Telos tells everyone what the deal is............ and I don't know if The Extremists were just waiting for that Dome to come down in a frenzy or what but all at once Batman, Robin, Red Hood and Scarlet are met with the villains of Angor and it looks like they want a fight.



That's it for this issue of Convergence: Batman and Robin and while I was really looking forward to this issue, it didn't really deliver and that's weird because I don't even know what I was expecting.  It all just comes down to Damian being jealous of Jason Todd and while that sounds like an interesting story I'd like to see, it just isn't given enough time or motivation to really feel real.  The art too wasn't really what I had hoped it would be and I don't know if it's just because of the way that Killer Croc looked Pre-Flashpoint or if it was the artist's decision but I hate the big crocodile look that Killer Croc sometimes has and has here but even with that, the art wasn't that strong all-around and characters came off looking weird at times.  I can't say that I'm excited about the next issue either because while I'd like to see more development for Damian's jealousy, it looks like we'll just have an over the top fight between our Bat-Family and The Extremists and that's not that interesting to me.

Bits and Pieces:

While the story at first seems like it has a fun and interesting premise, it's all lost due to this being Convergence and not being able to develop it further......... plus guaranteeing that it won't be explored more in the next issue because of what seems to be the big second issue fights.  On top of that, the art left me wanting more because a lot of the characters just came off looking really odd.  It's too bad, I really would have liked to see what happened between Damian and Jason Todd.



6/10

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