Comic Book Issues: Batman and Robin #7

Oh Grant Morrison. You had me, you really did. Up until issue 7 of Batman and Robin I was really enjoying it. I had mixed feeling about R.I.P. I felt like you were trying maybe to do too much with the story, but I didn’t hate it, and the outcome led to my favorite character getting to be Batman.

And when Batman and Robin started I was pleasantly surprised. Your Dick Grayson wasn’t a perfect representation of the character in my eyes, but at least he didn’t piss me off like some other takes on Dick Grayson have. I still don’t like Damian but I was willing to tolerate him to see where the story went.

I didn’t really care for your Jason Todd (or even to see Jason again so soon after Battle for the Cowl). I thought your obsession with considering everything in continuity went a little far when you made Jason a red head again and claimed Bruce made him dye it to be more like Dick. I don’t feel Bruce would do that, but what makes matters worse is that Jason’s origin as the second Robin has been told with him having dark hair. So by trying to make sense of some comic issues that current continuity says didn’t happen you make current issues in continuity not make sense. I also felt like it was a bit lazy and boring to have Jason revert to being an all out villain again. (And way to make Tim Drake look like an idiot for helping Jason escape from prison at the end of the Robin series. At that point there had been character development and Tim felt Jason deserved a second chance. Although I can’t blame only you since Tony Daniel did the same thing in Battle for the Cowl by having Jason nearly kill Tim.) Parts of the story were still good (the Flamingo was incredibly creepy) and overall I still had a positive impression of the book.

But I just finished issue 7, and that one, sir, made no sense. I don’t mind the story line, what bothers me is that you gave me no reason to feel like Dick Grayson should be thinking that this is a good idea. I’m fine with characters making bad choices, so long as I have an understanding of what led them to make those bad choices. And I feel like we’re missing that here. Dick is being really stupid and I don’t see why he should be acting this stupid.