COMIC BOOK REVIEW - Batman And Robin: Pearl

By The Masked Medic

The ‘Batman and Robin’ comic series has been one of the most iconic series recently and the New 52 run was looking to continue its success. In the last novel, we see Batman struggling to keep the latest Robin, who happens to be his son, from diverging from his training.

‘Pearl’ finally introduces the idea of the legacy of Robin. It starts with a prequel issue, showing how Batman first meets this Robin. It then cuts to modern day where a villain named Terminus is gathering all the people who claim to have had their lives ruined by Batman and gives them a mission to make Gotham hate him. At the same time, Damian, the latest Robin, makes it his personal mission to take down each of the former Robins in order to prove his superiority.

I really liked the Bat-family feel to this novel. Whereas the first focused solely on Batman and Robin, the appearances of some of the other members made this an enjoyable read. In terms of character development, it was clearly focusing on Robin and how his childhood upbringing was quite different from the one being provided to him by his mother.

The artwork, by Patrick Gleason, was again good. He has a unique style, which in my opinion, is quite divisive. Some of the panels look amazing, and others seem to miss the mark a little. But the covers were really good, and overall, I enjoyed reading this novel!

Favourite Panel:

It was hard to pick, there were a few I liked, but this one really stuck out to me!

Favourite Character:

I may be a little biased, but Nightwing is the best neutraliser of awkward situations.

Rating:

• Story Arc: ★★★½

• Character Development: ★★★★

• Artwork: ★★★

• Enjoyability: ★★★★

• Re-readability: ★★★

Level: Intermediate