The New Dynamic Duo

Batman and Robin #1

Grant Morrison is the writer. Frank Quitely does the art. The two guys behind “All-Star Superman.” Like you need any other excuses to buy this one, right?

Unlike “All-Star Supes,” this one is going to be in-continuity — so that means that, after the recent “Battle for the Cowl” series, Batman is Dick Grayson (former Robin, former Nightwing) and Robin is Damian Wayne (Batman’s son by Talia al Ghul). It’s a shaky partnership — Dick was raised by a superhero, Damian was raised by supervillains and assassins — and Damian thinks he’d be a better Batman than Dick is. Damian is also rude to Alfred and unstoppably arrogant. Damian is really a bit of a, um, word-they-don’t-want-me-to-use-here.

So Batman and Robin capture a frog-faced criminal called Mr. Toad, who is transporting a briefcase filled with an unlikely number of dominoes. Toad is apparently waiting for the arrival of someone named Pyg, who seems to have a talent for horrific medical disfigurement and mental enslavement.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A good first issue, and a nice introduction to the new Batus-quo. Good dialogue, excellent art. Loved Damian’s rotten attitude. Not much happening yet, though, and I want to see some of Morrison’s trademark mind-blowing pretty darn quick.

Justice Society of America #27

Obsidian is holding Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat, and Liberty Belle in the JSA headquarters, because he senses danger to them. And Hourman has had a one-hour-into-the-future prophetic flashes that says they’re all going to be killed. Stargirl gets possessed by evil spirits that use her cosmic staff to force Obsidian out of the building. The spirits then coalesce into a WWII-era Japanese shapeshifter named Kung, who transports Flash, GL, Wildcat, Liberty Belle, and Hourman to Hiroshima 1945 so they can all be killed by the atomic bomb.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A bit of a weird story so far, but fill-in writer/artist Jerry Ordway seems to have a good grasp of the characters, and that goes a long way.