A visit to the Zoo
As you may know, for the last two issues we saw Batman and Robin fighting "zombies" controlled by the Saturn Club. Both numbers weren't quite satisfying, and I was actually happy to see the arc coming to end and a death of the family tie-in in the next issue. Unfortunately the crossover was very disappointing.
In the first six pages we see Damian trying to find the Joker. Those were the very few nice moments of the comic. Tomasi is really creating a positive portrayal of Robin. Well, not really. I mean, he disobeys Bruce all of the time, but what I meant is that he is making me like Damian more and more with this series. He characterizes the boy correctly, by delivering an arrogant Robin. Anyway, his investigation leads to the Gotham Zoo. As soon as he gets there he fights hyenas, which isn't really one hell of an action scene, or what I'd call an intriguing battle. It's a short and alright fight, but to be honest, it was one of the highlights of the issue. Right after the fight, Damian gets caught by the Joker. And that, folks, is when things get bad. Throughout the rest of the whole damn issue all we see is boring dialogue between the deadly clown and the 10 years old kid. The speeches managed to bore me, and, to be honest, while I was reading I just wanted the issue to end and go read something else. Joker suffers strong and correct characterization, as Tomasi delivers a deadly clown. You'll be surprised after seeing what he does to Damian.
The artwork is pretty good and probably the highest point of the issue. The work on Joker's face is truly fantastic. However, the pecilling can, sometimes, be really inconsistent. I mean, take a look at this:
Lol, that's Alfred. Seriously, am I the only one who thinks he looks funny? As soon as I opened the comic and saw that I really laughed. I mean, his head looks like an onion.
Overall, this was a mediocre issue. Most of it is just boring dialogue that will... bore you. I think you can skip the tie-in and start picking up the series again once a new arc starts.
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