The beginning of Robin Rises: Omega!
Before Robin Rises: Omega Starts in July; Peter J. Tomasi, and company, join the Dark Knight and The Demon's Head on the prelude issue before that major event starts!
The Good
Peter. J. Tomasi is certainly making Batman & Robin's series a memorable experience! Tomasi really does an amazing job at building our expectations up with the reveal of the Robin Rises: Omega story arc/series! And with how this issue went down; it looks like Batman's world is going to get shaken again! Writer Grant Morrison had killed Damian in his Batman Incorporated run, but Tomasi is making sure that his [assumed] resurrection won't be something to miss out on! However, that is in the near future; so lets focus on the now!
This issue by Peter J. Tomasi was outstanding, as usual. Having Batman and Ra's at odds with one another was intense! I liked how both characters had a good reason as to why Damian should, or shouldn't, come back. How Ra's Al Ghul is only concerned about his legacy and creating a "perfect world" amongst the chaos he will certainly rain down on the Earth with a resurrected Damian. And how Batman doesn't want his son to comeback solely because he knows Ra's will corrupt him! I enjoy seeing that kind of conflict between characters, especially when those characters are family. So that element of conflict of who's right or who's wrong, was handled nicely by Tomasi.
Another element I enjoyed about this issue was, Batman! He originally would've done anything to bring his son back. (Which can be seen in issues 18-23.) However now, he is trying to prevent Ra's from bringing back his son; which is extremely noble of the character. I like how Tomasi can play with Batman's character like this and it work really, really well for this series! It's good to see Batman at this low point in his life and seeing how doing the "right thing" trumps brief happiness. Peter J. Tomasi does an outstanding job at making Batman feel human, but somehow still finds a way to keep Batman the same character we have all come to know and accept over the years. Good job Tomasi!
While the story was outstanding; the fight between Ra's and Batman was really impressive! I liked how Batman and Ra's fought like they have everything to lose; and how they both knew the outcome if one failed and the other had won. You can tell this by how serious of a conversation Batman and Ra's had at the beginning of this issue; and how those words turned into a "no pulled punches" brawl. Tomasi really committed to the story, and action, to make it feel to the reader like everything was on-the-line for the two characters.
The artwork by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray was perfect! Gleason's style of art does the story, and Batman's legacy, justice! You couldn't find a better artist, and art team, for this series!
The Bad
The conversation between Ra's and Batman carried on longer than needed. Granted, it paid off once the fighting started, but still, the conversation felt like the two were only delaying the inevitable and covering things we readers already knew. If this conversation was a page shorter, this issue would be perfect.
The Verdict
If you have followed this series for any amount of time, you know already that reading this following this series monthly is still paying off! Even in Robin's death, Tomasi still builds on the father and son relationship that was the ver foundation of this entire series. And I am very interested in seeing what will happen next! 4 out of 5.
Last review from this series - #23
Next review either from, or related, to this series - Robin Rises: Omega #1 and Batman and Robin #33.