Batman & Robin: Year One – Dynamic Duos #1 review

Well, that was quick. A little under a year since Batman & Robin Year One #12, and here’s a second maxi-series. And I couldn’t be happier to see it, writer Mark Waid and artist Chris Samnee’s creative cross-pollination has produced some great comics.

And we have another one here. As the title makes clear, DC hasn’t done the obvious thing and gone straight to Year 2 of the Batman and Robin partnership, they’ve stuck to the first 12 months but added a subtitle: Dynamic Duos. Plural? Whatever could it mean?

This first issue doesn’t give much in the way of clues, so far as I can see. It does give us another cracking slice of life with Bruce and Dick, in and out of costume.

It starts with a sacrifice in progress.

Woah, we’re going to Barbatos… at least that’s the hope of high priest Scorpio. Batman and Robin have other ideas.

Robin is a little more battle happy than usual, but seems more himself when he notices a gargoyle.

And so the Batcave trophy room is born,

While Dick is keen to get back out on the streets, Bruce wants him to do his homework. Besides, he has other business, and it doesn’t involve a cape and cowl.

A trip to the pictures – now that wasn’t on my Bruce Wayne bingo card. What next, walking down a dark alley?

Oh.

Luckily, there’s no gangster with a gun here, rather it’s a bunch of feral kids. But they’re not shy of attacking a toff, and Bruce is quick to defend his date Janet, despite her plea to just give the kids some cash. She knows his background. ‘Don’t let this trigger you.’ Doesn’t she know Bruce is always in control?

Again, oh.

The voice comes from a woman whose face is hidden by the light behind her.

‘Slash you to ribbons’? Hmm…

Later, with Janet back home, Bruce returns to the Batcave, where he might expect some sympathy.

Butler Alfred, who has been keeping an eye out for unusual crimes and gang activity, has an idea as to who the kids are.

And Bruce has an idea as to how to proceed with shutting the Wolfpack down.

In Gotham City, the girl Bruce had in his clutches comes across a beautiful young woman. A Catwoman.

Yes, it’s the same person who saved her earlier, available for slashing. And the kid has grabbed her interest. Is a dynamic duo in prospect?

And with that, the first chapter is done. We’ve met a new potential love interest for Bruce. There’s the mystery of Robin’s sudden zeal for thumping people. Alfred’s expanded role in the crimefighting family. The Wolfpack. An unnamed tough girl (a young Helena Bertinelli?). Catwoman. And the cult of Barbatos.

How I hate Barbatos. I don’t mind the odd supernatural visitor to Gotham, but demons ingrained into the very fabric of the city? Not so much. I like Gotham as home to bad guys, not an infection that inclines folk towards the bad. Hopefully this issue’s opening scene will be the last mention of bat creature Barbatos; sadly, Waid is a planner, he rarely just drops things in to fill space.

Happily, Waid’s characterisations are as much fun as ever, and I’m looking forward to seeing how early Catwoman interacts with the Dynamic Duo hugely.

Samnee’s art is a delight, with handsome Bruce, cheeky Dick and wise Alfred a delight every time they appear. As for Catwoman, blimey. The only thing I didn’t like was the story layout on pages 18-19, where it’s not at all clear you read across the two pages as if it’s a spread. The only hint is Alfred’s shoulder breaking out of panel two and into three on the first of three decks, a clue I missed first time out.

There’s no visual or narrative reason for the layout, hopefully it’s a one-off – this sort of thing was all over Brian Bendis’s DC comics, and I’d hoped it had vanished with his return to Marvel.

Mat Lopes is back as colour artist, bringing extra life to the already vibrant pages with his choices. And Clayton Cowles’s confident letters are a real boon to the comic (Samnee is given a share of the lettering credit, in what seems to be the beginning of a trend with the Batman books).

The cover is a fine pin-up image, nicely judged by Samnee and Lopes. I almost love the ‘Dynamic Duos’ addition – but that ‘i’! Why is it so short? If it’s that short why not give us a playful dot about it? We already have two heights, with the leading ‘Ds’, a third is just weird. I see it fits snugly under the centre point of the logo’s bat-shape, but why not just move ‘Dynamic Duos’ slightly downpage. It’s upsetting.

Just me?

Maybe next issue it’ll be sorted out – like I need a reason to come back, this sequel looks set to be as fabulous as its parent. Don’t miss it.