COMIC REVIEW: FTN reviews Batman & Aquaman #29

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi

Artist: Patrick Gleason

Published by DC Comics

A new arc, ‘The Hunt for Robin’ begins here! Batman is on Ra’s trail, and he’s not letting anything get in his way.

Coming into this one, as a reader I was a little nervous about having Aquaman involved. This is a serious thing, Bruce in search of the body of his son, and sometimes writers take certain liberties in cracking jokes or having Aquaman in not-so-serious scenarios or even as a background character when he really shouldn’t be. Tomasi would never do that, of course, but the slight fear was there. I’m happy that Tomasi didn’t do that, and Aquaman was serious and tough and awesome the whole way through. The one panel that was meant to be humorous was just that. It was just ONE and it did its job and moved on. Arthur Curry really understood right away what Bruce was doing, and I’m glad it wasn’t drawn out in explanation, and that both Bruce and Arthur just went into action for their main mission.

And don’t even get me started on how much I loved the fact Titus was present.

I also quite enjoyed that there wasn’t any huge explanations of what was going on. The storyline is pretty straight forward, and I’m glad DC didn’t treat us all like idiots and rehash some long-winded explanations. We all know what happened to Robin, I’m sure the Justice League knew more or less right away, too. Aquaman didn’t need it explained, and neither did we. While this story was a lot of action, I still overall enjoyed it, and the characters who were involved. The bit where Bruce comes across the clones and he says his son’s name really tugged at my emotions, both for that page and the rest of the scene, as he had to destroy them. My only gripe was perhaps that the fact the clones were ‘half-aquatic’ was a bit of a stretch. But hey, this is comics. Literally anything is possible.

Gleason is tearing up this title and holding no prisoners. His stuff during the Two-Face arc was gritty and dark, and on this one it’s gruesome and disgusting, and all in the best possible ways. I won’t lie – I cringed on the page of Talia and Damian’s bodies, and then on that page of the deformed clones? My stomach melted in grossness and it was the best feeling. Is this making sense? Gleason makes some terrifying things in this one and it was worth every second.

This is an arc I’ve been waiting for since that fated Batman Inc. #8 was released. I hope it has the outcome I want, but even if it doesn’t, I can tell this is going to be one heck of a ride. Wonder Woman is up next and I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a comic in a while!

 

4 out of 5 nerds