Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Born to Kill

Violently compelling, this story arc shows the master crime fighter learning to be a father. Damian Wayne, the latest Robin, spent the first 10 years of his life being trained as an assassin, so he doesn’t understand Batman’s refusal to kill the criminals he defeats. As Batman struggles to communicate his rigid code of morality to the boy, Robin seems exasperatingly aloof. Unfortunately, a menace from Bruce Wayne’s past arrives at this point. He calls himself Nobody, he has no patience with ostentatious do-gooders, and he simply erases the villains he encounters. He is, in short, a dangerously appealing father figure for Batman’s alienated son. Tomasi’s script—following up on elements created by Grant Morrison in his Batman run—ably interweaves conflict at physical, personal, and even moral levels. The art by Gleason and Gray (with spectacular coloring by John Kalisz) is explosively dramatic. A superior episode in a fascinating saga. (July)