Scan barcode
A review by captwinghead
Batman & Robin: Dark Knight vs. White Knight by Paul Cornell, Peter J. Tomasi, Judd Winick
4.0
Update: So, this is still pretty damn good. Unfortunately, the art took a turn for the worst in the last 2 issues and it pained me to look at it. I still really like that story with Jason Todd but I wish they'd kept the artist that did the first part of that arc.
This is my favorite out of the Dick Grayson!Batman and Damian!Robin series.
There are 3 arcs here and I loved everyone of them. For once, every villain had depth and held my interest. So, each story is written and drawn by different teams.
The first is written by Paul Cornell/with art by Scott McDaniel which gives it a Batgirl, Nightwing kind of 90s feel. I don't mind this art and Paul Cornell does the Damian/Dick banter very well. Una Nemo is leading them around the city has a hole in the middle of her head and was on a vendetta to make Bruce miss her. Admittedly, not great making her into a version of the woman scorned but she isn't reduced to being a love interest. At least, I didn't feel that way.
The second one is the strongest one. It's written by Peter J. Tomasi with art from Patrick Gleason. A new villain, the White Knight performing some seriously screwed up art pieces around Gotham dressing the family members of Arkham Asylum inmates as angels and dropping them from buildings. His backstory was interesting and the last shot of that arc was amazing.
Then we end with a story written by Judd Winnick and the art in the first part is from Guillem March and Andrei Bressan and then Artur Fujita does the last 2 issues and it was a major bummer. Dick and Robin having to protect and then capture Jason Todd. We get lots of Jason unapologetically killing other inmates and the art was gorgeous for the first half of this. Dick and Jason were amazing and I got a bit distracted, not gonna lie. The ending was kind of unexpected.
There's character development as Dick and Damian are working more like a well oiled machine. There's a lovely scene where all of Bruce's kids (sans Cassie and Jason, of course) sit down to watch Zorro with milkshakes and popcorn. It was adorable! There's banter between Dick and Damian. There's a moment where they discuss nature v nurture and Dick and Alfred tell Damian how proud they are that he made the choice to be good. It was all very heartwarming.
I was really impressed by the parallels between Jason and Dick's upbringing. There's a lot of Jason admiring the differences between Dick's Batman and Bruce's. He notes that Dick gets so angry when he's taking on bad guys and he could be a great Batman if he'd let that anger help him but he's too busy trying to be Bruce. He calls Dick the "Good son" and that's fascinating considering how Dick quit being Robin.
Essentially, Dick never felt like he'd live up to Bruce's standards and then Jason never had the same morals as Bruce. Tim is the one who appears the most in line with Bruce's thoughts but he tells Cassie in Fresh Blood that he thinks Bruce needs to work more with law enforcement and he doesn't quite subscribe to Bruce's view. Damian is slowly coming around to Bruce's viewpoint but there's a darkness there that is a bit more in line with Jason's Robin's viewpoint. Oddly enough, Cassie is the one most like Bruce and I think that's why people think she's the perfect candidate to be Batman.
Anyway, really enjoyed this. It actually made the think and the villains were interesting. Definitely recommended.
This is my favorite out of the Dick Grayson!Batman and Damian!Robin series.
There are 3 arcs here and I loved everyone of them. For once, every villain had depth and held my interest. So, each story is written and drawn by different teams.
The first is written by Paul Cornell/with art by Scott McDaniel which gives it a Batgirl, Nightwing kind of 90s feel. I don't mind this art and Paul Cornell does the Damian/Dick banter very well. Una Nemo is leading them around the city has a hole in the middle of her head and was on a vendetta to make Bruce miss her. Admittedly, not great making her into a version of the woman scorned but she isn't reduced to being a love interest. At least, I didn't feel that way.
The second one is the strongest one. It's written by Peter J. Tomasi with art from Patrick Gleason. A new villain, the White Knight performing some seriously screwed up art pieces around Gotham dressing the family members of Arkham Asylum inmates as angels and dropping them from buildings. His backstory was interesting and the last shot of that arc was amazing.
Then we end with a story written by Judd Winnick and the art in the first part is from Guillem March and Andrei Bressan and then Artur Fujita does the last 2 issues and it was a major bummer. Dick and Robin having to protect and then capture Jason Todd. We get lots of Jason unapologetically killing other inmates and the art was gorgeous for the first half of this. Dick and Jason were amazing and I got a bit distracted, not gonna lie. The ending was kind of unexpected.
There's character development as Dick and Damian are working more like a well oiled machine. There's a lovely scene where all of Bruce's kids (sans Cassie and Jason, of course) sit down to watch Zorro with milkshakes and popcorn. It was adorable! There's banter between Dick and Damian. There's a moment where they discuss nature v nurture and Dick and Alfred tell Damian how proud they are that he made the choice to be good. It was all very heartwarming.
I was really impressed by the parallels between Jason and Dick's upbringing. There's a lot of Jason admiring the differences between Dick's Batman and Bruce's. He notes that Dick gets so angry when he's taking on bad guys and he could be a great Batman if he'd let that anger help him but he's too busy trying to be Bruce. He calls Dick the "Good son" and that's fascinating considering how Dick quit being Robin.
Essentially, Dick never felt like he'd live up to Bruce's standards and then Jason never had the same morals as Bruce. Tim is the one who appears the most in line with Bruce's thoughts but he tells Cassie in Fresh Blood that he thinks Bruce needs to work more with law enforcement and he doesn't quite subscribe to Bruce's view. Damian is slowly coming around to Bruce's viewpoint but there's a darkness there that is a bit more in line with Jason's Robin's viewpoint. Oddly enough, Cassie is the one most like Bruce and I think that's why people think she's the perfect candidate to be Batman.
Anyway, really enjoyed this. It actually made the think and the villains were interesting. Definitely recommended.