Batman and Robin #11 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Juan Ferreyra, Artist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Josh Williamson is leaving this title later this year, but what might be his final big arc is tackling the biggest elephant in the room between Batman and Robin – the death of Alfred several years back at Bane’s hands. In many ways, the Bat-family still hasn’t fully recovered (and I suspect it’ll be rectified eventually), but Damian has always blamed himself – especially since he never got the culprit. Now, Bruce and Damian are en route to Dinosaur Island, where Bane has set up camp, and they soon find they’re not alone – after a rough crash landing, they counter one of Damian’s first allies, Maya Ducard. The reformed assassin and granddaughter of Bruce’s mentor is on the island for her own purposes and has been tracking Bane for some time – and surprisingly, the Santa Priscan warlord actually seems to be protecting the dinosaurs from Kobra, who is capturing and experimenting on them. Well, when he’s not fighting T-Rexes to the death.
Williamson’s script here is fantastic, including some great and grim depictions of the PTSD Damian still lives with and the return of a surprising figure in the last page that brings the theme of the issue together nicely. But as good as the writing is, the true star of this issue is one of the best artists in comics, Juan Ferreyra. The iconic horror artist has unique glossy style that is perfect for drawing the surreal and monstrous, and while there aren’t any demons or ghosts here, his dinosaurs are some of the best I’ve seen in comics in a long time. His character work is crisp and clean, and even his depiction of Damian’s monster-bat Goliath is…surprisingly cute? The dramatic shift from the canyons of Gotham to an island of monsters called for a stylistic change, so it’s good to see DC found the perfect artist for it. I actually think this might be the best issue of the series so far.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
