Batman and Robin #9 Preview/Discussion SPOILERS

[minasithil]

Seems like everyone was losing their heads this issue.

[Cavemold]

So, Tomasi has Damian kill again. Or are we not counting this because it's a Talon?

Eh . A undead zombie doesn't count as a life form.

[thwhtGuardian]

"Major General Burrows, The 52nd adjutant general of Gotham"... So, er, when exactly did Gotham get its own private military force?

In the US one of the uses of the title Adjutant General is for the senior military official of a state's armed forces such as the National Guard, Naval Militia or other state defense forces. I figure the of Gotham bit just means their home base of operations is in Gotham.

At any rate this was a pretty solid issue, I loved that after Damian beheaded the Talon his head looked like an owl sitting on the branch. That was just a pretty clever visual.

[Drz]

This issue was flatout stupid. You had 3 military people shooting down the Talon, either they have the most powerful health regeneration that makes even Superman jealous, because those bullets would have torn the Talon apart, not to mention any common sense would tell to behead the monster, with lead or sharp steel.

[Rakzo]

Robin giving orders to a troop of soldiers?, badass.

Nice characterization as usual. I'm liking all these tie-ins so far, they're surprisingly solid.

[coveredinbees]

I wish the marshmallow couple hadn't died. I'll cook some smores for them tonight. I think I would've much preferred the Talon had he been a generic, "The Court of Owls is gonna get uuuu!!" Talon like the mob attacking Batman.

[thwhtGuardian]

This issue was flatout stupid. You had 3 military people shooting down the Talon, either they have the most powerful health regeneration that makes even Superman jealous, because those bullets would have torn the Talon apart, not to mention any common sense would tell to behead the monster, with lead or sharp steel.

It seemed par for the course for zombie films where standard munitions seem to do little to slow down zombies.

[ArnoldoAAD]

This was a cool issue
though I felt that it Tomasi wanted to tell more on this than a single issue, for example, why was robin in a sewer at the beginning of the issue?, it felt a little rushed but well executed

and i really like the characterization given to robin here, i think Tomasi is the 3rd best writer on how to write Damian next to Fabian Nicieza and Morrison

[JasonTodd428]

I'm going to preface this by saying that I only picked up and read this issue because it was a tie in to the Owl event and because the guys at my LCS went ahead and pulled it anyway because of B&R being involved in the event even though I had dropped it last month.

I thought the title of the issue was clever but that was the only thing about it that was. I found most of this issue to be totally unbelievable even for a comic book. Seriously, Damian manages to not be wounded by this Talon at all when both Batman and Nightwing, who supposedly have more experience, have been seriously wounded and he did this even though he'd been hurt by Nobody last issue? Come on really. Even Batgirl got wounded by the Talon she confronted and, if you count her previous time as Batgirl, she has more experience than Damain. I understand that he has been training since he was young child and all but this just seems unrealistic to me.

In any case, I was hoping this issue would change my mind about this title but it failed to do so. I'm done. I hope the rest of you continue to enjoy it though. Cheers.

[FHIZ]

Damian's line about reading military strategy when he was six, was hilarious. Seeing him bark out orders was pretty awesome.

[LoneNecromancer]

I thought the title of the issue was clever but that was the only thing about it that was. I found most of this issue to be totally unbelievable even for a comic book. Seriously, Damian manages to not be wounded by this Talon at all when both Batman and Nightwing, who supposedly have more experience, have been seriously wounded and he did this even though he'd been hurt by Nobody last issue? Come on really. Even Batgirl got wounded by the Talon she confronted and, if you count her previous time as Batgirl, she has more experience than Damain. I understand that he has been training since he was young child and all but this just seems unrealistic to me.

Batwing seemed to have got off pretty lightly too. Is that hard to just think of it as luck due to the Talon focusing more on the soldiers? Or maybe this Talon was less skilled?

Just seems like an odd thing to complain about. As for things that broke your suspension of disbelief- I mean, Damian was flying on a jetpack this issue.

[JasonTodd428]

Batwing seemed to have got off pretty lightly too. Is that hard to just think of it as luck due to the Talon focusing more on the soldiers? Or maybe this Talon was less skilled?

Just seems like an odd thing to complain about. As for things that broke your suspension of disbelief- I mean, Damian was flying on a jetpack this issue.

Batwing had better armor though and he took a hit across his chest. I suppose I could say that the only reason Damian wasn't hurt was because of the soldiers all around him but there was a panel wherein Damian caught an arrow that had been aimed at him. I know his reflexs are good but come on. Sorry, it was just too unbelieveable even for a comic and it was one of many things that threw me completely out of the story.

The jet pack didn't bother me at all but I did have a problem with how quickly Damian seemed to get Burrows to the others after it was downed. It was five miles from where they landed according to the General. Damian's only ten and he managed to carry a fully grown five miles without the Talon attacking him? Really? Also what was that couple doing out in the woods near where the military was doing manuevers anyway? Their deaths were completely unnecessary since the Talon had already killed some of the soldiers.

[coveredinbees]

I'm going to preface this by saying that I only picked up and read this issue because it was a tie in to the Owl event and because the guys at my LCS went ahead and pulled it anyway because of B&R being involved in the event even though I had dropped it last month.

I thought the title of the issue was clever but that was the only thing about it that was. I found most of this issue to be totally unbelievable even for a comic book. Seriously, Damian manages to not be wounded by this Talon at all when both Batman and Nightwing, who supposedly have more experience, have been seriously wounded and he did this even though he'd been hurt by Nobody last issue? Come on really. Even Batgirl got wounded by the Talon she confronted and, if you count her previous time as Batgirl, she has more experience than Damain. I understand that he has been training since he was young child and all but this just seems unrealistic to me.

In any case, I was hoping this issue would change my mind about this title but it failed to do so. I'm done. I hope the rest of you continue to enjoy it though. Cheers.

The soldiers took all the hits. Poor guys. Sucks they all died except Burrows.

[ArnoldoAAD]

The soldiers took all the hits. Poor guys. Sucks they all died except Burrows.

i dont think all of them died

[Dr. Hurt]

I liked:

1) The jetpack
2) Damian being a general

I didnt like:

1) Too much blood and gore for no reason. A whole page is spent on the Talon killing an insignificant couple of campers. Like someone else pointed out, this story is just an excuse to show the Batfamily "killing" people in gruesome ways. So dark and edgy and cool!
2) The stupid backstory of the Talon. So the Court of Owls had to kill an entire family to get a piece of land. But for some reason a little kid survived the Talon's attack. Now the descendant of this kid is the general and the Talon needs to kill him after like 200 years so that his land may get bought by the Owls. First of all, what if someone else wants to buy it, and secondly, why dont they buy it from the general? They are rich arent they? What about blackmailing him?
It's stupid enough that the Court did nothing for 200 years and now finally they'll get this land after 200 years. What is this piece of land anyway? Does it have a huge goldmine or something? FFS
3) Tomasi desperately trying to find a way to force some Damian character moment in there. "You are someone who was raised to be a weapon like me, like how my mother used me". First of all this is forced as hell. Secondly, Damian doesnt get chatty about his personal stuff. Damian is to Tomasi what Batman is to Johns and Chinese is to me.
Tomasi just doesnt get him. Period.
4) The whole night of the owls is stupid anyway.
5) A whole army squad is firing at this guy but he keeps going. Those bullets are high calibre, they can blow your arm off. If anything, slow him down. But no, lets add some more blood and gore. Look, i dont mind suspending my desbelief, but not this way. It's one thing doing time travel, and another to show this guy get penetrated by dozens of high calibre bullets and not get slowed down.