Hello everyone and welcome to another monthly session of the DWBC here @RenegadeRobinsClub. This month we will be covering the Terminus arc, a battle between all the Robins and Death of the Family. Lets get to it!
In these issues Bruce admits that every one of the Robins brought something to the Robin Legacy, even Jason.
There are several references in these issues to events that happened before the N52 reboot. See if you can spot them as you read.
It is also mentioned that Damian has a bounty out on his head and that assassins are after him. We see him fighting a few even. This is all leading up to…well…something as we shall see.
Robin’s War (Week One March 1-7)
Damian challenges each Robin saying he will best them and take a momento to put in his room as proof that he is the best Robin.
What did you think of each confrontation between Damian and each of the other Robins here?
The group of people Terminus hires to help him in his quest against Batman are all people who have suffered at Batman’s hand in some way.
While Bruce is the one wearing the Batman suit now do you think these criminals would have fit in nicely with the rogues gallery that was being created in the previous volume of Batman and Robin for Dick’s time as Batman? And if so why?
One thing I liked about this part of the story was how connected with continuity it was, both to past and then current. Tim’s was interesting not just in the callback to Batman & Son, but also the events from Teen Titans and “The Culling” event. Jason’s was kind of standard, but the image of Damian riding the bike with Jason’s hood whistling was hilarious.
Dick’s was really interesting because in basically giving Damian what he wanted, I think he kind of won the war. He told Damian what he needed to hear.
First, I want to point out a cool detail that I didn’t notice until this read – the villain Smush is/are a group of characters we actually saw in Batman & Robin #1 – they’re the thieves that were trying to steal the nuclear reactor rods. Damian messed up their escape vehicle and caused it to crash and the crash turned them into Smush. I thought that was a cool detail – little callback to earlier, and shows that Damian’s actions have consequences.
As for the group fitting with Dick’s time – possibly? I mean, we’ve seen Dick and Damian handle some of Bruce’s own baggage with Absence, and I guess you could say similar with The Black Mirror and James Jr. Honestly, outside of the little continuity nod with Smush, I found the group and Terminus himself not all that interesting. The group were just thugs with weirder costumes and Terminus himself was rather basic.
It really felt like Tomasi was more interested in Damian’s conflict with the Robins, but either the editor or his own editorial skill told him “This is cool, but these superheroes still need to punch some supervillains at some point.”
Once again Dick tells Damian exactly what he needs to hear like the good brother he is. I think Damian hearing it straight from the first Robin and someone that he really grew to trust is important for him because he still seems to think he needs to prove himself to everyone. I would argue that he doesn’t really need to do so however.
Did you feel there was significance in the fact that Damian presented his father with one of Martha Wayne’s pearls in front of the display case that holds Jason’s Robin suit?
This is one of my favorite panels in all of Batman and Robin.
The Death of the Family Tie-In was a solid story – I feel like Gleason’s take on faceless Joker was probably the creepiest one from this event, possibly more so than even Capullo’s! The fight between Damian and “Batman” was also effective, and I think the end of it was foreshadowing what would happen later on in Damian’s story.
I also really liked #17, it was interesting to see how traumatic events like Death of the Family would affect our characters on a mental and emotional level.
The Annual, in sharp contrast, was just loads of fun. Nice bit of fanservice to see Damian in his 666 Batman costume, and it was great to see Bruce be more vulnerable and for Damian to show his love in his own way.
I thought that as well. Gleason’s drawing of Joker in this really upped the creepy horror factor that this particular event had. After I’d read that tie-in I actually found myself expecting to see his version of faceless Joker instead of Capullo’s and was slightly disappointed when I didn’t.
