Spoilers Batman & Robin #4 Discussion Thread (with Preview)

[oddballuk]

Out Sept 16th, Grant Morrison's new series continues as he is joined by Philip Tan (Green Lantern, Final Crisis: Revelations) for the start of a new arc!

Who is the new Red Hood roaming Gotham City and how will affect the lives of the city's new Batman and Robin?

Preview at IGN.com: http://uk.comics.ign.com/articles/102/1024853p1.html

Wow!

Looks awesome and Tan's art is great!

[General grievous]

Tan is invited to bring the goods.

He delivers.

[Kiryu]

Looks solid. I like the twist is pulls on issue 1. Opening with Batman and Robin pursuing a criminal, but this time things don't go as well as they did with the toad, echoing Morrison's sentiments about a new Batman "Sometimes it goes really really well, sometimes it doesn't".

[General grievous]

Looks solid. I like the twist is pulls on issue 1. Opening with Batman and Robin pursuing a criminal, but this time things don't go as well as they did with the toad, echoing Morrison's sentiments about a new Batman "Sometimes it goes really really well, sometimes it doesn't".

Kiryu

Well noted.

If we got meticulous about it, One could argue that catching toad led to the failed breakout which resulted in dead cops and damages to the GCPD.

[RetroWarbird]

Very cool.

Red Hood leaving a red "card" is evocative of Joker's own leaving a joker as a calling card - which would certainly make sense if Morrison was pulling a fast one and Red Hood was actually the Joker.

I just can't see it being anyone but Jason Todd. The twin pistols. The more heavily armored but still similar to a Batman costume. And he's way too jacked and has nothing at all like the shape/size of Joker.

But the vigilante calling card is still an inspired bit of cliche.

Lightning Bug, our little new, small-timer "Fire Bug" knock-off, certainly doesn't last too long.

And yeah, Tan's art is a knockout here. There's a nice contrast between clean and gritty thanks to good inks, and the colorist does really sharp work. It makes his pencils stand out more than usual.

[Kiryu]

Well noted. If we got meticulous about it, One could argue that catching toad led to the failed breakout which resulted in dead cops and damages to the GCPD.

General grievous

And a step further, it put Batman and Robin on Pyg's plan to infect the city.

[God-Man]

Great stuff. That's the best art from Tan since the first couple of issues of Final Crisis Revelations.

[superboy650]

Looks good. I thought Lightning Bug would have been a fun addition to the Bat villains, but a spark snuffed early.

[Wally West888]

The Preview was good, I love the art, Philip Tan is an awesome artist. And the Red Hood I can't see being anyone else but the Joker especially with the calling card now, and the solicit with Gotham City Sirens about the Joker.

Anyways I think the guns are to throw off people and make them think it is Jason when it is the Joker.

I think Jason is the Black Mask.

[Spenser for Hire]

The Preview was good, I love the art, Philip Tan is an awesome artist. And the Red Hood I can't see being anyone else but the Joker especially with the calling card now, and the solicit with Gotham City Sirens about the Joker. Anyways I think the guns are to throw off people and make them think it is Jason when it is the Joker. I think Jason is the Black Mask.

Wally West888

Interesting theory.

[General grievous]

From my cbr thread last month.

Remember the Battle for the cowl teaser poster with all the different batmen in the batcave?

I remember seeing a reversed JOKER card in the cave.

Now that Batman seems dead to everybody, Could the joker have lost his purpose as the joker and the death of Batman has driven him in SANE?

What If he returned to his classic RED HOOD guise and is now the scourge of the underworld and sasha is his new robin? Or his own robin/sidekick?

Anybody any other thoughts?

[Five]

From my cbr thread last month. Remember the Battle for the cowl teaser poster with all the different batmen in the batcave? I remember seeing a reversed JOKER card in the cave. Now that Batman seems dead to everybody, Could the joker have lost his purpose as the joker and the death of Batman has driven him in SANE? What If he returned to his classic RED HOOD guise and is now the scourge of the underworld and sasha is his new robin? Or his own robin/sidekick? Anybody any other thoughts?

General grievous

Hm....good theory. I'd still like to see Joker as the insane psycho that he is, though. I'm hoping this Red Hood is either a new character taking up the mantle, or Jason Todd being given a role that he will actually stick to.

[Simon DelMonte]

What a strange comic. Great art, but the story is in full Morrison Weird mode without being particularly interesting.

[General grievous]

What a strange comic. Great art, but the story is in full Morrison Weird mode without being particularly interesting.

Simon DelMonte

What was not very interesting about it?

[rpi]

Guess I'm alone in thinking that the art really hurt the story. I saw the promo pencils Tan posted and they looked fantastic, but the inking makes it look mudled and blobby. It's the same thing with Tony Daniel. He posts these beautiful pencils and then the actual issues are flat and kind of sloppy. DC needs to get these guys some nice, clean, crisp inkers to help show off the pencils. The excessive use of black really hurts things. It feels like those really horrible Eric Battle issues of Batman that came just before Infinite Crisis.

[Chaltab]

Another fantastic issue. The art isn't as strong as on the previous three issues, but Morrison is still in top form here.