Well, I expected Batman to know something was up with Alfred. But the reveal that he did still had a gutpunch of an effect, but that’s this whole issue when I get right down to it.
Issue:  Batman vs Robin #3, November 2022
Writer:Â Â Mark Waid
Artists:Â Â Mahmud Asrar and Scott Godlewski
The Plot:  Damien has a gauntlet set up for his father, but Batman is pretty good at seeing through traps.
Commentary:  Well, the cover shows Talia. Turns out Mother Soul and the Devil Nezha don’t want her around much either. I can see why the pair would want Damien to deal with Batman. He’s the main opponent to Mother Soul’s descendants (save Damien) and he was instrumental with Superman to defeat Nezha. But Talia? No, she’s been dealt with too, though in a less fatal manner. The whole thing seems to be there to bring out Damien’s worst influences, but there are hints that the real Damien is in there somewhere while Nazha is forcing Black Alice to place captured magical beings into Fate’s helmet.
Likewise, Damien is still Damien, and the title of this mini-series is Batman vs Robin, and there have been a couple of them. Nezha has possession as one of his key powers, so that means Damien has a trap set for his father in the form of the other Robins, namely Tim, Jason, Stephanie, and Dick, are all under their control and sent off to at least slow Batman down. Likewise, Alfred is not what he appears to be, but the real question is will Batman notice?
Um, yeah. He’s Batman.
But likewise, there’s some good character work between Batman and all the Robins. Each Robin has their own issues with Bruce, and since there’s an evil something controlling them, they are much more likely to spout off and make accusations, and due to the nature of what’s happening, it causes Bruce to wonder if they might be right. That struck me as good writing, and while the whole thing was set up to have Damien be the one to take on Bruce in the end, that didn’t mean that Bruce didn’t break a sweat and face real danger when he faced off with each Robin to say nothing of what Alfred was up to. This has been a good mini-series so far, but I have come to expect as much from Mark Waid.
Speaking of, tomorrow’s review will cover another recent comic he wrote.
Grade:Â B+
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