Noteworthy Issues: Batman Vs Robin #4 (December, 2022)

So, I thought this was the last part of this mini-series, where Batman would finally need to find a way to defeat his enchanted son and a whole lot of other people that would be too much for him even on the best of days.

But then this issue ended and…oh man.  I wasn’t expecting that.

Issue:  Batman vs Robin #4, December 2022

Writer:  Mark Waid

Artists:  Mahmud Asrar and Scott Godlewski

The Plot:  Finally, Batman gets to the real enemy.

Commentary:  So, here’s what I wasn’t expecting:  not only was this issue not the final part of the mini-series, but the whole thing is a set-up for the next DC crossover event, Lazarus Planet.  Now, I personally will get that for the price of my DC Universe Infinite subscription, but that’s not the point here.  Not everyone does what I do.  Heck, it might even be a good crossover.  Mark Waid is writing it from the looks of things with Gene Luen Yang bringing in his new Monkey Prince character for a major role.  Yes, it does appear Waid will only be doing the bookends along with the next part of the Batman vs Robin mini-series.  But that might be enough to hold my interest, and again, it’s not like I’ll be buying individual issues.

Plus, maybe if I followed DC announcements better, I might have known about the Lazarus Planet thing in advance.  But the point is I didn’t, and I was a little surprised to see “Continued in Lazarus Planet Alpha” at the end of this issue.

And that’s too bad.  This issue was a good one in and of itself.  Batman doesn’t really have magical powers, he’s walking into a trap, and he knows it.  Damian is charged up with all kinds of magical powers, Nezha was by himself too powerful for both Batman and Superman once before, and Mother Soul…OK, I don’t know a whole hell of a lot about her, but Nehza by himself should be too much for the Dark Knight.

He isn’t, and in a way I should have seen coming.  Batman may not have a lot of superpowers, but he’s also a master strategist, and it turns out Damian is something of a chip off the old block in the right way along with the wrong way seen through most of this story.

I just wasn’t too pleased to see where this story goes from here.

Grade:  A-