Batman and Robin #10

I have to hand it to Grant Morrison. In the interest of full disclosure there is very little that Grant does that I don't like, in fact his run on the JLA I consider one of my favorite iterations of my favorite team. (The other being the BWAH-HA-HA League) But with his creation of Damian, son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al-Ghul, is such a stroke of genius it's made this book one of the few I really look forward to. I wish they would tell us how old he's supposed to be because it would make some of the situations he's put in even more surreal.

Take, for instance, the opening scene of this book. He's in a Wayne Enterprises board meeting talking about financial irregularities in one of the firm's charity accounts. Can you imagine going to work and getting dressed down by a twelve year old while he explains financial dealings you had to go to school for years to learn about? Although, all this talk about someone bleeding money out of the Wayne accounts reminded me that Hush is still out there posing as Bruce, spending all his money. Did that plotline ever resolve? Wouldn't that be the first place to look for financial drains? Maybe Batman and co. forgot about him.

One of the coolest things about this issue is we gota peek behind Damian's rough exterior and saw that he really cares about being Robin and honoring his father's legacy. As he and Dick are serching for clus to find Bruce, who has apparently been "lost in time" ala Captain America, he realizes that once Bruce returns there's really not a need for him to be Robin anymore and it worries him. Add to that the fact that apparently his mother as brainwashed him and can force him to kill Dick at anytime and he is understandably concerned.

This issue also kicks off the big "Hunt for Bruce Wayne" story line that will run through the summer with Alfred finding clues hidden in paintings in the mansion. The search finds a second "batcave" hidden from the main cave that has the word "Barbatos" scrawled on the wall in big letters and the word "Thomas" written smaller all over the wall. Not sure what's going on here but it looks like the search for Bruce has started in earnest and with Grant Morrison at the helm it's going to be a fun ride.

Written by GRANT MORRISON

Art by ANDY CLARKE and SCOTT HANNA

Cover by FRANK QUITELY

Variant Cover by ANDY CLARKE