BATMAN AND ROBIN YEAR ONE #5: Wayne is Now a Verb

Batman and Robin Year One #5:

Batman and Robin have a lead on the General and his assets; however, Batman must go undercover as Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile this leaves Dick on his own in Wayne Manor which begs the question, can he be trusted by himself so soon?

Creative Team:

Mark Waid (WRITER and CREATOR)

Chris Samnee (ARTIST, COVER, and CREATOR)

Matheus Lopes (COLORIST and COVER)

Clayton Cowles (LETTERS)

The Story:

Waid and Samnee continue to take this story to new heights continuously evolving the dynamic between Bruce and Dick. They do a great job of capturing the spirit of Robin and how he truly is a kid at heart. The parts of this run that continue to stand out to me are the noncrime fighting aspects between them.

I cannot say it enough but, we rarely see how life without the mask is for Bruce and Dick. This story shows the struggle Bruce has in dealing with “real life” problems and how he has even turned his name into a verb! Cowles is still hammering the letters out strongly with this run as well. The sound effects and how the tones change when Batman is drowning in clay. The corny tone of Robin fighting crime and the way the criminals talk is all further endeared by his lettering.

The Artwork:

Samnee and Lopes nail the details when Batman is drowning in the clay and artistically capture the difficulty in how Clayface can melt and mold himself. When it comes to Batman moving amongst the shadows, the aspect is drawn well by Samnee, and the color mash-ups between Haegan moving in the light and Bats in the dark are seamless.

Lopes additionally kills it when we see Robin off on his own and how the scenery brightens up to match his personality. It’s those types of details I come to love and that draw me closer to these books.

Overall Grade: 9/10

Batman and Robin Year One #5 continues to deepen the bond and clashes in the personalities that Batman and Robin have. Bruce’s struggle as a father figure continues to be one of my favorite things about this run and not something we see often.

One final thought is how the scene with Robin running away to go off in Gotham on his own reminded me so much of Schumacher’s Batman films, bringing the light-hearted fun I want in this story.

You can find more of Matt’s reviews and links to his weekly podcast here: http://hops-geek-news.com

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