Batman and Robin #1

At what point did DC decide to make all the Batman comics into horror titles?

I know, I'm old-fashioned, out of touch, a geezer - but so far I've read two of the "New 52" Batman comics (Detective Comics and Batman and Robin), and both are loaded with gory images and horrific deaths.

I'll grant that Batman lends himself to almost any kind of story, and the emphasis often changes - he's been depicted as a superhero, a detective, an adventurer, the world's most dangerous man, and a madman (to name just a few).

The focus in this title is on the relationship between Bruce (Batman) Wayne and his son Damian (Robin), and it looks like Bruce has a job on his hands. Damian is rude, disrespectful and not much of a team player. DC would be well advised to remember that these are the same qualities that encouraged fans to vote for an earlier Robin's demise.

There are three different stories at work here - the fight to stop a heist of some deadly materials, observing an important event, and a vicious attack on one of the Batman, Inc. heroes.

It's the latter story that has the most horrific elements (though there are other deaths in the comic), as an invisible foe commits a brutal and bloody murder, makes a vicious attack and then follows it up with a scene out of one of the Saw movies.

I don't expect Batman to be a comic for kids, but it is a character that young readers would gravitate to - but I'd hate to think that young readers were being exposed to this kind of graphic violence.

Look, the art by Patrick Gleason is very good, the story by Peter Tomasi is fine - I just wish the title that included Robin could be more of an "All Ages" comic.

Is that too much to ask?

Grade: B-

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