BATMAN #713

[ WEEEEE ] 

Stories are a good way of explaining to people truisms and life lessons, whilst at the same time giving them hope, inspiration, and focus, towards a more prosperous future. Just as this last issue of Batman does as a mater a fact - one Written by Fabien Nicieza; Drawn by Daniel Sampere, Steve Scott and Andrei Bressan; and Published by DC Comics in September 2011.  

THE STORY:

Once upon a time, there was a crime-fighting duo called Batman and Robin. Now for many years this diametrically opposed partnership was able to gage from each other attributes, until one day Robin grew up to become Nightwing. Next, after this did transpire, Nightwing went on to join a team called the ‘Teen Titans’, as well a venture into many solo escapades to boot. While Batman on the other hand tried to replace the first Robin by gauging the services of another – resulting in tragedy and sorrow for all involved.

Calm down now, do not worry, the story does not end there. As thankfully, over time, a third Robin rose from the ashes of the second one, and with him a new lease of life for Batman and everyone associated with him. Heck, even when Batman found out that he had a son and seemingly died in a global catastrophe, he managed to come back from this to see that his mantel was being honoured by the first Robin, i.e. Nightwing, whilst his son became the new Robin too.

Listen now, you have to remember that all of this is a story told from the perspective of Damien (Robin) Wayne to a couple of kids in a recreation centre, just before he and Dick (Batman) Grayson go off on there nightly patrol.

Never the end.

THE REVIEW:

Now this is what I would call a perfect ‘ending’ to a great and historic series. From my perspective, what it has done, is to distil a conceptual tale of the innovation of Batman over the years, and then conceive it into a self contained story. I found it to be like a ‘last hurrah’ for the old guard – a battle cry of sorts that screams one solitary message – never give up hope. And I suppose on some level this is what certain readers needs to hear now at the dawn of the DCnU – as I really feel that some people do need some hope from the somewhat ambiguous future DC is leading us towards (especially after reading through some of the messages on the message boards).

Still, saying all of that, we – as readers – have to realise that the tales we have been reading for the last x amount of years, have also been innovations of innovations of innovations. Take Batman as a prime example: he started off as a gun wielding vigilante – he then became some sort of honourable citizen with a brightly coloured youthful partner – after that, he became a foreboding figure once more – and now he is like a statesman to a lofty cause. You see? An innovation of an innovation of an innovation! Granted, the only difference with what is happening now and some of these transitions in the past – is that history was always kept somewhat malleable and presently this does not seem to be the case. Still, that maybe presumptuous of me – and things may not turn out as harsh that may currently appear to be.

However, as for this issue on the other hand – this great-great issue – all I have to say is that it ticked a lot of the boxes in my book, and gave me hope for the future of the DC Universe. The story was great – the art was great – and the overall conceptual idea was great too – just like this video as a matter of fact...

Nice ending to a classic series – hope it will tell the tale of time.  

THE RATING: A