Batman & Robin (The New 52) # 8

By Mark Rodriguez

Robin tricked Morgan into thinking he was siding with him, but once he was at his hideout, he revealed his ruse. Morgan captured Robin and tortured him until Batman smashes in with the Batmobile and beat the hell out of him. In the end, Morgan reminds them that he won't stop until he kills them and Robin kills him with his own technique.

Issue 8 wraps this up with ‘Born to Kill… Black Dawn’ as Robin proclaims he killed Morgan for his father. He then passes out and Batman carries him out of the sinking ship.

The Batmobile enters flight mode and the Dynamic Duo fly off as the ship sinks along with Morgan’s lifeless body. Back at the Bat Cave, Alfred is ready to patch both Bruce and Damian up, but Bruce demands Damian goes first. Bruce stares at one of the older Robin costumes in the Batcave (I guess a nod to Jason Todd?) and demands that Alfred stop worrying about him and tend to Damian.

Alfred claims that due to Damian’s conditioning, he should be alright soon, but he is worried about his attitude. Bruce says Damian’s betrayal was a ruse to trick Morgan down and shut him down. Alfred asks if he is shut down, and Bruce tells him Damian killed him. Bruce wishes Morgan’s blood was on his hands, instead of his son’s, and soon collapses. Alfred soon tends to him. Later on, Bruce goes to Damian’s room and gives him the recording he was doing while he was searching the city for him earlier that night.

 Damian later wakes up and finds his father in a dark room. This is Bruce’s father’s den, a place he hasn’t touched since the murder of his parents. Damian tells him he heard the recording and finds out Bruce had wanted to kill Morgan over what happened in London. Bruce adds he also wanted to kill him for attacking Damian the other day.

Bruce admits he’s tempted to kill his enemies from time to time, it happens when you see so many crazies endangering innocent people, but he made a promise to his parents and himself to live by his principles. Damian admits he doesn’t want to become a Nobody, he wants to be like his father. Bruce tells him to be the best Damian Wayne he can be, and that he won’t give up on his son.

Damian asks how to make amends with what he did that night, but Bruce says it’s something he’ll have to live with for the rest of his life. Since they are both on lockdown by Alfred, they decide to do something mundane. And so Bruce, Damian and his dog, Titus, play catch, having some good ol' fashioned normal fun, while Alfred tells them not to ruin his stitches. 

 Just as Damian looks for the ball, the Bat-Signal lights up the sky. Alfred asks if just one night is too much to ask as Batman and Robin get ready to get to work.

My Opinions 

This wraps up the first story arc for the New 52 Batman and Robin series as we dive deep into Damian trying to deal with being raised by Bruce after being raised by Talia. I actually liked the story and thought it was awesome. Certain scenes like when Damian beat up the guys with the camera in issue 3, and the final fight between Batman and Nobody were just awesome. Many people felt having this be an 8-issue story arc was too long, and the Henri Ducard flashbacks stretched things out, but it didn’t seem as bad when I re-read them.

I was surprised that Damian actually killed Morgan without it being any kind of fake out. The technique was proven to be fatal and non-fatal so I'm surprised we didn't get some sort of 'It was the non-fatal version all along'. I guess it shows that Damian still needs more work... but if Bruce can convince him to care for a dog, it could still be a step in the right direction.