Batman & Robin (The New 52) # 10

 By Mark Rodriguez

A new group of thugs that Batman has beat up over the years get together to try to take down. Meanwhile, the 4 Robins, Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian try to arrange a contest to see who is the best one, if they can get along that is.

'Terminus: Scar of the Bat’ opens with several villains have gathering together with beef on Batman. Rather than 'big name' Gotham villains, these are a group of regular thugs that have suffered permanent injuries in their run-ins with Batman. One of them has a boot-shaped mark on his face, another has a Batarang stuck in his head (that he inadvertently caused himself trying to throw it at Batman) and a woman has blades stuck in her neck. 

Another person, or rather, group of people were the same guys that were robbing chemicals in Batman and Robin # 1. They tried to get away in the Bat-Gyro, but Damian messed with it and now they got burnt and mutated into a gross pile of human limbs and stuff. Now we know that Damian didn’t kill them after all, but that kind of existence isn’t much better.

Apparently these guys have been doing errands for the guy that called this meeting without even knowing it (so I guess that’s why those three were stealing such hazardous chemicals). The main villain in charge is named Terminus and we wishes to see Batman die before he does.

At the Wayne Manor, Bruce, Dick, Tim, Damian and Alfred are all posing for a new Wayne family portrait. Bruce decides they look better if they were all standing. Tim and Damian bicker while Dick tries to keep the peace. Damian then brings in his dog Titus to also be in the portrait. Tim mocks Damian and the current Robin tells him that Titus could kill him if he wanted to. Tim teases that killing seems to be Damian’s specialty and reminds him about how he killed a villain named Netz with El Gaucho’s blade, as seen in ‘Batman Incorporated Leviathan Strikes’. Seeing that these two continue to bicker, Bruce tells everyone it’s time to take a break. 

 

In another room, Tim continues to argue about how Damian is tainting the Robin name. Bruce tells them to calm down. He says they’ve all honored their time as Robin, even Jason, and that they should use their shared name as a bond not a wedge. Damian storms off refusing to follow a standard set by Tim, and Tim refuses to listens to a spoiled brat. Dick jokes about how movie night is ruined, and Bruce tells him he wanted a picture to the remember them all, and to match all the other family portraits in the manor.

Elsewhere, Terminus is hooking himself to all sorts of devices as his body literally falls apart. This device keeps him alive as well as keeping him together.

Later that night, Nightwing and the Red Hood run into each other. Jason says he already helped defeat Mr. Freeze during the Night of Owls, so they shouldn’t expect him to show up every time they need help. Red Robin also shows up, not knowing who called them all. Just then Damian arrives, doing his best Spiderman impression, to say that he called them in. Jason tells Robin he should lay low since there are assassins after him, but Damian drops a couple of unconscious bad guys nearby, showing that he has it covered.

Damian warns the others that he will attack them when they least expect it. He will beat them at something they feel they’re unbeatable at, and take a memento from them. Nightwing asks what he hopes to prove with this. Damian says he wants to prove that he is the best Robin, to all of them, to himself and to Batman. Nightwing says they have nothing to prove, except maybe Jason. He brings up how Bruce mentioned Jason during the portrait sitting and Jason says that he must have lost his invite in the mail. Tim says that Damian is 10 and any one of them can easily kick his ass. Damian considers them warned and goes off to beat up more assassins. Tim says Damian is wired too tight, and Dick compares him to Jason.

At the Batcave, Bruce and Alfred work on making more Batarangs. Alfred discusses how Bruce didn’t tell anyone that Damian killed Nobody. Bruce says it’s best to not throw in another reason to divide the family further. Bruce sees the Bat-signal and heads out.

Later that evening in the Batcave, Tim arrives to warn Bruce of Damian’s little game, but Damian is already there waiting for him. Tim is ready to fight, but Damian suggests they watch TV instead. Hacking some of his Teen Titans files, he shows them a recent battle in The Colony, in which a villain named Fist Point killed Tim’s friend Artemis which enraged him to point of nearly killing him. Damian jokes that maybe killing his Tim’s specialty. 

Tim argues that he is nothing like Damian and brings on the fight. As they battle, Tim says he doesn’t like or trust Damian because upon their first few meetings, he chopped the head off  a gangster called ‘The Spook’, stuffed a grenade in his mouth and tried to blow him up with it (this happened in the Batman and Son story). 

Damian says he was a bit rambunctious. Tim says he was a bit psychotic and throws him into the Jason Todd Robin memorial.

Damian says he can deny all he wants, he saw the ice cold look on Tim’s face during the fight on The Colony. Tim admits that he did want to kill Fist Point for what he did and asks Damian if that’s what he wanted to hear. Damian says he wanted Tim to hear himself say it and to see that he’s not better than him. Damian also wants Tim to accept that Damian is a Wayne and a Robin. Tim gets on his bike and drives off.

Elsewhere, Terminus emerges from his machine, back in good shape, though he mentions it’s only temporary. He is ready to attack Batman and Gotham with a rocket. 

My thoughts- 

Well this was an awesome issue and the best part has to be all the little jokes and comments from the Robins. There are also a lot of references here and there, from Leviathan, Batman and Son and even the Teen Titans annual. Not only do they mention the fate of Nobody, but hey, we even see what happened to those three thugs in the first issue and found out why they were stealing those chemicals. I do like the idea of random thugs and such teaming up to get Batman, because hey, the average lowlife has just as much beef with the Caped Crusader as the super-villains do.

I did like the fight between Robin and Red Robin, and hey, he’s not only on the cover, but he’s actually in the issue too, so take that Dark Knight # 9!!! It’s interesting that Damian’s battle wasn’t exactly about who was better in a fight, but about having Tim admit that he has also thought of crossing the line before. I do have to say that Tim hasn’t had the best of luck when he had to fight against the other members of the Bat-Family. I mean, Damian kicked his ass when they first met in Batman and Son, and Jason nearly killed him in Battle for the Cowl. He kinda got off easy this time around.

To be honest though, with the New 52 doing a semi-reboot where most of the comics except for Batman and Green Lantern were retconned or condensed, a lot of people were looking for clues as to what was and wasn't canon anymore. We know Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown were never Batgirl (nor was Steph ever Robin) in this new continuity, but we now know that the events of Batman and Son still happened. Though they did keep flip-flopping on whether or nor Tim Drake was ever a Robin or if he was Red Robin all along. At least for this story, Tim was still one of the Robins.