Batman & Robin (The New 52) # 11

 By Mark Rodriguez

Several bad guys that have been severely injured by Batman in the past have gathered to work for the mysterious man named Terminus. Meanwhile Damian gathered Dick, Jason and Tim together so he can prove he is the best Robin of them all. The first one he went after was Tim, who he showed video footage in the Batcave of the time Tim nearly lost control and wanted to kill a villain named Fist Point after he killed Artemis. He made Tim admit that even he can think of killing someone. In the meantime Terminus prepares a rocket to further his plans.

‘Terminus Branded’ starts off in wherever Jason Todd goes to rest when he’s visiting Gotham City. He finds a crowbar on his pillow, and is taken by surprised by Damian. Damian says the crowbar is a good way to remind Jason which Robin was usually getting hit, and which one does the hitting. Jason brings up the beating Nobody gave Damian, if you fish him out of the river. Damian tells Jason that the next time he sees the Joker, be sure to ask which Robin beat him with a crowbar, and which Robin got beat by a crowbar. Jason says Batman let the Joker continue to live even after he killed him.

As they fight, Damian mentions about how Jason’s mother tricked him into the Joker’s hands that fateful day. Jason mentions that Damian seems like more of an Al Ghul than a Wayne and that they both have lousy mothers and fathers. Damian socks Jason to the ground, and when Jason tries to retaliate, the kid is already gone. Jason threatens that he knows where Damian lives, as Robin drives off with Jason’s motorcycle and Red Hood.

Elsewhere at the West Gotham Docks, a cop is ambushed by the guy who I’ll call Batarang-Head, and gets branded by the Bat-Symbol. At the hospital, Gordon and Bullock see tons of cops being branded with the Bat-Symbol. The Bat-Signal is set off, and Batman and Robin show up to get the info on these Bat-Branders.

Meanwhile, Terminus is hooked to another machine warning him that he will decay again. He asks how Scallop (the girl with the Bat-blades stuck on her) and Bootface (guy with the burned Bat-boot on his face) are doing as they continue to brand people with bat symbols. They are told to brand as many people as they can before morning. 

Batman and Robin arrive and start to take on the branders. Robin is tempted to brand one of the bad guys in the face, but Bats reminds him of the Nobody incident and Damian drops the brand. Some of the bad guys shoot at Batman’s chest, now giving him an epic burning bat on his outfit as he prepares to lay the smackdown on those creeps.

Batman tells Robin to round up the wounded, and they borrow a truck. Elsewhere, Terminus is falling apart again and shoots himself with some kind of weird gun, causing him to transform.

Elsewhere, Batman tells Gordon to get all the victims medical attention immediately. Gordon is surprised that Robin was driving the truck. Batman and Robin head out to stop the freaks, and Gordon reminds them that it will be dawn soon and Bats doesn’t usually operate in broad daylight. Batman leaves anyway and is angry that the city is now behind locked doors and in fear of the bat symbol. He wants to show the city that the bat is on their side. As they drive in the Batmobile, they stop to see lots of building branded with burning bat symbols

Robin sees where the people are that are causing the explosions. Batman angrily yells at them to leave his city alone and to stop preying on innocent people like terrorists. He demands they come and get him. A voice calls out saying that Batman is a master of spreading terror, and a giant-sized Terminus rises from the ground and attacks Batman and Robin.

My Thoughts-

I have to say, this is a good issue, however I did want to see more of the Robin feud. We see Jason and Damian fight for a bit, and then the story returns to normal Batman and Robin mode. The references keep on coming to pre-Flashpoint events like Death in the Family, and the first volume of Batman and Robin when Damian faced the Joker. Of all the past Robins, it makes sense that Damian hates Jason the most, since the 3 or so times they faced each other, the Red Hood has been a super villain for Dickbats and Damian to take down.

It's kinda funny to see some movie references, whether on purpose or not. The buildings with the burning bat symbols reminds me of The Dark Knight Rises, which was around at the time. The real coincidence was the Bat-Branding, something we would see many years later in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

As for Terminus, I assume that of all the bad guys he assembled for his little gathering, he was the one that suffered the most when facing Batman. I assume somehow Batman is responsible for his decaying condition and we’ll find out the backstory next issue. With the War of the Robins going on during this though… I do wish Batman was on some other case or whatever and the 4 Robins would team up and take Terminus down instead. It seemed the Robin thing was just shoved aside to make room for this citywide chaos thing. You could honestly leave out the first 4 or so pages of Jason and Damian and the story with Terminus causing chaos wouldn’t have changed. 

I guess we’ll see what happens next issue as Damian still has to try his luck against Dick Grayson, the original Robin.