Batman & Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin by

Set in the wake of Bruce Wayne's passing, a new Dynamic Duo, made up ofDick Grayson and Batman's son Damian, hits the streets to investigate Bruce'smysterious death. This features the Eisner Award-winning team of Grant Morrisonand Frank Quitely (ALL STAR SUPERMAN), as well as the brilliant artwork ofFrazier Irving, Philip Tan and Cameron Stewart. This volume collects Batman& Robin issues #1-16 and Batman: The Return.

To date, I have really enjoyed going back and reading Grant Morrison's run on Batman. Batman and Son and The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul were terrific reads. The insert of The Clown at Midnight was the perfect prose insert to a graphic novel. But The Black Glove was difficult for me.

I tend to like the solo Batman, the one that gets deep into his detective work. While I realize that Robin and a number of other sidekicks are (and have been) central to the story line through the years, those characters don't resonate nearly as well with me as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Alred, and Commissioner Gordon. So when I begin this graphic novel with Damian/Robin traveling to some island to meet a band of superhero buddies of Batman's....a tough sell nonetheless.

The tough sell continued throughout all of the first half of Batman: The Black Glove. It wasn't until we got off of the island and starting delving a little into Batman's psyche that this one turned around a bit. I have enjoyed Morrison's writing on Batman enough that I'll look forward to the next edition of his arc, but Batman: The Black Glove makes me do so with trepidation.