Batman and Robin #25 - Mobile Edition

DC Comics
Batman and Robin #25
By Dan Horn
July 7, 2011 - 12:16

DC Comics
Writer(s): Judd Winick
Penciller(s): Greg Tocchini and Andy Smith
Inker(s): Greg Tocchini and Andy Smith
Colourist(s): Artur Fujita
Letterer(s): Patrick Brosseau
Cover Artist(s): Guillem March with variant by J.G. Jones
$2.99 US

So, last month's Batman and Robin #24 got a whopping 4/10 from me, and while I half-expected Judd Winick to pick up some of that slack in the finale to his "The Streets Run Red" arc, I sort of knew this issue was going to--well, I'm just going to come right and say it--suck. But, nothing could have prepared me for how ridiculously awful this "climax" really was.

With Batman and Robin teaming up with the newly liberated Red Hood and Scarlet held captive by a group of people whose identities, motives, or purpose aren't ever even touched upon slightly, this story begins unraveling into an uncontrollable downward spiral toward an imminently atrocious ending. "Eject!" I was screaming, and by page 16 artist Greg Tocchini must have heard me as he bailed out, leaving Andy Smith alone at the penciling and inking controls.

Inexplicable ninjas, an inept dynamic duo, a premise that subsists solely to free the Red Hood and reunite him with Scarlet and practically lets you know it with a slap in the face, and some really horrendous artwork with a glaring transition in the final pages to more horrendous artwork make this one of the worst comic books I've read in quite a while. This isn't an attack on Tocchini or Smith's talents; I just don't think they were appropriate choices for this arc stylistically. I've often admired Greg's work on books like The Last Days of American Crime. Here it doesn't jive, and you can pick up on some peculiar reuses of frames from last month's artwork. This book is just plain ugly, and there's no way around it.

I used to really love Winick's work. What the hell happened here? For once, I'm looking forward to a reboot of this series at least to get it back on the rails it was chugging along just a few months ago.

Rating: 3/10