Rating: *** 1/2*

Another great issue in Grant Morrison’s run on Batman and Robin.  The issue picks up right where we left off in the previous issue with Red Hood and Scarlet confronting the new Batman and Robin.  Some very cool dialogue between the current Robin Damian Wayne and the second one The Red Hood Jason Todd.  It’s funny.  Even though I’m on the side of Batman and what he stands for, the Red Hood makes a good point when he says that after killing all of these criminals, they will think twice before setting foot in Gotham. 

Damian is being his normal arrogant self here, and decides to try and take Jason out, but Jason proceeds to catch him and ram his face into the ground.  Batman not being too happy about that, returns the favor.  Scarlet grabs Damian in retaliation and holds him at knife point.  Batman backs off of the Red Hood and allows them to escape as they need to turn the Penguin over to police.

Jason and Scarlet return to their hideout to regroup.  We see him unmask himself and at first I thought that this wasn’t Jason because he had red hair.  However, he makes reference to Batman making him dye his hair black in order to look more like Dick Grayson.  This fits in with Jason Todd’s Pre-Crisis continuity.  When he first premiered in 1983, the character didn’t have black hair, but when the character was rebooted after the Crisis on Infinite Earths , he had natural black hair.  Is this something Morrison wanted to change on his own?  I guess we can blame Superboy of Earth Prime and his continuity changing punches on this one.

Another new Bat-villain debuts in Morrison’s run in this issue.  The character is named Eduardo Flamingo.  Jim Gordon discovers a private plane full of dead escorts.  According to a survivor, Flamingo skins and eats the faces of his victims.  Nice one, Grant!  First Professor Pyg, now Flamingo.  So far Grant Morrison has created two great new villains to go along with the long list of Batman villains.  And what about the Gravedigger Oberon Sexton?  He makes another appearance in this issue on television discussing the Red Hood and the new Batman and Robin. Will he end up being a villain to Batman and Robin or will he be something in between.

Later the Red Hood and Scarlet go to the hospital to finish off one of the gangsters that survived their attack in the previous issue.  They decide to put bleach in his IV bag!  However, the new Batman and Robin fly in to stop them.  This time Red Hood and Scarlet come out on top as Scarlet guts Robin and the Red Hood shoots Batman point blank in the chest (he’s not dead as he was wearing a vest).  They gather them up to take them back to their hideout to finish them off when a shot rings out and hits the Red Hood in the head, shattering his helmet.  The assassin stands revealed as Eduardo Flamingo and we end there.

A great story.  I’m so loving this book right now.  For all of the disappointment that Grant Morrison has given me over the past year or so with Batman: RIP and Final Crisis, he’s more than making up for it here with Batman and Robin.  I’m not a fan of Philip Tan’s work so that’s the one draw back for me.  There are moments where I think he does a good job here, but overall I would prefer someone else. 

Villains are very important in comic books.  In many cases a good villain enhances the character of the hero.  One of the reasons why Batman is so great is because of his villains.  I’m happy to see Grant Morrison giving Dick Grayson more villains that will be associated with him and not Bruce Wayne.  But what happens when Bruce returns?  I’m really at a lost as to how things will change when Bruce returns.  I can’t see Tim Drake going back to being Robin.  He’s almost beyond that role now.  So does this mean Damian stays on as Robin?  Does Dick go back to being Nightwing?  As much as I want Bruce to come back, having him return will almost hurt the characters of Dick Grayson and Tim Drake as I feel they’ve graduated.  Stepping back into their former roles as Nightwing and Robin is almost a disservice to them.  It’s like making them re-do senior year after they’ve graduated high school.

Whatever the case, Batman and Robin continues to be the best Bat-book on the market right now and it’s shaping up to be a classic run.  Congratulations to Grant and his artists.