Batman and Robin #2

History

Tomasi and Gleason had already built rapport as a creative team on Green Lantern Corps before DC's editorial brought them to Batman and Robin for the New 52 relaunch; Tomasi had also written the tail end of Vol. 1 before the line-wide reboot gave them a clean slate. Issue #2 was produced under editor Mike Marts and executive editor Eddie Berganza, with Mick Gray providing inks over Gleason's pencils — a pairing that gave the book its characteristically dense, shadow-heavy texture throughout the run. The 'Born to Kill' arc (issues 1–8) was Tomasi's deliberate thesis statement for the series: per his own story proposal reprinted as a trade afterword, the NoBody villain plot existed to stress-test the Bruce-Damian bond rather than as a traditional superhero conflict.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published October 12, 2011 with a December 2011 cover date; part of DC's line-wide New 52 relaunch.
• Written by Peter J. Tomasi, pencilled by Patrick Gleason, inked by Mick Gray, and colored by John Kalisz — the same core team that carried the series through its entire run.
• Part two of the 'Born to Kill' arc (issues 1–8), which establishes Bruce Wayne and Damian Wayne as Batman and Robin operating together as both crimefighting partners and father and son for the first time in the post-Flashpoint continuity.
• NoBody (Morgan Ducard) made his first appearance one issue earlier in Batman and Robin Vol. 2 #1; in issue #2 he murders the criminals Batman and Robin leave for the police, escalating his threat and philosophical challenge to Batman's no-kill code.
• Bruce Wayne adopts a Great Dane in this issue — the dog is still unnamed here (referred to colloquially as 'Le Grand Danois') but will later be named Titus and become a recurring Wayne Manor resident.
• Nightwing (Dick Grayson) and Talia al Ghul both appear in supporting/cameo roles, grounding the issue in the broader Bat-family continuity.
• Alfred Pennyworth's dialogue confronting Bruce about his emotional reticence toward Damian — calling out 'commendable' as a poor substitute for 'I'm proud of you' — encapsulates the emotional core Tomasi built the entire run around.
• The issue is collected in the trade paperback Batman and Robin Vol. 1: Born to Kill (ISBN 978-1401238384) and subsequently in the DC Essential Edition reissue Batman and Robin: Bad Blood (2018), as well as the Batman and Robin by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason Omnibus (2017).

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Variants (1)