Robin War #1

I was really surprised that the Robin War was beginning in Robin War.

Robin War #1 Rating: Look, it's only going to be around for two issues so I'm not adding it to the overall DC Comic Books Ranking chart! But it was good, okay? Probably really fucking good because Damian was in top form. And though I felt like I've had enough Court of Owls to last for a few more years, I still love the concept of them and I think this story is a great way to bring them back to the forefront. Especially because I think Kyle Higgins pulled off one of those things comic book writers rarely get to do: he added to the origin of a character that didn't retcon the character or change it in any fundamental way but added to his history and made him more interesting. It also tied Dick to Gotham in much the same way Bruce Wayne is tied to Gotham. Higgins made him Gotham Royalty too. And the Court of Owls history with Dick Grayson makes their part in this story more interesting still. The Robin War is simply the smokescreen to get their talons into their lost gray son.

Please enjoy and support my unabridged reviews of Robin War #1 and all the rest of DC’s comics over at Patreon! It would make a great Christmas present for your non-Christian friends!

Batman and Robin Eternal #8

It's a good thing I have an extremely healthy and not at all demented, weird, or scary relationship with my mother or else this commentary would be a disaster.

This issue begins several years ago when Bruce and Dick were visiting Prague to see the ballet "Giselle." They were also busy searching for Scarecrow and--for reasons too incomprehensible for this World's Worst Detective (me!)--seem to believe that Scarecrow has decided to take in a ballet. Bruce is probably doing that thing he does on a daily basis where he lies to his sidekick. "Sure, Dick! Scarecrow loves ballet! He's definitely going to be here if he could get tickets! Why don't you sit through the entire ballet while I go look around for hot chicks?" Then Dick was all, "Yay! Culture!"

No bipeds allowed!

Bruce Wayne runs into Mother in the past just as Dick Grayson runs into Mother in the future! I mean, not at the same time but on the same page. Comics are weird.

Harper and Cassie are busy battling ballerinas which is a phrase I don't get to use as often as I'd like. Although their radio communications sound like maybe they're up to something else?

Dick? Dick?...Cooch!

Mother must think she's talking to Jason Todd because she plays on Dick's low self-esteem to try to get him to come over to her side. But Dick doesn't have low self-esteem. What he actually has is a tight ass and a big cock. You have to have a big cock to have the kind of confidence Dick Grayson displays. When I see a really confident woman, I always think to myself, "She must have the biggest penis in the room." Then I try to imagine what a lady penis looks like. You'd think I'd have seen one by now but when you enter "lady penis" into a search engine, you just get pictures of regular guy penises but on ladies. I'm certain at least one other set of genitalia exist! I also asked Lord Google to show me some images of "cooch" because I think that's slang for "lady penis" but it didn't really help. Instead it just gave me back images like this:

And this!


And this too!

Interneting is hard!

Harper drops a huge chandelier on a bunch of ballerinas and probably kills them. No way is she as good as Batman at judging how much damage a person can take so that they won't die while Batman's still on scene. And even Batman would have a hard time guessing that dropping a chandelier on a dozen ballerinas from fifty feet up wouldn't crush any skulls or lady penises.

Mother tells Dick that Batman was looking for a less wussified Robin when he and Dick came to Prague. Dick asks her which Robin she gave Batman as if he doesn't already know! It's obviously Jason Todd! Except, of course, it will be none of them. But Mother is just doing what Mother's do best! She's sowing the seeds of discord among siblings and being super passive-aggressive while doing it! My mom, while showing the Non-Certified Spouse pictures of my cousin Jason from years ago, said, "He was so adorable. He was like the son I never had!" I was sitting two feet away, Mother! Jesus Christ! And you probably still wonder why we didn't talk for four years that one time!

Back in the past, Bruce Wayne simply asks Mother for a bride while placing a tracker on her coat. He doesn't ask for a little boy at all because that would be disgusting! He simply wants a woman with a tragic history that was used against her to turn her into a willing and obedient sex slave!

While Cassie and Harper continue to be part of the murder ballet, Mother makes Dick an offer that he'd better accept because I want answers more than I want to see Cassie and Harper survive. Call me selfish all you want! It's nothing my Mother hasn't already said hundreds of times!

Go with Mother! Trust your sidekicks! That's what Batman would do! Unless the "trust" part was really just "Well, I can get another one if one of them dies."

Dick chooses Cassie and Harper. Idiot! That's why Batman needed a different Robin! And then Cassie runs off because Harper pulls her hair. I'm sure that's Dick's fault too.

Meanwhile in Gamorra, Jason Todd and Tim Drake track down some tech guy who's tripping on Scarecrow toxin. I guess that crap will be explained next week.

Batman and Robin Eternal #8 Rating: No change. Not much was learned this week because Dick fucked up and didn't go with Mother. I guess he didn't have much of a choice. The batch of sidekicks he works with are all so traumatized by every little thing Batman ever did to them, they're always looking for Batman's faults in everybody else. So if Dick had gone off to find out Mother's secrets, Harper and Cass would have been pissed that he left them the way Batman would have (although Batman hasn't ever worked with Cassie (that I know of!) and Batman ditched Harper every chance he got so he wouldn't have to train her). And since he stayed to help, they were all, "We had it covered, jerko! Don't you trust our abilities!?" Okay, they weren't that upset about Dick's help. Cassie may have been since all she can say is "Mother," I don't know how to interpret that word in this situation. I can't wait until Issue #24 when the first secret of the story will finally be revealed!

Read more commentaries at Patreon!

Batman and Robin Eternal #7

Why is the air in Prague full of knives and throwing stars? Climate change?

Fun Fact From A Twelve Year Old Boy: "Throwing Stars" are also called "shurikens" or "ninja stars" or "murder snowflakes."

This issue's script is by Genevieve Valentine so I expect it will suddenly be a mafia story whose theme revolves around an Elizabethan love letter. That means things are going to get weird between Bruce and Dick, doesn't it? I suspect Crane's Fear Toxin will play a large part. Also Batman's penis.

Years ago, Batman designed a Batcave in Prague. Years later, Dick, Cassie, and Harper are hanging out in it. It's less a Batcave and more a Batossuary. But I think that's standard in Prague. Fully seventy percent of all buildings in Prague are actually ossuaries. That's another fun fact from a twelve year old boy! Would you like another?

Fun Fact From A Twelve Year Old Boy: Pegasus is not a race of winged horses, you stupid fucking moron. It's a unique creature born out of the blood of Medusa's decapitated face. Duh.

Sometimes fun facts from twelve year old boys can be a little aggressive. There's also a greater than even chance that they're wrong but don't argue with a twelve year old boy about it because most of them are stubborn assholes who have no concept of "being incorrect."

Who lost a foot? Orphan lost a foot? Didn't he lose a hand? Have I been wrong about anatomy my whole life?!

While Harper and Cassie go on a secret mission to protect a ballerina, Jason Todd and Tim Drake visit an island that I didn't think existed anymore: Gamorra. Didn't Black Canary blow it up with her Canary Cry? Has there ever been a lamer name for a super power that can blow up a person's head? Maybe I shouldn't ask that. Super hero comic books have existed for over seventy-five years, most of which was Golden and Silver Age stories full of lame and ridiculous things. Modern comic books aren't much better! I don't think adding grim grittiness really improves them at all. They just cause twelve year old boys to start using the word "fuck" a lot more.

Tim is trying to solve a mystery but Jason just wants to talk about Tim punching Dick. Hey, English speaking countries? Can we retire the name Richard? Or, at the very least (the extremely very least!), stop using Dick as a nickname for Richard? How mature must a person be to embrace the name "Dick"?! And how do they find friends who aren't constantly making jokes about their name? I'm just too immature not to become completely distracted after typing a sentence like "Tim punching Dick." How does one ignore that?! And DC Comics doesn't help matters when I'm reading about Dick Grayson because DC Comics only knows how to print capital letters! So "Dick" and "dick" just become "DICK" which sometimes causes confusion! How do I know when Batman is calling Grayson by name or just angry with him?!

Tim admits to being a robot and Jason admits to being an alcoholic. It's a really great bonding experience that--for once--doesn't involve DICK at all.

Cassie is happy to have some airflow around her vagina. That leather suit she seemingly never gets out of must smell horrible.

Just to derail any notions that the above caption was a "vaginas smell" joke, I'd say the same thing about a guy wearing a leather suit constantly. Sweaty ball syndrome happens in light, airy pants; I can't imagine how awful it must be in leather pants. It's probably like the most vile stew imaginable. On other people, of course! If it's your own body and your own sweaty leather suit, you'd probably stick your nose deep in the crotch after taking it off and inhale a nice big whiff! Being comfortable with your own bodily smells (more than comfortable, really! Enjoying them is closer to the truth) is probably proof that a person can learn to enjoy the taste of any food. I have no doubt that all of the smells coming off of my body would be disgusting if I couldn't smell for my entire life and then tomorrow I suddenly could. I wouldn't be able to live with myself! But after just a few years of constantly farting on yourself, you acclimate to your distinctive farty stench. It's the same way with food! If you eat something enough, your sense of smell begins to accept it and stops trying to make you throw up every time you try to put it in your mouth. Now it sounds like I'm talking about DICK again!

At the ballet, Cassie repeats the only word she apparently knows: "Mother." She says it because the prima ballerina looks like Mother. I think. Cassie doesn't really explain herself.

Dick Grayson follows the tracer put on Orphan and winds up at the ballet as well. He finds the tracer but no Orphan and realizes it was a trap! It's refreshing to see a hero fall into a trap unexpectedly rather than having to be so smart that they know something is a trap but then jump into the trap anyway because "It's the only way!"

The entire ballet turns on Harper and Cassie and rush the audience. The rest of the audience goes, "Well, this is different! Bravo! Or Brava! One of those!" Backstage, Dick meets Mother. I think. Apparently he's met her before. Probably years ago when he and Bruce attended Giselle which I'd know was also a ballet if that stupid fucking twelve year old boy actually knew some facts about things that mattered. Does ballet matter?

Batman and Robin Eternal #7 Rating: No change. Mother is super old (you can tell because she's a comic book female with actual lines on her face) which means that she's been in business for years. Has she been in business long enough to have been behind Bruce's parents' murder?! Did he somehow get away from Mother? She had to have been doing this long enough for Bruce's peers to have wives who grew up with Mother. Anyway, this reminded me that Batman supposedly murdered a couple to orphan their daughter in Egypt. Obviously that's some kind of misleading bit to shock the audience into thinking Batman was up to some vile crap or mind-controlled. But I wonder if the way Mother keeps this whole sex slave organization secret is to have her customers commit a murder to orphan a child when they purchase an older model brainwashed orphan. That keeps the stock fresh! So if Bruce wants to infiltrate Mother's organization by seeming to be interested in buying a bride of his own, he would have to pretend to orphan a child himself. None of that has anything to do with the comic book I just read but it was all about Cassie wetting herself over ballet and I didn't really have much else to say about that.

Please support Eee! Tess Ate Chai Tea on Patreon!