Batman and Robin #13 ends Joshua Williamson and Juan Ferreyra’s Dinosaur Island arc, with it, concluding Williamson’s run on the book as a whole. Answering the previous cliffhanger, our roided-out Robin isn’t really the focus here; he’s more a vehicle for classic action that Juan Ferreyra captures beautifully, especially in how he lights his scenes. No one has ever made an island so inviting. His watercolors fit the tropical location to a tee, and his kinetic action is only rivaled by how he depicts genuine emotion in the characters’ faces. There’s one particular panel where Bruce looks at Damian that works so well because of this, translating effortlessly the eyes of a father’s love in two dimensions.
The real heart of the book is in the flash-forwards to the future, where Damian is in school, being questioned about his emotional state of affairs after the last 13 issues. The issue cuts back and forth between these two time periods, the island and the school, with the school having the black, white, and red color scheme to distinguish itself, like the Alfred flashbacks before it. There’s a great subtle trick where the colorless panels gradually become colorful as the future becomes the present, and the reader is with Damian as he leaves the island and the school to return home. These two times culminate in a gorgeous spread where Damian’s past, present, and future collide.
Joshua Williamson’s writing also does a lot to portray how young Damian actually is, making his emotional growth by the end that much more meaningful. Where Damian learns to accept Alfred’s loss in the previous issue, here, he learns to accept himself, who he is, and what that entails. And all this progress could not have happened without Batman being Robin’s emotional anchor, the one who holds him together. Bruce has reached full circle and done to his son what Alfred has always done to him, be a good father.
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For the villains, Bane shows remorse as opposed to his daughter, showing that his years of butting heads with the Bat have caught up with him. They even team up with the dynamic duo to fend off an army of dinosaur-riding Kobra troops. This conflict with Kobra is resolved very quickly, however, and Bane’s conclusion, though a poetic reminder of his beginning, is not very inspired. Through his feud with Batman, Bane has learned that vengeance is a dead-end, devoid of satisfaction and self-actualization, While Vengeance, is still learning this lesson.
Bane and Vengeance, a creative mirror to Batman and Robin, gets the short end of the stick in this issue, which may be the right choice as it leaves more room for Damian to find himself and have Bruce guide him there. As a fan, it often feels like Bane keeps getting ping-ponged from being a villain to an anti-hero every other week, and his depiction here isn’t any different.
Batman and Robin #13 is about broken people being loved and how that act saves them. It ends Joshua Williamson’s run with a heartfelt send-off, expressed through Juan Ferreyra’s gorgeous watercolors. It resolves all loose ends and paves the way for PKJ and Javier Fernandez to take the helm for DC All-In in October. Damian Wayne is the heart of this whole book, and under Batman’s loving shadow, he shines as his own star.
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