Batman and Robin #18 – Review

By: Paul Cornell (writer), Scott McDaniel with Christopher Jones (pencillers), Rob Hunter, Art Thibert and Andy Owens (inkers)

The Story: Batman and Robin are caught in the clutches of Absence, but learn her origin. A classic comic story.

What’s Good: Visually, this issue hit me better than issue #17. The addition of Chris Jones, Art Thibert and Andy Owens this month really made the difference. The art was less cartoony, more textured and lifelike. The art team had some interesting camera angles and the panel layouts led the eye around the page. There are too many good examples to mention, but check out page two and the toggling of views, the page where Terri is shot, and the death scene of Absence herself at the hands of pirates. The poses are dynamic and the panels on the page make for a cool visual experience.

On writing, Cornell really sucked me in to Absence’ flashback. It lasted a long time, but drew me through a pretty interesting set of events. There’s more than a bit of sci-fi creeping into this book, and I liked the Dandy Walker Syndrome McGuffin.