Comic Vine Review

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Batman and Robin #0 - Someday Never Comes

3

Damian is obviously not like other ten-year-olds. We know he grew up with the League of Assassins but now we get to see how he spent his birthdays as well as Talia's plans for him.

The Good

As much of a pain as Damian can be, there is something in seeing him in action. Each Robin has had a different feel and with Damian being brought up to be a killer, he definitely stands in a different league.

The story begins a year and a half ago and then goes back further to see the life of Damian. We have a good idea what his life must have been like, growing up with Talia as a mother and being trained with the League of Assassins. There's a reason Damian is who he is and it's fully illustrated here why.

Tomasi and Gleason take advantage of the zero issue to show us scene after scene of Damian in action. Each year, he had a challenge to overcome on his birthday. It's great to see the glimpses and is almost hard to believe all this was going on in the DC Universe. When he was first introduced we heard about how he was raised. Now we get to see how everything happened.

The Bad

Even though it was great to see these moments in Damian's life, they didn't really give us anything new. We didn't really witness anything that we didn't already know as we have in the other Batman zero issues. Seeing Damian fighting sharks or man-bats is cool but again, it's just Damian growing up with Talia throwing challenges at him his entire life. I wouldn't want any new developments created or thrown in just to have a previously unknown fact about Damian but I just didn't feel I gained anything after reading, except for seeing Damian kicking some ass.

The Verdict

Damian is the little brat/sidekick you love to hate. As annoying as he can be, his charm is in the fact that he's a ten-year-old that can face Batman's enemies with no problem. He was raised by the League of Assassins and is the perfect little warrior. This zero issue serves to show us what his upbringing was like. We get to see the challenges he faced. It's great for fans of Damian to get to see these times but they also don't really add anything new to his character or the history that we already know. Tomasi and Gleason are deliver the goods as usual but because you already know what's going to happen and there weren't any surprises, it just feels like an extended visual telling of what we already know.

24 Comments

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Loki9876

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Edited By Loki9876

I've heard there is a continuity error that Damien is ten but bats started his career roughly 7 years ago is this true, is there an explanation?

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HexThis

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Edited By HexThis

Cannot stand Damian.

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FoxxFireArt

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Edited By FoxxFireArt

Wow, I know Damian got a new spine at one point, but was it made of rubber? I don't think that cover pose is humanly possible,

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ThanosIsMad

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Edited By ThanosIsMad

@Loki9876 said:

I've heard there is a continuity error that Damien is ten but bats started his career roughly 7 years ago is this true, is there an explanation?

Batman started six years ago according to Detective and Batman #0. This issue syncs up perfectly with pre-reboot Batman, especially with the ending of this issue pretty much mirroring Damian's actual debut in Batman & Son.

But the Batman line as a whole is plagued with a broken timeline because no matter what DC is trying to say, Batman only works when operating on a 10 year timeline at the very least. So, DC would either have to age Batman or have him travel around the world at a younger age.

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Loki9876

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Edited By Loki9876

@ThanosIsMad: But Damian was conceived when bruce was bats right?

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kid Apollo

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Edited By kid Apollo

@FoxxFireArt: i jus tried that pose to prove you wrong.. fail!

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danhimself

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Edited By danhimself

yeah this issue did nothing to clear up the continuity error...all it did was strengthen the screw up

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zachkastner

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Edited By zachkastner

Still think Damian was speed grown. Dipping him in that possible Lazarus Pit could be part of the reason he is so intelligent and also physically age ten, since we only saw 5 birthdays pass in the book.

BUT, I really don't care so much about continuity as long as the books are good, so let the good times roll. :D

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Booster_Bronze

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Edited By Booster_Bronze

What made this issue new to me was the whole "Alexander the Great" reference. It really cleared up a lot of the confusion I had about how Talia sees Damian and Bruce.

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danhimself

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Edited By danhimself

@zachkastner said:

Still think Damian was speed grown. Dipping him in that possible Lazarus Pit could be part of the reason he is so intelligent and also physically age ten, since we only saw 5 birthdays pass in the book.

BUT, I really don't care so much about continuity as long as the books are good, so let the good times roll. :D

yeah that was just a regular pool of water

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Eternal19

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Edited By Eternal19

it seems like G-man is kinda biased towards Damian. One of the reasons i like damian so much is because so many people hate him

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longbowhunter

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Edited By longbowhunter

Yeah nothing new was presented here. I enjoyed the story and the art. Could have skipped this issue.

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Ugbug

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Edited By Ugbug

@Eternal19 said:

it seems like G-man is kinda biased towards Damian. One of the reasons i like damian so much is because so many people hate him

I love Damian because he really is an annoying brat sometimes, what would be the point of him being like any other Robin? He's a screwed up kid, which makes for good stories to be told about him. Will he grow into being a good honest Super hero, or become an anti-hero, or even a major villain? Who knows, but finding out over the next few years sounds like fun.

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Maxman3

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Edited By Maxman3

I think Batman and Robin would have been better off using the the choice Geoff Johns made with Green Lantern #0, by moving forward. I mean since the Start of the run Damian has already killed two people Nobody and the Talon from night of owls event. Seeing as he's the Robin to Batman. A man who after being poisoned, stabbed, beaten and driven to the brink of madness still choose not to kill. It really feels like high time there was a father/son chat. Sorry to not see it in this issue.

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SupBatz

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Edited By SupBatz

I liked the issue. True, nothing truly new was presented. But I really liked seeing everything from Damian's point of view. It gives a lot of perspective to both Talia and Damian.

And I loved how this issue really brought out Damian's desire to be like his father before he even knew who he was. The most attractive thing about Damian for me is that subtle hint that he wants to be a hero like Batman buried beneath all of the arrogance. Nice to see some of that explored. This issue made it feel like the motivation for Damian's training so hard to become a killing machine so fast was that he desperately wanted to meet his father.

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gmanfromheck

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Edited By gmanfromheck

@Eternal19: I'm actually a big fan of Damian. Seeing him in action shows he's a kickass little ten-year-old. I just didn't like that nothing was really gained out of this, besides seeing Damian in a cowl.

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Benjoman

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Edited By Benjoman

How does it make any sense that he's ten? They said that Bruce has been Batman for seven years, so Damian could be 6 years old MAX. Why do they always have to fuck continuity up like that in the New 52?

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mbembet

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Edited By mbembet

i love Damian he's the greatest robin and i never liked robin tim jason dick are fags

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Mucklefluga

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Edited By Mucklefluga

@Loki9876: I think Damian aged faster in the "test tube" so he should be something like 6 but he has a body of a 10 (well roughly 11 and a half now according to this issue) year old.

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Loki9876

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Edited By Loki9876

@Mucklefluga: ha, okat I haven't read this issue yet I must allways wait for the tpb :(

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gotwillpower

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Edited By gotwillpower

This issue was great! I used to despise Damian, but I gave this a go anyways. Now I actually feel like he would make the best Batman when he's older. Maybe even close to Bruce. I just feel like all of the training it shows him having makes him that much better of a character, because now I can understand why he's so arrogant.

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BoyWander

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Edited By BoyWander

@mbembet said:

i love Damian he's the greatest robin and i never liked robin tim jason dick are fags

How very articulate of you. Your grammar is akin to that of a commatose baboon. Damian is a mediocre stain on the Robin name. His disposition really doesn't do much for the character. Only the fact that he's a great fighter makes him some what nice to watch in action.

"Damian is the little brat/sidekick you love to hate."

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mbembet

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Edited By mbembet
@BoyWander: you sound like butthurt robin fanboy lol
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Edited By tim_mik

I liked this issue. In fact, I thought it was better than the Batman #0. It didn't give people who know Damian's history in-and-out much, but it helped fill in the context. G-Man, I think you sometimes get too caught up in the old verse and need to let it go sometimes! ;)