It seems that the powers that be are really trying to shove Damien down our throats, and want to make sure you think he's a bad-ass and not a whiny-ass...
Well, after reading Batman and Robin #0, I'm leaning more heavily toward bad-ass now. For the uninitiated, Batman has a son. (This is like the only thing Grant Morrison's run on Batman did right... but I digress.) The wholeheartedly believe that original origin wasn't even fully fleshed out when the character was introduced: Talia Al Ghul had administered a toxin (can't remember if this was airborne or injected) which basically allowed her to rape Bruce. It seems like after consideration, DC changed this in the New52 origin, where it shows Damien being a test tube baby - literally.
While not much of a stretch, I kinda liked the previous iteration better. How sinister was Talia to do this to her beloved? And while I still think Batman would be pissed at her for machine-creating a baby with his DNA, I can't help but feel that the insidiousness of her plan was much more so when she made him jump her bones. How much more betrayed would he feel from that single act of betrayal? There's an unwritten rule when it comes to male / female nemesis interaction in comics, and other than the Dr. Light issue of Identity Crisis, I can't think of another time a villain has thrown those rules out the window. But, DC backpedaled on that one and now Damien's a test tube baby.
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| That's not a Chia-Pet growing in there! |
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| Post New52, Damien's a test tube baby, but now baptized in blood. |
Thankfully none of this diminishes what comes afterwords, in which we get to see the trials and tribulations Talia puts her son through as she trains him to be the heir to the demon. It's truly the edge of cruelty to the minor as we see her run him through the gambit of training obstacles, and it's here where the book truly shines. As he progresses, we see a longing to know his father's identity, at one point even having a very young Damien discovering the Batman cape & cowl in a somewhat touching foreshadowing moment.
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| Cute, albeit blatant foreshadowing. |
This all leads up to the point where Damien met the Batman in the preNew52 verse. I think this is a great introduction to the character, especially if you were not reading until now; however, you would have to read Batman pre-Final Crisis, Final Crisis, post Final Crisis, Battle for the Cowl, Return of Bruce Wayne and Batman, Inc to catch up to where the New52 would drop you off after this issue. That's a lot of Batbooks, and I've almost certainly left one or two off of the list. Damien could do it. Why can't you?
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