Bane has made his way to Dinosaur Island to claim it for himself and for other reasons unknown. But the Dynamic Duo is hot on his trail and is looking to figure out what his plans are. Damian also has another agenda: revenge for Alfred’s murder. Will this father-son trip to this prehistoric land unearth something more nefarious? Let’s find out and here are my thoughts on this new arc.

Since I’m taking over reviewing this title, I want to preface that I wasn’t caught up with every story beat from the previous ten issues of Batman & Robin. But after reading issue #11, I did some research and figured out the main story threads that pertain to this arc (mainly that Bane murdered Alfred in front of Damian in Batman #77 [2019] and Maya Ducard providing Damian with a hint to Bane’s whereabouts in the previous issue of Batman & Robin). With that giving some context on where I was at in reading this issue, let’s go over what happened in this issue with some spoilers.

The issue starts with Bane (cover your eyes kids) f***ing up a T-Rex and essentially killing it with his bare hands. You think that the T-Rex gets the upper hand by swallowing Bane whole, but nope! Bane literally kicks the jaw off of the Tyrannosaurus. He then climbs up a cliff, takes in the scenery of Dinosaur Island, then declares himself king. Meanwhile, Batman and Robin have also made their way to Dinosaur Island from the tip they received from Maya Ducard (a.k.a. Nobody). Damian has been waiting for the opportunity to confront Bane for years and wanted to go on this mission by himself, but Batman wasn’t going to let his son do this alone especially since Bane is involved. 

The two get intercepted by a flock of pterodactyls, who are flying away from something. This causes them to crash land in the jungle, and Damian tells his dragon bat, Goliath, to stay while he and this father go explore the island. They then come across Maya, who has been on the island for 9 days doing reconnaissance. After catching up, Maya informs Batman and Robin that Bane isn’t the only one on the island and the three scope out the Kobra Cult capturing and experimenting on dinosaurs in a panel that reminded me of The Lost World: Jurassic Park (love that movie).

Surprisingly, Bane interrupts the cult and quickly dispatches them but doesn’t kill them. He warns them to stay away from the island and sets the dinosaurs free. While this is happening, Damian starts recalling the moment Bane killed Alfred and gets enraged. He mounts a raptor and charges towards Bane. Batman tries to stop him but to no avail, and he and Maya go after Damian. But then someone stops Batman and the issue ends.

This issue was a lot of fun for me. Writer Joshua Williamson did a good job crafting the story where you didn’t have to know everything that transpired in the previous issues. Any one can jump into this arc and enjoy it. Even though the story isn’t breaking any barriers and isn’t that complex, it’s still a good time and surprisingly has some dark undertones considering what Bane did and how Damian wants revenge. The characterization of Bane was brutal, and it displayed his classic ferocity. The artwork and colors by Juan Ferreyra are the stand outs for me. The illustrations are so detailed you might think they’re photorealistic. The image of Bane killing the T-Rex left me in awe. What a great way to start off the issue. 

Recommended if…

• You like dinosaurs and revenge.
• You want to see Bane kick the jaw off of a T-Rex’s skull.
• You appreciate incredible artwork.

Overall

Batman and Robin #11 starts off on a solid note. While the story isn’t anything new, the artwork is absolutely beautiful, and who doesn’t love dinosaurs? I’m intrigued to see what happens next. Some people have been waiting years for the payoff of Damian finally getting his revenge on Bane for killing Alfred. Will it happen in this arc? Guess we’ll have to find out! See you next time.

Score: 7.5/10

DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.