Batman and Robin Vol. 2: Growing Pains' maudlin is a bit less maudlin than the first volume in this series, and that’s an improvement in my book. Not that I’m wholly satisfied, but Joshua Williamson seasons this volume with enough fun stuff as to make the drawbacks easier to take.

This is Williamson’s final volume, anyway, with Phillip Kennedy Johnson coming on next time. I’m wary, given Johnson brought us the insufferable Super-Twins, but also hopeful that now that Williamson’s gone deep into shoring up Robin Damian Wayne’s emotional well-being, maybe that won’t nearly have to be such a focus for Johnson.