Batman and Robin #40, Annual #3 (DC)

writer: Peter J. Tomasi

artist: Patrick Gleason (#40), Juan Jose Ryp (#3)

Perfect final page, Tomasi.  This is an unusual farewell, spread across two unrelated comics, with the perfect ending coming without his signature collaborator and in a story that otherwise is complete throwaway material.  But still, he absolutely nails it.

The final issue of the series itself, with Patrick Gleason, who will soon launch Robin, Son of Batman as writer/artist, concludes the grand arc of Damian's return, which surprisingly came complete with superpowers, which proved to be less than permanent.  And they go out with a bang, and for once Batman pulls one over on his son, an appropriate moment in an arc that saw him desperately defy death itself, when he felt most powerless.

The final two pages of this final issue are perfect, too, by the way.  Batman is smiling.

The annual is "just" a Batman and Robin adventure.  This might be the only time in the whole run (which actually began pre-New 52, so there are those issues to consider as well, which technically negates this statement) where this happens.  But putting that aside, there's that final page, and apropos of nothing in the actual issue, it speaks volume for the run.

Damian's presence in Batman's life has filled a massive void, a true family that he hasn't had since the death of his parents, which has always been reflected in the pearls spilling from the necklace Martha Wayne wears on that fateful night.  In one of the best characters moments, in a run full of them, Damian went to a great deal of trouble to reclaim one of those pearls for his father.

It may go without saying, even on an artistic level, having Batman and Robin focusing on a nocturnal phenomenon is evocative on a different and complementary level.

And this goes without saying too: Peter Tomasi will be greatly missed in Damian, and Batman's, adventures.