Grant Morrison talks about his and Frank Quitely’s new upcoming series Batman and Robin. Oh holy god yes.

It was all-but-confirmed that Morrison would be returning to the character after Battle from the Cowl, but this is the first official word. Lots of lovely info in the interview, too - he stops short of saying that Robin is Damian (although we know it clearly is), and there’s little in the way of hints about who Batman will be (although it’s almost certainly Dick Grayson). It’s nice to see an admission that there’s never been any pretence that Bruce Wayne will be gone for good :

We’re not really entertaining the notion that Bruce won’t be back at some time. This isn’t like “Captain America” with the Winter Soldier story and Cap’s really gone. This is an ongoing story, another chapter in the life of Batman, so I think even people who are fans of Bruce and who think no one else can be Batman will be entertained by this.

Also, given all the uncertainty over the Bat-franchise in the wake of Morrison’s apparent departure, it’s good to know that he is still sticking around to carry out his long-form plan - which we now know is essentially five volumes : “Batman & Son”, “The Black Glove”, “Batman RIP”, “Batman and Robin” and an unnamed fifth part (clearly involving the return of Bruce). It does beggar the question of just why he isn’t bothering to do Battle for the Cowl, but if it means he and Quitely are busy getting ahead on B&R, I’m fine to just treat that story, and the next couple of months, as a necessary break in proceedings. My only question about it all is… where’s Tim Drake?

And speaking of Quitely, of course… well. I’ve never been shy about my assertion that he’s the best artist in comics at the moment - and while I can’t imagine him topping his work on All-Star Superman and We3 on this book, it’s nevertheless great to see him having a proper crack at another iconic character. And even if it’s not the “proper” Batman, it just gives him free rein to play about with design a bit more - and both his slightly altered Batsuit (love the way he drapes the cape) and Damian’s Robin costume are brilliant. Not to mention that groovy-looking Batmobile!

Stay tuned, by the way, for the next part of my commentary on Morrison’s Batman run (so far) - coming shortly!