Oh, wow, this was a lot of fun!
Because I don’t read a lot of Bat family books, I know the barest of facts about Damien Wayne. I know he’s Talia’s son by Bruce, that’s he’s the current Robin, he’s smart, and he’s a bit of a brat. I know even less about Jonathan Kent, son of Superman. (But a different Superman? Like an alternate universe Superman? I don’t know.)
The two of them together? Magic. They bicker and press each other’s buttons like siblings. Damien gets his digs in about Jonathan being younger, Jonathan gets his own back by pointing out that he is taller. And while the phrase “boys will be boys” has all sorts of negative connotations, it’s a delight to see two kids written (mostly) like the tweens they are. As you might expect, the boys are caricatures of their fathers. Damien is a cocky know-it-all, Jonathan is a good-hearted kid struggling to figure out how to be a superhero like his dad.
Robin has uncovered a plot to steal Amazo supersuits from Lex Corp and ropes Jonathan into lending a hand with his caper. (Why Jonathan? Because plot.) Jonathan, for his part, isn’t sure why he goes along with Robin, except that he’s looking for someone who knows what it’s like to have a famous hero for a dad.
This isn’t a kid title in the same way as DC Super Hero Girls. Jimenez’s art fits with the mature titles, though the content is entirely appropriate for tweens and up. It’s more along the lines with what Becky Cloonan is doing with Gotham Academy, the only Bat-adjacent title I pick up regularly. Until now. Super Sons goes on the list. I can’t wait to see where it goes.
I hadn’t even heard of this – will definitely check it out!
I had fun with it. My husband hates Damien–he’s a full-on little jerk–but I found him mostly amusing. He has Batman’s arrogance turned up to 11 and stuffed in a half-sized bag.
Any offspring of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al-Ghul was always going to have a massive sense of self-importance, arrogance and entitlement. I have only ever come across Damian Wayne in Grant Morrison’s Batman run (which my husband loves, but I’ve only read parts of). He is sometimes deeply annoying, but quite a lot of fun too.