Let me preface this review by stating that this is my first issue of Batman and (Robin) in the New 52 universe. I have dabbled in the series in the previous volume and I am a fan of Peter Tomasi from his Green Lantern Corps days.
Having said that, I think this issue was a mess. I understand what Tomasi is trying to do here, with each issue tied to one of the stages of grief (over the death of Damien Wayne in the pages of Batman Incorporated). This issue is titled, "The Bargain", so presumably we are onto bargaining, but who is doing the bargaining? Batgirl or Batman? All I saw was an obvious grieving Batman put forth his best effort to keep on going despite his loss. On the other hand, I see a meddling, preachy, and heavy-handed Batgirl interfering in something she has no business getting in the middle of.
We are told that she "removed her bat symbol", presumably in one of the other bat books or a previous issue, but sadly, I can obviously see the outline of the bat-symbol on her chest AND she still calls herself Batgirl, which makes the idea of disassociating herself with the bat family silly at best. Another problem I had with Batgirl is the way she desecrates the costume of Batman's son, the late Robin, in order to make some point to "get over it". This moment left me insulted and frankly appalled. Who does that kind of thing? What right does she have to do it? Barbara came out of this looking like a total asshole. The poor guy's son just died, let the man grieve for goodness sakes.
There was at least one good moment in the issue, specifically the part where Barbara is having a shadow-conversation with her father (Commissioner Gordon) while he is cleaning his gun. That was a nice moment. The artwork was sufficient and the cover is pretty cool.
However, despite those few good things, this issue carries the distinction of being the worst issue I read all week. Hopefully the next issue will be better.
