Welcome back to another thrilling installment of Interview With A Newb, a recurring column in which I give some comics to somebody who knows nothing at all about them and see what they think.

This time the newb is Jennifer who I met through NaNoWriMo last year. The only exposure to comics she has is knowing her dad had a few old Batman comics in their basement.

I decided to go with a brand new #1 comic, 'Batman and Robin' by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. In an interview with IGN Morrison said, 'Batman and Robin' welcomes new readers!" I gave her the first three issues to read so she could get the whole first story arc. Before reading I simply repeated what Grant Morrison had said in interviews leading up to the release of the book: Bruce Wayne is dead and now Dick Grayson, the original Robin, is now Batman and Damian, Batman's evil son, is now Robin.

She got through the issues all right. I had to point out a few places where it wasn't apparent right away that it was a double page spread. Jen also asked about Professor Pyg when he showed up at the end of the first issue because she thought she was supposed to know who he was until I told her that was his first appearance.

Those of you who have been following Grant Morrison on Batman these past few years know that what I said was probably both true and false. This was his first appearance for real while he showed up dead and crucified in Batman #666 when Damian was grown up and Batman in the future.

Overall she really enjoyed the first arc of 'Batman and Robin.' She did ask why Robin was evil and I said he isn't so much evil as he's an aristocratic dick raised by the League of Assassins which led to some quick explanations about Ra's al Ghul and Talia.

Then there was trying to explain what happened to Bruce. Trying to sum up everything that happened in both 'RIP' with Dr. Hurt and the Black Glove and how he was really alive after only becoming unstuck in time after being hit by the God of Evil's Omega Beam in 'Final Crisis' was pretty tough. Jen didn't know that all the characters from the DC Universe are all part of a shared continuity so that Superman and Batman teaming up is a common thing. So I guess the only confusing part for her was trying to explain what happened before Dick took the cowl and from what I've read on Internet that wasn't unusual even for people who read comics.

So will Jen start reading comics and become a fan like me? For the moment it doesn't seem likely even though she enjoyed reading these. After all, how could you possibly concentrate on anything new now that Lost has started up again? But she did like it and would probably read more if I lent them to her.

BJ Dowd

If you liked the article or didn't leave a comment or send an e-mail to deathrayweekly@gmail.com