A lesson in the rebirth of a comic book legend can be learned in the pages of the new series "Batman and Robin," recently released by writer Grant Morrison and penciler Frank Quitely in DC Comics. I hope I am not giving anything shocking away by examining the death of Batman in the Final Crisis Storyline. The rebirth of the classic duo is being handled in an exciting manner that has me feeling happy I am buying weekly comic books again.

Bruce Wayne as Batman died hard. Darkseid killed him really really thoroughly in the Final Crisis. No Kryptonian science or magick spell will bring him back and his body was interned right next to his parents. (I'm guessing the massive Black Lantern story line will do the resurrection trick, and again, I'm not ruining some major secret there). Tim Drake survived as Robin, but gave up the job, for some reason he is insisting that Bruce is not really dead in a delusional way that does not speak well for Tim's mental health. (Perhaps he'll be a villain before he's a hero again, one never knows).

So I pick up the first copy of Batman and Robin clueless as to who is behind the two secret identities, and in only four pages I am so drawn in that I realize my reaction is that of a fan and not a serious critic. Damian Wayne is the new Robin, the son of Bruce as stuffy and condescending as ever, and now tempered by the light hearted Dick Grayson who has taken over the job behind the cowl. Flying into action in a new Batmobile, the pair are dressed the part and both seem as confident as Bruce and Tim ever were. But the changes being made here make the rebirth so exciting that I am counting the days for issue two.

The flying batmobile is Damian's contribution after "adapting" his father's blueprints. Using some sort of magnetic lock they pick up the getaway car they are chasing and drop it in the East River. Batman and Robin bring in the primary, but let his two sidekicks get away in a job that looks a little sloppy compared to the incredible efficiency of the Bruce Wayne days. But the fearsome looking Toad tells the team very little then threatens all of Gotham with the news that "You wait 'til PYG comes! You'll all wish you'd never been born." And this upcoming bad guy is a real meany. I won't go into too much detail for those who have yet to read the book but let's just say this isn't a book for little kids. This Pyg fellow scares even me.

The rest of Batman Reborn is equally exciting. They close down the Batcave and choose to operate out of the downtown Wayne Enterprises subbasements in a move out of the movie version of "The Dark Knight Returns". Pennyworth has stayed on and Damian treats him like a servant while Dick treats him like the father figure he's always been. In a quick scene Damian challenges Dick for the title of Batman, for some rason the little squid thinks he'd do a better job than DIck who has a zillion times the experience. One way or another, this new hero sidekick relationship has gone through an interesting reversal.

This is only one of the iconic forms of the return of the hero, where the son or the inheritor takes up the father's mantle and continues the fight for God, Country, or urban peace. In many ancient myths it was believed that the descendants of a strong ancestor took his power into themselves, or that children were the hero reborn. In Batman and Robin we have both cases, Dick Grayson who steps in as he always knew he would some day have to if anything happened to his adopted father; and Damian Wayne as Robin who is more Bruce Wayne than Bruce Wayne. The themes are classic, the adaptation strikingly new, and it is mythic symbolism we are dealing with here. I have been waiting for twenty years to see how it would be handled if Grayson ever had to take over for Wayne, and now I have the excellent work of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely to take a run at it.

I'm afraid I have to stand with Tim Drake though, there's no way that Bruce Batman is really dead, not for good. He'll be pulled out of his grave by some color lantern to be healed and reincarnated by some other color lantern. Now don't get me wrong, I love the Lantern books with all my heart, I'm just already having a little trouble keeping track of the eight different colors and the differences in emotion that they represent. What it will mean for the new Batman and Robin when the true Batman and Robin return I don't know, but I'm thinking Bruce might take on a new persona. Perhaps keep one of the lantern rings and fight crime in a new and different way.

However you cut it, this book brought on more questions than answers and that's what a good rebirth should do. I can see a hundred different ways this story could play out and ultimately that is what makes good writing: the ability to keep the reader guessing from issue to issue, excited for the following step. Whether someone will become the new Silver Surfer I sincerely doubt, so if that character returns it might be closer to the return of the martyred hero classic, but Batman has an heir, and a legend that will never die, carried on the shoulder's of a line both of blood and tribe.