It’s the Battle of the Batman Titles this week, but there can only be one, because I don’t feel like cheating and giving two titles the win. So, let’s look at my buys, recommendations, and curiosities from the week of comics, led by the Batman Who Ruled the Week.

Comic of the Week: Batman and Robin: Year One #12

In the Grand Scheme of Batman, which might be the grandest comic scheme of them all, it kind of feels like this series from Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Mat Lopes, and Clayton Cowles hasn’t earned the limelight it deserves with Absolute Batman’s monstrously large shadow looming over it. So, on the occasion of its conclusion arriving with this 12th and final issue, let me just say this: This book rules. It’s been a fun story throughout, a superb Year One tale with some new and old characters highlighted within. But most of all, it’s been everything Batober fans could have ever wanted from a Batman and Robin series drawn by Samnee with colors by Lopes. Dick Grayson has been the standout star of the series, as Samnee has brought him to life to a degree that few characters ever reach. It’s a staggering achievement, and one all art fans should dig into as soon as humanly possible.

Trade/Graphic Novel of the Week: Paper Girls Backpack Edition Vol. 1

I was a very vocal fan of Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, and Jared K. Fletcher’s Image series, Paper Girls, when it was originally coming out. I have been a very vocal fan of the trend of publishing comics in digest editions. So, what happens when you print the former in the latter? Well, you’re going to get my attention. This collects the first ten issues of the series in a single volume for just $12.99, and it’s an incredible gateway into this exceptional series if you missed it when it was originally published. It’s an all-time hang out comic, but with a whole lot of sci-fi hijinks in there as well.