When Batman and Robin #18 arrives in stores Wednesday, you'll notice the cover by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray is decidedly different from the one solicited by DC Comics in December. Gone are the hopeful red hues of a Gotham City at sunset, replaced by the somber blue-gray tones of night.Gone, too, is what might be mistaken for a grin on Bruce Wayne's face, now eclipsed by shadow.

And oh, yeah, it's also missing a grinning Damian Wayne, soaring through the air at his father's side, replaced by the darkness within the folds of Batman's cape. Never has Gleason's skull-shaped signature seemed more appropriate.

While the other Bat-Family titles receive completely new covers for the "Requieum" storyline, which deals with the aftermath of Damian's death in Batman Incorporated #8, Batman and Robin #18 is the only one to boast a modified image -- one made more eerie by the absence of Robin.

It's an entirely silent issue," writer Peter J. Tomasi told Comic Book Resources. "No text, no sound effects, storytelling at its purest form -- show don't tell -- and, holy crap, does Patrick Gleason show why, in my humble opinion, he might be one of the best Batman artists ever. He knocks it out of the park."