Yeah, it's a terrible idea, but at least they're putting the one guy from the show who was actually a good writer. And they're pairing him with a great artist who he's worked with before. There are worse ways to do this.
The hunk part comes from John Romita Sr. When Steve Ditko orignally drew him he was, like Oneiros42 says, the quintessential wimpy high school nerd. But when Romita started drawing it, with his background in romance comics, he drew Peter as much better looking.
I looked at it as Damian was used to being with Dick. But now that he's with Bruce he's acting a little different, it's his father, not his adopted brother. Add to that that Bruce is being a bit of a jerk to him and not totally trusting him, (and the not trusting part is reasonable, he hasn't taken the time to get to know him yet and he was raised by assassins) it makes sense that Damian would act differently.
It's a shame that he uses so Photoshop so much, I've seen some of his pencils and he has a lot of potential, but it doesn't seem like he's putting in as much effort as he should.
Well, Paul Cornell is leaving after this issue so you won't be missing any of him. I was very disappointed by this too, I like what the book is trying to do, but it's just not doing it well enough.
I don't see what the big deal is. Yes it's pointless, yes it's stupid, yes it's just a way to make some quick money. But in no way will it hurt the original. People still love "The Dark Knight Returns" even though almost everyone hates "Strikes Again". No one is going to take all the copies of Watchmen and put editors notes mentioning the prequels, or add in new pages from Andy Kubert, it will stay exactly the same. (And no I don't think they'd mess with new printings of it like that either, though there would probably be some ads in the back.)
My favourite is the Dick Grayson costume, not just because I like him better than Bruce, but because I think it's a really great version that has everything I love about the Year One type costume but still looks new and modern. Also it goes perfectly with Damian's Robin suit, right down to the matching gauntlets.
Also looking at the movie suits just reinforces my belief that Batman looks ridiculous without lenses in his mask unless it's live action. And even then it still looks kind of off to me.
It's $7, but it's really two issues, one regular 22 page and an over sized issue, which would if published separately be $7. Plus it's got some extra stuff in the back according to Chris Burnham.