“Collision” continues in this month’s
RED ROBIN. So far, our hero has discovered the truth about Bruce Wayne, destroyed much of the League of Assassins’ database infrastructure, and has returned to Gotham with his newfound knowledge. Picking up from before, Red Robin, Batgirl, and Pru are trying to prevent Ra’s al Ghul from assassinating key figures associated with the caped crusader.
The issue begins with Oracle in The Batcave, discovering what Tim and Stephanie have been up to. Suddenly, the cave’s power system fails and it is revealed that League members are coming after her. Meanwhile, the assassins around Wayne Manor open fire upon both Tam Fox and Vicki Vale.
The issue then picks up with Red Robin, Batgirl, and Pru in the heat of battle with the Seven Men of Death -- one of which is a woman, and all of which are pretty lame characters. One interesting thing to note is that Tim believes that Pru may be obeying his orders instead of merely listening to them. After escaping battle, Red Robin and Pru capture one of the League members while Batgirl heads off to check on Oracle.
Tim is then able to squeeze the names of Ra’s remaining targets out of their hostage -- Damian, Dick, Barbara, Alfred, Stephanie, Gordon, Lucius, Vicki Vale, Julie Madison, and Selina Kyle. Then, Batman and Robin show up -- something Tim isn’t looking forward to. After filling them in (briefly) on what’s going on, he leaves all three of them so he can prevent Lucius Fox from being murdered.
Meanwhile in the issue, Tommy Elliot’s mission is hinted upon, Batgirl saves Tam and Vicki from sudden death, and Ra’s al Ghul is watching.
Even with all of its flaws, I’m excited to finally see how this thing is gonna end. Each issue really has gotten a bit cleaner in terms of writing, now that the flashbacks are out. And I know I’ve been saying this for the past few months, but Marcus To’s pencils have been amazing and are a perfect fit.
So, where does the series stand at this point? Unfortunately, it’s still a bit hard to tell, even with one issue away from the final endgame. The next issue will be Chris Yost’s last -- so I’m expecting that whatever he started from the beginning ought to be wrapped up into a nice, complete conclusion. If it isn’t, I’ll be pretty disappointed.
As RED ROBIN’s initial 12-issue arc comes to a close, everything that’s happened in the series to this point rests on the shoulders of the next issue. For better or for worse, it will show that the entire series (and the Red Robin character) has been either a perfect direction for Tim Drake, or a colossal waste of time.
