The “Collision” storyline concludes this month, wrapping up the first year of the new hero’s adventures, as well as ending Chris Yost’s tenure as series writer. Did all the pieces come together? Was it a worthwhile conclusion? As I said in my previous review, was this a perfect direction for Tim Drake, or a colossal waste of time?
The issue opens with Ra’s al Ghul overlooking Gotham’s skyline, waiting for his plan to assassinate the entire Bat-Family to play out -- and that’s when Red Robin makes his entrance. Ra’s points out that because Tim chose to find him instead of rescuing his friends, they will all perish.
However, in an awesome character moment, Red Robin reveals that he has utilized his superhero connections -- such as Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Superboy, Manhunter, etc -- to save everyone while he went after Ra’s. Now, I’m not a big fan of the greater DCU characters popping up in stories like this, but it’s a nice twist and it actually works here. Red Robin also reveals how he used his detective skills to track Ra’s down while having access to the League of Assassins database. It’s awesome to see some of these story threads from previous arcs paying off.
Of course, Ra’s isn’t too happy about all this, and begins a fierce duel with Red Robin. In yet another awesome move, this is exactly what Tim wanted to happen. He deduced that Ra’s assassination attempts at the Bat-Family were just distractions while the true target was control of Wayne Enterprises. It is then revealed that Lucius Fox sent his daughter to track Tim down in order to make him Wayne Enterprises’ controlling shareholder in response to Hush’s frivolous masquerade as Bruce Wayne.
With that move, Tim completely thwarted Ra’s master plan. Ra’s calls Tim “detective,” and then throws him out the window. Luckily, Batman swings by and saves him. Tim later wakes up in The Batcave, surrounded by Dick, Damian, Alfred, and Stephanie. Once again, Tim tries to prove to Dick that Bruce is alive -- and he finally listens.
The end of the issue also contained some cool reveals. Alfred makes Red Robin a new costume that matches the rest of his Bat-family a bit more closely. In one final flashback scene that goes all the way back to the beginning of the series, it is revealed that Tim thought Bruce was alive from the start because he noticed the remarkable resemblance to Bruce in Mordecai Wayne’s portrait. Also, a huge twist is revealed -- everything Ra’s did to Tim was to see if he was worthy enough to be his new heir.
And with that, RED ROBIN’s first year is over. And after a few bumps along the way (okay, a lot of bumps along the way), I believe it was a success. Why? Because at the end of the day, the series gave Tim Drake a purpose and a reason for taking on this new persona. This issue clearly defined what that purpose is -- Tim Drake is the world’s greatest detective in Bruce Wayne’s stead.
And speaking of that, the two most intriguing aspects of this 12-issue arc were the Tim/Ra’s dynamic, and learning more about Bruce Wayne’s whereabouts. Now, I think we all knew the Bruce stuff here wouldn’t matter much because Grant Morrison wasn’t writing it—even though it did show off Tim’s detective skills. It was a bit annoying at the end to discover that the reason Tim believed Bruce was alive was the same reason that Dick and Damian did in their own title. You mean Tim couldn’t take two seconds to show that portrait to Dick before trekking across the world? Please. No, the true highlight of the series was the interaction between Ra’s and Tim, and it totally paid off in the end.
Moving ahead, I’m quite interested to see where this title goes in the future -- especially if the woman speaking to Ra’s at the end is who I think she is. Chris Yost will be replaced as writer in the next issue by Fabian Nicieza, so I hope that some of those plot points won’t be ignored.
