RED ROBIN’s new arc “The Rabbit Hole” officially began with issue #18. After detailing my worries about where Tim’s journey could go next in my last review, I’ve got to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I’ll speak more on that in a bit.
Anyway, the issue opens up with Red Robin swinging over the rooftops of Moscow, trying to crack the “Unternet” with the help of former Anarky, Lonnie Machin. For those unfamiliar, the Unternet has been established in the DC canon as kind of an “underground internet” that provides a massive communications grid for supervillains. Tim suspects Viktor Mikalek—a Russian industrialist—of trying to take over the Unternet infrastructure. He then runs into the Russian metahuman Red Star, a former Teen Titan. He seems distant and warns Tim to tread lightly with his investigation…
Later on, Tim and Tam Fox stage a meeting with Mikalek under the guise of Wayne Enterprises business, while Machin attempts to hack into his servers. However, just as the servers are accessed, a new assassin calling herself “Promise” storms the room to attack Mikalek. After a short fight, Red Star breaks up the fight but Promise escapes.
Good thing Tim put a tracer on her. Tam stays behind and monitors Machin’s progress while Tim tracks down this assassin. Once he finds her, Promise reveals that Mikalek has destroyed her family. Then, Red Star crashes in and just when things couldn’t get worse, Tim, Tam, Machin, and Promise are all “trapped” in the Unternet after Lonnie accesses the network.
Issue #19 continues to carry this arc in a wonderful way. Tim awakens to find himself trapped in the virtual world of the Unternet, with both the Calculator and the Riddler as his captors! However, everything isn’t as it seems—these villains are only projections of Tim’s mind. The interesting thing about the Riddler in this instance is that throughout the issue, he keeps providing riddles to Tim in order for him to proceed. It’s a pretty inventive way to showcase Red Robin’s detective skills.
Tim eventually discovers Tam (who has projected herself as a toddler) and Lonnie—who can now operate as the original Anarky in this virtual reality. Once the group finds Promise, they discover that Mikalek has in fact taken over the Unternet since Darkseid’s defeat in FINAL CRISIS—all of the “heroes” have vanished. Once Anarky discovers that they can all act as “programmers” in this world, they are then able to bring all the heroes back!
Even though this whole “Unternet” thing is a mishmash of concepts from movies like INCEPTION and TRON, it works. Anarky decides to stay behind, as the only way these “heroes” can remain there is if a “programmer” is there too. And really, it’s great to see Anarky used in this way since he can be in both the Unternet and the real world simultaneously. Once Tim and Tam Fox escape, they team up with Red Star for the next phase of their plan now that they know the truth behind Mikalek.
Needless to say, I can’t wait to see where the rest of this story goes. Oh, and by the way—Marcus To’s artwork continues to amaze me on a monthly basis. In issue #19, Fabian Nicieza figured out a way to allow To to draw a few pages’ worth of a Carmine Infantino-style Batman and Robin. And that’s awesome.
This new arc is off to a great start. In my other reviews I’ve mentioned that I was worried about the focus of this title now that Bruce Wayne has returned. I don’t think I have to worry about that for a while now. Something mentioned by the “BOF Roundtablers” in a recent BOF Podcast caught my attention. They said that one reason BATMAN, INC. works well is that having Bruce Wayne operate solo outside of Gotham actually allows for more focused stories about Batman himself because you don’t have to worry so much about the rest of the Bat-family. To a lesser extent, RED ROBIN works in a similar way. The globetrotting nature of these stories is almost a mainstay of the series at this point, and I think that gives the title a sense of purpose.
