Well, it’s nice to be back -- especially after the three-month fiasco/stunt/gimmick known as
BATTEL FOR THE COWL.
And now, Tim Drake -- make that Tim Wayne -- is Red Robin. Big spoiler, right?
The story begins in Madrid, Spain, as Red Robin foils a kidnapping/ransom attempt and completely kicks the crap out of everyone involved. However, he’s not in the country just to be heroic and save lots of people. He still believes that Bruce Wayne -- the true Batman -- is still alive.
The bulk of the issue explores what happened in the aftermath of BFTC and why Tim chose to become Red Robin. When Tim confronts Dick about the decision to make Damian the new Robin, Dick tries to explain that he and Tim are equals -- and they should act as such. As this is going on, Damian is completely mocking Tim, calling him “riff-raff,” and telling him that there’s still an opening to be Batgirl.
Tim then punches the little brat right in the face. This issue is worth it for that alone.
The story presented here raises a very interesting topic; you have three (or four, if you count Jason Todd) Robins, all “sons” -- figurative or literal -- of Bruce Wayne. In the way the characters are treated here, Tim honestly acts the most like Batman out of the entire bunch by not giving up on his mentor, being a detective, and being a total hard-ass. Quite the transformation from when he became the third Robin nearly 20 years ago (yes, it’s been that long already).
So, overall, I was very impressed with how this intoductory issue was handled. Chris Yost (who co-wrote the Riddled episode of THE BATMAN, by the way) gives Tim a drive and a reason for what he does as this new persona. The artwork of Ramon Bachs grew a bit on me as I read the issue; I was startled at first to see Francis Manapul’s sleek, clean cover art for the first few issues and then go to Bachs’s more rustic style, but it’s not bad at all.
And even though I liked the plot and direction the story is going, I do have some sneaking suspicions about it. RED ROBIN’s story (or the first arc, anyway) focuses on Tim trying to find out the truth about Bruce Wayne. Since this series isn’t directly tied to Morrison’s ongoing narrative in BATMAN AND ROBIN, will the events in this series even mean anything in the end? Morrison has stated in some interviews that he’ll pick up with Bruce’s story in the third arc of his title. However, after the way the whole FINAL CRISIS/“R.I.P.” deal went, you can really only take comments like that at face value.
If ALL-STAR SUPERMAN has taught me anything, it’s that an amazing Grant Morrision tale doesn’t require the following: an overly drawn out narrative, “changing everything” in your beloved comic continuity, killing off your main character in that continuity, having a lot of tie-ins and fillers that eventually mean nothing to the main story, and messing up and affecting all of your regular comic stories and characters because of it.
But then, we get things like FINAL CRISIS, “BATMAN R.I.P,” BATTLE FOR THE COWL, and now, this “New Era.” I’m sure you get the point.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love a great big comic book story with lots of twists and turns and character development. However, when that single story starts affecting all of the other comics around it to the point of ridiculousness, I get a bit upset. When everything is said and done, and the big, overriding story is all over, I would fully expect all of the other affected comics to have made just as much of an impact upon the characters as the main story did. If it didn’t, then there was absolutely no point for any of it in the first place.
Get where I’m going with this? RED ROBIN has the potential to be a very appealing title for a lot of Bat-fans: Tim Drake fans, “Bruce Wayne is the only Batman” fans, and fans wanting to get deeply invested into this “New Era.” That’s quite a lot to attempt in one title. Like I said above, I just hope it all means something when it’s all over. If it does, I (and many other fans, I’m sure) will be happy
