The “7 Days of Death” arc continues in these latest two issues of
RED ROBIN. The story was already off to a great start and we get a lot of cool character moments—like I said in my last review, it was a return to form for the title. Unfortunately, the series will end next month in preparation for the DC reboot/”New 52” stuff. With that in mind, I’m a bit worried that the remainder of the series will meet everyone’s expectations with so many loose ends and questions out there.
Issue #24 opens with Tim in the middle of this worldwide “assassination tournament,” after being lured into it by Scarab. Red Robin manages to escape with the aid of some electromagnetic trickery he developed with Lonnie Machin, who has almost become Tim’s own “Oracle,” if you will. The bad thing is that while Tim escaped, so did Scarab.
Fortunately, Red Robin discovers that the next target in the tournament is Viktor Mikalek (from one of RR’s previous arcs) and is able to stop vigilante/assassin Promise (again, from a previous arc) from getting to him. Still, Promise catches Red Robin off guard and takes him to these underground catacombs in Paris in which he’s promptly tied up and her sister attempts to bear a child with him.
…Wait, what? That’s how issue #24 ends. While I wouldn’t say it’s the best cliffhanger Fabian Nicieza’s ever written, it did come as a total shock. Nicieza always does a great job of finding the right voice for Tim Drake when he encounters the opposite sex, and this time is no different. Issue #25 begins in the same spot, and we find out that this mysterious woman trying to make babies with our hero is actually a half-sister of Ra’s al Ghul.
After the priceless internal monologue during these moments, Cassandra Cain -- now “The Black Bat” -- swoops in to save the day. Afterwards, in one of those “oh, come ON” moments, Cassandra “kills” Tim by stabbing him through the chest with a katana. Of course, it was just a clever ruse to get past the next level of defenses in the tournament. Red Robin and Black Bat are able to discover only a bit more about who’s pulling the strings behind the deadly game before a self-destruct sequence initiates, blowing the place sky high. The remainder of the issue brings a lot of previous story points into the mix, (hopefully) building up to next month’s conclusion.
And of course, I’d be doing this series a disservice without mentioning (once again) how awesome of an artist that Marcus To has been. His Red Robin has always been pitch-perfect and it’s a treat to see him draw other Bat-family members (like Cassandra) in action. Currently, I’m not seeing him in the lineup in any of “The New 52” titles and I hope he’s able to remain in the Bat-world in some capacity after this series concludes.
While it’s probably too early to see if this DC reboot will screw up Tim Drake’s character completely, I am quite worried about it. But, before I start complaining about that too much, I just hope that RED ROBIN is able to end on a high note. At this point, I’m very much looking forward to next month’s final issue. While I know it likely won’t wrap everything up with a nice little bow, I hope it shows us how important of a character Tim Drake is.
