Like it, hate it, or tolerate it, the Bat-Universe will be quite different for the next year. And as part of that, Tim Wayne, former Robin, is now Red Robin. And with that,
RED ROBIN continues this month with part two of “The Grail.”
After the events of the last issue, Tim is still globetrotting from Spain to Paris to Berlin, attempting to discover just what has happened to Bruce Wayne. After evading an assassination attempt by the League of Assassins, the story flashes back to the period of time when Tim left Wayne Manor to become Red Robin. There’s a nice scene with Alfred, and some foreshadowing with Lucius Fox. After some more globetrotting and story jumping, Spoiler (Stephane Brown) manages to track down Tim before he heads out as Red Robin; in his new persona he continues to echo Bruce Wayne, by shutting out everyone close to him and leaving Gotham behind to carry out his mission.
Overall, this issue is riding the line of mediocrity with me. After the fast-paced events in the first issue that set up the story, this second installment unfortunately falls a bit flat. There really wasn’t enough progression in the issue; almost everything that happens we already knew from the previous installment, such as the involvement of Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins. I was really hoping to learn more of Tim’s reasons for searching for Bruce, and to learn exactly why he’s going around the world to all of these places to find him (so help me God, I hope he doesn’t find a cave with some Bat-symbols in it). And on top of that, the story is very jumpy, going from “twenty-four hours from now” to “twenty-four hours earlier” to “before” to “interlude” to “now” and back to “now” again. By the end of the issue, it’s pretty confusing.
Interestingly, there are a surprising number of references to the last few arcs of the ROBIN monthly, mentioning Lady Shiva, having a page dedicated to Tim’s friends Ives and Zoanne, Jason Bard, and Detective Harper (who, in a confusing bit of DC continuity, transferred to Metropolis and is in the SUPERMAN books right now).
I’m not trying to be overly harsh on the issue, but I expected a little bit more, especially with all of the other good storytelling going on in the other Bat-titles. Yes, it’s Bruce Wayne-less storytelling, but it’s good nonetheless. I enjoyed Ramon Bachs artwork more in this issue; Tim looks more like a teenager while in costume and less like a bodybuilder.
Between now and next month is when most readers will decide to stay with the title or not. A lot of readers have mentioned that it’s their weakest book of the “New Era,” but in my opinion, it’s more of a niche title, tied with GOTHAM CITY SIRENS in my book. Fans reading just to see Tim track down Bruce may be a bit turned off by the lack of answers and a bit too much backtracking to the previous ROBIN title, but I’m still very interested in how this initial four-issue arc will pan out. Will Tim find Bruce? If so, what happens, and if not, where will his mission go from there? Here’s hoping for some improvement in next month’s issue.
