Fabian Nicieza continues his run on Robin with a new storyline, “Search for a Hero.” Although not explicitly stated on the cover, it seems to indirectly tie into “Batman R.I.P.” by having The Dark Knight nowhere in sight. One could even assume this takes place after the events of “R.I.P.”

Anyway, ROBIN #177 contains about every “Robin” you could imagine: Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and…

…Red Robin?

The issue begins with Jason Todd (back from the crap-tacular COUNTDOWN) back in Gotham, taking control of a local gang. Tim finds out, and he’s not too happy about that. Later we see him busting into the Iceberg Lounge, questioning the Penguin the same way Batman occasionally would (crashing into his quarters and beating the crap out of everyone around him). This is where Robin discovers about this new imposter -- The Red Robin. After a quick showdown with Jason Todd, the issue ends with Spoiler hiring Scarab, who attempted to assassinate Tim back in the “War Drums” storyline, to make another hit on him!

ROBIN #177 continues the story, with the escalating crime threat in Gotham City. The violence is getting out of hand, and with Batman out of the picture, everyone is trying something different to fix it. Jason Todd is trying to use the gangs to his advantage, Robin tries to break them up, and there’s still that Red Robin character, watching. The story centers upon Robin trying to save a homeless child from getting sucked in by all of the gang violence. Ragman (who protects that small section of Gotham) tries to get Robin to see things from a different perspective. Once it is discovered that Cavillo and Wise (some corrupt cops) were responsible for instigating the gang war, Jason Bard and Detective Harper work together to bring them down and arrest them. The issue ends with what Spoiler’s been up to; she’s contacted yet another person to take Robin down (although what she’s really after remains to be seen).

Overall, the issues aren’t horrible, but they aren’t that good either. Without Batman in the picture, hard-to-use characters like Jason Todd get pushed into the spotlight, and Robin himself has to act more like The Batman to get things done (and speaking of Tim’s more “adult” manner, does he really need those huge sideburns?) In my last set of reviews, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if this story was working. Well, I think at this point, it’s not looking so hot. As awesome as “Batman R.I.P“. is, it’s really hurting the other Bat-family books. It’s doing a decent job of showing that without Batman (or even his presence), the city and structure of Gotham just falls apart. I hope it doesn’t continue to do so with the comics themselves.