Red Robin #17

Hey all, sorry I haven't posted in the last few days. No real excuses other than the fact that I'm pretty burnt out by this that and the other thing. Still, it's comic book day and I no doubt have a lot to talk about.

And indeed it is true! Fore example, do you know who appeared in this week's Red Robin? It was only a cameo, but I was delighted to see Cassandra Cain acting like her old self again. Nobody has mentioned any of the crazy, ill-advised changes that were made to her character (thank God for retcons) and she's still using batarangs.

I'm really surprised how well Red Robin has shaped up as a book. I never expected that it would rise through the ranks to become my favorite bat-book. It really does have everything I'd expect from something in the bat-universe. The art, the stories, the characters... They're all top notch.

One of my favorite parts about the book is the sense of world-building. Tim Drake's cast of supporting characters continues to grow... He's got his own villains, a delightful secret identity, and even a new hideout. And that hideout (a masterstroke) ties in well the the entire bat-mythos.

And with that I think I've reached the limit of bat-nouns for one post. Good night.

In Praise of Red Robin

The last year of Red Robin has been a hell of a ride. And I think it's safe to say that in the smarts department Tim Drake is the one true successor to the Batman.

I've always liked Tim as a character; I thought he was a good fit as Robin and had a good synergy with Batman. But as time went on something seemed to change. Even though he was still Robin, Tim didn't really feel like Batman's sidekick anymore. Even when he was wearing the red and green (and later red and black) Tim felt like Batman's partner and even equal.

DC must have thought so too, considering the route they decided to go with him. It's true that Tim has had plenty of time solo. A hundred and eight plus issues of his own series was enough to tell us that. But the Red Robin experiment was a real departure from that. The "death" of Batman gave them the break they needed to make Tim his own man.

And I'd say it worked. I don't know how many people out there are reading Red Robin, but I can say that it is one of the books I enjoy the most every month. And it's funny, because I almost didn't end up reading it.

Like a lot of people I thought the whole "Red Robin" thing was kind of silly. Why would they drag out that old costume again? But a funny thing happened as the book went along. Christopher Yost's scripts were unconventional, but really exciting. There is so much action, so much planning, so much superheroing. It's been everything someone could want from a Bat-family book. And once Marcus To joined as the artist the book really began to sing. I'd never heard of the guy before, but his Tim Drake is perfect. Slim and and not overly muscular, he looks exactly as Tim should.

I can safely say that Red Robin really is one of my favorite books on the stands. I look forward to it every month. In some ways it hearkens back to another age of the Bat-books. A time before Final Crisis and Battle for the Cowl. A time when Batman was Batman and Gotham City was the ultimate battleground.

We'll see those days again.

Red Robin

Has anybody else been reading Red Robin? I ask because I was particularly wary about that book coming out of Battle for the Cowl. I've always been a big fan of Tim Drake since I started reading comics (he's my Robin after all) and I was a bit concerned about the direction they seemed to be taking him.

Seemed was the operative word, of course. Because things in Red Robin have rarely turned out to be what they seem. I thought we were getting a story about Tim Drake by a writer/artist team that didn't really get the character. But as the most recent arc has wrapped up I've really reconsidered my initial assessment.

Red Robin is a really good superhero book. It's solid on action, solid on characterization, even if Tim seemed off in the beginning. But really, who wouldn't be off after what he'd been through?

Oh, and this Marcus To guy is something else. The book has improved by leaps and bounds since he took over as the artist.

Now, do I think the book will last as long as Tim's previous solo outing? Probably not. But I still thing it's a good book. If you're a fan of Tim Drake it's got everything you could possibly want.

Red Robin

Red Robin turned out to be an interesting read this week. I wasn't sure what it was going to be. I certainly didn't expect "the globe-trotting adventures of Tim Drake."

And yeah, I'm not going to start calling him "Tim Wayne." It just sounds weird.

Anyway, I think the concept of the book has real potential -- at least for a while. The central premise seems to be that Tim believes (for some reason) that Batman is alive. So he's going out to find him or find proof that he's alive. It's a clever setup, and I like seeing Tim stop to help people along the way. Even if he's mostly doing it to work out his anger issues.

Still, there's not really any reason why he believes Bruce Wayne to be alive. We the reader knows he'll be back, but there's no logical, rational reason why Tim would believe that. And Tim's always been the most rational, reasonal member of the Bat-family.

I also like Tim's reasoning for wearing the Red Robin costume. It is a cool costume and I'm glad that somebody is getting use out of it. But I don't really know what they're going to do with this book when the real Batman inevitably returns. I guess it'll suffer a "bold new direction" or inglorious cancellation...