Red Robin #20 – Review

By: Fabien Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (artist), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colors)

***Caution: there are a few minor spoilers in here, necessary for the review. Read conclusion first and then you can stop if you want.***

Conclusion: Red Robin #20 was a visually strong issue, but a bit jumbled story-wise. I get the feeling that Nicieza had to get from his last excellent story to a reason for Tim to team up with the Teen Titans and that he wasn’t given a lot of time to do it right. Pick it up if you’re a Red Robin collector, but don’t make this you first issue of Red Robin.

The Story: It turns out that Tim’s great plan that came together last issue in Moscow and the Unternet had a flaw. The Calculator makes a counter-move and Tim has to leap into action to protect Tam. But, he’s in over his head, so calls in some help from his old friends and his psycho stepbrother. Fun ensues.

What’s Good: Visually, To, McCarthy and Major effectively splash leaping action, explosive excitement and sincere buddy-buddy reunions into 22 packed pages. I’m a fan of this art team, because they bring the right level of realistic draftsmanship to the table (it’s what I enjoy in comic art), and yet keep the action moving. Red Robin leaping out into the air to save Tam is evocative, as much so as the subtle smirk on Catman’s face. And, I have to add that To’s version of Tim Wayne is wiry and skinny, making him look like the teenager he is, very different, for example, of the build that Dick Grayson or Bruce Wayne would have.

Story-wise, Nicieza has Tim’s voice down pat, and the dialogue always comes across as strong and honest. OK, it got a bit emotional at the reunion with the Titans, but Tim is a teenager, right? I’ll give him that.

Red Robin #19 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: The Rabbit Hole, Part Two: The title says it all. When we last left our young hero, the Man With the Plan had been knocked out, along with three of his allies. Now, Red Robin and Tam wake up, and they ain’t in Kansas anymore. It’s psychedelic loco-land with flavors of Arcade’s Murderworld while the subconscious speaks in riddles.

What’s Good: Red Robin is one of those titles that consistently delivers fun adventure with an engaging hero who’s out to succeed in the superhero business. This issue is no exception and we’re really watching Tim Wayne grow into adulthood and something big. Red Robin is the new Nightwing and he’s fun and Nicieza gets that, while not losing Tim’s obsessive drive that launched this series so powerfully. Why can I say all that?

Because I got to watch Superfriends-style Batman and Robin swing into action while the Riddler chatters on like a Greek chorus and Tim tries to figure out what the heck is going on. Talk about starting in the middle of the action and the mystery. The Unternet is a weird place with eerie Darkseid flavoring. The madness and the anger pumping through the action and the writing is palpable. Clues abound, but not enough to spoil anything (only enough to tease), and in the end, Tim’s solution satisfied me, as it fits with the kind of person he is and his outlook on life. The book *looks* dialogue heavy, but feels like it’s the right amount of text, and I have to say…I feel like I got my money’s worth on the reading part. And Foxy Lady was a hoot.

Red Robin #18 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker)

The Story: The Man with the Plan is in Moscow, checking out a lead on his latest quarry. Problem is, this lead is very well connected, so much so that Russia’s premier meta doesn’t want Red Robin on this case. Tread lightly, Tim…

What’s Good: Everything I love about Tim Drake (Wayne) is on the first page. He’s careful, meticulous, goal-driven, thinking three steps ahead of any of the competition. Everything I love about Red Robin is also in the rest of the pages. He’s the superhero incarnation of the trickster god. He’s got the cunning of a fox, and although he gets himself into some tight places, he knows what he’s doing. Except when he doesn’t, like in this issue. Total fun. I love Red Robin.

To and McCarthy on art chores were also pretty flawless. Red Star looked like a bad ass you don’t want to be messing with unless you happen to have Superman behind you, which Tim didn’t. The nighttime sky of Moscow, green against starlight, was totally cool, as were the fight scenes. The action punched and pulsed along, with quick, varying camera angles and shifting panel sizes, making the action appear quick and dynamic. The scene with Tim sliding the chair into the fight was well drawn. On draftsmanship, To and McCarthy can draw anything I buy.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Lee Garbett, Pere Perez (artists), Alejandro Sicat and Walden Wong (inks)

The Story: Bruce Wayne arrives at the end of time, where those weird-eyed, fuzzy archivists help him along on the last leg of his journey through time and into the final steps of Darkseid’s plan to use him as a weapon. Superman, Rip Hunter and Green Lantern are stranded there, only moments away from catching up with Bruce. In the present….the JLA is waiting.

What’s Good: I know there are a few readers who argue that Batman needs the setting of Gotham to be an honest depiction (I’m usually one of those readers). Some have pilloried Morrison for sending essentially a regular guy in leather and spandex through time. However, Morrison did drop some thematic markers throughout the mini-series that he picked up here to good effect (in Tim Wayne’s mouth): It isn’t really fair that a regular guy has to fight gods. This is a deep statement that can be read in any number of ways. I really like that Morrison said it. The issue of scale in superhero comics is usually ignored (“Go get ’em Thor and…um…Hawkeye…” or “Superman, you check left! Wildcat, you cover right!”) which can really diminish a story in some ways. Morrison doesn’t solve the problem, but that nod to a basic flaw in comics made the end-of-time sequence really, really cool, as well as the psychedelic brushes with the New Gods mythos near the end. I also *loved* the nod to origin of Batman, with the hand on the bell, not knowing if he should ring or not for Alfred to come fix him up. This was very cool. It crystallized what Morrison had been doing with the bats throughout the series. There’s a lot more cool writing and story stuff, but we’re on word limits here, so I’ll stop for now.

Batman #703 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Cliff Richards (artist), Ian Hannin (colors), Janelle Siegel (assistant editor), Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: The Great Escape: Batman and Robin get an assist from Red Robin to track down a thief called Getaway.

What’s Good: This issue is the light, classic capes and thieves comic story, with a bit of substance to it. This is not the navigation of a disturbing psychological geography that you get in Batman and Robin, but a light-hearted story of three brothers growing up in the shadow of a lost father. While Red Robin is a freshly-minted adult, seeking to prove his potential, and Dick is the young, conflicted family leader slowly emerging from his father’s shadow, and Damian is the hot-headed enfant terrible trying to be taken with the lethal seriousness to which he is accustomed, this story is about Bruce Wayne. Nicieza pays deep homage to Batman’s less accomplished rogues gallery with some nice accompanying clipped art from long ago on the screens, and by having a pretty C-list villain who hasn’t shown his mask for ten years. Why? Nobody knows, but the reveal of the story shows the deep parallels between Dick and Damian in the Robin role, as well as illuminates a part of Bruce that neither I nor Damian have ever seen. Nicieza makes the story bring out a genuine and honest longing for the father among the characters. I also like that this is a self-contained, one-issue story that is worth buying. The Vicky Vale subplot was also fun to watch and the cliffhanger ending with her revelation has me looking forward to the next issue.

Red Robin #14 – Review

By Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: The Hit List, Part II: I think the core of this book is nicely summed up in this quote by Red Robin: “I’ve always forgiven him because he was raised in a vat of chemicals and taught to be a homicidal maniac. I’ve always held back for Bruce or Dick, but as stupid as it sounds, if this idiot is ever going to respect me, I’m going to have to kick his ass!”

What’s Good: Tim Wayne, the former boy wonder, the man with the plan, has a slap-down with our favorite psychotic, ninja-trained, ten-year-old sidekick. Fabian Nicieza has written an awesome book about two brothers: the middle one and the youngest. Nicieza exploits the dynamic of the dead father and the absent eldest brother to create an issue where these two very different brothers must deal with each other. This is not to say that this will lead to a happy ending (Cain and Abel anyone?), but Nicieza gets to the root of both characters, especially Damian in a way I’d never expected. I’d never seen Damian as particularly sympathetic or vulnerable (Bad-ass…Yes. Do I want him on my side of any fight? Yes. Do I want him over for supper? Hell, no!), but Nicieza succeeded in doing that. And Tim’s patented monologues, always engaging, continue to give us a great window into Tim’s world.

Red Robin #11 – Review

By: Christopher Yost (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy and Mark McKenna (inkers), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Collision, Part Three of Four: Red Robin, Batgirl and Pru are getting their hats handed to them by the seven deadliest killers of the League of Assassins. In the meantime, Ra’s al Ghul is making his play to hurt Red Robin real bad, by striking at the 10 people most important to him. Batman and Robin show up, but a whole different set of conflicts messes that up, and this becomes a story about trust.

What’s Good: Get back on the roller-coaster! Red Robin is back in the zone! What a fun issue! Red Robin lost a bit of its momentum after issue #7, but baby, it’s back! You want assassin-superhero slapdowns? You want a sausage-shaped torpedo bike running over people? You want snipers and ninjas? Shuriken, staffs, whips, guns, batarangs and grenades, oh my! I’ve got that summer blockbuster feeling again. Thank you, Chris Yost for the action, the great conflict, the boiling tension and awesome dialogue.

Red Robin #9 – Review

By: Chris Yost (writer), Marcus To (artist, despite what it says on the cover…), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Red Robin comes home, and tries to keep a low profile, but crime awaits and an old friend visits. But then, Batman’s arch-nemesis, the one Red Robin shafted last issue, reveals his plan for revenge. We all know what pay-backs are, right?

What’s Good: Yost, To, McCarthy and Major put a lot of feeling into this book. Despite the fact that Gotham is pretty much the crappiest place you can go in the DCU, Tim’s happiness is palpable, in the writing, in the half-smile he carries around and in the awe-inspiring landscapes he pauses over. Tim *loves* Gotham. This is his home, and Yost and To made us feel it. They also made us feel the teenage romance blossoming between Tim and Tam (don’t go there…). There are more than sparks, but neither has acted on it other than under near-death experiences, so the tension is high. And then, Yost hit the emotions again, when Tim is reunited with an old friend. There’s some funny dialogue, some awkward pauses and then real, real, real emotional connection. It is the mark of a good writer (and artist) to make me feel something when I read a story. Yost and To did that. And that’s without the surprise guest star at the end!

On the art, To, with McCarthy and Major, built a “noir-lite” mood in Gotham, with dark skies and falling rain splattering off of tough bodies. To and Major go for some interesting effects, speaking of the rain. With the lights in the background, they make the rain almost glow on the bodies of the hero and villain, giving this book a feel closer to the brightness of Batgirl rather than the somberness of Batman and Robin or Detective Comics. To’s art also lacks the grittiness of the Batman series – the characters and places are clean and mostly new. This also contributes to the sort of optimistic feel of the book. Tim Wayne is hopeful. He is neither hardened nor jaded, like Dick, Damian and Kate.

Red Robin #7 – Review

By Chris Yost (writer), Marcus To (artist), Dexter Vines (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Tam is hiding from the Council of Spiders as they chop up the league of assassins. Lucius and Alfred discuss Wayne business over tea. One of the Council guys who has been slaughtering the league’s assassins gets hit by a young woman and scared off when she pulls a gun on him. Vitoria is travelling the world, picking up dissatisfied, thrill-craving assassins.

What’s Good: Once Tim showed up and started slapping down with the Council guys, it was pretty good. To and Vines draw up some good art with expressive faces, splattering blood, raging monsters, leaping ninja and frightened young business women (all that on one splash page!). The faces, in fact, were expressive throughout and the action sequences were great. If you pick up the book, you’ll know what I mean when you see Tim’s splash-page ambush on the Council guys. Check out the blurred effect on his flying disks.

What’s Not So Good: The Council of Spiders was a pretty effective source of tension and dread for the last six issues, partly because they were hidden and partly because they had the world’s premiere assassin’s league wetting their pants. Now that they’re out in the open and cutting through that same league of assassins like Thanksgiving turkeys, I’m really feeling that mood of impending doom gone. To be clear, the tense mood hasn’t been replaced by the feeling of “dread has arrived” (like what Johns is doing with Blackest Night or how I felt when Flamingo appeared in Batman and Robin). It’s been replaced by a feeling of “Wow! That league of assassins is pretty candy-ass. No wonder they found it necessary to put an obsessive teenager in charge.”  This is sad, because up until now, they were great villains.

Red Robin #6 – Review

by Christopher Yost (writer), Marcus To (pencils), Ray McCarthy (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Council of Spiders, Part II: Yost keeps us jumping in space and time, showing us Red Robin’s operational leadership of the League of Assassins, more of the international past of Vitoria and the present of Vicki Vale in Gotham. Red Robin is playing a pretty dangerous game by discovering all he can of the League of Assassins for his later use, by searching for traitors in the League and by setting traps for the Council of Spiders. In the background is his search for Bruce Wayne.

What’s Good: Red Robin the series continues to feel like a summer blockbuster and this issue keeps up the pace and fills in the gaps in the story. The tension is palpable as the plot threads converge. I’m glad my faith in Yost paid off and he explained more of Vitoria in this issue. I also can’t stop watching Tim take on the League and the Council by himself. It’s a dizzying high-wire act, making this one of my favorite books in my pull stack.

The art, shading and color are all well done. The characters are all cleanly shown and well proportioned. The layouts keep up with Yost’s frenetic scene switching and all of the action sequences. To give you a feel of what the art team pulls off, they bring Yost’s story to life as it jumps from philandering wives, killer ninjas, international assassins, monsters, gunfire, and dizzying rescues to a final confrontation with the villain.

What’s Not So Good: Neither a toxic Brazilian babe nor spiders crawling over my eyeballs could get a complaint out of me this month. (Check out the book if you want to see those things)

Conclusion: Red Robin is pulling ahead of the competition and it is now the first thing I read. Tim has a mystery quest on his hands and has only his wits to save him from the danger besetting him on all sides. Check it out!

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

 

Red Robin #5 – Review

By Christopher Yost (writer), Ramon Bachs (artist), Guy Major (colors and digital inks), Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: Tim Wayne, formerly Robin, now the Red Robin, has been traveling all over the world, looking for clues for his crazy theory that Bruce Wayne, his adoptive father, is alive. The only one to believe him so far is Batman’s arch-enemy. The last issue ended with Red Robin being stabbed and left for dead. In this issue, things get worse.

What’s Good: Issue after issue, Tim Wayne is being pushed out of the comfortable world of fellow heroes by his irrational disbelief in his adoptive father’s death. This has made him more alone than most characters I can think of, and has forced him into an alliance with someone totally out of his ability to handle: Ra’s al Ghul. Yost makes us feel not only Tim’s loneliness, but also his discomfort around strangers he cannot trust. That is a universal childhood and coming of age experience and shows where Yost is taking us with Tim.

These coming of age and loss of father themes are rising in a number of books out of the wreckage of the Battle for the Cowl, most especially for the “four brothers” Wayne (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Wayne, Damian Wayne). Tim’s journey here is not just a journey to manhood independent of the father, but independent of the new patriarch and of his society. The new and former Batgirls face similar struggles in new roles in a world without Bruce Wayne and this all points to an impressive cohesiveness of editorial vision between Marts and Siglain.

The art team is a flawless choice for this book. Bachs has become increasingly skilled at making Tim muscular, but still youthful. In the beginning of the series, it was easy to mistake him for a man, especially in his new cowl. Now, in costume and out, he’s quite obviously a teenager trying to pretend he’s not out of his depth.

What’s Not So Good: Yost really loves his temporal jumps in Red Robin and they can become a bit disorienting. A flashback as an occasionally-used tool can be effective. When overused, or experienced through multiple characters, they can make the story less clear or pull the reader away from what makes the story great. A step too far, in my opinion, was the introduction of Vitoria in Brazil in some indistinct past, without enough context to really add her to the story. However, these are small points, and some might argue, stylistic, in a much larger success.

Conclusion: The Red Robin series feels like a monthly dose of a summer block-buster: action-packed and thrill-jammed. Check it out!

Grade: B

-DS Arsenault

Red Robin #4 – Review

By Chris Yost (writer), Ramon Bachs (artist), Guy Major (colors and digital inks)

The Story: Yost and Bachs continue to shuttle us back and forth between Tim Wayne’s past and present. In the past, he’s not dealing with well-meaning friends, but the new Batman in Gotham. In the present, he’s not just dealing with the league of assassins; he’s dealing with their boss, Ra’s al Ghul, in Iraq, the cradle of civilization. And we get to see what Tim stole in that museum in Germany – and some of the puzzle pieces start to fall into place.

What’s Good: Tim Wayne is still on his own, kicking ass, taking names, looking for his dead, adoptive father. But he’s growing up bit-time. Only months ago, he was Robin, a young sidekick to the arch-nemesis of Ra’s al Ghul. Now, they’re on a first-name basis and Tim knows he’s holding a snake by the tail. The tension in this series is just great. You’ve got all the thrills of watching a hero on the run at the same time as he’s bitten off a whole lot more than he can chew. Yost works the past and present together very well, and in fact, every period is compelling. And the assassins are great. They’re excellent foes for Tim.

The art is getting even better. Don’t get me wrong. I loved Thibert’s inks, but Major’s digital inks give a very different look to Red Robin without changing the feel. In fact, some of the panels have a style a lot like what John Byrne’s art looked like when he was inking his own stuff. All in all, the art team is dead on.

What’s Not So Good: I have nothing really to ding this book on. Yost and Bachs and Major are delivering the goods.

Conclusion: Solid, solid story telling, month after month. I wish every comic was this good. If you’re not reading Red Robin, start now.

Grade: B+

-DS Arsenault

Red Robin #2 – Review

By Chris Yost (writer), Ramon Bachs (artist), Art Thibert (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

Some Thoughts Before the Review: As a former Marvel-head, I’m just getting into the modern Batman mythos. I started at the Battle for the Cowl and thought the new Red Robin series would also be a great place to take a deeper plunge.

The Story: Tim Drake (now Tim Wayne) continues his search for Bruce Wayne whom everyone else believes is dead. To do this, he’s turned his back on his old life and friends because no one shares his faith. He does this also because he knows that to find Bruce, he’ll have to use methods that aren’t exactly above the board. He wants nothing he does in his quest to reflect on the new Batman and Robin. So the story goes on as Drake is jumped by a dangerous trio of assassins. The action is also interrupted by a series of flashbacks and flash forwards. By the end of the issue, Red Robin concludes that one other person believes Wayne is alive, but it turns out this news is about as welcome as realizing the devil is batting after you.

What’s Good: Tim Drake is a compelling character who can certainly carry a story, as he proved in the long-lived Robin series and his work with the Teen Titans. But there’s something more here. Drake has lost a father figure and he is seized with a fervency of mission that is gripping for any reader. We’re edging onto obsessive, but because we can understand so much of what Drake lost (we all lost Batman), we can buy into that kind of intensity. Every reader loves a hero who is alone, disbelieved and on the run.

Part of the charm of this book is also watching Drake grow up in the continuing DCU reaction, created by Batman’s death. I caught the last few issues of Robin just before the Battle for the Cowl started and there’s a difference between that Robin and this Red Robin. While Dick Grayson is growing into big shoes and young Damian is growing into smaller shoes, Drake is just plain growing up. It’s a bit like what Grayson went through when he became Nightwing. There’s no easy path to adulthood for him. It is a coming of age story and we get to see Drake at the ground floor of his transformation. Nowhere is this better seen then in the fight between Red Robin and the assassins. He’s on his own. Any slip and he’s dead, and on top of that pressure, he’s using new fighting styles, a new voice and new equipment. We get to watch him worry about whether he’s going to pull off this grown-up, fatherless identity.

What’s Not So Good: His former life reaches out to him many times in this issue. However, I don’t think that Yost has done a good enough job yet of justifying to us why Tim needs to do this quest for Bruce Wayne on his own. Tim has surely built up enough credibility that even if people don’t believe Bruce Wayne lives, they would accompany Drake out of loyalty (like Green Arrow and Green Lantern).

Conclusion: A solid read, well worth following. I’ll be back for more Red Robin.

Grade: B-

-DS Arsenault