Red Robin #13 – Review

By: Fabian Nicienza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy and Mark McKenna (inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: The Hitlist, Part One: The Domino Effect: This tale opens on three brothers, Dick, Tim and Damian, who have reconciled and become family again. However, their chosen vocations pull them apart once more, Batman and Robin after one set of criminals, Red Robin after the Lynx. Tim struggles, not only with first contact with the Lynx and some weird coincidences, but with his whole life. He’s got five questions to ask: Where to live, what to do, how to do it, who to do it with and who to do it against. Red Robin #13 answers three of those questions.

What’s Good: Chris Yost steered the first twelve issues of Red Robin through a roller coaster of adventure as Tim Drake sough to prove himself. Fabian Nicienza, with issue #13, assumes the role of worthy successor. The dialogue is crisp, the characters vibrant, the situations fun (Tim is engaged!) and the hero has a plan. Actually, that last part is not new. Red Robin, if nothing else, has proven himself to be the one superhero that walks around with pockets stuffed with plans. This is what makes him so successful and engaging as a character. Tim is driven, not by something so amorphous as crime, but by specific, strategic plans. And he’s obviously cooking up a big one now, thanks to some fine plotting and writing by Nicienza.

To, McCarthy, McKenna and Major turn in some fine artwork. The facial expressions and level of textural detail are a bit understated for my tastes, but To picks the camera angles, panel compositions and postures that make this story materialize. The quick shift in camera angles, whether watching Tim shake down one of the golden dragons, or when following Tim manage his fiancé, make the panels breeze along. The double splash page is dynamic, and even Tam’s ridiculed humiliation is penciled into a life that is moving and happening. That dynamism counts just as much in the fight scenes, and the color work, whether dark and sharp or blurred and surreal, give the panels an extra dimension.