DCU Comic Book Reviews

RED ROBIN #7

Council Of Spiders, Part Three of Four

February 2010

Written by Chris Yost

Pencils by Marcus To

Inks by Dexter Vines

Cover by Marcus To

Synopsis

Before, Victoria recruits assassins to her cause. Now, members of the SPider Council have invaded the Cradle, headquarters for the League of Assassins.  Trapped inside is Tam Fox, who fears for her life.  In Budapest, the White Ghost comes to survey apprehension of a member of the Council by Tim Drake (aka Red Robin).  However, Tim is already heading back to the Cradle.  In Gotham City, Lucius Fox tells Alfred that he is concerned about Bruce Wayne and the recent attention by Vicki Vale, especially questions about Tim.  So, Lucius has sent his daughter Tam to find him.  This news upsets Alfred.  Meanwhile, Tam continues to fight for her life against the Council.  She is saved by Red Robin.  They are able to get away, but run into Ra’s al Ghul.  Who is then killed by Victoria and her team of assassins.  Tim and Tam are next.    

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a fairly typical issue of this series, which is to say that I liked it well enough, but it is not something that gets me eager for next month or makes me want to recommend it to my friends.  It is a good book, for what it is.  I would like to have the focus be on Tim rather than Tam; the sequence with Tam running for her life was suspenseful and I liked the way they characterized her fear and determination, but ultimately it doesn’t tell us much about Tim or what he is doing.  Is it too much to ask for the title character to, you know, be the main character in the story.

The shifting back and forth in time has slowed down noticeably; the few moments that drifted back to “before” were perhaps not necessary, but at least showed that Victoria was actively recruiting her Council of Spiders.  All of the time shifts with Tim and the things he is doing disappeared, leaving only the flashbacks to Victoria’s past.  Of course, I am not quite sure why she went from killing random people to suddenly wanting to play the “game.”  Here motives have not been explained that well.  I think that she has a vendetta against the League for the way they tried to recruit her, but I am not sure if that was stated explicitly.

I doubt Ra’s is dead.  DC would not bring back Ra’s to life just to kill him off in some middling story in a book that I don’t think is selling that well.  Or in a book in which the main purpose (finding Bruce Wayne) has nothing to do with Ra’s.  Anyway, I am willing to bet that either “Ra’s” is simply a decoy of some sort or Tim was the one being tested in some weird way.

Is that a typo on the Wanderer's name?  Should it be “Victoria” rather than “Vitoria?”  Last issue it had both, so maybe it is "Vitoria". 

 

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