DCU Comic Book Reviews

ROBIN #122

Bad To The Bone

March 2004

Written by Bill Willingham

Pencils by Rick Mays

Inks by Aaron Sowd

Cover by Jason Pearson

Synopsis

Tim Drake (aka Robin) is being held at gunpoint by Johnny Warren.  Although Robin disarms Johnny, in the following fist fight, Johnny is able to retrieve the gun once more.  Robin uses a tangler grenade to block the barrel of the gun, but Johnny shoots anyway.  It backfires and Johnny’s arm gets shot off.  Robin moves in to check to see if he is all right when Johnny pulls out another gun.  Johnny shoots Debbie Braunweis, who is still tied to a chair, and leaves with the stash her boyfriend Ollie stole from STAR Labs.  Robin stays behind to take care of her and Johnny is able to get away.  Later, Robin tells Batman that if he had had transportation he might’ve been able to save not only Debbie, but possibly Ollie as well.  At home, Tim tells his father and stepmother that he got a black eye (from Johnny during the fight) while trying out for the football team.  Across town, Johnny makes it to his mother’s house.  The next day, Tim dares his new friend Bernard to ask out Darla Aquista, who seems to be only interested in Tim!  At his mother’s house, Johnny Warren opens up the stolen package and finds a possessed talisman that sticks itself directly into Johnny’s heart.  The talisman tells Johnny he’ll only survive if Johnny does exactly what he is told.  Meanwhile, at the batcave, Batman gives Robin his own motorcycle.  He thinks things are looking up.

Review

“I’m just too well-trained for any guy like you to have a chance beating me.”

I am not entirely sure I like this cocky, arrogant, full-of-himself Robin.  The entire sequence with Johnny just did not read well at all; and all of that is Robin’s dialogue.  The action and the drawings are fine; even Robin’s monologue worked.  But the dialogue?  It came across as lame, stilted, and entirely unnecessary.  The entire sequence would have worked just as well if the dialogue had been completely removed.  Part of the problem, I guess, is that while Robin acts cocky, he is also making big mistakes, such as allowing Johnny to get to the gun.  Instead as coming off as a young kid still learning the ropes of being a vigilante, it comes across as sloppy work from someone who really should know better.  There is a slight difference in the characterization and as I think about this issue, I think it makes a world of difference.  Unfortunately, a change to the front part of the issue with Johnny renders the entire sequence with Bernard and the football team useless.  If Robin isn’t cocky and arrogant, he would never be able to do what he does and I must admit, I found the sequence humorous.  I am guessing that Darla’s infatuation with Tim and his relationship with the Spoiler will become a large part of future issues, once the deal with Johnny has been finished. 

The good in this issue is the set-up as Johnny Warren as the villain for Robin.   For obvious reasons, Robin’s villains tend to either be lesser known Batman villains or generic thugs.  Johnny look to fall into the latter category, but this thing with the artifact and the cannibalism suggests that maybe Robin will get a worthy adversary.  The important aspect is that Willingham was able to create a scenario in which Johnny would want to go after Robin rather than the big man.  I mean, if you’re a villain in Gotham City who would you want to go against:  Batman or Robin.  Well, duh, Batman, because he is the king of hero community in the city.  But with Johnny, Willingham has created the type of hatred that connects him to Robin only.  Now, all we have to do is hope that Johnny becomes a good threat to Robin and not some silly whack-o.-- MRB

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