DCU Comic Book Reviews

ROBIN #126

A Life More Ordinary

July 2004

Written by Bill Willingham

Pencils by Damion Scott

Inks by Damion Scott & Robert Campanella

Cover by Damion Scott

Synopsis

Stephanie Brown (aka The Spoiler) is running when she sees Tim Drake (formerly Robin) waiting for her.  Tim tells her that is tough not being Robin, but he made a promise and he is going to keep it.  In Gotham, the assassin Scarab is hunting for Robin.  Meanwhile, The Spoiler’s is back patrolling the streets of Gotham, albeit during the day to avoid Batman.  At Tim’s school, she witnesses Darla Aquista kiss Tim.  However, Spoiler runs away and does not see Tim push Darla away from him.  Elsewhere, the Scarab kill its first “Robin”, but can find no evidence it is the real Robin.  In the batcave, the alarm goes off signaling someone is inside.  Batman finds Stephanie Brown dressed up in a Robin costume she made herself.  Batman agrees to take her on as Robin and starts an intensive training regimen.  Meanwhile, Tim can’t seem to get a hold of Stephanie.  During a snowball fight with the kids in school, Tim runs into Darla so he suggests they go for cocoa and she agrees.  Meanwhile, the new Robin is ready to go out on for patrol.

Review

The central conceit of this issue (The Spoiler becomes the new Robin) has been broadcast all over, so it is not much a surprise to most people.  The real question is if Willingham could make it believable that Batman would select her as the new Robin.  While I may not be 100% totally convinced, I am at least satisfied that the stated reason Batman gives to Alfred makes some sense.  Moreover, Alfred’s concerns also ring true.  However, I am not entirely convinced Spoiler could get into the Batcave the way that she did, but I’ll let that pass for the moment.  The reason for Spoiler to become Robin, however, is a little goofy and requires the Idiot Plot.  In a nutshell, Steph sees Tim kissing another girl so she decides to become Robin.  Yeah, that makes sense.  Makes even less sense if she actually answered the phone and talked to him.  Yes, she is a teenager, which makes this oversight even worse:  most teenagers would not sulk over something like this, but deal with it in some confrontational manner. 

I am conflicted with this issue slightly and I am not sure if there really is a good answer.  The title of the book is, after all, Robin, so part of me feels as if the issue should have focused more on the new Robin.  It would have been nice to see more of the training and more interaction with Batman, although I suspect that will come in the next few months.  Yet, the star of the book was Tim Drake as much as it was Robin.  I think it would have been really jarring to suddenly have him disappear completely from the book.  Of course, he is needed for the Darla kissing scene which gets Stephanie to make her decision, but the snowball fight at the end seemed unnecessary. 

The other subplot with the Scarab (a holdover from the Johnny Warren/Warlock plot) is actually quite interesting if for no other reason than the assassin’s methods makes some sense.  The idea that a small green mask would hide Robin’s identity is flimsy and given credence only because we the readers go along with it.  So, Willingham takes it a step further with the face recognition software and the selection of 12 possible choices.-- MRB

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