DCU Comic Book Reviews

ROBIN #133

Fresh Blood Part Three: The Auction

February 2005

Written by Bill Willingham

Pencils by Damion Scott

Inks by Damion Scott

Cover by Damion Scott

Synopsis

Tim Drake (aka Robin) and Cassandra Cain (aka Batgirl) are infiltrating the home of Blockbuster’s attorney Calvin Westbrook when they run into a stuffed and mounted statue of Blockbuster, courtesy of Oswald Cobblepot (aka Penguin).  Beyond the statue, the room is full of Blüdhaven crim families and their hired thugs.  Batgirl knocks over the Blockbuster statue and the big battle begins.  Eventually, Robin and Batgirl are defeated by a chemical agent that works on skin and seeps through any fabric.  While unconscious, Robin has nightmares of Stephanie and Darla and his father. When he awakens, he learns that he and Batgirl are tied to chairs.  Penguin decides he is going to unmask them and sell their pictures to every paper in the country.  A bidding war starts for the privilege to take the mask off.  In Gotham, Alfred notices increased phone traffic in Blüdhaven.  Batman tells him to decode it and send it to Tim.  Back in Blüdhaven, the bidding has ended, but it will take time for the winner to deliver the money.  As they wait, one thug wants to beat up Robin as payback for Batman sending his brother to prison.  Robin uses that to his advantage; he bets $15,000 he could take the thug.  Someone suggests Robin and Batgirl fight each other.  Penguin likes that idea.  He sets the odds in favor of Batgirl 2-to-1 and the fight is on…to the death!

Review

Again, like the last issue, this was a swift read as Willingham hits all of the important parts as quickly as he can and with no fuss in order to get the issue to the cliffhanger for the fourth and final part of the story arc.  It was not bad in any way (see review of previous issue for comments on the artwork) but there is very little that grabbed my attention.  Well, there was one thing:  the nightmare while Robin was unconscious, not so much because I found it interesting, but because it highlights that this book (and Willingham) still has not tackled the issue of their deaths.  Instead, it just hangs over the characters.  Yes, I understand that perhaps Tim has not dealt with it, but I think we need an issue to show Tim no dealing with it or having problems or having recurrent nightmares (which is alluded to here but not before this). 

The auction idea sounds plausible, assuming that the Penguin and the rest of the thugs are stupid enough to realize the more time they waste, the more likely the heroes will be able to get away.  Basically, this is just another form of the Talking Villain rule (also referred to as monologuing in The Incredibles) in which the villain (when he gets the upper hand in battle) spends all of his time talking to the hero and not enough time killing the hero. 

I am not exactly sure about the reasoning for including Batman in this issue.  Basically he is told something is happening in Blüdhaven, but since there is no concrete information yet, nothing will be done.  Is this just a way to foreshadow that in the final issue of this story arc, Batman will be coming to Blüdhaven?  Or is this just a clever way to foreshadow Alfred’s potential romance with Dana, Tim’s stepmother?  Or is this just a way to break up the issue before returning to Robin and Batgirl.  I don’t know; the entire scene with Batman just seemed odd to me.-- Review by MRB

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