DCU Comic Book Reviews

ROBIN #136

A Ride On The Storm

May 2005

Written by Bill Willingham

Pencils by Pop Mhan

Inks by Sondra Hope

Cover by Damion Scott

Synopsis

In Blüdhaven, the Penguin meets with the Rising Sun Archer, who admits she failed to kill Robin, but she’ll get him soon.  Penguin tells her that she may too late; there are others looking to collect the bounty on Robin’s head.  At that moment, Robin is in the midst of fighting The Dark Rider, a dark figure riding a shadow horse.  In Gotham City, Alfred tends to Batman’s wounds while the two talk about Robin.  Batman feels Robin is resourceful and that he will be okay on his own in Blüdhaven.  Meanwhile, Robin continues the fight with The Dark Rider, eventually defeating him just as the new day begins.  When the sun rises, the Dark Rider disappears, replaced by a man who remembers nothing of what happened.  Ten days later, Robin tells Alfred that he thinks Stanley Baumgarten (aka The Dark Rider) suffers from some type of sleep disorder and is unaware of what occurs at night.  Alfred tells Tim that they have found his uncle.  The next Saturday, Tim meets his long-lost Uncle Eddie for the first time. 

Review

“Is there no end to your villainy?”

Like the last issue, this was another issue-long battle, this time between Robin and the Dark Rider.  Unlike last issue, I actually enjoyed this issue.  A large part of that is due to the much clearer artwork from Pop Mhan.  I won’t say Mhan’s pencils are better than Damion Scott’s, but I will say that Mhan’s work here suits the issue much, much better.  Most of the issue takes place at night, but the artwork was clear enough that I did not have to struggle to determine what is happening and what character is attempting to do what. 

Now that we have two issues back to back with pretty much the same basic concept (hey, Robin is fighting someone!), I am beginning to grow weary of this story line.  Exactly where is all of this going?  Yes, we know the Penguin is up to no good, but we learned that last issue.  Yes, we know that Alfred is concerned for Robin’s safety.  We knew that last issue.  Yes, we know that Uncle Eddie is coming back to take care of Robin, we actually got that two issues ago.  So, we seem to be standing still, waiting for something to happen.  I guess, in the age of decompression, this is to be expected and it probably would not be that noticeable if it weren’t for the similarity between the two issues. 

I am curious to see where this story with Uncle Eddie goes.  It seems a little odd to kill Jack only to then bring in another father-figure.  Will this mean we will return to the status quo before War Games in which Tim feels guilty about lying to his Uncle?  Or will Eddie prove to be different in same manner.  I ask because it would seem given the recent events that it would be easier to let Bruce adopt Tim, bring him back to Wayne Manor and then bring back “Batman & Robin” which seems to be missing for the past several years.  So, I’m hoping that what the reason for Uncle Eddie, it better be a good one. -- Review by MRB

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