DCU Comic Book Reviews

ROBIN #154

Ransom Demands

November 2006

Written by Adam Beechen

Pencils by Freddie E. Williams II

Inks by Freddie E. Williams II

Cover by Patrick Gleason & Prentis Rollins

Synopsis

At night, Robin arrives to stop the fifth kidnapping of a rich kid.  During the battle, Robin is hindered by the appearance of Dodge, who manages to get in the way several times and the kidnappers go free.  Then ext day, Robin and Jared harass Tim over his interview in Fortune magazine about being adopted by Bruce Wayne.  While eating lunch with his friends, Jared and Robin are suddenly kidnapped.  Apparently this had been the plan:  the magazine was supposed to make Robin a suspect.  However, Tim’s transponder shorted, leaving on his own with Batman’s help.  At the kidnapper’s location, Tim attempts to get away, but allows himself to be caught after he runs around to learn the layout of the building.  After he has been locked up alone, Tim once more escapes, but this time he changes into his Robin costume.  He then waits for the right chance to attack, but that chance is ruined by the sudden appearance of Dodge. 

Review

I am really enjoying what Beechen has done with this book since he has been able to do his thing after the editorially mandated (and apparently shortened from 6 issues to 4) story of Batgirl’s turn to the dark side.  Each issue seems to expand on Robin’s training, bringing in bits and pieces of things Batman has taught him, either in terms of how Robin has approached things or in flashbacks.  This gives the story added weight to Robin’s youth, showing how he is still learning on the job even if he has been on the job for some time.  Keep in mind, Tim is still in high school.  He is still learning and I like how this is shown. 

For a moment, a very brief moment, I was expecting Dodge to actually be in league with the bad guys and his happy-go-lucky vigilante act was really just an act.  Frankly, I’m glad the final page proved that idea wrong.

All right, let me quibble a bit in regards to the magazine article that got Tim kidnapped.  At the beginning of the issue, kid number 5 just got caught.  Tim and his friend were kids number 6 and 7.  That’s fine, except it takes a long, long time from the time an interview takes place to the time it finally appears on the newsstand.  Even if Bruce Wayne used his clout to get the interview in there quickly, it would still take time for printing and shipping.  The quibble I have is that in all that time, the kidnappers could not find another rich kid to kidnap?  The better theory is that Tim set up the magazine article just as the first and second kids were taken, but there is nothing in the issue to support this theory. 

Another quibble:  why isn’t Batman attempting to find these kids?  Granted, Batman was helping Tim in this story, but why wasn’t he doing something before Tim got nabbed.  I think this is a basic problem with this title:  I keep thinking some of these things Batman should be involved with since it does take place in Gotham.  I’m gonna have to get over that. 

All right, one more quibble:  there are six kidnapped kids on the cover, but only five in the book.  And they did not have their hands tied nor bandages over their eyes.  I’m just saying, that’s all. 

Where’s Bernard? -- MRB

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