DCU Comic Book Reviews

ROBIN #178

Search For A Hero, Part 2:  Life During Wartime

November 2008

Written by Fabian Nicieza

Pencils by Freddie E. Williams II

Inks by Freddie E. Williams II

Cover by Freddie E. Williams II

Synopsis

When Robin attempts to stop a young boy from joining a local gang, Ragman appears and tells him that it might be better if the kid joined a gang, because at least then he will be protected.  The next day, Robin learns of the arrest by Detectives Cavallo and Wise of the leader of the Blackgaters gang.  Meanwhile, Officer Harper receives a call from Jason Bard, who has been asked by Robin to look into the dealings of Cavallo and Wise.  Elsewhere, Robin continues to fight the gangs, but is interrupted by the Red Robin.  Later, Robin once more rescues the young boy from the gangs, only to learn the young boy wants to be part of it.  Ragman also appears and asks Robin who would benefit from the escalating gang war.  Officer Harper produces a bloody shirt from the corpse of the former leader of the Sprang Street gang.  Ragman determines the killer was Cavallo and Wise and then they set up the Blackgaters gang leader for the deed.  Robin and Harper, with the help of Jason Bard, provide enough evidence to arrest Cavallo and Wise.  Elsewhere, Spoiler visits Ulysses for more information on the gang wars.  However, Ulysses doesn’t want her to spoil his plans, so he shoots her.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Too much.  There are waaaay too many guest stars in this issue and it completely takes away not only from the main star, Robin, but also from the supporting characters.  To make matters even more confusing, there are the gangs and their various leaders that are part of the main plot that need to be accounted for as well.  It is not an easy task of keeping track of everyone.  It just seems like the issue spins around in a tizzy, hitting all of the marks for all of the characters, but each time we get a new cameo (look, Red Robin! and Nightwing!) and the time it takes to integrate them into the issue, it takes away time and space from the plot of the story.  I mean, Robin and Harper manage to capture the bad guys, but it happens in the last portion of the book and almost seems like an afterthought.  We don’t see the evidence being delivered to Gordon, or even his reaction to it.  Worse, Robin was not really part of the ending, as Ragman provides not only the reasoning on who it might be but also the final clue.  Then, it is Jason who delivers the evidence folder to Harper that eventually leads to the arrest. 

Ultimately, I think Nicieza has a lot of ideas, and a lot of them really good ideas, but he is cramming too much of them into one story.  It makes for an overall disjointed reading, even if the pieces are still very good. 

This issue also sees Nicieza drop a few hints that I assume will lead into the “Battle For The Cowl” storyline that DC has announced will occur after the “Batman R.I.P.” story.  I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see a few more hints that what Gotham needs is Batman and Tim realizing that perhaps what he needs to do is become Batman (“If I don’t do it, who will?”).  What I like about this is that Nicieza is doing it slowly and doing it in a way that shows the evolution of being a sidekick to taking over his mentor’s role.  It is not sudden, nor out of the blue, but a gradual thing and if done right will make a lot of sense when Tim does battle for the cowl. 

I also like the way Nicieza (and I assume editor Mike Marts) managed to include the current Two-Face story occurring in Nightwing.  That solidly places both of those stories after “Batman R.I.P.” and while it is a good thing the books match up in terms of the timeline, it still is not good that these stories that occur after “Batman R.I.P.” are appearing before the story is finished. 

Comic Connection

The General (Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong) first appeared in Detective Comics, issue #654 (December 1992). 

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