DCU Comic Book Reviews

ROBIN #182

Search For A Hero, Part 6:  Lost And Found

March 2009

Written by Fabian Nicieza

Pencils by Freddie E. Williams II

Inks by Freddie E. Williams II

Cover by Freddie E. Williams II

Synopsis

Above the city streets, Ulysses Armstrong dressed as Anarky and Tim Drake (aka Robin) dressed as Red Robin are battling each other.  On the streets below, Spoiler convinces the gangs to work together to clear the area and protect the people.  The police arrive.  Commissioner Gordon orders his men to help the gangs.  Meanwhile, Officer Harper arrives with Armstrong’s family.  Just then, Armstrong reveals he has another bomb ready to explode.  Robin is able to save Officer Harper, but Armstrong’s brother and sister are killed in the blast.  Later, Robin confronts Spoiler regarding her role in the gang wars.  While he knows she was doing at Batman’s request, Robin tells her she made the wrong choices.  He doesn’t want to see Spoiler in Gotham City again.  Meanwhile, the city begins to heal and return to normal.  Officer Harper is given a promotion and Commissioner Gordon replaces the bat signal with a signal for Robin. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

While I must admit that I liked this issue and I liked the arc for the past several issues, I really think that the ending got lost in the fury and the noise of the plot.  This story was written as a big character development moment for Tim, transforming and evolving who he is based on the new status quo in the Bat-universe.  Essentially what Nicieza is trying to get across is that Tim is beginning to act just like his mentor, staying one step ahead of everyone else and not caring what anyone else may think of his actions.  But I think the key moments in this issue are lost amongst Lynx and the gangs working together.  In fact, these scenes don’t quite work and seemed more like a forced plot point than anything that Robin was able to engineer.  In a bit of a catch-22, it is in the story and is a necessary part of Tim’s growth, showing out he outsmarted Armstrong.  Yet, it gets lost in the fight with Armstrong and seems like an afterthought to the bigger moment featuring the final bomb.  A lot of the story gets lost in a lot of things.  I think this story needed to be dialed down a little in terms of the plot and the various characters, focus on Tim and what he is doing and I think it would’ve worked a little bit better than it actually did. 

The burn wounds on Tim’s head healed pretty quickly, didn’t they?  Two weeks?  Even with the best medical personnel money can buy and advanced tech only money can buy, I am amazed it would take two weeks for the wound to heal and the hair to grow back. 

Three of those panels on page 17 look exactly the same.  For what reason would Spoiler hold her arms in that position for that long?

Jason Todd is still in prison.  I don’t know; that seems odd.  First, that he is in jail and second that he can’t get out of jail.  I mean, come on, not only does he have abilities that would help in an escape attempt, but I am sure he has enough contacts in the Gotham Underworld that he would be able to engineer something.

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