Batman Needs a Robin! (A Lonely Place of Dying)
Does Batman need a Robin? I think the kneejerk reaction, and I include myself in this, is "NO!" He's a kid fighting homicidal maniacs that will attempt to kill, maim, rape, torture him. What kind of man would put a child in that position? And ZOMG, just look at that ridiculous costume.
So you have to give A Lonely Place of Dying credit for taking great pains to argue this. What's possibly most surprising, is that the comic also generally suceeds, and makes Robin pretty damn cool.
A Lonely Place of Dying were the very first Batman comics I bought, not long after the '89 Tim Burton movie came out. This is probably significant, especially considering my last post.
Speaking of which, in my last post, I mentioned that Tim showed up less than 12 issues after Jason's death. I'm not sure whether that's true or not anymore, but this arc starts with Batman 440, which is over a year after A Death in the Family, and if Tim's been in the comic before in some capacity, well, this is his first meaningul appearance.
The storyline goes something like this: after Jason Todd was murdered by the Joker, Batman has started thinking more with his fists and less with his brain. He comes back to Wayne Manor with stab and gunshot wounds from criminals who's ass he should be able to kick blindfolded. Alfred suggests he's suicidal, and Bruce doesn't argue. Meanwhile, Dick Grayson, the original Robin now going by Nightwing and part of the superhero group The Titans, has gone AWOL. Nobody knows where he's gone. And one person, a kid named Tim Drake, very much wants to find him.
You see, Tim Drake's been keeping track of both Batman and Nightwing. He knows who they really are, (really, it's a huge willing suspension of disbelief that more people haven't figured out who they are). He's also tied to them in a particularly interesting way - especially Dick. He witnessed the death of Dick Grayson's parents as a child. Now, he's very worried about how Bruce is taking Jason Todd's death. He finds Dick, explains all of this to him. Meanwhile Bruce is hunting down Two-Face.
Tim convinces Dick to help out Batman (Dick and Bruce are estranged, at best), and you can guess where it goes from there. Two-Face almost kills the once Dynamic Duo. Tim figures out they're in trouble, and gets Alfred to take him to help. Dressed as Robin, of course.
The comic holds up remarkably well. Two-Face's plot is pretty good, and there's a spooky reveal at the end, but really, the criminal is the b-plot this time out. Creating a new Robin is what this book's really about.
It's easy to see why this Robin is so popular, whereas Jason Todd wasn't. He's a smart kid - one thinks more with brains than his fists. He respects both Batman and Robin/Nightwing. Also interesting - Tim Drake's parents aren't dead, unlike Dick and Jason's (at least, not at this point in the story). In short, Tim is very much an everykid. Or at least a comic book fan's everykid.
Still, Jason's death is so fresh, that none of the characters really want another Robin, especially Bruce. Of course, they're all swayed with the exception of Bruce, who seems (rightfully) the most ambivalent about it. Tim gives an impassioned speech about how if a police officer is killed, someone else has to stand-up and fill the void. Put on the uniform. And Robin is no different. (Well, he is. He's thirteen years-old and really, it's a bad idea, but willing suspension of disbelief again.) The bad guys can't know that they can kill someone like Robin and get away with it. Someone else has to fill the void, so crooks know they will not prevail.
To a large degree, Tim Drake might be the most popular Robin there's been. He first put on the outfit in 1990, very quickly got a much more badass costume, and even his very own book (something wikipedia says no other Robin got - Nightwing got his, sure, but only as Nightwing, not as Robin). He's been doing it for 20 years now at the age of 13-ish (although I believe Grant Morrison's latest arc has a new Robin now...)
It is, perhaps not as signifcant as ADitF on some levels, but rereading it, I can understand why it was so significant to me. The brutal death of Jason Todd haunts every single issue, and displays the fallibility of the characters. All of them, with the exception of Tim, are grieving or battling with their own demons, wrestling with their roles and their relationships to each other. They've lost one of their own and that loss lingers with them.
And yet, they move on. The same way we do when we lose people we love. Our mistakes may haunt us, but hopefully they don't stop us.
So you have to give A Lonely Place of Dying credit for taking great pains to argue this. What's possibly most surprising, is that the comic also generally suceeds, and makes Robin pretty damn cool.
A Lonely Place of Dying were the very first Batman comics I bought, not long after the '89 Tim Burton movie came out. This is probably significant, especially considering my last post.
Speaking of which, in my last post, I mentioned that Tim showed up less than 12 issues after Jason's death. I'm not sure whether that's true or not anymore, but this arc starts with Batman 440, which is over a year after A Death in the Family, and if Tim's been in the comic before in some capacity, well, this is his first meaningul appearance.
The storyline goes something like this: after Jason Todd was murdered by the Joker, Batman has started thinking more with his fists and less with his brain. He comes back to Wayne Manor with stab and gunshot wounds from criminals who's ass he should be able to kick blindfolded. Alfred suggests he's suicidal, and Bruce doesn't argue. Meanwhile, Dick Grayson, the original Robin now going by Nightwing and part of the superhero group The Titans, has gone AWOL. Nobody knows where he's gone. And one person, a kid named Tim Drake, very much wants to find him.
You see, Tim Drake's been keeping track of both Batman and Nightwing. He knows who they really are, (really, it's a huge willing suspension of disbelief that more people haven't figured out who they are). He's also tied to them in a particularly interesting way - especially Dick. He witnessed the death of Dick Grayson's parents as a child. Now, he's very worried about how Bruce is taking Jason Todd's death. He finds Dick, explains all of this to him. Meanwhile Bruce is hunting down Two-Face.
Tim convinces Dick to help out Batman (Dick and Bruce are estranged, at best), and you can guess where it goes from there. Two-Face almost kills the once Dynamic Duo. Tim figures out they're in trouble, and gets Alfred to take him to help. Dressed as Robin, of course.
The comic holds up remarkably well. Two-Face's plot is pretty good, and there's a spooky reveal at the end, but really, the criminal is the b-plot this time out. Creating a new Robin is what this book's really about.
It's easy to see why this Robin is so popular, whereas Jason Todd wasn't. He's a smart kid - one thinks more with brains than his fists. He respects both Batman and Robin/Nightwing. Also interesting - Tim Drake's parents aren't dead, unlike Dick and Jason's (at least, not at this point in the story). In short, Tim is very much an everykid. Or at least a comic book fan's everykid.
Still, Jason's death is so fresh, that none of the characters really want another Robin, especially Bruce. Of course, they're all swayed with the exception of Bruce, who seems (rightfully) the most ambivalent about it. Tim gives an impassioned speech about how if a police officer is killed, someone else has to stand-up and fill the void. Put on the uniform. And Robin is no different. (Well, he is. He's thirteen years-old and really, it's a bad idea, but willing suspension of disbelief again.) The bad guys can't know that they can kill someone like Robin and get away with it. Someone else has to fill the void, so crooks know they will not prevail.
To a large degree, Tim Drake might be the most popular Robin there's been. He first put on the outfit in 1990, very quickly got a much more badass costume, and even his very own book (something wikipedia says no other Robin got - Nightwing got his, sure, but only as Nightwing, not as Robin). He's been doing it for 20 years now at the age of 13-ish (although I believe Grant Morrison's latest arc has a new Robin now...)
It is, perhaps not as signifcant as ADitF on some levels, but rereading it, I can understand why it was so significant to me. The brutal death of Jason Todd haunts every single issue, and displays the fallibility of the characters. All of them, with the exception of Tim, are grieving or battling with their own demons, wrestling with their roles and their relationships to each other. They've lost one of their own and that loss lingers with them.
And yet, they move on. The same way we do when we lose people we love. Our mistakes may haunt us, but hopefully they don't stop us.