Robin #131
War Games: Act Three Part 4
Writer: Bill Willingham
Pencils: Thomas Derenick
Inks: Robert Campanella
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.25
This review contains spoilers.
After making the tough decision to return to his role as Robin, Tim Drake takes to the streets with a vengeance. ?I?m Robin again! And it feels right!? He thinks to himself as he battles The Ravens, who are trying to commandeer and arms shipment at Gotham?s Port Adams. He banters with his two female foes throwing one-liners along with punches. The Ravens aren?t much of a match for the reinvigorated Robin and as soon as he?s got them on the ground he radios Oracle for his next assignment.
Oracle tells Robin that Mr. Fun is in Cathedral Square and Trickster is in Grant Park. ?Which one do you want??
?They?re close enough together I?ll take both,? Tim says.
As Robin heads out, he thinks to himself about the role Robin plays in the Bat family. ?One of us has to be willing to shine a light on all of these shadows.? Alfred had told him that Stephanie, in her extremely brief tenure as Robin, had a brightening effect on Batman. Robin figures that perhaps he should try and do the same. ?I?m not too proud to learn from Steph ? even if I do resent her trying to take my place,? he thinks, but he?s worried about her and hopes she?s staying out of harms way.
Stephanie is far from out of harm?s way. Across town, Black Mask still has her cornered in a closet. As any good megalomaniacal villain does, he speaks to her of his intentions. ?We were having such fun together before I had to excuse myself?and now to find on returning that in my absence you?ve left me??
He follows the blood trail to the door and walks through. He apologizes for having to interrupt their torture session and asks her forgiveness. Spoiler swings down from above the doorframe delivering a solid kick to Black Mask?s head in the process. ?You?re on sick monster!? She says as the blow lands.
Spoiler may still be in trouble, but Batman is already looking for her. He tells Oracle that he?s on the way back up to The Hill. ?Her trail begins at Orpheus?s office.? He asks Oracle how Tim is doing and she says that he?s ?on fire? but she?s concerned that he?s overdoing it. Batman tells her that he trusts Tim?s judgment and she has more to worry about than wasting time psychoanalyzing Tim.
Oracle radios in to Robin and asks for his location. ?Gotham River,? he says, ?conducting a daring high speed chase. Or I was. The suspect just abandoned the vehicle in the middle of the bridge.?
The suspect is the Trickster and he abandoned the vehicle to go running off into the air on his levitating shoes. Robin manages to get his Batrope around Trickster?s ankles and tells him he made two mistakes: he kept running parallel to the bride even though he could have run over the water where Robin could have reached him, and if he can make shoes that let him run on air, why be a cheap hood when he could sell them and make a fortune?
Back at Black Mask?s hideout, Spoiler is doing a pretty good job of asserting herself against Black Mask. ?If you?d fought this well last time, you wouldn?t be in the shape you?re in now,? he tells her. He wonders why she?s fighting with such renewed vigor and she tells him it?s because it?s the first time she?s ever realized that her life is really on a line. ?This isn?t a game!?
Stephanie gets Black Mask down, but he?s able to pull a gun from the rubble. She quickly knocks it from his hand and turns it on him. He wonders if she actually has what it takes to pull the trigger.
Robin, having taken care of the Trickster radios to Oracle for the current whereabouts of Mr. Fun. He?s still at the Cathedral and apparently in a standoff with the cops. Oracle tells Robin she?d like him to stand down and take a break. He tells her he doesn?t need it, but she tells him it?s an order. Tim disregards the order and takes down Mr. Fun anyway, thought he feels a bit bad about being snotty with Oracle.
Stephanie continues holding Black Mask at gunpoint. ?So, are we going to sit here all night?? He asks her. Black Mask taunts her, telling her to consider all the lives she would save by killing him. She tells him she could do it and maybe should, but that would be against what Batman taught her.
Black Mask takes advantage of this moment of doubt and snatches the gun back. He tells her that she?s stupid for letting him get a second wind and that he had high hopes for her, but now he just wants her out of his sight. He shoots her from behind through her upper shoulder and chest. ?That?s what you should have done to me,? he says. He kicks her out the door and tells her he?s going to let her go, but to tell Batman thank you for sending poorly trained children after him.
Finally taking Oracle?s advice, Tim stops on the roof of his building to talk with his father, Jack, for a while. Jack asks him if he?s done for the night. Tim tells him likely not. Tim asks if Jack is done for the night, but he says he?s not, either. He?s waiting for supplies for Leslie?s Clinic.
Jack tells Tim that he worries about him and the danger he gets into, but that he?s proud of him. Time tells him he knows. Suddenly the phone rings. ?That?s my call, I?ve got to go,? Jack says. Tim says he needs to go too. As the father and son head their separate ways, Tim says ?Dad, I??
?Me too, son. Me too,? Jack replies.
After an appreciable slowdown through most of Act Two, Act Three of War Games seems to be quickening the pace again. In my opinion, this is one of the stronger issues of all of act Two and Three not only because it drives the storyline forward, but because it?s equally character driven. Both Robin and Spoiler go through a certain level of character transformation in this issue, with Robin thinking perhaps he should lighten up, while Spoiler realizes that her chosen profession is indeed deadly. Hopefully, neither one of them will go too far overboard in either direction.
I also really enjoyed the art in this issue. I?ve not read many books penciled in a standard ?Superhero? style by Thomas Derenick (I had seen his more realistic ?Smallville? stuff), but I could see a variety of influences in his artwork: a bit of Norm Breyfogle, some Jerry Ordway, even a little Ed Benes in his Barbara Gordon/Oracle, but it never looks derivative. Besides, that?s some mighty good company. As inked by Robert Campanella, who I consider to be one of the best inkers in the business, it?s a good looking book to my eye.
