A Lonely Place of Dying (Batman/Robin #2) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: A Lonely Place of Dying
Series: Batman/Robin #2
Author: Marv Wolfman

Artist: Jim Aparo & Tom Grummett
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 116
Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

After the death of Jason Todd, aka Robin, Batman is starting to lose it. Instead of calculating and smart, he's beginning to rely on violence and brute strength. This leads to him being wounded even by minor thugs, taking extremely risky actions and generally acting like he has a deathwish.

Tim Drake has been following the exploits of Batman & Robin for years now and has figured out that Dick Grayson was Robin, which led him to figure out Batman is Bruce Wayne and that Jason Todd was the new Robin. He also put together the fact of Todd's death being the catalyst for Batman's change in behavior. Drake tracks down Grayson, now known as Nightwing and convinces him to help Batman in his current fight against Two-Face. Nightwing agrees even while knowing he can never go back to being Robin.

When Batman and Nightwing are overcome by Two-Face, it is up to Drake to put on the uniform of Robin and to save them both. He does this successfully, even against Batman's wishes to have nothing to do with another Robin, as the guilt of Todd's death rests heavily upon him.

However, since Drake was successful in rescuing him and he knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne, Bruce must decide what he'll do. Is it safer to avoid the potential for the death of another young man by cutting Drake off, which would lead to Drake running around out there knowing Batman's alter ego and having no control over that? Or should Bruce take the chance, properly train Drake and retain control of his secret identity? This is how the book ends.

My Thoughts:

Page 5 and the America hating begins. Comics are still run by people who hate America, don't forget it. Makes me sick. But then for the rest of the book, which was 5 or 6 comics, nothing. It was like Wolfman stuck a splinter in my big toe and then pretended that nothing had happened. It was rather surreal and just weird to me. I don't care who the President is, you don't call him unprintable names.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, as a sequel, not necessarily on its own. Batman's struggle was very evident and I thought the writers/artists did a great job of portraying his descent. But holy toledo Batman, when Nightwing came on stage, it was “The 90's Have Arrived!” with all hands on deck! It made me grin a lot because I remember those costumes, as that's what I grew up seeing. Sometimes it's just a shock though, you know?

Tim Drake was portrayed in a really good light. After Todd's rebellious, angry and down right stupid behavior, Drake is shown to be intelligent, patient and willing to do what Batman's says, even when he doesn't want to. He was very raw material, but he was shown to be good material from which a really good Robin could be molded.

The overall plot wasn't as dramatic as A Death in the Family but there were still some really comic'y parts. Dick Grayson investigating a circus murder and buying half the circus to keep it afloat? Not as silly as the Joker being a UN Ambassador but definitely fluff material. And the Teen Titans? Man, it just made me laugh.

Thoroughly enjoyed this read as a Robinread and am really looking forward to the Robin graphic novels next.

★★★★☆ 

• All Robinverse Posts
• A Death in the Family