Batman: Under the Red Hood (Batman/Robin #5) ★★★☆☆

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: Batman: Under the Red Hood
Series: Batman/Robin #5
Author: Judd Winick

Artist: Doug Mahnke
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 384
Format: Paper Edition

Synopsis:

A vigilante, wearing a Red Hood, begins taking out various crime syndicates in Gotham. Unfortunately, he's just as willing to kill as the badguys. This brings him to Batman's attention but he's able to outwit Batman. It is revealed, quite early on I might add, that the Red Hood is Jason Todd and he's back for revenge against the Joker and to show Batman that his scruples against killing just won't work anymore. That story ends with Batman, Red Hood and the Joker all facing off against each other and the Joker stabbing a huge block of c4 and blowing the building to kingdom come.

The book ends with a 2part storyline about how Todd came back to life. Apparantly some of the shenanigans pulled by DC with Superman allowed “time changes” and such baloney and so Todd was miraculously alive. He was then put in a Lazarus Pit by Talia Al'Ghul and sent on his way to revenge himself.

My Thoughts:

This book had some really deep moments, like where Todd's philosophy of death is pitted against Batman's and then some just plain stupid points, like the end story about how Todd came back to life.

This book explores why Batman is one of the good guys. It isn't just that he doesn't kill but the whole reasoning behind it. Batman still believes in the Justice System. He believes in the duly constituted authority of the police and the like. He apprehends the criminals because somebody needs to and provides evidence against them but he realizes that he is NOT judge, jury and executioner. He is not above the Law even while working outside the framework of the law. Ultimately, he serves the purposes of Law.

Todd, on the other hand, is just as much a piece of trash as he was back in “Death in the Family”. He's an arrogant, pompous and now, truly dangerous psychopath. He doesn't believe in the underpinnings of Law and Order and hence, has absolutely no regard for even trying to play by the rules. At times I found myself almost agreeing with his assessment of how Batman's way doesn't seem to work. His accusations against the Joker, about the thousands he has killed, the thousands that could have been saved if Batman had only killed the Joker, rang true in my ears. Until I stopped and thought. I do believe that the Joker should have been killed but not by Batman. He should have been executed by the Government for his crimes. And that is what is so seductive about these comics. They provide half truths as full truths. They purport to show that ANY killing is somehow bad. So only badguys do the killing and goodguys don't kill, including the Government. Even though death is sometimes the only punishment that fits the crime.

However, that gets into the whole role of government and ethics and where you get your ideas from. That is a MUCH deeper and more complicated issue than can be adequately done justice to in a comic book. Plus, it doesn't help that a lot of comic people are leftist commie pinkos who are as deluded as Hitler ever was so to ever expect something right and decent from them is like expecting me to start reading those bodice ripper books and think they're great literature. It just isn't going to happen.

The thing that really knocked this down for me was the whole explanation for how Todd came back. It had something to do with the Flashpoint storyline or the New52 or something. I got a 2page spread showing a Superman who looked like he was 18, breaking something or other and somehow that all mystically made it happen. I HATE SuperKid. The New52 Superkid needed his bottom paddled and told to grow up. He's called phracking Super MAN for a reason so make him look like a man. And make him somebody kids want to emulate and look up to, not a teen displacement fantasy. There are enough superheroes who already do that * frowny face *

Also, there was zero mention of Tim Drake. Near the beginning there is a brief mention of some girl who also died who was close to being a fourth Robin, but nary hide nor hair of Tim Drake. I had to go to Wikipedia to see a history of Tim and found out he was branching out into the Red Robin character at this point. But Nightwing got facetime in this book and even had his city blown up, so why Drake wasn't included is beyond me. Bunch of Jealous Haters is my guess.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with this Robinverse read. From the death of Jason Todd to his return, I think these 4 Robin related graphic novels are all worth owning. While they are a bit topsy turvy due to DC doing reboots every decade or less, you learn a lot about the Robin personna and get various takes on it. That being said, I will not be hunting down any of the Red Robin graphic novels or continuing any of the storylines left open in this book. I've got a Superman graphic novel still on tap but I think I'm going to wait a month or two before diving into it.

My rating of this book went all over the place from 2 stars to 4 star and even while writing this review I found myself going back and forth. So I settled on a 3star, as it means I was ok with the read but wasn't wow'd.

★★★☆☆ 

• All Robinverse Posts
• A Death in the Family
• A Lonely Place of Dying
• Robin: A Hero Reborn
• Robin: Tragedy & Triumph

Robin: Tragedy & Triumph (Batman/Robin #4) ★★★★☆

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: Robin: Tragedy & Triumph
Series: Batman/Robin #4
Author: Chuck Dixon & Alan Grant

Artist: Norm Breyfogle & Tom Lyle
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 192
Format: Paper Edition

Synopsis:

This graphic novels entails 2 different stories that aren't related.

The first story, entitled Rite of Passage, is the backstory of the tragedy surrounding Tim Drake's parents. How his mom died and his dad was totally incapacitated. They were multimillionaires, investors and their plane was hijacked. They were held for ransom by the Obea Man in Haiti but he had planned to kill them along no matter what. Batman rescues them but not before they drink poisoned water, which kills Mrs Drake and puts Mr Drake into a coma. While all of this is going on, Tim is back in Gotham tracking down a computer hacker who has been stealing from Gotham banks and depositing the funds into peasants accounts across the world.

The second story is the Robin II set of comics that introduces the new Robin as his own character. Batman is out of town, the Joker escapes and it is mid winter with a huge storm coming in. The Joker kidnaps a computer programmer and takes over the city and demands Batman deliver him a billion dollars. The Joker blows the truck up to kill Batman and in the ensuing confusion (As Robin has set things up) Robin takes down the Joker and puts him back in Arkham. Thus he puts to rest any doubts he has about being capable of being Batman's partner.

My Thoughts:

I can understand why they put these 2 stories together, but they really didn't mesh well. The tragedy surrounding Tim's parents is only touched upon in Robin: A Hero Reborn so it is good to get the full story. It is amazing how the birth of a hero always seems catapulted by some sort of deep tragedy in their own lives. Nobody, as far as I can tell, just wakes up in Comic World and decides to fight crime for the fun of it. I obviously haven't read every about superhero, nor do I have that desire, but Motivation seems to half the battle when it comes to creating a “hero”. Nothing beats a good old death of mum n dad to help someone along the path.

The Robin II storyline, with Tim facing off against the Joker, was your stereotypical comic book storyline. A whole city helpless, only one man, or boy in this case, can save the day. The Authorities completely stymied, every person in power panic'ing and their brains nullified. It is the dream of every teen. It also showcased how comics in the 90's were still grounded in our world. None of this alternate reality, science fiction, fantasy kaka I see nowadays. Once a Superhero moves out from “our” world, they become just another character, no longer a Superhero.

This Robin book didn't impress me as much as the previous book. It wasn't as good but it also wasn't as ridiculous. It was a comic book about a teenager (Drake's only 14 for goodness sake!) for teenagers. I've been looking around at other Tim Drake/Robin books and I think I'll be leaving them alone. Drake's origin and first real mission, that's a good place to stop.

I've got one more Batman/Robin graphic novel coming up, Under the Red Hood, which deals with the return of Jason Todd. I have no idea if Drake is involved or not, but either way, I'm ok with this little bit I already own and have no real desire to chase down more.

★★★★☆ 

• All Robinverse Posts
• A Death in the Family
• A Lonely Place of Dying
• Robin: A Hero Reborn

Robin: A Hero Reborn (Batman/Robin #3) ★★★★☆

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: Robin: A Hero Reborn
Series: Batman/Robin #3
Author: Chuck Dixon & Alan Grant

Artist: Norm Breyfogle & Tom Lyle
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 192
Format: Paper Edition

Synopsis:

Tim Drake has been helping out Batman after the death of Tim's mother and his father's incapacitation by poison at the hand of the Obea Man. Batman refuses to allow Tim to don the Robin costume and tells Tim that disobediance in that regard will be where their partnership ends. Batman is dealing with with random people putting on skull masks and then committing crimes of whim. He tracks down the mastermind but is captured by the Scarecrow and subjected to several of his potions. Tim figures out what is going on and decides that he has to help Batman even if it means he can't ever be Robin. Tim saves Batman and Vicki Vale and Batman realizes and acknowledges that Tim IS capable of being the next Robin. A new suit is revealed and Tim becomes the next Robin.

Though his detective skills are up to snuff, the physical side of things aren't as well taken care off so Tim heads off to France to train under the last surviving Sensei of a martial art. While out one evening he sees a girl being harassed by a gang and tries to intervene. He gets his butt kicked, badly. He tracks them down and ends up rescuing Clyde Rawlins, a rogue DEA agent who is after the killers of his family. The gang leads back to Edmund Dorrance, aka the King Snake, the most dangerous man in the world, at least according to Lady Shiva.

Robin takes some street brawling lessons from Rawlins, finds out that Dorrance has gotten ahold of some manmade Bubonic Plague and plans to release it in Hong Kong so the mainland Chinese will get nothing when they take over Hong Kong in a few years. Lady Shiva is involved because she wants to pit herself against the King Snake. Robin takes some lessons from Shiva as well and eventually all 3 of them head to Hong Kong. They assault Dorrance's HQ where the plague is stored and stop it from being released. Rawlins' dies at the hands of the King Snake and Robin fights against him as well. Shiva has been playing a long game and tries to turn Robin into a killer and make him her protege, hence one-upping Batman. Robin refuses to murder Dorrance, so Shiva tosses Dorrance off of a 50story building.

Robin returns to Gotham and stops the gang that has transported all of Dorrance's fortunes. He cleans house and Batman tells him he did a good job and that he's truly ready to be Robin now.

My Thoughts:

Before I actually review anything. Buying books is dangerous. When I reviewed the 2 previous Batman/Robin books, I thought that I didn't own them so I read them in digital format. Well, when I went to pick this volume off of my shelf, low and behold, I saw that I DID own them. Sigh. I didn't buy it from Amazon, as it's not in my order history, so I'm guessing I bought it some time with a Barnes&Noble giftcard some Christmas. I just can't remember. So beware your bookshelves, they might have hidden surprises!!!

There is a quote from Clyde Rawlins that I feels sums this book up perfectly:

“But this is getting too freaky. Killer bimbo's, nazi plague bombs...

...I feel like I'm living out a National Enquirer headline.”

This was released soon after Jason Todd's death, as it was felt that Batman really did need a sidekick. So this is chockful of the 90's. The proto-EU is talked about, the ChiCom's takeover of Hong Kong, the styles, it was all good! I'm not sure how a young person of today would view that, or if it would just be something they pass over. But for me, it was a good trip down memory lane.

Now, that being said, I was probably 14 or 15 when I originally bought this Robin graphic novel and the next. I can see why I liked it so much. However, since I've changed just a little bit since then (my 40^th is coming up this year) my outlook has a bit more perspective to it now. The whole training thing? Packing 3 different styles in doesn't take weeks, it would take years. In comics, that is how it works though, but it was pretty obviously a “flaw” to me this time around. The billionaire blind super martial artist schtick was also on the gimmicky side.

However, I still really liked this. Tim Drake is a careful, introspective teenager who thinks before he reacts and plans as much as he can for the unknown. He doesn't allow himself to be overcome by his emotions and doesn't allow vengeance to be his driving force. In short, he is everything that a sidekick of the Batman needs.

The whole coloring side of things worked for me as well. I'm a big fan of bright and splashy costumes and the yellow and greens and reds were outstanding in the new suit. And thankgoodness no more short pants for Robin! It was very much a complimentary suit to Batman's in regards to what it was capable of.

This was a fun, fast paced adventure of the new Robin coming into his own. I'd highly recommend it to teens and recommend it to any fan of the Robins if they wanted a history lesson.

★★★★☆ 

• All Robinverse Posts
• A Death in the Family
• A Lonely Place of Dying

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.

★★★★☆ 

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• A Death in the Family

A Death in the Family (Batman/Robin #1) ★★★★☆

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 Death in the Family
Series: Batman/Robin #1
Author: Jim Starlin

Artist: Jim Aparo & Mike Decarlo
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 144
Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

Batman has taken Jason Todd under his wing and trained him as his new Robin. Unfortunately, Jason lost his mother to illness and his father to crime and so he's got a lot of anger and he lets it out while on the job.

Going through some papers of his parents one day he comes across his birth certificate where he finds out that his “mother” was actually only his step-mother and his birth mother is still alive and either in the Middle East or Africa. After “quitting”, in a note no less, Todd runs off to Israel to check on the first of three possible “Mom” candidates and then ends up in Lebanon.

At the same time the Joker has broken out of Arkham Asylum, again and with most of his secret funds being not so secret and impounded by the US Government, heads to Lebanon to sell off a nuclear cruise missile. Batman is tracking him down and runs into Todd. It turns out the people they each are looking for are connected. So they team up, foil a bunch of arab terrorists who want to launch a nuke into Tel Aviv and find out that the Israeli Secret Agent isn't Jason Todd's birth mother. The Joker is out a million dollars with no more missiles to sell and a large grudge.

While Batman and Robin go after Candidate Number 2, the Joker makes a run for Ethiopia and blackmails Candidate Number 3, who is in charge of large amounts of medical supplies from the UN. The Joker doesn't know she's Candidate Number 3 of course. Candidate Number 2 turns out to be Lady Shiva and she wants nothing more than an all out, one on one fight with Batman. After defeating her and doping her up with sodium pentathol, it is revealed that she too is not Todd's mother.

The Joker not only blackmails Candidate Number 3 but drops off a load of his lethal laughing gas in the place of the supplies he takes. This will kill off whole camps of refugees. Bruce and Jason discover that CN3 IS Jason's mother and there is a tearful reunion. At least until Jason discovers what the Joker is doing and informs Batman. Batman chases down the tainted supplies and Robin goes in to rescue his mom, against Batman's express orders, only to discover that she's been dipping into the medical funds and is as dirty as a sewer herself. She delivers him over to the Joker who beats him bloody with a crowbar and leaves him and his mother to die in a bomb blast.

Batman is devastated and returns home, vowing to never take on another apprentice. The Joker is caught by the Iranian Secret Police and given the job of UN Ambassador for Iran by the Ayatollah. As such he has immunity for all past crimes and Batman can't touch him without setting off WWIII. Superman delivers the bad news to Batman and keeps him from going thermonuclear. The Joker has his time at the UN Assemblage, sets off a gas bomb and when that is foiled by Superman, a regular bomb. Batman chases him down and it ends in a fight in a helicopter, which crashes. Batman escapes but the Joker's body is not recovered.

My Thoughts:

My first thought on starting this was “What a jerk Jason Todd is”. While he's angry about his parents being dead, how does that excuse his going against Batman's direct orders to wait on the police to break up a criminal ring? And then his actions in going after his birth mother? Leaving Gotham, stealing credit cards, breaking into secret bases, compromising secret agent identities? And then again ignoring Batman's direct order to stay away from the Joker because he's too dangerous? You would have thought that being taken out so easily by Lady Shiva would have shown him some of his limits, but no, Jason Todd was a selfish, arrogant jackass who brought his death upon himself. I have NO sympathy for him and was rather glad he died. He's the kind of person that leads into the Watchman universe and the fear of Superheroes/Vigilantes. Jason Todd is a Taliban Fighter to Superman's United States Marine.

My second real issue is the handling of the Joker as the Ambassador for Iran. I'm sorry but that is NOT how Ambassadorship works. It would be like saying that Osama Bin Laden could have become Afghanistan's Representative and gotten off scot free. We still would have put a bullet in that bastard's head. I realize this is a comic book and played up for drama, but come on!? My real issue is that I can see the kind of attitude that allowed this to happen in the comic book happening in real life. It makes me sick because it could happen for real.

Now I'll talk about why I still liked this story and gave it 4 Stars.

Batman. With the recent movies, Batman has become just another vigilante. Willing to kill if it's convenient. In this book Batman is back at his “I won't use a gun and I won't kill people” attitude. When he goes after someone, he drugs them, cuffs them and then lets the Authorities dole out the justice. That ethos is sorely tested here and I found that inner battle quite well displayed. It was fascinating to watch Batman realize that Law does not equal Justice and how that tore him apart. Batman is a Hero with strong internal ethics and not just doing whatever he wants because he can.

Superman. He played a very small part but it was interesting to see how he was portrayed in the late 80's. I didn't really get into Superman until the mid-90's and by then some things had changed. Here he's portrayed as acting upon the orders of the United States Government. Not quite what I'd call a government Stooge, but only one decision away from that status. His decision to side with the “Law is the Law and so it is Right” way of thinking was a bit disturbing. Yet at the same time how many people in the nation thought that way? Today, with the scads of laws promoting perversions, that are knee jerk reactions to special interest groups, that are passed with no intention of ever being enforced, I find myself being cynical. It simply wasn't quite that way 30 years ago. It was eye opening to be reminded of how much of a sea change in attitude has gone on in our nation and in the whole world.

Lady Shiva. I simply liked seeing her because I recognized her from the Knight Fall/Quest/End storyline from later in time. Just one of those interesting tidbits.

Finally, I like the cover a lot. At a time when Superheroes did not die, but simply stopped having their stories told, seeing a Robin undeniably dead is shocking. It shows Batman being vulnerable, it shows just how murderous the Joker truly is and it gets at the pathos of the human factor in a Superhero story. Much like the iconic cover for the Death of Superman years later, this cover will always mean more to me than just the story.

On a side note, I read the original 1988 edition that JUST had the 4part “A Death in the Family” storyline. Later editions of A Death in the Family do include a A Lonely Place of Dying. I'll be reading and reviewing that next.

★★★★☆ 

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