Red Robin #26

[shadowpsykie]

Two Scans



The whole issue was about choices... Tim set it up so that if Digger made ANY "right choice" he would be saved... in the end Tim Chased him down fought him, used one of his own boomerangs on him and was about to let him fall... but at the last moment, saved him...

Dick and Damian show up and Dick congradulates Tim on making the hard, but "Right Choice" while uncharacteristically Damian just looks on, silent (honestly i think he KNEW) They leave then comes this page.





I'm Kinda sad... I love this... but it makes me sad... Tim was always "My Robin" I've seen his Journey into the shadows for a while, and it fits for him... honestly i am going to write a blog about it tomorrow but... Tim and I have the same mind set. Our greatest gift and our greatest weakness is we think too damned much.

Happy because, in my opinion he has grown up a lot, sad, because quite frankly i want to hold him and tell him it will be okay....

Anyone else think Bruce's heart broke just a little here?

On a different note, OMG GUYS Bryan Q. Miller Saw my Sketch of NuSpoiler on Twitter and said it was "Very Cool" I think i may die now.....

Comments

[crazycomiccult.blogspot.com]

I love Tim Drake, I can kinda see this segwaying into Teen Titans. Kind of. But yes, this is very sad. I really wish Fabien Nicieza and Marcus To were still doing Tim Drake because they really seemed to get Tim and his relation to the Bat-Family.

[shadowpsykie]

seriously... honestly you put it well, there is more i want to say... but as of this moment i can't put it into words.

[hawkmoondirge]

I don't think Bruce's heart broke. If you take the scene, it's Tim mad at bruce because bruce assumes Tim would pull a jason. Tim knows he would always be the good guy, even if it hurts, and has to save the good captain, even after all the hate.

Bruce was more or less making sure, and that in turns insults Tim. If Bruce's heart broke, its because out of all the children, Tim is him, he is the actual successor. Dick may have the heart, Jason the brutality, damien the skill, but as one package? Tim has it all.

Kinda glad Harkness survived as well, rather like him as a character, barring his one screw up. (Tim's pop)

[shadowpsykie]

okay you have a point there. It might also be that, like you said, of all the Kids, Tim IS him... and he desperately wanted that NOT to be the case (for all it's faults, those pages in Identity Crisis showed how desperately he didn't want to see Tim lose that light). He was the Robin that still had parents, that joined to be the foil to batman, to be the Light in the dark... but like you said, he sees that Tim IS him now.

[hawkmoondirge]

exactly, the facial expressions did it for me. Batman's making sure he knows where Tim stands. i mean when jason "spoke" with joker he wasn't exactly friendly. bruce was making sure he knew were Tim was standing, and it's clear he's on the Bruce side of things, but that makes it worse. Dick is the moral one so he'll always do that, Jason is a loose cannon, but generally is heroic, and Damien is unpredictable, but they've been tested. Tim hasn't.

I wouldn't be adverse to Digger being a major villain for Tim this go around in the new DCU. i dont want to see one of my favorite B listers in the abomination thats calling itself the Suicide squad, and as far as the Rogues go, Digger's outclassed.

[icon_uk]

I actually see it as more that Bruce is concerned about the path that Tim is walking, that he's attempting to treat people like rats in a maze if it suits him. He's being extraordinarily manipulative, and Bruce knows how badly THAT can end.

Also not struck on Dick being that naive or clueless about his younger brother, who he has already expressed concern about (way back in his last days as Robin with the hideous head burns etc).

[mrstatham]

I read it more as Bruce being concerned that Tim has to put so much effort into not killing someone, regardless of who that person is to Tim. If you're a member of the Batclan it shouldn't even enter the equation, and from what I'm reading, it seems like Tim put lots of effort into not killing Boomerang. The way I'm reading it, if Tim isn't willing to put that effort in in the future, then Boomerang dies. I might just be reading it entirely wrong.

Of course, Batman comes over as quite hypocritical when, as per Morrison, Bruce basically tormented Joe Chill to death. With that in mind, this becomes another example of Batman as a poor father. Did he help Tim get counselling for his father's death?

[shadowpsykie]

truth be told, i think it could be read alot of ways.

as to the SHrink... i think it was mentioned somewhere that Tim has been seeing someone. i just can't for the life of me remember WHERE it was... but yeah i am positive he was. and it was said on panel (though never shown)

[icon_uk]

It should come as no surprise that former Robin's have therapists. Dick has seen one in the past (During his Titans days), Jason probably SHOULD have done, Tim now is, Steph has rather a lot of emotional baggage herself, and Damian will doubtless be responsible for some Freudian analyst being able to afford to put their kids through college... and an Ivy League one at that.

[shadowpsykie]

Damian: I don't see why my father insists on these pedantric sessions.

Doctor: He feels that you have been through a lot these past few years.

Damian: tt! I'm not a child!

Doctor: Damian, You're 10.

Damian: Yes, and I happen to be an expert marksman, strategist, and duelist.

Doctor: That's great Damian, but what do you do when you are not... um dueling..

Damian: Training to be Better.

Doctor: Why do you feel you need to be better?

Damian:... because....

Doctor: yes...?

Damian: Because... maybe then father... won't...

Doctor: mhmm?

Damian: Won't see me as a f... fail...

Doctor: Failure?

Damian: He's constantly judging me, I know it! always comparing me to his other... children... oh Dick was much more agile! Oh Jason was far more reslient, Cassandra would have done that without decapitating him, Tim would have seen that clue quicker! He even compares to Step- erm, that Infernal Brown Girl! Stephanie actually laughed at MY jokes he would say! I'm sorry! But my mother raised me to be an assassina and then over road my synaptic patterns to try to get me to kill Dick.. it wasn't my fault.

Doctor: now that you mention your mother.

Damian: MY MOTHER WAS A SAINT! YOU LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!

Doctor:.... hmm maybe some animal therapy will help you calm down...

*Doctor takes out pet travel case*

Damian: I don't want a flea bitten old...

*meow*

Damian: KITTY!

*rushes forward and grabs the fluffy with kitten*

Damian: There there Kitty, every thing will be okay.... Dami won't judge you... he won't compare you to the other kittens... he'll love you no matter what...

*And the cat's in the cradle and silver spoons. Little boy blue and the man in the moon, when you coming home dad, I don't know when...."

Doctor: Oh yes.... Amanda... you're going to Princeton...

[icon_uk]

Well played shadowpsykie, well played! :D

[shadowpsykie]

teehee, still not as funny i think as my "What happens When Someone accidently mentions batman's parents" thing i did a week or so ago... But I still like it :D

I've kinda been on a role lately.

[shadowpsykie]

heh i posted this in my tumblr gave you a shout out, as you kinda promted this :D

[riddler13]

Jenius, as in Homer J. Loved it! :)

[shadowpsykie]

heehee i have my moments

[amalthia]

Um, is the numbering on this right? I thought Tim was in Europe or someplace not Gotham in #24?

[zechs80]

Tim was all over the place in #24-25 but at the end of the previous issue he returned back to Gotham after him and Cass got beat up by Cricket. It's almost weird in a way how much this issue paralleled Cass's crisis of should she kill her own father or not in Beechen's mini.

[amalthia]

It's just the panels shown in this post are from Red Robin #26...I wasn't sure if I missed something when I was reading issue 24?

[shadowpsykie]

changed.

[naebler]

I look at this and I see it is the culmination of the Knightfall arch where Tim, who had worked solo but never truly alone until then. Before he always had a support in Bruce, think of him as a safety net for acrobats. However in Knightfall where Bruce is broken and Jean Paul takes over. Tim is truly alone, at that point he begins to truly take to the role of Robin and become his own boy/man. Over the years he has had more depth and captivating stories, you've seen his highs and his lows, even coming head to head with the shadow he has lived under his entire career.

Not Batman, not Dick Grayson but Jason Todd. The reason he had to fight Bruce to prove himself, he had to answer the question for Bruce on why another Robin. He had to show that Bruce could trust someone again.

The story is not a boy becoming a man as much as the story of a Shadow becoming solid. He took the paths others had before and made it his own. This last story proves to me he had become the ideal. Someone who took his life experiences, educations and became something else. Not a good soldier, not a renegade but a warrior who will question.

I respect Tim Drake and worry we will lose this aspect of him. Sorry for the ramble.

[shadowpsykie]

I love you....

that is all :D

[kurenai-tenka.livejournal.com]

Aww, the art is so nice!

[eyz]

Really well written^^
I'll miss Nicieza for sure...

And this makes me want to read the DCnU Teen Titans even less...

[blackruzsa]

Tim is probably one of the most amazing characters churned out by DC, and they're cutting him off.
Damn it.