As Red Robin reaches its quarter century issue Tim Drake celebrates by taking part in an issue that tries to be action packed, but in the end comes across as shallow and contrived and the slightest bit dull.
Red Robin #25 handles the main plot threads of Tim being forced to impregnate Promise’s sister, but with the help of Cassandra Cain, in her guise of Blackbat, he escapes and finds his way to the hideout of the main villain of the storyline. The main villain is revealed to be thousands of years old, and claims to be older than the oldest villain in the DC Universe, Vandal Savage.
The story then takes a step for the better following Red Robin and Blackbat having to make a run from an exploding facility at the hands of the hidden criminal minds; it’s as confusing and contrived as it sounds.
Tim spends a page to catch up with his personal life, and answer to Tam Fox, who was told that her father Lucius was dead, and being told that it was all a ruse by her so called boyfriend Tim Drake is not a thing she is going to take lightly.
The issue comes to an end with Tim talking about how he has been planning his next move for the past several months, ever since the Blackest Night. Tim Drake will next take on the job of being the executioner of Digger Harkness AKA Captain Boomerang.
There’s a lot to love and hate about this issue of Red Robin. The art as usual is above average and enjoyable, you get the sense that Marcus To is loving drawing the adventures of Tim Drake for a living and it comes through on every page. The down steps come from the writing. At no point where you give any reason to believe Tim Drake was going to go through with the impregnating of Promise’s crazy sister, and the reveal that Promise is working for a bigger villain, which Tim knew about in the first place is so farfetched that at no point where you as the reader given any reason to care about this storyline that originally started with Tim trying to take down Scarab.
The second half of the issue with Tim’s personal life flows much better with Tam Fox having a very real reaction to being told her father was just a pawn in the Bat-Families games; she slaps Tim right across the face and calls Tim a cold human being.
Tim saying that he just assassinated Captain Boomerang is the most shocking conclusion this book has had in a long time, and with one issue left before the book becomes a victim of DCnU , you have to hope Fabian Nicenza and Marcus To want their Red Robin run to go out with a bang.
Let’s just hope they can deliver.
Red Robin #25:
Reviewed by Austen Beattie
