In this review of Knight Terrors: Robin #2, we see the conclusion to the Robin story as the two “failed” Robins discover their self worth and unite to face their common foe.
Knight Terrors: Robin #2
Written by: Kenny Porter
Art: Miguel Mendoca
Main Cover: Ivan Reis
Variant Covers: James Stokoe, Liam Sharp, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Jorge Corona
Page Count: 32 Pages
Release Date: August 8, 2023
SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS AHEAD):
In Tim Drake’s personal nightmare, Tim is sitting on his bed feeling sorry for himself. He hears his friend again, this momentarily snaps him out of his morose. Jason however is not faring much better, he is still in the fight for his life and is being overrun by his adversaries. Jason is reaching a state of hopelessness and suddenly the two lose contact with each other.
Tim is despondent and Jason is being outright beaten. It looks like the nightmares are winning. Both heroes find themselves in a void. Tim believing he was not good enough and Jason feeling alone.
Tim can hear Jason again. Jason is also able to hear Tim, they both find that they are now floating in a void. Jason then makes an interesting statement. He states that the Robin that’s a failure is going to die alongside the Robin who thinks he is a failure. Tim is shocked that Jason thinks he is a failure, no one believes that to be true. Tim tells Jason that Batman and his mother failed him. He did what he was trained to do, to survive. Jason counters that he trained to become a monster, kill people and live alone. Tim smiles and says that he was never alone. Even though Jason pushes everyone away, no one has given up on him. It is true that he has a lot to atone for but they all do also. Jason realizes that this is true because Tim was always there in the past. Jason flips the conversation back to Tim.
He tells Drake to start to take his own advice. Jason tells Tim that he is wrong about himself. Jason says that Tim is just like Batman, thinking he can save everyone but he can’t. He then tells Drake that he is good at it, in fact he actually chose himself. He cannot save everyone but that will never stop him from trying and that is the important thing, Both have now agreed not to give up.
In order to ultimately win, they have to defeat themselves first. Tim tells Jason that he is not alone and Jason tells Tim that he is stronger than he thinks. Tim emerges to the bodies of his father and Captain Boomerang again. The twisted Robin counters with reanimating the body of Robin’s father to try to get in the head of his adversary. To further mess with Drake’s head, he shows Batman, Stephanie, Cass, and Nightwing chained to stakes. Robin is supposed to watch his friends suffer. Robin counters by throwing his Robin insignia at the face of his “father”. He makes contact and tells his fallen father that people have died and more will. He couldn’t save his own dad but he accepts that and he will not allow that from preventing him from trying to save others.
Jason continues his fight with the monstrous Red Hoods. They try to break Jason’s mind by telling him that he cannot fight all of them. Jason counters by throwing his guns down, He cannot beat them all on his own. Instead he sits down and waits for Tim’s help.
Tim repeats to his twisted duplicate that he cannot save everyone but he will not stop trying. The evil nightmare Robin screams that this is not how it was supposed to work. Robin attacks and suddenly he finds himself with Jason Todd. The two Robins attack their adversaries together taking them both down and both vanish in smoke.
The world around both of them starts to crumble and both wake up in the real world where they fell asleep. Both communicate with each other and Robin fits his bike and races to the aid of his friend and fellow Robin, Jason Todd.
ANALYSIS:
The art is similar to the first issue. They show no major changes to the feel and visuals of the nightmare world except for the Void of Despair. They depict this as literally nothing other than the characters is a purple void with white swirling lines. This is probably the depiction of the supposed location of the heroes before their complete defeat and subsequent deaths. A death that is basically nothing. When this is broken by the heroes pep talk of one another, the nightmare worlds then rebuild themselves signifying a turning point and a hope for the future of this story.
As with other stories in this event, they show the Nightmare Realm as a fantastical, mystical space that lays in sharp contrast to the real world. The end shows the nightmare shattering and leaving the main characters back in the real world which is a stark contrast to the reality of the world.
The story builds up from the previous issue. Instead of just depicting the darkest periods of Tim and Jason’s lives it explores their darkest feelings. Tim’s feelings of being a failure and his fear of not being able to help the people he loves. There is even a mention of Bernard that is a great connection to Tim’s previous series which explores his relationship with Bernard and their budding relationship.
The mindset of Jason is surprising in that he is not afraid of overwhelming odds but instead he believes that he was a failure as Robin but that failure was not in himself but it was the failure of those that were close to him. As a result of this trauma, Jason fearing abandonment pushes his friends away believing him to be alone thus fulfilling in his mind his own prophecy. Tim had to convince Jason that it was not true and it was appropriate that it was Tim to do it. Tim has never abandoned Jason even when Jason was at his most violent. Jason is able to believe Tim because he had never seen Tim give up on him.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Comixology through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
