deep breath Only two issues left, only two issues left…

Alright let’s get to the positives, this intro is actually kinda good. There is a decent narrative flow, Tim using his analytical mind that’s communicated in a visually interesting way. The art looks good throughout, and the final scene is really haunting and has great use of imagery.

That out of the way, this book is still frustratingly infuriating. After the intro with Batwoman, she acts OOC, granted most of my Kate content comes from Tynion Tec, but here Kate feels much angrier than normal and acts incredibly irrational. Also the way that she escapes the grip from the Cult leader felt rushed and convenient equally convenient was how he escaped. Then we go to Bernard, and Tim sees him shirtless which his thoughts are like “Abs, abs, abs, arms.”

Now I now I like to play up my thirst for certain characters for you guys, I mostly do it for humor, so I know this may be rich coming from me. But Tim has more control than that. Granted that could just be my disdain for Bernard, Tim has fallen for feminine wiles on a few occasions. However, Bernard is shredded?!?! What the hell?! I hate saying this, but THIS IS FANFICTION LEVEL writing. A few issues back Bernard was more “twinkish” and looked like he could barely lift a barbell, now he’s jacked?! And that begs the question, if he was training himself to fight hand get in shape, WHY DIDNT HE TRY TO ESCAPE WHEN HE WAS CAPTURED INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR TIM TO COME AND RESCUE HIM?!?!

All of Bernard’s dialogue feels forced and unearned. I don’t feel the emotional connection they are trying to convey. Tim has helped his love interests through trauma and difficult life events before both as Robin, Tim, & Red Robin too. This aspect of his character is something that I will admit Fitzmartin does understand well, but the way it’s written here feels like gaslighting us into liking Bernard. I’ve seen Tim connect with people who went through trauma already from Ariana telling him about nearly being sexually assaulted, to Tam dealing with being held captive by the League of Assassins and nearly killed several times, to Tim helping Stephanie through a pregnancy, her father’s death, and telling him about how she was nearly molested, to a complete stranger who was just having a very bad day and wanted the pain to end. I felt more of an emotional connection with Tim and that stranger than anything with Bernard whom he allegedly loves with all his heart. I get what they are trying to do, it’s part of why I love Tim as a character, it’s just not done well, because it’s literally just Bernard venting and Tim think “Poor Bernard”, telling us what to feel instead of showing us.

Then Kate interrupts and tries to interrogate Bernard which leads her and Tim to fight. And the writing improves because Tim has his doubts that things in his life really improved after dating Bernard, and Kate was spitting facts that Bernard is a “dime a dozen.”

After that scene Tim thinks about visiting Bernard as Tim……what happens next was probably most irritating thing I have read of this series so far. Tim lands on top of his boat IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, one of his neighbors spot him, Tim changes out of his uniform, and for the third time in a row in this series HAS THE CURTAINS WIDE OPEN, then his neighbor (who we only met this issue, yet he and Tim are so close) spots Tim’s Robin suit SITTING ON THE TABLE, and assumes that Tim is cheating on Bernard with Robin.

Jesus fucking Christ, WHY ARE YOU MAKING TIM SUCH AN UTTER FUCKING MORON?!?! He’s more worried about feeling sad for Bernard. I’ve was more protective of my internet history as a teenager than Tim is with his identity in this book! Tim is supposed to be one of the smartest members of the Batfamily. He once faked an assassination attempt on himself, and pretended to be crippled for a year so that one of his foes wouldn’t think he was Red Robin. Tim also had a pocket in his clothes that had his costume inside the pocket so he wouldn’t be caught wearing his costume. Now yes, Tim has had a few close shaves, Tim overslept one time early in his career but was lucky enough to put on his robe before his maid noticed him costume, there was another time when his roommate at boarding school got super drunk and found his costume while Tim was severely sleep deprived so Tim lucked out there, and the only time he was caught was when his father ransacked his room when caught Tim in a lie and it led to Jack confronting Bruce and led to Tim having to give up the role of Robin to keep his father’s mouth shut. Needless to say it was a BIG DEAL. Here, this guy spots Tim getting changed and practically catches Tim in his costume, but then thinks that Tim is being unfaithful. I overreacted at first thinking that they leaned into the “cheating bisexual” stereotype, which I don’t think they did, but it’s still fucking stupid.

Okay so what happens next? Does Tim follow the tracker on the Cult Leader that he placed onto him? Does he go to check on Bernard as Tim like he said the scene before and came to his boat in order to change into civilian clothes? NOPE, he goes to Batwoman’s house as Robin in broad daylight. So much for the decent narrative flow.

Look if you like this, more power to you. But this is just infuriating to me. This series is more concerned at giving Tim & Bernard cute moments, than actually making Tim comes across as competent and smart. You can do both! I am so glad there is only one issue left of this and I hope writers of the future completely ignore it. more

Okay, Nikola Cizmesija should have been the artist from the get go. This art style is much more fitting to Tim’s character and better communicates the “puzzle” element of the paneling. I finally understand what Riley Rossmo was trying to do in the first arc. While Nikola is no Belen Ortega, it does feel very reminiscent of the Urban Legends tales where her artwork shined. And I will give credit to Fitzmartin, there is actually a plot here, and I am genuinely curious to see how this will end. I was thinking maybe I finally have most good things to say…..but sadly I started thinking some more and noticed all the flaws.

So we start on the boat where Darcy & Bernard are wondering why the hell Tim lives on a boat (I’ll get to that), Tim thinks to himself that it’s not the type of life for a person who makes rational decisions and how it’s the hardest place he’s ever lived. Then Bernard and Darcy do the “it’s a bird, it’s a plane..” bit when Batwoman crashes onto the boat. Darcy decides the best way for Bernard to leave is to remind him of a soufflé he needs to make. Tim notices blood on Kate’s glove and she has partial amnesia.

….where the hell do I start? Firstly, Tim is easily the most rational of ALL the Robins. Him making irrational decisions is the last thing he would do, but then again we’ve established Fitzmartin doesn’t understand Tim (see my issue 6 review). Second, Tim has not once ever shown any interest in boats, he’s been on boats a few times but nothing to indicate he would want to live on one. I always felt that was such an odd setting choice, that is until I discovered on an interview where Fitzmartin mentioned how she lived on a boat once. Then it made more sense why she chose it, but it still does not fit Tim’s character. However I had an epiphany, the boat house should have been Bernard’s home. Boat life is framed as a life for the oddballs, which Bernard was originally framed as being a conspiracy nut and all. It would make sense why he would want to live on a crappy boat given his family situation and you could incorporate his love of cooking by having him work at a local restaurant. It’s like no thought was put into any of this. A boat being the hardest place Tim lived? Yes Tim comes from an Uber wealthy family even before Bruce adopted him, but he once lived on his own in BLÜDHAVEN of all places, not to mention trotting around the globe dealing with the League of Assassins, and the time he had to leave Gotham behind to live in Keystone City during No Man’s Land while his friends and then pregnant girlfriend stayed behind. Tim is more than capable of handling a boat.

Now as for Batwoman’s entrance, why would you use a Superman reference for Batwoman? And it was so poorly executed. Like when Bernard & Darcy notice something in the sky, neither one of them are looking up in the sky. Bernard is the one to notice something instead of Tim, unintentionally making Tim look incompetent. Then Darcy pulls Bernard away by reminding him of a soufflé to make. I feel like a normal person would have called the paramedics. No wonder Bernard figured out Tim’s identity. He’s making zero effort to maintain it. Oh and having Robin & Sparrow in costume on the boat, with Kate in costume but no mask WHILE THE CURTAIN IS WIDE OPEN!!!!! PUT SOME GODDAMN EFFORT INTO KEEPING THEIR IDENTITIES A SECRET!!!! They all look like morons!

Then we establish the old cliche amnesia plotline, Kate saying how she doesn’t the pasts few months so Tim reveals all the things that happened. And those things that happened SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK!!! This was a problem back in Urban Legends, all the important character moments and moments to establish this setting all happen off-panel. Tim’s struggles with his sexuality, coming out to his family, moving to the marina. Those are NECESSARY steps to take, but instead this books skips past all of it. If that wasn’t bad enough. In one panel we show that Kate took Tim & Bernard out to celebrate his coming out along with Batgirl. It’s not established which one, but we see the Batgirl and it is either Barbara or Stephanie. If it is Barbara it is the fault of the art and coloring that makes it difficult to tell, if it’s Stephanie then it’s a huge writing problem. I am inclined to believe it is Stephanie, considering her portrayal in the Pride special, establishing how totally okay she is with being dumped and having her ex date a guy. It’s out of character and incredibly unrealistic. DC you are allowed to show Steph not being okay being dumped, if it’s better that you do!

Short personal anecdote, when I was going through my questioning phase I came across stories of guys coming out, one was of one guy coming out as bi to this girl he was getting serious. He felt that he was comfortable finally telling her, but not long after she called it off. She later revealed to him that the last guy she was with realized he was gay and dumped her. She still wasn’t over it and didn’t want to put herself through something similar again, despite the fact that the main was bi and not gay. By having Steph be okay with this, it’s sets unrealistic expectations to people going through this, and it also removes so many potential character drama that could be used for plotlines.As Sophia Petrillo once said: “You’re heart is in the right place, but I don’t know where the hell your brain is.”

Back to the issue at hand, I do think there may have been a communication error between Meghan & Nikola, because when we get to the Chaos Monster fight, the paneling feels off. Like I can’t tell which panel I’m supposed to read first at several instances. There is one moment where the team is rushing on their motorcycles, stop to get off to talk to Detective Williams, then the next panel they are on their bikes again. It felt very jarring. Just like when Darcy got stabbed. It just came out of nowhere and quite frankly I don’t really care about her. We never established how she knows Tim personally, she was retconned to be part of “We Are Robin” which Tim did not really interact with a lot. We don’t know why Darcy is allowed to know Tim’s identity, the comic constantly forgets she supposed to be deaf, and lastly she’s a cheap stand in for Stephanie Brown, blonde hair, purple hoodie and all. She’s completely pointless, why not just have it that Detective Williams gets shot instead? But to be fair I think it’s just a bait and switch and Darcy will be fine

*Sigh* There is improvement here, but it’s still not enough to save this whole set up, because there was no set up. I’m not angry with this book anymore, just profoundly disappointed that DC gave a book to someone who did not have the proper experience to handle this task, despite her best intentions.

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So, yes, the art is better, and the plot proved a little more linear, with fewer distractions, but the writing still leaves a whole hell of a lot to be desired. Fitzmartin continues to struggle with understanding who Tim is, with showing genuine character interactions, and the continued failures here render me completely underwhelmed with this new arc. I still don't feel much for the characters, even with all the angst we got here and that cliffhanger we ended on. Honestly, it's a tired plot with the whole amnesiac "killer" sporting blood they can't explain on their body. The only remotely interesting thing about it was her falling from the sky (and somehow not breaking or fracturing a single thing or receiving a concussion or any other sort of bodily injury - how far did she fall from that only her shadow was noticed and nothing else?). I know this thing is limping toward its end, but honestly, DC should have called this at issue #6 and saved everyone the further damage and pain. more

Honestly, the people who rag so hard on this book either haven't read many comics, or just hate gay people. Just saying it like it is, as they're too cowardly to do themselves.

This issue proves that ANYBODY can become a comic book writer so long as they meet certain "criteria." It's an absolute mess of a "story" with truly incomprehensible plot points. I'm starting to think Fitzmartin is actually trolling everyone. It has to be a joke, right?

Why read it then? Because like Morpheus told Neo: "You have to see it for yourself!"

1. I mean the line about Bernard majoring in physics & biology to be a CHEF. Has to be a joke.

2. Tim thinking Bernard doesn't know he's Robin when he has changed in front of him in the last arc.

3. The "pee" line from Bernard and then his father demanding he apologize to his mother for it. For saying "pee"? Seriously?

4. Both Tim & Bernard leaving Bernard's parents in the burning restaurant to share "a moment" outside.

5. Bernard's "you're my gay awakening" line. It has to be a joke. Who talks like that?

I really think Meghan Fitzmartin is trolling all sides with this series. And probably laughing all the way to the bank. Well, maybe not that last bit. Bizarro-world 2023. more

Bad writing makes a book bad. People giving this a ten do you even read comics?

You can put glitter on a turd all you want, it’s still a turd.

I still hold to the idea that Fitzmartin never had any intention of honoring the concept and legacy of Tim Drake but instead seems to have taken this as her cue to write whatever fantasy ideas she has of him. This isn't about "trying to live up to the images of other people." When given a character like this, it's about making them the best version of who you can while still honoring the roots set down. You may not follow every single branch that stemmed from their initial creation, but there still remains that steady trunk of who they are as a character, and she seems intent on cutting that down as well.

The most glaring problem with this issue, as many others have already pointed out, is the idea that Tim wanted to be Batman. That he felt himself being set up for taking over the mantle, that his role as Robin was to one day step into Batman's role. He has stated on so many occasions that this is not something he has ever wanted, even if at times, he has donned the cowl. But Tim's whole point, one could argue, was to be the Robin who wanted to be Robin. It wasn't about being a cool sidekick and then taking on the name of Batman when it was time. Tim saw who Batman was without a Robin, what the loss of Jason was doing to Bruce, and he understood the real role of Robin. He approached Bruce with that very notion. It was not Bruce being unable to be Batman without a Robin, but what Batman was becoming without one. Bruce was still more than capable of acting as Batman, but the legacy of Batman, what he represented was in jeopardy, and Tim understood this. At least, this has been my understanding of their dynamic. And this is also why Tim has held a certain fear of becoming Batman. Because he knows himself and he understands what being Batman might do to him, who he might become, and that is not something he wants for himself. He's always had a level of calculated "fearlessness" when pushed, and it's partly why the role of Batman has registered as something he does not want for himself.

Which makes this whole notion of Tim not understanding himself in this series something of a joke. Yes, he has insecurities, but he also has some very clear ideas of himself and, most importantly, things he does not want, including the role of Batman and why. This tells us Tim has had some sense of himself, that he hasn't been completely lost. So, I find this idea that Tim has no clue who he is and that he's only finding himself with the marina and Bernard really reductive. Sure, he might not have it all together and still find himself plagued by uncertainty, but to act like he has had no sense of who he is as a person is rather insulting. The real issue with him may actually be in coming to terms with some of this, and a big part of that has been (despite kind of being answered already in a previous series) what becomes of him after Robin. Not knowing yourself and coming to terms with what you want and how that fits into the world can be two very separate things. But that probably requires a level of subtlety and understanding Fitzmartin seems incapable of managing.

That has probably been the biggest plague of this series. Fitzmartin's ideas remain all over the place. Take Moriarty. First, he wants Tim to be his ideal nemesis, then he talks about Tim joining him, which implies that rather than Tim taking him on as his main villain, they're working together to create this farce of an idea of them being better than Batman and Joker. Work with me or die. The level of villainy marriage proposals here was absolutely absurd in its execution. Again, nothing was really added to this story and this potential relationship between villain and hero. Rather, Fitzmartin continues to rely on tropes that she doesn't bother to dress up at all, and so they continue to fall flat in their execution. She hasn't given us any background to build upon as to why Moriarty is so set on having his Joker moment. What's his motivation here? Is it simply to be the next Joker? He's clearly not doing a great job of that. Is he supposed to be the next A-tier villain of the Batman world? Because he reads like a D-list one at best. Is the idea then that we haven't seen him at his worst, given the notion Tim threw out there about how he didn't do anything more than play with alchemic creations?

Am I excited to see him again? No.

Moriarty suffers from the same thing the marina itself suffers, that Bernard suffers, that Darcy suffers. Absolutely no build-up, no backstory, nothing at all to make a reader understand why we should care about any of this. He, along with all the others, made convenient plot devices for a plot that wasn't fully fleshed out. The whole final battle is just a repeat of the one Tim had with the fake Robins. There was nothing new there. Into the marina water you go, Moriarty. I still don't know how he got tangled in all that rope. He clearly falls on top of and slightly in front of it, untangled, in one panel, and then Tim kicks the anchor off, and suddenly the rope is twisted all around him. Not how kicking an anchor would go aside from the one hand shown pushed into a loop based upon his previous positioning. Maybe I missed something there, but I've looked at those panels multiple times and none of it makes sense. I suspect it's the writing not making clear what was going on. It looks like there was a missing scene here or a failure to understand how that mechanic might work and what would be needed to execute it properly. Again, it seems more of a moment where Fitzmartin probably thought it would be cool and didn't care about the reality of writing it.

I was also bothered by the idea that Moriarty put out there that the role of Robin has been keeping Tim down. It again reminds me of a lot of the other backhanded comments made throughout this series as far as Tim's past goes and this idea of having to put down his previous life in order to prop up his new one. Tim has loved being Robin. I do agree about him finding his next role like Dick and Jason have done, but to imply that Robin is somehow detrimental to him felt like a cheap shot, especially given the history of why he chose to take on that role. He's accomplished a lot as Robin, which led to other things for him, all of which it seems Fitzmartin is ignoring here. Maybe a smaller complaint in this issue, and only one I have, but that moment grated on me a bit.

She also contradicts her own idea of Tim in this issue, where she tells us on one page he's felt like nothing has been in control in his life, and then follows it a little later by saying he wants to be less structured and less careful about things. He talks about the deaths he couldn't prevent, which is juxtaposed by the one he could with Bernard at the last second. Again, this idea of using his past to support the "idealness" of his current life. It fell flat. The way everything here is written to show that what he has now is the best for him while ignoring all the good he's had in his life with the Batfam just registers as a really sad and hollow attempt to make us care about this current situation when in reality the absolute failure of the writing and story itself to convey that is what's truly at fault. But instead of addressing those issues, we're constantly being told over and over that this life is Tim's best life without any of the story actually supporting it. But part of who Tim is as a character is his ability to calculate and weigh the situation and the outcomes. It's what makes him a great detective (which again he clearly has not been in this story so far when you have a villain basically hand-feeding him the answers to the problems - which also makes this idea of Tim being "unable" to say no to the puzzle really hilarious). This reminded me once more of how Fitzmartin seems to be telling us her intent to change his character to who she thinks he should be rather than working with who he is and all that makes him great.

Bernard also remains incredibly flat as a character despite a little more page time here. The way Tim used "my Bernard" on that first page felt really weird and strangely possessive to me when we still have no idea why he cares so much about this guy. He's never acted like this before with him, and now suddenly, here we are with this "my" thing and then he's still not even sure they're actually boyfriends until they declare it in the last scene. It felt forced and out of place. And by the time I got to that last scene, instead of finding it cute, I found myself rolling my eyes at it all. I still don't understand how Bernard got chosen as the main love interest here given his actual history in Tim's life, but Fitzmartin has given me nothing to want to overlook that part and embrace the Bernard we have right now.

And the same thing goes for the marina (and these people just lost their supposed landlord - which no one seems to question since it doesn't seem like anyone knew James was our big baddie here - so what's going to happen now with that when you've got this supposed gentrification plot waiting to happen?) and all the people in it. And then you have Detective Williams just showing up to a major fight and having no backup at the start, just him and Darcy (and yes, I know Fitzmartin has painted EVERY other cop here aside from Detective Willams as the worst of the worst but still, protocols and civilian protection have to amount to something I would think). You don't even see these supposed other cops, only a bunch of civilians cheering Tim on, which again keeps painting this picture of how it's Tim's ideal life and setting, and it's just him against this outside world, asking us to ignore everything good that had happened to Tim before he knew Bernard and the marina. I honestly don't find a single thing about this setup intriguing anymore.
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A critic gave this book a 10 drugs are good

Tim Drake has never, ever, Ever, EVER wanted to be Batman!!!! IT’S BEEN THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF HIS CHARACTER SINCE HIS CREATION!!!!

Just when I thought Fitzmartin had finally left all those old detective stories alone, we're greeted with the most uninspired villain touting himself as worthy of comparison to the Joker. To be fair, this current version of Tim Drake is by no means giving Batman a run for his money at this rate either. Moriarty. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to take this seriously when nothing about this run has given us anything on par with Sherlock Holmes. This reads as a bad joke, one in which, yet again, Fitzmartin seems to think herself clever with it while once more burying any potential she had with this story in its failed detective aspects. Tim says he would have known about Bernard if he was the villain because the clues would have been right there for him. He supposedly knows Bernard that well. And yet, Tim, who is usually a few steps ahead (granted this doesn't mean he's always at the right place at the right time nor has it made him infallible), who is so quick to pick up on elements in his environments and how to make use of them, could not see what was glaringly obvious in his own boat and the marina he inhabits. He was utterly clueless until the very end.

I would still like to know why James could just waltz onto Tim's boat. Does James actually own it, and like most apartment landlords, has the key and access to it 24/7 should he need it? Or does Tim own the boat and is simply renting out his space at the marina, which is usually the more common thing? I'm still baffled as to why Tim is running his Robin game out of this boat when so many people seem to wander in and out of it. It is in no way secure, and Tim has made absolutely no efforts to secure it either. Why didn't he have some sort of surveillance on the boat to know when it had been accessed? Sure, maybe I'd buy that if he's just renting the boat (but why would he ever rent something so utterly dilapidated then and impossible to secure?) and didn't want to tamper with it, but he'd tamper with hotel rooms so I don't see why a rented boat would make him less inclined for this. Again, this feels like something overlooked purely for the sake of making this plot point work instead of actually crafting a story that fit someone like Tim Drake and his approach. Especially if he knew about these drones watching him, knew anyone could be looking into his windows, see his gear which he seems to forget about, all his clues, which were meant for Robin and not Tim Drake, the civilian. If he wasn't already chasing James as a lead and setting him up, which clearly he wasn't, why didn't he take any security measures?

Which again also makes me ask why he wasn't doing something to track Bernard if he was that concerned about this whole stalker thing and the murders at the marina. The way Fitzmartin writes Bernard the guy would forgive Tim for murder himself, so I don't see how Tim tracking him and apologizing later if found out wouldn't elicit the same response. It felt like a cheap set-up for Tim to angst over his "leaving" Bernard alone and "making it his fault." I get it, things like this happen, but the story doesn't lend itself well to this sort of melodrama, which seems better placed in the CW than what should be a comic of Tim Drake's caliber. Tim can be insecure. He does make miscalculations and mistakes. He is not infallible. However, this comes off more as a whiny teenager than someone who understands the stakes and has understood them for a good portion of his teen -college years (and what is Tim now because I swear he's supposed to be college-aged/early twenties even though so little of her writing between this comic and Dark Crisis:YJ reads like he is). It felt like watching a Tim Drake meltdown rolling into a temper tantrum with Dick, and instead of focusing and trying to solve anything, he's spending his time feeling sorry for himself and his inability to do anything while everyone around him does the work and tries to help. As others have pointed out, his reactions here feel like a complete regression of Tim's character instead of building on the work he did for himself as a character previously. It's painful to watch, and once more, I'm left wondering if this isn't Fitzmartin trying to build her idea of Tim Drake rather than utilizing the character most have known because it's starting to read a lot like someone rewinding a tape just to record over it.

As for the "mystery" itself, we still have no idea how these creations (I'm assuming we're dealing with some sort of golem/homunculus given the clay and salts and alchemy here) are being made other than the clues given that Moriarty is into alchemy on some level at least. Again, why didn't Tim notice any of this before when he clearly had broken disc material to study from his previous encounters, or is there something about these discs that just POOF! once broken, leaving absolutely no trace of them for Tim to work with? It is still never explained how these things have been both intangible and tangible, sometimes to the tune of they can damage things, implying they are physical, and yet no one can hit them, and other times to the song of they're completely corporeal and Tim can climb into their guts. Speaking of, was there no residue at all on Tim for him to study from his Robin uniform to give him some sort of clue about their nature? He makes this claim of them being salt, was there nothing at all from any of his previous fights to take traces from?

And Tim is aware that acid isn't the only thing that dissolves salt, right? He fell into water. Salts can be dissolved/transformed by any number of things, acidic or basic, including water, but depending on the composition of each component and the environment, you might make some unintended/volatile side products, which makes me question him just throwing any random acidic thing on these salt-based creatures. What sort of salt was used? Table salt? If so, why not utilize all the water around you to break them up? And what happened to just breaking the discs since that also seemed to work so well? I still struggle to understand how Tim seems so utterly stupid here. I mean the boy pukes on a shark monster, and I'm assuming he had to have eaten recently because if you have nothing on your stomach you will not puke up any sort of potent volume, certainly not the degree to which you'd need to dissolve a shark. So, did he take a midnight snack break with Dick out there? Most of the contents from your stomach should be passed into the rest of your gut within two hours, so again, where did all that come from if Tim has been searching all this time? Otherwise, he should have been dry heaving at best with that.

(And to imply that Batman taught him how to puke on command seems. . .honestly, most people know how to make themselves puke, it's not some super secret Bat thing. Unless that's Tim referring to Bruce teaching him to think on his feet, in which case, I think Bruce may have some very serious questions about this whole fight. Also I'd just like to state that I'm not a fan of how Fitzmartin has thrown the Batfam under the bus before with Tim's comments and then contradicts them with things like this later on. One minute they're an inconvenience to who he wants to be and then the next they're vital parts of his history that he loves/respects. Yes, these things can co-exist but she writes it in such a jarring way it's like she has no idea at all who her version of Tim Drake actually is.)

Don't even ask me how he escaped his quartering incident because it makes no sense. If these things were that easy to escape from then why were all our heroes having such issues with them across their various incarnations?

And Moriarty. Given how Tim is being written, as quite frankly the dumbest iteration of Tim Drake out there, then, yeah, this villain fits him. That his sole purpose is to be a villain simply because being a goon wasn't enough, and yet having no actual aspirations for his villainy other than to be a villain is quite frankly idiotic. He's got no drive. Just another villain who wants to exist because a hero exists, and it honestly gives absolutely no stakes to the greater world for Tim Drake. Especially given who Moriarty was in the original work and how he went about things and why. There doesn't seem to be some big agenda here, just someone who wants to make Tim's life miserable (and maybe that's the point, someone to make Tim's self-indulgent angst valid), but if that's not the shoddiest bit of villainy there is. Not even a personal connection here to really play on. I mean at least Taylor's Heartless villain had a better build-up and story behind it. And the original Moriarty is so far above this sort of play it's almost painful to watch Fitzmartin use his name in this. The man would be rolling in his grave seeing someone take his name and yet act like this. Everything in this story reads as a caricature honestly. From Tim himself to this new villain of ours.

Finally, Bernard certainly lives up to Fitzmartin's explanation that he's there to be a damsel in distress. It's borderline insulting at this point. (Don't think it escaped me either that we got both Tim and Bernard "bound and gagged" in this issue as well, all things she claimed spoke to their clear unspoken attraction back in their previous run together.) I'm tired of the typical damsel in distress plots. Bernard's already played it out once before, and now we have it again. Is this honestly all he's good for? To show us how incapable Tim Drake is as a detective and how all of Bernard's worth amounts to his ability to be kidnapped and rescued? Do we really need another "princess in the dragon's tower?" Because there's nothing new or genuine being told here with it. It's cliche. It's tired. And no, it's not "reclaiming" or "subverting" anything here. It's just poor storytelling. more

Are the critics reading the same book?? I have yet to meet anyone who likes this book except the critics above. The only thing worst than the art is the writing . I like Tim Drake but the glory days of Chuck Dixon, Tom Grumette, and Mike Wieringo are gone and now we got no talent havks

This book is crap, because of TimBer
What does Tim, see in him?
It’s not because Bernard’s a guy.
I will take anyone else.
Pleeeaaasssee (Please go away), Just make him ple-ease go away (timber), Plleeeaaaaseee (timber)
Wooooah (timber), anyone else (please), wooooah (this book is crap)


Alright one of the first things we see is Rossmo drawing Nightwing……shudders. This comics starts in midst of the search for Bernard and Dick tries to calm Tim down, and Tim slaps his hand away. Now, it’s no secret I’m no fan of Bernard but the way Tim acts here is character regression. He has gone through helping saving people in danger several times, loved ones have been kidnapped before, including Bernard! Tim did show plenty of concern in the past for those put in danger because of him but he always maintained a cool demeanor while on the inside he was filled with self-doubt and guilt. This Tim is a whiny little bitch complaining about everything. Tim, you have saved Bernard before, you’ve saved other from far more dangerous circumstances, you’re more confident than this!

Then Dick starts talking to Tim how it’s always difficult starting a new phase in life…Tim knows this…he’s done it before! Several times in fact. Tim’s keeps doubting himself and how he has “imposter syndrome” about being Robin. My god, he grew past that self-doubt YEARS AGO, this isn’t pushing Tim forward it’s just bringing him backwards.

Then he finds Bernard and someone sneaks up on him again. So much for being trained by Batman, considering how often people keep sneaking up on him.

But then something happens…Tim wakes up and he looks…different. gasp A new artist, that doesn’t draw Tim like a 14 year old with a thumb for a head! Someone splashed some water on his face as he hangs upside down chained up and bruised. And the reveal…GASP THE VILLAIN’S BERNARD!!!

Oh my god! This is SO interesting!! It changes the whole dynamic between them. It make Tim question even more while he’s in the confusing time of his life! Bernard actually has a personality, and is starting to become compelling! And his godawful portrayal of a queer character was all a facade to hide his true intentions. Aaaaaaaannnnnnddd it’s not actually him….it’s an illusion caused by the real villain…James, Tim’s landlord…….

ARE YOU F@#KING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?! YOU HAD SOMETHING GREAT THERE, BUT INSTEAD YOU GIVE US THIS BORING PREDICTBLE PLOT?!?! That means the portrayal of Bernard in all of the previous issues was all genuine. Y’know it’s sad that I have far better and far more nuanced portrayals of queer characters in “The Golden Girls” a sitcom FROM THE 80’S than a comic made in 2023!

Okay…where was I…oh yeah. So while the art is a massive improvement, the writing still sucks. This guy is obsessed with being Tim’s nemesis and throwing all these illusions at Tim. And Tim escapes them by literally throwing up on one of them…..honestly kind of how I feel about this book most of the time.

Then the bad guy reveals his name as “Moriarty”…..wow….how original. You had a decent concept going on here, but leaning into the obsession with detective novels is bringing this down. You’re trying to push this drag Queen version of one of the greatest literary antagonists of all time, and want him to be Tim’s new nemesis. Hate to break it to you Morty, but Tim’s already got The General, Anarky, King Snake, Lynx, The Council of Spiders, Scarab, Jaeager, Johnny Warlock, and plenty of other villains who have more of a grudge with Tim than you.

But then at the final page Rossmo returns to draw Bernard bound up and gaged in chains, like the “perfect damsel” he is. This is one of the most frustrating issues so far….and it is sadly also the best issue so far. more

I weep for DC.

Normally I don’t like multiverse stories, I think they are overdone and O feel the multiverse needs to come to an end, but damn Chip you got me hooked!

I know this is blasphemy to say….but I like Hawthorne’s artwork more than Jorge’s ( starts dodging tomatoes ) Sorry, not sorry. Just something about it feels more Batman-y to me, I don’t know how else to put it.

I cannot wait to see where Chip is gonna take it from here. Also sassy skeleton Jim Gordon, is my new favorite character. I finally found the character that resonates with me the most. I need an on-going spin-off stat!

Now onto the Tim story:

THANK GOD!!! Someone who actually knows how to write my boy!! Chip has his character down, unlike that other book. I finally recognize the kid with a big brain and an even bigger heart that I know and love. That. Being. Said……I was very disappointed with this story.

First off, wasn’t Dick captured by Failsafe in Gotham? How did he escape? Is Gotham still under Failsafe’s control? Why is Tim teaming up with Jon instead of Conner, his best friend? Where is Conner anyways? Why does DC keep teaming Jon up with every Robin except the one we actually want to see him team up with?

The art by Mendosca is great, but I really hate how Tim’s hair is being drawn in this run, I know it’s an odd thing to harp on, but I just don’t like how it looks. Now, don’t get me wrong, this story is not bad by any means. I’ve just seen it done before already…and done significantly better in “Red Robin.” Seriously if you enjoyed this story, please go read the first 12 issues of Red Robin, and Adventure Comics #3 by Geoff Johns while you’re at it. It is the exact same plot. C’mon Chip you could’ve come up with something else. more

(*In old-timey announcer guy voice*)
Previously on “Thanks I hate it” Starring Timblr & Bernard as the “Manic Pixie Femboy”. Timblr acted so out of character, after taking down a squad of fake Robins. But Bernard is now Tim’s boyfriend so it makes it all better. Will SmartA55 be able to make it through this issue with all his hair attached to his head?

(We now return to your regularly scheduled smarminess)

Alright let's get all the usual complaints out of the way:

*Tim looks like Sid from Toy Story
*Ber-Nard, Ber-Nard, Dude looks like a lady!
*Tim is acting incredibly OOC & is acting like an idiot
*Narration boxes, over-narrating everything
*Bernard dressed up in a ridiculous outfit
*Tim being written as Gay not Bi
*Rossmo’s character designs are unpleasant to look at
*Blah, blah, blah, TUMBLR, blah blah

Positives first, I gotta say, the coloring in this series has been pretty good throughout. So thank you Loughridge, you have been the one consistently good thing throughout this book.

*sigh* And onto negatives:

Tim, CLOSE YOUR DAMN CURTAINS!!! Tim is supposed to be someone who takes every precaution to keep his identity safe, but he leaves his windows wide open where a drone can easily view him?! I remember during “Knightfall” when Bruce scolded him for eating in costume in a room filled with windows. Seriously, this is supposed to be the same guy who once faked an assassination attempt in order to keep his identity intact, yet he doesn’t even use any form of security measures on his boat?! I really don’t like this Marina setting, it makes zero sense for Tim, why a boat?! Then, Bernard gets all in a huff about that one guy getting fired and being called a degenerate, the same guy who in the last issue admitted to peeing in the Marina. Why would Tim want to live here of all places? Why did he ever leave Wayne Manor? Why doesn’t he go live with his friends? Why doesn’t he rebuild the place they used at the end of Red Robin?

Oh and then Bernard calls Tim “Superboy’s Biggest fan……..Alright that’s it!

*grabs keys, stomps out of the room, starts up car, screeching down the street.*

*About a half-hour later*

*Car comes screeching back, door slams, runs inside, stomps up the stairs* Okay! *takes off earrings of freshly pierced ears* ENOUGH WITH THE TIMKON QUEERBAITING!!!

It’s abundantly clear that this is the real reason why they decided to make Tim bisexual, not because of Bernard (and I’ll get to him soon) but because they just want to get to TimKon. It has been not so subtly teased ever since the Tim Drake Pride special, and it just continues here. If the plan was to have Tim admit his feelings for Conner, then why not do that in the first place?! I may think TimKon is the wrong route but it makes far more sense that his current relationship. It just makes Bernard all the more superfluous.

I really cannot stand Bernard. He serves no purpose to the plot but being a kind and supportive cute little boytoy to be Tim’s little cheerleader,, and someone for Tim to just fawn over and protect. I joked before, but Bernard is literally a “Manic Pixie Femboy” he serves no purpose. He’s just there to be cute, to boost Tim’s mood, and steer him in the right direction. He’s not even that cute! He doesn’t resemble the character he’s supposedly based off of in the slightest. Bernard used to be filled with personality, acting weird (albeit somewhat annoyingly), outgoing, and snarky. Here, he’s not a character, he’s a walking gay caricature. This isn’t even about Stephanie, I’m fine with Tim dating someone other than her (it’s not preferred but I can live with it) but all of his other previous relationships, while I wasn’t fond of most of them, all of them were characters that had characteristics beyond being a love interest. Take his first girlfriend Ariana. Ari was the daughter of immigrants, who lived with her aunt & uncle after her father was murdered, and had dreams of being a fashion designer. Now some of you may say “SmartA55, be fair they’re only 4 issues in” well all of those facts about Ariana were established in 3 issues of a 6-issue mini and the first issue of the Dixon “Robin” run.

If this were about two brand new gay characters, I would think it was cute but mediocre. However, these are two established characters who are now bisexual. Bernard is written like a precious little puppy dog that needs to be protected, and not someone who has already gone through traumatic events, like say, a gang war taking place in the very school where Tim & Bernard first met. We could have had a story about two guys reconnecting after years apart only to realize that there is a growing attraction between them, something that neither of them had expected and yet it felt right despite it being something that neither one of them considered an option. But no, instead of a nuanced portrayal of the complex situation of realizing one’s sexuality, we just get basic ass gay romance between a one-dimensional sack of cardboard and a beloved character reduced to a parody of his former glory. Tim’s identity is exposed, and instead of immediately jumping into action, he has to cuddle with Bernard. PRIORITIES TIM!!!

Then he goes to ask the Batgirls for help, and we don’t even get one awkward moment between him and Steph, not one?! That is a goldmine for character moments and you don’t use it!!!! Then they have to fight a giant goldfish. Which reminds me, that was part of the solicit for the previous issue and the solicit for this issue spoils the ending! What the heck DC?!

There’s so much more I could say, but honestly I’ve written enough as it is.

I know this sounds harsh, but it's just how I feel. If you guys like this, I’m happy for you, but I think you deserve better. Maybe it’s because I recently reread “Red Robin” before reading this, and let’s just say that’s kinda like watching the Nolan trilogy followed by the Shumacher movies. I really want Tim to have his own book, but this, this isn’t it. I wanna see this turn around,

I really do, but this direction is all wrong.

Now, we’ll just wait til next time when Tim faces off against Maximillian Pegasus….yay? more

Was Tim always this bad at being a detective? I thought we were done with the weird ghost things that I guess aren’t very ghostly anymore. None of this is making sense. And why hasn’t tim even tried to figure out how these things are being made? I thought he was a genius detective. And why does the bad guy look like some rejected joker? Might as well give Tim the D-list prince of crime because this kid can’t solve his way out of paper bag. This story is so bad. more

Let me start by saying, having seen more comments about the matter, that Rossmo's art isn't the main issue here for me. While I do continue to agree that this style wasn't the best fit for a Tim Drake book, it's still a style that has its place in the industry. Part of the issue with the art, though, is that it gives us one sense of a story while the actual story itself provides another, and I feel that this disconnect remains. Again it begs the question — who is the target audience for this story? Is this supposed to be a YA-centric tale? A continuation of the Tim Drake we knew from before? If there is a specific audience in mind, then marketing has failed abysmally on this point (but I imagine they were hoping to capture that nostalgia crowd while also shooting for a brand new one), and I think that is, in part, why there is such a divisive, almost contentious air around this comic's reception. That being said, I don't think anyone at DC really knows who this story is for at this point. It feels a lot like they're fishing around for that audience and trying to see what lands and what doesn't, and in the process, it's hurting Tim Drake's reputation. But artwise, Loughridge continues to be fantastic on coloring, and starting with the last issue, Rossmo's art feels like has finally settled into itself for this story. (I don't know if this is a matter of "doing better work" on other comics or whether this is some stylistic adjustments made for this particular comic as some artists will shift their style, within their own style, to work with the setting/atmosphere a certain story is going for.) Rossmo, though, for me, is not the real problem with this comic. I can adjust to art style if the story is good, and the writing still remains horribly lackluster and disjointed, in my opinion.

I'm beginning to wonder if the Tim Drake we are seeing here isn't being treated as some sort of blank slate. This idea of "Tim had no direction" and "Tim doesn't know who he is" rings very hollow when you read his previous runs. Within the first issue of Red Robin, I got a very clear idea of Tim and his emotional state, how he was reacting to the world and situations around him, and that told me we have a very defined person here, even if he is now trying to define himself outside of Robin. So, now I am questioning whether or not I'm supposed to be taking into account any of his previous history other than the fact that he once dated Steph and Cassie (take what you will of that based on her interpretation of that relationship for her Dark Crisis YJ run) and he became Robin. This current series almost seems as though it's taking a completely different direction, and asking previous readers (or new ones like me just discovering his old series) to forget who he had been so a new Tim Drake can be reconstructed as Fitzmartin believes he, as a character, should be, and not building on who he had already been. In this sense, it feels as if Fitzmartin is treating Tim as her own OC. Slapping a love of detective stories, saying "who am I if I'm not Robin," and giving him the costume does not Tim Drake make. He's a wonderfully nuanced character, and I'm just not seeing that here with him.

Part of that being, as I've taken issue with before, is just how utterly stupid Tim seems here. You're talking about a guy who made plans for the plans he already had sometimes. There are things he picked up on from being with Batman. I do not understand why, when he knows he has this "stalker," he's leaving his windows clear open for anyone to look inside his boat, including while he is researching this case. (Or you know, for someone to snap pictures of him, because that was the drone there in that one shot, wasn't there?) You're telling me Tim knows this villain knows who he is, and he's just letting anyone and everyone peep into his boat? Also, why does he not have some sort of security system on this thing? The landlord just waltzed in. Villains break in. (Or maybe they waltzed in too!) He has done nothing to secure his place. Hell, why didn't he even have a tracker on Bernard if he was that concerned? Seems like something Tim might do and apologize later for if found out. Also, why not grill Bernard on "letting a superhero" onto his boat? Seems like a prime opportunity to bring home the fact that maybe you can't trust just anyone, Bernard, including vigilantes, even if they seem like the good guys, and maybe create some breathing room for his secret identity. Since that also seems to be a sticking point about keeping Bernard safe at this moment.

I'm also not clear on why Bernard called out to him with "Superboy's biggest fan" when he easily could have just called him "Boy wonder" and gotten Tim's attention that way. We haven't even seen why Bernard would call Tim this unless I missed some sort of interaction with Tim Drake (as Tim Drake and not Robin), Bernard, and Superboy that would explain why Bernard feels getting Tim's attention with that was the best way to go about it. Also, again, how is Tim so distracted walking about the marina, with its rampant murders, and ends up caught off guard yet again by Bernard? These constant lapses in his judgment, given this escalating situation, only make Tim seem stupider than we all know he is. This also brings back home for me again how Fitzmartin tends to make assumptions about her own story by putting things that lack the context to hold them as she hasn't done to story work to bring the readers the understanding they need to place these little moments. You can certainly build up these little character idiosyncrasies, but they have to be placed well and eventually given context to uphold them.

I do also think that instead of getting more insight into Bernard and building on his character, the scenes we got for him were only there to prop Tim up. Again, something that can be fine and well if Bernard were a better established character at this point, but right now, his only purpose in this comic seems to provide a counterpoint to Tim's old life rather than being someone who is just that important to Tim. We're once again told how important Bernard is and not really shown it. Even when saying he wants to protect Bernard, this is undermined by Tim then saying he can protect everyone almost immediately after. It diminished the importance of Bernard to me. Also, Tim's reaction to the kidnapping seemed to contain yet again little thought in interacting with this new villain (which would have been the prime place to put that internal monologue of Tim analytically dissecting this phone call and new voice!) and was far more reactionary than Tim Drake typically tends to be. Show us Tim saying one thing while breaking it all down in his head rapid fire! That would have been a great call back to his Red Robin series and how it worked there.

I would also like to know how many times Bernard is going to get kidnapped because while this plot point is not new and is very often used and used again, it was literally the point of their introduction as a couple as we got to see it in his Pride/UL story. Which we basically just got. I know Fitzmartin herself said Bernard is there to be Tim's damsel-in-distress, but could we not?

I did find the interactions with Steph very stilted, though, and not in that "we just broke up and are trying to figure our work relationship out now" sort of way. It was weirdly impersonal-personal. A few comments here and there that let you know Steph knows Tim better than an acquaintance but lacking any real warmth. Again, because we have so little to go on with these two since the breakup, you can argue this any number of ways as to why it plays out like that on the pages, but the one sticking point remains in that their situation was not handled well from the start. This was brought up back during the whole Pride event storyline, and it's showing itself again here.

In conclusion, I still think this is a hot mess of a series. There are far too many discrepancies and contradictions in this story for me to suspend my belief reasonably. Comics do ask you to do that to varying degrees (hello, Batman #130), but Fitzmartin clearly struggles with voice here and doesn't seem to have a clear idea of who Tim Drake is herself, despite all her talk about it. Her writing is playing out far differently for me, and the more I see of previous Tim Drake stories, the clearer this is starting to become. It's unfortunate a character as amazing as Tim Drake is falling prey to this level of writing. He's truly great, worthy of standing there with any of his fellow Robins. As others here have said, I also highly recommend tuning into the Red Robin run if you haven't yet. But as far as this story goes, with this big new villain reveal, I'm not impressed. It's been a poor set-up all the way through, and this is beginning to feel more like a circus than a detective story with any weight behind it.

(Apparently, my main review is way beyond the max here but you can read the whole thing over at https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic/3709319/tim-drake-robin-4) more

Soooo this was better than the last issue but it's still really bad. I don't know where she gets some of this stuff she says about the other robins because it's not anything like them at all and Tim still doesn't act like Tim at all in here. Like is saying he's solving crimes all its takes to make him a detective now because he's also really bad at that. And like other people have said why did Tim just follow after Bernard when people were looking for him? It's like we needed a moment for them but it was at the worst time possible and it made Tim look really really stupid. He even took a shower after freaking out about Bernard almost seeing his mask in the boat! And why does Bernard have access to the boat if Tim does his robin stuff out of there too? That's like asking to be found out! Also why did Bernard give him the note when he was right here on the boat too? Does he know who robin really is? I think it's be funny if he's the villain because that would be the icing on this cake of stupidity. Really. This whole series gets dumber and dumber every issue. I really love Tim but it's hard to read him like this. Pretty sure a fifth grader is smarter than Tim at this point. All the other robins sure as hell are so maybe you were right to be having nightmares about that Tim because this writer writes you dumber than all of them. more

Atrocious is the word

Overall, this was still a badly written issue, but dropping the pursuit of various older detective stories and allowing some semblance of a plot to form was one of the better things about this particular one. That being said, still not a great time being had here.

Fitzmartin's grasp on characterization remains threadbare at best. She has a few lines that seem to imply she has at least some passing knowledge of the relationships between the Robins, but the details once again are muddled to fit her writing scenarios and not who these characters actually are. And these issues don't come from the fake Robins themselves but from Tim's assessments of them. Now, I'm reading this as a storyline that follows up from Dark Crisis, so to insist that Dick Grayson is still desperately trying to get Bruce's approval rang really hollow to me, as he has definitely been starting his own thing in the current Nightwing series and has shown himself stepping up in the Dark Crisis story. Sure, there is always the shadow of Bruce over any in the Batfam, but to say Dick has some weakness because of this desire seemed off-note. And this isn't even touching on the fact that Tim believes Dick is all show and less fighting-and-thinking ability, thus making him easy to defeat, or the idea that he would be the best Robin to try and lose in the masts of ships. Dick, the circus boy, whom we have seen have fun with others using his acrobatic skills in high places and executing his abilities in astonishing ways that make him deadly in places others would easily trip up in.

There are also issues with Tim's assessments of the other Robins. Look at Jason, pinning him solely as the aggressive Robin as yet another shallow interpretation of his character, and not just that but trying to equate that aggressiveness to protectiveness felt really wrong. I'm honestly getting tired of seeing this one-note in people's handling of Jason Todd, especially looking at who he was as Robin, what it meant to him, and who he has been, especially more currently, as Red Hood (for as little as we have gotten on that). I do think out of anyone, Tim would have a better assessment of Jason himself given how analytical Tim can be when it comes to those around him, and as pointed out in this very issue, how he seems to have plans to take them all down. Yet, the reasons for these weaknesses are really more examples of shoehorning to make Tim's internal monologue make sense rather than providing us with any real in-depth analysis on each of these Batfam members as would be more accurate to them. Again, this is a writing failure to really take into account Tim's detective abilities and show us how Batman-worthy they are (not saying Tim for Batman, but he's supposed to be on par with Bruce, right?).

When it comes to Damian, Fitzmartin seems to vacillate back and forth between getting some of his characteristics right and then trashing them moments later. One minute he's Tim's precious baby brother, and then he's not violent or mean enough to be the real Damian. And Steph, to my understanding, while she was not as extensively trained as Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian, still had some training under Bruce even if she experienced more with other Bat mentors and spent far less time under the Robin mantle. To say she had none either seems to imply this Steph has a different story arc none of us as readers are aware of here (which I can't discount given Fitzmartin has already shown a bad habit of running with things she has never fully explored or explained) or that Fitzmartin doesn't understand Steph's story to the extent one would have expected.

That being said, Rossmo's art style definitely lends itself better to the villains in this story and their grotesqueness, but the pacing of some of the fight scenes didn't flow as well for me. Some went really well, some dropped the ball a bit. Not sure if this was because of the script or paneling choices in the end. You can definitely see where his style fits with the weird and strange, and I think it really worked in favor of what we saw with our bad guys, though there were several panels where I honestly could not tell we were dealing with Bernard and thought we had encountered another new character. If not for Tim's thoughts, I wouldn't have known in those initial panels.

Now, the Bernard stuff. I honestly cannot, for any reason, fathom why Tim, as Robin, would have ever followed Bernard back to "his boyfriend's" boat. When he's actively being pursued by the police. Why would he risk being found on his boat, the one he uses as a civilian, and draw any potential attention toward it? This is one of my main problems with Tim Drake here - I've not known a dumber version of him, and this is not Tim's fault, but Meghan Fitzmartin's and her writing. Not only that, he takes off his entire costume and showers inside said boat while Bernard is still actively present (not together, mind you, but still on-premise). There was no need for him to do this. I get he's been fighting and is dirty and exhausted, but why again would Tim risk being found out? And then there's the fact that Bernard seems to have free access to Tim's boat, and yet Tim just leaves his Robin gear out in plain sight? How is this something he would do? When he frets and worries about even telling Bernard his true identity, yet the guy can get into his boat with no issue? It completely nullifies any real worry Tim has about being found out. Am I supposed to think this is some subconscious thing of Tim's, hoping Bernard just stumbles upon his identity and gets outed? Does Bernard already know because of all these mistakes Tim makes that we are now just playing witness to but Bernard is "too perfect" to say anything or maybe wants to play into the conspiracy of it all, and then we'll get some sort of plot twist or new thing thrown at us only for it to ring hollow yet again due to all this poor writing? Maybe it'll be more of that "true love angle" Fitzmartin seems to want to play where Bernard admits he always knew, but he loved Tim too much to say anything about it. At this point, I honestly don't care. I'm still in disbelief that Tim Drake is this openly stupid despite constantly being told by Tim himself how careful he's trying to be about not revealing who he is, how worried he is about being Robin, and what knowing that could mean for Bernard.

Also, I'm pretty sure Darcy told Tim he had a "murder shed" in the first issue, so I don't get why Bernard talking about the "murder shack" boat came as such a shock to Tim when Darcy already played this joke with him. It feels like Fitzmartin forgot she already wrote that line because I can't see Tim forgetting something like that. He's supposed to be a good detective, right?

As for Bernard's backstory bits we got here, I don't know if this is some sort of play to reconcile the Bernard we got way back in the day (you know, the one who thought Tim's stepmom was hot AF and was kinda skeevy?) with his own coming out issues, but I honestly wish we hadn't gotten it. I understand how important stories like that are, especially given the current political atmosphere, but I feel it takes away from Tim trying to find his own identity here. This maybe is something better addressed later on, when Tim seems a little more settled into himself, but perhaps this was an early push to add some depth to Bernard's otherwise bland characterization. Again, though, it's also a very common LGBTQ+ trope in a lot of stories (and yes, I also understand why), and part of me wishes we had seen something else as if the whole pain cult angst wasn't enough to deal with (and yes, I realize this was all tied together, but still makes me wish we weren't layering on the angst and pain with another love interest because there are so many other things you can do to make them interesting instead of what we're getting here). It honestly fell a little flat for me, but it may not for others in the community.

While this was a more cohesive issue than her previous ones in this series, it still suffers from many of the same issues. Fitzmartin seems to lose track of her own story, the details of it at least, or is attempting to do callbacks that aren't very well executed in some instances. She also continues to show a very shallow understanding of the characters she has been given to work with, and I am once again left more baffled by Tim's lack of detective skills and situational awareness than impressed. His fight with the Robins was a cool concept, but again executed very poorly, and it seemed like the resolution to each fight was another bout of "convenient for the writing," but not in a way that made it believable. As with her former detective story tie-ins in the previous issues, the endings to Robin's problems here are unsatisfying at best, and instead of feeling like Tim is a fantastic detective or even some sort of badass fighter, I'm left feeling like I got a story hobbled together with loose ideas held together by duct tape for an explanation. She still spends far too much time telling us things than showing us, and when she does let the showing happen, it's so in-your-face or trope-ridden it's hard to feel anything genuine for these characters. more

First off, can I just point out that the solicit summary doesn't actually match this issue. That doesn't really affect the quality all that much, but it's worth noting.

Regardless, I'll be the first to concede that this issue has far more coherent progression between scenes than the last one. And there is clearly more of an effort being made this time when it comes to characterisation though it's still sketchy.

The fight between Tim and the Clay Robin's is well put together, panel wise, though sadly the abundance of narration boxes does prove to be a detriment as I found it distracting from the fight scene, clutters the pages, and slows it down.

I do get that the narration was intended to show off Tim's analytical side, but honestly, I can't help but notice an undertone of the fight being intended to prove Tim's superiority as Robin, especially as some of the comments Tim made in the narration, felt less about the fight and more about making a few digs at the other Robins. Though my own issues so far with the run, may be colouring my perspective.

It's worth noting that the Clay Robin's themselves, aren't fully explained in this issue and there's some confusion about what they actually are. Tim does debunk the idea that it's Clayface, and they are apparently supposed to have the fighting skills of the originals, with Steph's name and her specific relationship being brought up, however the final scene suggests that these are actually people transformed into Clay Duplicates of the Robin's, muddying up the situation so to speak. I bring this up, because it calls into question how they knew so much, with Tim and clearly Steph's identities being known, which the issue and honestly the run so far, kind of gloss over.

Moving on from the fight scene are the other important bits of the issue. The first is the cops coming to take the Clay Robin's into custody at Tim's call (nevermind them compromising his and Steph's identities), with the Marina residents showing solidarity with Robin. It should be an emotionally resonant scene as well as giving the residents clear characterisation, but to be honest, I find it falling flat due to the way its laid out feeling like it just happened with a lack of actual effort put in.

The final point I need to discuss is Tim as Robin meeting Bernard again. Before I say anything else, I should note that another person pointed out that the artwork by Rossmo is actually fine, the backgrounds, the panelling, even the fight itself all look fine. This is especially worth noting because this may be Rossmo's last issue on Tim Drake Robin with another artist taking over. The actual issue is the character design, especially for Tim and Bernard, with Tim's face and hair really not suiting the style, while Bernard is very femininely coded. I don't know who is responsible for it, whether it be Fitzmartin or Rossmo himself but it really doesn't work with Rossmo's style.

Bernard finally shows some more characterisation beyond being the boyfriend, though to be honest, it still feels more like it's being told to us, rather than shown, blunting its impact substantially, and I get the sense that Bernard is still supposed to be reflecting Tim's troubles, which don't really fit with his issues displayed so far.

As an aside, both Detective Williams and Darcy don't make an appearance for the first time I the run and its shocking how little their absence is felt. more

Okay, who exactly is this made for, because I am a massive Tim Drake fanboy & I’m bi and I can tell you it’s certainly not made for me, and if it’s not made for me then who is it made for? It’s be one thing if this was a brand new character, but this is a character with over 30 years of history, with a clearly defined personality and character traits. Would love if this book incorporated those character traits instead of this Tumblr fanfic version.

Alright, positives first, this is probably the best issue Fitzmartin has written so far, but there’s still a lot wrong with it. This story is actually kind of interesting, and it felt like a natural progression instead of random events happening. And the art is much better this time around. And I am curious to see who the bad guy is, we meet this Colonel guy, so right now I’m leaning towards The General as the main bad.

I think I figured out the Riley Rossmo situation. Rossmo’s art isn’t that bad, his backgrounds and the way the characters move across the page are actually quite dynamic and engaging. But, the character designs are what bring it down. If they can tweak the way the characters look, then there would be improvement.

While it is cool to see Tim take down these faux-Robins, it is brought down by the over abundance of narration. I don’t think there was a single panel in this comic that didn’t have any dialogue in it. Comics are a visual medium, let the art do the talking, Show Don’t Tell. Also Tim seemed to show more remorse beating up Damian or Jason than he did Stephanie……deep breath….anyways.

The humor here, just does not land. There is a moment where they do “the high ground” meme and it just feels like “how do you do fellow kids.”

Now talk about Bernard. I kept confusing him for a her, because quite frankly Bernard looks like a lesbian. He looks more and more feminine with every issue, even, are we sure Tim is dating a guy? It just feels like Fitzmartin’s gay fantasy. Also they are implying that Bernard’s family doesn’t approve of him coming out…groan really, you’re doing this cliché? It’s a good thing to tackle, important even to show how families are not always supportive, but it’s just so overdone. Can’t we just have it be Bernard is also experimenting discovering something about himself, but instead it feels like that “I like men now” moment from the Simpson’s movie.

Now let’s talk about how Tim follows Bernard to his boat. Tim is trying to avoid Bernard in order to keep his identity in tact, but as soon as Bernard says the word boyfriend, Tim instantly perks up, forgets everything, and follows Bernard like a little puppy dog………no, No, No, No, NO, NO, NO!!!!!!! Tim has always, ALWAYS prioritized keeping his identity a secret from those he loved, yes he hated having to lie to his loved one, but he understood his responsibilities and took every measure to keep it safe, whether it was from Ariana, Stephanie, or his own Father. WHY ARE THEY MAKING TIM A SIMP FOR THIS MANIC PIXIE FEMBOY?!?!?!?! This just reeks of Straight girl’s Yaoi Tumblr fanfic.

Start writing Tim instead of this Gay Fantasy Lookalike, give Bernard a f@#king personality, and show us why the hell Tim wants to date him already!!!! I’m still growing more convinced that Bernard is the villain, because how else was Bernard able to sneak up on Tim the way he did. That prospect is frankly what I’m looking the most forward to.

TL:DR Plot is okay, too much narration boxes, art is better but still needs work, Characterization AWFUL
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I'd like to say I feel some level of relief that this series has now met its end, but in all honesty, I'm still left baffled by how such a story was ever allowed to proceed on the course that it did. I was hoping we would get some sort of explanation into why this was worth putting the Dark Crisis title on it, but the fact of that matter remains that this series has absolutely nothing to do with the current Dark Crisis plot. It has offered us nothing of value on that front. There is no reason this should have been put into this lineup. At best, this could have been a one-shot standalone that someone decided to throw out into the universe, but to say this brings anything to the overarching story we're getting with Dark Crisis would be a flat-out lie.

Mickey's explanation for how he came to play in this is incredibly weak and reads as if they needed something to legitimize placing Dark Crisis on the covers at the last minute. You very well could have left out that bit of dialogue from him, and it wouldn't have made a damn difference to the YJ story or the main Dark Crisis one. Honestly, if Fitzmartin's aim was to show us just how unnecessary and easily discarded the YJ group is, this comic proved that point. Rather than making us feel how needed and vital this group could be, she ended up showing us the exact opposite. The whole main Dark Crisis storyline proceeded without them, and them being gone played no major role in what was happening outside of their own mini-series. And if that was, in fact, the whole point of this, then what a sad and shallow way to go about it. Fans were looking forward to this comic, to seeing this group get something fun again, to show us their relevance after having been forgotten for so long, and instead, were shown how they truly have no real place in this current DC universe. Fitzmartin proves that her story is exactly everything Mickey was complaining about, and yet it offered us no viable alternative, only the continued hammering home of how easily cast aside these characters continue to be.

It's honestly impressive. In an attempt to defy and rage against the worst of the comic world (which in reality is a small but admittedly vocal part of the fandom) and rail against a time and issues that not only the characters themselves progressed past in other stories and most readers have as well, this story has only managed to uphold those very same values it decries.

Again, the writing suffers from continuity issues, of being incredibly disjointed. At times, it seems to finally get its act together, best noted in the first 2-3 pages, but then quickly loses itself again to the same problems suffered in the previous issues. This time we get it mostly in this weirdly put stop-and-go format of the boys apologizing to Cassie. These moments felt oddly out of place, especially given the supposedly pressing nature of their fight not only against Mickey but also the fight happening in the main storyline, which they are now aware of. Like most of Fitzmartin's writing, instead of showing us why these boys should feel the remorse they did (because honestly, a lot of the previous work she is referencing doesn't support the degree to which their guilt weighs), we are simply told it. It comes off as disingenuine, as something said for the sake of someone else and not because it was needed at that moment in the comic. Tim's was by far the worst, in my opinion, as it was a weird aside when they were rushing to get back to the main fight, and it offered nothing of any real value other than to open the doors on his potential feelings for Conner (I'll circle back to this).

I want to love all these characters, and instead, I feel like I've gotten a series in which apologies are being made by characters who aren't the ones who should be issuing them, where we've lost the voices of characters in favor of making blanket statements and poorly directed commentary, where characters have been forced to deprive themselves of their own inherent greatness just to prop up another character (because where did we see anyone other than Cassie as the target of all of this?). And I get that's maybe the issue, a character getting overshadowed by those around them, but instead of showing us how amazing this team is, we were shown how amazing one character is (seriously, Tim Drake who?) only to ultimately be shown how completely irrelevant they really are to the main plot.

Kon, perhaps, had the most legitimate reason to apologize personally to Cassie. Though they also had previous progression beyond what seemed to be his main hangup here, and the way Cassie brushes off his apology seems to show it was probably unnecessary in the first place. If anything, it likely serves as a foil to what came with Tim, where the implication seems to be that he had feelings for Conner, and that was the only real reason he had gotten together with Cassie in the first place. Again, I think this suffered from being put at the wrong time and place and having too little build-up (again, a continued flaw with Fitzmartin's writing). In some respects, it can lend weight to Tim's bisexuality, and while this could be an understandable development, shoehorning it into a couple of panels in the last few pages of the last comic of a miniseries while we next see Tim six months later in a marina with Bernard was not the best way to approach this topic at all. It would have been better served as a conversation between Tim and Conner at a point when sufficient time could have been given to a conversation of that nature. But the fact that Tim and Conner don't even seem to interact in this particular issue only makes this a matter of 'things we don't really talk about' or 'these are things we talk around,' and it completely undermines what could have been a very powerful moment between two supposedly close friends. I honestly love Tim and Conner's friendship, and this could have been such a fantastic thing to see between them and a way to explore Tim's own confusion over his sexuality when he was younger and show us how we ended up with him where he is today. Instead, we got a half-assed apology that didn't even need to happen, an apology that was just as easily dismissed by Cassie. (Also, with him being bisexual, it would've been perfectly okay for him just to have some sort of attraction to Cassie and leave it at that.)

And I don't even know why Bart felt the need to apologize. Especially when everything that was said in that particular conversation was a rehashed conversation from earlier in the series with him. Again, it just strips all the genuineness out of the things being said between these characters, and it makes me wonder how someone who claims to love these characters so much can get them so very wrong.

At the end of it all, this series honestly leaves me feeling incredibly sad. Sad for the characters who didn't get the development and appreciation they should have, sad for the comic fans who genuinely love this group and DC comics, sad for the state of comic writing because I know there are better writers than Fitzmartin who could tell these stories. There was a lot of potential here, even in the idea of commenting on the current state of comics and the fandom, but it was so grossly mishandled that I'm left wondering why anyone would want to see this group of characters again, at least as written and handled by this creative team. There was a story here. It's not a new one, but it was one that could have been told, but all its effectiveness was shot and buried by poor writing, poor pacing, and characterization that seemed more intent on proving the writer's points than showing us character understanding, progression, and strength. You can make these points without losing your characters and your audience, but unfortunately, Fitzmartin shows herself incapable of managing this yet again.

But, I sincerely hope we do get to see these characters again for who they truly are and everything they bring to the table as superheroes because they are so much better than what we got in this series. more

At this point this is not only badly written, but totally disrespectful. There wasn't much respect before this issue, but this one seals the deal on impertinence. There should be negative rating for this awful writer and terrible excuse for a human being. Oh, and the editor needs to pack his stuff and go as far away from comics as possible.

The artstyle in and of itself is quite good, though it's let down by the incredibly stiff poses the characters are drawn in, the backgrounds suddenly vanishing entirely at points, and some odd expressions in certain panels that make it look laughable.

As for the writing, it's quite poor with a lack of resolution for several plot points, some rather odd scripting choices that prevent any real tension from being built, and overall being a poorly executed critique of a series that certainly had its issues, but the criticisms that are made feel poorly researched, and not really landing due to relying on faulty information. more

(This should be considered a review of the entire mini-series)

I see you writing this crap with the team I love
And I'm like, "Forget you" (ooh, ooh, ooh)
You tried to blame homophobes and misogyny
I'm like, "Forget you and DC, too"
Tried to give you credit, you're still new at it
Ha, what is this shh?
(What is this shh?)
And although there's pain in my chest
I still wish you the best
With a "Forget you" (ooh, ooh, ooh)

Where do I start
The way you write Tim, Kon, & Bart
It's clear you didn't do any research
Made Cassie a pain, you write Tim not Bi but Gay
And Cissie's a "See You Next Tuesday"

I pity the fool that falls that thinks this book is good
(But hey, Braga's still good yeah)
Well (maybe give her some more work yeah)
Ooh, I've got some news for you
Yeah, no one likes what you were doing here

I see you writing this crap with the team I love
And I'm like, "Forget you" (ooh, ooh, ooh)
You tried to blame homophobes and misogyny
I'm like, "Forget you and DC, too"
Tried to give you credit, you're still new at it
Ha, what is this shh?
(What is this shh?)
And although there's pain in my chest
I still wish you the best
With a "Forget you" (ooh, ooh, ooh)

Then you put Empress, with the bad guys
Why didn't you use Bedlam?
Well your argument, falls apart
Cause You’re guilty what you accuse Mickey of

I pity the fool that falls that thinks this book is good
(But hey, Braga's still good yeah)
Well (maybe give her some more work yeah)
Ooh, I've got some news for you
I think I'd rather read A.S.B.A.R.

I see you writing this crap with the team I love
And I'm like, "Forget you" (ooh, ooh, ooh)
You tried to blame homophobes and misogyny
I'm like, "Forget you and DC, too"
Tried to give you credit, you're still new at it
Ha, what is this shh?
(What is this shh?)
And although there's pain in my chest
I still wish you the best
With a "Forget you" (ooh, ooh, ooh)

Now baby, baby, baby, why's the, why's the, why's the writing so bad?
(So bad, so bad, so bad)
I thought this really had some potential but
This is just making me sad
(So Sad, So Sad, So Sad)
Yes, it is
And I was like, uh
Why? (Uh) Why? (Uh) Why, DC?
Oh, I love you
Oh, I still love you, oh

I see you writing this crap with the team I love
And I'm like, "Forget you" (ooh, ooh, ooh)
You tried to blame homophobes and misogyny
I'm like, "Forget you and DC, too"
Tried to give you credit, you're still new at it
Ha, what is this shh?
(What is this shh?)
And although there's pain in my chest
I still wish you the best
With a "Forget you" (ooh, ooh, ooh)

Seriously, this mini sucked!
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I held off on reading this given everything that was noted about it but being a Tim Drake fan decided to go ahead and see for myself what this was about and it's as disappointing as most people seem to think it is. I actually don't mind the art so much even though I don't really think this character version looks anything like Tim but I know different styles mean different character interpretations. The art really isn't the problem with the issue though. It's the writing. I couldn't get into it. I thought the plot was stupid. It was an okay gimmick in the Pride stories for Tim but Fitzmartin really fails to make it seem smart. Tim just sounds really dumb in this though not as stupid as he sounds in her YJ series. But Fitzmartin tries really hard to make you believe Tim is doing something intelligent here. The thing is though she has to tell you because nothing in the story makes you believe it. She has to tell you everything actually so I fail to see where there is any real story involved in this. Writing is considered an art for a reason.

I do think she was trying to be funny with some of the one-liners but they read really flat. Nothing about this amused me. It was also really disjointed and cringe at times. Her pacing is really weird which is something her YJ run suffers from as well. It's like she is trying too hard to get you to like what she is doing because she knows the story can't do it with how she's written it. The side characters are okay but this isn't a story about them. It's Tim Drake's story and I feel like more effort was put into making her own OCs than in the title character she gets to write. She even tells you this is Tim's story but it doesn't feel like that at all. It feels like Fitzmartin's story and Tim is just the guy who gets to tell it. I'm pretty sure that is what was being said to us at the end of this comic - it's her story and we just have to shut up and deal with it. I dunno. I felt really bad reading this. It doesn't make me like Tim or want to see anything more from him with this writer. I know they're changing the artists so I'm hoping maybe they'll change writers too. I want to see a Tim Drake comic again but not one that makes me question Tim Drake's character and his intelligence and who is he. I like that he is bisexual because it made me and my friends feel seen when it was announced but I don't like this feeling like I have to support this comic because of just that. And it feels like a lot of people are saying this comic is bad but we have to support it because bisexual Tim Drake. He's more than that! I don't want to end up hating a character I've loved because of someone's bad writing. Someone else has to be able to write him better and still keep him bisexual. But I liked him before he was bisexual and he's losing everything that was cool about him in this comic. And I know being the "smart" robin isn't all he is either but it's what puts him on par with Bruce and there is nothing in this comic that makes me think this kid is some sort of genius detective. Take the ending - he didn't sound smart there. It's more like the writer threw down random things for him to find because another detective story said so but instead of it making sense for Tim and for the ending of this comic it just came off as really weird. Like you know that meme "Random bullshit go"? That's what all that clue finding felt like. She seems really confused about her own stories and doesn't know how to actually write them. Maybe she had a good idea going but I can only suspend my disbelief for so long. If anything made me laugh it was how bad this ended up being. I feel sorry for Tim Drake. more

Where do I even begin?

Challenge for Fitzmartin: stop taking the plots of other detective comics and making it seem like you did anything with them. This is just lazy writing. The fact that I knew what story she would use next based on the preview talk of a stolen diamond and framing someone, given her previous history with other old detective stories, made this as lame as the previous issue. Nothing of value again was added to the use of this older story, and instead of seeming "cute" of the villain (because it sure isn't "smart"), it plays off as something amateur. It doesn't even come off as a villain teasing Tim, but yet again reads as someone who thinks she is writing something smarter than she really is, and in the process, ends up dumbing down her lead character. I'm once again wondering how the hell Tim is supposed to be the "smartest" Robin when he couldn't figure out the story right away, and yet, I could based upon the villain's previous use of a certain type of story and the immediate clues left in the broadcast. I thought he was a detective story fan? To not even see what the trend here was, and instead, spend more time wondering "oh is it this" or "is it that" comes off as a pointless waste of time for a set-up that was equally as pointless save for providing more angst fodder. There was an obvious thread here, and Tim couldn't figure it out. This is boring. I'm not at all in awe of Tim's detective skills, and I should be. And anyone with any sort of literary knowledge, or basic reading comprehension and a computer, could have figured out what the next detective story ripoff was going to be before Tim got there himself.

And this isn't even getting into how much time Tim spends questioning his place in the world, to the tune of 'I have no family and no support, only Bernard and my detective skills' (which have already been shown as lackluster at best by the actual detective work happening here). How is Bernard the only person Tim feels he can rely on, that he wants to be with, who truly gets him when we have seen now not only Bruce being supportive of him but also, supposedly if one believes her YJ run, his old YJ friends? But somehow the only place he belongs on is a boat and with Bernard. This is a complete slap in the face to the Batfamily and his other friends. Fitzmartin makes it sound like Tim got kicked out because of who he was only to turn around and say he wanted to distance himself from Bruce while also saying Batman needs Robin. So, what is it here? (And I get Tim will get something new here for that, but also this comic is titled Tim Drake: Robin.) And how exactly did Tim "ruin" things with Steph? He broke up with her. She didn't dump him, and again, if we're to believe the Pride special stuff, Steph was ecstatic over Bernard (and no we're not getting into how badly written that was here). I fail to see how anything was ruined unless we are once again supposed to imagine a lot of drama that isn't being shown.

Then, to make things worse, Tim admits the Wayne family has "a stalker" to try and convince Bernard to step back, but he shows absolutely no concern about letting the rest of the Batfam know about this breach. His identity has been compromised, and his first thought is whether he's a bad boyfriend to Bernard and not about the potential jeopardizing of every other superhero associated with him. Which is such a complete and utter contrast to what we've been seeing in Zdarsky's Batman. I don't know who this Tim Drake is.

I honestly don't even know what story Fitzmartin is trying to tell here. Half of it seems to be creating drama for the sake of drama while elements of the same story and others, including ones she herself has written, directly contradict what Tim is battling over in his thoughts. I have wanted so badly to believe in having something good with a bisexual Tim, but the stuff Fitzmartin writes completely destroys my faith in getting to have that. I have never felt more like a token sell-point than in the way Tim continues to spend more time wondering about Bernard and his relationship than in the real problems surrounding him as a superhero. I wanted a good detective story. I wanted to see Tim Drake at his absolute best. Instead, I'm getting cheap angst and a detective who can't seem to solve his way out of a paper bag.

Oh, and I'm not even touching on the "cliffhanger" ending, but really? That's who you want to demonize at the end of this?

(Also, it's Larry, Curly, and Moe, not Curley.) more

Unreadable. The awful Rossmo stick drawings continue.