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

(*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

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

I'm not a huge fan of this series, but I thought this issue was pretty good, actually.

This issue surprised me. I haven’t been a big fan of the book. I don’t like the art. Too cartoony for my preference, but I concede that is pure taste and the art isn’t bad the way bad comic art can be. I also thought the stories were not good and the characters were not done right by.

But this annual handles a lot of my concerns. Through a freaky Friday coin, Steph and Cass trade bodies and they are kidnapped by their parents for different reasons. Lady Shiva grabs Steph in Cass’ body and Cluemaster grabs Cass in Steph’s body. Sets up issue 13, and we get actual sense of who these characters are.

I am looking forward to see what happens next. We also see Babs move back to the Clocktower. I never bought the three girls slumber party setup. Babs is older and deserves her own space. Now there is a college dorm vibe. Girls away from home but close enough to mom. Works better for characterization and opens up possibilities for all.

I liked this issue and feel it sets up a good story and does worldbuilding better than the first story arc did.

I could be wrong, but I hope not. more

This annual takes on a genuine cinematic feel at times, and is certainly being more creative in how it depicts scenes, giving a stylistic element that's much appreciated.

The story is well paced, and left me excited to see what happened next. So overall, in spite of the annual not fully shedding some of the flaws of the series that drag it down a little, I'm left genuinely excited for the next part. 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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This definitely didn't deserve the Dark Crisis in its title. Like seriously. It had no impact or like any real involvement in that whole story. Why wasn't this just some random comic instead? Not that these characters deserve the treatment they got. I think I've walked away from this comic liking all of them less. These aren't villains. Aren't we supposed to feel good about our heroes? They felt pointless. This whole story felt pointless. I wish they had actually had something relevant to do with the whole Dark Crisis thing but all Fitzmartin did was have them argue with one another until for some reason the boys end up apologizing for bad behavior. I feel like we deserve an apology for all the bad writing that happened here. I guess I wish I had seen these characters showing themselves better instead of being told they were all stupid and petty and privileged(?)and written in a time Fitzmartin clearly hates. Like yeah stuff doesn't always age well. I get wanting characters to show they are mature and learn from things but this felt like a weird time to address this. I mean the whole world is going to hell or something. They didn't even seem to care about that part much. The apologizing felt more needed than saving the world. Unless I'm supposed to not care about these characters again because that seems to be the only point really made here. I dunno. Seems like Fitzmartin shot for the stars and landed five feet away on her face instead with this one. This was so disappointing but at least it's over.

Except for Tim. I guess he still has to suffer. Sorry Tim. Maybe they'll get you a better writer too. more

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

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

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.