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.

I’m still not enjoying this. The montage thing was supposed to be a fun thing I guess but I found it really confusing because everything else is all over the place with the action and Tim’s thoughts. It made things seem more scattered instead of pulling it together. He also seems to contradict himself. Saying or thinking one thing then thinking something completely else a page or two later. And the whole detective story this time felt pointless. Like we had the whole hologram thing but then nothing here for the *murder mystery*. There’s like too much going on but the things actually being said don’t make any sense. It feels like fitzmartin’s interviews where she says a whole lot of nothing but damn were some words said. And I don’t know why tim feels like no one supports him in his life except for bernard. We barely know this kid but tim talks about him like he’s marriage material. I know that’s probably not the intent but the writing is so weird still that it’s like fitzmartin doesn’t even know what she is trying to say or imply. What happened to the batfam or his young justice bros?It’s such a confusing mess of a story. Tim spends more time whining about his life and how he’s some sad boat urchin now than some well trained batfam member. Can he still even do the detective thing? Because he doesn’t seem as capable as before. Like this tim is the one you’d pick last out of the batfam if shit needed to get done. If fitzmartin wanted to write some teen drama romance maybe they should’ve given her other characters. I still feel sorry for tim that this is the story he gets. At least the dialogue wasn’t as cringe as before but it’s still a confused mess. I hate it here. Tim used to be so cool.

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.

How does this keep going from bad to worse with every issue? You think one thing gets better then Fitzmartin finds something new to drag it all back down. This issue was so bad.

Not the worst in the series, but that doesn't mean this was great either. Saying one banana is slightly less rotten than the others in the bunch doesn't mean that banana isn't rotten itself, right? But this story is supposed to end in an issue and it still doesn't make a whole lotta sense right now. I'm not sure Fitzmartin knows what she is writing at this point. Or if she even knows the characters tbh. This feels like one big excuse to write them OOC then pulling a JK card on you at the end but that doesn't excuse all the really bad writing that happened previously. Also still not certain why she felt the need to use this as a platform to yell at the fans. Feels like the wrong comic to pull that kind of thing off in, you know? Anyway, giving it the extra 1/2 star because it wasn't the worst issue. Really though this whole thing is still a solid 1/10.

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.