By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colorist)
The Story: Anyone who says a figurative backstabbing is worse than a literal one talks crazy.
The Review: Most of us have at one time or another had a moment where we wondered how everyone else could be oblivious to what seems to be such an obvious conclusion. Now imagine being in that position day-in, day-out, a constant bombardment of possible scenarios you see so clearly and no one else does. It’s consuming, I imagine. But what do I know? The only hypothetical that consistently plagues my mind is what sort of sandwich I should get next.
For Tim Drake, his ever-ticking mind is a terrific asset, but as we see in this issue, it also poses a fairly gnarly risk. Sure, the instant assessment of situational variables and the determination of the most logical response are handy virtues for a nerd who decides to take up vigilantism. But give into that mindset a little too far and you, like Tim, will begin to weigh everything according to quantifiable values, a means-end philosophy that reduces humans to mere x’s and y’s.
Sure, when it comes outsmarting the ladies out to kill (and get preggers by) you, or gaining entrance to an ancient cabal of assassins that requires you die first—one heck of Catch-22, if you don’t mind me saying so—a Machiavellian mind can get the job done in stylish fashion. And nothing ices that cake more than a slick, just ever-so-cocky explanation: “Collapsible katana blade. Blood pack on my harness. A pint of my blood mixed with glycerin water.”
But make no mistake; there are occasions when your devious plan won’t go over quite as smoothly, like failing to tell your girlfriend that you faked her father’s death for a slightly better chance of catching the killers. Tam Fox expresses very eloquently the conflicting dichotomy of watching that kind of strategizing in action and being on the receiving end: “I…fell in love with Red Robin because he was so…cool…but I think the man wearing the mask is just…cold.”
Tim’s likely to become even colder, if mastermind “Know-It-All’s” words prove true, and let’s face it—they probably will. Although his exact identity remains almost a complete mystery (aside from an implication that his longevity rivals Vandal Savage’s), all signs point to Know-It-All being, as he states, the logical conclusion of what Tim will ultimately become if he continues his current path of “saving the world,” a goal Know-It-All claims to share.
But depending on the outlook of the upcoming DCU turns out to be, we may never know the truth of the matter, as there’s no telling how much of current Red Robin continuity will be kept. Even more saddening is the possibility we may not get to see a Nicieza-written Black Bat series, as he writes a pretty terrific Cassandra Cain. He uses her reserved attitude to make her the ideal straight woman, offering quiet moments of humor with her blunt dialogue and physicality.
When the action is hot, To’s simple, figure-concentric style works very fluidly, keeping your eye drawn to the most important movements and details. But this issue points out how that same style does little to heighten dramatic scenes or give texture to the story-world. A lot of the times, all the background sets look like colored, polygon outlines, an exercise for advanced art students.
Conclusion: By addressing some interesting humanistic questions in its own thoughtful, if slightly clinical, way, a dependably entertaining title gains some nice depth.
Grade: A-
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – I don’t know if it was Nicieza or To who came up with this, but I really like the manga-ish slapstick of Cass investigating a wall panel that spits electricity at her, and her bashing it in with her elbow, all in the background of Tim’s totally serious chat with Know-It-All. Who’d ever thought I could mention Cassandra Cain and slapstick in the same sentence?
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Conclusion