By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Patrick Gleason (pencils), Mick Gray (inks), John Kalisz (colors)
The Story: How many Robins does it take to save a city?
The Review: I voiced my suspicion on Swamp Thing #12 that DC’s upcoming #0 issues threw many of the publisher’s writers for a loop in terms of pacing their respective storylines, and judging from some of what they’ve had to say, that seems to be the case. After all, what are the odds of every single arc reaching a suitable interlude point after the twelfth issue? Surely some titles found it necessary to delay an arc, rush through the last one, or accept a sudden break.
Clearly Tomasi has had to accept the second of those options. It seemed a bit strange last issue how in the second act, Terminus went so quickly from branding Gothamites into hiding to blasting the buildings to erupting from his underground cavern in a mecha suit. At the time, you didn’t really notice the rush of it because that seemed to be the best way to overwhelm Batman, if that’s what Terminus wanted to go for. In retrospect, this strategy lacks the building intensity that makes for a good climax, like launching an entire fireworks show in 10 seconds.
It also leaves no opportunity for Terminus to really explain his motives, his rapidly worsening condition, or his even, really, his overall goal, and that is a glaring oversight completely out of character for a character-driven writer like Tomasi. While you might—might—excuse a lack of background for a rampaging, monstrous giant (and even then, you’d want to ask where that thing came from), for a villain so driven by personal vengeance to not have any context whatsoever is, to use a favorite phrase from my teaching days, inexcusable.
Another beat which lost much of its impact from the blurring pace of the issue is the reunion of Robins past and present, a moment made inevitable from all the confrontations Damian initiated. The way it pans out, it feels more like they come to reaffirm their claim to Gotham (“But it’s our city under attack, too.”) than to prove their family ties. I’m particularly unimpressed that Dick simply preempts a fight with Damian by handing over a victory trophy from the start. It misses an opportunity to revisit their special relationship and see how it’s changed.
The final piece of evidence showing that Tomasi isn’t playing at his usual best here is in the underwhelming quality of the dialogue, which just gets childish at certain points. Someone made a comment on my last review that Batman’s “Leave my city alone!” sounded wildly immature for the Dark Knight, but that has nothing on the elementary logic he employs in fighting Terminus: “If the machine breaks down—you break down! And if you break down, Gotham is safe!”
Terminus then fires back, with similarly distinguished use of rhetoric, “The only thing about to be broken—is you, Batman!” A gag-me scene, if there ever was one.
If you simply breeze through the issue without paying too much attention to the words, you might get fooled into thinking it looks pretty good, because Gleason’s devoted attention to detail and radical use of POV just makes everything look credible. But once again, this is proof positive that strong art cannot save a poor script; no amount of grisly flesh can disguise the fact that there’s no actual character underneath.
Conclusion: To deliver a villain so one-dimensional and under-developed is unacceptable, even if one is pressured by editorial constraints beyond one’s control. A disappointing conclusion to what should have been another tremendous arc.
Grade: C
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – I have to admit, it’s pretty hilarious (and not in a good way) when in the middle of a beatdown, Terminus’ timer runs out and he simply shuts and falls over backwards like a wind-up toy.
– It doesn’t matter which artist draws it—Red Robin’s costume looks stupid, awkward, and horrible, plain and simple.
Grade
Conclusion