Robin #1 (1993)

Robin #1 (November, 1993)
"Outcast"
Writer - Chuck Dixon
Penciller - Tom Grummett
Inker - Scott Hanna
Colorist - Adrienne Roy
Letterer - Tim Harkins
Assistant Editor - Jordan B. Gorfinkel
Editor - Denny O'Neil
Cover Price: $2.95

Haven't checked in with our man Tim Drake in quite awhile.  Considering he's currently in the midst of his comeback tour, figure now's as good a time as any.

--

We open with Robin being choked out by... Batman?!  Well, this is Jean Paul Valley, the fella we affectionately know as Az-Bats... and he's more than a little bit troubled.  His St. Dumas is showing in a big way.  He tosses Robin to the side and apologizes for his outburst.  Tim decides he's had quite enough of this crap, and tears off in the Redbird.

We jump uptown where a group of masked fools are stealing expensive cars from the country club... lettering features a rather unfortunate misspelling of Lamborghini's "Countach".  The geeks are approached by the police... and they open fire.  The officers return fire, but the thieves are able to get away.

Back with Robin, he stashes the Redbird in an old carriage house for safe-keeping, and prepares to return to his "real life" because the school year is just about to begin.

On the bus to school, Tim is approached by his nerdy pal Ives.  He's invited to the new Stallone movie... which I'm assuming to be Demolition Man.  He passes, because he's going to the school mixer with his girlfriend Ariana (who he met during the Robin III: Cry of the Huntress miniseries).

Elsewhere, the car thieves are giddy at the thought of Gotham Heights High School having a mixer... because of all of the rich kids and their rich cars.  Well, and probably for some pervy reasons too.

At the dance, Tim and Ariana are greeted by B.M.O.C. (that's Big Man on Campus) Karl Ranck.  Tim ain't Karl's biggest fan... and we get the impression that the feeling is mutual.  Karl, being a jerk-ass, invites Ariana to an after party.  She turns him down, saying that Tim doesn't have a car.  The jocks all have a good laugh while Tim fumes.  Tim snaps at Ari for revealing his secret shame... or something.

Karl heads outside, just as his whip's about to be stolen!  Rather than give up his ride, he punches the gun-wielding car thief... well, we never claimed that Karl was the sharpest bulb in the shed.  Luckily, Tim is nearby... and he tackles Karl before he can have another orifice added to his pointed-head.

You'd think Karl would be happy to... ya know, not be dead... but you'd think wrong!  He's actually furious that Tim tackled him, allowing the thief to escape with his car.  What a jackass!  Ariana rushes to Tim's side and they embrace.  Later on, at the crime scene we see Sheriff "Shotgun" Smith is on the case.

We shift over to Blackgate Penitentiary and join a group therapy session... already in progress.  The baddies present are the Electrocutioner, Czonk, Cypher, and the brains of the operation... the Cluemaster.  They make it very clear that the doctor is going to help them with... something.  I'd wager it's escape-related.

Back on the mainland, Tim does some research.  We learn that the car thieves are actually a gang called the... ahem... Speedboyz.  And so, he suits up and goes on patrol to see what he can find.  While out, he realizes he's being tailed by a very persistent traveler.  So persistent in fact, that he's eventually run off the road!

The driver reveals himself to be... "Shotgun" Smith?!  Ya see, he thinks Robin's one of the Speedboyz.  To be continued...

--

A fine opening issue for this long-lasting series.

You get the impression that continuity really mattered here... which is something I go ga-ga for.  I really appreciate that this issue opened with Tim leaving the Batcave.  It really "places" the story in a time (and place) rather than just starting with him on his own.  There's enough "connective tissue" here to keep in line with the Bat-Family of books, but not so much where it just feels like a spin-off.

I think back to the days where Wolverine would get a mini-series, and they would actually write him out of X-Men comics for a few months!  Love stuff like that.  Nowadays characters pop up in so many books in a given week that it's impossible to keep track.  Unless we're expressly told, we never know the sequence of events... which happened first... who's coming or going... or came and gone.  Guess I'm taking the scenic route here just to say... I like how this issue began.

The Speedboyz are as lame as their name makes them sound... but I understand that this really isn't about them... they just enable the story and facilitate the meeting of Robin and "Shotgun" Smith.  Which is fair enough.

Enough of Tim's civilian cast was established here to make him come across as well-rounded, without overwhelming us with more names and faces than we could possibly care about.

Overall... I really enjoyed this.  Chuck Dixon very rarely disappoints... and Tom Grummett is in top form!  I definitely recommend this... and best of all, it's not just available digitally... it's available for FREE digitally!  No reason not to give it a look.

--

Letters Page:

 

--

Interesting Ads:

665

Robin Annual #1 (1992)

Robin Annual #1 (1992)
"The Anarky Ultimatum"
Script - Alan Grant & John Wagner
Pencils - Tom Lyle
Finishes - Scott Hanna
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Letters - Tim Harkins
Assistant Editor - Scott Peterson
Editor - Dennis O'Neil
Cover Price: $2.50

Heyyy, it's the #BestEventEver, and it's finally time for my "official" contribution to the blog-cast crossover!  But Chris, I hear you saying, haven't you been talking about Eclipso all damned week?  To which I say, um... look directly into this diamond.

So yeah, Eclipso: The Darkness Within... one of the events that brought me into the DC Universe as a fan.  I'd be lying if I said speculation had nothing to do with it... but, I also felt like this could be a great way to learn a little bit about the DC heroes.  That idea would be, as many passions of a twelve-year old might be, short-lived.

It actually lasted until I saw, get this, the price tag.  I mean, $2.50 was a lot of money... that's like two-days of lunch money.  If I was gonna starve for two days, I'd damn sure better be able to buy more than one book.  This was actually the only tie-in I bought 'off the rack'... and you can see the reason why... if you look at the top-left corner of the cover.  Ya see that?  Yeah, I used to love the way a #1 looked on the cover of a comic book.  Of course, this was before a time when two-thirds of an average comic fan's collection would consist of #1 issues.

So yeah, I was bit by the speculation bug.  Never saw this as an "investment" issue, for whatever reason... perhaps because I was planning to buy all the Eclipso stuff anyway.  As I've discussed here (and elsewhere), it wouldn't be until November that I started buying some DC with regularity... but that was for something that might actually warrant the unironic use of the #BestEventEver hashtag.

--

We open with... sigh, Anarky climbing up the side of a building.  This is the building of famous sculptor Sergio Pantalone, who (I would assume) in earlier installments of the Eclipso annuals released some sculptures into the world with Black Diamonds on them... as black as a capitalist's heart, says Anarky... edgy.  Either way, our long-necked geek villain wants any diamonds Sergio has left!  I oughta mention that Sergio was watching the news when Anarky arrived, and the report discussed a "car of the future" powered by solar energy... and if you don't think that's gonna be important later, I dunno what to tell ya.

It just so happens that Robin is swinging by... well, okay he doesn't "just so happen" to swing by, he's on the job.  He sees that Pantalone's skylight has been busted up, and knows someone's beaten him to the punch.  Inside the artist explains that under the threat of face-melting, he handed over his remaining five black diamonds.  Robin glances out the window and, whattaya know, Anarky hasn't made it all that far!

Tim gives chase, and throws a Robin-rang at Anarky's swing-line... severing it... causing the baddie to plummet to an alley below.  Luckily there was garbage to break his fall, otherwise Robin might've just killed someone.  On the bright side, it would have signaled the end of this issue!

Robin swings down so they might have a chat... to which, Anarky drops the cutest, tiniest little smoke bomb.  He easily evades the Boy Wonder by leaving him in a... very tiny, cloud of smoke.  Like seriously... if Tim leans six inches in any direction, he's out of the cloud.

We follow Anarky down the street where he runs into a man who has recently lost everything.  His job, wife, car... you get the picture.  He's swigging some booze shouting at the Gotham People's Bank... blaming them for all of his problems, or at least drunkenly attempting to point out the hypocrisy of a bank being named after "the people".  Anarky sees him as an easy 'mark' for a black diamond.

It's not long before the man emits several plumes of black smoke which converge in the form of a beast-man with familiar Eclipso-ian word balloons.  Luckily, Robin meandered his way out of the four cubic feet of smoke to arrive on the scene.  Further, it's lucky he is armed with a solar flashlight... which drops the beast, unfortunately after it levels the bank.

Robin checks on the angry dude, and manages to reclaim the black diamond.  One down, four to go.  On his way to juvenile hall to follow up on Anarky, aka Lonnie Machin... who acts like a 14-year old because he is a 14-year old, he checks in with Batman to give a status update.  Once there he goes to log in to the baddie's computer, only to find it guarded with a dreaded passcodeword.  Whodathunkit?

Elsewhere Anarky is hiding out.  He stashes three of the four remaining black diamonds behind a false brick before readying a package for the mayor.  It's as though this fool is going for his junior-anarchists merit badge or something... the package is actually marked with the classic A-O anarchy symbol.  Yeesh.

Back at juvie, Robin is attempting to crack-the-code by trying to use names of famous anarchists... and when that doesn't work, he takes the chance-in-a-million shot of entering "codeword" as the codeword.  It works!  Which makes me realize that Anarky utilizes the same level of computer security as I used to when I worked in an office!  Good to know.

We rejoin Anarky as the Mayor is leaving a function.  He drops his package and flees.  The Mayor's security detail deduces it ain't a bomb by... well, opening it... great detective work there, slick.  No friends, it's not a bomb... it's actually a video tape.

Meanwhile, Tim's still a'typing and a'snooping.  We see that Anarky has access to Commissioner Gordon's files, and also that he is planning something he calls "the citizen's charter".  At the very same time, the Mayor is loaded into his limousine... where he pops the tape into the deck.  Why, it's Anarky!  And he's got himself some demands.  First: outlaw cars, second: double welfare payments, third: give homeless people houses, fourth: Commissioner Gordon fired and replaced by an elected citizen's committee.  I'd ask "What is he, fourteen?" but we already know the answer to that.

If his demands are not met, he promises to drop Gotham to its knees... and, as a sneak-preview for his powers, he intends to level the East Side Bridge that evening.  This takes us to... well, the East Side Bridge, which Anarky is sitting atop, black diamond in hand.  He says that he's been "careful" to hold in his feelings thus far... which seems a bit suspect, but we'll allow it... and now it's time to "really let rip".  He Eclipso's up (the moonface on his gilded mask is a nice touch) and destroys the bridge!

In a shocking demonstration of forethought, Anarky sets a solar flare to go off ninety seconds after he "lets rip".  It goes off just in time, and returns our boy to his non-Eclipsed self.

Back in juvie, Robin is copying all of Anarky's files.  Batman calls to check in on his progress, to which, Tim says he still doesn't know where Anarky might be.  Batman's all, "hey, maybe check the bridge that was just destroyed" and off he goes.  On the way out, Tim does notice some odd grains on the windowsill... and yeah, this will be important.

At the remains of the bridge, Batman and Robin plan their next moves.  Batman asks Robin to take a look around the Bradford Heights area, as that's where the Machin family stayed.  The morning comes, and before Tim can scadoo he must wait for his father to go away for the weekend.

With Pop out of the way, Tim hops on his ten-speed and heads to the heights.  He asks some of the locals if they know anything, but nobody's seen the family since they left the area five years earlier.  Nearby, young Lonnie is wandering the streets annoyed that, believe it or not, cars haven't yet been outlawed... and, there are still homeless people on the street!  He calls the Mayor to complain.

He reiterates his threats while the Mayor's staff traces the call.  One of the staff mentions the call is coming from Bradford Heights, causing Lonnie to tell them that if they're trying to trace the call... they can forget it.  B-b-but, they just did... right?  Anyhoo, Lonnie's annoyed, and hangs up the phone while a transient cheers him on.  Man of the people, that Lonnie!

Back with Tim, as he's about to give up the chase... he calls in to Alfred to inform him of all the "nothin" he found in Bradford Heights, when he happens to ride past Orlando Grain Millers.  Hmm... didn't he just find some grains on Anarky's windowsill?  The Boy Wonder Robins up, and wouldn'tcha know it, stumbles into Anarky's lair... which is helpfully marked with a giant A-O anarchy symbol.  He spots a marked map, and knows Anarky's next stop.

It's the Robinson Park Carnival!  And it's here we meet some teen-agers (tm. Bob Haney) who are engaging in some teen-age drama.  Ya see, Jimmy was dating Dinah, but then left her to be with Cindy.  Dinah didn't take this all that well, and when she confronted the couple, silver-tongued Cindy referred to her as a Dinah-saur (sick burn!) and pushed her into a garbage can.  I suppose I should mention here, the "dinosaur" thing's gonna come back around... 

Anarky is on a nearby tower plotting his next move.  He brandishes his black diamond, I suppose to look menacing while he monologues internally... and definitely not to set up the next scene.  Robin swings in, and kicks the baddie in the head, causing him to drop said black diamond, directly into the pocketbook of the irate Dinah-saur... which causes her to evoke a, sigh, dinosaur.

We rejoin Jimmy and Cindy as they are about to enter the tunnel of love.  They see the dark-dino and can hear Cindy's name being called out by its bestial voice.  Cindy's obviously a bit shaken, but Jimmy still wants to make out.  Ay yai yai.

The Eclipso-construct-dinosaur attacks, which causes Jimmy to flee... like ya do.  Before the beast can take a bit out of sweet Cindy, Robin swings in (I feel like I'm typing "Robin swings in" a lot) to save her.  He tosses some smoke pellets at the monster... and announces it, like he's an anime character pulling off a special move.

It's at this point that Anarky realizes he's going to have to work alongside Robin to take down the dino.  His attempts are rather less than successful at stopping the monster, but I suppose we can give him points for slowing it down.  The whole mishegoss wraps up at the roller coaster.  The dinosaur has Cindy in its mitts, Anarky is... somewhere... and Tim has commandeered the solar-powered car of tomorrow!

Which finally takes the beast down.

Robin rescues Cindy... and "thwips" Anarky.  As the pair of costumed-types leave the park, they comment on how they didn't make a bad team... ay yai yai... 

--

Well, for all the fun I poked at this during the synopsis, I didn't dislike this.  I suppose I oughta concede that I do consider this issue somewhat special due to nostalgia, remember where I was when I bought this, and what-not... but at the end of the day, it was a decent story.

The character of Anarky... for as annoying as he is... and, he most definitely is... he's a great example of a villain whose heart is in the right place, however, does not grasp the scope of what he'd demanding.  I think we all knew people like this in school... maybe you were like this in school.  You can see all of the problems in the world, and realize that there's an immediate and exacting solution for them... but don't think much further than that.  It's like sure, if all cars were taken off the road, the air would be cleaner... but then what?  If all homeless people were given homes, that'd be wonderful... but then what?  It's hard to swallow that sometimes things (and I hate this saying, because it usually feels like a cop out) "are what they are".

I am glad that Anarky is, in fact, a child.  It allows the writers to explore these concerns with a measure of naivety.  It's not subtle, but so few things are when you're an angry teen-ager out to fix the world.  I don't think I'd wanna go and seek out that short-lived Anarky ongoing DC put out in the mid-late 90's... but, as a one off villain, I'd say we could do far worse.

The Eclipso bent was central to the story, which is nice to see... it didn't feel "tacked on" in the slightest... which might be due to this being a special "on off" Annual.  Robin's own ongoing series hasn't even started yet (and wouldn't for over a year... though, there were miniseries') so this is very much a specified Eclipso special... starring Robin.  Pretty cool.

Overall, this is a silly story... but worth checking out.  I did give it a few jabs here, and it does drag here and again, but it's not bad.  I wouldn't pay cover price for it (again), and luckily, if you're interested... you probably won't have to.  This is almost always in the cheap-o bins (at least in my neck of the woods).  Can't imagine you'd have to pay more than a buck for this... unless of course, you want it digitally... then you're paying two bucks.

This wraps up my contributions to the #BestEventEver blog-cast crossover.  Before I go, I wanna thank them for including me... it's been a lot of fun, and I look forward to our next community-collaboration!

--

Interesting Ads:

--

The Darkness Continues...

I'm the Gun
L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 Annual #3 (1992)
Eclipso: The Darkness Within #2 (1992)

Relatively Geeky Network

Professor Alan's Comic Book Reading Journal #024

Coffee and Comics Podcast
Episode #6: Flash Annual #5 (1992) 

Resurrections-An Adam Warlock Podcast
Episode #61: Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #1 (1992)

The Retroist
Eclipso '66... What a Puzzling Beginning!
Eclipso '66... Playing Cards With Batman, Part One
Eclipso '66... Playing Cards With Batman, Part Two

Chris is on Infinite Earths

you is here y'all

Chris and Reggie's Cosmic Treadmill

Episode #42: Starman 42-45 (1992)

For the Non-Discerning Reader

Green Lantern Annual #1 (1992)
Detective Comics Annual #5 (1992)

Superman (vol.2) Annual #4 (1992)

The Pop Culture Palace
Pop Culture Palace Presents, Episode 1: Hawkworld Annual #3 (1992)

Rolled Spine's Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Podcast

DC Bloodlines

Podcast - Eclipso: Hero and Villain in One Man!

Never-Ending Reading Pile
Hero History of Eclipso

Also remember you can follow along on Twitter using the hashtags #BestEventEver and #EclipsoTDW25

Robin #10 (1994)

Robin #10 (September, 1994)
"Two Birds One Stone"
Story - Chuck Dixon
Pencils - Tom Grummett
Ink - Ray Kryssing
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Letters - Albert DeGuzman
Assistant Editor - Jordan B. Gorfinkel
Editor - Denny O'Neil
Cover Price: $1.50

Going to do a little Zero Hour diving today.  Doing a bunch of research on the subject lately for an upcoming Cosmic Treadmill... and I'm on a bit of a Robin kick right now, so this one just seemed like a natural pick.

Before we go on, just wanna say... tomorrow's piece will be the one you've all I've been waiting for... it's Chris is on Infinite Earths' first Blogiversary!  366 daily posts... probably not a big deal to anyone but me... but, heyyy... that's pretty good, right?

I've been going over a few different ideas to make tomorrow's post somewhat special... different issues I want to cover and what not.  Guess as long as I'm not struck down by a bolt of lightning or a city bus in the next 24 hours we'll see how it goes...

--

We open as a crew of thieves, led by Chet "Weasel" Grimes.  They are in the midst of a heist for the Vanmeer Oval... a piece worth two million dollars.  This Weasel seems to be pretty good at his job, as he's able to get away clean.  We shift ahead in time a bit to watch Robin as he gets up close and personal with some of Grimes' associates.

While flippin' and kickin' we learn that Weasel flew the coop and left his pals holding the bag... to which, Robin questions their wisdom... ya know, trusting a dude called Weasel would be pretty high on the "stupid things I've done" list.  Then things get really weird...

Now who in the hell is this?  From first blush... and comic shop scuttlebutt, I figured this might be my first "official" reading of Jason Todd (more on that later)... The Boys Wonder (Boy Wonders?  Boys Wonders?) kayo the last goof, and have themselves a pow-wow by the Redbird.  Here, the short-panted Robin (and I'm glad they kept the short pants!) submits to a hand-scan... and we learn that he is actually Dick Grayson!

Before they can become too acquainted, Tim receives word from the police scanner about Weez... which I'm assuming is somehow connected to his mask.  Dick doesn't hear anything, but agrees to tag along.  I really like seeing the disparity between the Robin costumes and tech.  It would/should stand to reason that Tim would have improvements which were not technologically feasible during Dick's days in red.

From here it's a car chase.  The Redbird is in hot pursuit of da Weez, and we are afforded an opportunity to eavesdrop on some Robinesque conversation.  Tim shares how he became Robin... and Dick starts getting question-happy, asking if he retired and so soon after he hung up the tights that Tim took over.  Tim almost divulges that it wasn't Dick he replaced... but catches himself before saying Jason's name.

The Robins's's eventually locate Grimes' car outside the Gotham Aquarium, and decide to go inside to investigate.  They follow him up to the shark tanks, however, before they can get a good look... Grimes shoots up the tanks, freeing the finned menaces.

From here we get a brief scene which I'm so happy was included.  We watch as Dick gracefully and acrobatically crosses the shark-infested waters, whereas Tim swings across (well, almost across...) using a batline... something extraordinary, to be sure... but also something that pales in comparison with Dick's trapeeze-y prowess.

 

Before Tim can reach the other side, a Killer Whale butts its head out of the drink... Dick is able to pull Tim to safety.  It's after this that Tim finally properly introduces himself... Dick was calling him "Robin" up to this point.  Tim is feeling pretty headstrong right now, and is chomping at the bit to catch Weasel.  Dick tells him to settle his tea kettle... after all, he doesn't want his successor to be reckless.  Hmm... 'fraid I got some bad news, friend.

The pair heads into the Amazon Rainforest exhibit just in time to see Grimes fall into the piranha tank.  Whoops...

This would appear to be the end for the poor Weasel... though, it seems Tim smells a different kind of rodent... a rat!  Not sure weasels are rodents, but I'm willing to play fast and loose for a stupid line.

Tim and Dick head to the roof and watch as Gotham's Finest all but toe-tag Grimes.  Dick is surprised to see Harvey Bullock still on the force.  After a line about Bullock not digging jelly donuts, a lightbulb goes off over Tim's head.  Hmm...

Somehow this makes Tim remember that the black piranhas in the Amazon exhibit don't eat human flesh!  Therefore, Grimes has gotta still be skulking around.  Being as though the Weasel is the king of the getaway, he had planted another skeleton in the water to throw the cops off, and facilitate his escape.  Okay... 

Tim and Dick dish out a vigilante arrest just as... time runs out.  I loved these Zero Hour related pages when I read them for the first time... and I still do.  The very panels begin to dissipate... and fade...

... into nothing...

--

Before I start reviewing, I wanna talk about the cover just a bit.  When this was first solicited, many of us thought the "other" Robin was Jason Todd... he's got that horrible split-loaf haircut and everything.  My little crew thought this was going to be DC's "out" for Death in the Family.  Little did we know that a decade later they would use an even more ridiculous way to bring back ol' Jaybird.  I wanna say this was one of them "speculator favorites" because of that as well, at least in my neck of the woods.

I don't recall any of us being against Jason coming back... none of us really knew him all that well.  Actually, as a (sorta) funny aside... back before Tim got this ongoing series, there were the three Robin miniseries.  We were all convinced that the first one was about Dick, Robin II: The Joker's Wild was about Jason, and Robin III: Cry of the Huntress was about Tim.  Since all three minis were considered "key" books, we couldn't afford to actually buy them and see!

Onto the actual book.  I liked it.  The ending was a bit weak... but, c'mon... nobody's reading this issue to see the Weasel get arrested.  This is all about seeing a Tim Drake and Dick Grayson (of the same age) team-up.  As far as that's concerned, this was a lot of fun.

Dixon did a great job of showing how different Dick and Tim are in both their approach and style.  I think far too often Robins can feel interchangeable... ya know, to the "normals" anyway.  It's nice to see how "individual" they can be.  Very nicely done.  Also, it's silly... but I'm really glad that they kept Dick in the short-pants.  That's something that just wouldn't/didn't happen today.  I don't understand it... well, I guess I kinda do... but I definitely don't like it.

Tim keeping Dick in the dark about his future was pretty cool.  I liked that a lot... and I really appreciated him almost slipping a Jason mention in early on.  From the thinking far too much department... gotta wonder if he didn't mention Jason's passing because he didn't want to do anything to cause Dick to prevent it... and thus taking him out of the Robin duds before he ever wore them.  Very... very doubtful, but interesting to consider.

Another thing I was pleased to see... no hero fighting hero bit in this issue.  You'd figure these days we'd get an entire issue of decompressed Robin on Robin violence before they team up against a common foe.  Here, we see that these are two very mature and reasonable young men.  Dick sees what he can only assume to be an impostor, and instead of going in fists first, he starts asking questions.  I really dug that.

Overall... a fun issue I'd recommend folks check out.  Dixon's a favorite of mine, especially on the secondary Bat-family members, and Tom Grummett is always a treat.  I love the way he draws both Robins... you could actually tell them apart at a glance!  Great stuff.  For another take on this issue check out my buddy Walt's post from last Summer.  This issue is unsurprisingly available digitally and it's well worth a look see.

--

Interesting Ads:

I know I had that one on the right!