Red Robin - Collision TPB

[the_wildcard]

Anybody read this tradepaperback? I surprisingly found it absolutely terrific. Chris Yost did a great job with Tim Drake.

The storyline was action packed. Yost showcased alot of Tim Drake's own skills and his evolution from learning with Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Red Robin has definately come into his own and is a full fledged player. I don't want to reveal spoilers but lets just say he makes himself known to Ra Al Gul.

The dialogue and writing was terrific with a good combination of seriousness/drama and humor. He also did a great job with a very witty/sarcastic Damien as the current Robin.

Any thoughts?

 

[Admiral_Young]

I thought it was good...especially the ending where Tim unites the Bat Family against Ra's when he makes his final play against Tim. I'm a little confused about Ra's intentions with Talia and Tim though. I assume that that he thinks Tim is a suitable heir for Talia, if so that's a little disturbing. I also enjoyed Ra's calling Tim "Detective" an honorific previously only bestowed upon Bruce of course.

 

[Mr Light]

I did read the twelve issues of Yost's initial arc on Red Robin and I'm sorry to say it just didn't interest me. I thought it was would but for some reason I just didn't care about the ninja hijinks. I normally like Ra'sh too.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Anybody read this trade paperback? I surprisingly found it absolutely terrific. Chris Yost did a great job with Tim Drake.

I read it in the singles. I liked it a lot. I wasn't really sure, at the time of Battle for the Cowl, how Red Robin was going to really differentiate itself from the pre-R.I.P. Robin title, or if it was going to be any different than Nightwing (except with Tim instead of Dick as the lead). I was impressed that Yost managed to give the book its own identity by taking the action out of Gotham, I liked how the book picked up on things from Final Crisis, and I really liked how Yost told a "big" story -- Tim Drake, seventeen year-old kid, caught up in the machinations of Ra's al-Ghul.

The only problem I had with Collision, and it wasn't Yost's fault, is that Tim's return to Gotham was supposed to be a big deal, but if you were reading the rest of the Bat-family books we'd already had Tim back in the city in World's Finest and Blackest Night: Batman, which blunted some of the impact.

I've also been happy with Fabian Nicieza's run on the book.

I thought it was good...especially the ending where Tim unites the Bat Family against Ra's when he makes his final play against Tim.

I like that element of Tim's personality. If you think of Dick, Jason, and Tim as Bruce's sons, Dick has the physical skills of Bruce, Jason has the unchecked rage of Bruce, and Tim has the brains of Bruce. Dick's smart, but he's not as smart as Bruce. Tim, I'd venture to say, is even smarter than Bruce; hell, he pieced together who Bruce and Dick really were when he was thirteen.

I'm a little confused about Ra's intentions with Talia and Tim though. I assume that that he thinks Tim is a suitable heir for Talia, if so that's a little disturbing.

I think you mean "mate," not "heir."

I also enjoyed Ra's calling Tim "Detective" an honorific previously only bestowed upon Bruce of course.

Of the Bat-family, Tim is the only one that's the detective that Bruce is. He can play the game of thirteen-dimensional chess that Bruce can. I can't see Ra's ever referring to Dick as the "detective." I'm not suggesting that Dick can't put the pieces together, but that's not where his strengths lay.

 

[jadcox@mindspring.com]

Personally, I think Dick's skill is leadership ... something Tim has, too, certainly, but Dick may well be the best team player in the DC universe. In comic terms, he held the Titans together for a darn long time. Heck, he even made partnerships with Batman and Damien Wayne work. Tim's a better detective--no question. But I'll argue that Dick is a better team mate, and even a better leader. I wish we'd see that aspect of his personality explored more in the DCU.

John

 

[Admiral_Young]

Bruce acknowledges that Dick is well liked and has maintained relationships with various heroes throughout the DCU in "Infinite Crisis". It's a poignant moment between the two. Dick has also been called the heart and soul of the DCU by DiDio who acknowledged that it would have been a grave mistake had he gone ahead and killed him in IC which was the original plan.

 

[the_wildcard]

Wow, they planned on killing Grayson in IC?

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yes DiDido has commented on it several times and has now joked that it would have been a big mistake since Dick has become so popular as Batman. They decided instead to kill Connor. It in the Infinite Crisis hardcover and trade I believe there is a short blurb about it in the forward.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Wow, they planned on killing Grayson in IC?

Yes it was suppose to seal Batman's psychosis that had been slowly accelerating since War Games, Identity Crisis, the Return of Jason and the hijack of Brother Eye with the death of Dick being the topper and leading to him taking a gun and trying to blow out Alex Luthor's brains.