DETECTIVE COMICS #47

[ STEALING A BARGAIN ] 

Oh dear! The group known as The Robins are now at war, and it's down to Ray Fawkes, Steve Pugh, plus DC Comics, to sort things out for them as soon as January 2016 comes to a close. But wait up! If the Robins are at war, then what'll happen to the chaffinch, the lark, or the peregrine falcon? Please don't tell me they're squawking bad too!

TO QUOTE Robin Williams: 'We had gay burglars the other night. They broke in and rearranged the furniture'.

THE REVIEW:

Previously On Robin-War: The group of young urbanites, collectively known as 'The Robins', have been arrested and detained by the police, simply because one of their own accidentally got a cop killed in the line of duty. But the strange thing about this, dear reader, is that the main driving force behind their capture has been manipulated by the government official, Councillor Nocturne, so that their incarceration can bring back to Gotham City the one and only, Dick Grayson.

And why does Nocturne want Dick? If you'll excuse the visual imagery. Simple really. She doesn't. Yet her colleagues in the Court of Owls do (for as of yet unexplained reason's).

Plus, to make these proceedings even more bi-polar, once Dick comes back to Gotham (as seen in the pages of his own title and the Robin War one-shot), under the guise of a training exercise, he then manages to orchestrate 'The Robins' getting captured by the police in the first place, so they are safely detained while he goes off and investigates these matters on his own.   

There. Have you got all that? I hope so. Because I'm not writing all of that out again, Ha! In all seriousness, though, so far, this Robin War cross-over event is shaping up to be a pretty good story-line. Not only do we get the luxury of seeing all of the Robins together again, interacting on the same page, but on top of that, the basic idea behind this story (that of a master manipulator, manipulating certain events to defame a characters standing) is fairly entertaining too.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not totally head over heals with this cross-over. And to be honest with you, my main gripe with it stems from this very issue of Detective Comics.

You see, for me, I felt that this episode had a very clichéd structure. It began with a sequence where we saw Dick and Bat-Jim having a fight in a not-so-darkened alleyway. It then flashed back in time to another scene where we saw the Robin's interacting with each other whilst housed in their respective... groan... cages. The story then decided to remind us of the whole Nocturne / Court of Owls sub-plot. And so forth, and so on. To and fro. To and fro. For Dick, a bit more investigating. Back to the Robins for a bit more squawking. Then over to Bat-Jim who does some investigating on his own, and, yes, as you guessed it, Jim and Dick eventually team-up after their obligatory battle, resulting in a very new form of dynamic duo.  

Once again, don't get me wrong, as I don't have a problem with this new paring at all. If anything, it would be nice to see how it pans out next week. Plus on top of that, I also felt that Steve Pugh did do a very good job on the art-work, keeping a similar tone set by the previous two chapters.  What I do have a problem with though, is why would someone want to build a prison made from metal cages hanging from the ceiling, and then locate that prison in the same place as barrels of hazardous waste? Also, how come Tim and Jay got on so well in the pages of Red Hood / Arsenal, yet over here they kept on bickering? And Dick, ouch! Don't get me started on Dick. I love the character. Honestly I do. But everyone he seems to bump into knows that he was once Robin, Nightwing, whoever, implying that they must also know that Bruce was once Batman as well! Even Gordon!

Was it just me? Or does this play out in the same way to you too, dear reader? Answer's on a post card please. Over and out. 

THE MUSIC:

Because this comic book is a very Robin themed comic book, and because I think that this review is going to be published after the Xmas period, why don't I just musically match them up to the Jackson Five classic, 'Rockin' Robin'!

Cool!

THE COMPARISON:

In essence, this adventure is about teaming-up with an old friend and wanting to break out of prison. So to me, these two things together spiritually reminds me of the comedy, 'Stir Crazy', starring two old friends, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. And if I remember rightly, in it both of them also dress up as a pair of birds.

  

THE CONCLUSION:

Now we can't have Bat-Jim and Dick going around and calling themselves the new dynamic duo, can we? We have to give them another name. A name that in someway encapsulates their union with an ironic and yet pithy title! So, without further a do, try these on for size, and welcome in the brand new era of...

1. The Acrobat and the Flying Rat.
2. Pipe and Slippers.
3. The Newsome twosome.
4. A Couple of Cops.
5. The Policing Partners.
6. Big Jim and Long Dick.
7. Target Practice.
8. Everything You Wanted To Know About Bruce, But Was Afraid To Ask.

Nuff said.