Warning for minor spoilers
"He's out there somewhere, I know he is. I know I'm right. Bruce Wayne... Batman... is alive. They think I'm grieving. That I'm in denial. That I've lost it. But he's all I have and he has to be alive."
I was incredibly excited when I first
ordered Red Robin: The Grail, despite almost exclusively reading
Marvel comics, Tim Drake is my favorite Robin and I really wanted to know more about his
character. So the first volume of his most recent solo series (That I'm
aware of anyway) seemed like a good place to start. Though as I
researched the background of this volume, while waiting for it to
arrive, I became a little anxious with more than a few sources
mentioning a dislike of the darkening of Tim Drake's character that
occurs at this period of time in the DC universe. So by the time I
received the volume I was wary of setting my expectations too high.
The cover is pretty good, the yellow
contrasting with the black keeping it from being overbearingly dark
like many Batman covers tend to be. The pose is a little awkward, but
I really like the Red Robin costume which is on display. I personally prefer the
back-cover art displaying Red Robin fighting Batman (assumably Dick
Grayson who has just taken up the mantle at this point). It's dynamic
and also has the yellow background that helps the characters pop out
perhaps alluding to the fact that Red Robin was originally Robin for
all that his costume is less bright now. The back summary is also
pretty decent. That may seem like a weird thing to point out, but I
know more than a few books that are ruined by a horrible summary. This one intrigues the reader
without giving too much away.
Personally I don't think they should have mentioned Ra's as an ally
since that doesn't occur until after the first issue, but it's not a big
problem.
The interior art
is also decent and looks close enough to the cover art that it's not
horribly jarring like in some comics. My only complaint is how the
artist sometimes draws women; mostly that when one appears something
just looks off until you realize that they're actually rather
disproportionate is the bust to waist to hip ratio. It is nowhere near as
off putting as some art styles, but the tendency to make them pouty
lipped and show off their bare stomachs only make the occasional
anatomy slip-off more obvious. Another minor pick is the way he draws
makes Tim occasionally look much younger than the sixteen-ish year
old he's supposed to be. That may just be me however and it doesn't
detract from the story.
In a nutshell the plot is that nearly everyone Tim loves is a) dead or b) to busy dealing with their own crap to deal with him, only with Bruce now gone too Tim just can't accept it and goes on a cross-continental journey to find proof that Batman is not really dead. Pacing-wise it's a
little slow, which seems odd to say given that there's a
kidnapping/fight scene/explosion in the first five or so pages, but
what the book is really about doesn't really start rolling until part
three. There's plenty of action no doubt, but even Tim in his rather
angsty internal monologue points out that these fights are just
“distractions” (for the reader). It doesn't help that the story is interrupted by a constant stream of
flashbacks showing why Tim has left and why he's so bitter at the
moment. The flashbacks are effective in outlining his motivation for
what he's doing, but they're unhelpfully labeled just “Before”
leaving the timeline of what happened to Tim in Gotham a little
blurry chronologically.
In terms of the
atmosphere the comic projects I would draw attention to these two
graphics:
One is of Tim (looking all of twelve) standing in a graveyard being sad because Batman is dead and no one understands
and the second of Tim in his Red Robin costume on a motorcycle with an
explosion in the background. It's a bit of a strange dichotomy to say
the least, but strangely effective for the most part. The action keeping the slow plot
from dragging and lightening up the flashbacks, but the more somber Gotham scenes keeps the action from seeming too over the top and
relates back to us Tim's motivation.
Despite being
unfamiliar with earlier runs of the character I can sympathize with
those critical of Tim becoming 'darker and edgier'. Tim's baggage of
man-pain while understandable does get old pretty quickly. I think
the more irritating part about it from where I stand is that all the
other people he lost, his father and his two best friends are pretty
inconsequential to this plot. The entire catalyst of the story is
Batman's death and Tim's desire to prove that Batman is indeed alive.
Perhaps the idea is that the other deaths leave less people to talk
Tim out of this, and it's what makes Bruce's death just so utterly
unbearable to Tim, but really? It seems like it just gives Tim the
excuse to feel really really bad about himself. Still after seeing
what route DC took with Arsenal after he had his own trauma conga I
can't complain too much about Tim, at least he remains heroic and
competent even if he's whining about it. At least all the bad
fan-fiction I've read about Tim crying on rooftops is starting to
make sense now.
Despite my
diatribe I don't hate the trade itself, that was more a distaste with
the comic industry's tendency to kill of characters for cheap drama
than anything else. Overall I enjoyed and found myself getting
invested in the mystery plot. By the end I found myself liking Tim a
lot more than I did in the beginning as he seems to get over himself
for the most part and starts acting like the hero I know he is.
Hopefully this means most of Tim's wangst will be left out of the
future volumes which I fully intend to read. I can completely
recommend this to someone especially if they're pre-inclined to like
Tim Drake, but I wouldn't recommend it as someone's first
introduction to the character.