Red Robin

HI BABS

HI

PS: Picking up tags tomorrow night after work a bit. I open Tuesday morning, so.

[one of the many things that are difficult to explain about Earth-52: its people widely acknowledge the existence of sentient life beyond just a human population. merpeople. mutants. many, many different species of aliens. Tim's known several; Starfire, Superman, Green Lantern Corps. he has a basic understanding of more than a dozen alien cultures and a minor grasp of several grammar structures from select races.

so fortunately, while experiencing a sense of mild horror (and a restrained edge of hysteria), Tim can explain to anyone why he has been imprisoned in what appears to be an alien boudoir. the room is maybe eight by eight feet, barely big enough to fit the king-sized magnet-suspended mattress Tim's currently sitting cross-legged on; the cozy accommodations were obviously crafted to force a sense of intimacy between partners. he is on a ship whose name is loosely translated as The Great One's Ark and -- well. the name explains why he's naked save for an electronic collar clasped ominously around his neck. "two by two" and all that.

he can't decide if he's happy to see you, Necoco, instead of some stranger.]

[dryly spoken, and not just as a style of wit. it looks like Tim doesn't take kindly to being held captive as a breeding experiment. there's an untouched glass of water sitting on a stand to his right.]

With a strong enough telescope, we might still be able to see camp from here.

Batman, stop trying to get into Australia's pants. The Crocodile Hunter's legacy just cannot be filled with spandex alone.

[the good news: the Bat Barn is beginning to take on a more serious tone. re-worked Frankenstein electronics and other various fix-up projects line the second floor rafters and a decently-sized training area is slowly being filled with the basic gym necessities. there are some scattered print-outs, but the barn is almost unreasonably clean.

the bad news: dude, it's a Bat Barn, complete with a (house-trained) Bat Cow.]

And I just bet Tim loved every second of those eleven hours.

I need to start a collection of scanned hilarity.

So Newsarama published an interview with the new Red Robin writer, Fabian Nicieza. His observations on Tim's character match superbly with mine! Huzzah.

-- "He is “the smart one” of the Bat-family, the thinker and planner. I mean, of course Bruce Wayne/Batman is what he is, and Tim isn’t quite there yet, but Tim at 17 has a more developed intellect than Bruce at 17 did. That’s not to say Dick Grayson or Barbara Gordon are dumb, of course they’re not, but Tim’s level of thinking is a bit... thicker... than theirs. For me, Dick is about superior reflexive thinking, Barbara about superior operational thinking and Tim is about superior comprehensive, or all-encompassing, thinking.

What I love about Tim is that he shares some of the strongest traits of various Bat-family members. The intellect and detective skills of Bruce, the ability to lead others and be a friend to others like Dick has and even the ability to make cold, harsh decisions like Jason does."

-- "The plan is for Tim to spend some of his time in Gotham and more of his time doing international operations.

As far as how Red Robin’s approach is unique in comparison to the others you cite, well, our first arc is called “The Hit List” and it plays off themes I’d touched on in my last Robin arc with the “Search for a Hero” story, specifically, how much can Tim control of the actions and reactions that create the supply and demand dynamic of crime in Gotham? If you create a literal hit list of targets you want to proactively go after, can you fashion a system of organized chaos that allows dominos to topple smartly from one to the next and create a pattern of success? Can the planning used to capture Lynx lead directly into bringing down Scarab, which in turn gets corrupt detectives Cavallo and Wise arrested and results in reporter Vicki Vale getting thrown off the trail of the Bat-family’s secret identities?

Most other Gotham characters, except for maybe Oracle, and superheroes in general, tend to be reactive to metahuman criminal activity rather than proactive. Even Batman tends to react a bit more. Tim’s method of operation will focus on his meticulous planning."

And then there's the bit that keeps making me laugh at inappropriate times in public: Nicieza revealed that Tim's ever-threatened virginity will now be a plot point. I should put together a post of scans showcasing how, like, half of DC has tried and failed to wiggle a hand down Timothy "Permanently A Celibate Nerd" Drake-Wayne's tights.