Man, I bought a couple more issues of the "Batman Dies!" event a while back...then buried them in a pile. So far we've seen Catwoman #89, Batman #586, and Nightwing #52, and today we're up to Robin #85, "Fool's Errand" Written by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Pete Woods, inks by Jesse Delperdang.
Unlike the Harley Quinn chapter in Catwoman #89, this one does feature a pile of Batman 'deaths,' but most of the focus is on Robin. Somewhat surprisingly, even though it's Robin's comic, but because the story is being told by the Joker! In an observation cell in Arkham, he wonders if Batman should be putting a child in frankly horrific danger, although less out of concern and more because he wants to be the one to kill him. After all, he'd done it before. Joker had long ago realized the first Robin had grown up, but didn't seem to know (or perhaps care) what had happened to him. When the second, "edgier" Robin showed up, Joker made sure he was the one who got to kill him, but then felt like he was going through the motions, in a rut. Until the third Robin--Tim--showed up.
That creates a momentary crisis of faith for Joker--how many times was he gonna have to kill that kid? But he realizes, there were at least three Robins. And if that's the case...maybe there's been more than one Batman. Maybe the Joker actually had killed him--maybe even more than once! That happy thought is undermined by the fact that Robin had actually beat the Joker, without any help from Batman. The idea of Batman's extended Bat-family agitates Joker more than usual, and he smashes a one-way glass window to reveal he was being watched...by Robins! They're everywhere! (It's not entirely the same, but Dixon did this bit better with the Riddler!)
Hmm. Three issues left of "Batman Dies!" and I know I have one. Which will it be?
And Miller did it before him with Bullseye, then Len Wein did it with Major Disaster.
ReplyDeleteI think when I started buying Robin every month, this was the issue I started with. Which is kind of odd, but it was an eye-catching cover, and I liked the concept behind the issue, Joker freaking out about all these Robins.
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