Comic Review: Red Robin #5

Continuing my review streak of Batman related books from last week, it's time to hit the book that stars the new "Black Sheep" of the Bat-Family, Tim Drake Wayne, aka the new Red Robin. When we last left the young lad, he finally found vindication in his cause by locating proof that his adoptive father, Bruce Wayne, may still be alive. It took trips around the world and run-ins/ assistance with Ra's Al-Ghul's League Of Assassins to reach this point, but his crusade finally has a direction to pursue... until a new threat exposes itself and brings the pain to Tim and his unlikely allies, literally.


Red Robin #5
Written By: Chris Yost
Illustrated By: Ramon Bachs

Heavily injured and barely making it back to civilization alongside the only surviving member of his League Of Assassins' escort team, Red Robin and Prudence lie unconscious and near death in front of a shocked Tam Fox, who was sent to Baghdad by her father Lucius to locate Tim Wayne. Shocked by the sight of two injured people inside suite, Tammy barely has time to react, as ninja from the League arrive and enter the scene. A few hours later, Tim wakes up inside a mysterious area, completely healed from his wounds thanks to Ra's Al Ghul's resources. After clearing up some confusion and debriefing what he knows about his attacker, Red Robin soon finds himself caught in the middle of a war between two factions. The line between good and evil just got blurry... and his crusade to find Bruce Wayne will have to wait.

It's been an up and down journey for Tim Wayne, and his life as Red Robin just took a turn from bad to worse. Writer Chris Yost has literally sent the lad on his own international solo adventure, and being away from familiar territory has Bruce's adopted son resorting to means and resources he wouldn't have considered using years ago, but has little choice with present circumstances now. Of course, I'm referring to the partnership Red Robin has crafted alongside Ra's Al Ghul, arguably one of Batman's most deadliest and respectable enemies. For those who don't know the score as of late, Ra's provided Tim with information and escorts to help him in his journey to find Bruce, which he partially accomplished last issue by finding the cave in the middle of the Iraq desert with a "Bat symbol"carved in the mall. Anyone who's read Final Crisis knows where this is going, and putting two and two together means that the obvious return is coming soon.

I noticed that the Batman: Reborn banner is gone, and it's probably for the best considering how much the title deviates from the actual events happening in Gotham. For this particular story, Mr. Yost begins his second arc by showing the life Tim has chosen to draw himself into - a world of hurt and pain. His luck happens to be good and he gets healed in no time, but a little confusion and arrogance on his part makes him draw conclusions too soon, which places him in a slightly funny and embarrassing moment in this book. Also, the backstories return, with a new origin tale that chronicles the birth of one of the members of the mysterious Council Of Spiders, the rival faction that's slowly eliminating members of Ra's League Of Assassins. Tim once again provides the narration for this side tale just like in past issues, but I really wonder when all of these plot points will converge? Now that the matter of explaining and validating Tim's search is done, we should be getting around to seeing the assassin smackdown happening soon, with Red Robin caught in the middle and forced to choose a side, which is alongside Ra's obviously. We all know he's going to do the right thing eventually, but I do enjoy the twists and turns Yost is providing to his messed up life. Adding Tam Fox to the equation isn't much of a development, but I'm hoping it will get there soon enough.

I was expecting a new artist to enter this issue, but Ramon Bachs is still present and in charge of the pencils, which leaves me to deal with more sketchy artwork. It's not too much of a problem, but I wouldn't mind some change in direction soon. Consistency at least is present, and that's already commendable for someone who's provided pretty decent work for the past four issues.

Now that he's found proof that Bruce may be still alive, Tim's got a lot more problems to deal with just as his career as the new Red Robin is beginning. Out of his Gotham element and turning more and more like an espionage agent, the former partner and crimefighting ally of Batman must face new challenges that will test his character and make him choose where he should draw the line between a good and evil act. Chris Yost has certainly got the former Boy Wonder's number, and slowly longtime fans are responding to this book. If you've read and aren't too convinced with the first Red Robin arc, I wouldn't really recommend continuing this book any longer. Otherwise, things are picking up, and hopefully we'll be seeing more answers to Tim's search in the near future.

Score - 7/10