Life after Batman: mediocre at best

By: Pablo Penton/ Staff Writer
Out of all the events that occurred in DC’s Final Crisis, one of the most devastating outcomes was the death of Bruce Wayne.
Gotham City has been left without its Dark Knight, and the ailing Justice League of America is missing yet another important hero.
As we mentioned last week, it’s hard to keep caring about the death of comic book heroes when it’s obvious they’re just going to keep coming back.
Still, one of the more interesting things to look at when a major hero dies is the immediate circle of friends and apprentices that he leaves behind.
With Bruce Wayne gone, Dick Grayson, formerly Nightwing, has put on the cowl and assumed the role of Batman. Damien Wayne, Bruce’s son, has taken on the mantle of Robin and now serves as Dick’s sidekick.
The story with the most potential, however, is of Tim Wayne, the adopted son of Bruce Wayne.
Leaving Damien to take over his old role as Robin, Tim takes on the mantle of Red Robin.
Tim is the only person convinced that Bruce is still alive.
At first we’re presented with a touching and compelling story of someone looking to defy the odds and find a hero that everyone else has given up on, but then we’re led through a winding mess of irrelevance.
Feeling betrayed by a world that is so quick to accept Bruce’s death and move on, Tim begins a solitary journey to find his mentor and father.
His journey takes him to Europe, where Christopher Yost quickly muddles the focus of the *Red Robin* series.
Tim becomes entangled with Ra’s al Ghul, who also believes that Bruce is alive and plans to use Tim as a pawn in order to get Bruce for his own plans.
Tim decides to play along with Ra’s game and accepts an offer to join the League of Assassins in order to help them fight the Council of Spiders, an enemy of the league.
Tim decides this is a perfect opportunity to get access to Ra’s resources and take the League down from within.
If this sounds convoluted and far-fetched, that’s because it is.
After successfully fighting off the Council of Spiders, Tim is able to blow up various hideouts of the League of Assassins by overloading its network, because things explode when a network is congested, apparently.
Despite the mediocre story, the most frustrating thing about *Red Robin* is the wasted potential. In fact, the most touching point in Tim’s tale hasn’t even come from his own series.
In *Adventure Comics*, Conner “Superboy” Kent travels to Europe to see how his best friend is doing.
Conner and Tim exchange a heartfelt conversation where Conner pokes and prods at Tim to reveal his true feelings and motives.
Conner points out that Tim is wearing Jason Todd’s costume: the “bad” Robin. The heavy, leather cowl and isolation are just methods of punishing himself until Bruce Wayne returns.
There is some hope on the horizon of this series, however.
With Ra’s al Ghul threatening to attack Wayne Industries in response to the attack on his League of Assassins, Tim is forced to return to Gotham City to protect his father’s company and rejoin the midst of the Batcave.
With the *Red Robin* series potentially getting back on track and DC officially announcing Bruce Wayne’s return in an upcoming limited series starting in April, there’s going to be plenty of chances for this series to redeem itself and for Tim Wayne’s story to have the meaningful spotlight it deserves.

*Panel Panel is a weekly comics column written in tandem by Sean Gonzalez and Pablo Penton. Look for it every Wednesday.*