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DC: Detective Comics or Death Circumvented? Robin's Resurrection
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Submitted by RJ Carter on Fri, 01/23/2015 - 16:23
So, a while back, Robin died, and I bitched about it. I bitched about him dying, even though I had also bitched about comic book characters not staying dead.
Damian Wayne didn't stay dead. And here I am to bitch about it.
Don't misunderstand. Of all the characters in comics to die, Robin -- that is to say, the Damian Wayne incarnation of that character, not the Jason Todd one -- had the best chances for a "Get out of Death Free" card. His mother, after all, was Talia al Ghul, which makes his grandfather Ras al Ghul, who's total "thing" is his regular resurrections via the Lazarus Pit. A dip, a dunk, and voila: Robin Reborn, no muss, no fuss.
But that would have been too easy.
What happened instead was an attempt to do this by Ras al Ghul, beginning with al Ghul not knowing that the pit he tried in Theymyscira wasn't a Lazarus Pit after all. I wonder how many times he's made that mistake in the past? I'm guess none, since he's still alive. Al Ghul tries again, and the pit fails. Again, I wonder how many times that's happened.
But wait! That's not all! Because Darkseid's minions come calling! (Bet you didn't see that coming!) They want the Chaos Shard! Guess who has it? Yep, Ras al Ghul. Guess where he hid it. Damian's sarcophagus! And as a result, there's a little of it in Damian's body, so that gets transported to Apokalips as well. Now Batman has to go hunting for Damian's corpse all over again -- which I imagine has to be stinking up the place pretty well by now, given how long has passed.
Batman brings Damian home again, and he's got the shard, and he has a choice -- use it to bring back his parents or his son. Yes, Batman is going to actually actively decide to do something supernatural. SO he chooses to bring back Damian.
But even that is not the end of it.
Because guess what: Robin can fly. He can deflect bullets. He can swim to Atlantis. God knows what else he can do.
He's not Robin. He's Superboy.
So now Batman -- who's appeal has always been that he's a normal human being with no superpowers (his Amazo Virus state currently in JUSTICE LEAGUE notwithstanding, I hope), now has a sidekick who's completely invulnerable.
Sigh.
I love the artwork. I dig the dialogue. The writing is superb.
But the idea? If anything is a sign that The New 52 (and come on, it's no longer all that "new" by now) has well and truly gone off the rails.
What do you think? Super-Robin? Dead-Robin? Let us know.
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