Newsarama talks a little bit about the guy who organized the We Are Robin group.
Thoughts below.
Yes Alfred has been an enabler but this has crossed the line. Not even Bruce has done something like this in normal canon. There's also a difference between collecting these kids one by one, training them on a daily basis and being with them in the field vs. engaging remotely.
Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian were also taken in to become family. That strengthened their bond and makes them able to work together despite not being trained at the same time. I don't know about the others but it's been said in two different canons that Jason spent months preparing to be Robin. Were these kids even trained?
I assume their confront Alfred over this and if they don't get mad I'll be surprised. Remember the Batman and Robin arc where they dressed up in Robin costumes in honor of Damian and said he earned the mantle? The costumes being Alfreds' idea? Well it's like a slap in the face for him now because Alfred has formed a group of them and handed out the role they didn't earn.
Out of all of them I have the hardest time imagining how Dick will react other than shock. His main concern would likely be Damian and the WAR members well being. I could see him worrying about Alfred taking things so far.
Tim has spent most of the relaunch with the Titans because he thinks superhero kids should have a support group and wants to keep them from harm. He does this by personally looking out for them. He likes order and the solicits imply chaos is breaking out with the WAR gang. Alfred should know better and I think part of him will feel bad for Damian too.
Someone already died which can't sit well with Jason. I think he'd feel for these kids (at least I hope he does) and draw similarities with himself. The fact it's Alfred treating these kids like disposable soldiers would hurt. He's making these kids targets which means it's only a matter of time before someone like Joker goes after them. Jason would likely see the irony of the Robin curse of being replaced and like Dick and Tim knows how much that hurts.
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The biggest stickler to me is that Bermejo's missing entirely that Alfred's reason to be an enabler is because Bruce's his surrogate son. In fact, Alfred only gets involved because he wants to support all the people he sees as family. He doesn't really cares about the city nor the mission.
ReplyDeleteAnother issue with Bermejo's ideas is that he claims he wants to bring realistic issues about vigilantism on a universe where superhero exists. I'm pretty sure there's a better way to do that (like Pak is doing on Action Comics) than setting a bunch of teenagers without any kind of training to fight crime in the most dangerous fictional city in existence.
Really, if these were a Vertigo book, entirely detached from the regular DC universe. It would've been great, right now? not so much.
Exactly. This is a family and we Robins aren't. Alfred has trouble saying no to Bruce and he loves all of the boys. This isn't the same thing, at all.
ReplyDeleteIt makes Alfred look very uncaring since he's lost several people who were trained for this life. Sure some of them have come back but he knows damn well that it's not the norm. He's now responsible for the death of an untrained kid who was following his orders.
Pretty much. This puts a serious smear on Alfreds' character.
That's my biggest problem with the whole WAR concept, it cheapens and strips from its significance the Robin identity. As Syndrome said "when everyone's a super, no one will be"
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to bet that the lack of training on the WAR kids was a factor in the retooling of Robin War. It was simply absurd to suggest they would be more than punching bags to Damian thus they introduced the Court to have them sit on the sidelines and have an excuse to pit the true Robins against each other. With any luck the shift on DC's direction after the relative failure of DCYou means the WAR concept is shelved soon. Having said that, I enjoy Duke and I wouldn't mind for him to become a crimefighter on his own right.
For me the Robin concept is a basic one. Batman chooses them and they become his kids. This takes all of that away and yes, it cheapens the concept. Robins are trained, not just in fighting but a number of important lessons. They can speak several languages, man different vehicles, patch themselves up, are escape artists, etc. They don't need someone to walk them through their missions.
ReplyDeleteI also hate what it's doing to Alfreds' character. He's being more reckless than Bruce!
Probably, it makes sense since Damian would have no problem taking them on. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends with Batmans' Robins taking pity on them and training them properly. Otherwise their sitting ducks waiting for their luck to run out.
Is it selling well? If so it might stick around for awhile. I like Duke, I could see him having staying power.
Yeah, the concept it simply doesn't work. The kicker is that Harper's arc on B&RE is she being bitter over losing the chance to becoming Robin with Bruce's "death", so much for the Batman office having all of its book on the same wavelenght.
ReplyDeleteIf only were that, this is going beyond reckless and straight into downright retarded
Honestly, the only one that I can see being like that is Dick. The other three being fine with it goes agains the characterization they've had on the N52.
It's selling decent enough but is still seeing noticeable drops between issues.
That is weird. Alfred should know about her and he doesn't make her part of his Robin scheme?
ReplyDeleteIt depends on how you look at it. Damian? It would be hard for him to get over his anger and sense of betrayal. Tim is all about protecting kids and if their not going to give up something has to be done. Would Jason really let other kids--mostly street kids at that--go off unprepared? Does Dick even have time? I read the solicits as this happening before he reveals himself.
This might spike it up enough to keep it going longer.