Blog Archives
Finally! Robin Confirmed for Batman: Arkham Knight!
I have been waiting patiently for this news, and it’s finally here! Robin is going to play a major role in Batman: Arkham Knight! He’ll be joined by both Nightwing and Catwoman, so that’s even more awesome! But Robin is the one I really care about, and his cool new costume! Check out the badass new game trailer to see him in action.
According to what I’m reading, there’s going to be something called ‘Dual Play’ that allows players to switch between all these heroes on the fly in the middle of the free-flow combat. The video offers some ways that this could work, but we’ll have to see it to believe it. All I really care about is that Robin is definitely going to be a part of this game! Awesome!
Of course, I can’t yet even play the game. I don’t own either of the consoles that can play it, and my computer isn’t nearly strong enough. So I guess I better start saving up if I hope to get that new graphics card by the end of June!
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Robin Watch: Costumes A Go-Go!
Not much going on today, so I thought I’d share this awesome cover image from Batman and Robin #36, where Red Robin, Red Hood and Batgirl all get dressed up in Robin variants of their costumes to honor Damian! It was drawn by Patrick Gleason.
Tim Drake looks damn good
The image was previewed in USA Today, in an article about how the Batman and Robin team, Mahnke and Peter Tomasi, are taking over the Superman/Wonder Woman comic. Good for them. But I only really care about the Robin stuff!
Especially a quote from Tomasi about why everyone is dressed in these variant costumes.
“All of these characters at this point are in the Robin mix,” Tomasi says. “The Bat-family will, in the end, rise to the challenge of helping a new Robin come to be in the DCU.”
A new Robin? That sounds a lot more firm than just bringing Damian back from the dead. So who could it be? I really don’t know at this point.
Though I’m holding out hope that this ‘Bluebird’ thing is all a feint, and Harper Row really does become the new Robin.
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Robin and Red Hood All But Confirmed for Batman: Arkham Knight
There’s no official confirmation as of yet, but based on a myriad of clues that have leaked online – or are on display right now at San Diego Comic-Con – we can almost be guaranteed that Robin and Red Hood will both be appearing in next year’s Batman: Arkham Knight! Red Hood will actually be playable too, according to information about a leaked DLC from Gamestop.
First clue is this video made of pictures from a toy booth at Comic-Con, showing off a Red Hood action figure and a Robin prototype figure. Robin, as Tim Drake, appeared in Arkham City, and was the star of his own follow-up DLC. So he’s a pretty major character. And I was hoping he’d be back in Arkham Knight. So that’s awesome.
Red Hood is probably Jason Todd. He’s got a pretty cool costume in the game.
If you don’t believe that video – or don’t have the time or energy to watch it, then check out these pictures.
Boom, Robin!
Believe my joy
And what was that about the Red Hood being a Gamestop exclusive? Boom! Eat that!
Curse you, Gamestop!
Neither of these is an official announcement, sure, but c’mon! Look at that evidence! This game just gets better and better. Now I just need to buy a better graphics card so I can get the PC version…which wouldn’t allow me to play the Red Hood DLC. Life is unfair.
So Scott Lobdell Went and Changed Tim Drake’s Origin a Bit More, and Nobody Noticed or Cared
Three years later, I’m comfortable in saying I don’t care for the New 52 at DC Comics. There are a few good comics at the company – though only Wonder Woman really springs to mind – but for the most part, everything is kind of crummy, and there is no indication that DC has any long term plans. They’re just throwing whatever they can at any walls they can find. But I’m not here to mock DC Comics. I’m here to pound more nails into the coffin of Tim Drake, one of my most favorite comic book characters of all time.
Suffice to say, Tim Drake, otherwise known as Red Robin, is a character who suffered a great deal in the New 52 change. Before the reboot, Tim was Robin was nearly 20 years (in real time). He was great in the role, and quite honestly, he was the greatest Robin of all time. Hands down.
But DC isn’t done screwing with or retconning his origin, apparently.
Never is not enough!
In the New 52, DC and writer Scott Lobdell rewrote Tim’s origin story and they altered his entire history as Batman’s partner. No longer was Tim ever ‘Robin’, instead calling himself ‘Red Robin’ from the very beginning. And he was only Batman’s partner for a short while, seeing it more as a stepping stone in his career than anything permanent or worthwhile. Tim suddenly became a gymnastics prodigy. And instead of having a long, complex story involving his parents, particularly his dad, Lobdell shuffled them off into ‘Witness Protection’ before Tim ever even became Red Robin.
Also, New 52 Tim Drake is kind of an asshole, especially to Batman.
Most of these changes were laid out in Teen Titans #0, the flashback issue that first told us the new origin of Tim Drake. Among the changes, we learned that Lobdell also took away the fact that pre-reboot Tim Drake had figured out Batman’s secret identity all on his own. That was Tim’s thing. That’s one of the things that made him so special.
Batman has a bunch of creepy old man masks at the ready
That was nearly two years ago, after which Teen Titans became a terrible wreck that nobody read, prompting cancellation.
Well it seems DC wasn’t done letting Lobdell mess around with Tim Drake. Apparently everyone involved wanted to re-retcon a few things, so they put out Secret Origins #3 this week. I didn’t even know Tim Drake was going to be part of the issue until I saw a brief mention of it online. And further searching the web, I couldn’t find anyone who seemed to care about any of the new changes made to Tim’s origin. So perhaps it falls to me, of all people, to at least document that these changes have happened.
For example, guess who really did figure out Batman’s secret identity?
Fixed a mistake?
And Lobdell tried to fix that weird, unexplained part where his name wasn’t really Tim Drake.
Because this makes it better, I guess?
I dunno. I guess I just wanted to write this article for posterity. Somebody has to pretend to still care about Tim Drake, right? He still has fans somewhere…right?
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 5/10/14
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that I am throwing in the towel of doing full, giant-sized reviews of All-New X-Factor. I got hit with a lot of work at the end of this week, including those reviews of Teen Titans and Ultimate Spider-Man, and I took a long hard look at All-New X-Factor and decided that I just didn’t care enough anymore. I started the long-form reviews for X-Factor because it was my favorite comic starring my favorite character, but it has since become a shadow of its former self.
So from now on, let’s welcome All-New X-Factor to our Hench-Sized Reviews! I hope it finds the place a nice fit.
Beyond that new issue, this week brought an avalanche of good comics, some of which I had to simply skip right over due to time constraints. I really want to get back to reviewing Black Widow, and She-Hulk was really good again, but this week I had to focus on the first chapters of Original Sin and Futures End, the new Big Event comics from Marvel and DC.
Neither one is all that great, quite frankly.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Magneto #3, though I have a feeling that some of the comics still on my pile waiting to be read might be a little better. Still, out of the stack I managed to get done in time for reviews, Magneto was pretty cool.
Plus he’s got that starring role coming up in X-Men: Days of Future Past. So I want to be on his good side.
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Factor #7, Aquaman and the Others #2, Batman Eternal #5, Futures End #1, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #2, Magneto #3 and Original Sin #1.
Henchman-4-Hire 