That's about how long it'll be until I'm either a very happy or very sad panda. I'm speaking, of course, of the impending release of Robin #151, which will tell me whether DC has once again decided to kick me squarely in the nuts by ruining a character I like. Right now, the odds that they won't seem to be "slim" and "none" and Slim is on life-support in the hospital after being the victim of a GTA-style drive-by from the notorious Didios. But it's not as bad as it seems.
There's a quote I heard once. It sounds like something Batman would say, but I think it's from the ten minutes of Swordfish I actually watched. It's something like: "There's what you see, and what you think you see." That ties in with a scene from Robin #150. As Tim is breaking into Blackgate, he thinks back to some wisdom imparted on him by Batman, which goes like this: 'Get out in front as quickly as possible. With ordinary crooks, it's relatively simple to learn their plans before they implement them. . . but with extreme criminals, it's not always that easy. And with them, it's critical you get two steps ahead of them as soon as you figure out what they're doing.'
At that point, Tim comments on how all he's done since this began is play catch-up, and how he's ready to turn the tables. And he tries. When he breaks Cain out, he interrogates him, trying to get some idea what's going on. But either Cain doesn't know, or he's not talking, so Tim just has to keep jumping through the hoops set for him. And when you do that, it's fairly easy for someone to make you see what they want. That's true for Tim, and for us. This whole story has been about Beechen (or DC Editorial) throwing stuff at us, and us reacting to it. It started when they showed pages from Beechen's first issue, culminating with Robin standing over a bleeding Batgirl. "Oh no," we cried, "they've killed Batgirl!" To which DC, replies, "Psych!" I don't know about you, but I think they're going back to the well.
The pages from Robin #151, what do they show us? Cassandra trying to make Tim shoot her father, Tim refusing, them fighting, Cassandra shooting her dad, and Tim saying he's dead. But that's what he (and we) think is happening. Remember, when Tim and Cass went to Bludhaven, she demonstrated she could take a bullet without flinching, and play dead, no respiration, no heartbeat. Now, who do you think she learned that from, hmm?
We're being played, I'm absolutely sure of it. I don't know what it is they've got planned, but I know they're fooling with us.
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5 comments:
I still think Cassandra is going down the anti-hero, if not outright villain, route.
I pray to all that is holy that you're right, Cal. If they ruin her it will break me in a very bad way...
fortress: I think I could totally deal with Cassandra as the Eastwood-esque anti-hero (minus the facial hair, naturally).
I think my biggest fear is they'll make her Robin's enemy, which would be bad, because I'd hate to have to root against Tim in his own book.
diamondrock: you and me both.
When it comes to DC female characters I like, I've learned to expect the absolute worst, then double it, then multiply according depending on the writer.
I actually wouldn't mind Cassandra taking the anti-hero route. I still think the villain routine is uncalled for since it doesn't fit in with what we know of the character at all.
Plus, this whole thing has been thrown at us too quickly. When you 'turn' someone, you have to set it up. This had no set-up. I think that's probably why more people have a problem with it than with it being a poor story.
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