The Life and Times of Tim Drake - Part 5

Robin #5 (of a 5-issue Limited Series)
“The Dark”
Creative Team:
Chuck Dixon – Writer
Tom Lyle- Penciller
Bob Smith – Inker

King Snake's preparation for the germ is coming along, and Robin, Shiva and Clyde is ready to move. Clyde wants Robin out of this, but Shiva insist Robin can make his own decisions. Tim gets into the building from the sewers, though he got discovered by security only a few minutes later. Clyde's the first one to meet King Snake, though needless to say, his anger does not do much good against him. Robin makes sure the germ-weapon is safe, then gets to the penthouse, only to discover that Clyde is already dead. Once again Robin uses his whistling-staff for misdirection, and Sir Edmund winds up holding on to the building's scaffold (Did I make this sound easy? It's not though, and kudos to Tom Lyle for a terrific fight scene) . Shiva instructed Robin to kill King Snake, but he declined. We hear a scream. I guess Shiva killed him herself. After obtaining info that there's a money shipment to Gotham, Tim goes back home to prevent the money being received and fights Lynx, who now sports an eye-patch due to a punishment by King Snake because she failed to kill Robin. Batman shows up on the last two pages. Robin's education is just beginning.
This issue is a satisfying ending to a great miniseries. The demise of sir Edmund is left ambiguous (he'll return later in Batman #467-469, also done by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle). On the whole, what this mini established is Tim's strength as a character. We find out that, on his own, without Batman's supervision, he's still a strong, principled person with good, solid core values. He respects his elders, he's shown his creativity in defeating his opponents, and he gets along with other people quickly and easily (quite the opposite of his predecessor, who seemed to rub the worst way with everyone). While the mini was well-received, it seemed DC was reluctant to go the whole hog and give Tim his own book immediately (we have to wait until the events of Knightfall for that) In retrospect, I think this is a good move. This way DC took their time in making sure that the readers really love Tim for who he is. They do keep the fans' appetite sated by releasing some Robin annuals and a few miniseries later on. And considering this one was such a hit, they came across a gimmick to make sure the next mini will be even more profitable... but that's another story.

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