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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A new Robin, August 15, 2001
This review is from: Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (Paperback)
A very welcome book for people who are into Batman-continuity. Logical, enjoyfull and doing the job as it should. A book with sufficient art (partially by "Crisis'" George Perez) and a nice, not overly complicated storyline. Ever since the whole Jason Todd tragedy (see "Death in the Family") Batman/Bruce has never quite been the same. He has been thinking more with his fists than with his brains ever since, which hasn't been an improvement to his health to say the least. Now, Two-face is back in town and he's out to get Batman, following orders from a voice on the radio which he 'knows' is just his own insane mind. Meanwhile a little boy, who mysteriously appears to know all about Bruce, Jason and Dick, confronts Dick Grayson, trying to convince him to be Robin again because 'Batman NEEDS a Robin'. Together they go on their way to help Batman, which eventually shall lead into the introduction of a new Robin. This Trade-Paperback (which collects Batman #440-442 & New Titans #61,62) is the story that shows us the installment of the third Robin. A very nice story but with some minor points. Firstly, with this book you have the same 'problem' as with "Year One" namely that you HAVE to be a follower of the Batman-mythos to appreciate and fully understand it. For someone who's looking for 'just a nice Batman-book' without wanting to need a lot of knowledge about what has gone before this is not a suitable book. For people who DO know what has gone before it's a pretty nice story, but not as well executed as "Year One" (or for another example "The Killing Joke"). So in all honesty, overall I'll have to rate it as not overly good, not bad, but nicely in the middle. If you're a follower of Batman continuity you should get this and read it AFTER "Death in the Family" (so get that first) for maximum enjoyment, and have some fun with it. If you're just looking for a nice self-contained Batman story go get "Dark Knight Returns", "The Long Halloween" or "Batman: Prey".
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
You can't kill a hero, May 31, 2004
This review is from: Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (Paperback)
This collected volume directly follows the events of "Batman: A Death in the Family" where Joker killed Jason Todd, the 2nd Robin. "A Lonely Place of Dying" follows Tim Drake as he tracks down Dick Grayson, the first Robin, and the events that ultimately lead to Tim becoming Robin himself. As far as origin stories go, this one's slightly above average. Thankfully it doesn't feature anyone getting doused in radioactive chemicals or subjected to the effects of a nuclear bomb, but then again the Batman titles always stay away from that goofiness. It also doesn't feature the cliched "avenging death of a loved one" that is overused in comics. Tim's deduction of Batman and Nightwing's identities is logical, smart, and still holds up reasonably well by todays standards. However, the tradeoff is that Tim's origin feels kinda...blah. I still wouldn't want them to kill off Tim's family just for the sake of giving him motivation, but here Tim's desire to help Batman "get better" isn't very exciting. Of course DC wasn't looking to innovate, just to fill in the void Jason Todd had left, and hopefully with a Robin readers would approve of. It also explains why Tim's origin is so obviously linked to Dick Grayon's past, and the story at times hits readers over the head with the "Dick Grayson approves of Tim Drake as the new Robin" pitch. This is a relatively cheap volume as far as collected editions go, and it's certainly worth a look by Batman fans. It's not overly exciting, but works well in the Batman mythos.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enter the new Robin, February 5, 2000
This review is from: Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (Paperback)
This book collects the entire storyline that ran thru the Batman and New Teen Titans comics. It was a good focus on the relationship between Batman and Nightwing (the former Robin). Here we find Batman and just how important a family is to him though he'd never show it. I loved this book as it also spotlighted Dick's (Nightwing) detective skills and find him working together with Batman to track down Two-Face. This book was also responsible for introducing to us Tim Drake who is to become the latest Robin. The only shame is that this book doesn't really resolve the relationship between Batman and Nightwing and I'm sure most readers are still unfamiliar as to why they are so distant to each other now when they used to be the Dynamic Duo. But for the most part, buy this book for Tim Drake.
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