Robin #177 - DC

There's a couple of mysteries going on in this book. First, and foremost, obviously, is Batman's disappearance. Robin is still looking for him, and other than the video of him supposedly in a psychotic state, he really doesn't have much to go on. He can't use his usual resources, because if he does, it would alert the Gotham underworld that Batman is out of commission. Then they'd really have some problems. So right now, it's basically him and Spoiler that are doing the hunting. But it seems as if he's trusting Spoiler less and less. Meanwhile, Jason Todd is also in town and he's trying to force all of the gangs to work together. He's busting a few heads in the process. He's not just asking them all nicely to participate. "I'm trying to protect Gotham City. It'll all go to hell now unless we strike first! Use the kid gangs as fodder, soften up the under-ground and thin out the corrupt cops . . then we have the gangs to control their turf . . while the good cops control the gangs. It'll be ugly at first, Tim, but it will work . . so work with me!" Meanwhile, while this is going on . . as you can see from the cover . . Red Robin is also patrolling around the roof-tops. At first I thought Tim had decided to change his costume. Then, after seeing that Jason was back, I thought he had decided to continue in the role that he began using in Countdown. But, it appears, that there's actually a third participant. But from this story, we don't really know who's side he's on. Right now he just appears to be an observer . . throwing in an occasional bat-a-rang here and there. On top of all of that, it appears that Spoiler has a mystery of her own going on. It appears that she's hiring an assassin to take down . . . somebody? Maybe Tim? We don't know yet. As Stephanie tells her at the end of this issue . . "It's complicated . ." Isn't it always? I really like the way Fabian Nicieza has been handling this book. He's really doing a fantastic job with these characters. I also have to say, this issue . . is probably the best work I've seen to date from Freddie Williams II. Overall is really is a great book from every aspect. I like that we're not so consumed by the RIP story-line that we've forgotten about the Robin character . . or actually, all 3 Robin characters. Very interesting!