We Are Robin #7 Review and *SPOILERS*

Jail Birds

Written By: Lee Bermejo
Art By: Carmine Di Giandomenico, Mat Lopez, Jared K. Fletcher
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 16, 2015

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Let's continue our foray into the Robin War with our fourth installment to the story....... which kind of feels weird since the majority of this event feels like it's all about the street Robins and their section is relegated to part 4?....... I guess it doesn't matter, just seems weird is all.  Anyway, strange conspiracy theories aside that in no way lead to logical conclusions like scheduling, we last saw our heroes trapped in a strange ass Robin prison, that seems to have sprung out of nowhere and what the GCPD have humorously deemed "The Cage".  Humorous Shmumorous, this is straight up wrong and for some reason the only ones who seem to be concerned are Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock.  Since Bullock pretty much has his hands tied on this one since the Robin Laws were enacted, Jim Gordon went snooping around and came across Dick Grayson.  After a friendly fight, the two decided to team up to get to the bottom of this and back at The Cage we discovered that the ones behind this hush hush prison are actually the Court of The Owls......... no surprise there.  Let's jump into this issue to see how our birds intend on fleeing the coop and what Jim Gordon and Dick Grayson discover on their investigation.  Let's check it out.



Explain It!:

Our issue begins with Dick Grayson and Jim Gordon taking a stroll down memory lane, in how Jim originally felt when first seeing that Batman took on a teenage sidekick and how his adapting to that scenario might have led to his current Robin problem in Gotham.  It might not sound like much, but this scene is really enjoyable because of the duality of the situation and how by letting something small go back then, became something that can't be contained today.  Besides for this small interaction though, the rest of this section plays out a little underwhelming because all it does is get Jim and Dick caught up to the rest of us when they find out that Council Woman Noctura is working with the Court of The Owls.  With this knowledge, Dick goes off on his own to confront the Court and Jim goes off to check on The Cage, even though we don't see him again the rest of this issue........ Dude's slow as hell.

Back at the cage, Damian forgets he's a Robin by pacing back and forth like a goddamn lion, looking for a way out and Duke seriously regrets getting stuck in a cage with Damian because of it.  Eventually the awkwardness is relieved when the Court comes back to The Cage with Jason and Tim....... who I guess they took away in between part 3 of this story in Detective Comics, where I guess they took them outside for a bit and then brought them right back in because here The Court tells the rest of the Robins that they're looking for the next Gray Son and apparently that means they plan on getting it by making Jason and Tim fight to the death....... Which seems weird as hell since in Robin War #1, The Court looked like they were all about luring Dick Grayson back to town.  So yeah, Jason and Tim are supposed to fight to the death and initially I could believe that they'd be all about it because their attitudes and characteristics towards one another seen to change with each issue, but the last we saw of them in Detective Comics, it looked like they down right loathed one another.

In the end, the serious fight was obviously a ruse so that Jason could fling Tim into the air so he could pull an acrobat routine to get to the panel that opens all the cages, setting our Robins free.  While our street Robins try not to stare in awe too much at our Bat-Family Robins just kicking the shit out of the Talons in the room, they make their way to the roof to try and find a way to escape.  Even though things looked like they were coming up Milhouse, as our issue closed we see that more Talons were waiting for them on the roof and since they have swords drawn, I'm guessing they mean business.

That's it for this issue of We Are Robin and Part 4 of the Robin War and like the last installment to this event, I wasn't really digging it.  This whole "Cage" bit is so odd because out of nowhere we're supposed to suspend our disbelief about this big ass prison being built that no one knows about and because of it we're stuck with our heroes being out of action for almost two issues now and they don't even have a harmonica to help them sing the Dick Grayson Really Fucked Us Over Blues.  Unless I'm proven wrong down the line, this whole Robin prison just seems to be a tool get our Robins out of the way so Dick and Jim Gordon can be brought up to our speed in what's going down in Gotham and besides for that just plain old sucking, it even feels off because we're given Jason and Tim fighting so The Court can have a replacement for Dick Grayson in their ranks and unless everything we've seen up to this point is false, that doesn't make any sense.  Just a really lackluster issue that doesn't feel like it does anything for the story and the art wasn't really great to look at either, especially dealing with Damian.  I hate saying that I wish someone else was on art duties for an issue......... but damn do I wish Jorge Corona was on this book because he's a part of the reason that I love this series so much.

Bits and Pieces:

If you weren't a fan of the Detective Comics part of the Robin War, I can't think you'll be a fan of this either because it's just more of the same while we're left wondering how no one knew about this special prison being built in Gotham........... is that too much of a spoiler?  Anyway, the art feels off for what we'd expect from this title and all in all, this is just another title to this event that is really starting to make me wonder if it will all be worth it in the end.  Hopefully the next chapter to this event will get things back on track because this wasn't a very good issue of We Are Robin or a good installment to the Robin War and you'd probably have a better time watching Chained Heat with Linda Blair if you're into the whole prison thing.

4.5/10