Robin 150: Hard Answers
Writer: Adam Beechen
Artist: Freddie Williams III
In order to save Batgirl, Robin must free her father, one David Cain; murderer, assassin, all around bad guy. More James Bond action here, as Robin bypasses Blackgate Prison’s security, one barrier after another until he eventually reaches Cain’s cell and knocks him out with a well placed kick. It is during his infiltration of the prison that we really get to see Tim’s brain at work and know he will best Batman one day.
This is immediately off-set by the introduction of a new character. Zo has been assigned to tutor one Tim Drake as part of her after school program, and she isn’t happy about it. In her opinion he is one of those quiet types who could be a mass murderer. Her mother consoles her and tells her she could be Tim Drake’s first friend at the new school.
Do we really need a new character in the Robin run? We saw what happened to Stephanie and the mob bosses daughter at his previous school, why put us through all that again.
Robin gets Cain to the predetermined location and is immediately attacked by the League of Assassins. Since Cain is all tied up, he can’t lend a hand and Robin is quickly out numbered. Which leads us to the big reveal – Cassandra Cain is now the leader of the League of Assassins.
And why would Cassandra turn evil? At the end of her run, we found out that she was not the only child David Cain fathered and turned into an assassin. The death of Annalea in the previous issue was a clue to what Cassandra has been up to. And now she wants to take it out all her rage and anger on her father. Cassandra tells Robin she was raised as an assassin and even though Batman and Oracle helped her out, she has always been a puppet of her father. She also claims Batman is treating Robin the same way. In her now twisted sense of righting wrongs she needs Robin to join her in her fight, but in order for him to come over to her side, he needs to kill David Cain.
IMAGE REMOVED BY DC LEGAL DEPARTMENT
Reaction – shocked. Cassandra turning evil is a shocker, but does fit with everything that has happened to her when the Batgirl series came to an end.
1 Comment
…I’m amazed anyone can read the first arc and not go ‘WTF!?’. Cassandra Cain turns evil because she has a half sister she never knew about. That’s logic that wouldn’t stand up in the Silver Age. And that’s ignoring the fact that in Batgirl’s final arc, she learned about Cain training other kids, but didn’t much care.