[World of Bats] Robin II: The Joker's Wild! (March 15-21)

Welcome once again to the World of Bats, the Batman Book Club! We are continuing to go through our celebration of Eighty Years of Robin by taking a deep dive into the character of Tim Drake and his earliest stories!

This week we’re going to look at his second mini-series, Robin II: The Joker’s Wild!

The Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum and finds his gang being led by Mister Freeze! With the Dark Knight unavailable, it’s up to Robin to follow the clues and retrieve the Clown Prince of Crime!

Link for the four-issue mini-series can be found HERE!

Since I haven’t read this one yet either, no discussion questions, just let us know what you’re thinking as you are and when you finish reading. :slight_smile:

If you want to join the Batman Book Club and get that swanky flair, you can click HERE!

And if you have any questions, you can contact me, @Jay_Kay, @JeepersItsTheJamags, or @Aquamon.

Happy Reading! :smiley:

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Okay, but can we get the hologram covers? Those were neat-o.

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I didn’t know there were any! That’s neat. Looking for it on Google, it looks like there were different covers going on at the time – it was the 90s, after all! I think I’m going to replace the image I have with one of those.

EDIT: And fixed! Oooh, shiny and chrome. :smiley:

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The “Just Imagine Alexander Knox’s Tim Drake Club” continues! Tim was busy between the second and third miniseries.

Week 7:
a. Gotham Tale – Batman #477-478
b. Electric City – Detective #644, 645, 646
c. Jack Drake – Batman #480-481
d. Crash & Burn – Batman #483

Week 8:
a. Shadow of the Bat #1-2 (#3-4 optional: no Tim)
b. Superman – Man of Steel #14 & Superman #70
c. Spoiler – Detective #647, 648, 649
d. Eclipso – Robin Annual #1

Week 9:
a. Harold – Detective #650
b. Bullet for Bullock – Detective #651
c. Faces of Death --Batman #484-485
d. Metalhead – Batman #486
e. Superman – Action Comics #683
f. Headhunter – Batman #487

Week 10:
a. Huntress – Detective #652-653
b. Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #1-6

Most of this stuff is inessential compared to previous weeks. We do get some developments with Tim’s father and the introduction of Spoiler, so it’s not a complete waste of time. And it does get us right up to the edge of Knightfall.

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… BatJamags said, lying.

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Ah, post-Crisis Mr. Freeze…

This is what happens when you let a Kenner toy line determine your aesthetics.

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Yeah, the more they stray from the B:TAS design, the worse the design is, IMO. I mean, I get that’s not his first design and I think this story even predates it, but…come on, y’all know I’m right.

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The BTAS design is by Mike Mignola, so it has more of a comic book sensibility than the costume designed for the Super Powers collection.

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Really liked this page of Joker meeting Tim for the first time:

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While there have been some good Tim Drake stories up to this point, this is the first great one. It shows off Tim’s unique abilities as Robin, and Dixon writes the Joker well.

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This mini had such an impact on me as a kid. Why Tim’s my boy! (wipes tear from eye)

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Finished this one earlier today, so far I’d say it’s probably my favorite of these early Tim stories. I think the four-issue length really helps in trimming out the fat, not having any extraneous, annoying characters. Also, to say that The Joker is a far more interesting antagonist than King Snake is almost like saying “water is wet.”

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I loved the first series, but this was pretty good, too…although it was fairly anticlimactic, no?

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I don’t know about that – it felt pretty cathartic for Tim to trounce Joker and get him chucked in a pool of crap. Only thing that would have made it better is if Tim whacked Joker with a crowbar to tip him over.

Hey, that’s more of a Damian thing to do. :wink:

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Or a Jason thing!

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But it was so easy. He spent the entire series all nervous to face the Joker only to beat him lickety split.