CBR News: Adam Beechen Forms A Dynamic Duo With "Robin"

[andy khouri]

Things have changed a lot in one year for "Robin" and its titular hero, who has a whole host of new problems. Will Jason Todd make an appearance? Who’s behind the changes to Cassandra Cain? Come inside to find out:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/ne...em.cgi?id=8704

[Damo]

Arune Singh does good work. Thanks Arune, if you're reading this.

*Twitch.* Right. Eddie Berganza and Peter Tomasi. Two more names to remember.

"Bits of Tim's Bludhaven life will be showing up now and then, but Tim's had a lot of time off-camera, as it were, to deal with what happened to the city," revealed Beechen. "I don't want to spend too much time on him anguishing about it, preferring to concentrate on his present."

Oh... kay. Um. Get around to it eventually, please? It's a little creepy that he hasn't mentioned it at all.

[DoctorDoom]

Arune Singh does good work. Thanks Arune, if you're reading this.

*Twitch.* Right. Eddie Berganza and Peter Tomasi. Two more names to remember.

"Bits of Tim's Bludhaven life will be showing up now and then, but Tim's had a lot of time off-camera, as it were, to deal with what happened to the city," revealed Beechen. "I don't want to spend too much time on him anguishing about it, preferring to concentrate on his present."

Oh... kay. Um. Get around to it eventually, please? It's a little creepy that he hasn't mentioned it at all.

I suppose some flashback issues (a la Green Arrow) are in order...

must not bring up Cassandra...must not bring up Cassandra...must not bring up Cassandra...

[Crimson-Death]

Eddie Berganza ....

Well it all makes sense now...

Peter Tomassi does not seem all that better either, judging by the quality of the work so far.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Funny thing about that article is that he seems to spend more time focusing on and explaining what he did to Cass than talking about future issues.

And for all that talk, he doesn't once explain how having a sibling would make one redefine their views of justice.

[Jmacq1]

Much less when she already knew she had "siblings" and that Cain had other "failed experiments" to begin with.

Gotta love the standard party line though: "Her story's not finished! Keep reading!"

We've gotten that with "Nightwing" for how many years now?

It took what....a decade to get Hal Jordan back to being a good guy full time?

Sounds a lot to me like: "We're going to keep stringing you along until we kill her off in our next big crossover and/or have her die in some mildly heroic manner to "redeem" herself!"

[90'sCartoonMan]

The way I think about it is, I know lots of people who've struggled against bad decisions or circumstances in their lives for a long time, only to suddenly backslide into their previous behavior.

Yeah, I hate it when I backslide to my murderous ways. Some bad habits are just too hard to overcome.

Actually, it's not Cassandra that has me worried, they could still do something interesting with her, it's Klarion. I don't want to be reading it while my brain continually reminds me that Tim met Klarion during Sins of Youth. Then again, the Klarion that's been haunting DC these days seems like an entirely different character anyway.

Why didn't he talk about Killa Nilla?

[Drink]

Beechen appears to be sincere about not being responsible for Cassandra's turn.

However, that doesn't make me want to pick the book up again, because I have problems with it besides that.

[Jmacq1]

Oh, I don't blame Beechen for Cassandra's turn in the least. I'm quite certain that decision came from people higher on the company ladder than him (I'm looking at Dan "Silver Age is the only Age" Didio specifically). I liked some of the things I read in Robin up to the end of the Cassandra arc (where I dropped all but one or two of my DC titles), and I don't think he himself is a bad writer. He kind of got handed a raw deal on the Cassandra front.

It's the continual "Keep reading!" but nothing ever paying off in the end that turns me off. I've heard the new Wolfman Nightwing is showing signs of improvement, but that took what...three or four or five years of people wondering when Nightwing was going to be competent again?

All "Keep reading!" is is a shameless plug to get people to buy more books that won't (always) give them what they're looking for, either. "Titans East" isn't looking like it's going to make any major revelations or reversals as to Cassandra's villainy (given that her "team" works for Deathstroke...you know, the guy she was fighting and whose daughter she seriously injured in one of the last story arcs of her own title?) It's just a stunt to try to get the Cassandra-Batgirl fans to buy a few issues of "Teen Titans".

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Oh, I don't blame Beechen for Cassandra's turn in the least. I'm quite certain that decision came from people higher on the company ladder than him (I'm looking at Dan "Silver Age is the only Age" Didio specifically). I liked some of the things I read in Robin up to the end of the Cassandra arc (where I dropped all but one or two of my DC titles), and I don't think he himself is a bad writer. He kind of got handed a raw deal on the Cassandra front.

It's the continual "Keep reading!" but nothing ever paying off in the end that turns me off. I've heard the new Wolfman Nightwing is showing signs of improvement, but that took what...three or four or five years of people wondering when Nightwing was going to be competent again?

All "Keep reading!" is is a shameless plug to get people to buy more books that won't (always) give them what they're looking for, either. "Titans East" isn't looking like it's going to make any major revelations or reversals as to Cassandra's villainy (given that her "team" works for Deathstroke...you know, the guy she was fighting and whose daughter she seriously injured in one of the last story arcs of her own title?) It's just a stunt to try to get the Cassandra-Batgirl fans to buy a few issues of "Teen Titans".

Its pretty much how I feel. How long before Batgirl gets a new name and we see Betty Kane's sister become Batgirl ? That way the family can have a Batwoman and Batgirl .

[Damo]

Oh, I don't blame Beechen for Cassandra's turn in the least. I'm quite certain that decision came from people higher on the company ladder than him (I'm looking at Dan "Silver Age is the only Age" Didio specifically). I liked some of the things I read in Robin up to the end of the Cassandra arc (where I dropped all but one or two of my DC titles), and I don't think he himself is a bad writer. He kind of got handed a raw deal on the Cassandra front.

The orders to turn her evil came from above, nobody is saying otherwise. He still did a terrible job with those orders. He had months to learn about the character, but he didn't find out about her motivations, her relationships with others, if she had any speech patterns, if she had any weaknesses (like dyslexia), how her abilities worked, or even if she'd met any siblings before making her "long lost sister" a central part of his story. And he could have learned all of that just from the last arc of her book. It feels like instead of reading her book he was hoping his editors would tell him anything he needed to know, and they were asleep at the switch. It was a lousy order, but what he turned in was far far worse than that excuse would cover.

[Drink]

All "Keep reading!" is is a shameless plug to get people to buy more books that won't (always) give them what they're looking for, either. "Titans East" isn't looking like it's going to make any major revelations or reversals as to Cassandra's villainy (given that her "team" works for Deathstroke...you know, the guy she was fighting and whose daughter she seriously injured in one of the last story arcs of her own title?) It's just a stunt to try to get the Cassandra-Batgirl fans to buy a few issues of "Teen Titans".

While you're not specfically wrong in your opinion, Geoff Johns said very directly that he will in fact be going into what's happened to her. We have it quoted in Cass's Wiki entry "We will be addressing in Teen Titans exactly what the deal is with her. Is she a bad guy? How? Why? She was a completely different character before “One Year Later,” so let’s find out what happened"

[Brack360]

The Robin series currently has a lot of other problems even when not taking the Cassandra fiasco into account. Lynx inexplicably coming back from the dead, only to be immediately killed off again. Robin breaking into a police station in full costume when he is wanted by the police, and then wearing a disguise to break out (why he couldn't he just do that to begin with?). I also still have a serious problem with Bruce Wayne adopting Tim. What made Tim Drake such a great character and the Robin series one of my favorite comics when written by Chuck Dixon were the ongoing sub-plots involving Tim's personal life and his trying to keep his identity a secret from his parents and friends. They have now taken all of that away and effectively made Tim a carbon copy of Dick Grayson with no unique conflicts of his own. It's too bad because I was really looking forward to reading Robin again after Bill Willingham's awful run. Instead, Robin has been by far my least favorite of the OYL titles (yes, I enjoyed it even less than Nightwing). I have since dropped Robin and don't plan to pick it up again anytime soon. Nothing in this interview has changed my mind.

[Mister Intensity]

The orders to turn her evil came from above, nobody is saying otherwise. He still did a terrible job with those orders. He had months to learn about the character, but he didn't find out about her motivations, her relationships with others, if she had any speech patterns, if she had any weaknesses (like dyslexia), how her abilities worked, or even if she'd met any siblings before making her "long lost sister" a central part of his story. And he could have learned all of that just from the last arc of her book. It feels like instead of reading her book he was hoping his editors would tell him anything he needed to know, and they were asleep at the switch. It was a lousy order, but what he turned in was far far worse than that excuse would cover.

Considering the lead time in production I doubt Beechen would have had access to the last arc while while he was writing his first Robin arc.

Mister Intensity

[Damo]

Considering the lead time in production I doubt Beechen would have had access to the last arc while while he was writing his first Robin arc.

Mister Intensity

Batgirl 67 (8 months before Beechen's arc starts) has a very large segment about her dyslexia, and fills in a large amount about her "siblings". She hasn't met any yet in that issue, but she's found out that Cain trained other kids and she didn't care. Batgirl 71 has her meeting the Mad Dog, knowing that he's her older brother, and not caring. After 71 we get 72 and 73, then her book ends. A month later the story starts in Robin. Cassandra doesn't make her appearance until 3 issues in. He really could have found out about these things. His editors really should have known, because they should have had access to what was being done in the final few Batgirl issues. That's their job, and they failed miserably. But even if they dropped the ball, he had adequate time to research the character. He just didn't.