And yes, this is in memory of Damian, who recently passed, and the fact that it will probably be a while before we see any new Robins, even though it seems that Carrie Kelly is already going to appear in actual DC comics continuity. Batman just doesn't waste time.
In this installment we start with Jason Todd, the second Robin that 'died' and came back to become the anti-hero Red Hood because Superman Prime punched reality. No really... read my Red Hood article.
Anyway, this is Batman issue 424 the infamous issue in which Robin.... well, if you don't know.... then you'll have to see. 'The Diplomat's Son' starts with Robin hearing a woman scream and swinging through the window to check it out. Robin doesn't see anyone, but is soon attacked by this shirtless guy named Felipe. Jason easily takes him down, but then his friend Juan steps in and whips out a bowie knife. Juan proves to be too much for Robin, so Batman steps in.
And wow... the spanish here is horrible. It's like they flipped through a random english-to-spanish dictionary and just wrote down whatever without knowing the order or the proper tense.
After the fight Batman asks Robin why he went into the building, and he said he heard a woman screaming. Robin ventures to the bedroom and finds a woman that was beaten and possibly raped. Whoa. At the police station the woman, Gloria, tells the cops that she was kidnapped by Juan when she got off work and Felipe was the one that assaulted her. Robin is sure that Felipe's gonna serve hard time.. but Commissioner Gordon comes in and tells the young crimefighter that it isn't so easy.
Felipe's story claims Gloria came uninvited and got her black eye by tripping into the door. That old excuse.... Felipe claims she was causing trouble cause she wants to break their affair, and Juan backs up the story. Without proof, he has to be let go. And to make it worse, Felipe's father is the Bogatago Ambassador so he has diplomatic immunity and can't be touched. Gloria freaks out because she knows she can be attacked at any time.
Robin is upset that Felipe got away with beating a woman, but Batman says they can't touch him... but that doesn't mean they're not done with him yet. Batman says that Bogatago has a strong anti-drug campaign and notices that Felipe was high when he was captured. If they can catch him in the act, he can be shipped back to his country in shame. Robin says it's not much of a punishment, but Batman says it's the best they can do.
Back to the Batcave, Batman finds out that Felipe's father has his own smuggling operation in the states. Batman and Robin stake out Felipe as he lives the high party life. Robin wants to take down Felipe, but Batman wants to wait for the right moment to not just take him down but also a huge part of his father;s organization.
The Dynamic Duo spot Felipe leaving the scene with two bodyguards and follow suit. They say it's tough to follow him unnoticed, but they manage. Don't know how nobody notices the freakin' BATMOBILE driving down the street and cause some kind of ruckus or commotion, but they manage to stay undetected. The heroes follow Felipe to where he buys his blow and bust in, ready to kick some ass. Cue the 60's fight music.
What the hell is Batman throwing at the guy...? A bowling ball? I guess it's the pipe thing he used to break down the door... but it looks so weird in that angle.
Anyway, Batman leaves Robin to take Felipe down, but he surrenders without resisting. Later on we see that Juan's son will do time and Felipe is soon going to be sent back to Bogatago. However, Felipe asks for his phone call. He uses it to make a threatening phone call to Gloria about 'seeing her real soon'. Robin freaks out but there's nothing he can do. Gordon gets the address and the Caped Crusaders head off as fast as they can.
When they arrive they see that poor Gloria has hung herself. Batman calls for the ambulance, but when he gets off the line he realizes that Robin is gone. Batman knows he must be going to Felipe's apartment.
Felipe is having a drink, preparing himself for his trip back to Bagatago, saying he's going to miss those 'silly liberated American women'. Yep, be a douche up to the very last moment Felipe. Speaking of which, Robin shows up....
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| Ohhhh Felipe... you wish he was here to make a corny 'holy bat-' quip....... |
The next thing we see is Felipe falling to his death. Batman shows up too late and looks at his sidekick. He then asks Robin if Felipe fell... or if he was pushed. Jason says he musta have spooked him and he slipped. Robin then swings off, leaving Batman with doubts about his partner in crimefighting.
This was a great story and it makes me miss these classic tales from the late 80's to mid 90's before comics started going with the glossy paper and the art style changed. It reminds me that Batman is after ALL crime in Gotham City, not just the crazies from Arkham. He could spend an issue tracking down a crafty serial killer that was just 'joe average' and not a full fledged super villain, but the stories were so well-crafted that who cared?
For one just picking this up and thinking of the Adam West show, this sure the hell ain't it. Drugs, battered women, suicide and implied rape. Geez! You have to feel bad for poor Gloria, fearing for her life at every corner thanks to Felipe. I'm not sure if he knew she would hang herself, but the jerk still had to instill one last moment of fear into he before he would be deported. People like him remind us that in many times real life criminals with the right connections are back home chillin like nothing happened before the cops even have time to finish typing up their case file.
Batman plays this strictly like the book. Instead of ignoring the rules and kicking Felipe's ass out of anger, like Robin wanted to do, he waited to catch the guy in the act of another crime.
And as for Jason... this book showed a bit of a darker nature that would later manifest itself when he became the Red Hood, the vigilantee not afraid to kill the bad guys. I'm not exactly saying Jason was right or wrong, but Felipe did beat a woman and scare her into killing herself, and was gonna just chill back in his home country and get away with it. And as sick as it sounds to say it... sometimes in this world there are people so evil, so heinous, so evil and dangerous to the world at large... and yet untouchable by the law the it does seem the only way to stop them is to put them down. Batman will never take this course of action, but this issue does heavily imply that Jason would if the need arises.
Of course there's always the chance Felipe really could have slipped just as Jason was about to punch him or something... but yeah... remember that this comic was back in '88 before 'Death in the Family' and hella-way before 'Under the Red Hood'. After seeing him gun down bad guys as the Red Hood nowadays it's a no-brainer that Jason pushed him off the ledge. But back then in '88 to think that Batman's own sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder pushed a man to his death, no matter what the crime, was just unthinkable and I'm sure left a lot of comic book fans with doubts. At the very least this shows that Jason Todd was a very different Robin than Dick Grayson.
See you next week for another Robin story! You'll have to wait and see which one.
Great article! I hope DC takes their time bringing in a new Robin (or promoting/demoting an existing character.) There's a lot of possibilities with the death of Damian. - Jake
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