Does Adam Beechem's Robin Deserve the Hate?

[Timothy Hunter]

Recently read all 19 issues of the Adam Beechem Robin run and while there were some very glaring issues, I had a blast reading it. Beechem has a really strong hold on not only Tim Drake as a character but Batman as well. A breath of fresh air compared to his early 2000's characterization, Beechem's Batman is just as compassionate and caring of Tim as he is intimidating and brutal to criminals. With the exception of the opening arc, most of the storylines really work. There's a spiritual sequel to Morrison's Klarion the Witch Boy miniseries, you have Tim Drake showing how resourceful he is by breaking into Blackgate, and Robin intervenes in a suicide attempt which is honestly better handled than the more famous scene in All Star Superman. Freddie Williams is a good match with the material. His art is a bit bland, but it's better than Scott McDaniel at the very least.

Now let's talk about the Elephant in the room. Cassandra Cain. I don't blame Beechem, he got dealt hand as the decision to turn Cassandra into a villain was an editorial mandate enforces by DiDio and Tomasi. And in Beechem's defense the first two issues of the storyline are terrific, but when it's revealed that Cassandra Cain is the culprit by the third issue it really does deserve all the scorn it has recieved by fans. There's no other way of putting it, it's fucking terrible.

The other great weakness of Beechem's Robin is Tim's supporting cast. The great tragedy of the Robin ongoing series is that each new writer disregarded what came before him, which is a shame considering how rich and colorful the characters of the initial Dixon run were. A clean slate worked fine for Bill Willingham, as he was able to come up with a new supporting cast from scratch that was worthy of the old one, but Beechem didn't have the same luck. Not only does Drake's new High School lack character, but his new love interest is completely uncompelling.

Overall I would give the run 6 out of 10. The Cassandra Cain adpect is more forgivable with the knowledge of foresight that Cassandra was retconned to be brainwashed by Deathstroke. There were a lot of problems, but there was never a dull moment for me reading it.

[km_sus]

I think you pretty much nailed it. The whole run is overlooked because of the Cass heel turn, but besides that, I think it was pretty okay too. His Batman being a cool guy and not a raging dickhead was, like you said, a nice change of pace.

Beechen also had a recent story in the Robin 80th. I was surprised he was chosen as the writer to represent Tim's entire pre-Flashpoint tenure, as to the uninitiated he's regarded as the worst Robin writer due to the Cass plot. I'm not sure why they didn't get Dixon to write something, since they already had him for a Nightwing story, but I guess they didn't want him to have two stories (or to pay him twice). I'm kind of surprised they didn't get Willingham or Jon Lewis, but Lewis has dropped off the map and Willingham had the worst Robin run anyway, so I'm glad he didn't write anything. Beechen's 80th story was surprisingly good actually, so I'm glad he wrote it in the end. It showed that Beechen had a good handle on Tim's personality the whole time and what his skillset - what he brings to the DCU, was/is.

I was intrigued that he had Tim aspiring to be a police officer in his 80th story. I haven't read the run in a while, so I don't remember if that was actually a thing Tim wanted to do back in the day. It would be interesting if Tim were to join the GCPD as a detective in a future story, especially since Dick was a former police officer.

But no, Beechen doesn't deserve the hate, since his run is quite solid, but it'll probably never be seen as such due to the Cass story. That being said, the Cass fanbase in recent times have been defensive of Beechen and the attempted redemption he tried when he had the Cass mini in 08. Cass fans nowadays point the finger at editorial for the heel turn, rather than Beechen who they perceive as the hatchet man brought in to write the story editorial had already planned out. Perhaps in time, the blame for the story will be fully redirected from Beechen and his run can be looked at in a more positive light.

[charliehustle415]

I never knew people hated this run, because like you I loved it.

Heroes turning heel, that's par for the course so for me that wasn't a big deal.

I also enjoyed the art as well.

Man, I haven't thought about this run in a long time now you got me wanting to go back and reread it.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I'd say yes.

Honestly, setting aside how Cass turned evil and the many contradictory plot elements, his plotting sucked. Tim breaks into Gotham PH in costume, but when found out he dresses as a cop? He spends hours figuring out how to break into Black Gate and then he somehow lugs an unconscious Cain out with him?

His execution stunk.

And I don't know what Cass fans you've been talking to, but we're still salty about his Batgirl mini

The sting is gone because its no longer canon, but his writing and execution stunk. He made no effort to fix his mistake, only justify it.

[km_sus]

I mean, no one actually likes the cass mini, but at least the Cass fans I've encountered recognise that A) Beechen didn't come up with the Cass twist and B) Beechen proposed the Cass mini because he felt bad about playing a part in ruining her. Yeah, it was probably all done just to cover his ass and shift blame, but editorial threw him under the bus and shifted blame to him when Beechen only wrote what the editors told him to; so the fact that he tried to remedy his mistake under fire and brimstone backlash is a decent thing to try to do.

Dont get me wrong, it's still a trash fire of a first arc - and he's an idiot for not doing basic research on Cass' character at all, but the book was called Robin and his Robin afterwards was fine. Cass had an editorial target on her back for years at that point anyway. We could just as easily be talking **** about Willingham if they pulled the trigger on the story a few years earlier.