Bermejo talks Alfred, Trauma, and Robins

[Dzetoun]

A new interview with the writer of We are Robin. I think many will find his interpretations questionable, but it's an interesting read:

http://www.newsarama.com/25912-we-ar...-spoilers.html

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

While his dieas for the WAR kids sound very interesting, I don't think he gets the whole family aspect of the batfamily.

[taylortexas]

And historically — and I've been saying this kind of from the beginning of this project — Alfred is the biggest enabler in comics, as far as characters go. Historically, he's somebody who supported this — I mean, with his reservations, and not without having problems with certain things Bruce has done and the various Robins that have come before. But I don't think it can be denied that he has his own thoughts on the usefulness of these symbols as a means to help people.

Hm. I can agree that Alfred is an enabler but I still really don't like the idea of him being the brains behind this operation. It's just ridiculously out of character IMO. Apparently that's going to be explored and perhaps it can be done so in a way that'll win me over. I'm glad we're going to get some insight into the other Robins and not strictly Duke. It'd be neat to have a couple of new characters in Gotham by the time this is all done.

[Godlike13]

Alfred is an enabler, but this is beyond enabling now.

[Kurtzberg]

Yeah, Alfred has found himself in situations where he has done his best to support Bruce and various others because he's largely felt he can do nothing to prevent them from doing what they are doing, so he might as well ensure they still have love, support, encouragement, aid, etc.
Better to be on the inside and influence matters, than the outside and have no say, watch those he cares about suffer and not be able to aid them. He has walked away before when he has felt Bruce has gone to far, or threatened to. Enabler is a bit simplistic, even while acknowledging his reservations, it still feels like Bermejo isn't quite fundamentally grasping the whole picture.
This... This is more than enabling, this is reckless endangerment of children who are horribly unprepared for the living hell of Gotham. Bane, Croc, Pyg, Zsasz. These are the kinds of things out there in Gotham, and these kids don't have Batman backing them up, or years of training by Batman. Robin is something that works because he's alongside Batman, and with time Batman's hand in training Robin allows Robin to stand on his own.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Yeah, Alfred has found himself in situations where he has done his best to support Bruce and various others because he's largely felt he can do nothing to prevent them from doing what they are doing, so he might as well ensure they still have love, support, encouragement, aid, etc.
Better to be on the inside and influence matters, than the outside and have no say, watch those he cares about suffer and not be able to aid them. He has walked away before when he has felt Bruce has gone to far, or threatened to. Enabler is a bit simplistic, even while acknowledging his reservations, it still feels like Bermejo isn't quite fundamentally grasping the whole picture.
This... This is more than enabling, this is reckless endangerment of children who are horribly unprepared for the living hell of Gotham. Bane, Croc, Pyg, Zsasz. These are the kinds of things out there in Gotham, and these kids don't have Batman backing them up, or years of training by Batman. Robin is something that works because he's alongside Batman, and with time Batman's hand in training Robin allows Robin to stand on his own.

This is my main issue with the concept. Set it on a "realistic" setting and you have a wonderful e inspiring story about how comics are a postive influence but by setting it within the comic universe it becomes a horror story about kids being sent to the butcher

[Nite-Wing]

Well yeah no one can deny Alfred is an enabler he never really makes the decision to say "hey Dick,Jason, Tim etc maybe you should do something else"
I think its just weird because he's doing all of this on his own without Bruce which places all fault on his shoulders since Bruce probably would have vetted these kids instead of just giving them gear and telling them to go nuts

I'd like to imagine all the Robins will get the same amount of development but that's gonna be hard if there is a city full of kids outside of the small cast we have now focused on

[Avi]

I also think it's out of character for Alfred to just sent those kids out without training because of all the reasons that already came up and it seems hypocritical that he does not want Bruce to get involved again but is encouraging kids to run around and do his job. The phrasing "good little soldiers" also rubbed me the wrong way.

[Kurtzberg]

This is my main issue with the concept. Set it on a "realistic" setting and you have a wonderful e inspiring story about how comics are a postive influence but by setting it within the comic universe it becomes a horror story about kids being sent to the butcher

Yeah, and Bermejo in the interview talks like he he seems to want to blend this super dangerous comic universe with realistic aspects that become kind of problematic.
He talks "stakes" and that these kids could die, and one already has. That physical damage has consequences, that vigilantism has consequences. It just leads to a place where I expect more dead, maimed or imprisoned children, which isn't really something I want to read.
I'm not sure Gotham is the kind of space to play out this kind of narrative. Maybe Metropolis with regular citizens stepping up to stop everyday crime and social injustice while Supes has a low battery would have worked better, but the writers have spent so much time turning Gotham into a supernaturally evil meat grinder that burns to the ground twice a year.

[db105]

My opinion about the Robin = child endangerment issue, before reading the interview: There is a contradiction here that comes from trying to judge the actions of characters in a fictional universe with standards that are not the ones that this universe is based on. In real life it would be unacceptable to take a child with you to fight dangerous criminals. Of course, in real life it would be unacceptable and crazy to don a bat costume and go fight dangerous criminals, even without taking a child along. You would be dead or in jail very soon. However, this is not real life, it's a superhero comics. In a traditional superhero comic it makes perfect sense to do those things. A Robin (Jason Todd) died, but last time I checked he is alive and well again. This is a superhero comic, after all.

When you try to make superhero comics more realistic and gritty you can decide to give up some of these concepts, but I feel that would be a pity. I don't want a completely realistic Gotham, where there would be no place even for Batman. I like the concept of Robin. I think it serves to humanize Batman and make him a better superhero. I do not want all Batman stories to be Robin stories, but they don't have to be.

[Frontier]

Yeah, and Bermejo in the interview talks like he he seems to want to blend this super dangerous comic universe with realistic aspects that become kind of problematic.
He talks "stakes" and that these kids could die, and one already has. That physical damage has consequences, that vigilantism has consequences. It just leads to a place where I expect more dead, maimed or imprisoned children, which isn't really something I want to read.
I'm not sure Gotham is the kind of space to play out this kind of narrative. Maybe Metropolis with regular citizens stepping up to stop everyday crime and social injustice while Supes has a low battery would have worked better, but the writers have spent so much time turning Gotham into a supernaturally evil meat grinder that burns to the ground twice a year.

And the reason any kids or teens can function as Vigilante's in said meat grinder is because they've either been trained by Batman (Dick, Jason, Babs, Tim), trained from birth to be an assassin (Damian maybe NuCass), extremely lucky (Steph), or actually trained by someone trained by Batman (Harper). Alfred's sending these kids on dangerous missions without any of that except the chance they'll be extremely lucky.

Though I have to wonder what the average training time for a Robin is. It might depend on the specific Robin, since Damian didn't need any and Dick probably required less time than Jason or Tim did. But at least Bruce would never send them out into Gotham unless he was sure they were ready.

[db105]

After reading the interview, it does seem strange and out of character that Alfred would organize this. For the reasons Kurtzberg mentioned:

Yeah, Alfred has found himself in situations where he has done his best to support Bruce and various others because he's largely felt he can do nothing to prevent them from doing what they are doing, so he might as well ensure they still have love, support, encouragement, aid, etc.
Better to be on the inside and influence matters, than the outside and have no say, watch those he cares about suffer and not be able to aid them. He has walked away before when he has felt Bruce has gone to far, or threatened to. Enabler is a bit simplistic, even while acknowledging his reservations, it still feels like Bermejo isn't quite fundamentally grasping the whole picture.
This... This is more than enabling, this is reckless endangerment of children who are horribly unprepared for the living hell of Gotham. Bane, Croc, Pyg, Zsasz. These are the kinds of things out there in Gotham, and these kids don't have Batman backing them up, or years of training by Batman. Robin is something that works because he's alongside Batman, and with time Batman's hand in training Robin allows Robin to stand on his own.

I'll give it a chance to see how it is executed, though...

[db105]

And the reason any kids or teens can function as Vigilante's in said meat grinder is because they've either been trained by Batman (Dick, Jason, Babs, Tim), trained from birth to be an assassin (Damian maybe NuCass), extremely lucky (Steph), or actually trained by someone trained by Batman (Harper). Alfred's sending these kids on dangerous missions without any of that except the chance they'll be extremely lucky.

Yeah, good points too. Main characters are different than regular characters in a superhero comics. They have crazy training or abilities, they take crazy risks and they survive. Even when they die they come back. But an army of anonymous kids? Something bad is going to happen, and I don't see Alfred organizing it.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Based on that interview, it seems like Bermejo doesn't understands Alfred's character at all. He's right on the fact Alfred is an enabler but he's missing the point that he does because Bruce's his surrogate son. Everything Alfred does boils down at him wanting to support all the people he sees as family, Alfred doesn't really gives a damn about the city or the mission (and is weird Bermejo doesn't catches this since is how Snyder is writing Alfred over Batman)

Also, the whole angle of cape comics tackling more real-life issues is being handled a LOT better by Pak on Action Comics