Chuck Dixon could be a little clearer
With Robin's solo book selling very low now, it's now been announced that Chuck Dixon is coming back to writing the series. And, he's making people all wonder:
He says that he's taken note of the deaths of Tim's father and Spoiler's, which were both truly awful. The question is if he's even allowed, as the writer, to fix both?
So, we will have to see how this turns out, but be careful, because, noticing that quite a few of the writers went along in lockstep with the editorial board of DiDio on what Identity Crisis did and led to, that's why I've realized that even the best writers can turn out to be disappointing, and if they do, they should be looked down in disappointment for not objecting.
More specifically, Dixon teased that there's a new vigilante in town for Robin to face-- a female vigilante. "But she doesn't share the same lofty goals as Batman and Robin," laughed Dixon. "We also see the return of an old friend, a villain we haven't seen in a few years and there's also a big change in Robin's status with the Gotham City Police Department. But that big event I mentioned, it will dominate the book for the first year."Obviously, he's getting people to wonder if he's going to right some wrongs here by reversing the deaths of Stephanie Brown and Tim's father. But you know what? I don't think the "surprise approach" he's taking here is enough, because what if it doesn't turn out that way? That's right, I personally find the whole method of keeping all the light hidden beneath a bushel until the last moment very appalling by now. Considering that DC's already been dishonest enough, if they're really ready to apologize now, they could give it a sales spike by actually saying that they're going to go to the repair bay. Then, people could come away feeling glad, myself included.
In the 1990s, Dixon's name was synonymous with the Bat-books, and he enjoyed lengthy runs on all the titles including "Nightwing," "Detective Comics," "Batman," "Batgirl," "Catwoman" and "Birds of Prey." Looking forward, Dixon would love nothing more than matching his previous mark of eight years on "Robin." "I'm on the book for the long haul," said Dixon. "Another hundred issues, why not?"So he's on the book for at least a few years, is he saying? A good idea, considering that there's still quite a few other books with no long lasting writer upon them.
Dixon, who hinted that readers should expect to see more of the Teen Titans than his during previous run, continued, "Robin has really moved up to the big leagues since I left him and his solo book will reflect that."But did he like how Beechen was villifying Cassandra Cain under an editorial mandate? I know he didn't really have much to do with her solo book, but still, I think that deserves some attention. Besides, Beechen didn't draw much sales, certainly not with that kind of cynical writing.
And while Dixon has not read the book religiously since he left, he has been keeping up to speed with young Tim Drake in a variety of ways, including his own website www.dixonverse.net. "I read issues here and there, and folks would come to my message board and tell me the gist of what was going on in the stories," said Dixon. "Of course, I heard about the big stuff like Tim's dad dying and the Spoiler being murdered. Of course, once I took the book on, I read the year or more of issues leading up to my re-start. Adam [Beechen] was pacing his stories much like I did and had some very cool stuff going on. I liked his cop stuff a lot."
He says that he's taken note of the deaths of Tim's father and Spoiler's, which were both truly awful. The question is if he's even allowed, as the writer, to fix both?
In terms of what's changed since he has been away, Dixon said, "Well, obviously, he's had a few bad years, lots of death around him. The DCU in general went through dark years in this period."That's right, Chuck, the DCU has gone through some of the most awful editorial bias in the past three years, and NOBODY with common sense wants to make a bad second impression either. That's why better credibility can be gained by proving that you want to fix things, and will stand your ground with the editors on that.
Dixon, himself, admitted he was a "little nervous" about returning to "Robin," but once he started writing for character, those worries sped away faster than the Batmobile. "No one wants to come back and make a bad second impression," said Dixon. "'Oh, his first run is so much better.' Then, there's always going to be a few people to say things like, 'Beethoven? I stopped listening after his third symphony.' But it's actually going amazingly well. I shouldn't really be surprised that I hadn't lost my touch for this book after writing 120-plus scripts for this character. But I worried anyway. Freelancer paranoia and the naturally suspicious nature of a writer, I guess. Once I was past the opening sequence of the first issue it was like riding a bike. I was back in Gotham and it all seemed real to me again.
So, we will have to see how this turns out, but be careful, because, noticing that quite a few of the writers went along in lockstep with the editorial board of DiDio on what Identity Crisis did and led to, that's why I've realized that even the best writers can turn out to be disappointing, and if they do, they should be looked down in disappointment for not objecting.
