By Bruno Savill De Jong — “Dead Robin” opens with a blunt reveal of the GCPD Detectives standing around a chalk-outlined crime-scene, in which the body is that of Batman’s sidekick Robin. Usually Gotham Central builds towards such dramatic character reveals, like the Joker’s involvement in “Soft Targets” or the Mad Hatter’s in “Unresolved”. Even Mr. Freeze surprised the policemen, and the readers, opening the door in “In the Line of Duty”, after the routine check-ups before his colorful appearance.

But this ‘dead Robin’ appears as soon as you open the book, a morbid consequence of Batman’s unmonitored activities. “Dead Robin” is actually Ed Brubaker’s final writing credit (his departure, rather than any sales figures, would ultimately lead to Greg Rucka concluding the series a few issues later), and it’s also the last typical Gotham Central ‘freak’ premise. But it’s a prime example of what this series does so well — apply the Batman mythos through a logistical bureaucratic lens. Robin is always a tough character to make ‘realistic’ (he does not appear in any of the Burton, Nolan or Snyder films – outside of a quick reference), and Gotham Central uses his apparent ‘death’ to get at questions circling its core, specifically the validity of outsider help and the influence of Batman. Canvassing the scene, Crispus Allen darkly jokes about the cause-of-death: “Hell, maybe it’s suicide. The kid worked for Batman after all”.

As readers, of course, we know this is not the ‘real’ Robin. Besides the fact Robin’s own ongoing series had him in Blüdhaven, and the detectives noting there was no particular struggle, Josie Mac is right when she says that “this isn’t how one of them dies”. Even ‘sidekicks’ like Robin do not die in inconspicuous “accidents” like falling from a rooftop (especially ones no bigger than buildings Robin usually jumps over), and they certainly don’t do it in spin-off titles like Gotham Central. The mortal conflicts of superheroes exist outside this grounded perspective.

But “Dead Robin” is not trying to trick readers into thinking Tim Drake (the Robin of this time) has died. No, instead it is highlighting how little the people within the GCPD really know about Batman. Given Robin’s secret-identity, they have no way of verifying whether this kid is actually him or not – the mortician reiterates there is nothing to look for one way or the other. For that matter, the police don’t even know if there is one Robin or if Batman has a “flock of them”, so notes reporter Simon Lippman (correctly) speculating how there have been multiple Robins over the years. “Dead Robin” foregrounds the intertwined anonymity and recognition of superheroes, memorable colorful personas that nobody knows the true identity of. The case quickly becomes a large media circus due to the “cape angle”, the whole Major Crimes Unit being placed on it, even if the flashier aspects seem more distracting than anything else.

Even Batman appears more hostile than usual towards the M.C.U. here. Appearing covered in shadow on the crime-scene rooftop, he curtly tells Allen and Montoya that “Robin’s in Blüdhaven” and (twice) to “stay out of my way”.

Then when Commissioner Akins is handling the press downstairs, the Batmobile loudly zooms away, seemingly deliberately (suggested as petty payback for “Lights Out”) getting ‘in’ the GCPD’s “way”. But this move only exemplifies how the detectives always feel. To them this is just life while working around or near Batman. Later, questioning the rogues gallery in Arkham Asylum, Arkham’s director admits they have suddenly “started presenting injuries”. The detectives immediately understand Batman has gotten there first. “Dead Robins” presents a six panel-grid of Batman supervillains – including a post-Hush surgically repaired Two-Face still obsessing over Renee – which shows the overwhelming and distracting forces of their insanity, and each exhibiting bruises and injuries from interrogations (see said grid below). Outside, Allen explodes in frustration, expressing what the loud Batmobile already showed. “We’re doing this again, Renee! Again, it’s the same thing, over and over! Chasing Batman”, Allen says, “we’re always chasing Batman”.

Romy Chandler is also stewing over Batman, still upset over Nate Patton’s death in “Soft Targets”. Like Allen, she thinks Batman should be a prime suspect in “Dead Robin”, for his indirect presence as much as direct culpability. When Romy and her new partner Takahata (mentioned but not seen in “On the Freak Beat”) go to question the Penguin, they arrive with Batman in the middle of this interrogation. Suddenly, Romy shoots at Batman, ending the issue with him downed in a similar position to the opening dead Robin, looking far more human and vulnerable than his previous shadowed appearances. Although the next issue quickly reveals Batman was just playing possum, as he escapes the room, but not before stealing Romy’s gun and breaking her nose as he goes. Back in the squad-room, the other Detectives quickly piece together the chain of events, placing the onus on Romy for taking an unauthorized shot at Batman.

Gotham Central has always placed a high standard on the M.C.U. cop’s use of lethal force. Lt. Probson removed his badge (and risked his career) to assault the Joker in “Soft Targets”, Allen faced intense scrutiny over his ‘righteous’ kill of Black Spider in “Corrigan”. Of course, the corrupt majority of the GCPD seen in “Nature” do not fear their unwarranted force, given they can rig the system, but the M.C.U. officers hold themselves to a higher standard. As such they have far less leeway to mess up. In any case, the squad-room all silently agree to keep silent about Romy’s incident before it reaches Captain Sawyer.

Distribution of information is also a major theme in “Dead Robin”. Not only with Romy’s gun, or figuring ‘who’ this Robin is – or even ‘if’ he’s Robin – but also with Sawyer incensed by Simon Lippman’s newspaper printing a confidential crime-scene photo on its front page. Taking Simon into her office, Sawyer demands where they got it from, assuming it was ‘Corrigan’ or some other leak. But Simon refuses to tell Sawyer who his source was, defending their anonymity; “if I rat the source, no one ever trusts me again”. The anonymity of Batman and Robin leads to problems, but Simon still thinks it has merits. He doesn’t even actually know who gave the paper the photo, but he doesn’t tell this to Sawyer. As Simon tells his fellow reporter Dunning, “it’s the principle of the thing”.

Despite the unhelpful anonymity of Batman and Robin, “Dead Robin” also features the most prominent superhero cameos in all of Gotham Central, as after Sawyer calls Lois Lane for a favor, the Teen Titans appear in the squad-room for questioning. Lee Loughride’s colors in Gotham Central are easy to overlook, but they have kept a consistent tone despite the frequently changing artists in its latter half, and they marvelously contrast the young colorful superheroes against the drab bureaucratic environment in this arc. It is especially evident when Starfire appears, causing the men of the office, and the lesbian Sawyer and Montoya, to gawk.

Simon asks “is she actually glowing or is that my imagination?” (she actually is). Raven believes such questioning is unnecessary given they obviously know Robin is “alive and well”, but Sawyer counters by asking if they are going to give her “Robin’s real name?”. The GCPD do not have the same information, do not live in the same world, as the Teen Titans, and so must process them through the mundane bureaucratic procedures that they do have at their disposal.

Robin himself appears to Stacy on the roof, confirming his alive status even if he still keeps out of ‘official’ proceedings. Stacy was always the ‘intermediary’ between Batman and the GCPD, which made her feel its loss all the more in “Lights Out”. Now on the rooftop, Robin is placed in front of the Bat-Signal’s empty frame, acting like a (far friendlier) reconnection to Batman. Stacy asks if Batman can return Romy’s handgun, after admitting that Romy “kinda… um... she might’ve… shot him?”, letting the two share a cute laugh about how absurd the rivalry between their two institutions (the GCPD and Batman) can become. A small but significant detail is that Robin remembers it was “Detective Nate Patton” who died in “Soft Targets”, telling Stacy “of course I know his name”. The GCPD can often feel like inessential stray bullets in Gotham, especially with Batman’s cold attitude, but this moment does display how the vigilantes recognize and respect the detectives efforts, even if they don’t always show it.

Just as Robin confirms that the ‘dead Robin’ was a fake, Stacy gets a call from the harbor patrol about finding a second drowned dead Robin. It officially changes the case from an unknown into a serial killer. Although Marcus Driver is still confused by the motive, since these boys are not being molested or even ‘hidden’ but simply killed off. However, the detectives are able to use this second victim, Scott Benjamin, to discover his ‘talent agency’, to which the first victim was also attached. As Josie and Marcus visit Scott’s home, the other detectives comb through the agency’s teenaged resumes in search of more potential victims. Looking over the paper-work, Allen finds a small but essential detail previously overlooked; the crime-scene photograph in Simon’s newspaper has no chalk-outline in it. It’s something so obvious but so easy to miss. It is not a crime-scene photo at all; no, it was taken by the killer. As Takahata finds another teenager, Zack Weston, is missing, Josie and Marcus find Simon Lippman’s business card in Scott Benjamin’s bedroom.

Simon is promptly arrested, Sawyer and the others assuming he was manufacturing a Robin serial killer to ‘create’ news headlines. Gotham Central has already shown citizens faking superhero stories as distractions or excuses (such as “On the Freak Beat”), so crazier things have happened. In a world of secret-identities and double-crosses, Simon’s betrayal is all the more visceral. However, it is quickly revealed that Simon was not responsible, as his friend Dunning comes in to confess. To be blunt about this, thE resolution to “Dead Robin” is slightly awkward, as Dunning gets captured without any effort on the Detective’s behalf, and it raises questions of whether Dunning was framing Simon or what his exact plan was. Yet it works overall because of Dunning’s motive. I’ve repeatedly stressed in this series that a core theme of Gotham Central is living in a world that is not your own. And what does Dunning tell the detectives? Why did he dress up kids like Robin before killing them?

“This isn’t the world. Not the one you and I live in, Simon…this isn’t the world”, Dunning calmly and chillingly explains, “this is my entry point. This is how I enter their world”.

The sole purpose of this scheme, of these deaths, was to come into contact with Batman. Dunning will only confess the location of Zack Weston to him. Dunning has sabotaged and masqueraded these innocent teenagers as Robin to forge some tangential Batman connection, creating morbid proximations of high-stakes (dressing these teenagers as someone “more important”), just so he can play a small insignificant part in Batman’s game. The teenagers may not have been imitating Robin themselves, but Dunning using that iconography to demand his own involvement is still an unnerving condemnation of Batman’s presence in Gotham.

Allen particularly struggles with this, believing that acquiescing to Dunning’s demands will only validate such behavior. But Sawyer and Commissioner Akins are not about to put another child’s life in danger over such principles. The GCPD are frustrated by the involvement of Batman, but just like Driver at the end of “In the Line of Duty”, they do not let their pride stop them from letting him save the day. Using a miniature back-up Bat-Signal, Akins summons Batman, who then swoops into the interrogation room to terrify Dunning. The quick sequence emphasizes Batman’s almost mythical presence, not quite visible in the darkened room, his speech-balloons hovering intense and disconnected over Dunning. Dunning may now be “part of it”, as he wanted, but its clear such contact with Batman was really meaningless.

Amidst all this stress and confusion, Josie and Montoya also accidentally let slip to Sawyer how Romy shot at Batman and lost her gun. Thankfully through another quick rooftop rendezvous with Robin, Stacy managed to reacquire it, and gives it to Driver just as Sawyer was about to reprimand Romy. Driver says how Romy had sent it for repairs after her “warning shot accidentally hit” Batman. Sawyer is not convinced by this tale, but everyone agrees to stick to this ‘story’. Much like Batman, it’s a tough lie they need to accept. As Driver earlier confided to Romy, he doesn’t hate Batman in himself, he only “hated that we needed him. Hated that this city is so screwed up that it needs more than police sometimes”.

As Gotham Central has shown, Batman brings a lot of good and a lot of bad to Gotham. His presence inadvertently brings people like Dunning and others who use his existence as justification/motivation for their crimes, but he’s also the person who can resolve it. Marcus muses about Gotham: “it’s a love/hate thing… there’s a lot here to love… that you won’t find in any other city in the world… but there’s just as much that’ll kill you, either in an instant or slowly day by day”. Romy agrees that she can’t abandon Gotham, that it is “her city” too. In a sense it reclaims it from being Batman’s backdrop, making Gotham a city for the rest of them too. Dunning killed to “enter into” Batman’s world, and Gotham Central can make this strange desire seem almost reasonable. But Gotham Central shows that, like it or not, Gotham citizens are already part of Batman’s world.

It’s up to them to decide how they live in it.

Gotham Central: Dead Robin (#33 - #36)

Gotham Central: Dead Robin
Writers: Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka
Artists: Kano and Stefano Gaudino
Colorist: Lee Loughride
Letterer: Clem Robins
Editors: Matt Idelson and Nachie Castro
"Dead Robin" part 1! Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker join together once more for the penultimate GOTHAM CENTRAL tale. All the detectives of the Major Crimes Unit become involved after a dead body turns up--a dead body dressed as Robin, the Boy Wonder!
Buy It Digitally: Gotham Central #33; or Gotham Central Book Four

Read more installments in Gotham Central, Case by Case!

Bruno Savill De Jong is a recent undergraduate of English and freelance writer on films and comics, living in London. His infrequent comics-blog is Panels are Windows and semi-frequent Twitter is BrunoSavillDeJo.