Review by tshepiso - Robin: Wanted

tshepiso 's review for:

Robin: Wanted by Wayne Faucher, Karl Kerschl, Adam Beechen, Freddie E. Williams II

1.0

Any fan of Cassandra Cain knows that Robin: Wanted is an infamously hated story arc that's said to have derailed her character for over a decade. Despite knowing the deep disdain Cass fans had for this story, which sees her become the ludicrously evil leader of the League of Assassins, I still wasn't fully prepared for just how bad it was. If you've read Cass's Batgirl run its clear that this turn was out of left field. But piecing through interviews from the time its interesting to parse what problems in this story were misguided editorial mandate and what stemmed from poor writing by Adam Beechen.

The first problem with Robin: Wanted is its framing. The decision to tell a story about Batgirl going rogue in a four issue arc in a Robin book is baffling. It indicates that DC editorial saw Cass as a secondary character that could be radically changed and discarded in a side book rather than a significant character in her own right whose relationship with the wider bat-family would require in-depth exploration if she went so far off the rails. And because the story is from Tim's perspective we lack crucial pieces of information about why Cass making choices that could better contextualize her switch. Further we don't see how other characters she was much closer to than Tim, like Batman and Oracle who became her pseudo-parental figures to Cass, respond to her turn. All of this makes the story feel half written and poorly conceptualized but none of the blame there lies with Adam Beechen who had no control over these aspects of the story.

The bigger problem with Wanted was how poorly executed the concept was. I think my most controversial take might be that there's a version of Wanted that could have worked. The question of what set of circumstances could lead Cass to killing again is interesting. And aspects of the answer provided in this story could have been told well. But unfortunately pretty much everything about how they chose to tell it was uncompelling at best and utterly nonsensical at worst.

The explanation for Cass turning evil and joining the League of Assassins is her learning dad had a secret daughter. This somehow caused Cass to have a mental break and abandon all of her core values. No attempt Beechen makes to explain this turn makes even a lick of sense. The idea that Cass was somehow fuelled, motivated, or kept sane by the idea that David Cain solely loved her is deeply incongruous with her character. And honestly finding out you have a secret sister turning you evil would be a dumb writing for any character. From this point Cass just devolves into a mustache-twirling dragon lady. Her reasoning continues to make no sense and none of how the story resolves itself is remotely satisfying.

I could keep going on about every little thing I hated in Wanted but I honestly don't think its worth it. At the end of the day this story exists the way it does because DC editorial wanted Cassandra gone and Adam Beechen didn't care to write her turn to villainy in a way that was true to any aspect of her character. And I've reached a point were belabouring every single way it fails doesn't bring me much satisfaction.