Originally Published: April 13, 2011, on Comicvine.com

Part 2 of the Judgment on Gotham crossover arc for the Bat-Family comics. Azrael is on a supposed holy mission to judge Gotham along with his new sidekick, The Crusader, and will only spare the city if he can find one of its guardians pure of spirit. And so Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, and Selina Kyle of all people will be tested and judged with all of Gotham riding on the line. Is someone more earthly bound though pulling Azrael’s strings as Red Robin begins his challenge?

The Good

You really see how Red Robin’s mind works in this comic and are reminded of just how much tragedy he has overcome in his life, again reminding us that when his character is old enough, he would make a much better Batman because he thinks like Batman.

The gauntlet he has to run through in order to complete his challenge in order to be judged by Azrael also reaffirms his resourcefulness as he seems to always be thrown headfirst into challenges that would have been daunting even for Bruce Wayne in his heyday and insures us an action packed adventure.

The Bad

Azrael and this new Crusader just are not cutting it for me as the villains of this arc as they seem more like rejects from the video game Assassin’s Creed 1 instead of characters that belong in the DC Universe.

And that leads into the entire faith-based storyline, which also rubs me the wrong way. With all these characters have been through over the years, for some “holy” test of faith to be the Bat-Family’s next great challenge just seems like a waste of time. Then again, it is hinted at being part of a much larger scheme with the villain reveal at the end of the comic and this could save what is a very slow developing plot so far for this crossover arc.

The Verdict

This book is packed with some great action sequences as Tim overcomes the obstacles thrown in his path, but a very slow developing plot overshadows this. A villain reveal at the end of the comic gives me hope this crossover arc can kick it up a notch in future issues, but as of right now Azrael and the Crusader just are not doing it for me in terms of playing the villain role for an arc that was deemed worthy of crossing over multiple titles.

If you are a fan of the Bat-Family books and picked up Part 1 of this arc in Batman #708 then whether you usually pick up Red Robin or not, you should pick up this issue. If you aren’t into the Bat-Family, then this is not an issue to try to start trying to familiarize yourself with them.