We now come to the end of Robin’s first solo miniseries.

Robin (1991) #5

Written by Chuck Dixon
Penciled by Tom Lyle
Inks by Bob Smith
Lettered by Tim Harkins
Colors by Adrianne Roy
Edited by Denny O’Neil and Dan Raspler

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Robin looks in on the Dorrance Building, where he sees them put the payload in place. Inside, Bobbo and a scientist confirm the timeline – 1 week for the water level to reach the plague, 12 hours for the salt it’s packed in to dissolve (which is actually longer than the timeline that was given in the last issue, but that’s fine.)

Clyde is ready to move in, and he wants Robin to stay back. He heads in the front door, while Shiva vanishes to go in elsewhere. Robin slips into the sewers and disables the motion sensors before Clyde can set them off.

Ultimately, through dumb luck, it’s Robin who gets spotted and ends up fending off hordes of guards.

Meanwhile, Clyde, shotgun in hand, reaches Dorrance’s office. While Dorrance proceeds to beat the tar out of him, Robin uses hit-and-run tactics against the guard, eventually going into the clockworks. Bobbo tries to shoot Robin with what appears to be an Elephant gun, but Robin puts a screw down the barrel, causing it to misfire (but not kill him).

Robin reaches Dorrance’s office and finds Clyde dead. Also, though it’s never been explicitly stated before, Dorrance is apparently blind? There are some minor hints that are dropped, but nothing really major (just Dorrance needing to be pointed to his car in his introduction). The two play cat and mouse before Robin uses a diversion to get the upper hand and kicks Dorrance out a window, where he ends up clinging to a catwalk.

Lady Shiva arrives and urges Robin to finish the job. He won’t, but Lady Shiva will – as Dorrance loses his grip and falls, presumably to his death.

As Robin leaves with Clyde’s body, he meets Ducard, who tips him off to Dorrance’s shipment.

In Gotham, Robin intercepts the shipment – containing a lot of Dorrance’s cash – during unloading, and runs into Lynx. There he sees the punishment Bobbo did to her – taking out one of her eyes.

After mopping up the gang, Batman checks in with Robin, asking if he thinks he’s ready now. He does, but he knows that he still has a lot to learn.

The first chapter has some missteps with Chuck Dixon rolling back some of the characterization that Alan Grant had done in Detective Comics and Batman. There was a way to have still sent Tim on this journey, without suddenly giving him cold feet.

Next up – we’re flashing back to an earlier story in Batman’s career, but a little later in publication, with the start of the Venom storyline in Legends of the Dark Knight.