Reviews of two endings.

Both titles end not with a bang, but with a whimper. And the stench of editorial mandate all over them.

Tim Drake ‘s descent into becoming “mini Batman” continues. There is absolutely nothing left of that geeky little know it all who debuted years ago, and was interesting because of how DIFFERENT he was from the other Bat characters. Now he’s just another grim and gritty face in Gotham.

And also a coward who breaks up with his girlfriend over the phone. Nice. And his whole “I told Steph she couldn’t be Spoiler because I LOVE HER” annoys the heck out of me because it sends a really bad message. You do not order someone around and threaten them and attempt to control their lives out of LOVE. I hope Steph smacks Tim good in Gotham Gazette or whatever.

Also, Lady Shiva attacks Tim for no reason. One thing about Shiva, there’s always a reason. But the only thing she gives here is that Tim is “presumptuous”. Whatever that means. And the way Tim defeats her depends on Shiva being really stupid (A master assassin doesn’t check for poison in her food?)

The Origins and Omens back up was decent. I really liked the colorist on it, and I was wondering if Tim would ever fight the Obea Man. It furthered the plot instead of being a recap.

I was sad Robin was canceled before, but seeing how bad this issue and the last were, I’m not anymore. A final issue should showcase what makes the title character great. We should have seen what makes Tim and his supporting cast unique. All we got was contrived, tired story that showcased what a mini-Batman jerk Tim is, and shoved his supporting cast to the side.

Birds of Prey meanwhile, had Oracle randomly shoving her young charge off to her friend Huntress and dissolving the team, then moaning about how she’s in a wheelchair. Nice.

Bedard was in a really tough situation here, though. It was out of character for Oracle to break up the Birds for any reason, and at least nobody died.

The Origins and Omens back up really annoyed me, since it was all us being hit over the head with Oracle!angst about her being in a wheelchair in a lame attempt to justify her probable future regression to Batgirl. And it made stupid mistakes like saying she was Batgirl because she idolized Batman. What? Babs became Batgirl because her dad wouldn’t let her be a cop, and she was going to show him up but ended up having to stop Killer Moth at a party and discovered she was good at this crimefighting thing. Batman was incidental, and she respected him, but didn’t worship the ground he walked on, and even defied him at first. If this guy’s going to write the Oracle mini, couldn’t he at least put in the effort of reading Batgirl: Year One and other back issues? Even Pre Crisis Babs didn’t seek Batman’s approval.

Also, Oracle came to terms with being in a wheelchair a while ago (as much as anyone could) why’s she whining about it now?

Both artists were mediocre, as well.

It saddens me that both these titles, which at one point I absolutely loved, have to end on such a low note. Lets hope these character’s get do well, and get written well in the future.