Flashback Friday: May 28th.

Get ready for a blast from the past, it's time for Flashback Friday! Or maybe I should start to call it Tim Drake Friday... Although I do have a few non-Tim Drake Robin books to check out(like 2...)this week is very Timmy-centric. Next week once everything settles down(provided I can find everything!)I fully intend on reading the second Wolverine Weapon X trade, as well as a Gen 13 trade that was written by the uber-talented Gail Simone. Why Gen 13? Because my sister has been raving about it, and anybody who knows my sister knows she doesn't rave about ANYTHING, so I figure this Gen 13 book MUST be worth a look. But that's next week, I still have this week to get through. So without further ado, here's this week's back issue bonanza.

Wonder Woman #113(Sept. 1996): This is a very early Wonder Girl appearance, and let me tell you, Cassie was ANNOYING back in the day! Cassie winds up stealing a bunch of Wonder Woman's artifacts and goes hunting the villainous Decay. Decay does a good job of trouncing Cassie, who is eventually saved by Wonder Woman. Score: 6 out of 10.

Flash 80-page Giant #1(Aug. 1998): 7 different stories here, so I'll try to quickly touch on each one. The first was a stinker where Wally West envisioned his life had he not gotten his speed powers(he was a paralyzed bum for some reason...). Next we had a flashback story with Barry Allen and Jay Garrick against the Shade in a story that actually made me slightly embarrassed to call myself a Shade fan... It looked like he was wrapped in black tin foil! Next was a fun little Impulse story where he was dealing with Gorilla Grodd and an army of intelligent rodents. Story 4 was a pretty good Jesse Quick story, while story 5 dealt with Max Mercury and Babe Ruth... Yes, THAT Babe Ruth. We then had a surprisingly good story about future Flash John Fox, and closed the book with a story in which Wally West met up with Mark Millar, who was hoping Wally would give him an idea for a new Flash story. As for a score for this comic, I just averaged the scores I gave all 7 stories. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Robin II #1(Oct. 1991): This was Tim Drake's second mini-series. With Batman out of town, the Joker breaks out of Arkham and kidnaps a computer whiz. Tim winds up running into the Joker while he was kidnapping the computer guy, and Joker freaks out at the sight of Tim, since he thought Robin was dead. In the end, Joker manages to escape with the computer guy. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Robin II #2(Oct. 1991?): Tim searches Gotham hoping to find Joker, and eventually does. Joker winds up handily beating Tim, and is ready to kill the fledgling Boy Wonder, if not for the interference of the Gotham City police. Once again, Joker escapes, but realizes that Batman must not be in town. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Robin II #3(Nov. 1991?): Tim continues his hunt for Joker, but is unable to track the madman down. Joker drugs the computer expert he had kidnapped earlier and begins to wreak all kinds of computerized havoc throughout Gotham. Joker promises to cease his computer terrorism if he is given one billion dollars in a truck with Batman as the driver. Score: 6 out of 10.

Robin II #4(Dec. 1991?): Tim and Commissioner Gordon manage to outsmart the Joker by giving him an empty truck with a fake Batman automaton driving it. Joker tries to escape, but this time Tim catches him and ends up besting Joker, finishing the fight by tossing Mistah J into a vat of sewage, where he is fished out and arrested. Score: 7 out of 10.

Batman #480(June 1992): Tim Drake's father is finally released from the hospital and no longer wants his son hanging out with Bruce Wayne. As Robin, Tim manages to catch some goons who were embezzling money from his father's company, and ultimately moves out of Wayne Manor, although this issue ends with Alfred showing Tim some real estate listings, including one right next door to Wayne Manor. Score: 7 out of 10.

Robin III #1(Dec. 1992): This is the final Robin mini-series before DC finally relented and made the Robin comic a regular monthly. Huntress is running around Gotham busting heads, and Tim winds up running afoul the KGBeast, who was destroying a Russian owned store whose owner wouldn't pay the Beast's handlers protection money. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Robin III #2(Jan. 1993): Tim is unable to prevent the KGBeast from killing the store owner from last issue, or from halting the Beast from kidnapping the store owner's teen-aged daughter. While chasing after the Beast, Tim happens to wander into Chinatown, where he is immediately attacked by his old foes, King Snake's Ghost Dragons. The Dragons trounce Tim, but he is saved by Huntress. Tim and Huntress decide to work together, since they were both after the KGBeast and his handlers. Meanwhile, Tim's guidance councilor believes Tim is being abused by Bruce Wayne because of all the bruises he's always coming to school with... If she only knew... Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

And that's it for this week. See, I told you there'd be a lot of Tim Drake related material here! Tomorrow I should have the always offensive Best of the Rest up, and boy am I going to have fun with THOSE reviews... Why? Simply put, Flash #2... Until then, Long Live The Legion!