Pennyworth R.I.P. REVIEW!
The biggest flaw of Pennyworth R.I.P. is that it’s trying to be a character study without understanding the characters.
Character studies that suck at being character studies massively annoy me, because they can ruin the perception of the characters for lots of people that don’t know better, and that’s pretty much what this is.
Tim wouldn’t be happy to get a call to a funeral.
They ignore the disconnect between Jason and the Bat-Family when he still uses guns.
Alfred didn’t baby Damian.
And they might as well not have included Ric if he wasn’t gonna be Dick.
But I’d expect no less from James Tynion and Peter Tomasi. It went pretty much how I figured, because they always ignore Jason’s actual relationship with the Bat-Family, Tynion never understood Tim, and loves melodrama to seem like his work has substance, while Tomasi just babies Damian to pander to people, and forcing sympathy, just to force some likability out of cheap places for him.
This is shown best in this moment:
I just don’t feel like Jason Todd would do this. He’s not a jerk like this. He murders, he’d probably torture, he wanted revenge, but inside his heart is still that of a heroes (ignoring those ooc comics where Jason’s just a generic villain anyway), he cares about people as people, he should understand rushing in of all people. He isn’t a petty pisspants. Jason’s actually quite calm most of the time. He’s angry in very specific situations. Yelling at people like this, doesn’t feel like Jason’s style.
This reeks of Tomasi’s typical style of “Aww feel bad for Damian” in general as well as just making character’s be jerk to Damian randomly to make them look bad for Damian’s sake, and Tynion’s useless melodrama to at least seem like he can write drama, when it’s just cheap and over the top instead.
Damian being the only one there when Alfred died is already a traumatic experience. They didn’t have to make Jason out to be this unrepentant ass to show that. It reminds me all to well when Tomasi did the same thing to Tim to make Damian seem more in the right to beat him up. Except this just makes Jason all the more crueler given the context.
For some reason as well, Tim’s Red Robin when he should be Robin in a flashback.
So did they retcon that away AGAIN?
This is like– the, hmm, 1, 2, 3, 4,– 5th time they took Robin away from Tim in some manner.
This is ridiculous at this point.
It’s trying so desperately to be deep, but since no one really acts like themselves, it’s just forced. It can’t be actually deep in regards to the characters when the characters don’t act like the characters.
This comic follows the trope of remembering the best memory of the one that passed, and it just feels like a parody at some points, because of how ridiculous or forced it gets. That trope is a trope because it’s a natural thing people do, but they just tell these mostly random stories that don’t feel right because half of them are out of character anyways.
It is also completely ridiculous how it follows the trope of everyone acting out, because they get so pissed so fast it’s just idiotic. It’s so rushed, like the writers felt they had to get to these moments and raced to it.
I think Damian’s flashback is the worst when it comes to really forcing sentimentality, almost purely because it’s set in the beginning of Damian’s time as Robin with Bruce, and they just have Damian and Alfred act out of character to give them these cutesy moments that would be out of character no matter where in Damian’s character history.
But especially back when Damian was still barely not murdering people all the time.
Like can Tomasi stop ruining Damian’s character? He’s the most overrated writer Damian ever had, because he’s constantly just using pandering to hide that he isn’t that great. Damian is still learning to not be crazy here given the time in the flashback. Why is Tomasi acting otherwise?
Damian isn’t a normal kid and that’s the point.
What’s the point of his character growth when they act more and more like he didn’t need it? They always do that or have everyone ignore Damian’s actions half the time which makes him avoid proper growth. It’s tiring.
Tim’s is idiotic because it focuses on something so random when Tim and Alfred actually had sweet moments quite often. They played video games together,
Alfred helped convince Bruce to buy (Tim’s then girlfriend) Ariana’s Family business so she could stay in town,
he even looked after Tim when Tim was forced to go to a boarding school by his dad Jack Drake,
Alfred freaking drove Tim around in a van to fight crime when Bruce was away even.
They had lots of sweet moments already seen, but they focus on something so less personal, and more just random.
Continuing some idea Tim isn’t that involved with the Bat-Family that much ever, an outcast he was even called once. When he used to be the Bat-Family’s heart.
Jason’s is the same way with it’s choice of story sort-of. His story is so random, short, and unemotional that I feel like it was just an excuse to have Alfred crash into a building with the Batmobile rather than tell a story with a lot of meaning besides a quick “aw” and “ha”.
Barbara’s is the best. It doesn’t feel too forced, mostly just figuring out where Alfred got the time is the only reason id feel that way, but it actually focuses on a sentiment that feel legitimate, like these characters would actually do this.
It actually feels like a story that she would bring up. Something the previous stories were lacking. This feels like a natural story to tell, and it makes it the best part of the whole comic. It’s emotional, sweet, and sentimental, in all the right ways.
Dick’s doesn’t really have a lot to do with Dick, but it’s nice. Not too much to say about it unless I missed something.
Most importantly of all Alfred’s death feels meaningless because DC’s habit of shock value takes away any emotion, and it shouldn’t have ever happened.
Alfred been a character that everyone recognizes as part of Batman for decades and decades. So loyal and iconic. A character everyone can write, and killed for a story that no one likes, and all he gets is a crappy one-shot that seems like it didn’t have the right thoughts put into it.
I would’ve rather have read an extended version of Barbara’s flashback, because it had class.
This is contrived mediocrity that tries so hard to convince you it understands the characters and that it’s deep, emotional, with all this substance, but without the tools it needed to make it work.
With such an unneeded death, this was never going to feel emotional or deep, but a lack of understanding of the characters only makes it worse.
Closest they get is Tim trying to step up and help Bruce, but it’s done in that typical Tynion style of “Look at how great Tim is”, and it just gets soiled cuz it feels pretentious. Tim’s a boy doing his best, but he doesn’t come off that way the way he gets written here. It’s a veil of past Tim, but it doesn’t have the right heart.
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