Robin 80-Page Giant (Volume 4) #1 is a one-shot with a cover date of September, 2000.
Synopsis for "A Tale of Robin and Marital Bliss"
More than fifty years ago, in the Kuaka Territory of Rheelasia, the Justice Society of America confronts a supervillain named Ravenna and her pair of pet tigers in retaliation for the people she displaced. The JSA tell her to surrender, but she is unafraid. The Amulet of Animha M'nhda gives her control over all living things. She uses it to control the wildlife of Rheelasia and send them after Black Canary, Doctor Fate, Hawkman, and Wildcat.
Suddenly a ravine opens up underneath Ravenna, and she almost falls to her death before Black Canary catches her by the wrist. Black Canary says she will pull Ravenna to safety only after she surrenders the Amulet, and Ravenna refuses. She slips free of Black Canary's hold and falls. Her apparent death frees the animals under her control, who all flee for their lives while Rheelasia falls victim to a volcanic eruption.
Black Canary tells her companions that they haven't seen the last of Ravenna as a turtle watches them run away from the eruption.
Two months ago, Jack Drake is at an archeological dig in Rheelasia, in the same spot where Ravenna met her end, when he finds the Amulet of Animha M'nhda. He and the professional archeologists discuss the find before Jack ultimately decides to take it with him back to Gotham City. His son's summer vacation starts tomorrow, and he wants them to get reacquainted before "the big day." His friends wonder if he'll continue playing archeologist after the wedding, but Jack isn't sure. He tells them this isn't Dana's idea of a honeymoon and that this might be all the adventure he can handle for the time being... as a turtle watches them from the bushes.
Jack boards a plane to Gotham, and the turtle reports this to a dolphin.
Last week, in Gotham, Robin and Spoiler bust a gang of home invaders who have been robbing Midtown high-rises for months. One of the home invaders takes a hostage, but unluckily for him, his chosen hostage is a pajama-clad Dinah Lance. She takes him out easily. Spoiler is in awe of her and suggests first that they become partners (to which Dinah says she already has a partner), then that she become Black Canary's apprentice. Dinah sends the children on their way while she calls 911.
Spoiler is thrilled with what happened, but Robin angrily tells her that they need to talk. She jumped the gun by going after the home invaders before he gave the word, and she embarrassed him in front of Black Canary. He admits that he might not know more than Batman, but he knows more than she does and she needs to listen to him. Spoiler swings away, agreeing that they don't fit as partners and that she needs someone older to work with... like Dinah. Robin thinks that he handled that badly.
Jack gives Dana the amulet as a gift while Mrs. McIlvaine vacuums behind them. Dana shows her the amulet, and while Mrs. McIlvaine praises it to her face, after she moves away, she calls it "the most hideous thing I've ever seen."
Jack calls Tim downstairs where Dana again shows off the amulet. Tim awkwardly describes it as "er... great," and Dana considers wearing it to their rehearsal dinner tonight. Jack sends Tim to run some errands. He lets him borrow the car, but only after he makes him promise that he will only go to the places on his list.
Tim instead goes to the ice cream parlor with his friends Sebastian and Callie. Sebastian uses pop psychology from the Terry Summer Show to predict how Tim's relationship with his stepmother will fall apart, and Callie asks if Jack is sending Tim back to Brentwood Academy in the fall. He is. Callie then asks Tim if he's dating, and he admits that there's a girl he's seen a few times.
At home, Dana tries on the amulet while a dog watches through the window.
Spoiler returns to Dinah's apartment, hoping for a more advanced teacher, and she finds Black Canary apparently at the hands of a masked attacker--not knowing that it's Wildcat. She strikes him from behind, but Black Canary quickly interrupts the fight between the two. She calls out Spoiler for attacking without knowing all the facts and unmasks her, then asks what she's doing there.
Steph struggles to explain, but once she's seated in Black Canary's kitchen, it all comes pouring out of her. She asks Dinah to mentor her. Dinah comes up with several excuses why she can't, but Wildcat reminds her that she was once in the same position. Dinah agrees on two conditions--that Steph do what she say even if it doesn't make sense and that if Dinah declares her a washout, she'll quit.
Wildcat interrupts them when he sees the photo of Jack Drake and Dana Winters at their wedding rehearsal in the society section of the newspaper. Dana is wearing the Amulet of Animha M'nhda, which he recognizes.
The dog that was spying on Dana earlier goes to the zoo, where it meets a gorilla, elephants, and a panther.
Jack is horrified when he sees Tim dressed for the wedding rehearsal--in jeans and a t-shirt which bears the image of a grinning cartoon character. He makes Tim change into something more appropriate. When he gets downstairs, Dana introduces him to her sister's daughters Kitty and Becky. They giggle over how cute he is while Dana tells him that he's driving them to the rehearsal.
At the zoo, the keepers express concern over the panther. They go in to check on her, and she waits until they're inside with the cage door open before attacking them and escaping.
In the park, Dana asks the officiant to hold off for a second while they wait on her uncle Budd. She calls Tim over to talk, and she tells him that she has no intention of replacing his mother. He is his father's son, and she won't interfere in Jack's parenting. She only hopes that they stay friends.
Their conversation is interrupted when all the zoo animals attack the reception. Tim knows he can't save everyone, so he instead focuses on saving Dana and runs, leading her to the car. They drive away as the panther chases them. The panther jumps on top of the car, and Tim swerves to throw it off.
Dana, however, has lost control of her body to Ravenna, and she attacks Tim.
Spoiler, Black Canary, and Wildcat nearly collide with the Redbird as Tim struggles with Ravenna. Spoiler identifies it as Robin's car and thinks Robin will know what is going on, but the Redbird goes off a cliffside with Tim and Ravenna/Dana still inside.
Tim escapes the wreckage of the car as Spoiler calls out for "Robin," and he hastily changes into his costume behind a tree. Robin tells them that "some woman" went crazy and attacked him while he was driving, and when Spoiler wonders why she was in the Redbird in the first place, Wildcat interrupts her to explain Ravenna's history.
The four superheroes run off to stop Ravenna before she turns all of Gotham into a safari park. Ravenna/Dana is already far ahead of them, though, because Dana is a "long distance running health freak" (according to Robin) and Robin has to call Alfred and Harold to tow the Redbird.
Robin and Spoiler are separated from Black Canary and Wildcat as they fight through the animals guarding Ravenna/Dana's way, and she asks him who "Oracle" is after Black Canary mentioned her a few times. Robin tells her she's not ready to know that. Spoiler retorts, "But I'm ready to be munched on by half the animal kingdom." Robin promises to tell her "after this," assuming there is an "after this."
Their romantic interlude in the Roman Water Garden is interrupted when a mass of spiders fall on their heads. Spoiler gets away, but Black Canary stops Robin before he can run too. She scolds him for allowing Ravenna to split them up. Her mother told her little about her JSA days, but she did say that a team has to stick together.
A swarm of rats leads them to "freak central" where Dana/Ravenna is with her animal servants and Spoiler, unmasked and on the ground, inches away from getting crushed by an elephant's foot. As Ravenna gives them her villain's speech, Wildcat creeps up behind her and attacks, tackling her to the ground. Robin throws a batarang to keep the elephant from crushing Spoiler's head.
Ravenna regains control of the scene by sending snakes to drive Robin and Black Canary to higher ground, big cats to surround Wildcat, and geese to attack Spoiler, but not for long. Spoiler escapes the geese and knocks "Jennifer of the Jungle" out with a single roundhouse right punch.
Spoiler pulls the amulet off Dana, giving it to Wildcat for safekeeping. Wildcat and Black Canary go to help round up the animals while Robin checks on Dana, assuring them that he'll made sure "this woman" receives medical treatment.
Spoiler stays behind to ask Robin what he was going to say before, but when Dana stirs, he sends her after Black Canary and Wildcat to help.
Robin carries Dana to where Alfred and Harold are picking up the Redbird, and he sets her on the ground while he goes to change back into Tim Drake's clothes.
Dana doesn't remember anything, and her wedding to Jack is "picture perfect" except for the black eye Spoiler gave her as a wedding present. Only one question bothers Tim: If Ravenna's spirit left Dana when she was knocked out, where did it go?
A squirrel climbs a tree nearby.
Appearing in "A Tale of Robin and Marital Bliss"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Alfred Pennyworth
- Black Canary
- Dana Winters
- Jack Drake
- Sebastian Ives
- Spoiler
- Wildcat (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
- Ravenna (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Callie Evans
- Harold
- Mrs. McIlvaine
- Justice Society of America (Flashback only)
- Kitty and Becky (Dana's nieces) (Single appearance)
- Cedric (archeologist) (Single appearance)
- Don and Kev (zookeepers) (Single appearance)
Locations:
Items:
- Amulet of Animha M'nhda
Vehicles:
- Redbird