Robin & Batman #2

Robin & Batman #2

DC Comics 2021

Written by Jeff Lemire

Illustrated by Dustin Nguyen

Lettered by Steve Wands

Dick Grayson is struggling in his training to be Robin, and the Batman decides the young man needs a break…and takes him to meet the Justice League! In an awe-inspiring moment, he meets the World’s Greatest Heroes…and their sidekicks! Will these teen titans get along?

I am absolutely thrilled by this book. Well the two issues we’ve gotten so far actually because I adore the way that we see Killer Croc in this series and this issue is the defining moment that sets the stage for the Teen Titans to be a team and since they have always been a favourite of mine, tied for the top spot with Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes. So how we see the threads of this story playing out and how this issue ends made me shake my head, smile and appreciate Alfred all the more. I am loving the fact that Jeff is writing this in such a way that you cannot predict what is going to happen and that he’s kind of changing things up and seemingly tying in some of the Titans television show into this, two points of that story appear here and I have to say they are two that makes the most sense in my eyes.

I’m a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are impeccably rendered. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does an absolutely bloody brilliant job continuing to flesh out the personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we want to see. I mean there are so many threads that scream out to be explored more.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen are exceptionally well rendered. I am also liking the way that we see these layers open up new avenues to be explored. While they all won’t be, they all do add some great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. Though the best one is going to be the one that features Killer Croc, though Alfred's opinions are a close second. The way that we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are handled exceptionally well.

The interiors here are nicely rendered as well. How we see the linework and it’s varying weights being utilised to create the detail we see within the work is rendered extremely well. While we do see some nice use of backgrounds there are still too many blank ones as well, regardless, they do expand and enhance the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The watercolour painting effects of the colours are beautifully done. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a seasoned eye for how colour works.

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This isn’t what I thought it was going to be and that's cause for celebration in and of itself. The costume is different from the original one we see and he’s not the first sidekick in the group but the story overall is being exceptionally well told. This is amazingly well told with some gripping characterisation and some extremely interesting interiors bringing it all to life. I wouldn’t mind seeing these guys take on the early Teen Titans sneaking off on missions while the League is busy as their next DC project.