Robins #1

Robins #1

DC Comics 2021

Written by Tim Seeley

Illustrated by Baldemar Rivas

Coloured by Romulo Fajardo Jr.

Lettered by Steve Wands

The five heroes to have donned the Robin cape and mask find themselves at a crossroads in their lives. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne come together to discuss the big thing that binds them together: Was being Robin, and Batman’s sidekick, the best choice they could’ve made? But before they can get to the heart of the matter, they’re ambushed by an unknown assailant with a bone to pick with them. She claims to have been the first Robin, and she’s out to prove Batman should’ve never trained any of them. Winner of DC’s Round Robin tournament, as chosen by you, the readers!

Well I thought I’d read this and see what it was going to be about and with Tim at the helm I knew it would be interesting. I find this new character interesting, definitely unstable and the possibilities with her are seemingly endless. With this issue being told I’m already invested and engaged in this story because my mind has a backstory made up for her and we’ll see how well I do after so many years of reading comics. Also what’s revealed here is something I never would’ve dreamed of happening and yet it’s a great twist.

I am a 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 is presented exceptionally well. 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 a magnificent job with such a large cast of characters' personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing the story, revealing the characters and starting this journey we want to see so much more.

I’m pretty impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. I like how we see the layers within the story open up new avenues to be explored and how this adds so much depth, dimension and complexity to the story. Each one of them is an avenue unto themselves by the way. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

I’m not sure how I feel about the interiors yet. I like them but I don't. It's weird that I cannot pinpoint my feelings, which is unusual for me. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp and along with the varying weights that we see creating the detail within the work is very nicely rendered. I do wish we’d see more backgrounds and make Dick’s apartment feel more cramped with them all in there. The composition within the panels brings 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 show a solid eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works.

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I’m super intrigued by who this new character is and I cannot wait to learn more about her. She obviously knows more than she possibly should and I still have theories about this. I do like how we see each of the Robin’s recant their desire to either be or be drafted as Robin. I can see why this won the Round Robin tournament heh because the creative team really works well together and has put out this solid read. It’s got some strong, interesting writing and spot on characterisation and some unique and different interiors.