Robyn Hood in Iron Maiden #1

Robyn Hood in Iron Maiden #1

Zenescope Entertainment 2021

Written by Joe Brusha

Illustrated by Renato Rei

Coloured by Grostieta

Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studio

An outlaw, a vigilante, a hero bringing justice to those in need, Robyn has been there for her city, even when her city has had a target on her back. With Robyn, still an outlaw from the law in the city she calls home, it’s pretty much torture for her daily not being able to freely roam the streets, and dealing with strikes from all sides. But when a new threat comes to town, one too familiar with torture herself, will it be too much for our favorite archer to handle when she takes on, The Iron Maiden!?

The opening is intriguing mainly because in that era for a wife to this angry about what her husband does well it’s a little surprising. I mean I would be more surprised to learn she didn’t have a lover of her own among the gladiator’s her husband owned. I’m also not altogether convinced that is enough to warrant her punishment. I would more likely believe that she was accused of stealing or trying to escape for reasons to put there. I’m not sure if this is really what Joe envisions when readers’ become engaged because it’s more about questioning his choices and his writing than anything else.

Then there’s the second opening here the one with Wepstein. He’s not even trying to hide what is going on here as adding a W to the last name is seriously going to do anything. It shows a lack of creativity and honestly just ripping off someone’s life, as despicable as it is to create a story from it, sigh. Change the name considerably and make it look like an attempt to have legitimately tried to create a new story. Human trafficking is something that persists today and it’s horrendous so i’m more than disappointed in Joe for his lackluster approach.

I wish this had started with Robyn seeing the father talking to the police it would have been a much better way to start this second part of the book and the get the story really moving. There are multiple little plot lines happening here that will eventually merge into one and I am not sure how many are really necessary. I do like seeing Robyn using some detective skills and getting into a teenage club, which versions I know used to exist is the one that is believable to me. From here the story is really rather interesting. I love seeing her do the whole detective range and find herself in over her head once again.

The interiors here are great. I love the pure comic book style that we see and the way that the linework and it’s varying weights bring out the detail work we see is impressive. I am liking the way we see the composition in the panels and how backgrounds are being utilised. This enhances the moments and brings a great perspective within the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a superb eye for storytelling. The colour work is wonderful to see and how the varying techniques to lay it down are being utilised is beautifully done. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the highlights, shading and shadow work is impressive.

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For all the nitpicking I really am enjoying this story. The idea behind is incredibly solid and this is the perfect kind of street vigilante vehicle to see her a part of. Whether this gets back to the Island, or hopefully not, one thing is clear the Iron Maiden needs more explanation as to how it works and how or whom the woman was who cursed it. Robyn Hood is a great super heroine and I wish Mackie, Meares had taken this one after all Outlaw and Vigilante leading up to this arc were phenomenal. Still this has a great feel to it and I look forward to seeing what’s next.