Robin & Batman # 1 gives Robin a grim new backstory in the DC universe

Dick Grayson has operated under the nom de guerre Nightwing since 1984, a period of time that is just seven years before the 44 years he spent fighting crime as Robin, DC’s first Boy Wonder.

Also, it’s been 20 years since DC originally published Robin: year one, the final definitive version of Dick Grayson’s dangerous first year as the colorful, smiling counterpart to Gotham City’s grim Dark Knight. As we approach the year 2022, some might say it’s time for a generational refresher course on the history of the DCU, and with Robin and batman, Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen give Dick Grayson just that.

Robin and batman Issue # 1 is a revised review of Dick’s training days as a crime fighter, one that shows us how close the newly orphan Robin came to losing all the good and pure about himself in his quest for revenge. Given that, it’s a darker story than you might find in your typical Robin book. So how is the Descend The team’s first united foray into Batman’s historical legacy, and what incalculable dangers does his saga hold for Boy Wonder?

Who is doing Robin and batman # 1?

Robin and batman is directed by Eisner award winners Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, with lyrics by Steve Wands. As a writer and artist respectively, Lemire & Nguyen are also the creative team behind Image Comics. Descend, which just ended its 5-year run earlier this year with the eighteenth issue of its sequel series, Ascend. Certainly, Nguyen is no stranger to Gotham City; in addition to drawing and painting an excellent 20-issue publication Batman: Streets of Gotham (written by Paul Dini), Nguyen also saw a stretch on the Bat-Family weekly event series Eternal Batman, the DCU Future Shock series, Batman Beyond Unlimitedand co-wrote Batman: Li’l Gotham with frequent contributor Derek Fridolfs. Lemire’s time in Gotham is more limited, but DC recently posted Joker: Killer Smile who paired Lemire with his Gideon falls co-creator Andrea Sorrentino, and capped the DC miniseries Black Label with the one-shot epilogue, Batman: Smile Killer.

What is it Robin and batman # 1 about?

Robin and batman is a prestigious three-issue format series that explores the emotionally tense days just before Dick Grayson took on his role as Robin. The proceedings are documented by Dick himself, who writes his feelings in a journal and reflects for himself on his new role as a vigilante’s protégé. Later, it is revealed that Dick’s history as a circus acrobat has a connection to a larger nemesis in Batman’s rogues gallery.

Because it is Robin and batman # 1 happening now?

Image: Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen / DC Comics

From 1987 Batman: Year One set the bar for how a superhero’s origin story could be told in a modern context, while 2001 Robin: year one provided context to a superhero origin story that spanned several generations. Like Nightwing, Dick Grayson’s popularity has only grown in the twenty years since DC last reviewed his first formative year as Wonder Boy, and while DC made a wild attempt to synthesize a new “Batman and Robin: Year One “in 2005, Frank Miller and Jim Lee’s Batman All-Star and Robin the Boy Wonder It turned out to be a dire Gotham City dead end that remains unfinished – and controversial – to this day. Robin and batman # 1 is a much more sober attempt to recontextualize Dick Grayson, with a vision of how he survived those crucial early days as a partner to a dark vigilante.

Are there any required reading?

Robin and batman takes place early in Robin’s career, not long after Batman began operating in Gotham City. A passing familiarity with the Robin concept, being a kid running across rooftops in a brightly colored uniform and cracking up alongside Batman, is really all that is required before breaking down. Robin and batman # 1.

However, the unique association of Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne is often considered the second most stable of all the Batman and Robin variations, with the remarkably laid-back Tim Drake taking the top spot in this regard, leading me to recommend Marv Wolfman, George. Pérez and Jim Aparo A lonely place to die, a story that went through bat Man # 440- # 442 and New titans # 60- # 61 and affirmed the importance of Robin’s role in Batman’s war on crime, particularly how his presence has a positive psychological effect on Bruce Wayne and makes him a better caped crusader. If something, A lonely place to die Should be required reading after having read the next three issues of Robin and batman, if only to better appreciate how tenuous Batman’s control is over other people, and how cool Dick Grayson becomes as a superhero.

(Also: a visualization of “Robin’s Reckoning” in two parts of Batman: The Animated Series after reading this could also be in order, if crying openly on a TV screen is something you like).

It is Robin and batman # 1 good?

Robin and batman The n. 1 spins a slightly different kind of thread than most tales about Robin’s origin, at least in terms of mood. It is told largely from the perspective of Dick Grayson, in a surprisingly grown-up voice, through subtitles weighing his feelings as things between him and Batman quickly turn southward. (Sometimes your reflections are drawn from your journal; sometimes they are drawn from your thoughts as they occur.) Lemire clearly delineates the differences between what Batman wants out of this new relationship, which, at this point, is practically an experiment for him. – and what Dick thinks he wants.

Because this is told largely from Dick’s perspective, we are allowed to go into the darker parts of his mind as he kicks off the idea of ​​indulging himself as much in this dangerous new life as his mentor has clearly done. (“[The] darkness has weight. And now it feels like I’m starting to sink. And the more I fall, the more difficult it is to see the exit ”). It’s somewhat disconcerting to watch a child play with such thoughts (Dick’s future is not assured, as far as he’s concerned, so what is this diary supposed to do? Be documenting?), But Robin and batman # 1 excels when focusing on the child who has dominance over the marquee.

It is not difficult to find parallels with Batman All-Star and Robin the Boy Wonder on Robin and batman. These are parallels that lie beyond the duo’s historical iconography and rest solely on the text and imagery of the Miller / Lee series, which makes me wonder if Lemire & Nguyen took into account the general negative reception of the former when they were building the series. latest. On Robin and batman # 1, Alfred is more passive-aggressive in his criticism of Batman’s treatment of Dick than in All-star (there are no matches to push here); the phrase “soldier” is used as a critique of how Batman chooses to perceive Dick; and Batman could be a scruffy, distracted maniac here, since he’s in All-star, but at least he’s light years more educated about it. Clumsy as it is, Batman and Robin All-Star it still casts a shadow, and it is hard not to detect Miller’s influences on this work.

As for Nguyen, he is forging a new artistic steel with Robin and batman. His Gotham City feels more abstract than anything I’ve seen of him before, which gives this theme a foreboding vibe. The streets are choked with plumes of steam and smoke, the concrete cannons feel like they are forever, and during a particularly unique moment of angry silence between Batman and Dick, the exteriors scream red. Nguyen’s watercolors lean toward the blacker inks in this issue, employing only Robin’s signature reds, yellows, and greens in the second half, where it is clear that Dick’s future as a crime fighter is less certain than he is. that we might have originally believed. As the trouble comes to an end, those vivid colors suddenly become Dick’s only touchstone for a life that no longer exists.

Below him is darkness. Wrapped around you is the home you will never have again. What will tomorrow bring? For Lemire and Nguyen, it’s another personal record.

A panel that appeared

“We can’t have any secrets.” It’s a line that will always drive a wedge between two people and create a rot that runs through the entire relationship between Batman and Robin until they finally, perhaps fortunately, part ways. What this statement means in the short term for this fledgling Dynamic Duo is the big reason you should be reading. Robin and batman; the stakes may be personal, but it is no less tremendous.