Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Robin: Search for a Hero TPB


Fabian Nicieza is typically a solid writer, and while this trade was decent, I ended not enjoying it quite as much as I thought I would. I think a big part of that boils down to an editorially mandated story that took up half the trade (or so it felt). The first few issues take place during Batman RIP while Bats was wandering around Gotham going crazy, so Robin is in a panic trying to set things right. There are a bunch of short segments where Robin is trying to cover up Bats' craziness, but I just didn't connect with this story. It felt too tied in to events that were "of their time." I don't really care about Batman RIP anymore, you know?
The second story was much better, mostly because it dealt with classic Dixon-era Robin villains. Anarky is one of my favorite obscure DC characters, so seeing him pop up, even in his... limited state, was great. I loved how Nicieza even used his old online handle of Moneyspider, that's a relic from the old Alan Grant days! The General is the other villain in this arc, again, a callback to "classic" 90's villains for the title. That was my favorite time for the character, so seeing these guys (along with a cool-looking new Lynx) pretty much guaranteed I'd be more interested.
Joe Bennett handled the RIP issues, so things looked suitably dark and similar to Tony Daniel's style. I prefered Freddie Williams III shiny take on the Gotham scene. Anarky's costume looked similar enough to be an obvious update, but the modernization was nicely done.
Average

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