The latest volume in the Robin series from DC features the continuing adventures of Damien Wayne. Here he is embarking on a quest to become the worlds greatest fighter in a not too original plotline along the lines of “Enter The Dragon“. Despite this, given it is written by the excellent Joshua Williamson we deemed it worth picking up. So is it any good? Well read on and see.
Impressions
As we said the opening issue is pretty standard stuff story-wise. Young fighter wants to test himself and low and behold ends up being invited to a tournament on a private island. This doesn’t mean it can’t be fun though and Williamson injects just enough character-building into it to make you want to keep turning the pages. This is just as well as the cover and opening page looked a bit cartoony to carry the story off.
We were not familiar with Gleb Melnikov’s art prior to this but found that it grew on us as the issue progressed and we found it reminiscent of Joe Madureira’s work. The story flows nicely and Williamson managed to cram quite a lot into this opening issue.
Three new characters turn up and although one (Respawn) is only a cameo, the other two both appear more and are major players in the opener. The first Mother Soul is the mysterious host of the tournament, while Flatline turns out to be his first opponent. Both Marvel & DC seem to roll out new throwaway characters on a near-weekly basis currently, however, these two might actually have a bit of staying power.
Thus this is a book that might attract a bit of speculative interest further down the line, especially if the creative team manages to build on what has been a pretty solid start.
Reader Rating
A solid 8.5/10 from us. After a slightly hesitant start, we really enjoyed this issue and will be adding the next few issues to our pull list. The final page is worth the cost of the book but we won’t spoil the surprise by saying any more!
Robin Vol. 3 By DC Comics From June 2021.
The New Robin Damien Wayne
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Gleb Melnikov
Cover Artist: Gleb Melnikov
There is a typical range of variant covers for the completist too!
Prospects
This could become a bit of a key issue in the future given the first appearance mentioned above. If you are looking for a comic to speculate on this is worth a punt.
Lewis Walker
