#gonna be straight up honest I have no care into reading the robin comic series

[zenlosingit]

When Dan Mora released his cover variants for the new Robin series with Tim Drake I vowed to myself that I would get those comic variants if it was the last thing I would do.

And y’all I’m making well on that vow cause I nabbed the first one today and I can’t describe the joY I FEEL RN LET’S GO BABY-

[red-hood-redemption]

SO I know I’m like, super late to the party, but I finally got my hands on Robin 2021 and there is literally no one for me to talk to about it so now I’m just screaming my thoughts into the void ✌

First off, before i even bought the first two issues, I read through a lot of other people’s opinions on it to kinda get an idea of where it was going characterization-wise for Damian, and because of all the mixed reactions, I figured I should just read it myself and find out. Now I am the FURTHEST thing from a comic book authority, so like, this is truly just an opinion piece but if it convinces anyone to give the run a chance, then yay!!! Honestly, I’m really glad I gave it a shot because I’m genuinely hooked! I’m actually excited about this series (and it scares me lol)!!!

I'm gonna separate my thoughts into two sections: characters, and story, mainly for my own ease, but also if anyone cares more about one thing or the other it's easier to distinguish. But,  the line is a little blurry so if I end up getting a little too much into the characterization in the story section, just bear with me lmao. OH and I'm going to try and keep this as un-spoilery as possible but we'll just have to see. SOOOOOOOO

Characters

I think it goes without saying that Melnikov's art is absolutely gorgeous, and really does show how much Damian has grown up. It makes me want to sob its so beautiful, everyone is so pretty, even the guy that looks like a washed up, high as fuck Tony Stark lmao. But moving on to the actual characters,

Rose Wilson

I honestly don't know too much about Rose, I haven't read enough about her to say anything about her characterization and how it compares to her other appearances, or whether or not she is OOC, but so far, I'm enjoying her taking up the "big sis" role, like, immediately lmao.

I don't know how much I trust her yet, but I definitely get the vibe that even if she does betray Dami in any way, she's probably gonna stick her neck out for Dami again and he's probably gonna do the same.

I'm really intrigued about her motivations for being here. Obviously, Respawn has something to do with it, but I want to know what's up with that. I've seen a lot of theories and I'm so excited. Also side note, that Black Swan chick is hot, and I can't wait to see more of her in action!!!

I feel like Ravager knows a WHOLE lot more than Dami does about the interesting things going on on the island, mainly because she's been doing a lot more sitting and waiting than he has as of yet, but I'm hoping to see more of the two of them doing detective-y sleuthing together. We love a mysteryyyy

Flatline

Okay but real talk, why does she look like a character straight out of Monster High

Honestly tho, I dig it. It's cute! She's cute! She isn't annoying (yet) but I don't know if I care too much about her other than she would make a cute friend for Dami.

I think the problem with DC is that they know people LOVE Harley Quinn and they try so hard to make characters just like her but it always falls short, so honestly I am a little wary of her character development in this run, but I'm willing to give her a shot since her little coffin purse on the cover of the second issue is so damn cute. I'm a slut for character design, okay?

Oh speaking of Flatline and Dami, I don't ship it and I don't want them to force a romantic relationship into Damian's "coming of age"/"soul-searching" moment okay? Because that's what this run is about, at least to me! More on that in the story section!

They're literally 13/14 years old. That's 8th-9th grade, babes lets think about that for a minute

Also let's stop the whole "lets introduce a female character just to make her a love interest!" bullshit okay?

Basically, Flatline is interesting, or at least has the potential to be, but I don't want to get my hopes up because DC is notorious for disservicing their female characters 😕

I think the mixed reaction to her is valid, I don't think she's had much time to make a solid impression yet, so I guess you'd have to read it for yourself. Personally, I don't understand why people immediately hate her, especially because she's like, 14, and what kid that age isn't annoying? like at least a little bit lmao! But, yeah. I don't trust her either but literally everyone on this island is sketchy at least and a murderer at best, so hey 🤷‍♀️

Damian

His new outfit lmaoooo at first I was like "WHaT is this child wearing? You'd think Dick would have rubbed off on him and taught him what good taste looks like" but then I saw the later outfit, with the gold patterning and those sleeeevessssss ugh and I take it all back. A Fashion Icon TM. Truly stunning. A sight to behold. So proud, look at him go 😪

I think there's a lot of different opinions on Damian's characterization in this run, and I can definitely see where its coming from, but I disagree with the notion that Damian has been done dirty and reverted to a blood-thirsty, feral child.  And I have a LOT of opinions on the whole "feral" thing regarding Damian period (but that's for another time).

I don't think of Dami's rampage as a regression for his character. He's letting of emotions right then and I think its very similar to him venting. Its just not verbal, its physical and he knows he's not going to have to grapple with the consequences of his actions on the first kill. He knows he's technically not doing anything wrong.

He is clearly upset at Bruce and his failure to protect Alfred, and while Dami and Bruce are really often described as being very similar personality-wise, they are still distinctly different individuals who came to their current moral codes in vastly different ways. Bruce came to his "no killing" rule on his own; he made that decision for himself. It wasn't taught to him, it was a moment-of-truth kind of situation. Damian, on the other hand is in a vastly different situation.

Dami is, I think, at the beginning of the climb to his own moment-of-truth. He is in his rebellious phase like Dick, where he's gone off to spread his wings. It's not his conscious intention (at least that's not the vibe I got from reading the first two issues), but its directly underlying his "mission".

Damian is growing out of the expectations of his parents and into his own person. We all know he's been thrown from one moral code to another, both drastically different from each other. I don't think its a regression for him to lose his way a little, because realistically, he's going to have to in order to find it, specifically a moral compass that he forged on his own. He's just what? 14? Like hell a kid his age wants to listen to any form of authority. He's as stubborn as it comes. Damian needs to come to his decision regarding the path he takes in life on his own. It can't be made for him. He's seen and lived both sides of the coin, and I don't think he should be forced just yet to choose a side or pave a middle ground, but I do think that he should get the opportunity to see and experience all the gray areas on his own.

I think I'll transition from characterization to story here, because let's face it, this story is about Damian dealing with his confused emotions right now, in the wake of losing Alfred, a man that kind of acted like a grounding presence, a voice of reason, or a moral compass for him (and honestly Bruce and the rest of the bat crew if we're honest).

Story

So there's a lottttt going on in the story that is really enticing and exciting, and I'm really interested to see how it all plays out.

All the rules to the tournament are so, sketchy? Like they don't sound like they are meant to be sketchy, its basic safety and guidelines or whatever but with all the glowy green shit and the stakes of the tournament? Yeah, you can bet your ass its the "no fighting at night" and other shit is gonna be broken, and that's likely when the fun begins *insert evil laughter*😈

I was slightly put off by the whole "let me teach you to have fun" thing with Rose, because it's not like Dick, Steph, Jon, and like the Titans haven't done that with him too, but eh, not something I'm too concerned about. It's definitely just a segway to get us introduced to more characters that might become Damian's friends which will be interesting considering what Mother Soul said about fraternizing.

And that's another thing! I want Damian to make some friends! I know he already has some, but here's the thing: I think he's already been struggling with belonging, and he's definitely been feeling the disconnect between his life and other kids', whether they're supers/vigilantes or not. I think it'd be nice to see Dami have the experience of meeting people who he at first thinks are just like him!! and then realizing that maybe he doesn't really fit in here either, and that it's okay to feel like you don't belong, as isolating as it may feel at times. It just means you have a set of values. I want him to realize that its not always a bad thing, and you learn more about yourself and your own heart this way.

And from there,,, lets talk about the thing that stuck out to me the most in these two issues! GUILT!! It's mentioned SOO many times already, and I think its going to be a really fun, heartbreaking, and interesting aspect to explore about Damian. Is it guilt about his actions? Leaving behind family? Not being able to save Alfred? Not being a perfect example of Robin? He may call himself Robin but he doesn't sport the OG look or symbol like before. I love that his guilt takes on the form of Alfred though, or at least his conscious. I think it'd be really interesting to see this conscious disappear when Dami strays too far from his center, and when he finds it again, it reappears.

I really think that seeing Damian's actions in this run as a failure of character development is an unfair assessment, though. You can't do everything right in order to grow! You have to screw up, lose your way, experiment with life to find your fit, right?

Something tells me he doesn’t care for the tournament itself, but the end result, and the people behind it and more about WHY it was hidden from him. I mean he finds out the tournament TRULY begins once everyone has died once and tHEN he kill everyone? Felt to me less like a “killing spree” as everyone put it to a calculated decision to get the tournament going. He literally cuts Mother Soul off in the middle of her speaking to start fighting at the beginning

Anyway, just my thoughts lol. I do have some issues with the past two issues, and I might make a separate post about that, but honestly not enough for me to dislike Robin 2021 so far. I mean, besides the very obvious white-washing in the second issue, because DC can absolutely do better. And they should. It’s like they thought we wouldn’t notice???? But besides that, story and characterization-wise I’m looking forward to more. Here’s to hoping it stays that way, just with a better colorist!

[thattimdrakeguy]

Robin - the first miniseries - issue #2 (R.I.P Tom Lyle)

This issue is really good at letting you know the bare bones basics of what Tim’s going through in this story.

It may not go through all the details, but it gives you pretty much the main components of what you need to do.

A nice recap that’s always good for readers that didn’t pick up the first issue. It’s very easy, and simple at lowering any confusion.

Although there is probably still butt loads given how little they actually say, but it’s easy to pick up.

Robin’s getting beat up, this adult man who is obviously not Batman is helping him.

You can pick it up fast and continue from there.

They also give Tim’s narration, and I can’t help but read this in the most deadpan clinically exhausted tone reality can bring. It’s so deadpan and self-depreciating, but at the same time, it lets the reader know he has that boy scout thought process.

You get a sense that the kid’s doing his best to be a superhero, but it always does a good job of letting you know that even he’s aware he’s not doing a good job.

Not feeling like he’s good enough is a constant theme of Tim’s character.

His narration also shows us, that Tim is a freaking idiot. That probably should’ve thought this out before nearly getting himself beat to death.

Like he’s clever, good with computers and all that, but he’s still an idiot kid

People to be always over-value Tim’s intelligence, and while he obviously gets a lot smarter than this (often to the point of being out of character to be frank). Some people might make you think he’s a genius, like James Tynion IV, but honestly he’s no genius.

He doesn’t always make the best decisions.

Though even when he’s five steps away from toppling over, he still does his best to do what he thinks is the best thing he can do. He’s doing his best to be a hero, even when he isn’t cut out for the job yet. He keeps on trying.

His relationship with Clyde is also pretty sweet for as odd as it is. I mean, they did just meet after Clyde was gonna get killed, and Timmy jumped in to give the bad guys something else to hit.

But for what it is, it’s decently sweet.

It’s more nice character building for Tim that shows how he is in Robin mode interacting with other people and victims of crime. He’s sweet, and always doing his best to do the right thing.

Like the little boy scout he is.

--

It’s easy to barely care for the villains of this miniseries though, because to be honest. They’re so generic that it’s a bit painful to read them sometimes. They feel like they’re out of a dollar bin Kung Fu movie from the 80s. I have no idea why this is who they decided to make Tim’s first villain this.

The name of the villain is even KING SNAKE, that’s such a cheesy Kung Fu movie villain name.

Oh no, a serious, violent, psychopathic, gang leader.

What ever shall we do.

It’s something you can skip over honestly, because you pretty much know it’s going to be stuff you’ve seen before.

Basically, they go into operation ‘kill the pipsqueak’ (they don’t call it that, but that’s the idea), and that’s the threat they pose. Its very bare bones.

Though there’s a part of this that alarms me more than the main villain.

Because this implies that the girl isn’t Tim’s age. The way she says he’s “almost a child” implies she’s notably older older than Tim given how she words herself, but maybe not, because Tim IS babyfaced. It is a joke people constantly think he’s 12 (and that’s at age 17, Tim’s 14 here. So who knows how he looks to people). So, how old is this girl?

Is she’s Tim’s age? Because I’m alarmed by this because she was vaguely flirting with him in the last issue. Is she his age and she doesn’t know? Cuz if she was his age and she knows, it’s weird for her to word it that way. She’d just say “around my age”, like how a normal person would.

Even then, she still notes how he’s super young like she doesn’t think they’re the same age, so that’s still super creepy.

That interaction alarms me a lot, but it’s not even close to the creepiest thing in this comic, but thankfully that’s in another issue.

I’m not looking forward to talking about it, but this is a review of this miniseries. So I’m going to.

--

The next scene shows just how much of a stupid, sheltered, rich kid Tim is.

Like this kid, just throws away this man’s clothes. This man is in his underwear when he wakes up. Tim took this man’s clothes off his body and threw it away.

This scene I just never liked though, because it’s very contrived.

Tim’s always been shown to be nice and respectful unless it’s to not so nice people. So why does he straight up throw the guys clothes out?

They don’t even play Tim to be creepy, or weird, or rude for this. So this wasn’t intended to make him out to be a disturbing gremlin child.

As far as I can tell, the gag is that Tim’s a sheltered rich kid, and a bit stupid sometimes, but if I woke up in my underwear with a kid talking about crime in front of me. I’d be a lot more alarmed.

Although maybe it’s just some crime movie trope I don’t know about. Girl’s in movies often wake up naked with no real concern. Which is a really gross trope.

I remember in Back to the Future Marty McFly woke up with no pants, but that WAS played as weird, because it WAS weird. You don’t take stranger’s clothes off. So this scene is just contrived.

The intention isn’t to make Tim’s character a weirdo. This wasn’t them trying to show him as creepy, because that’s simply not how it’s portrayed. It’s just a rich kid joke. So he isn’t as far as the series and how I’m concerned, and he doesn’t do anything like this ever again. So it’s just out of place, odd, and contrived.

Maybe this one of the many reason’s why people think Tim was gay. He backs away from being flirted with women, but he’ll take a man’s clothes off without a second thought.

Another creepy scene though, and a scene that’s not even meant to be creepy at that, which almost makes it worse to me. Like I sure hope this wasn’t the way they intended to make Tim come off as gay, because it’s a freaking creepy scene even if it’s kind of clearly not what they intended. 

Although, let me say, I’m 99% sure they honestly did not intend Tim to come off as gay in any way. Just a bad scene honestly. It’s written away from normal human logic, so it’s contrived, and they don’t even fully act like what just happened happened.

However due to the power of interpretation, if you think Tim’s gay, he’s gay.

If they wanted to show Tim being a sheltered rich kid, they should’ve done a better job writing it then this. If Tim’s gonna do it a weird thing, because he doesn’t know what he’s doing, then write it that way. Don’t just act like this wasn’t weird.

--

Lady Shiva has her “come with me if you want to live” moment though, and so the action continues.

In general this issue has a lot more action.

The format of the miniseries is a lot more like a movie than how most comics try to squeeze in a lot of action every issue. There’s action in the first issue, but it’s mostly condensed down a lot. This finally goes into action movie territory.

The bad guys are so corny. Like I can’t get over how much they look like cheesy 80s Kung Fu movie villains.

Tim deserves better than these bozos.

However they keep Tim’s character strong, by reaffirming he’s got no street smarts. Tim at this point is 100% only making this far by his book smarts. He’s naive, and stupid still.

They even got nice ‘show don’t tell’ moments, where Tim’s just freaking bad at this job still. Even though he is quick thinking and sort of clever.

People say Tim has no character, but he has plenty of character. He just isn’t loud. He’s mostly soft spoken so maybe his personality isn’t obvious, but he has it plenty if anyone wanted to pay attention to him.

--

Enjoy some more dumb rich kid Tim.

Like casually renting a farm house isn’t normal, Timothy.

Up until this point, some people may still argue that Tim’s a Gary Stu, because while even though he fails, and isn’t skilled. People still like him, and he doesn’t do anything morally wrong, but that’s not true either.

Tim’s so focus on figuring stuff out that he becomes insensitive to Clyde.

Mostly cuz he’s a dumb, but smart (contradiction, but remember Tim’s book and computer smart, not socially smart or street smart. There’s a distinction. He’s still incredibly naive and unaware that what he did wasn’t right) kid that didn’t realize it, but still. He did something wrong, and it’s shown that he’s wrong for it.

So the traits of his character are able to be shown more to stronger limits.

We know his strong points and his character flaws.

He’s got a heroic spirit, he’s computer smart, good at crime solving, he’s constantly trying to do the right thing, and he doesn’t give up.

but socially and street-wise he’s an idiot, and his sheltered childhood ended up with him being relatively insensitive without him being aware of it at first, and while it’s clear he isn’t insensitive out of malice, it’s still a character flaw, as it causes problems between the characters.

--

The final scene gives us some character growth, and if you wanna smack Timmy for being so insensitive to Clyde, well, in this training scene. Clyde smacks him for ya. (Even if it’s not for being insensitive)

We even get to see how emotionally vulnerable Tim is compared to some other superheroes too.

He cries when he’s angry unlike other superheroes who often enough get to look cool, tough, and masculine when they cry.

Here Tim looks like what lots of people would call a wimp.

As someone who cried a lot when they were mad, and even got bullied for that fact. I honestly just really appreciate, on a personal level, that they had Tim cry when he was mad. 

He’s got his butt kicked this whole entire time by pretty much every person he freaking met. So that’s a lot of emotion coming out of him that he’s been probably building up and internalizing inside of him with all his self-deprecation in his narration.

I kinda gotta question the morals of teaching Tim to fight with anger though.

But it’s still a good moment because it shows were Clyde comes from. That’s were Clyde gets his motivation to fight from and do all of this. Clyde even tho this is his only appearance does get character in this. We learn about him a lot.

It makes me wish Clyde showed up again. Unless he did and I somehow didn’t realize it was him, because he’s a neat character in his own way. Could’ve got a nice noir crime drama out of him.

Along with that. They don’t even ignore the morals of fighting with anger, because that immediately gets brought up.

So differences between these three weirdos come up when they become a trio.

--

I prefer the first issue just because it’s more of a character study, and didn’t have all the corniness.

This issue, while I focus on the bad stuff, because this is a review I’m gonna talk about it. It’s still a good issue. Just a good issue with bad scenes and crooked morals when it comes to the ambiguous age gap between Linx and Timmy that could end up making that whole interaction they had really creepy.

Tim’s character gets stronger, and the story gets filled out, even if the story is still bare bones at this point as far as the villains are concerned. It’s filled out in a way that means, there’s a threat, and there’s actual action and adventure to make it exciting.

So it’s not a perfect miniseries for anyone looking for story. It’s a miniseries that’s perfect for people that love and wanna learn about Timmy.