Review: Robin War
Quick Summary
Pros: The first half of the story is great. It features a lot of fun action and some great character moments.
Cons: There are a lot of improbable events which do a lot of damage to suspension of disbelief. The book’s ending cheapens the work as a whole and almost completely voids its message.
Overall: This book starts out great, it is an enjoyable crossover featuring everyone who has ever been a “Robin.” This leads to high stakes action, thrilling adventure, and even some comedy. Yet things start to fall apart in the middle and lead to a dissatisfying ending. Overall, this is a book with a lot of great moments in it that fails to deliver when it comes to the conclusion.
Review Notes
The Robin War collection contains the six main parts of the “Robin War” storyline, Robin War #1 & 2, Grayson #15, Detective Comics #47, We are Robin #7, and Robin: Son of Batman #7. It also contains the three tie-in issues, Red Hood/Arsenal #7, Gotham Academy #13, and Teen Titans #15. For the purposes of this review, we will only be talking about the six main story pieces. This is because the three tie-ins have much more to do with their individual series than they do with the actual “Robin War.”
Thus, this review will cover Robin War #1 & 2, Grayson #15, Detective Comics #47, We are Robin #7, and Robin: Son of Batman #7. Reviews of Red Hood/Arsenal #7, Gotham Academy #13, and Teen Titans #15 can be found in our reviews of the trade paperbacks they are collected in (reviews coming soon).
Story
When announced, Robin War seemed like it was going to be an interesting concept. It was going to expand on some of the interesting themes being developed in We are Robin Vol. 1: The Vigilante Business (Review) while also providing for some cool moments between all of the past and present Robins. At the beginning of the story, this is true and it is everything one would expect it to be. However, around the halfway point, things start to go downhill. The story jumps around, numerous improbable events make suspension of disbelief hard to achieve, and the ending makes the whole thing feel like a lackluster setup for another book.
(spoilers start here)
This collection starts out with a good deal of promise. The first issue is bombastic, action packed, and very fun. It sees all of the Robins, and the new Batman, coming together and learning that they do not agree on everything. It also introduces an enigmatic villain whose motives prove to be a compelling mystery.
The second issue is even better. It continues the fun and action that the first issue had but then enhances it with great character interactions and development. Seeing the former and current Robins interact with their new students is a joy. In particular, I greatly enjoyed seeing Red Hood take an unexpected liking to his teaching role. Plus, seeing the Robins interact with each other is great too; King writes them in a way that makes you believe these characters really are brothers fighting for a similar cause.
The next few issues are not as great but still maintain a positive level of quality. They contain a few solid moments of the heroes interacting with each other and proceed to further peel back the layers on the book’s overall mystery. Specifically, seeing Tim and Jason fake out the Court by performing an acrobatic routine was very satisfying.
However, around this point is where problems start to crop up. Everything starts to feel too improbable to believe: Duke knows Damian and Dick’s identities without any detective training at all, Damian takes down Tim and Jason easily yet struggles to beat Duke, and every “Robin” survives the battle against a deadly horde of assassins. By the end of the book it becomes too much and effectively breaks the suspension of disbelief.
Then, the ending of the book adds to the negatives. Dick sells himself out to the Court in order to ensure the city’s protection, thus undercutting basically everything the “Robins” did. The message of the story seemed to be that people can do anything if they band together, yet Dick’s deal voids this completely. It also makes the whole story feel as if it were simply a setup for this one moment. This is Trinity War all over again, in that the whole story feels like it was told for the sole purpose of setting up a completely separate story. Together these things really cheapen the ending of what could have been a much better book.
I will concede though that Duke and Damian’s interaction at the book’s conclusion was pretty great. Duke compares Damian’s actions to that of a boy trying too hard to be like his father, a message that hits right at Damian’s core. If this final confrontation was not made meaningless by the book’s real ending, it could have been the highlight of the event.
(spoilers end here)
Art
This collection is a complete conglomeration of different art, with ten different pencilers working throughout. While none of these artists are bad on their own, the shear volume of different styles make this relatively short series hard to read. Even Mikel Janín’s excellent work on the Grayson issue is drowned out by only being one piece of a much greater puzzle. The shifts are so frequent that they become jarring and are even distracting at points. Overall, if you can get past the constant art changes then you may find this issue to be visually pleasing, but if you cannot then you’re in for a rough time.
Continuity
This is a crossover event in the DC Comics universe with portions of the event spanning across multiple comic book series. While the event itself directly stems from We are Robin Vol. 1: The Vigilante Business (Review), it ends up encompassing much more. It starts with Robin War #1, continues through issues of four other series, and concludes in Robin War #2. Overall, these six issues create a singular narrative that involves characters from each series.
All of this means that you should have a general knowledge of what is going on in each of the four series before reading this. We are Robin Vol. 1: The Vigilante Business (Review) is probably the most important piece of this puzzle though and will give the most direct prelude to the events of this collection.
This volume also references and continues the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:
- The position of the characters after the convenience store robbery is a reference to Batman #404, which is the start of the “Year One” storyline. This is collected in Batman: Year One.
- The new “Batman” in town started the job in Batman Vol. 8: Superheavy.
- The Court of Owls made their first appearance in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review) and Batman Vol. 2: City of Owls (Review).
- Their interest in Dick Grayson is first mentioned in both Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review) and Nightwing Vol. 1: Traps and Trapezes (Review). However it is revealed in full detail in Nightwing Vol. 2: Night of the Owls (Review).
- Lincoln March plays a role in this book.
- His first appearance was in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review). However, he didn’t really become a large figure in the universe until Batman Vol. 2: City of Owls (Review).
- He was imprisoned by the Court of Owls in Batman Eternal Vol. 3.
- Damian’s father not remembering him is due to the events of Batman Vol. 7: Endgame.
Collection Notes
Every issue found in this crossover can be found in:
The individual issues of the main series can be found in:
- Grayson Vol. 4: A Ghost in the Tomb (Review)
- Detective Comics Vol. 8: Blood of Hereos
- We are Robin Vol. 2: Jokers
- Robin: Son of Batman Vol. 2: Dawn of the Demons
The individual issues of the tie-ins can be found in: