“Field Trip”
Artist: Gleb Melnikov
Color Artist: Luis Guerrero
Letterer: ALW’s Troy Peteri
Review by Fay Clark
I always get so excited when I see that a new issue of Robin is coming out. The epic cliff-hanger last month had me making grabby hands for Robin #11.
The New Owners of Murder Island
Holy demon blood, Batman. Why am I reading anything else? Joshua Williamson has yet again blown my mind. Just when you manage to scramble the pieces back together a new Robin comes out and we are back to brains over easy. This issue is a perfect example of this. The first few pages already have you hooked, then it just keeps escalating. Damian has some explaining to do when the rest of the Al Ghuls come crashing onto the island. There are several things demanded of him, but Damian has never followed rules or orders… so why start now?
Williamson’s writing has always set a fantastically fun, yet murderous vibe. There’s a lot of adventure and some great one-liners in Robin #11, yet we’re literally on murder island in the middle of a deadly competition. So, having a group of these KNOWN KILLERS taking what feels like a high school graduation field trip was super fun, in a weird way. The way Joshua has written this bonding session was great. The classic trope of everyone splitting up to find the thing and then learning a bunch of stuff about each other in the process feels very teen movie. Right up until the point where they find the guy they went looking for… then it just turns the awesome up to 11!
Trio Team-up Triumph
I could spend years writing about how amazing the artistic team is on this series. You can’t go wrong with a team like Gleb Melnikov and Luis Guerrero. Every single page is just so pleasing to look at. Not taking anything away from Joshua Williamson, but if you went through and just looked at the art, the story would still flow pretty well. That’s how you know Melnikov and Guerrero are a fantastic team. There are a few specific panels towards the end that I could happily look at forever. Damian and his rag-tag group of friends have a great creative team to make them look SUPER cool while they fight. That’s all we want in life.
ALSO, THE FLOWY MAJESTIC HAIR IS BACK AND I LOVE IT. Come on, how could I not mention that?
Conclusion
Don’t miss Robin #11, though I don’t know why anyone would want to. I genuinely think you should go and spend your hard-earned money on this series because it will be well worth it. Williamson somehow keeps getting better with each issue and it’s blowing me away.
I need the next issue ASAP.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment