Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: Present Tense
Written by: Jon Lewis
Penciled by: Pete Woods
Inked by: Andrew Pepoy
Colored by: Noelle Giddings
Lettered by: Willie Schubert
Editor: Matt Idelson
Publisher: DC Comics
It took Jon Lewis a little time to get up to speed on ROBIN, but the last half-year his stories have been among the best on the market, anywhere. The just wrapped up “Wrong Town†arc gave me pause to start, but was stunningly good in a creepy crawly sort of way. I was a lucky enough to write the reviews for each of the four issues in the storyline, if you’d like a brief look at them check out each issues write up: 122, 133, 114, 115. While the story was off the beaten track, the execution was near perfection. The big question for me this issue was if Lewis could follow up his excellent work with an equally good story.
I really expected things to return to a less weird status quo this month. It seemed like I was right as the story concerning the sixteenth birthday celebration for Tim Drake (Robin) starts off pretty low key. Jon Lewis brings a nice moment of normalcy to a teen whose life is normally anything but. Tim gets to spend time with his family and friends, and even has a tender moment with his love interest, Stephanie Brown (Spoiler). Of course the calm is broken, when a strange package is delivered to Tim.
Initially I thought the package was Batman’s gift, which was going to lead to a surprise birthday bash in the cave, but Jon Lewis has thrown yet another curveball. Robin enlists Batman’s aid, and the Dynamic Duo embarks on the search for clues about this mysterious box. It seems like Jon Lewis may be taking lessons from Geoff Johns, as we get a last page that will leave you speechless. Let’s just say the weirdness factor that I assumed would subside, doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.
The early stories that Jon Lewis wrote for ROBIN were exceptionally wordy. They suffered a bit from large blocks of text, and the talking-heads-syndrome. One of the key factors of the success of the writing has been the wonderful narration by Robin. As his time has advanced on the book Lewis has tempered the dialogue and even the narration some, and the less is more approach has worked really well. This has allowed the art to take firmer hold of the book thus the recent stories have flowed much better.
The artwork is excellent as always in the pages of ROBIN. Pete Woods has been with the title for a long time now, and he and Andrew Pepoy work very well together. The team has flawlessly carried out the darker and overall stranger tone the book has taken under Lewis. This issue boasts a large cast of characters, and never once does the team disappoint in the look of Robin or the supporting cast.
DC has me quite torn about what the next few months will bring to ROBIN. At the end of the year the major players on the creative team will be changing significantly. Out will be Lewis and Woods, to be replaced by “it†writer Bill Willingham, of FABLES fame, and artist Rick Mays. While a great team will be taking over the life of the boy wonder, I believe there was already an excellent team in place.
