Robin # 118 Review

Archive

Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: Sniped

Written by: Jon Lewis
Penciled by: Pete Woods
Inked by: Andrew Pepoy
Colored by: Heroic Age
Lettered by: Willie Schubert
Editor: Matt Idelson
Publisher: DC Comics

Like sands in the hour glass…

The current creative team on Robin is slowly bringing their final tale to a conclusion. Last issue, which I’ll blatantly self promote my review of, really irked me. Writer Jon Lewis had just brought us a stunning four-part story, and then followed it with a cool birthday party for Tim in issue #116. Unfortunately, the proverbial wheels, kind of fell off at that point.

The central event in issue # 117 was a message, sent from a version of butler extraordinaire Alfred, supposedly from a downtrodden future. While the idea of time travel in Robin is really lame, the way it’s carried out is worse. I won’t get to deeply into it, but the thought that Robin would find time travel such a stretch in the DC Universe was amazing. By the end, I was so tempted to stop reading the book, but the impending arrival of Bill Willingham in a few months, and a real affinity for most of Lewis’ work kept me on board. Let’s not rehash the same complaints I had last issue though.

More Jaeger-Meister

Jaeger is one of the cooler villains that Robin has encountered. He’s a jet pack sporting German bounty hunter with dreadlocks, and cool mask with red goggles. We’re not talking the Joker here, but his conflicts with Robin in the past have been interesting.

The issue begins with Robin attempting to stop the man who’s been tailing him. When it turns out to be Nightwing, Robin enlists the former Boy Wonder to help in his search for Jaeger; the man he assumed was trailing him. Jon Lewis gets things right again, as we see the duo follow the clues to a confederate of Jaeger’s. Lewis includes some nice material on Jaeger’s origins, most especially the rationale behind the type of quarry he usually tracks. Sadly, Jaeger isn’t the villain of this arc, and things disintegrate some as we get back to the whole time travel issue.

Out of the Woods

Pete Woods and Andrew Pepoy’s artwork is an area on Robin that I’ve never complained about. Every page of every issue, month in and out, they set the perfect tone. I mused last month, hoping the team would catch on somewhere soon, as the new art team of Rick Mays and Aaron Sowd join on with Willingham. I’m happy to report that Mr. Woods will be plying his trades monthly on Detective Comics in the near future. I’m thrilled to see such a wonderful talent move onto a “big” book. Hopefully Mr. Pepoy will have similar luck in landing his next assignment.

This issue didn’t annoy me like the last, but I’d have liked to see this arc focus more on Jaeger, and get rid of the present time travel plotline. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re given. To be fair, I’m quite certain the stories not going the obvious route. In the end Mr. Lewis will probably turn things around, and make me eat my words.