DC Sneak Peek: We Are… ROBIN!

Were it not coming out amidst a soft relaunch, there is no doubt in my mind that We Are Robin would be one of the most talked about titles from DC’s solicits. Not only is this a team book set in Gotham with a black protagonist, it’s also a pretty safe investment for DC, not things that usually go together. Nevertheless, I feel like the lead up to this series has been pretty quiet.

Now we have our first glimpse at this series, an idea that’s either so obvious it’s a wonder DC never tried it before or so blasphemous that it’s just terrible that they’ve stooped so low. With this preview, we finally have a sense of what this series might be.

To be honest, the first caption box, at least partially, answered my greatest worry about this series. If we’re going to have a group of kids, especially minority kids, take on the name Robin, go around defending Gotham, we’re going to have to examine the climate of fear and violence that surrounds violent protest in this country. Now I’m certain that many activist readers will find this story woefully short of the mark, but it definitely hints that the book will not be as sanitized as many previous comics when it literally opens with “We are not punks.” Even so, it’s more than a little disappointing to see the vast majority of the Robins depicted as white, considering the way the series is being marketed. Perhaps the arrival of Duke Thomas will usher more Robins of color into the series, or maybe Bermejo will actually address that dressing up in gaudy colors and punching crooks is a lot easier when you’re an angsty white kid. It’s not a replacement for The Movement yet.

As for the story itself, Lee Bermejo makes an interesting choice and puts the focus less on the heroism or the power of becoming a masked vigilante than the complexity of the internal administration that accompanies it. I admit that it doesn’t make for the most interesting short, there’s not a lot of room to pay off that slow burn, but it bodes well for the issues to come. After all, if we’re going to do a gritty street-level Robins series you can’t have these kids playing on Dick Grayson or Jason Todd’s level. Thankfully there seems to be a conscious awareness of the balance between the danger and the capability of these characters.

The structure Bermejo has chosen allows us to get an introduction to, what one presumes to be, a good chunk of the cast, if only by their handles. At this point we only get the most surface understanding of who these characters are, but they are fairly distinct. The biggest problem is that it’s not the easiest to keep track of who’s who. Now Bermejo has come up with a pretty effective way of introducing each character, matching them to their IM conversations through color and timing, but he also makes the choice to keep their faces obscured. I like that, but together the two sometimes clash against each other, making it difficult to be certain that you remember which voice belongs to which Robin. It doesn’t help that one of them, identified by a saffron yellow, is introduced immediately before another, identified by an orange caption, nor that these two break into the conversation. It’s not an impassable barrier, but there’s just enough to encourage rereading and, as the book moves on and you have to remember which handle belongs to which Robin without a face to pair it to, it can challenge.

While I’m not one-hundred percent sure about that choice, it does show how Bermejo is using his artist’s sensibility. There’s another great page incorporating photos into the layout that shows that he was thinking about how to present his images in the most interesting fashion. Still, much as he’s demonstrated an admirable attention to both visual and narrative concerns, Bermejo’s dialogue is still a little needless at times. We know next to nothing about the villains of the piece save that they’re Russian and, though Bermejo throws some fun color into their dialogue, it never serves a purpose beyond filling the otherwise awkward silence. Similarly, while we learn a little about each Robin’s style through their conversation, I know almost nothing about any of them from what is actually said. For now it’s a lot less about what they say than how they say it.

I also have to say that I’m not entirely sure how the Robins are communicating. The presence of screen names implies that it’s some form of instant messaging rather than texts, but “The Nest” seems to be talking to the public. I also have to say that I’m a little tired of the ‘social media as shorthand for teenagers’ trope.

Rob Haynes’ breakdowns are filled in by Jorge Corona, but Khary Randolph is nowhere in sight. It’s a little disappointing to have a different artist from the main series on the preview, but that doesn’t change the fact that the art is quite nice. Corona takes an angular and slightly sarcastic aesthetic that suits the youth of the characters, if somewhat simplistically. The characters are all lean and slender, there’s definitely an attempt to play up the excitement of being a teen vigilante. There’s something very 90s punk about the whole thing. That said, I feel like that backfired on me a little. I may just be getting too old to just enjoy that aspirational rush, but what interested me in this short was the attention paid to how dangerous this is. For me, these kids are cool not because they fight authority and ride motorbikes, but because they stand up for something and do so in spite of the danger of going out untrained. It feels a little like the story and the art disagree on this, or at least like the comic is trying to have its cake and eat it too.

Some Thoughts:

• I have to say, I feel like these code names are not exactly keeping our heroes’ identities secret. More than a few seemingly reference the Robins’ real names, and, even worse, if these identities are being used in any other context, they’re basically giant neon signs that say “I’m a Robin”. Can’t imagine it takes much to figure out that Andre is a Robin with a handle like Dre-B-Robin.
• For that matter, are they not aware that the NSA has all of these communications? I mean, it may be a little early, but they have to know that this is not secure, right? Maybe Shug-R is a hacker and is keeping the authorities off the trail, but one has to imagine that Barbara Gordon or Tim Drake are aware of the situation and are none too happy about a bunch of untrained kids taking over the late Dick Grayson’s persona, to say nothing of what Damien would do if he found out…