Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 (Discussion)

I liked this book so much, I thought it deserved its own thread :cool:

Honestly I was not expecting much out of this. So it was certainly a nice surprise, I mean really enjoyed this. With Dick especially I’ve been hard on all those years at one time or another, but I thought they did really well with the creators they got and how it was coordinated. Which I honestly did not think anyone in the current Bat office even knew how to coordinate something. With Dick it was more of a snap shot of his life as Nightwing. Out of all of them I thought they did Dick the best. The way they presented his stories recreated the journey in an honest way from the days of Wolfman to Seeley/King’s Grayson (which was hilarious btw. LoL, a red hair Gorilla). Now love or hate those creators it’s very hard to ague that those weren’t some of the most influential creators, with substantial tenures on the character, over the last couple decades. So I appreciated the genuineness there if you know what mean. And while the stories were by different creators, from different eras, there was a cohesiveness with the character journey that came together with them all. I really enjoyed those. And I’m in a dark place when it comes to that character right now, so for me to give any credit is not easy.

The rest of the stories were solid too. Jason’s was sort but sweet. I still much prefer Winick’s Red Hood over Lobdell’s. Even if Winick’s stories weren’t always the best. Tim’s were a bit wordy and pretentious, but tolerable. Steph’s was cute. While Damian’s were interesting but kind of sad. They at least sort of tried to tie into his current.

So ya, I was pretty happy with this. The only thing missing was Morrison B&R story :p

Not gonna lie. I was really only in it for the Damian stories but I wound up REALLY enjoying every last bit of this. It was just...such an enjoyable read from start to finish. With all the bullshit that's been thrown at all five Robins these past few years, it was nice seeing some feel good stories for them.

Are these cannons or just their own thing. Because with some heroes they make them cannon at times.

From what I can tell, none of those stories have any particular reason not to be considered canon. Except for maybe Steph's. I'm still not 100% sure where she stands continuity-wise. Hell, Damian's second story is a lead-in to a future Titans issue.

Imo it would have ben nice if they had gotten a writter from Jason's time as Robin (Collins, Barr, Starlin, or maybe one from pre crisis) during the 80s instead (or in addition) of Winnick for him.

And if they had got Dixon to write also a Story for Tim and maybe even Steph, since he was imo the most important writer for all 3 characters.

[QUOTE=Blue22;4894513]From what I can tell, none of those stories have any particular reason not to be considered canon. Except for maybe Steph's. I'm still not 100% sure where she stands continuity-wise. Hell, Damian's second story is a lead-in to a future Titans issue.[/QUOTE]
From what I hear, Stephanie's time as Robin is back in canon with the new timeline.

There are only two Robin-related bits of canon that didn't make it into the book: We Are Robin, and Matt McGinnis.

It is a good one-shot. There's not a story I dislike, which is unusual in this type of specials, but there were a few which I did't care for. Also, it had the necessary short story promoting an event to come, that while I didn't think was bad, on the contrary, I don't appreciate much in commemorative issues. My favorite short story was Grayson by Seeley, King, Janín, Cox and Napolitano. I wondered what the original team of the series had to offer in a short story after having to left the series back then before finishing it and the answer was "a lot". It had the whole Grayson vibe that I loved, with a lot of heart and fun. I think the Dick Grayson chunk of the one-shot had a neat cohesion overall and I liked the whole segment. Jason's story was fine, a type of comic that you immediately can tell it's going to be sad, which isn't a bad thing at all. I enjoyed both of Tim Drake's stories, though Tynion IV added a lot of text that I think plagued the page, it's nice to have a summary of each Robin for new and casual readears that aren't as versed in the legacy of this sidekick. The Steph story didn't do much for me, but I haven't read her short period with the costume, so I'm not the best to tell if it was a good homage to that period or not. Supersons was another story that brought me back to the feels the original run made me feel and I already talked about the second Damian story, it was good but I don't like teasers for future comics in this type of one-shot

I think the art was amazing, except for Dan Jurgens, who didn't do a bad job, but wasn't in the level of the other pencillers. The pin-ups by Nicola Scott w/ Annette Kwok and Andy Kubert w/ Brad Anderson were great and though I didn't love Frank Miller w/ Alex Sinclair's pin-up, it left me wanting a Carrie Kelley short story

[QUOTE=Dataweaver;4894756]From what I hear, Stephanie's time as Robin is back in canon with the new timeline.

There are only two Robin-related bits of canon that didn't make it into the book: We Are Robin, and Matt McGinnis.[/QUOTE]
Though the Outlaws only appeared on a new artwork page, and Young Justice was limited to just a couple of mentions of Tim's current codename being Drake - his character profile even omits YJ and just says he had a Teen Titans team (as referenced by Damian in the Red Robin story and shown in flashback in the other Tim story). Dick's time with the Outsiders went unmentioned too.

[QUOTE=Aahz;4894746][…]
And if they had got Dixon to write also a Story for Tim and maybe even Steph, since he was imo the most impotent writer for all 3 characters.[/QUOTE]

Impotent?
I don't think I have understood what you mean.

[QUOTE=Gotham citizen;4894933]Impotent?
I don't think I have understood what you mean.[/QUOTE]

Important - typo and autocorrect issue, probably.

[QUOTE=Tzigone;4894937]Important - typo and autocorrect issue, probably.[/QUOTE]Exactly.

I have corrected it in the original post.

Sorry: I have been too quick. :p

"Yelling about baby Jason"

This was a great reunion of fan-favorite writers... and both Tynion and Beechen. Although Beechen's story was surprisingly inoffensive which is something I wasn't really expecting, I would say that Tynion's story was much worse because he just can't let go his obsession with Tim despite of not writing him particularly well and his contribution follows the usual trend of heavyhanded narration that serves as a prologue to his Detective Comics run (and we all know how well that ended).

Still, it was cool to see Judd Winick and Chuck Dixon again, even Devin Grayson for what is worth. Great art as a whole too. Worth the money.

I loved it, though Jason's Robin story seemed kind of odd to me.

I would have put Grummet on a Tim story and had Perez do the story of Dick leaving Bruce, I know he's retired, but I think he may have done this one.

Dixon and McDaniel on Nightwing? Hell yes! McDaniel is still the best Nightwing artist there has been.

I would have put Dixon on a Tim story instead of Beechan, but I still liked Tim's stories. though Tim did get kind of shafted on teh summaries at the end, but he did get his own cover whereas Damian did not, so I guess it evens out.

I alos loved this spash.[ATTACH=CONFIG]94647[/ATTACH]