Alright I’m just going to start with saying this, this does not feel as important a one-shot as say Trinity Crisis or Speed Metal. If you skip this I don’t think it will have that big an impact on the overall story, because honestly the vast majority of this story is just what Robin King was doing before meeting Batman who laughs and his transformation into a Groblin (although I will admit it that part was a tad interesting), and then a quick fight on regular earth which I have a feeling will upset some people and honestly I’m not so hot on the story myself
For the sake of not ruining anything I’ll put it in a spoiler box. So here’s what happened
spoilers:end of spoilers
So Robin King kills people with his utility belt...pretty much the whole issue. Apparently he blew the whole fortune on the belt and so on his earth some time after killing Alfred we get to see him kill his worlds Firestorm, Hawkman and Hawkwoman, Adam Strange, and two guys in planes called Hans Von Hammer and Steve Savage...no idea who they are. So then BWL picks him up.
The only interesting part really is that Robin King didn’t want to be what BWL turned him into, but he could nothing to stop it so instead he made it so he could retain some free will but held onto some animosity for being put in a cage so to speak. I thought that was cool but it doesn’t really go anywhere else between him and BWL, other then something at the end.
So then we get to the real world and he then makes short work of killing Animal Man, Red Tornado, and Ted Kord which I’m sure people will not be happy with especially with how they died (Ted Kord mauled by a big beetle, Red Tornado given human feeling only to feel his own tornados rip him apart, and animal man gets eaten alive by zombie versions of his family...it’s not a good look no matter how you spin it)
And then he and BWL leave before he can really lay into the Justice League who have been knocked out most of the issue and travel into the last 52 that BWL is creating to find a world where thanks to Robin King the Groblins now have sentience.
The only real saving grace of this issue is the part where Duke gets control of his light and dark powers and helps Tim, Cassandra, and Steph beat down some random evil Batman made of Lazarus pit. Wish there was more of that honestly.
Look I’m going to speak honestly as someone who actually enjoys Death Metal...this issue is kind of weak and doesn’t really add anything. You get to know about Robin King and see him kill people but it’s not all that compelling and honestly nothing made me care for the character. The saving grace really is the last few page story of Duke Thomas that Robin King has nothing to do with and also that I saved money by using a gift card on this. I hate to be a downer and I know people probably worked hard on this but compared to what else I read it just doesn’t stack up.