Robin #1 Discussion/Spoilers

[Arnoldoaad]

A little late to this but I wanted to talk about a couple of things

1- I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! someone else remembers that early 2000s comic in which it reveals that King Cobra is Bane's dad. WHAT A REFERENCE! This literally has never been reference again.

2- Damian likes what looks to be slice-of-life manga, that right there I feel like gives him a ton of more personality than e has ever received and I loved his characterization in Robin, Son of Batman, and Supersons.

3- Damian is 14 years old, meaning that it's been 4 years since his introduction on Batman & Son and he has been Robin for at least 3, for those who need a reminder B&R happen in 2006, so let's try to fit the last 15 years of Batman continuity into that period.
now maybe he is not counting the time that he was dead but who really knows.

4-Wasnt Raptor dead?

5- maybe it's because I saw it recently but I couldn't stop thinking of Mortal Kombat, not the new one but the 1996 one, not just the tournament, the boat, the island, the Mother Soul is basically Shang Tsun.
I don't dislike it I just want to point it out.

6- Bronze Tiger got cheated, Shiva was paid off but Richard Dragon was defeated by a random fighter?

I cannot remember when I saw it but a writer made a ranking, many many years ago and these 3 names are the 3 best fighters in the entire DCU, even Batman is not as good as these 3 individually, not sure if this is a coincidence or just to explain how 3 of the biggest fighters in the world are not on the tournament but it felt wrong that Richard Dragon was shafted like this.

7- OMG! The main character is dead in the very first chapter!! what is going to happen now??!!11! seriously?
I honestly loved this chapter with the exception of that ending.

[Shen]

6- Bronze Tiger got cheated, Shiva was paid off but Richard Dragon was defeated by a random fighter?

I cannot remember when I saw it but a writer made a ranking, many many years ago and these 3 names are the 3 best fighters in the entire DCU, even Batman is not as good as these 3 individually, not sure if this is a coincidence or just to explain how 3 of the biggest fighters in the world are not on the tournament but it felt wrong that Richard Dragon was shafted like this.

7- OMG! The main character is dead in the very first chapter!! what is going to happen now??!!11! seriously?
I honestly loved this chapter with the exception of that ending.

The writer did say he was gonna try and explain why the big names aren't in the competition, and I can understand for Tiger and Shiva (Getting paid not to fight XD, Shiva OP AF). Richard Dragon on the other hand, I cannot be convinced was beaten like that.

I'm just taking that comment as the character being sarcastic. There's no way a character who could put down Richard Dragon would be so nonchalant about it, even if it was for exposition.

And the ending. As much as I adore the kid, he deserved it for doing his version of Naruto's "Imma be Hokage" speech. Plus it cements the seriousness of the competition and forms a rivalry between him and the girl who ripped his heart out.

He should be fine, unless DC is pulling one of the biggest trolls on Damian fans ever, and this run is just a practical joke on us. I'll be super pissed. Impressed, but super pissed.

[Arnoldoaad]

The writer did say he was gonna try and explain why the big names aren't in the competition, and I can understand for Tiger and Shiva (Getting paid not to fight XD, Shiva OP AF). Richard Dragon on the other hand, I cannot be convinced was beaten like that.

I'm just taking that comment as the character being sarcastic. There's no way a character who could put down Richard Dragon would be so nonchalant about it, even if it was for exposition.

And the ending. As much as I adore the kid, he deserved it for doing his version of Naruto's "Imma be Hokage" speech. Plus it cements the seriousness of the competition and forms a rivalry between him and the girl who ripped his heart out.

He should be fine, unless DC is pulling one of the biggest trolls on Damian fans ever, and this run is just a practical joke on us. I'll be super pissed. Impressed, but super pissed.

It's not just that he should be fine but rather that he will be fine I feel there is 0% something bad happens to him as a result of this ending, I'm perfectly ok with the idea that he needs to have a defeat to teach him humility but this didn't felt like the right place nor the right way to do it
and personally I just hate this type of ending, it is not just common but mandatory to have every single first chapter of any comic end in a cliffhanger(look it up, it's literally teach in writing classes) obviously to bring back the reader for issue 2, but this was a an extraordinary weak cliffhanger for an overall excellent issue.

[Astralabius]

It's not just that he should be fine but rather that he will be fine I feel there is 0% something bad happens to him as a result of this ending, I'm perfectly ok with the idea that he needs to have a defeat to teach him humility but this didn't felt like the right place nor the right way to do it
and personally I just hate this type of ending, it is not just common but mandatory to have every single first chapter of any comic end in a cliffhanger(look it up, it's literally teach in writing classes) obviously to bring back the reader for issue 2, but this was a an extraordinary weak cliffhanger for an overall excellent issue.

One problem I see is that Damian shouldn't even be at a point where he needs to lose to learn humility since he has done basically nothing but lose since the start of Rebirth.
He either lost, couldn't win on his own or if he won we weren't supposed to think it was a good thing, like when DC revealed he killed Brother Blood and his team members called him a monster.

If losing and failing was able to make Damian feel humility he should already be extremely humble by now. Instead Williamson has him act like Damian acts at the start of every book, overconfident, arrogant and too focused on who he is related to. I don't see the point of teaching Damian humility this way and I don't feel like it would stick if we really go down this road again.

[HsssH]

Well you know, its comics, it doesn't matter till it happens 50 times.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

One problem I see is that Damian shouldn't even be at a point where he needs to lose to learn humility since he has done basically nothing but lose since the start of Rebirth.
He either lost, couldn't win on his own or if he won we weren't supposed to think it was a good thing, like when DC revealed he killed Brother Blood and his team members called him a monster.

If losing and failing was able to make Damian feel humility he should already be extremely humble by now. Instead Williamson has him act like Damian acts at the start of every book, overconfident, arrogant and too focused on who he is related to. I don't see the point of teaching Damian humility this way and I don't feel like it would stick if we really go down this road again.

They jobbed out King Snake to him.

[The Cool Thatguy]

They jobbed out King Snake to him.

And they want us to believe that Shrike took out Bronze Tiger. Even if he cheated...no way

[Restingvoice]

And they want us to believe that Shrike took out Bronze Tiger. Even if he cheated...no way

Teacher Shrike is more believable. Student Shrike nah.

[Katana500]

And they want us to believe that Shrike took out Bronze Tiger. Even if he cheated...no way

to be fair 'cheated' is quite vague. So he may have seriously evened the odds before there fight.

I bet we do see some characters cheat during the story. So I feel like we may learn the cheating method Shrike uses. I bet he tries use it on Damian and/or Rose and Damian will stop it somehow.

[Ascended]

Not a lot of books in the pull box this week so I grabbed this to help justify stopping into the shop.

It was good. Williamson nails Damian's voice really well (even if each new writer does seem to start from 1 with the kid) and I appreciate the deep cut continuity references as well as the unseemly number of old Nightwing villains who showed up. I love that Damian is a manga fan; I wonder if Williamson will touch on Damian being good at drawing as well? Great art from the whole art team, perfect for this character and this story, good dialogue. I feel like we moved the story ahead a good amount, from establishing the premise to getting into the tournament itself, but somehow I still feel like it was thin on content and quick in pacing. But I'll take a quick moving story over the slow decompression we often see.

I'm not super into the Mortal Kombat tournament thing, that's rarely ever been a big draw for me, but it works well enough here. And I'm glad that the big names in martial arts, Tiger, Shiva, Dragon, Slade, Cass, etc., don't seem to be included. Yeah, obviously those are the guys who should be there, but they're also the ones who should obviously win and as badass as Damian is, he's not on their level. So I'll roll with some C-list villain talking about cheating off panel to make their way to the fight over the big name fighters actually showing up and the story demanding they lose. I figure the big names don't *want* to be there or they'd actually be there, and looking at who did show up....this isn't a competition for the biggest and best, this is a competition for the mid-ranking guys looking to earn some cred.

As for Snake jobbing.....yeah that's some BS, he was supposed to be a legit player back in the day. But it's fine, Snake was Tim's big rogue and Tim was always the Robin who struggled with the physicality of the job the most, so Damian trouncing him.....sure, whatever. Not like Snake has mattered in the last twenty years or so anyway, and Damian *is* a much, much better fighter than Tim was back then.

And then there's Hawke. It'll be interesting to see how they play him, he's been gone for a long, long time but was supposed to have been a top-end fighter in his day. And I'm curious how this will work with Ollie and how deep Williamson will go in reintroducing Connor; is the Arrow Cave about to get more crowded, or will Connor just slide back into limbo?

Pretty solid first issue. I'm intrigued enough to grab the second, which is pretty good considering I was gonna pass on the book originally.

[dietrich]

They jobbed out King Snake to him.

he beat King Snake

[Astralabius]

They jobbed out King Snake to him.

Winning against one guy who is kinda old and blind and unknown to most comic readers is not enough to make me think that Damian is a badass again who has the right to think he can't be beat by an island full of trained assassins.
And Damian shouldn't have thought this way either.

[Shen]

Winning against one guy who is kinda old and blind and unknown to most comic readers is not enough to make me think that Damian is a badass again who has the right to think he can't be beat by an island full of trained assassins.
And Damian shouldn't have thought this way either.

God, I know. But for some reason, Williamson had Damian's character development and mindset 'Reset to Factory Settings'. Losing to Thomas Wayne and Alfred's neck-snap should've definitely shook him enough to be more cautious.

I mean, at least allow the kid to learn that.

[Katana500]

Winning against one guy who is kinda old and blind and unknown to most comic readers is not enough to make me think that Damian is a badass again who has the right to think he can't be beat by an island full of trained assassins.
And Damian shouldn't have thought this way either.

I feel like it was Damian utilizing psychological warfare. Act all cocky and arrogant, rile one of the fighters up so they challenge him. Then defeat them and demoralize the opposition early. Honestly not a bad plan. Since out psyching opponents can give you an edge- its why boxers and stuff sometimes try wind there opponents up to throw them off there game.

He probably fancied his chances against a fair few of the fighters there and thought he could get a quick and early win under his belt. Unfortunately he misjudged it and got found out for it.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

he beat King Snake

That's what jobbing is, looking bad to make someone else look good. King Snake has gone toe to toe with Batman before.