Review – Robin 2021 Annual #1: The Casebook

Robin 2021 Annual #1 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Roger Cruz, Penciller; Victor Olazaba, Inker; Luis Guerrero, Colorist

Ray – 9.5/10

Ray: Taking a break from the main League of Lazarus tournament story, this issue picks up right after Robin #5 and takes us deep inside Damian’s case files. After discovering he’s being spied on by the Bat-family, he manages to reverse-engineer the bug and get a lot of additional information on his rivals. That means this issue is sort of an anthology, but one that has an odd vibe—it’s several different stories, but they’re all by the same creative team of Williamson and Cruz. Some are as short as one page, others take up close to half the book.

Naturally, it starts with a focus on Damian’s rival/crush Flatline, one of the most intriguing new characters in the book. She’s a Russian teenager who learned a dark secret at her grandfather’s deathbed—not only was her grandfather a ruthless killer, but he had a psychic link to death that she inherited. Picking up his knowledge of killing and being rejected by her family, she seeks out Lord Death Man and trains with him. She’s fascinating—a dangerous killer who is also a deeply troubled young girl rejected by the people who could have saved her.

We know more about Rose Wilson than the other tournament fighters, but it’s cool to catch up with her in the aftermath of the Priest Deathstroke series. Her stories all tend to center around Slade, but it was great to see another part of her past trigger her entry into the tournament here. She’s probably the most heroic character in the series besides Damian, and like him she seems to think she can game the game. This also has some intriguing tie-ins to Williamson’s new Deathstroke Inc. title.

And then there’s the rest. We still learn nothing about Respawn, the title’s biggest mystery, but one-shot pages on characters like the Drenched set up some fascinating things for the future of the title. An extended Connor Hawke segment hints that he might be a multiversal refugee, and the Ra’s Al Ghul epilogue indicates the start of a new event in 2022. Williamson just keeps on cranking out great comics, and he’s quickly becoming the universe’s biggest architect.

To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.

GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.