Knight Terrors: Robin #1 – Kenny Porter, Writer; Miguel Mendonca, Artist; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: The title “Robin” is kind of loaded these days, with two characters holding the title and three others occasionally calling back to it. However, the main Robin Damian Wayne actually doesn’t appear in this series, with it instead sending Tim Drake and Jason Todd down the path of nightmares. Writer Kenny Porter is usually associated with lighter, space-faring comics, so he’s an odd choice as the creative team here, but it works—the guy has some real disturbing visuals in his mind! It starts like just about every other Knight Terrors tie-in, with our heroes having an ordinary night on patrol—and Tim running himself ragged—as an odd purple cloud starts coming in overhead and both of them find themselves in a waking nightmare preying on their worst, most personal fears. The difference is, these two aren’t alone—Jason and Tim can communicate with each other in the nightmare at first.
Of course, there’s one problem with this—Jason and Tim aren’t exactly in sync and the problems may go much deeper than that. Depending on which version of the characters you’re working with, the two are either bickering brothers with an intense rivalry, or Jason has tried to kill Tim multiple times. That causes tension as things unravel between them—just in time for their worst fears to manifest. Tim is confronted with visions of the night his father died, as he’s unable to save him again and again and visions of his friends taunt him about his failings. Jason’s fears are… more predictable, naturally. We all know what his worst moment was, but Porter remembers some of the less-known details and nicely uses them to create a genuine haunted-house vibe with some truly disturbing scenes. Overall, it’s another strong issue that fits the formula but has a few moments that help it rise above.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
