Batman and Robin: Year One #6 – Mark Waid, Writer; Chris Samnee, Artist; Matheus Lopes, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Chris Samnee is one of the best artists in the industry, and his work might be suited to nothing better than Gotham City. He makes great use of shadows and hints in the infamously crime-ridden city, and his art is the perfect staging ground for Mark Waid’s action-packed and often touching origin story for the Batman and Robin partnership. This version of Robin, only a few weeks out from losing his parents, is much more impulsive and reckless than any we’ve seen before, and Batman is running out of patience. And now Dick has gotten himself captured by the Grimaldi crime family, the main threat of the series – and has no problem antagonizing the General as Batman tears his way through the city and encounters a hideous science experiment being created in one of Grimaldi’s labs. It’s interesting to essentially see a horror movie break out in the middle of the issue.
Of course, Dick being an escape artist, he’s not in as much danger as Batman thinks he is – and he even manages to troll Grimaldi in the process. There’s a great scene that’s very reminiscent of an iconic scene from the Justice League cartoon. But once they get back to the Batcave, things get very serious, as Batman has reached the end of his rope and wants to know if he can actually trust Robin as a partner. What follows is an intense conversation that starts out with the two at odds, and ends with Robin delivering an outburst that actually gives Bruce exactly the answer he was looking for. It’s a great, nuanced take on this iconic duo through a more realistic look at what it would actually take for a bachelor vigilante to become a single father – with Alfred showing up occasionally to deliver droll commentary, of course. This continues to be one of the best things Waid has done at DC so far.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
