Category Archives: Robin
Review: Teen Titans #6
Here we have a weird little story that misses the chance to have some meaningful downtime and instead introduces and dispatches a weird new super-villain. What could have been a good character-building opportunity as the Titans lick their wounds instead becomes crammed with silliness and nonsense, and only a small trace of what I would have liked. A guest appearance by Static Shock is utterly wasted, and Skittles returns mostly for the hell of it.
Teen Titans #6
Teen Titans #6 is a big missed opportunity, but it’s not a bad comic.
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
This issue would have been the perfect opportunity for writer Scott Lobdell to slow down and flesh out his characters. He’s doing an OK job in that regard so far, but I would still prefer a lot more work on who these teenagers are and why they’re willing to hang out with each other. They just got their butts kicked in their first superhero fight, but all of them seem to shrug it off like no big deal. None of them seem to be emotionally effected by Superboy’s ass-kicking attack. They just roll right on to the next plot point involving Kid Flash’s out of control powers.
Instead of an issue focusing entirely on the Titans, we get a several new supporting or guest characters. None of them are very interesting.
A Plastic Man Cartoon? For Reals?
Beyond the silliness that is an actual, honest-to-god Plastic Man cartoon.
Plastic Man is a DC Comics superhero with the ability to, as I’m sure you just watched, strength and shape his body into anything he wants. He’s a comedian, known for being a very silly sort of guy. Which means he’s perfectly suited for a silly willy, diffy daffy kids cartoon courtesy of Cartoon Network. Though he’s not going to get a full show. Instead, Plastic Man is going to get a few animated shorts to go alongside DC’s new DC Nation block of shows, which will include Young Justice and the new animated Green Lantern series.
What’s that you say? A DC Nation animated block? Tell us more, Sean!
Gladly. After the jump.
6 Best Animated Robins
Batman and Robin are like a rock concert. Batman is this brilliant, blazing, glorious rock star, the idolized hero of millions who burns brighter and rocks harder than anyone else ever will. All the other superheroes, like Superman or Wonder Woman, they’re competing rock stars. Maybe they’ll do an album together or hang out at a charity together, but in the end they have their own bands and their own concerts. Batman views them as rivals. But Robin is unique among other superheroes.
Robin is the guy with the backstage pass.
Animated Batman Lego series anyone?
If Batman is arguably the greatest, most popular superhero, Robin is the fan who Batman lets hang out back stage. We can’t be our favorite rock star. We can’t be Batman. But in some ways, we can be like Robin. We can be the fan with the backstage pass. We can hang out with Batman and learn all of his secrets. We’ll be there for Batman when he’s in a tough spot, or we’ll be by his side when he’s kicking ass. We can be the fan that Batman actually likes hanging out with, the one he shares a beer with. And maybe someday, when Batman needs us the most, he’ll invite us on stage to jam with him.
And then we will prove that it has all be worth it, and we will rock hard enough to impress Batman.
I think that nicely sums up one of the reasons why I like Robin. He’s the guy that Batman trusts above all others, the one that Batman likes hanging out with. The one superhero who is truly in Batman’s inner circle. But Robin is not just ‘Batman’s Pal’, he’s Batman-in-training. He’s Batman’s assistant. That’s what it means to be his sidekick. I plan on doing a lot more with Robin on this blog, but for now let’s take a look at one enterprise that seems to do Robin right: animation.
Here are the top 6 animated Robins, ranked worst to best!
***This list was inspired by friend-of-the-site Momma Pwncess! Thank you!
Red Robin to Return to Batman Family
Tim Drake is rejoining the Bat-family, baby! At least temporarily!
The comic book solicitations for April are starting to come out, and CBR has all of the Batman titles. The Night of the Owls will be in full effect, and I’m happy to say that my favorite Robin, Tim Drake, is going to take time away from his Teen Titan duties to make a jump back to his Bat-family roots! For people who don’t have any clue what I’m talking about, this probably won’t be that important. But to a comic book geek like me, this is fantastic news!
Red Robin will be appearing in Batman: The Dark Knight #9.
Kick his ass, Red Robin!
For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about or why I’m so excited, allow me to explain. Because I love talking about comic books.
So everybody knows about Batman and Robin. Well in the comic books, Batman has had 4 Robins. Every time one of them outgrows the role of sidekick or dies, Batman gets a new apprentice. My favorite Robin is Tim Drake, who was Robin from the early 90s to the late 00s. Which is a very long time. Well as the story went along, Drake ‘graduated’ from being Robin to make way for a new apprentice, and Drake instead became Red Robin.
Then in the New 52 reboot from last September, DC drew several clear distinctions between their ‘families’ of comics. Red Robin was taken out of the Batman family of comics and placed in the Teen family, as leader of the Teen Titans. Which is too bad, because I like my Tim Drake as Batman’s sidekick, even if there is already a new Robin who has replaced him. Since September, Tim Drake’s adventures have had very little to do with Batman. Which, again, is a shame.
But with this new epic Batman story, The Night of the Owls, DC has decided to let Tim Drake return to Batman’s side to lend a hand. They could have just had Red Robin skip the whole Owls thing and nobody would have batted an eyelash. So I’m now even more excited for Night of the Owls! And I can only hope you are too.
Review: Teen Titans #5
Writer Scott Lobdell and artist Brett Booth team up to deliver what could be the very best issue so far of the new Teen Titans series. The problem is that I only say that because this issue is wall-to-wall action and fight scene, meaning there isn’t time to focus on the various problems I’ve had with this series. Still, great fight scene! The Titans take on Superboy in this issue, marking their first real superhero brawl as a team.
Teen Titans #5
Do they win? Well, you’ll just have to keep reading to find out.
Comic rating: 4/5: Good!
I’m going to try, from now on, to get over the various hang-ups I’ve had with this series. I can’t keep repeating them over and over again in every review. The dialogue feels forced, N.O.W.H.E.R.E. is a terrible villain and this team of Titans feels like they were picked out of a hat and just thrown together. These aren’t going to be fixed because one random guy is whining on the Internet. So I’m just going to start incorporating them into the basic fabric of the book. If they get better, I’ll let you know. They’re all still evident in this issue, but they don’t drag down what is an otherwise awesome fight scene.
Every character that appears in this issue gets their moment to shine, highlighting new aspects of their personalities while building towards a better story overall. Definitely an issue I would recommend.
Story and synopsis after the jump!
Henchman-4-Hire 