Red Robin #1 is the start of a new ongoing series starring Tim Wayne. The story is of Tim being kicked out of the Robin cape, in favor of Damien, who Dick says needs to be Robin more than Tim does. Tim gets quite angry at this and decides to set on his own and be his own man. Tim knows he cannot be Robin anymore, and with the job he has at hand, he couldn’t be. He needs to be something different, he needs to be Red Robin.
Red Robin was first introduced in the mid nineties by Alex Ross and Mark Waid in Kingdom Come. The Red Robin in here though was an adult Dick Grayson, since then there have been three other Red Robins, the first being Jason Todd in countdown, the second was Ulysses Armstrong from the final issues of the Tim Drake Robin series, and now Tim Drake, or as he now wants to be known Tim Wayne.
The story of this issue is Tim starting out on his world tour to find his foster father Bruce Wayne, who Tim believes is not dead. We are never told what makes Tim believe Bruce is not dead, all we know is that it is going to take Tim going around the world looking for the truth behind what happened to Bruce and where he really is. Tim takes on the persona of Red Robin because he’d be crossing lines, and that he didn’t want anything to come back to Dick and Bruce.
The art for the issue is by Ramon Bachs. This is my first exposure to it, I have to say, I like it, it has a gritty feel and gives Red Robin its own unique look. My only issues is that when Tim is Red Robin he looks to be in his late 20’s but when he is just Tim Wayne, he doesn’t look older than 17.
This is the second DC comic I’ve read by Yost, the first being the mediocre BFTC: The Underground, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this issue. The writing is very good, in that Yost tries to find Dick's reason for firing Tim but at the same time, furthering the rivalry between Tim and Damian.
All in all this is a good first issue, which sets things up nicely and has some good art, good storytelling and seems to know exactly what it is doing with Tim’s quest to find Bruce. So I’m going to say give the first issue a shot and take it from there.
Red Robin #1:
Reviewed by Suavestar
