Robin: Especial 80 aniversario

DC Anthology Specials

by Marv Wolfman, Bárbara Ázagra Rueda (traducción)

Hace casi 80 años que el mundo pudo conocer a Robin, el Chico Maravilla. Empezó siendo el jovial compañero de Batman, el contrapunto a la oscuridad que envolvía al héroe de Gotham City. De eso hace ya ocho décadas en las que Robin, el Chico Maravilla, ha tenido muchas caras, las de varios jóvenes valientes que se han colocado el antifaz para combatir el mal en las calles de su ciudad. Este volumen rinde un merecido homenaje a Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake, Jason Todd y, por supuesto, también a Dick Grayson en sus diversas identidades, incluida la de nuestro agente secreto favorito. Una sucesión de relatos breves realizados por autores como Mikel Janín, Jorge Jiménez, Javier Fernández, Marv Wolfman, Peter J. Tomasi, Dustin Nguyen, Devin Grayson o Damion Scott, entre otros.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Anthologies

168 pages, Hardcover

First published March 18, 2020

About the author

Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty great. I loved that DC brought most of the major creative teams back to do stories for each of the Robins. Dixon and McDaniel on Nightwing. Seeley, King, and Janin on Grayson. Tomasi and Jimenez on Supersons. Judd Winick on Red Hood. Tynion and Fernandez on Tim Drake's Gotham Knights era. Lots of stuff like that.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 100-page anthology of several short stories by comic book creators who made their mark on the characters that carried or carrying the mantle of Robin, Batman's ally that became the archetype of sidekick characters.

This is actually worth the 10 dollar cover price. There have been several notable authors that became associated with the characters over its publishing history that it was a treat to see them work on the character again for a few pages.

My only regret was picking the Jim Lee cover, when there were several options available that captivated me more. Still, it will pair nicely with my regular cover copy of Detective Comics #1000.

[seana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jason giving Bruce the watch for his birthday 😭😭

[Kadi P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was relatively good. For the most part the stories were cute with a lot of parallels. Loved Jason's "More Time" story and the Super Sons "My Best Friend" story.

However, Stephanie's story "Fitting In" was atrocious. Humiliatingly sexist. Not sure who allowed that story to be in this anniversary special but they should be ashamed. It's all about how her female body doesn't fit into Tim's costume and how Batman compares her with Tim because of this. There's no thoughts or cares given towards the fact that she's not a boy like all the other Robins. She has to ask Batman for a new costume and that's only after she gets a wedgie, her shirt rips, and Batman makes a sarcastic comment about the villains not waiting for her whilst she tries to fix her ripped shirt. And no, that small gesture of giving her a changing room in the batcave at the end of a story doesn't reconcile the sexism. If anything it only highlights it more. The fact that she wasn't considered enough to be given a changing room in the first place is sad. That story in particular was the reason this gets 3 stars and not 4. Major letdown. I'm not even a Stephanie fan but come on! There's only 1 female Robin, treat her with respect! Why do all the boys get a story about making hard choices, heroic things, emotional things, and then Stephanie's story is about her clothes?? Disappointing and ruined this anniversary comic for me.

[Boo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty nice anniversary comic that celebrates all the Robins and who they are as characters. There is even a Stephanie Brown Robin story, which reminded that she actually was a Robin at one point!

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mas que timing dessa coletânea de história aportar no Brasil, hein? Logo com a revelação de que Tim Drake, o terceiro Robin é bissexual! Eu gosto bastante da ideia dessas antologias com visões diferentes sobre os personagens ou o personagem que estão abordando. Mas nem sempre elas se saem muito bem. Como é o caso da antologia do Coringa. Esta coletânea de 80 Anos de Aniversário do Robin apresenta várias pessoas que já possuiram o manto do menine-prodígie, como Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown e Damian Wayne. O principal destaque é para Dick Grayson, mas Tim e Damian ganham mais de uma história cada, também. Historinhas curtas e divertidas que conseguem captar a essência do que é ser o principal ajudante do Batman.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

It's a good anniversary comic, especially Jason part.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any collection of short stories the quality varies. However, I'd say this was far more good than bad for sure.

The worst story for me was probably the Titans story where Dick shows off his spy skills. And then the actual Agent Grayson story which is also pretty lame and a okay ending can't really save it.

The Stephanie Brown story seems to be the one a lot of people hate as it's her trying on her suit and it tearing. It's a bit sexist but I think the idea was to be funny and it did make me chuckle. I mean how do you expect Stephanie to fit into Tim's clothes and it not feel weird? I dunno I got a laugh out of it.

But the best story in here is Jason Todd's story which focuses all on his relationship with bruce. Little kid Jason is also adorable. I also enjoyed Wolfman's story and I enjoyed Tim's story of asking his fellow brothers what he should do.

The last story is the odd one out which I guess connects to Damien's Teen Titan work where he's locking up criminals in his own personal basement. Weird but fun.

But yeah overall a really fun collection of Robin stories. All have charm to them, but some written better than others. A 3.5 out of 5. I'll bump it to a 4.

[Hannah]

A disclaimer before I start this review. Pretty much everything I have read of Flippy Robin (Dick Grayson) either features him as Nightwing or was written after he had become Nightwing. I'm not particuarly familiar with Dead Robin (Jason Todd), and I haven't read, in my personal opinion, nearly enough of Smart Robin (Tim Drake) given what's out there. I have read nearly all of Bubbly Robin's (Stephanie Brown) run as Robin and Batgirl, and I've also read a lot of Stabby Robin (Damian Wayne). All this to say that there are probably many people on the internet who know more about the characters than I do, but when has that stopped me from ranting gushing about comics before?

As Robin has now been around as a superhero moniker for 80 years, DC published the Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular on Wednesday. It has a lot of variant covers, most of which are amazing, but these ones by Derrick Chew and Yasmine Putri are my favourite.

This comic contains ten stories: four about Dick Grayson, one about Jason Todd, two about Tim Drake, one about Stephanie Brown, and two about Damian Wayne.

A Little Nudge by Marv Wolfman (Writing), Tom Grummett (Pencils), Scott Hanna (Inks), Adriano Lucas (Colours), and Tom Napolitano (Lettering)

The first story about Dick Grayson is yet another take on how the first Robin split from Batman. It's an enjoyable story, and it's a much more amicable version than most others, but it must be at least the fifth take on this that I've read. And I haven't been reading comics all that long.

Aftershocks by Chuck Dixon (Writing), Scott McDaniel (Pencils), Rob Hunter (Inks), Protobunker (Colours), and Carlos M. Mangual (Lettering)

The second Dick Grayson story is about Nightwing during the Cataclysm. It looks like it's been pulled straight from the 1996-2009 Nightwing comics because it has the same writer/artist combo. Dick works with an emergency services worker to save a baby from a car trapped on a bridge. It's an alright story and I did quite like the art style.

Team Building by Devin Grayson (Writing), Dan Jurgens (Layouts), Norm Rapmund (Finishes), Hi-Fi (Colours), and Troy Peteri (Lettering)

The third one focuses on Nightwing as part of the Titans and I would say it's the best of the four focusing on Dick Grayson. We have H.I.V.E agents being chewed out because the Titans worked flawlessly as a team to defeat them. The dialogue is quippy and fun, and the story moves seamlessly between Damian Dahrk yelling at the H.I.V.E agents and flashbacks to the battle they just lost.

The Lesson Plan by Tim Seeley (Writing), Tom King (Writing), Mikel Janín (Artist), Jeromy Cox (Colours), and Tom Napolitano (Lettering)

It's not a popular opinion, but I thought Tim Seeley's run on Rebirth: Nightwing was really strong. He focused a lot on the bonds the character had with other superheroes, and that ability to build relationships is central to what makes Nightwing better than different from Batman.

This story focuses on Dick's time in Spyral. (Let's not get into how much I hate how that arc starts...) Dick is acting as a mentor to his young partner and explaining to her everything his mentor taught him (flashbacks of Batman contradict these lessons). This is a really fun story that focuses on how Dick loves to improvise and involves him mentoring a younger fighter as is tradition (Tim Drake, Rose Wilson, Damian Wayne...). It could have been the best story of the four except for what happened with the gorilla...

More Time by Judd Winick (Writing), Dustin Nguyen (Artist), John Kalisz (Colours), Steve Wands (Lettering)

Oh my God. This one is a real heartbreaker. Pretty much everything I know about Jason Todd can be summed up by the fact that I refer to him as "Dead Robin", but, damn, this one hit hard. Basically, when he was Robin, Jason spent five months trying to fix Bruce's dad's watch for him and he tells him he'll give it to him officially when it's done.

He gives it to him when he's Red Hood. And not the current one who's mostly in with the Bats. Definitely the most emotionally powerful story of the bunch.

Extra Credit by Adam Beechen (Writing), Freddie E. Williams II (Artist), Jeremy Colwell (Colours), Rob Leigh (Lettering)

The first Tim Drake story is so. Much. Fun. Tim is having a meeting with a guidance councillor who is explaining to him that he needs more extracurriculars to be attractive to employers.

For the record, here are the things that I was told employers would be interested in when I was at school:

Extracurriculars
Volunteer Work

Here are the things that employers actually wanted when I was looking for work:

Experience
A driving licence
No accent

Anyway. We flash between the things Tim is told that he would need and the things he does as Robin. Think athletics, team skills, etc. I loved the format.

Boy Wonders by Jmes Tynion IV (Writing), Javier Fernandez (Artist), David Baron (Colours), and Carlos M. Mangual (Lettering)

This is the only story in the book that involves the Robins interacting with each other. In the lead up to forming the Gotham Knights (see early issues of Rebirth: Detective Comics), Tim seeks advice from Dick, Jason, and Damian as to what he should do with his life. It amused me that Damian was the one to give him the best advice, and I also thought it gave a pretty good insight into his character too: "you're only listening to the insults and not what I'm saying with them."

Fitting In by Amy Wolfram (Writing), Damion Scott (Artist), Brad Anderson (Colours), and Andworld Design (Lettering)

I never really feel like I can say that Stephanie is my favourite Robin, because she isn't Robin for very long, but she is my favourite superhero. Robin-Stephanie is probably more jaded than you'd expect since I refer to her as "Bubbly Robin", but, Bat-mandated daddy issues aside, she tends to be quite an upbeat character and she's adorably excited about being Robin. That said, I didn't like her story all that much. I can definitely see what the writer was going for, but I think the costume issues could have taken up fewer pages and I also wasn't keen on the art style.

I did like the bit at the end. During Steph's tenure as Robin, Bruce compares her constantly to Tim, so having the character turn around and tell him that she's not Tim and he has to let her be herself is SO cathartic. In Boy Wonders, Tim mentions that Dick is the ideal that they all have to live up to, and Bruce does compare all of the Robins to an idealised version of Dick at times, but both Steph and Damian have had to compete with an idealised version of Tim too. He tells Steph that Tim would have waited outside like he asked. Blatant. Lies.

My Best Friend by Peter J. Tomasi (Writing), Jorge Jimenez (Artist), Alejandro Sanchez (Colours), and Rob Leigh (Lettering)

This was so cute! Also, Super Sons written by Peter J. Tomasi and drawn by Jorge Jimenez! It's Jon reflecting on his friendship with Damian for a school paper he has to write about his best friend. It's incredibly short (6 pages), but it's probably the last Super Sons we're going to get for a while and I think I speak for everyone who loves that series when I say we will take any crumb DC are willing to give us.

Bat and Mouse by Robbie Thompson (Writing), Ramon Villalobos (Artist), Tamra Bonvillain (Artist), and Tom Napolitano (Lettering)

This focused on the relationship between Damian and his father in the aftermath of a recent death. They feel like they don't understand each other, but their thought processes are amusingly similar. This one relates to something that has been going on in Teen Titans, which I haven't read, but the gist of it is that Damian is taking some rather extreme measures to ensure that criminals do not reoffend and Bruce doesn't know. I didn't like the art style.

This is a nice anthology. I enjoyed Team Building, The Lesson Plan, More Time, Extra Credit, Boy Wonders, and My Best Friend, which are over half the stories.

[i•rene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given this five stars if it wasn’t for how annoyed I was by Steph’s story.

For everyone else, I love how it focused on the unique aspects of each Robin. I was - and to an extent still am - upset that we didn’t get something for the character that was turning 80, solo, but as a Robin book I liked this a lot.

[Vinicius · Rating 4 out of 5]

É uma leitura leve e tranquila, são boas histórias que compilam a HQ. Em sua maioria, são histórias legais que falam um pouco sobre cada Robin, abordando aspectos de suas histórias e personalidades.

[J. Robin Whitley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this comic edition. I grew up during the campy Batman and Robin series in the 60s. In that, I didn't like the boy wonder because he seemed a bit dumb. In this comic issue however, we see the boy wonder grow up. I also love that we see all aspects of the character of Robin that are sometimes disobedient, sometimes dark, sometimes masculine, and sometimes feminine. I hope to read more like this.

[vanille · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/4!
jason is slowly stealing my heart, there’s just something about him. stupid ass fanbase, my tragic baby :(

“DICK GRAYSON HAS BEEN A SHOWMAN ABOUT AS LONG AS HE COULD WALK. I STILL REMEMBER GOING TO SEE HIM AT THE CIRCUS. HE WAS EVERYTHING I WANTED TO BE.” AWWW STOP

[Arianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of stories... save for the Stephanie Brown one which was awful

[Oliver aka BCC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love all the story’s except one. The Fitting In story with Stephanie Brown was awful it’s just talking about how big her butt and cleavage are. But the rest were very enjoyable 👍

[Reimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encantó que agregaran una historia de Stephanie como Robin <3

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really loved this. I’m a very big robin fan, especially Tim Drake and Dick Grayson. I love the whole bat family though and this is a really nice love letter to all the important robins throughout canon.
My favourite story in this had to be the Tynion story. I want to read a Tim Drake Robin monthly from him. And I also want him to write Nightwing.

Steph Brown is definitely one of my favourites too.

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a huge fan of Robin, to be honest. But most of all, not a huge fan on the number of “Robins” out there in the Batman franchise, even with their respective spin-off series. The only one I kind of have a soft spot for is Dick Grayson, the first Robin, and later on Nightwing; it was the only one wearing the mantle of ‘Robin’ that actually grew as a stand-alone character, with a really enthralling arc of his own, going from the first ‘Robin’, to ‘Nightwing’, to the leader and founder of the ‘Teen Titans’, a micro-version of the ‘Justice League’, and perhaps my favorite franchise to include this character in particular. The rest of the versions well, I cannot help but to see a cheesy pattern, and the idea of having Batman constantly adopting orphans in order to train them and turn them into vigilantes… its kind of creepy, and yeah, I get it, technically Batman is a nutcase, but the same way as you can argue “Sherlock Holmes is a highly functional sociopath”, so is Batman. But that tendency of looking after lone boys for them to become his sidekicks… It worked one time, but then it became a sick pattern. This 80th anniversary celebration of the character was, well, it was fine, I guess any truest fan of the character would appreciate it more than I did, and while I did enjoy certain segments, such as Marv Wolfman and Tom Grummett’s “A Little Nudge”, which gives a nice insight on how Robin left Batman behind to become ‘Nightwing’, Chuck Dixon, and Scott McDaniel’s “Aftershocks”, which has ‘Nightwing’ rescuing a trapped victim of a tremor from a vehicle, “Team Building” by Devin Grayson (nice reference with the last name) and the legendary Dan Jurgens, having ‘Nightwing leading the ‘Titans’ against an criminal organization called H.I.V.E., and “My Best Friend” by Peter J. Tomasi, and one of my favorite current artists, Jorge Jimenez, depicting the friendship between Jon Kent, and Damian Wayne in a really touching and genuine way. Others were kind of generic and didn’t offer anything for me to change my mind about the title in general. By far the worst was “Fitting In” by Amy Wolfram, and Damion Scott, which tales us the coming-of-age perspective of the newest “Robin”, Stephanie Brown, who’d later adopt the identity of “Spoiler”, but basically started off as a sidekick to Batman. I hate that character, based on Wolfram’s writing, and Scott’s excessively distorted and phony designs didn’t help, for sure. It was your typical “let me do this my way” kind of story, with Batman having to endure an obnoxious teenager girl while trying to train her. There was another story relating to Damian Wayne, which happens to be the last one in this special: “Bat and Mouse”, by Robbie Thompson and Ramon Villalobos, but at least that one I kind of get it, he’s Batman’s son, he’s stuck with him so better try to make the best out of it. Also, it was better drawn. Also, going back to Nightwing, or well, Dick Grayson, there was a segment by Tom King (of all people) and Tim Seeley, and draw by Mikel Janin (who I’d have to say, is starting to grow on me) titled “The Lesson Plan” and instead of being about Dick as Nightwing, is more of a take on his time as “Agent 37” while working for the Spyral agency, and as you might guess, it was another cheap attempt at “deconstructing the character of Batman” in order to give certain “independency and value” to other characters related to him. Man, what a letdown to see how they keep trying to diminish the Cape Crusader, especially because I haven’t read much about ‘Agent 37’ and I was curious to see what that depiction of Dick Grayson might be as a secret agent. There were a lot of possibilities but, nope, just another cheap “wholesome” take on a character that doesn’t need to trash on his former mentor since already he has an identity and a reputation on his own. Then again, Janin’s art looked great. The same I can say for James Tynion IV (who’s still involved in Batman specials somehow), and Javier Fernandez’s “Boy Wonders” which was… okay, nothing special, is just another validating take on Tim Drake’s “Red Robin”, and Tynion IV is eager to let us know he’s more than just “another Robin”, but then, there’s Nightwing, right beside him, sharing the frame. Of course, Drake is just another ‘Robin’, and no romanticized writing, nor great art (seriously, Fernandez was neat drawing in this segment, perhaps my second favorite after Jimenez’) is going to change that, but I appreciate the effort. There was one regarding ‘Red Hood’, but he only got one segment, and it was okay, as well, but it kind of makes me wonder… why did ‘Red Robin’ had two, and ‘Red Hood’ only one? Out of all the “Robins” he is, perhaps, the most interesting to explore, specially from a psychological standpoint… I mean, the guy was dead, and then, he resurrected with the help of the Lazarus Pit to become vengeful towards Batman, and the Joker. He was like ‘The Punisher’ of the Bat-Family, that alone gave him the coolness factor I needed to be interested and excited to see more of him. But, no, he’s softened and plays by Batman’s rules, for the most part. Regardless, I prefer him over ‘Red Robin’ anytime.
I can’t really say this was a great tribute to one of the most popular sidekicks in history, but again, for any true and hardcore fans out there, this could do just fine. The special also collects some iconic covers and special pin-ups from several different artists that didn’t work on the segments, but I feel that, compared to ‘Joker’s’, there were fewer in here so, yeah, another nitpick for this one. Some takes on the character were interesting, but I need way more in order to change my mind about ‘Robin’ or the entire ‘Bat-Family’. Sorry but, I’m passionate fanboy for lone-Batman; it works better, is way more mature, and it mixes better with how complex and troubled the character can be in that gritty and desolated-dark environment that is Gotham. ‘Robin’ is a kid on pajamas jumping around alongside Gotham’s savior, and yeah, I know there’s an entire backstory and depth to him, but I guess I haven’t found the rightful story that could make me change my mind.

[Wren Worthington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going story by story:

'A little nudge'
Writing: 3/5
Art: 4/5
A little strange to begin the robin anniversary book with dick shedding the mantle of Robin but it was well written and the art was nice. My only gripe is Bruce using manipulation as a parenting tactic bur that's not exactly bad writing it's just me having issues with the character.

'Aftershocks'
Writing: 3/5
Art: 2/5
It was fine? The Art was a bit ugly and cluttered and the story was just okay imo.

'Team building'
Writing: 4/5
Art: 4/5
The Art style was nice and expressive and I really liked the message and characterisation.

'The lesson plan'
Writing: 4/5
Art: 4/5
The Writing was great! I loved that dick took everything Bruce taught him and put his own spin on it, and I love seeing him being a mentor. The art style was lovely, I especially liked the occasional simple white background used to really make the characters stand out.

'More time'
Writing: 5/5
Art: 3/5
Judd Winick my fellow Jason Todd stan, glad to see you writing him again <3. Yeah so the Writing was great and wonderfully captured both Jason's childhood admiration of Bruce and his complex feelings about him currently. The art was somewhere between adorable and really weird to look at?

'Extra credit'
Writing: 3/5
Art: 2/5
Tim! My boy! I'm sorry your first story in this collection was so meh. The Writing was fine. The art was a little too busy in the same way as 'aftershocks'.

'Boy wonders'
Writing: 5/5
Art: 3/5
I love to see sibling bonding and all of my boys being written well! The art was pretty average.

'Fitting in
Writing: 1/5
Art: 1/5
LOOK HOW THEY MASSACRED MY GIRL. Stephanie baby I'm so sorry you deserved so much better. Genuinely so stupidly sexist I can't believe it was written by a woman. Art was ugly as hell (steph's frog mouth and pikachu hair,,,,, Bruce's teeny head,,,,,).

'My best friend'
Writing: 4/5
Art: 4/5
Outsider pov? In my Canon comic? It more likely than you'd think. But yeah tomasi and jimenez is always a great duo, especially when it comes to stories on Damian and Jon.

'Bat and mouse'
Writing: 3/5
Art: 1/5
The Writing was fine other than being based off of all of the stupid bullshit that happened in teen titans 2016. The art was so ugly it was a contender for worst in the book alongside steph's story.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

The danger of a collection of stories like this is the possibility of the wide range of quality. From the height of “More Time” by Judd Winnick, stunningly illustrated by Dustin Nguyen, to the low of King's "Lesson Plan," the quality of the characterization, art, and storytelling varies so massively it feels impossible to pick a star rating for this collection as a whole. Wolfman, Dixon, Grayson, and Winnick are on the top of their games here, bringing an emotional resonance, love for the characters, and the relationships and worlds that surround them that reminds me why I love Gotham. Amy Wolfram had the inenviable job of having to write Stephanie Brown's Robin, a task made all the more difficult by her never having written the character before While she nailed the characterization and voice, the story stumbled over its own sense of humor in the first half of the 8 page issue, including uncomfortable commentary about the character's body that might read as sexualizing or sexist, despite Scott's art being overall a delight to look at. Meanwhile Beechen, Tynion, Tomasi, and Thomas produced middling content (with Thomas's contribution being further slighted by some of the ugliest art I've seen in modern comics). Agent 37 from Tom King's "Grayson" is here for some indescribable reason, instead of Dick Grayson's more interesting run as Batman under Grant Morrison's pen, and this entry into the series continues to fail to impress, interest, or even amuse me, just like the series.

The series is somewhat redeemed by an overall high quality of art, including several excellent pinups.

Fans of Dick Grayson and Jason Todd will probably find themselves satisfied, Tim Drake fans will find themselves disappointed unless they're particularly fond of Tynion's version of the character from Detective Comics, Stephanie Brown fans will probably be happy enough to see her wearing the Girl Wonder costume once again, and Damian fans will probably be the only ones who can understand what's going on in the final book of the story in particular, as it is bogged down in tie-ins in a way that the other stories aren't.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very mixed. They brought in a lot of beloved writers and most of the stories told were really good. A Little Nudge, Team Building, The Lesson Plan, More Time, Boy Wonders, and My Best Friend are all great. Team Building was incredibly fun with nostalgic art. More Time is easily my favorite Jason Todd story of all time. I like how in Boy Wonders, Tim went to each of his brother's for advice and that it was ultimately Damian, the one he gets along with the least, that gave him the best advice. It has really well written dialogue and character. I loved the back and forth between Batman and Robin's thoughts in Bat and Mouse.

The other stories had lackluster art (in my opinion. I know can be very picky about art style) next to good stories. Extra Credit even had muddy colors. On top of that, Damian was white washed in every comic he was in and Stephanie's story was just awful. The whole "Robin suit not fitting and her having to change it to fit her" as a metaphor for her having to change Robin to fit her style did not work here at all. Not when we have Batgirl and Steph was already a vigilante before. Stephanie knows how to make a costume that fits to her body and Batman is not stupid enough to act like hand-me downs would fit her or not know girl costumes are different. It felt more like they were just putting her into a tight, unfitting suit for no in-universe reason and so the creators can show this poor teenage girl in a super tight costume that squeezed her breasts and kept ripping. If they wanted to write a story about Steph learning to make Robin hers, they didn't have to emphasize her body or her gender so much.

Overall, this would have been stronger with better art and, while I liked most of the stories in this anthology, not all of them felt fitting for an 80th anniversary special. I mean, just compare it to the Green Arrow 80th anniversary special, which truly felt like a love letter to the Green Arrow legacy.

[Rolando Marono · Rating 3 out of 5]

DC ha aprovechado que la mayoría de sus personajes cumplen 80 años para sacar cómics especiales con historias cortas por distintos equipos creativos que han participado de cierta manera en el mythos del personaje.
Este especial de Robin es interesante porque cubren a la mayoría de los que han usado el manto de manera canónica. Aunque siendo realmente exactos, es Dick Grayson quién cumple 80 años. Y se nota ya que tiene tres historias protagonizadas por Dick: la primera es cuando decide dejar el manto y fue una historia emotiva que me gustó, la segunda es siendo Nightwing que fue una historia bastante genérica del personaje salvando a alguien, y la tercera (quizá mi favorita de la colección) nos lo enseña en una misión de Spyral como el agente 37 en aquella etapa donde fue agente secreto, y es una historia que nos repasa de manera emotiva la relación que Robin tiene con su mentor y qué los diferencía.
De ahí tenemos historias de calidad varia que cubren a los distintos Robin, hay una historia de Jason Todd que me gustó, y las historias de Tim no me encantaron aunque me gustó en la que habla con los demás Robin, la historia de Stephanie Brown se me hizo la más mala pero fue porque la trataron con demasiada superficialidad, no abordan lo que hace a Brown diferente a los demás.
La última historia, protagonizada por Damina, me gustó mucho pero se quedó en continuación y no sé qué serie tengo que leer para continuar con esa trama porque se ve bastante interesante.
En general fue un buen homenaje que cubren los 80 años del manto, y me gustó que notáramos las diferencias entre las distintas personas que han asumido el rol.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular is a collection of ten comic vignettes that celebrates the eightieth anniversary of Robin. This anthology collects ten vignettes written and illustrated from alumni of writers and pencilers who were instrumental in creating the best Robin stories.

This anthology is divided into ten vignettes with each story centering on a specific Robin. Four stories are dedicated to Dick Grayson (Robin, Nightwing (x2), and Agent 37), two for Tim Drake (Robin and Red Robin) and Damian Wayne (Robin (x2)), and Jason Todd and Stephanie Brown with one story each. While advertised, Carrie Kelley doesn’t star in a story, but in a pinup, with extra original pinups for Jason Todd and Stephanie Brown who has one story each.

While it is understandable that Dick Grayson got the bulk of the story considering he’s been Robin the longest and is actually the only person that turned eighty, I wished that the other Robins got even attention.

With ten issues, a score of writers, graphic artists and colorist it is extremely difficult to rate this hefty anthology. For the most part, I liked most of the vignettes with writing and penciling that range rather wildly and a wonderful addition to any Robin aficionado.

All in all, Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular is a wonderful, despite of the imbalanced of the anthology, a wonderful collection of vignettes that celebrated the eightieth anniversary of Robin.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robin gets the 80th anniversary treatment with all five main continuity Robins getting at least one story. What is really cool with this collection is that a lot of the writer and artists from different eras returned for these stories.

My favorite story the collection is the Jason Todd story. It was extremely touching and was such a great moment. It was also good to see DC acknowledging Stephanie Brown as Robin even though she had such a short run. The only story I didn't like was the Dick Grayson as Agent 37 storyline. I was not a big fan of the original storyline of Dick being a spy.

Out of the five Robins, I like Dick Graysons character the most as he has grown in to his role as Nightwing and taken up the mantle of Batman on multiple occasions. That being said, I think the best character AS Robin is Tim Drake. His master technician and intelligence sets him apart to be a great companion to Batman but also having the ability to run solo or lead his own team. I also think it is past time that Tim Drake follows in Dick and Jason's footsteps for a mantle of his own. Damien Wayne started as an annoying character who I really thought DC would quickly kill as a character building moment for Batman. But he has really grown on me over the years.

[NO*DA · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Es la persona, no el traje"
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💬 muy buen especial 100 páginas dedicado a Robin, y quienes lo encarnaron a lo largo de los años. Dos puntos a destacar: (1) los 80 años no serían de Dick Grayson? No debería haber sido él el "homenajeado"? (2) Stephanie Brown recupera definitivamente su lugar en la lista de jóvenes maravilla por los 3 minutos que usó el traje (2 meses en tiempo editorial) - algo que DC le negó reconocer por años. Pero siempre se gana y se pierde: ahora están perdidos todos los años (sí, años en tiempo de publicación) de Stephanie como Batgirl. Pésimo. No tiene descanso esta joven mujer. Me pereció genial que @jamesthefourth la regresara a su identidad de Spoiler, pero ahora ya sabemos que el futuro #DcFutureState y #DCInfiniteFrontier le depara volver a tener la insignia amarilla del murciélago en el pecho.
Volviendo al especial, súper recomendado. Es muy noventoso, pero también se reviven momentos de los 70s y los 2000s. Ojalá tenga su versión deluxe como otros especiales conmemorativos.
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▪︎"Robin: 80th Anniversary" 》 ☆☆☆☆ 《
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#DCComics #Robin80th #DC100pagesSpecials #Robin #Batman #comics #reading #comicsbacklog

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly great and way more consistent than these sort of anthology issues tend to be. I haven’t read a ton of Robin-leading comics and am only surface-level familiar with each of the various eras and characterizations; thankfully these stories were casual-friendly enough to still appreciate their diverse tour through nearly every corner of Robin’s comic history.

I love the King/Seeley-written Janin-drawn story of Agent 37-era Dick Grayson forging his own course doing the opposite of everything Batman taught him (enough to make me want to check out their Grayson series). The Red Hood story draw by Dustin Nguyen shows a rare sentimental side of that character I found sweet, and both Tim Drake-focused stories are entertaining, but especially the Tynion-written one that acts as a prequel for his great Detective Comics Rebirth run. Both Damian Wayne stories are a lot of fun too; his SuperSons pairing is a charming ode to boyhood friendship and the Villalobos-drawn Bonvillain-colored issue emphasizing his philosophical differences with BatDad looks like a stunning Frank Quitely comic.

[Nate]

Cash grabs though they are, I like these 80th anniversary specials. They give creators the opportunity to tell standalone stories that celebrate and get to the core of characters we know and love. There’s nothing flashy, just fun storytelling. I was looking forward to this one because Robin is one of my favorite characters (Dick Grayson and Tim Drake specifically). And you know what? I had a big ol’ grin on my face while reading this. I like how the issue is presented, with stories of each Robin in chronological order. The Marv Wolfman opener about Dick is one of the best here, and I love the Tom King/Tim Seeley Agent 37 story. My favorite, however, is the Super Sons short by Tomasi and Jimenez. Man, how I miss that book! It’s an anthology issue, so there’s a range in quality; the one by Dixon, for instance, is a dud. Still, as a huge Robin fan, I can’t deny that I enjoyed this.

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially started off as a sweet collection of stories between Batman and the Robins. I would have 5-starred it, but, like others, the Stephanie Brown story was annoying. I get that it showed Batman realizing he had to let her be her own Robin, but comparatively, it's like focusing on a story about Damien putting on Tim's suit and complaining that the cod piece is too big or small. It's ridiculous. I was also disappointed that there wasn't anything other than a 1-page internal variant cover of Carrie. She got a special variant comic cover for the anniversary, but no biopic or story. I'm only familiar with her as a Robin from Wikipedia and was curious to see her story. She wasn't included in the Robin group picture or the final biographies either.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I loved some of these stories so much! But sadly others were disappointing (the heck was the one about Steph?? Sexist much? And it was written by a woman so that makes it even worse). I also can’t believe we got just one (1) story for Jason, I wanted more!

But however, the stories that I did like were amazing! They are listed below:

• Team Building (Dick + Titans).
• More Time (baby Jason + Bruce).
• Extra Credit (Tim + school).
• My Best Friend (Damian and Jon + Tomasi and Jiménez? Sign me up!).

Overall, it was an enjoyable anthology for such a beloved character like Robin.