An Untold Tale Not Long Ago featuring a bunch of Robins...getting killed.
The Good
Normally I'm not thrilled with
untold tales but from the image on the opening page of "Robin" lying dead, full of arrows, I felt this was going to be something different. How cool is it to see
Renee Montoya as a Gotham City police officer once again or hear about
Dick being in
Bludhaven?
We also get some perspective from the citizens in Gotham. People are in awe and fear the urban legend of Batman. This makes it easier for someone to impersonate the Dark Knight and seek out young kids to become his Robin. There is also mention of how LexCorp rebuilt Gotham by simply building on top of the rubble after
Cataclysm.
The art manages to capture the mood and chaotic pace of the story. Bruce, Dick and Tim have a deadly mystery on their hands and they may not survive long enough to solve it. The issue ends with a nice cliffhanger making you want to come back for the next issue.
The Bad
We know that Batman and the gang will figure out who is responsible for the dead Robin. We see some new characters like Samantha Locke, a reporter from the National Reporter as well as a bunch of runaway kids getting pulled into the
other Batman's scheme. I just found it a little hard to care about any of them. I never noticed it before but Carlo Barberi's art is a little reminiscent of Humberto Ramos' art. It's not necessarily a bad thing but sometimes it made some of the characters feel too flamboyant or stylized.
The Verdict
Batman Orphans is a dark story. Reading about a Batman impostor preying on children is a little creepy. It's great seeing that the idea of
Batman could have some negative effects when someone uses the myth for their own means. The story comes together nicely and the art takes you to a different part of Gotham. The only downside is that this is a two-issue mini series. Knowing that the story will most likely be neatly tied up in the next issue makes me wonder how much of an impact it will have on Batman's mythos. It's an interesting story and I'm definitely curious to see how it plays out.
