Confronted By Your Past
Release Date: March 22, 2022
The Lazarus Tournament is over and so is the Lazarus Demon threat that our young heroes had to face so with that the world is saved once again.... for now, and it's the road to the Shadow War that we have to look forward to, not to mention the idea that Damian Wayne at the end of the previous issue seemed to want to use Lazarus fluid to resurrect our favorite butler/father figure, Alfred Pennyworth. Let's jump into this issue and see what our Boy Wonder will do now that he's on his way back to Gotham. Let's check it out.
It's time to head on back to Gotham, where previously, Damian alluded to the idea of bringing Alfred Pennyworth back to life and in this issue, Damian struggles with what the right thing to do is in the end. The only downside to this aspect is we get the concept of Damian still being under the effects of Mother Soul's magic, which manifests in an evil Damian that our hero has to fight. While this struggle in moral dilemma is an interesting concept, especially where bringing someone back from the dead is concerned, it feels kind of weak in the fact that we just have to rehash Damian's previous characterizations which a lot of writers felt they had to incorporate over and over again whenever the youngest Boy Wonder would show up and seeing it here is a bit disappointing in the fact that it seemed like we were making strong headway in separating Damian from this. While it might be said that this is furthering that separation, it just felt like a callback that didn't need to be there in the end.
Beyond the magical self-reflection and walking us down the destructive path of memory lane with Damian Wayne, we do get back to Gotham and setup some decent stuff going forward that will not only lead us to the Shadow War but to a new status quo in how Damian Wayne feels about the 'Al Ghuls and his role inside their family, not to mention a great turn of events spinning out of the Lazarus Tournament that I can't wait to get back to once the Shadow War is over.
All in all, this issue is a mixed bag for me in the story department where we spend a lot of the issue delving back into familiar Damian Wayne territory where at this point just want to focus on him moving on like we have been doing, but I can see the point in doing this overall, even if the magical aspects of it kind of seemed forced to get us there. Beyond that though, I love the setup to future stories and the characterizations of the characters involved and loved the art throughout. Even with my problems with this story overall, the Robin series still remains one of DC Comics' bests and I can't wait to see what happens next.
Bits and Pieces:
I love where this book is going and the moral dilemmas that it brings up but I just wish it didn't have to rely on making sure we explore Damian's dark past and characterization to do it because this series finally felt like we were moving past that and to make sure to hammer it home again just felt like a step back, even if we are moving forward without it. Still a good issue though and definitely one of DC's best right now, not to mention it has amazing art throughout.
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