We Are Robin #3

By Lee Bermejo, Jorge Corona, Trish Mulvihill

“Gonna eat about fifty chili dogs and a pound of beef jerky when we make it outta this.”

“If we make it out.”

Juuuust because your lives are on the line in an incredibly stressful situation taking place in the subway system below Gotham city (a city with a horrible crime rate) doesn’t mean you can’t daydream about chili dogs.

We Are Robin #3 continues the story of a bunch of Gotham teenagers taking on the mantle of Robin in order to fight crime in the name of justice. They even get to meet their hero! (It’s mentioned in the blurb for this issue everywhere) Does it go as planned? Since… you know… Batman looks a little different these days (big and blue, metal, T.V antennas…suit has to at least pick up local channels and the major networks…wondering if he’s watching Gotham in there).

Writer Lee Bermejo uses this issue to make the stakes a little higher for the city’s newest crime fighters. He creates a high level of tension as a group of the vigilantes continues to fight an onslaught of Gotham baddies above ground – while below a couple small groups are trying to figure out how to disarm some bombs. Nothing is ever easy when you live in a fictional city.

Something Bermejo does well this issue is lace the tension driven story with a bit of humor. A great line comes when one of the Robins sitting in her room on her computer trying to give information to the Robins in the streets is confronted by her mother.

“Hon, got dinner on the table…”

“Mom! I’m kinda saving the world here!”

“Detach yourself from that damn computer and come eat before your brother finishes everything off, young lady.”

DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince were right…parents just don’t understand.

On the artwork side of this issue is artist Jorge Corona alongside colorist Trish Mulvihill. This issue is loaded with a lot of great fight scenes (seems they’ve been doing well with including these in each issue) as the Robins above ground continue to kick and punch endlessly through the night – leading one to believe Gotham has caffeine in the water supply.

A scene done really well (one that isn’t a fight scene…pretty sure talked about one of those last issue) comes when a bunch of the Robins jump into a subway car only to find they narrowly escaped a giant explosion. Corona does a great job of depicting the devastation on each Robin’s face (the name of the book is We Are Robin, so individual names just aren’t important right now, okay?). Something Mulvihill does an excellent job of in this scene is show how the bright explosion illuminates off the speeding subway car – you even get an idea of just how big the explosion is through a reflection of it in the window.

Gotham’s newest vigilantes take a big hit in this issue as Bermejo lays down some heart wrenching scenes. Corona and Mulvihill create some explosive scenes together as well. But it all makes you wonder…how far are the Robins willing to go to continue this crusade? Is it all or nothing?