Tim Drake: Robin #5 is published by DC Comics and written by Meghan Fitzmartin. Artwork is by Riley Rossmo and Ricard Lopez Ortiz, colours by Lee Loughridge and letters by Tom Napolitano. Main cover art (left) is by Ricardo Lopez Ortiz.
Tim Drake: Robin #5 is available from today in stores and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold.
Synopsis
Tim’s mysterious new admirer/nemesis is closing in and they could be anyone. With everyone he trusts potentially compromised or in danger, the World’s Greatest Robin™ has no one and nowhere left to turn for help…except for himself. But can Tim Drake get out of his own way for long enough to catch up to a villain who seemingly knows everything about Tim, down to the very way he thinks?
Review
Last month, Meghan Fitzmartin left us on the edge of our seats with the first reveal of Tim Drake: Robin‘s debut villain. With little context or even a name we were left to wait a whole month to find out what happens next. Turns out what comes next is another huge leap forwards for the series as it really hits its stride.
This month’s issue has some magnificent pacing. Kicking off with Tim and Nightwing searching the local area around the marina for the missing Bernard. Fitzmartin injects the pacing with a kind of frenetic electricity that fits perfectly with Tim’s state of mind in the moment. He’s firing on all cylinders but struggling to focus with Bernard potentially in danger.
It’s the perfect moment for Nightwing to appear and drop some wise words on the younger Robin. The two have a relationship which I would love to see more of. But for now these few scenes are perfect. It was great to see the normally cool headed Tim snap back at the former-Robin, the consequences of which are one of my favourite scenes in Tim Drake: Robin to-date. In one of this month’s quietest moments Tim’s inner monologue perfectly encapsulates what sets the character apart from his peers. It’s a flawed, honest portrayal of his insecurities and I wouldn’t have it written any other way.
From that moment onwards the scale blows up and takes Tim Drake: Robin in to some of its biggest moments. With its foot on the gas there is very little time to take in the twists and turns. For a moment Fitzmartin had me in a moment of blind panic when a fake-out reveal had me believing that all was not what it seemed.
The huge fight between Tim and the soon-to-be-named villain eats up a lot of the back half of the book and looks great under the penmanship of series cover artist Ricardo Lopez Ortiz. It brings us to the naming of the villain, proving this is a newly invented character. There’s no great reveal – at this stage – that it’s Joker in disguise and once again Tim Drake: Robin leaves us hanging with far more story to tell.
The series’ main artist, Riley Rossmo, is on board for just a handful of pages this month. The rest of the book is handled by the aforementioned Ortiz. The transition between the two is relatively seamless thanks to the consistent colouring of Lee Loughridge. There are subtle differences between Rossmo and Ortiz, with Ortiz’s artwork a little more angular than the more soft edges of Rossmo. Often books suffer when multiple artists tackle one story but that is simply not the case here.
Verdict
Easily Tim Drake: Robin‘s most face-paced issue, this month feels like the penultimate episode of your favourite TV show as it heads in to potentially game-changing finale.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
