Dark Nights Death Metal: Robin King #1
DC Comics
Written by: Peter J. Tomasi
Art by: Riley Rossmo
Colors by: Ivan Plascencia
Letters by: Rob Leigh
Dark Nights Death Metal: Robin King #1 is definitively the event’s best one-off published so far. They’ve all been compelling, but Peter J. Tomasi and Riley Rossmo took things to another level.
Tomasi and Rossmo, along with Ivan Plascencia and Rob Leigh, took the character they developed for their short story in Dark Nights Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Nights #1 and turned him into an even greater monster. There’s more to Robin King than readers were initially led to believe.
Now, the plot and dialogue of this story are outstanding, but what separates Dark Nights Death Metal: Robin King #1 from the other one-offs is the art.
If Greg Capullo’s work on the mainline is representative of a full death metal ensemble, Rossmo’s art is a vicious guitar solo. This art rips, it shreds — whatever adjectives you use to compliment a guitarist applies here.
But whenever I hear a ridiculous guitar solo, there’s also an element of discomfort. Same thing goes for Rossmo’s art. This stuff is nuts — and it has to be. The Batman Who Laughs is the craziest character to come out of all the Metal/Death Metal stories, but Robin King gives him a run for his money.
Dark Nights Death Metal: Robin King #1 is Horror meets high-octane action. As much as Scott Snyder has done a great job of updating Dark Nights Death Metal readers who aren’t reading the one-offs, this is the one you won’t want to miss. That’s in part because Robin King has been at the forefront throughout much of the event. More importantly, though, this is simply an issue you’ll want to experience.
And all that’s without even factoring in Robin King comes across a few DC characters who we haven’t heard from in a long time.
Also, this issue features a Duke Thomas short story written by Tony Patrick, drawn by Daniel Sampere, colored by Adriano Lucas and lettered by Andworld Design. Have to wonder what role he’ll play in the event going forward.