ROBYN HOOD: HOME SWEET HOME, from Zenescope Entertainment on January 12th, 2022, pits Robyn against herself as the demons of her past come back to destroy her present.
The Details
- Written By: Joe Brusha
- Art By: Ismael Canales
- Colors By: Juan Manuel Rodriguez
- Letters By: Taylor Esposito
- Cover Art By: Sean Chen (cover A)
- Cover Price: $5.99
- Release Date: January 12, 2022
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Was It Good?
Hmm, interesting. In the past year, Robyn Hood has encountered an assortment of villains in a series of one-shots designed to elevate her character and lay the foundation for larger crossover events, namely against the Dark Princess. The enigmatic Smitty has been central to setting up her training and pushing her beyond her limits to prepare for the fights to come.
But something different happens in ROBYN HOOD: HOME SWEET HOME. When Robyn visits Smitty (partly to give him a stern talking to for his enigmatic shenanigans), Robyn is forced to fight a monster of a different sort. Read on through to the next section if you want less enigmatic details.
Brush crafts a surprisingly cathartic character piece that mixes uncomfortable elements of child abuse, trauma, regret, and acceptance. This is not what you expect from a typical Zenescope action comic, and it’s a welcome change of pace. It’s welcome because it adds a new layer of depth and complexity to Roby, making her a more fleshed-out character. This is the type of one-shot that adds to the character’s canon and builds new emotional connections to motivate her actions in a more meaningful way moving forward.
The intention isn’t to over-hype this issue as the greatest thing since sliced bread. But, this is the kind of issue that adds weight and importance to a character beyond simple badassery.
Besides the weighty, almost moving, story, Canales turns in some super fine art in this issue. The attention to detail, especially on the faces of children enduring a horrific trauma, is mesmerizing. In the first few pages, the pencils are reminiscent of Frank Quitely and that’s no small compliment.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with Robyn as a young girl attending her mother’s funeral. When the services conclude, she’s met by a man named Clyde who introduces himself as her estranged uncle. He’s arrived to bring her home to live with him and his young daughter and Robyn’s cousin, Meghan. Clyde, we come to learn, likes to sexually abuse little girls.
Now, Robyn arrives back in New York with a bone to pick with Smitty. her recent run-ins with an assortment of villains and gangs were partly instigated as part of Smitty’s training regiment, and Robyn has had enough of Smitty’s instigation. When Robyn suits up and sneaks into Smitty’s training facility, she sees has a secret command room. Before she can surprise him and demand answers, Robyn is suddenly confronted by Uncle Clyde, looking as he did when Robyn was a young girl.
Interweaving flashbacks and present action, we see through a series of scenes how Robyn would narrowly avoid Clyde’s advances but Meghan could not. Eventually, the trauma of witnessing Meghan’s abuse becomes too much and Robyn fights back one night. Before Clyde can grab her and do his worst, Robyn escapes down an apartment fire escape, leaving Meghan behind. Meanwhile, in the now, the visage of Uncle Clyde transforms into a monstrous demon, and Robyn is forced to fight for her life while the demon approaches a visage of Meghan one more time. We conclude the issue with the appearance of another family member, a lesson about regret, and the realization that Robyn isn’t the only one in a fight for their life.
Final Thoughts
ROBYN HOOD: HOME SWEET HOME is a surprising character piece that reveals the traumatic events of Robyn’s childhood to elevate the character with weighty amounts of emotional depth and growth. This feels like an important one-shot in the character’s development. Coupled with the excellent writing is equally excellent art that echoes that greats like Frank Quitely.
Score: 9.5/10
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