Going into the Infinite Frontier era, Damian Wayne was a major personal crossroads after an ugly falling out with his father and the Teen Titans, and this sets the stage for the new Robin ongoing series by Joshua Williamson and Gleb Melnikov. Picking up from back-up stories in the pages of Batman and Detective Comics, Damian investigates a secret society so deadly that even his mother Talia al Ghul is unsettled by it. And Williamson and Melnikov are off to an impressive start, with an action-packed opening issue that immediately sets the stakes for the globe-trotting story they've started to weave.
After learning of the existence of the shadowy League of Lazarus, a splinter faction linked to Ra's al Ghul's League of Shadows, the Boy Wonder sets out to investigate the matter further. Gaining access to an elite martial arts tournament thrown by the sinister syndicate, Damian searches for the tournament's remote location and faces a fresh set of new, unfriendly faces while Bruce Wayne ponders what his son is up to and how the two can hopefully reconcile from their past differences and recent hardships. And as Damian is drawn deeper into the League of Lazarus' machinations, the Son of the Bat discovers he may have found the one piece of his family's legacy that he can't overcome on his own.
While the major setup for this story took place across two back-up stories the preceding month, Williamson is careful to make this first issue perfectly accessible to those that may have missed the two-part prologue. Damian is a P.O.V. protagonist into the secret corners of the DC Universe that have gone unexplored and Williamson captures all the character's usual swagger and overconfidence as he looks to stake his own claim on his legacy. Williamson knows when to set the stage with the requisite exposition and when to stand back and let Melnikov's artwork do the heavy lifting and also introduces plenty of intriguing new characters that help add some color to this undiscovered country, provided they survive the experience.
Melnikov -- who pencils, inks and colors the issue -- provides some genuinely thrilling action sequences, even if they're a bit brief here. With the entire premise of this opening story arc revolving around a martial arts tournament, he likely has some kinetic tricks up his artistic sleeve and the action scenes here serve as a nice appetizer for even bigger things to come down the line. Generally speaking, Melnikov's artwork is especially effective in darker settings, either in sequences set in the shadows and/or at night and this issue certainly has plenty of moody visuals that lean into those artistic strengths. And with plenty of magic and mayhem juxtaposed with the martial arts scope, Melnikov is only just getting started with his vision for the book.
Williamson and Melnikov build upon their prologues to set the stage for a memorable, fight-heavy story that showcases Damian Wayne confronting new faces that are sure to give him a run for his money. This particular Robin has always walked around with a significant chip on his shoulder. But by delving into the secret side of his family history, Damian is bound to be knocked down a few pegs as the new series picks up. And while there is exposition to be had for those that may have missed the back-up stories leading into this new book, this opening issue is a consistently engaging read that sets up some exciting directions to further explore.
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