Having been one of those “noobs” that latched onto Robin when it was POW a long time ago, I missed all of the story behind Spoiler and Robin.  I also did not plan on picking this issue up because I just didn’t want to buy another “Special” that wasn’t all that good.  But when I was at the shop, I flipped through it and thought that the art looked pretty cool.  “What the heck,” I thought, “it’s just one book and besides, it might be good.”  Well, I’ve rewarded my brain heavily for talking me into it because I was completely blown away as to how great this issue was.

Picking up where last issue left off, we find Tim and Stephanie trying to adapt to life together again.  The narrative is strictly driven through a diary entry that Stephanie is writing about her and Tim going to a part that eventually devolves into a case.  What’s so wonderful about these pages is that I can see who Stephanie is as a character.  As someone who has never read anything about her, this is an excellent way for me to connect with her.  And you can see through her entry that she is a character of great depth, and it’s evident too that her relationship with Tim will add a nice dynamic to the whole book.  Frankly, I’m endeared to this character now, and I’m curious to see what she’s going to be doing and what impact she will have on the pages of Robin.  And this, of course, is a stark contrast to how I felt at the end of the last issue of Robin.

The back up story is really nice and paints a picture of what Stephanie did while over in Africa.  It’s another great little story that helps paint a background of the character and fill in details that might have otherwise bogged down the main Robin book.

The art in both tales is excellent and really fits well with this book about teenagers.  Both art styles are fun and frenetic and convey an energy about them that’s wonderful.  Also, all of the characters don’t look like they’re 30, but they look how you would expect young teenagers to look.  The fights are fun and dynamic, presenting action packed scenarios for our characters to play in.

If you’re like me and don’t know much about Spoiler, it’s your duty to pick this issue up as it fills in a lot of blanks and makes her return all the more interesting.  It’s worth the extra money.