Robin Annual #7 - DC

I guess we're on the Halloween theme here. Robin, and Harvey Bullock, have run across a gruesome murder. Harvey calls the perp the Great Pumpkin, since it occurs on the eve of Devil's night. One of the things I really like about the Robin book, and it carries over in to this issue, is the way they intertwine his role as Robin with his role as Tim Drake. Yes they're two separate identities, but unlike most people in costume, I really don't think he sees it that way. He sees himself as Tim Drake, and then Robin is just an extension of who he is, not a separate identity. He's very level headed. So in his book, the scenes of him in either role are always very connected and not separate story-lines. I also like that it seems as if he's back with Zoanne now. I hope that this is a look at things to come, because in his solo book, I don't think they've reached that point yet. Anyways, long story short, it ends up being a family that's been trained to be serial killers. The daughter has killed the father and her uncle, to increase her body count, and impress her mother. It's occurred to her that if she kills everyone else that she's competing with, then her mother will have to acknowledge that she's the best, and she alone will then garner all of her love. Pretty twisted, I know. We get this part of the story, but Robin doesn't know it yet. Anyways, the only other competition she has is her brother. But Robin comes busting in just as she's about the cap off her list. Or course she escapes, tells Robin he'll see her next Halloween, and that he should call her Scary Mary. What he doesn't know is that the boy he just saved is also a serial killer. So I'm sure this isn't the last we've seen of this Rockwellian family unit. This story was brought to us by Keith Champagne and Derec Donovan. There's also a back-up story. Kind of a prequel, if you will, to the Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul story-line, that'll be starting up in Batman this week. Basically it's someone that's testing Damian. I'm just guessing here, but I think he's been bred to be the vessel for Ra's return. So whoever it is, has to make sure he's up to the task. It's also written by Keith, but the artwork shows the return of Jason Pearson. A guy with incredible talent that hasn't been used in books nearly enough. If you haven't read Body Bags, by Dark Horse, you simply must go out and pick it up. Anyways, I hope that this means we'll be seeing more of his work.