Robyn Hood: Spawn of Nyarlahotep // Review
New Yorkers are vanishing. Not entirely, though: there is a growing population of dead bodies growing in the sewers. The reason why has to do with an ancient being of great power that predates nearly everything we know about history. A street-level crimefighter tangles with unimaginable power in Robyn Hood: Spawn of Nyarlahotep. Writer Joe Brusha takes another walk into the Lovecraftian darkness with an appealing superhero. The story is rendered for page and panel by Alessio Mariani. Colorist Juan Manuel Rodriguez adds mood and depth to the visuals. It’s another fun 30 pages with Robyn Hood.
Robyn awakens from bad dreams of childhood to receive a couple of text messages from a friend and colleague. There’s a problem on the news, and Robyn’s the only one who can do anything about it. She knows what it is. She knows it’s something called Starspawn. She doesn’t even know how she knows. She’s a pawn for much larger powers that seem to be flowing through everything. She follows her instincts to the Manhattan waterfront. She encounters a small army of sea monsters straight out of The Black Lagoon. She’s faced them before, but this time there’s something worse: this time, there’s Starspawn.
Brusha focuses matters on Robyn for much of the issue. The big monster doesn’t even show up until somewhere around the middle of the issue. Once things really get underway, Robyn’s inner conflict mirrors her conflict with the monster. Brusha flits back and forth between a crucial point in Robyn’s past and her current conflict. A bully in childhood is mirrored by an ancient power in her current life. It’s an enjoyable contrast that serves the center of the issue well. To his credit, Brusha doesn’t try to reach for too much more than the basic contrast of conflicts. This allows for more or less perfect pacing in a well-balanced action story.
Mariani has little trouble rendering the internal conflicts of Robyn. The action might appear more than a bit stiff in places. And the Cthulhu-like monster that Robyn is facing comes across as looking kind of silly, but the drama of the combat seems more or less as it should. Flashbacks to a scuffle with a younger Robyn feel particularly stiff. Children are notoriously difficult to bring to the page in a way that feels compelling. Young Robyn and her antagonists seem caught somewhere awkwardly between looking like adults and looking...like childhood homunculoid creatures.
Once again--Robyn continues to come across as a deeply appealing character. Brusha does a really good job of shedding a bit of light on her past. All too often, a writer will attempt to saddle a hero with far too many subplots and ancillary bits of characterization. Brusha knows exactly how much of Robyn is going to fit on the page and gives her plenty of room to do what she needs to do. There’s a great deal of patience for the episodic nature of the pacing in another satisfying 30 pages with Robyn.
