Lemire’s time in Gotham is more limited, but DC recently published Joker: Killer Smile which paired Lemire with his Gideon Falls co-creator Andrea Sorrentino, and they capped off the DC Black Label miniseries with the epilogue one-shot, Batman: Smile Killer. Nguyen is certainly no stranger to Gotham City on top of drawing and painting a sterling 20-issue run on Batman: Streets Of Gotham (written by Paul Dini), Nguyen also saw a stretch on the weekly Bat-Family event series Batman Eternal, the DCU future shock series, Batman Beyond Unlimited, and co-wrote Batman: Li’l Gotham with frequent collaborator, Derek Fridolfs.

As writer and artist respectively, Lemire & Nguyen are also the creative team behind Image Comics’ Descender, which just wrapped up its 5-year run earlier this year with the eighteenth issue of its sequel series, Ascender. Robin & Batman is helmed by Eisner-award winners Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, with letter work by Steve Wands. So how is the Descender team’s first united foray into the storied legacy of the Batman, and what untold dangers does their saga hold in store for the Boy Wonder? Who is making Robin & Batman #1?

Given that, it’s a darker tale than what you might find in your typical Robin book. Robin & Batman #1 is a revised look back on Dick’s formative days as a crimefighter, one that shows us just how close the newly-orphaned Robin came to losing everything about himself that is good and pure in his quest for vengeance.

As we close in on the year 2022, some might say it’s time for a generational refresher course on the history of the DCU, and with Robin & Batman, Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen provide Dick Grayson precisely that. What’s more, it’s been 20 years since DC originally published Robin: Year One, the last definitive take on Dick Grayson’s first perilous year as the colorful, smiling counterpart to Gotham City’s grim Dark Knight. Dick Grayson has operated under the nom de guerre of Nightwing since 1984 - a stretch of time that’s just seven years shy of the 44 years he spent fighting crime as Robin, DC’s first-ever Boy Wonder.

Batman by Dustin Nguyen