How many Robins do we have now? Five mainline ones and enough spin-offs, one-offs, alternative universe, and international reinterpretations to fill its own series makes the mantle of Robin a strange one. As one of the first sidekicks—Captain America’s Bucky beating Dick Grayson by a month in publication— the name “Robin” does carry a certain prestige despite the original costume. Damian Wayne, though, strikes this balance between the brooding nature of Batman and the circus-adjacent appearance of Grayson’s original Robin. And it’s in that balance that we see much of Juni Ba, Chris O’Halloran, and Aditya Bidikar’s first issue of The Boy Wonder.

Beginning with the telling of a tale, The Boy Wonder gives us a succinct origin of Damian Wayne as Robin before showing us his hunt for the demon that has been terrorizing Gotham while his father is away. As the grandson of the Demon, Ra’s al Ghul, Damian feels this is an opportunity to show what he’s really capable of when stalking the roofs of Gotham solo. But Damian isn’t alone. He never can be. As one of many Robins and people who have lived in Wayne Manor, he still has a family to keep him safe on these outings. And after beating up a hoard of small demons that turn out to be Clayface with the help of Nightwing and Batgirl, Damian does what comes naturally to him after all these years—stopping an old woman being mugged. But after his altruism, we see that Damian and his adoptive family haven’t stopped the demon as something strange plucks the old woman from the ground before disappearing into the night.

I’ve written about Ba’s past work with Monkey Meat and praised his approach to storytelling as well as the fractured nature of the series’ five issues. The Boy Wonder takes many of those same narrative strengths and lengthens them. There is all the same frenetic energy as Ba’s past work, but there are these quiet moments of small panels and white space that help to slow things down, as if we’re watching the characters catch their breath. That we have that for this series about Damian helps to better reinforce his own need to stop, slow down, and consider what is happening around him. The slow maturation of the panel showing Damian’s growth while coupling that with kinetic outbursts of energy to let us know that he’s still a teenager who’s only recently curbed his murder urge.

The Boy Wonder is difficult not to like. From the script to the pencils to the colors to the letters, the entire team shows how much fun they’re having with this first issue in every page and panel. And that the team is publishing this under DC’s Black Label imprint only makes me more curious as to what the rest of the story could entail and how far they can push one Robin.

Get excited. Get wonderful.

Drew Barth (Episode 331, 485, & 510) resides in Winter Park, FL. He received his MFA from the University of Central Florida.