Robyn Hood in Iron Maiden #2

Robyn Hood in Iron Maiden #2

Zenescope Entertainment 2021

Written by Joe Brusha

Illustrated by Renato Rei

Coloured by Grostieta

Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studio

Picking up from the thrilling conclusion of part one, the curse of the Iron Maiden is loose and Robyn is standing in the way of her, and her target. With Robyn not only caught between a viable threat but also her own conscience, will she be able to do what she needs to, to stop this enemy? And what of the innocent girl trapped within this Iron Maiden?!

I really think this should have at least been three issues instead of two. This whole thing feels rushed to me and we’re missing out on a lot of what makes the Iron Maiden who she is. While I am not one who wishes to shy away from action it seems that’s what this issue mostly entailed. I wanted more actual story than what we get. Some of the best moments were when Robyn met with Peyton and the innuendo’s about The Black Knight were made. Joe has this problem and that is he thinks he’s a writer, he’s an idea guy and that he tries and continues to fail when it comes to writing is something he cannot see. Maybe if he concentrates on one book until it’s solid but even then I don’t have high hopes.

The way that this is being told could be better. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is done in a way that it feels we’re missing out on a few things. It feels rushed to me and I can’t figure out why that is. The character development is pretty solid actually and I like how we see Robyn and her dialogue with everyone she meets throughout the issue. She retains her sassy gung-ho demeanour and that’s great. The pacing is rougher than it should be but it does take us through the pages revealing the huge fight scenes along the way.

The way that this is structured feels like we’re missing so many things like how and why does the Iron Maiden retain her personality while reverting back to the human girl who went into the device? I am left with so many more questions than answers here and the ending, don’t get me started on that mishegas or why the whole Mandy thread didn't conclude.

As always the best part of this are the interiors. The linework is superb and as we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is stunning stuff. From the wood to the women to how we see the composition within the panels, with or without backgrounds, it all has this incredibly strong point of view to it. It has this classic comic book style to the work and it’s just a pure joy to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stupendous eye for storytelling. The colour work is magnificent to see. I love how the various techniques in laying the colour down are seen and how the various hues and tones within the colours are utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. There is also some great creativity and imagination that we see and for a change I love Iron Maiden’s outfit and how it incorporates the spikes and such.

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Robyn is always going to be a premiere book that I read, she’s become the epitome of a superhero over the last few years and while I want to see her learn more detective skills she does remain the most interesting archer in all of comics.