Publisher: Zenescope
Writer: Joe Brusha
Artist: Renato Rei, Sergio Arino, Daniel Maine, Riveiro
Colourist: Grosieta, Hedwin Zaldivar, Jorge Cortes
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Price: $5.99

Robyn Hood: Tarot One-shot is a tie-in to several other titles, but don’t let that put you off. Even if you don’t follow the story through its other permutations, Robyn Hood: Tarot One-shot is a stand-alone tour-de-force that will make it hard to resist finding out what happens next, which, of course, is exactly what those nice people at Zenescope want. And, in this case, that is no bad thing.

Take a bow, Joe Brusha, you’ve done a good job with Robyn Hood: Tarot One-shot, integrating just about every title in your catalogue. Next step the Universe! Okay, to the business of Robyn Hood: Tarot One-shot.

I have to confess the Archers are just about my favourite comic book characters, ever. Archers and winged characters to be exact. Probably because they are such an improbable choice for crime-busting superheroes. If you think about it, a human sized winged hero would have a wingspan of about twenty feet. Every time he took flight he’d start a small hurricane! And get him in a confined space and forget about it, he’d be useless. Same goes for Archers. They may have been okay in days of yore, but in a society where they’d be facing opponents armed with firepower big enough to blow your head clean off in a nano-second, a bow and arrow seems pretty pointless. But that’s probably why I like them. It makes them the underdog and that’s always appealing. That and the fact that they always have great costumes. True, Green Arrow and Hawkeye have had their share of fashion disasters over the years but Robyn Hood has no such dilemma.

Robyn Hood’s costume is sleek, with lots of cut-outs and offers maximum freedom of movement for all those energetic fighting moves. And if that makes your PC-ometer go off the scale, don’t blame me, I didn’t draw her like that – blame Renato Rei and friends, who, I think, deserve a pat of the back and a hearty “well done”.

Robyn Hood: Tarot One-shot puts Robyn once again up against the creepy, skull-faced Order of Tarot who are out to rule the earth and all the surrounding realms. Nataliya, The Forsaken One, a former member of their Order is recruited to take Robyn out of the picture once and for all. Luring Robyn and her friend Mary, the former Queen of Pentacles to an old, abandoned amusement park (is there ever any other kind?) Nataliya does a pretty good job of dividing and conquering. But all is not lost as several mini-series will tell us! Even allowing for the cynical hook motif, Robyn Hood: Tarot One-shot scores a bullseye and will leave you quivering for more.

 

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker