Robyn Hood Volume One Origin Review

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Back Issue Classics. Hello and welcome to Back

Issue Classics. I'm your host TFJoneMike and

this is starting our Robin Hood coverage. Robin

Hood from Xenoscope Entertainment. R -O -B -Y

-N. I am joined by Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello.

What was the last episode you were on I don't

even remember now I'm gonna be at and a bell

for you. I don't know. Oh, no, it was maybe it

was Marvel Transformers Marvel. Yep. Yep. That's

what it was Marvelous March. That's right so

I'm trying to even think how I even came into

this but we'll talk about that in a minute So

we're talking Xenoscope entertainments Robin

Hood. Now, this is not your When I say Robin

Hood, folks, this is not the Robin Hood you know

and love. This is a very different version. It

has a lot of these same similar names and tones

and places and stuff, but they weave a story

so damn good, and I'm going to be saying so damn

good throughout this entire show at this point.

But before we get into Xenoscope's actual incarnation

of Robin Hood, What was the very first thing

that you can remember ever seeing of the Robin

Hood character with his band of merry men? Disney.

Okay. The Disney movie with the animals. Okay.

uh... for me it was that it was also the original

arrow flint one i'd seen in one point or another

when i was a kid uh... after the disney movie

it was kevin costner and christian slater as

robin and will will scarlet and then after that

it was mel brooks with uh... carrie elwes and

and oh crap dave chapelle and whole bunch of

other people in Robin Hood Men in Tights. Since

Robin Hood Men in Tights, there have been several

different serious incarnations of Robin Hood.

None of them I enjoy. I enjoyed Men in Tights.

That was great. Yeah, no. Men in Tights, yes,

but I'm saying since that movie, they've tried

to go back and redo and retell, redo a Robin

Hood movie like what the Kevin Costner movie

was like, a more serious take on it. I'm sorry.

Russell Crowe will always and forever be Cash

from Tango and Cash to me. Russell Crowe is Robin

Hood. He's the guy from... or really is Maximus

from Gladiator to me. That's what I see whenever

I see him. That or... the the superhero father

from sky high but anyway so that's our wasn't

that yes he was oh yeah that's what he was he

was uh steve the superhero dad in sky high yeah

that's right i had him mixed up he's not in gladiator

no that's um yeah that's the other guy yeah i

don't remember that plays the same kind of two

-bit parts yeah So that's our history with the

overall Robin Hood character this when I first

suggested this to you What was your initial reaction?

I was unsure Being that I never jump out of my

realm of doing the superhero stuff or robots

So Robin Hood volume one origin The grim fairy

tale series that reinvents a classic tale of

action fantasy and adventure is here inside the

realm of mist a tyrant rules the city of Bree

with an iron fist leaving its citizens living

in terror But all hope is not lost as an orphaned

teen from our world discovers her true destiny

and becomes the legend she was meant to be That's

the back of the trade on volume one I Was I'll

say this right now, after seeing several of the

issues and several of the covers, honestly, what

drew me to this was the covers. Well, I'm not

going to sit here and lie. They do portray her

very scantily clad. I was going to say something

else, but I'll leave it alone. We don't need

Dodd here tonight, thank you. Well, no, I wasn't

going to go that kind of route. I was just trying

to say more delicately and robust at the same

time. Yeah. Yeah. And going through this, I actually,

because at the end of this little spotlight that

I'm doing here in the pullback, I hope to have

Pat Shand or Patrick Shand, the writer, on for

an interview here. on the pullback after we do

all this coverage. And once I picked up the trades

and picked up some of the one shots and whatever

else, and then I got into the actual ongoing

series that's currently going on, I just couldn't

stop. Once I read this first trade, I was like,

OK, I'm hooked. I love this stuff. So as I said,

you got Patrick Shand on writing. You've got...

The story is actually done by Joe Brucho Raven

Gregory Ralph Tedesco and Pat Shand Because I

have the trade cover I have the trade paperback

the trade design is done by Christopher Cody

the editor was Ralph Tedesco Assistant editor

was Pat Shand and Hannah Corfinkle The art is

done by Larry Watts We basically start out and

we have oh and just so everyone knows we're gonna

spoil the hell out of this stuff so you just

need to go read it end of story right now um

actually i'm sorry chapter one here the first

issue here was done by dan glassle uh colors

by tom mullen and jason amber uh so we start

off with a car crash and a girl laying on the

side of the street all bloody. What a way to

start this one off, isn't it? Yeah. Nice little

foreshadowing for later. As you were going through

the story and reading it, what were your overall

thoughts as you were digging into it? I mean,

it's your kind of typical, you know, kid not

knowing there's a destiny in place and kid having

hardship and eventually coming into what they

were destined to do despite everything and basically

discovering that this isn't the life she was

meant to lead. Yeah. When you have this more

or less douchebag of a leader or leader of towns,

you could say, and Whatever realm it happened

to be. Yeah, it's the realm of mist well even

in in her own home Yeah, true. Yeah on earth

yeah So first of all I know a lot of people and

I know this has been a big issue lately in comics

not necessarily the Xenoscope stuff, but maybe

more so in the the big two Whether it's race

bending or gender bending or whatever. I know

a lot of people Including us sometimes are not

fond of it when it's done. I don't care. I love

this I think it was great for them to make her

a female instead of the traditional Male Robin

Hood that we all know Yeah, I mean typically

I'm against that but I don't have a problem with

it here It kind of adds a different layer that

wasn't there with the original Robin Hood It's

like it's like mixing Robin Hood and arrow No,

don't give them any ideas come on now and changing

the hero into a female Yeah, don't give them

any ideas next thing. You know Felicity. I'll

have a mask in season four Nevermind oh Don't

even Know as much as I love Iron Man 3 Felicity

does not need to pull a Gwyneth Paltrow and have

her in the suit just no so as we go along we

find out that Robin Hood is the child of darkness

and she needs to be whisked away because oh my

god it's the end of days and whatever else and

this guy leaves her on this step and as we go

further into her story we find out that um the

step that what she was left on wasn't exactly

the best step in the world I mean her mom really

loved her but her dad if you can call him that

not so much and she goes around robbing to the

rich to give to the poor so they are keeping

a lot of the standard Robin Hood traits here

I love the I love the sign it's on page 14 of

the overall trade here where the homeless guy

has his sign upside down and she is just robbed

the grocery store or the bank or whatever it

was and she turns his sign upside she turns his

sign right side up and then there's a whole bunch

of money inside his pants that's just hilarious

absolutely love that so We go to her school and

we meet Cal and his douchebag friends You know

Cal's essentially that that popular kid in school

and that you just want to beat with a shovel

pretty much and Robin's never really been one

to follow the rules she's always been different

and she doesn't know why and usually when she

steals things it's for the betterment of people

like I said before the whole steal from the rich

gift to the poor thing but in this case she steals

Cal's car and she's doing it for her own personal

pleasure sadly this is going to come back and

bite her in the ass because the car ends up crashing

and Cal and his two buddies um well I'll just

say it folks they rape her and cut her eye out

yikes I was not expecting that yeah I missed

that on first read and then I discovered it later

in the story again on a flashback and I'm like

wait wait where the hell did that happen and

I was like oh okay As we go along we get back

to mist and we get We get this old man who's

trying to help his family go to this Glen Glenda

the Good Witch is the best thing I can come up

with I don't remember her name right off hand

So Robin was arrested for stealing the car after

she was in the hospital her parents blew up at

her Meanwhile in the realm of mist This guy wants

to save his family so he sacrifices himself For

the with the Good Witch to bring Robin to mist

and the portal opens up inside her jail cell

someone just sucks her right through it and we

see as the first chapter kind of ends here that

her name is Robin and she has a glowing yellow

golden eye I love the art in this that's so cool

what did you think of the art for for This so

far I enjoy the detail and the color shades and

the colors, but I also enjoy the some of the

art choices and That is it's detailed that it's

not too detailed Mm -hmm like it's not trying

too hard or trying to be like super gritty and

in the backgrounds don't always have to have

something in the background. I mean, there's

colors in the background, but it's not always

like, oh, you have to have a cow back there or

a hut or, you know, something. I mean, it's a

lot of the times that it shows up. It's very

easy to follow. Yeah. And I know my good buddy,

Joe Reed. over at off the cuff and geek stuff

garage cast when I told him about this series

it kind of turned him off a little bit just because

of the I Don't want to say over at least sexual

covers, but just the way that the covers look

he oh there's and the funny thing is is The covers

are really the only you know Hey, look at this

kind of moment. I mean inside the actual story.

She's wearing a sweatshirt. I mean, she's not

even She doesn't even have her uniform to this

point. Um, and I love all the covers. Oh man.

If I could have a wall of every single Robin

Hood cover, I would so do that. Anyway, um, so

we pick up, uh, she is in mist and the guards

are like, Hey, who the hell are you? You can't

be here. Blah, blah, blah. And we find out that,

um, King John is the ruler of the land known

as Bree and mist and He's not too fond of rebellion

and and uprisings and whatever else I remember

when I first read this I'm like King John. Oh,

no, he's supposed to be a prince then I realized

oh Right. His son is the prince Yeah As we go

along Because what happened at the end of the

first part of this is the the lady that brought

her to mist actually got arrowed in the chest

And she has now become the lady of the lake Quite

literally, it's a naked blue woman made of water

almost like halo Yeah, almost like halo So we

get the background and the story of how the lady

brought her here and Robbins just she's so disjointed

She just doesn't want to To be here whatsoever.

She just wants to Get back to earth and basically

avenge what happened to her as she goes into

the village we see her Come up against A guard

and a little girl and the guards like oh well

if your parents can't pay then they got to go

You know the whole taxes thing and this makes

her flashback to when her father kicked her and

her mother out As it continues here after the

flashback she's like yeah This ain't happening,

and she basically subdues the guard and has the

girl and her mom basically run away. What I love

about this second part of the story here in Chapter

2 is between the time of the flashback and the

end of the story, the colors, the background

colors, ugh. When she's fighting all the guards,

it's like a yellow, like... Dusk kind of color

like the Sun is just set but the sky is still

yellow And then when you get to the flashback,

it's slightly different Obviously because it's

a flashback. It's you know darker tones because

they're inside Patrick shan's writing is just

great. I Almost want to ask him when I eventually

talk to him Did you ever read Batgirl from Gail

Simone? Because really, seriously, I can, like,

that's the kind of tone that Robin is really

taking, is that really sarcastic, kind of, you

know, feisty tone, and I just absolutely love

it. No, I didn't read her stuff for Batgirl.

Not you. I was saying him. You jerk. What did

you think of the second part here? Where she's

getting offended and mm -hmm Kicking their ass

more or less It's nice to see a cocky hero that's

kind of remembering and kind of relating and

fighting for the same reasons It adds it adds

to I mean it ties into her backstory a lot oh

Absolutely, that's the whole point. That's her

motivation for staying So as we get into chapter

three we essentially pick up where she has a

wanted poster down and she's been called the

hood Robin hood Yeah, but that come on now that

joke you just told that's more of an arrow joke.

Well, she says Robin hood Yeah, and then she

says that I'll never catch on. Yeah so as as

chapter 3 issue 3 here opens up Robin meets little

John all as I can think of is Daffy Duck and

Friar Tuck in Robin Hood Daffy Dodge Perry thrust

turn oing anyway so little John is your standard

little John kind of You know body type. He's

a super big guy with a beard and she thinks that

King John Has sent him to kill her but no little

John is a part of the merry men It was funny

seeing him test her yeah, it was she's like yeah

one more minute that arrow is gonna be in your

nuts The coolest thing I find about this entire

run this entire series not just this trade is

The language barrier between earth and mist It's

so hilarious. Oh man So we finally meet King

John and his son the prince As it progresses

We meet the rest of the merry men we meet will

scarlet Friar truck Friar tuck Much who doesn't

say much And of course little John now I Wasn't

sure how they were gonna go about with a female

Robin Hood and what they were gonna do with all

that and whatever else as far as will Scarlett

and whatever else and I really dug it I thought

it was interesting and it's gonna get even more

interesting as we go along So Robin and Will

have a scene in this issue together. Now, this

is interesting. This is kind of a twist here.

As Robin and Will's scene ends, the scene with

the Kings on Earth begins. And it's Cal King's

dad that shows up. Cal King the son he um He

doesn't treat women all that well. I mean we've

already figured that out He's a complete ass

and douchebag Yeah, that deserves everything

he gets oh very much so Very much so And while

his father might be a ruthless guy his father

has some sort of standards And he's like, you

know, why are you doing this? It's just, wow.

He's like, more or less if your mother was alive,

I wouldn't want to see her face. Yeah, pretty

much. So as we get back to The Miss, this issue,

this part of the story ends here with the classic

archery tournament being set up. What did you

think of this? of the tournament to be set up.

That was the typical Robin Hood story. Yeah,

it is. To flush her out. Yep, it absolutely is.

But it was kinda awesome. That's one of the cool

things about this series. I love seeing how Patrick

Shand and the rest of the story people are gonna

take the classic You know the classic stuff from

the Robin Hoods. We know and twist them to make

this story work Chapter four begins with Cal

at his graduation ceremony Being the valedictorian

of all things I don't know what school would

ever let a douchebag like him be valedictorian

one that got paid off Well, the whole town's

paid off It's kind of true So we have him and

his father going at it again and we go back to

mist and there's King John Prince John Robin

Hood And the Merry Men and all that and we are

introduced to the guy or guy of Gisborne He is

King John's champion. So why would, if the tournament

is, they actually say this in the book, if the

tournament is to trap Robin, why would they actually

bring their best guy in to do this? To kill her.

Yes. We see the archery contest, some pretty

cool shots and artwork there. We see Robin and

Prince John or not Prince Folks, I'm sorry if

I say Prince John when I mean King John its force

of habit. I'm not used to I'm not used to having

two different kings and princes here so and Originally

I thought that like once I once I get up to this

point with the contest with Guy of Gisborne here

and him and Robin fighting. I originally thought

he was gonna become the sheriff of Nottingham.

So did I. Because he really felt like that character.

He really, like, he felt like this sheriff kind

of character. So they have their fight. Robin

will not kill him. She will not give him his

honor and, you know. death so she strips him

of his honor and pisses him off yep pretty much

oh that's right and so we flashback to when her

mom died this is a little weird for me I like

the flashback but it's a little strange seeing

her mom naked like I mean not that i have a problem

with it it just i don't know it just feels a

little weird yeah it's a little disturbing to

say the least i really wasn't i i understood

it but i could have done without it it was a

transitioning scene just leave it alone yeah

i mean they could have just you know dropped

it had her in it well not even dropped it they

could have had her in a nightgown or a t -shirt

or something i mean not that Not sure what the

significance was but So we have more of the battle

And Robin ends up getting captured again She

ends up in jail again, and that's kind of where

this this fourth chapter ends What what are your

thoughts here? As the story has progressed I

well I for one I enjoyed the the whole In fighting

and everything and then I I think it's funny

that she ends up in jail again Only to be quote

-unquote sent to be killed Yeah Yeah, I love

that last panel Where King John says kill her

and she's just on her knees and I'm trying to

think though. Oh, no, I know I know what happened.

It's when she and the Merry Men were getting

ready that she got the her standard green leather

Because I'm like wait, where'd she get the uniform

and then I realized oh, yeah, that's right It

was a part of it was a part of the disguise so

she could get into the tournament the final chapter

here in volume one origin for Robin Hood begins

with a flashback to her parents and then a flash

forward to where Prince John is saying kill her

and you know she knows how exactly how she's

gonna get out of this and I still don't know

how the hell she got unbound oh I know it shows

us right here she But if her hands were tied

behind her back, how did she? Vault to get the

ropes on magic. Yeah magic So she gets free and

everybody's like You know, hey blah blah blah.

Oh my god, she's she's escaping get her little

John and the merry men are like Robin eyes to

the sky and he tosses her bow and and You know

John's last words are Hmm eye to the sky would

have been more apropos. I admit They killed little

John. Yeah, I was kind of surprised by that I

was like and we're just getting to know him I

was surprised as we go along in this little spotlight

month of mine here inside the pullback folks

I was surprised at all of the deaths. I really

was so was I Mean I So a little John has died

and the Mary the rest of the Mary men are like

a little John Ferbery and they go and basically

tear the house down They huff and they puff and

they blow the house down That's another story

for another day So she kills King John with an

arrow and guy of gisborne grabs up prince john

and basically runs away to fight another day

we meet maid marion that was the other thing

that i was kind of wondering about when i first

picked up the series and went okay so if robin's

female does that mean She's also going to be

a lesbian. Not that there's anything wrong with

that, because as the story progresses, we find

out that Marion is that way, which is fine. I

just wasn't sure when I first heard, oh, Robin,

a female Robin Hood, uh -oh, how are they gonna

handle Maid Marion? But they handle her very

well. And I know we're only just meeting her

now, but, um... So, the whole plan was, you know,

for Robin to... evoke revolution in the people

of Bree and then they would get you know Robin

back home to earth which they do they all say

their goodbyes she gets home and the wait is

over and we have Cal's two buddies that she basically

snatches up and basically strings them up in

in Cal's place of residence but it's cal senior

that comes home not cal jr so they have an argument

they have a little fight and she ends up killing

him the son comes home and the son's like oh

did me a favor i don't have to wait anymore they

have a fight and this artwork is amazing Yeah,

she uh, she pretty much puts them out to the

cleaners the entire group Yep, and then she burns

the house down with Cal in it. Yep And she meets

up with the cops and the cops like oh no and

The two cops that she ends up fighting are the

ones that were by the road When they raped and

cut her eye out And she they thought that she

couldn't hear them. So she's like yeah, you guys

are gonna die and But wait, no, you got I'm gonna

let you guys go and I want you to get the guy

who sent you Or who didn't allow you to actually

help me and that's the police chief or the commissioner

or the sheriff or whatever You're gonna call

him She kills him Which is hilarious Absolutely,

well not Well, it is because he's a douchebag.

He's paid off, too. Yeah, everybody's paid off.

We get more of a flashback to her mom. We go

back to Myst, and we see more of the Merry Men.

But the strange thing, the cool thing, is the

issue ends. The first volume here ends with...

Guy of Gisborne Prince John and This new character

who I don't think we learned her name in this

issue Maybe we do and we don't No, we don't so

this new female character who is a witch of some

sorts actually pulls a Basically burned out kale

Cal King jr. Out of the fire And it ends with

Gisborne saying, hello Mr. King, glad you're

alive. I have a business proposition for you.

Good sir, let's get you healed up so you can

chat about a girl you may know. So, immediately

once they started this, this end story, I'm like,

oh damn, I know where that's going. He's gonna

end up being the sheriff. Wasn't sure what they

were gonna have him do But it makes sense yeah,

he looks like in this last panel where she's

holding him up It looks like as if we're seeing

the whole body of the crypt keeper from tales

of the crypt doesn't it I Could see that yeah,

just the way he looks not enough wrinkles on

him though Okay, so overall Robin Hood volume

one the first five issues of origin. What did

you think overall? I? Thought it was really interesting.

I was kind of surprised at the deaths and some

of them lack thereof mm -hmm, but uh The other

thing it was a little bit jarring was the constantly

going back and forth between worlds Yeah That

and some of the flashbacks. I mean when I read

it it reads well, but Trying to cover it. It's

a little strange In the trade we also have a

cover gallery of various covers various versions

of the covers from the set from several issues

One and two actually all five. I think all five

of them have Yeah, different covers Overall,

I enjoyed Robin Hood volume one origin. I Wish

I had found this series back when it was originally

in singles because it's just such a good read

it really really is um all right overall what

would you give a volume one i give it a four

out of five yeah i'm gonna give it a four out

of five too there were a couple of things that

it wasn't the art it wasn't really the writing

but there were just a couple of moments where

i just felt like oh snap what the hell Like I

wasn't sure what the heck was gonna happen next

and that's not necessarily a good or a bad thing

but As much as I love this one as the story progresses

I my enjoyment of it continues and continues

so Any other thoughts sir? Nope Alright folks

join us next week when we will be talking about

Robin Hood versus Red Riding Hood Make your greatest

game in the comics and we will catch you next

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