The Boy Wonder #1 Review

When I interviewed Juni Ba about THE BOY WONDER a little over a month ago, he told me two things about it:

1. The story was more of an allegory of “I don’t feel good enough to be a part of those great people who seem so perfect.” 
2. The biggest influence was Darwyn Cooke’s THE NEW FRONTIER.

These stuck with me for a while as I buzzed with anticipation for the first issue of this miniseries, written and drawn by him, with colours by Chris O’ Halloran and letters by Aditya Bidikar. The allegory is interesting, I think that’s something that is essentially a core part of who Damian is, so I was interested in how Juni Ba would put his own spin on it, given how cool his storytelling in his other comics is. More so than that though, it was the NEW FRONTIER influence that really had me on the edge of my seat.

After all, those are big words. If you’ve read it, you know why it’s so good, you know why it’s so important, and it’s also Ba’s favourite superhero comic. It’s a big expectation to meet, after all. 

Let me tell you right now, THE BOY WONDER not only meets that expectation and wears THE NEW FRONTIER as an inspiration on its sleeve, but it also blends itself perfectly with Ba’s style that immediately feels very fresh, but also very bold. It’s making a real statement on the character off the bat.

For some context, this is set during the early days of the character, when he was still young, still learning, before he grew into the Robin we all love. He’s hungry to prove himself, both to his father and his family, but also to himself. 

One of the things that sets this book apart from, well, any other superhero book really, is the art style. To my eye, the only ones that look truly different than what you’d expect are Daniel Warren Johnson’s TRANSFORMERS, Peach Momoko’s ULTIMATE X-MEN, and now, this. At the back of this book, there’s a descriptor that states it is “synthesizing the characters’ complex history into an accessible fairy tale!” and honestly, what better way to describe the art than almost fairytale-like? 

That style combined with the accessibility of the book itself is key to what makes it so good. Everyone knows Batman, even if through tertiary means, and thus in the vaguest sense they know Robin too, if not who’s behind the mask, at least the idea of one, Batman’s sidekick. That’s literally all you need to jump into the book. Easy to read with an art style that’s very aesthetically pleasing means that you can hand it to just about anyone really and they’d have a grand time.

The art and writing aren’t just good because it’s accessible though; it’s also good because even as it distills these characters and their figures into simpler archetypes to make them easier to comprehend, it doesn’t strip them of their complexity. Take Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing, for example, the character who shares a focus with Damian this issue. In the beginning, he’s described as “kind and brave,” but later on, we see that he too has frustration within him, even as he doesn’t directly show it. Damian too, it’s easy to fall into showing him as the “brat” who learns to be better, but this book is very purposeful in showing that that’s not all there was to him during his early days, he’s a complex kid juggling a lot, and I love that. 

I can’t wait for what’s next in THE BOY WONDER! You should definitely pick this up if you’re a fan of superhero comics, but also if you’re a fan of coming-of-age stories with a dash of fantasy! And get your friends who want to get into comics a copy too. It’s wonderful!