We check out the story behind Juni Ba’s inventive Damian Wayne book.
19th February 2024
So here's a story for you: A few years back, the writer/artist Juni Ba posted a pitch on his website for everyone to see. It read as follows:
The Boy Wonder – A Pitch for DC Comics
A five-chapter story (fit for a mini-series or a graphic novel) celebrating the wonder in the concept of Robin, by using Damian Wayne as the focal point. Through a colorful coming-of-age adventure with heroics reminiscent of Bruce Timm or Darwyn Cooke, Damian teams up with each previous Robin in turn, and embraces what it means to be a Robin, and what the mantle could be as a force for good beyond even Batman. This page contains the sketches and designs made so far.
Those designs clearly blew somebody at DC away because they've just solicited the book for May of 2024! Ba has been a creator to watch for a while now. Monkey Meat, his creator-owned anthology book was arguably the most unique book being released by a mainstream publisher in 2022 and DJELIYA was gorgeous. In the last year alone, he released two new major works: The Unlikely Story of Felix & Macabber (created with Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou) and Mobilis: My Life With Captain Nemo, released by TKO and Dark Horse respectively.
Just a couple of weeks back, I interviewed Mike Perkins about his stunning new DC Black Label Book ‘The Bat-Man: First Knight’ which hits the shelves in March, so DC can’t seem to get enough of unique takes set in Gotham.
Ba has shared several designs for the book, which he's been quietly working on for a while now, and you can see from the art on display that he is, indeed channeling Darwyn Cooke and Bruce Timm through his own, one-of-a-kind, exciting, exaggerated dynamism.
The possible inclusion of Carrie Kelly into this roster of Robins is an idea that will definitely intrigue fans!
Although the story has hints of ‘Robins: Being Robin’, Ba’s take will doubtless be full of the frenetic energy he brings to his comics.
DC will publish the series on its Black Label imprint, so it's a fair guess the series will be a little grittier than the tone you'd expect from those creators, but will keep in line with Juni's other works.
Just a couple of weeks back, I interviewed Mike Perkins about his stunning new DC Black Label Book ‘The Bat-Man: First Knight’ which hits the shelves in March, so DC can’t seem to get enough of unique takes set in Gotham.
Judging from the solicit below, we won't be getting the book in the oft-used 'Prestige Plus' format that the Black Label titles tend to favour, but it's 32 pages of Juni Ba madness, plus a Cliff Chiang variant, as well as a 1 in 25 Ba variant, so we're spoilt for choice!
THE BOY WONDER #1
Written by JUNI BA
Art and cover by JUNI BA
Variant cover by CLIFF CHIANG
1:25 variant cover by JUNI BA
$5.99 32 pages
The young prince Damian Wayne was raised to be the heir to the fearsome League of Assassins—to follow in the footsteps of his deadly mother, Talia, and the Demon's Head himself, his grandfather Ra's al Ghul But everything changed when his father, the Batman, reclaimed him and brought him back to Gotham City. As Robin, young Damian suddenly discovered he was merely one of many princes, preceded in the role by his ‘brothers' Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin…and Damian doesn't care to be merely anything. But when his father is forced to leave the city on urgent business, and a rash of abductions is accompanied by whispers of a demon stalking Gotham's dark alleys, Damian will find himself battling alongside his adoptive brothers—and in the process, learning what the mantle of Robin really means! Visionary writer/artist Juni Ba makes his mark on the timeless story of Batman and Robin, synthesizing the characters' complex history into an accessible and heartrending fairy tale!
We’ll keep you posted on The Boy Wonder by Juni Ba as we learn more, but if I were you, I’d get your pre-orders in now.
The Boy Wonder will be available from your local comic book shop in May. Ba had the following to say in DC’s press release:
“So it’s out, we’ll be releasing a new DC Comics Black Label mini-series about Robin called BOY WONDER, with me on story and art, Chris O’ Halloran on colors, and Aditya Bidikar on letters! And you can even see the first variant from Cliff Chiang!”
“There is in Robin, something quintessentially fun and superheroic. To me, he is the epitome of childlike adventure and wonder. Coming from the generation of fans that loved Batman: The Animated Series, I want The Boy Wonder to capture the fun of episodic adventure, and the compelling characters in an accessible book that anyone can enjoy regardless of prior history. And I chose to do this with my favorite little gremlin Damian, for who better to teach us about heroism and family, than someone who, deep down, fears he’s not a good enough person to deserve either? The story will be fun, but tug at your heartstrings, too.”
His excitement continued on Twitter, where he wrote:
“There‘s a real drive here to capture some adventurous fun as well as heartfelt humanity. The story of a kid who was hurt a lot, raised wrong, and who has to learn to navigate conflicting sets of expectations from both his families, with fear of not being good enough for either.”
“It’s a team-up book! Every issue a self-contained story with Damian learning from an older figure, and coming out (or making them) stronger for it. And I have an awesome team with me on this With Chris O’Halloran and Aditya Bidikar. I can’t wait to show what we’ve been doing!”
“And yes I really tried to make this accessible to everyone, even (or especially) if you don’t know that world at all. So thank you for giving this a shot!”
This is going to be one of the big two books of the year when it drops on 7th May (8th May in the UK). Make sure you pre-order this with your comic shop! We get all our comics with Gosh comics in London using their excellent standing order service. Contact them here to reserve your comics!
