Warning: spoilers for Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1!DC's best new team-up is completely unexpected and completely hilarious: Robin. While the Kryptonian/Bat-Family pairing is a classic going back to Batman and Superman's first alliance, this new duo is the highlight of the Dark Crisis event one-shots, and DC should take note of their success.
While in the midst of its latest company-wide and Crisis-level events, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC is taking the chance to pair up some of its rarely seen characters with surefire fan-favorites. While a larger battalion of heroes battles the corrupted villains in the main Dark Crisis series, smaller squadrons have been taking on "side quests" in a series of tie-in one-shots. Robin and Power Girl are needed on one such quest. One the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul, the other a lost Kryptonian with a complicated multiversal past, these two characters couldn't be more different. But they are both intrinsically tied to DC history - especially Power Girl, who has played a major role in a few of the past Crises - so it's no surprise to see them finally take the spotlight. Even if they have to battle each other for it.
And Power Girl and Robin do butt heads in Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1 by Mark Waid, Dennis Culver, Delilah S. Dawson, Freddie Williams II, Jackson Herbert, Adriano Lucas, and Troy Peteri. In the issue, Robin has recruited Power Girl and a group of other rarely seen heroes on a fact-finding mission. Robin, as per usual and despite being the youngest on the squad, takes point, but he has to fight Power Girl for the position of leader, especially since she has far more experience with Pariah's equipment from previous Crisis events. They snark at each other so much that even their team seem to take note.
Robin & Power Girl Are DC's Latest - and Funniest - Odd Couple
Damian and Karen make for an unlikely pair, but both of their brash attitudes are hilarious when paired together, and they actually work well as a team in this one-off story. Power Girl’s confidence and long history with DC's reality-shaking Crises shines through, even while Damian's Robin - a relatively newer character taking on a stories mantle - takes center stage. What really makes this team-up work is that the far more powerful Power Girl isn’t afraid to take Robin down a notch, refusing to be treated as his lackey or weapon. That’s made even funnier by their clear age and experience difference, as Damian finally comes up against someone he can't browbeat.
As always, it’s a great strategy on DC's part to partner under-used characters with any Robin. That strategy, with Damian Wayne at the helm, works well for this whole "Dark Army" team. But the real standout and unexpected partnership is Power Girl and Robin - their hilarity, brashness, and hyper-competence make them DC's best crime-fighting duo in years, and hopefully fans will see more of them as a duo even after Dark Crisis concludes.
Check out Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1, available now from DC Comics!
