Comics have created more controversy than government conspiracy theories ever have. If there is a new DC or Marvel comic releasing today, almost the whole world would be going Gaga.
Anyways, how many of you have that annoying friend who, out of nowhere lapses into that raspy voice and whispers, “I AM BATMAN.” At first, its cool, but then it’s just annoying. But right now, Batman is not the hero, no. Its gonna be his trusty sidekick and disciple, Robin. And not only one of the Robins. We are gonna give you a brief story about all six of em.
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First on the list is Dick Grayson.
He is the first and the most famous Robin. Period. Dick Grayson was first introduced by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson in 1940’s DETECTIVE COMIC #38. His origin story is pretty rough. Dick was an acrobat, who, along with his parents performed as a part of their circus “The Grayson’s”. Tragically, both of his parents were killed, and billionaire Bruce Wayne aka Batman, later adopted him. That must have been a pretty surprising turn of events. Bruce trained Dick from a very young age and eventually gave him the Mantel of Robin. He served as Robin for nearly 40 years. But, Dick finally left the guidance of the caped crusader because he did not want to work under certain restrictions. Hence, he gave up the Mantel of Robin and soon after, Dick Grayson left Gotham City trained himself to become the one and only, Nightwing. Also, fun fact, He is the only one on the planet who earned the mantel of Batman. When, you ask? Read on, people.
The next guy on our list is Jason Todd.
Jason Todd was first introduced in BATMAN #357, and he was almost a replica of Dick Grayson. Like Dick, Jason was also the son of circus acrobats who was catastrophically killed by a criminal. He was good-natured and quite obedient. Bruce and Jason first met when he was trying to take out a wheel from Bruce’s car. But, you don’t trick Batman. So, Bruce then converted this thievery into potential and trained him, just like he did with Dick. He was an exact doppelganger of Grayson but with red hair which he dyed dark after he became Robin. So….exact doppelganger. Don’t worry; not all Robins were Dicks(get it?).
Sadly, the duration of this duo was shortlived. In one of the issues, Jason is killed by the Joker and Bruce was unable to save his life. It was one dark day for Bruce.
Hence, Jason Todd was the first and for a long time, the only Robin to die on the job, at least until he was brought back to life in 2005 as the badass antihero Red Hood.
Our Third Robin was a heroine, named Carrie Kelley.
While Carrie Kelley has never been an official Robin in the DC Universe, she was Robin in arguably the single most popular Batman comic ever created, so not mentioning her would be a crime. Designed by legendary writer and artist Frank Miller, Carrie Kelley first appears in BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. After being rescued by Batman, Carrie starts to idolize the now-aged and brooding hero. The exciting part is that she creates her own Robin costume and saves Batman’s from a hardcore beatdown by the brutal Mutant Leader, thus returning the favor. And the biggest support I ever did someone was returning a sweatshirt I borrowed three years ago.
Our fourth Robin is also a breath of fresh air known by the name of Tim Drake.
Tim Drake approached Batman about being his newest Robin, a request that the Caped Crusader eventually fulfilled after Tim’s mother was murdered and a villainous poison crippled his father. While Tim became a skilled martial artist under Bruce Wayne’s guidance, in many ways, he was more of a nerdy Robin, using his computer skills and natural detective skills to outsmart his opponents almost as quickly as he could in combat.
This next Robin is also a bit of an anomaly. This anomaly went by the name of Stephanie Brown.
Making her first appearance in DETECTIVE COMICS #647, Stephanie Brown, unlike her predecessors, wasn’t inclined to take on the mantel of Robin. Initially, her plans were merely to hamper her father’s criminal plots and leaving obvious clues for the Dark Knight and the GCPD so that they’d eventually arrest him. Stephanie turned out to be very popular, leading writer Chuck Dixon to use her in his ongoing Robin series. After a while, she began dating Tim Drake and for a short period even replaced him as Robin. But this did not last long as Batman fired her due to her lack of ‘crime-fighting vigilante’ experience. I am almost sure their relationship pretty much ended there.
And now, finally, we talk about the sixth and the current Robin – Damian Wayne. That’s right – WAYNE.
Writer Grant Morrison introduced Damian Wayne in BATMAN #655 as a part of the well-known “Batman and Son” storyline. While Dick, Jason, and Tim were all seen as assumed sons of Bruce Wayne, Damian was borne to Bruce and Talia al Ghul. His grandfather did the rest. He trained him from birth to become a ruthless assassin. Bruce was ignorant of Damian’s existence until Talia showed up one day and left him in Bruce’s custody.wow, was she was a great mom!
Claiming Damian had problems would be the understatement of all time. Spoiled, angry and completely screwed up, Damian wanted to become Batman’s newest Robin from the start, utterly indifferent to the fact that there happened to be someone else in the role (Tim). Regardless, Bruce had a soft spot for Damian because of the shared genetic bond. However, it wasn’t until Bruce Wayne died and Dick Grayson took on the mantel of Batman, was Damian finally was given the costume and he officially became the fifth and the technically current Robin. He continued in the role until the launch of The New 52, when Batman was resurrected.
These Six Robins have given us some excellent comic book material to read when we really should have been sitting with a textbook.
Also, is it too late to say, SPOILER ALERT?
