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Post by Reptisaurus! on May 21, 2015 19:46:22 GMT -5
1) So I believe the Robin identity is vacant, right? Still true? Damian Robin - still dead? And they haven't introduced Robin #... what are they on? Six, seven? Depending on how you count?
And Dick Grayson doesn't have a costumed identity right now? I haven't read any of his recent comics - which I hope are just called DICK! - but I thought that was kind of a cool direction.
Still, comic characters tend to revert to the identity that they are best known for in pop culture.
So how long before Dick Grayson returns to his Robin identity?
(Note. I'm not advocating, and I'm still upset about the re-Batgirlization of Barbara Gordon - I'm just predicting.)
2) Do you think Batman would exist in current pop culture if Robin hadn't been created? How important is the idea of Robin to the idea of Batman? Do the storytelling advantages - giving your detective character someone to talk to - outweigh problems - child-endangerment related moral questionableness - that Robin causes in Batman stories?
3) I'm not a Batman fan but I am a H-U-G-E Robin fan. The idea of wounded hero who channels his pain into a laughing boy daredevil persona is just vastly more creative and interesting to me than the psychologically wounded hero who predictably decides to be Captain Taciturn McAngsty. And I'm not sure that any post-Dick-Grayson Robin has ever worked as well conceptually.
(The original Jason Todd loses points for being an obvious copy of Dick Grayson. Unfair, yes, but those are the arbitrary rules I just made up. There's nothing we can do.)
So what's your favorite "take" on Robin? Bill Finger? Chuck Dixon? Burt Ward? The Teen Titans cartoon?
4) Related: Robin as Batman's partner, member of the larger Bat-family, Teen Titan or solo hero? Which of these absolutely don't work for you?
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 21, 2015 20:04:58 GMT -5
2) Do you think Batman would exist in current pop culture if Robin hadn't been created? How important is the idea of Robin to the idea of Batman? Do the storytelling advantages - giving your detective character someone to talk to - outweigh problems - child-endangerment related moral questionableness - that Robin causes in Batman stories? If you look at Batman's popularity, virtually all of it began AFTER Robin was introduced. The solo title was a given just because he was DC's second costumed hero, but the movie serial and newspaper strip kicked in pretty much right after Robin came along. In those early days, it seems like all that distinguished Batman from the myriad of other costumed heroes that came along was that he was the first to have a kid sidekick, and soon nearly every other hero followed suit. Heck, while Superman had his own fan club, the Batman franchise had "Robin's Regulars," short-lived as they were. Mike W. Barr handled this masterfully with the Post-Crisis Jason Todd before Starlin turned him into an a$$ (note: Max Collins had Jason downshift out of the bad attitude a few issues after being taken in). I doubt I could compare them, but I love Dick Grayson as leader of the Titans, and I also love Batman's complex relationship with the Pre-Crisis Jason Todd under Doug Moench and early Post-Crisis Jason Todd under Mike W. Barr. Granted, Jason was a clone of Dick Grayson, but being written in the Bronze Age, he was allowed a complexity (and a complex relationship with Batman) that would have been unimaginable in the Golden and Silver Ages before deep character exploration was in vogue. |
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Post by Action Ace on May 21, 2015 20:40:18 GMT -5
1A. Damian is now alive and Bruce is dead again. Damian is still in his Robin role and is on some sort of global adventure. Back in Gotham, we're about to get more Robins than we know what to do with in the upcoming comic We Are Robin.
1B: Dick is still in the Grayson comic in some sort of spy action.
As someone who was thrilled with the Re-Batgirlization of Barbara Gordon, I was disappointed that Dick wasn't deaged and returned to the role of Robin at the start of the New52. I guess DC thought they had too much money to make with Damian Wayne.
2. In 1939, Robin was a big part in making Batman as popular as he was. These days, I'd say much of Batfandom has little use for the Robins.
3. One of the parts I loved about Morrison's Batman run was the role reversal. You had the somewhat more cheerful Batman paired with the dark Robin. As a kid, I always thought Dick Grayson would grow up and become Batman. I missed out on the New Teen Titans era, so I diverged from the large section of fandom that grew up and thought Dick should be "his own man." I like Dick, Tim and Damian as Robin in that order.
4. They all work for me.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 21, 2015 21:04:41 GMT -5
Just for further reference in the current Robin(s)... Tim Drake is seemingly both the leader of the Titans as 'Red Robin' and in the future replacing Terry McGinnis as Batman Beyond. There's a free preview for both out there. Jason Todd continues to be a (mostly) hero as the Red Hood, seemingly having replaced Dick in the New52, since he hangs with Arsenal and Starfire. 'Red Hood and the Outlaws', which featured the 3 of them, has been changed to 'Red Hood/Arsenal' with Starfire getting her own book.
Also, I love Dick Grayson as Nightwing, leader of the Titans. I felt like if they stayed the course of the old DCU, he would have not necessarily become Batman, but would have been the leader of the JLA and the moral center/inspiration of the heroes of the DCU.. much like Captain America in the Marvel universe.
I think he's completely done as Robin. I suspect he'll be Batman again some day, though. I think my favorite version of Robin might be the first Teen Titans cartoon, where he's pretty much Dick Grayson's personality with Tim Drake's fighting style.
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Post by fanboystranger on May 21, 2015 22:19:50 GMT -5
I'm going to be honest, and it's not going to be a popular opinion: Grayson is the first time that I've found Dick Grayson to be interesting. I know there's so much good will towards the character because of NTT, but damn, I've always found his character bland. I'm shocked that he's carried a solo title for so long. But Grayson is really good, and it finally lets him form his own identity outside of farm league Batman.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2015 22:44:09 GMT -5
So what's your favorite "take" on Robin? Bill Finger? Chuck Dixon? Burt Ward? The Teen Titans cartoon? Is the Filmation Robin shown below - because I grew up watching it over and over again, this Robin came in 3rd Place.  Another one, would be the Super Friends version of Robin ... this Robin worked with the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and his trusted partner Batman. He also worked later with Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, Atom, and pretty much 2/3 of the Satellite Era of Justice League of America and became more prominence in the world of crime-fighting. This version comes in 2nd place.  Last and not least is the Burt Ward Robin - to me he's is the Robin that I wanted the most - a true partner of Batman and that's why I feel that this version comes in 1st Place.  Filmation Robin - 3rd Place Super Friends Robin - 2nd Place Burt Ward Robin - 1st Place These three embodies my spirit of Robin the Boy Wonder and those three are the ones that I grew up watching the most. |
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