Robin In Perspective

(SPOILERS: Do not read this article if you haven’t read Batman Incorporated #8 or any Bat title #18 or higher)

As you can see in a prior entry (see here) I have a great respect for sidekicks. To me, a sidekick is just the entry level to becoming a true super hero. And there is no greater example of the sidekick than Robin. But as much as Robin is a great sidekick there seems to be a drawback to being a Robin. They have a tendency to die.

If you’ve read Batman comics in the past couple of years you would know that the current Robin is Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul. Of course perhaps I should say “was” instead of “is”. As of Batman Incorporated #8, Damian Wayne is dead. He is now the second Robin to die in the uniform (Jason Todd was the first but he got better). Technically he is the third Robin to die but when Stephanie Brown (who was Robin briefly when Tim Drake decided to give up the mantle) died she did so as Batgirl, not as Robin, and like Jason Todd she also came back from the dead. Of course the New 52 also wiped Stephanie Brown from continuity so there is that as well.

While Robins coming back from the dead seems to be good news for Damian, it no less changes the fact that they do die. And like most people who die, they are mourned. Even though Jason Todd came back from the dead, his costume still hangs in a class case in the Batcave, forever marking Batman’s failure to save him. Since all the previous Robins have been merely adopted sons, one can imagine how traumatic the death of Bruce Wayne’s flesh and blood must be to him. I know biology shouldn’t be a factor in matters like this but when one remembers that Batman’s entire quest is spurned by the death of his parents. To lose both one’s parents and one’s son seems too traumatic to imagine.

A sad thing to realize is that I am to blame for the death of both Robins. I don’t mean in some bizarre “I jumped into the comics” kind of way. No, I mean these two Robins were eliminated because they were never liked by the fans. Jason Todd was a notorious jerk who inspired DC Comics to launch a 900 number where you could vote on his fate (which I called and voted for his death). And Damian Wayne was seen as a spoiled brat from his first appearance. Even as he softened under the tutelage of his father, the younger Wayne never gained the love of the fans. He was an outsider, someone who didn’t really earn the mantle of Robin (like all four previous Robins) but only got it because of who his dad is. Damian Wayne is the nepotistic Robin. Thus no matter how hard he was portrayed as trying to be a worthy successor to his father’s empire, he would never be embraced by fans.

But even though I feel guilt for the death of Robin, I did not kill him. His own mother killed him. In the culmination of a long running plot point, which began even before the establishment of the New 52, Grant Morrison finally killed off his own creation in the pages of Batman Incorporated. It seemed like this Robin was always fated to die, even though readers were misled with stories of a future in which Damian grew into the mantle of his father. All of which was meant to never suspect the newest Robin was not long for this world. Which worked. I don’t think any reader really thought that ANOTHER Robin was going to be killed off.

But there is now a creative downside to the death of Damian. There can never be another Robin in the comics. How could Bruce Wayne ever replace his own son? Also any new character brought in to wear the Robin mantle would simple have fans asking how long the clock was running until this new Robin would be killed off. There are many fans that already joke that Robin is just a character with a big target on his back. And when half of the characters who have worn the mantle die, those jokes become a reality.

It is sad to think of Batman without Robin. Like no other super hero pair are these two characters linked. When two people work well together they are described as a “dynamic duo”, a term that originated to describe Batman and Robin.  Robin is the prototypical sidekick. An archetype of what a young hero is supposed to be and the relationship they are supposed to have with an older mentor. But with two deaths, the label of Robin seems to be tainted. Calling someone Robin has the same negative connotations as calling someone “O.J.” Doesn’t matter what positive aspects are associated with that person, people will only focus on the negative.

Decoy

Normally when a person dies their death wipes away any negative aspects people might associate with that person. Despite the negative associations people had with Jason Todd, when he died he became a symbol for one of Batman’s greatest failures and a constant reminder that this character was flawed. But the death of Damian Wayne has only shown the carelessness Batman shows by drafting children into his war on crime. The recent storyline Death of the Family showed that anyone who associates with Batman opens himself or herself up to being a target. Perhaps the death of Damian Wayne could not have been averted but had Batman forbid him from being Robin, it could possibly have been put off for a longer period of time.