![]() ![]() Perhaps prompted by a panel in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, which implies that Jason’s death led to Bruce’s retirement, the powers that be decided that Robin would be killed off. Fans took an immediate dislike to the character. Perhaps that is why Todd never caught on as Robin. You couldn’t have asked for a sharper contrast with his direct predecessor. When Todd became Robin, he was arrogant and headstrong, never afraid to make his own decisions or question authority. Rather than growing up in a loving and idyllic environment like Dick (who grew up in a circus), Jason was a product of Crime Alley – the same location that had claimed Bruce’s parents all those years ago. Jason Todd was a rebellious teenage ruffian who was introduced stealing the wheels off the Batmobile. It was the eighties, so the replacement was called upon to be quite a bit different from he pleasant Grayson. When Grayson left the role of Robin to strike out on his own – becoming the hero Nightwing and moving slightly away from the Batman family – editors at DC comics were quick to replace him. To put this in context, aside from the animated feature Batman: Under the Red Hood, the only appearance of Jason Todd outside comic books was in a cameo in a dream in the animated Teen Titans. ![]() ![]() Tim has been the first Robin to consistently carry his own stand-alone book and was even featured in The New Batman Adventures, the relaunched version of Batman: The Animated Series. He got to graduate to being Batman in Grant Morrison’s superb Batman & Robin, and – if you asked a random person on the street for the secret identity of Robin – most people would name Dick Grayson as the Boy Wonder.Įven the modern Robin, Tim Drake, has had a hint of breakout success. Dick Grayson has had the most break-out success in other forms of media, featuring as Robin in the sixties Batman! live action show, the animated DC universe and Batman Forever (and Batman & Robin) among countless other appearances. Jason Todd was the second character to carry the name Robin, and one of the most easily forgotten outside of comic book circles. The Joker lowers the bar for Bat-villains everywhere. What happens if – even only once – he makes the wrong decision? What if one dies? Surely it’s his fault, then? Batman puts children into the line of fire every day. The bright and cheerful narratives of the sixties protected Batman from ever having to worry about that, but by the time Reagan had come to power, it was time to question these assumptions. If Batman is truly fighting an unending “war on crime”, as some of the darker portrayals claim, then doesn’t that make Robin a child soldier rather than a faithful companion?įurthermore, asking a kid to dress up and fight crime with you isn’t exactly a particularly responsible decision from a heroic character – there are any number of horrible consequences which may come down the line. If you were going to make the Caped Crusader’s world an edgier and more dangerous one, the teenage sidekick seems obviously out of place. ![]() As Batman’s world got increasingly dark in the eighties and into the nineties, the yellow and red and green of his child sidekick stood in even greater contrast to the shadows falling over the comic book. I suppose that it had to happen eventually. Frankly, despite the power of the rich imagery provided by Jim Aparo, the story is more than just a little bit weak, and certainly not strong enough to support the label of “classic” that is applied so frequently to the story.īatman will be carrying this with him for quite some time. However, the story itself really isn’t anything too spectacular – it’s as if writer Jim Starlin was trying to combine the adventurous take on Batman from the seventies with the more grim-and-gritty crusader of the late eighties, with a frankly inexplicable desire to dabble in global politics. The image of Batman cradling a bloody and bruised Robin in his arms is almost iconic, recognisable to any pop culture aficionado. It was the moment that Batman failed – and he failed monumentally. Later on today, I’ll be taking a look at the animated movie Batman: Under the Red Hood, so I thought I might take a look at one of the stories which inspired it.Ī Death in the Family holds something of a sacred spot in the line-up of classic Batman stories. This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. ![]()
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