Happy Birthday OAP Wonder

Robin's first appearance in Detective Comics issue 38

Last year Batman celebrated his 70th year in publication, this year Batman's first partner in crime Dick Grayson (aka Robin, Nightwing and now Batman) celebrates his 70th year in publication, not too shabby for a former Boy Wonder or should I say OAP Wonder.

In April 1940 just eleven months after the emergence of Batman, creators Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson gave the caped crusader a moral compass in the guise of Dick Grayson aka Robin. In an origin that somewhat mirrored Batman’s own, the young Dick Grayson witnessed his acrobatic parents death at the hand of crime boss Tony Zucco who arranged for the trapeze wires his parents were using to snap. Batman as Bruce Wayne also witnesses the Grayson’s death and takes Dick in as both ward and sidekick eventually bringing Zucco to justice.

Batman and Robin shared many adventures in the comics and even on TV most notably the live action television series where Robin was portrayed by actor Burt Ward who often exclaimed 'Holy [insert word] Batman' like “Holy haberdashery, Batman!”there is a full archive of Burt Ward's sayings here. he was a prominent character in the Batman comic up until the late sixties when the current writer Denny O’Neil felt Batman had to be a much darker character which meant the light hearted Robin was written out of Batman’s life and sent to college though features in a backup feature in Detective comics.

It was also during the sixties where Robin met fellow sidekicks Aqualad (Aquaman’s sidekick) and Kid Flash (Flash’s sidekick) they teamed up to battle a villain called Mr Twister before adding Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy and Wonder Woman’s sidekick Wonder Girl to the ranks becoming the Teen Titans. Robin became the defacto leader of the team which soon expanded its ranks including Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven and Dick’s on and off girlfriend the alien Starfire. Dick’s leadership skills have also seen him lead a substitute Justice League of America when the main team was incapacitated and also the Outsiders.

Robin's progression into Nightwing

Depending on what version you read, Robin’s graduation into the costumed identity either came out of being weary of being Batman’s young sidekick or he was fired from being Robin after a nasty encounter with Two Face. Though despite the conflicting origins (one being pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths and the other was post-Crisis on Infinite Earths) the inspiration for the name Nightwing came from a story Superman told him about a hero from the Kryptonian city of Kandor.

Distancing himself from Batman, Grayson moved to Gotham’s neighbouring city Blüdhaven a corrupt city where the cops were as bad as the villains that operated in it. Dick joined the police force there in an attempt to help the city in the day as well as the night. During the Knightfall saga Dick was called in by the third Robin (Tim Drake) after Batman had his back broken by Bane and had asked the unstable Jean Paul Valley (Azrael) to take over the mantle of the bat, though Robin brought Nightwing in to help out after Jean Paul shunned the current boy wonder’s help. After Jean Paul was brought down by a recovered Bruce Wayne, Bruce asked Dick to take over the mantle of the bat until he had fully recovered Dick reluctantly agrees but asks why he didn’t ask in the first place which Bruce states he thought Dick wouldn’t want to do it as he was his own person now though Dick reveals he would have done it if asked.

The rift between Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne mended over time as Grayson helped out during Gotham’s period of being classed as a No Man’s Land after a giant earthquake wrecked through it as well as helping out during a gangland war instigated by Batman’s fourth Robin Stephanie Brown. During Infinite Crisis Batman told Nightwing that he did something Batman never could, keeping up relationships within the superhero community while Batman neglected them.

Dick becomes Batman

After the Crisis and healing from a near fatal wound from Alexander Luthor (which at the time was going to be fatal as DC at the time had planned to kill Nightwing off) Dick Grayson found himself in New York trying to rebuild his life after Blüdhaven was destroyed. however this didn’t last very long as Batman was thought killed by the evil New God Darkseid (In reality Batman was time displaced) at first Dick was hesitant to allow the Batman legacy to continue however when a recently returned Jason Todd (the second Robin who was killed by The Joker) took up the mantle of Batman and began using aggressive tactics which went against Bruce’s no guns and no killing policy, Dick fought Jason and beat him, before picking up the mantle of Batman Dick chose the illegitimate love child of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, Damian to be his new Robin so that he could keep an eye on him. In the process he angered Tim Drake who was already feeling sidelined by the emergence of Damian after only just being adopted as Bruce Wayne’s son. Dick explained that Tim would always been an equal to him, never a sidekick.

Batman Vs Robin

And so the new Dynamic Duo set out fighting foes such as Professor Pyg, The Flamingo and Jason Todd in his identity as The Red Hood (an identity he had held before) as well as fighting against one another (though it was revealled that the villain Deathstroke was controlling Damian). Dick also faced off against Two Face once again, this time as Batman and managed to convince Two Face that he was fighting the actual Batman. 

The new dynamic duo is different from previous incarnations as there is now a Batman who is more light hearted while the new Robin is much like his father, however Damian has since grown to respect Dick as Batman as they search for clues to bring the time displaced Batman back while facing The Joker and Dr Hurt who may be Bruce Wayne’s father. But with Bruce Wayne returning in the autumn where does that leave the former Boy Wonder? Only time will tell.

Holy Belated Birthday Batman!!!

On May the second 1939 Detective Comics issue 27 hit the stands, introducing the world to a new 'superhero' just one year after the emergence of Superman, Batman (or as he was addressed back then The Bat-Man) introduced in the tale "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," which was written and drawn by Bob Kane.

Batman continued in Detective Comics despite getting his own comic in 1940 until very recently in issue 853 (Batwoman takes over from issue 854 onwards) during his time in Detective Comics, characters of great importance (such as Dick Grayson aka Robin and later Nightwing, Two Face, The Riddler and The Penguin) made their first appearances in Detective Comics.

Surprisingly though Batman's origins weren't explored until issue 33 of Detective Comics, in the comic we saw Bruce Wayne's parents get gunned down by a man called Joe Chill and with the death of his parents Batman was born.

Entering the Silver Age of comics, Batman's adventures would stray from the detective tales into the weird during the 50's from becoming a 'Zebra Batman' becoming Bat-Baby to meeting his alien counterpart Tlano from the planet Zur En Arrh who was inspired to become Batman of Zur En Arrh after observing the real Batman in action.

Perhaps the most popular period for Batman was during the 60's with the arrival of the TV Show which saw Batman portrayed by Adam West, and introducing everyone to the dance known as the Battusi and the concept of Shark Repellent Spray. While Batman was camping it up on the small screen the comics also took a similar direction however Batman shunned the camp look in the 70's with the help of writer Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams who presented readers with a darker, broodier Batman.

The comics would get darker still in the 80's with the release of Tim Burton's Batman film, Frank Miller's Year One story and Dark Knight Returns tale, the latter showed an old, retired Bruce Wayne return to cape and cowl and renew his war on crime. The 80's also saw Batman lose two of his companions to the menace of his arch nemesis The Joker, first in the one shot Killing Joke written by Alan Moore and drawn by Brian Bolland saw the Joker shoot, cripple and abuse Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl and in the story Death In The Family saw new Robin, Jason Todd (Dick Grayson was forced to relinquish the Robin identity after a near death experience fighting Two-Face but became Nightwing in the pages of The Teen Titans) being killed in an explosion which was triggered by The Joker.

It wasn't just The Joker who killed Todd, it was also DC Comics fans who voted for the characters death by phoning a special number to either keeping Jason Todd alive or killing him, the votes were close with about a 28 vote difference. Though Todd would return years later it'd have an effect on Batman who didn't want to put another child through the dangers the Caped Crusader faced until Tim Drake deduced Batman's true identity and even worked out that Dick Grayson was Robin and after convincing Bruce that Batman needed a Robin as a balance, Tim became the third Robin.

Bruce Wayne hasn't always been under the cowl, in the 1993-1994 tale Knightfall saw new Hero Azrael take over the cowl after Batman ended up paralysed by an attack from villain Bane, although Bruce returned to reclaim the cowl after he was healed and when Azrael began acting crazy. Nightwing was given the cowl for a short while afterwards as Bruce wasn't fully recovered from his injuries but later came back and helped restore order to Gotham after it was hit by a quake and declared a No Mans Land.

Recently Batman has had to face different challenges, such as a rebellious son named Damian (who was raised by Talia Al Ghul, Ra's Al Ghul's daughter and the mother of Damian and trained by the League of Assassins) and a Club of Villains led by Dr Hurt who may or may not be Bruce Wayne's father Thomas Wayne (who according to 'Thomas' faked his own death) drugging Batman and leaving him on the streets of Gotham as a hobo, only for his crazy Zur En Arrh persona to take over. The Zur En Arrh persona was intended as a back up persona if Bruce's mind was ever corrupted to a severe degree, it also caused him see a being from another dimension called Bat-Mite. The final battle between a recovered Batman and Dr Hurt ended with a helicopter crash in water, at first everyone thought Batman was dead but Final Crisis proved to be the real 'death' of Batman being 'killed' by the Villain Darkseid who used something called the Omega Sanction which supposedly kills the person it hits but allows them to live a thousand lives, each one more miserable than the last however Batman was able to kill Darkseid at the same time.

Whether Bruce Wayne is actually dead or not remains to be seen though there is someone wearing Batman's costume in the past drawing the Bat-Symbol in caves.

However the Batman tales haven't ended there as a new Batman has emerged in Gotham City, fighting crime with Robin by his side. The man behind the cowl is Dick Grayson, who initially turned down the cape at the request of Bruce's will but after Jason Todd, who came back to life, began wearing an armoured version of the Bat suit and using guns to fight crime (something the real Batman would never have resorted to, except in very early stories) Dick became convinced that the world still needed Batman, and has chosen Damian Wayne to take on the role of Robin, leaving the current Robin (Tim Drake) to forge his own path, which has yet to be seen (though there are speculations that he will become Red Robin). The original hero may not be behind the mask but as long as someone is willing to continue the legacy of the Bat, and from Batman issue 666, Damian Wayne will some day take on the mantle that his father and also his mentor Dick wore to fight injustice in Gotham City.