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Robin sucks
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Started by NoMan,

65 posts in this topic

waaaghboss

waaaghboss

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, KCOComics said:

I've often wondered why Robin was necessary? Batman seemed compelling enough to carry the title on his own. And those early bat stories were pretty adult.  Lots of stabbing and shooting that you don't typically see in "kids" funny books. 

I have to imagine DC thought Robin would appeal to a broader audience. 

Or maybe batman needed someone to save?  Superman had Lois Lane and batman got the boy wonder.  

Don't forget Supes also got his pal Jimmy Olsen, gee whillickers!  And a dog, cat, probably a monkey at some point...

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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, waaaghboss said:

Don't forget Supes also got his pal Jimmy Olsen, gee whillickers!  And a dog, cat, probably a monkey at some point...

Batman had the Bat Hound.  And Bat Mite.  And a whole Batman family, including grandparents.  And let's not forget all the Batmen of the Indians, of the cave men, etc.

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MusterMark

MusterMark

Posted
Posted

OP:  what about the Albatross, the Seagull, the Dodo bird, the Toucan, the Puffin?

What do you have against birds?

And why single out just one bird?  Why not rail against all birds?  What do you have against robins?  Those birds are particularly cool looking.

I think birds are cool. 

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Randall Ries

Randall Ries

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 11/23/2020 at 10:29 AM, Chicago Boy said:

My take is that the 60 s TV show kept Bats star power going and Robin was a big part of that.  Nit sure Bats would have survived into year 80 without the Boy Wonder being part of that journey 

MY take is Batman was going down the drain because of that inane TV show. Sales were slumping and he was almost done for. Then, Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil took it by the horns. Put the "The" back in front of his name, elongated the Bat-Ears again like a pseudo Bat joint and got rid of Robin by banishing him to college where he could enjoy trying to be "hip" while "rapping" with his classmates and uttering phrases like "Right On", "Far Out" and "Groovy". Trying to be relevant. "Take one long, last look, Alfred! Then seal up the Batcave! FOREVER!" The cover for Batman 217 and its banshee wail!

Meanwhile, an unfettered Batman went on to fight the sort of undead in Detective 395, human bats in Detective 400, play mental chess with Ra's Al Ghul in Batman 232, and Batman 242-245, save Robin's rear end from a demented concentration camp survivor in Rutland, VT in Batman 237, meet his old nemesis "Two Face" again in Batman 234 and most importantly, reel in the Joker after Joker escaped again and began murdering again for the first time since 1942 in Batman 251. He was "The Batman" again since arguably Detective #37. He was like a pack of unfettered and unleashed house fraus with a babysitter and it's ladies night! We have cash and an ax to grind! Who's WITH us?

Robin was always a human target. I cannot think of any issue where he wasn't used as such. Bright and colorful in contrast to Batman hiding in the shadows. Robin was the cheese in the rat trap. Or "Bat Trap", if you will allow it. As a boy, nothing gave more more pleasure than watching the Joker nail his little head with a blackjack. HAHA! Yeah, well, because you see, even then, I knew that Batman had given him top knotch training and simply wasn't paying attention. He had it coming.

I'll take the Adams/O'Neil Batman now, always and forever. If I ever meet Adams, I will certainly let him know all of this and thank him for making my world a better place to live.

Edited by Randall Ries
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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted
On 11/23/2020 at 2:35 PM, KCOComics said:

I've often wondered why Robin was necessary? Batman seemed compelling enough to carry the title on his own. And those early bat stories were pretty adult.  Lots of stabbing and shooting that you don't typically see in "kids" funny books. 

I have to imagine DC thought Robin would appeal to a broader audience. 

Or maybe batman needed someone to save?  Superman had Lois Lane and batman got the boy wonder.  

I believe the thinking was the Batman needed someone to talk with, to provide exposition for the reader.  You know, in those word balloons like they used to have in the comics rather than all the inner monologue captions that have been the fashion since Frank Miller came on the scene.

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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Randall Ries said:


Robin was always a human target. I cannot think of any issue where he wasn't used as such. Bright and colorful in contrast to Batman hiding in the shadows. Robin was the cheese in the rat trap. Or "Bat Trap", if you will allow it. As a boy, nothing gave more more pleasure than watching the Joker nail his little head with a blackjack. HAHA! Yeah, well, because you see, even then, I knew that Batman had given him top knotch training and simply wasn't paying attention. He had it coming.

I'll take the Adams/O'Neil Batman now, always and forever. If I ever meet Adams, I will certainly let him know all of this and thank him for making my world a better place to live.

If you meet Adams, you might want to be prepared for a debate with him about Robin, as it turns out Neal is a fan:

Quote

I really loved Robin, because Jerry Robinson’s Robin was really a boing-y Robin, always smiling and grinning all the time. I thought he was a great, great character and I haven’t seen him like that (lately). And I did it in Batman: Odyssey and nobody else does Robin like it ought to be. He ought to be this boing-y character that does all this stuff and gets himself in the line of fire all the time. And magically  manages to get away. I love that about Robin.

 

Edited by Zonker
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Randall Ries

Randall Ries

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Posted
47 minutes ago, Zonker said:

If you meet Adams, you might want to be prepared for a debate with him about Robin, as it turns out Neal is a fan:

 

I'm not going to debate Adams about Robin. In fact, I will studiously avoid the topic altogether. It won't be like

"Hi, Mr Adams. I just wanted to thank you for what you did with Batman in the early '70's. I'm sure you hear it constantly, but it made my life as a kid a lot more bearable. Thanks very much for your craft. I appreciate it."

"Sure, Mister. You SAY that but what's your stance on Robin? Fan or foe?"

I kinda doubt it'll happen like that.

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Larryw7

Larryw7

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Posted

Batman's sales dropped in 1969, but when the show was on the air, both Batman and Detective had a circulating of one million a month, outselling nearly every other comic book on the market. Compare that to 1964-65, when the books were almost cancelled. The TV.show saved Batman.

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catman76

catman76

Posted
Posted
On 11/28/2020 at 5:38 PM, Randall Ries said:

MY take is Batman was going down the drain because of that inane TV show. Sales were slumping and he was almost done for. Then, Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil took it by the horns. Put the "The" back in front of his name, elongated the Bat-Ears again like a pseudo Bat joint and got rid of Robin by banishing him to college where he could enjoy trying to be "hip" while "rapping" with his classmates and uttering phrases like "Right On", "Far Out" and "Groovy". Trying to be relevant. "Take one long, last look, Alfred! Then seal up the Batcave! FOREVER!" The cover for Batman 217 and its banshee wail!

Meanwhile, an unfettered Batman went on to fight the sort of undead in Detective 395, human bats in Detective 400, play mental chess with Ra's Al Ghul in Batman 232, and Batman 242-245, save Robin's rear end from a demented concentration camp survivor in Rutland, VT in Batman 237, meet his old nemesis "Two Face" again in Batman 234 and most importantly, reel in the Joker after Joker escaped again and began murdering again for the first time since 1942 in Batman 251. He was "The Batman" again since arguably Detective #37. He was like a pack of unfettered and unleashed house fraus with a babysitter and it's ladies night! We have cash and an ax to grind! Who's WITH us?

Robin was always a human target. I cannot think of any issue where he wasn't used as such. Bright and colorful in contrast to Batman hiding in the shadows. Robin was the cheese in the rat trap. Or "Bat Trap", if you will allow it. As a boy, nothing gave more more pleasure than watching the Joker nail his little head with a blackjack. HAHA! Yeah, well, because you see, even then, I knew that Batman had given him top knotch training and simply wasn't paying attention. He had it coming.

I'll take the Adams/O'Neil Batman now, always and forever. If I ever meet Adams, I will certainly let him know all of this and thank him for making my world a better place to live.

The sales figures would say otherwise. The TV show made the comics and the character more popular and after the show was canceled the title went down to half the sales they were before the show...

"Batman" average monthly sales (this does not include Detective Comics):

1960: Batman 502,000

1961: Batman 485,000

1962: Batman 410,000

1963-64 NA

1965: Batman 453,745

1966: Batman 898,470

1967: Batman 805,700

1968: Batman 533,450

1969: Batman 355,782

1970: Batman 293,897

1971: Batman 244,488

1972: Batman 185,283

1973: Batman 200,574

1974: Batman 193,223

1975: Batman 359,000

1976: Batman 423,000

1977: Batman 375,647

1978: Batman 375,079

1979: Batman 333,231

1980: Batman 301,102

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Professor K

Professor K

Posted
Posted
On 11/28/2020 at 7:16 PM, Gotham Kid said:

This one isn't all that bad either. Batman just punched a guy to his death and Robin is about to kick the other in similar fashion.

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Batman what happened to those crooks you were supposed to catch? "Well, we had a problem.........."

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