rockin-robinz:The Many Tenures of Robin, the Teen WonderToday is the eightieth anniversary (6 March
rockin-robinz:The Many Tenures of Robin, the Teen WonderToday is the eightieth anniversary (6 March 2020) of the superhero known as Robin. Over the decades, the mantle of Robin has been passed down several times – five times in the core continuity. Being curious, I pondered just how much time these half dozen people have been Robin, which lead to the results as shown in the photoset.A note on the calculations: I didn’t start calculating on their first appearance as Robin (as many just stole their predecessors’ uniform to fight crime before being sanctioned by Batman), but their first official appearance as Robin, which is usually much later.Furthermore, I try to use the publishing date when the issue came out, however when not known I used the cover date (CD) minus two months and used the date mid-month (i.e., if the cover date is March 2000, I would use the date January 15, 2000 to do the calculation) or in one case when faced with a contradictory date I used the later one. In short, I made it more complicated than I wanted. XDDick Grayson: 43.8 years(Detective Comics (Vol. 1) #38 by Bob Kane (Upper Left))It was quite easy to calculate how long Dick Grayson spent as Robin. His and Robin’s debut was featured in the same issue: Detective Comics (Vol. 1) #38 (6 March 1940) and spent nearly four and half decades as Robin as he slowly grew up from child to teen vigilante. Near the end of his tenure, Dick Grayson split his time between Gotham City and Teen Titans and eventually decided to leave the mantle of Robin behind as it was a symbol of being under the shadow of Batman. He officially retired as Robin in New Teen Titans (Vol. 1) #39 (CD: February 1984).Jason Todd: 4.8 years (Batman (Vol. 1) #368 by Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala (Upper Middle))While the first appearance of Jason Todd as Robin was in Batman (Vol. 1) #366 (CD: December 1983), he wasn’t officially made a Robin until Dick Grayson gave him permission to use the Robin identity in Batman (Vol. 1) #368 (CD: February 1984). Prior to that, Jason Todd stole one of Dick Grayson’s older uniforms, dyed his hair black, and pretended to be Robin to save Batman. Sadly, his tenure was cut short as Joker killed him in Ethiopia in Batman (Vol. 1) #427 (CD: December 1988).Tim Drake: 18.3 years(Batman (Vol. 1) #457 by Norm Breyfogle (Upper Right))Like his predecessor, Tim Drake first appearance as Robin was him borrowing one of the older Robin uniforms to help out Bruce Wayne as Batman and Dick Grayson as Nightwing fight Harvey Dent as Two-Face in Batman (Vol. 1) #442 (CD: December 1989). His first official debut as Robin was in Batman (Vol. 1) #457 (CD: December 1990) and he proved popular as Robin that he was given three miniseries before giving him an on-going series – the first under the name of Robin. His tenure was briefly interrupted when his father figured out that he was Robin and he quit the role in Robin (Vol. 4) #125 (21 April 2004). His sabbatical ended rather quickly as he returned as Robin in Detective Comics (Vol. 1) #798 only to end his tenure as Robin when Bruce Wayne as Batman apparently died and Robin was given to Damian Wayne by Dick Grayson in Red Robin #1 (10 June 2009).Stephanie Brown: 64 days(Robin (Vol. 4) #126 by Damion Scott (Lower Left))Stephanie Brown presented herself as the new Robin when Tim Drake briefly quit in Robin (Vol. 4) #126 (19 May 2004). Bruce Wayne as Batman accepted and trained her rather quickly only to fire her from the position and forbid her to become Spoiler a couple issues later in Robin (Vol. 4) #128 (21 July 2004) – her tenure was ended before it even started. To prove her usefulness, she steals one of his contingency plans to put Matches Malone in charge of the Gotham Underground. However, she does not know that Batman is Malone, and most of the city’s gang leaders die in a shoot-out at the meeting she organizes. This power vacuum plunges the city into a violent gang war, which ends up in her apparent death in Batman (Vol. 1) #633. Interestingly enough during her tenure as Robin, Stephanie Brown wrote a war dairy as Robin, which lasted for 71 days, when she was fired.Damian Wayne: 8.3 years and going…(Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3 by Tony S. Daniel (Lower Middle))The current Robin, and like many before him, Damian Wayne’s first appearance of Robin was unsanctioned. He fought and beat-up Tim Drake as Robin and took a predecessors’ uniform and presented himself as the new Robin in Batman (Vol. 1) #657 (27 September 2006). However, Damian Wayne wasn’t offered the Robin role until after his father’s apparent death and Dick Grayson the original Robin took the mantle of Batman. He choose Damian Wayne as Robin for two reasons: one he believed Tim Drake to be his equal and ally than a protégé and the other reason is to repay Bruce Wayne as he took care of him growing up after his parents’ death, he will do the same for his son – this was done in Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3 (20 May 2009). His tenure was briefly interrupted by being benched as his mother put a half-trillion dollar bounty on his head and faked his death in Batman Incorporated (Vol. 2) #1 (20 May 2012) only to return as Robin briefly to help with the final battle only to die in Batman Incorporated (Vol. 2) #7–8 (CD: March–April 2013). He was later resurrected in Robin Rises: Alpha (24 December 2014) and continues to be Robin to this day (06 March 2020).Duke Thomas: 205 days(We Are Robin #2 by Jorge Corona (Lower Right))Unlike the previous holders of the Robin mantle, Duke Thomas was never made an official Robin as Bruce Wayne, who was first thought dead was found to have forgotten his role as Batman. Duke Thomas joined the Robin Movement in We Are Robin #2 (22 July 2015) and became one of many Robins. He quickly rose in the ranks and became the leader for Middletown Robin Cell. His tenure was interrupted when Gotham City passed a law to make being Robin illegal and anyone caught wearing Robin colors would be arrested. After the law was repealed and a member of their cell was framed for murder was killed, Duke Thomas quits the team realizing that he wasn’t ready to be Robin in Robin Wars #2 (13 January 2016). Shortly later, his team is reformed for the last two issues We Are Robin #11–12 (27 April–25 May 2016). His tenure as Robin ended when Bruce Wayne as Batman officially offer him to be trained as a vigilante in Batman (Vol. 2) #50 (23 March 2016). Note: As the Batman storyline ended before the We Are Robin series, I used the date for the end of the series for my calculation instead of the official termination point, which ended two months before the series. -- source link
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