In Defense of the Boy Wonder

Blog@Newsarama had a post today responding to what the writer terms "Robin Panic", the fear of Robin turning up in future installments of the Batman movie franchise. The argument: Robin, as a character, doesn't work, particularly in a movie and that the idea of the kid sidekick detracts from the cool, Dark Knight image of Batman and is more appropriate to the campy TV show or the god-awful Joel Schumacher Batman movies (never mind the fact that Frank Miller felt compelled to include a Robin in his "The Dark Knight Returns", which might as well be the Ur text for the grim-and-gritty Batman).

I'll admit that Robin is a harder sell in a movie where a real kid will be in the costume, and you see the kid in dangerous situations. It's a little easier in comic books where Batman & Robin is enough of an established institution that readers tend to just go with it. But I still feel the character can work, and I think Robin serves a vital roll in the Batman mythos.

I've always liked Robin. The idea if not always the execution. Robin is the balancing force in Batman's life. Bruce Wayne lives in a dark and twisted world, and that has to take a toll on his psyche. Batman's war on crime is one that he can never really win, it would be easy for him to give in to hopelessness. Robin is the ray of hope. He's the reminder to Bruce of why Batman exists. I think a lot of people mistake Batman's mission as one of revenge, but that's not how I interpret it. Batman isn't out there trying to hurt criminals as payback for what happened to his parents, he's out there trying to stop what happened to him from happening to anyone else. That's why the knight part of The Dark Knight is appropriate, is mission is not a self-indulgent one, it's noble and self-sacrificing. In Dick Grayson, Bruce sees a reflection of himself, another child who watched his parents murder. Bringing Dick on board the war on crime is really a sort of therapy for the kid. It's a way for Dick to work through the pain and anger that drove Bruce to dedicate his life to becoming the Batman to the exclusion of all else. In a way, Bruce is trying to make sure that Dick grows up to be a bit more well-adjusted that he is. You can question how rational that course of action is, but is it any more irrational than dressing up as a bat and beating the tar out of criminals?

The best Robin story I've read is from the Dark Victory mini-series. I don't remember which issue, but it tells the story of Dick Grayson's first night at Wayne Manor and parallels that story with flashbacks to young Bruce's first night after his parents' murder. It was a touching story and I thought it did a very good job in showing what Bruce saw in this young boy and why he'd bring Dick into his life. It also did a good job showcasing Alfred in his roll as father figure to both boys.

Bottom line, I like Robin. Not a fan of the short-pants look of the original Robin costume though. That most definitely wouldn't work on film.