Red Robin Down

The biggest event in comics right now is the death of Damian Wayne, a.k.a. Robin, which seems to be putting Batman back on track for his Dark Knight days. Damian is the fifth chronological Robin, and aside from being Batman’s flesh-and-blood did nothing to really distinguish himself during his career. Out of all the Robins, his very existence is the most baffling. He’s a ten-year-old ninja assassin, with the absurdities of him being able to fight psychotic killers and super villains being explained away by his, “training.”

First off, this seems like they’re re-hashing old plots. Jason Todd, now the Red Hood, was killed off in a similar fashion, but his connection to Batman’s character was little more than him acting as a substitute. Audiences hated Jason, so much so that when offered the chance to kill off the character by phoning in with their votes, they clogged the lines. Jason and Damian are essentially the same character. They’re whiny and feel underused, they’re prone to extreme violence and even go so far as to murder some of their opponents, in complete contrast to Batman.

Damian’s death comes immediately following the, “Death of the Family,” which held up a Batman comic tradition of being a complete cop-out. The entire saga seemed as if it was setting up for a major Batman Family character to die, with the most likely candidate being Alfred. In the end, though, everyone emerged unscathed. A few scarce issue later, Damian dies in an unrelated story. The same thing happened with, “Batman R.I.P.,” a series that promised to be Bruce Wayne’s last. He didn’t die during this series, however, but in the co-current series, “Final Crisis.”

Now the focus is on who’s going to be the new Robin. There’s already three Robins in circulation: Nightwing, Red Robin, and the Red Hood. The only other character in comics to have someone else take up their mantle so many times is the Green Lantern. There doesn’t need to be a Robin, but a new one always emerges. That was even part of the after-glow of the notably Robin-less Dark Knight movie trilogy, which sets up a possible Robin spin-off.

Robin, himself, whoever he or she, or it may be at the time, has never made sense as a character. It makes sense that Batman in his quest to rid Gotham of crime would look beyond his own years for a successor, but the whole, “Robin,” persona hasn’t. Dick Grayson chose to be Robin based on his life in the circus as a flying acrobat. A famous flying acrobat, from a family of acrobats, who were murdered in Gotham. He wears the exact same costume and performs the same stunts in the same city where his family was murdered while fighting evil geniuses who can’t put two-and-two together. The only thing disguising him is a Domino mask. Literally anyone could see through his disguise, but amazingly the only person ever has been Tim Drake, who then became Robin. The need for each ensuing partner of Batman’s to wear the same disguise, other than it’s ready availability and tricking dumber criminals into thinking Robin might be an immortal has been questionable. Batman basically forced Jason Todd to wear the costume to get back at Dick Grayson for quitting. Tim Drake was a Robin fan. Stephanie Brown was Tim Drake’s girlfriend. Damian wore the costume to basically spit on all the other Robins for pretending to be Batman’s true heir.

Why would the next Robin want to be Robin? Right now the popular front-runner is a street girl named Harper, who pretty much has nothing going for her except being a fan favourite.

Meanwhile, Damian “death” is questionable at best. Being genetically enhanced, rumours of a clone are already spreading. Plus, he’s Ra’s al Ghoul’s grandson. One dip in the Lazarus Pit and he’s back.

Which leads to the real issue. Batman is only Batman to get back at crime for murdering his family. As an adult, he now has a family of his own. He has the resources, the ability, and connections to ensure his current family’s safety no matter what. Batman himself has been dead, and lost in time, and then came back. Jason Todd was dead for decades and then came back due to a reality-changing event. Why would he, or we, assume Damian was lost?