What Makes a Good Robin Story?

[Slash Man]

As you may know, I've been trying to read through all the Golden Age Batman stories in chronological order. It's been quite an undertaking; all the tropes are on full display. In the midst of the WWII era, I've noticed a bit of a Robin problem. In short, writers don't seem to know what to do with him, and he's a liability.

Now Robin's importance to the history of comics can't be understated; he famously added much-needed banter with Batman, and created an avatar for the younger children reading the stories to relate to. But it becomes an issue where there isn't much for Robin to do, or even worse, he simply stands in Batman's way. Here's a formula for how I would determine if a story is a good Robin story:

Add a point if Robin engages in a task independent of Batman (especially something Batman can't do).
There's been some excellent stories that make use of Robin's unique abilities, not just always fist fighting alongside Batman. Early stories had Robin fight with a sling instead of his fists, he also had his own dragster and batplane. He gets to shine as an actor when the job calls for going undercover as a child.

Add a point if Robin saves Batman.
Robin's fulfilling his role best when Batman has someone watching his back.

Deduct a point if Robin is put into a trap that Batman has to save him from.
It can be a powerful motivator when Batman is fighting for Robin's safety, but it loses effect when it happens too much and has the unintended consequence of making Robin look incompetent. Even worse, sometimes Batman will have a foe beaten, only to have it end in a stalemate when they threaten Robin.

Deduct a point if Robin is knocked out by trauma to the head.
This happens way too much to be a pattern. Villains get away by knocking out Robin and/or Batman and choose not to kill them for some contrived reason.

If your total is in the positives, it's a good story. It's not that I'm looking for an invincible character, but more variety in the stories that are told. A bit of the character's wish fulfillment is lost when he's always getting his bell rung.

[thecolorsblend]

I think context is important here.

For me, there are three Robins. Dick, Jason and Tim. Everyone else is a pretender to the throne. Or they exist in an alternate universe. Or whatever. That's my headcanon. Also, Jason is dead dead dead deceased dead, gone, never to return.

So, what makes for a good Dick-Robin story might be (and probably is) different from what makes a good Jason-Robin story.

A good Dick story should show Dick either being just as capable as Batman or else showing some day he WILL be as good as Batman. He's a thrill-seeking performer, yes. But he's not an adrenaline junkie and he's certainly not careless. Ideally, he'll be shown learning from Batman... while also keeping a mental checklist of all the stuff he plans to do differently when he grows up.

A good Jason story shows Jason as a bit of a hotheaded loose cannon. Batman will catch the bad guy from deductive reasoning. Jason will catch the bad guy based purely on emotion and intuition. Same outcome, different methods. Even so, Batman should need to ride herd on Jason a little bit and keep him in line. Jason's Robin is at his best when his dark side is implied rather than explicitly shown.

A good Tim story shows Tim being deliberately level-headed and logical. He learned his lesson from Jason's example. Also, he's a detective in his own right. Slow to action. Tim will NEVER rush off half-cocked. My secret conspiracy theory is that Tim actually hates violence. He's a capable fighter, of course. But more than anyone, that's truly a last resort for him.

So, a good Robin story featuring one of those three will typically play up (or at least imply) those characteristics.

[The Dark Knight]

Add a point if Robin engages in a task independent of Batman (especially something Batman can't do).
There's been some excellent stories that make use of Robin's unique abilities, not just always fist fighting alongside Batman. Early stories had Robin fight with a sling instead of his fists, he also had his own dragster and batplane. He gets to shine as an actor when the job calls for going undercover as a child.

Add a point if Robin saves Batman.
Robin's fulfilling his role best when Batman has someone watching his back.

I agree with these in a general sense. Robin has to offer something to justify his placement alongside Batman, and sympathy for being a fellow orphan isn't enough. Solving riddles and going undercover was a good way to do it in the 66 series. I felt like he offered something there, often filling in pieces of the plot that then allowed them both to stop the villain's plan. The advice Bruce gave along the way wasn't telling him off, but rather enlightening him in a positive way that had Dick grateful and agreeing. There will be tensions along the way, and that's healthy for storytelling, but Batman should show his partner respect and view him as an equal. For that to be credible we have to see why he would think that, and there's no better way than occasionally saving Batman's skin.