So What If He Wears Briefs, Booties And A Yellow Cape!

There's a piece on joblo.com that's not exactly flattering to The Boy Wonder. The author, who goes by the handle "Sturdy" spends most of his essay/rant babbling about Robin adding a homoerotic vibe to Batman. He also goes on to say Robin never works and all that other nonsense a lot of people bring up in regards to one of the oldest super heroes in comics. Give it up, man. Robin is cool!

Sturdy uses an argument similar to Dr. Frederick Wertham's in his infamous book, Seduction of the Innocent. Funny thing is, Dr. Wertham later eased his stance on comics and basically admitted he was wrong in the first place (thanks Denny O'Neil!). So, Sturdy's argument isn't exactly...well...you get the idea.

Robin is the third DC Comics super hero. First came Superman, then Batman and then came Robin. The character has a long history in popular culture. Is he the butt of numerous jokes? Yes. Does he deserve them? Yeah, some people really mishandled the character. He's a hard character to write after all. That said, at his essence, he's one of the strongest components of the Batman mythos.



Thing is, most of the people I've met who tear apart Robin tend to come from one of two cookie cutters. The first is similar to Sturdy's. Now, the homoerotic thing can be a valid argument (see Batman & Robin or The Dark Knight Strikes Again), but it's very rare that people use this in any intelligent manner. No, in my experience, it seems to come from an ignorant meathead philosophy that refuses to look at anything deeper.

The second cookie cutter is the group that says Robin lightens things up too much. Yeah, he does...that's the point of the character...sort of. Robin is a bright contrast to the Dark Knight. He's a squire bursting with enthusiasm who is driven by the same grief Batman carries with him.

The other thing about Robin is that Bruce sees himself in Dick Grayson. He sees a boy who's lost the two most precious people in his life, Bruce sees his frustration, his anger...everything that makes him Batman in this boy and he decides to intervene, help the boy through his pain (and recruit for his own army).

Robin as an ideal adds so much to Bruce Wayne's character. Through Robin, we get to see Bruce Wayne's compassion, Batman's strategic thinking and a little piece of what he was like before that fateful night in Crime Alley. Robin, when written right, enhances Batman on more levels than any of his enemies (well, except Two Face and the Joker). He's a hard character to write, but as people like Chuck Dixon and Grant Morrison prove time and again, it's entirely possible to write him well.

So, next time you go trashing Robin, remember...he's been at this a helluva lot longer than Wolverine.