On the twelve Detective Comics covers that followed his first appearance, Robin needed Batman to rescue him five times (thrice while tied up in his role as "boy hostage"). But in the majority of those covers he was:
- swinging into the scene four times (twice rescuing Batman).
- tackling a bad guy twice (once on his own under his giant mentor's approving gaze).
- helping a wirewalking Batman by throwing something at a crook in a really confusing and awkward composition.
Detective, #41, follows Dick to an exclusive boarding school, its splash panel announcing:
To ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER falls the task of bringing about the fall of a master criminal...a master murderer!And the third issue of Batman, dated fall 1940, included a story about Dick going undercover as only he could in "The Crime School for Boys."
Robin's first completely solo adventures wouldn't start until Star Spangled Comics in the late 1940s, but already the Batman team was giving him lots of time in the spotlight.
Interesting series; I absolutely agree that DC knew Robin would be successful from the word go. One of my favorite little trivia questions is, "What DC character appeared on the cover of the most comics of the 1940s?" Nobody believes me when I tell them it's Robin.
ReplyDeleteThat's a delightful statistic. I suppose it's the total of Batman, Detective, World's Finest, and the little guy's ace in the hole, Star Spangled.
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