(Spoilers for anyone that hasn’t read the Robin Rises arc)

So if you’ve been keeping up with all the 100s of current Batman books then you know a certain somebody has come back from the dead. Which got me thinking about how important it is for Batman to have his iconic sidekick with him.

So Damian Wayne is no longer dead. The former Robin and son of Batman was resurrected (of course) bringing the team of Batman and Robin back together again. But is it even necessary to bring back the famous duo?

Robin was originally introduced into the Batman comics to be a gateway for children. Children could read Batman comics and imagine themselves as Robin, having fun adventures with Batman. But let’s be honest, is being Robin all that fun? Back in the day yeah it would have been fun to be Robin, but as the Batman comics continued to grow darker over the years, that sense of fun quickly dropped.

As Robin you get shot at, bombed at, tortured by villains, killed by the Joker and the list goes on. These Batman comics have grown away from trying to appeal to children. Because do children really want to read stories about the Joker cutting his face off and then walking around Gotham with his saggy cut off face being stuck back on to his flesh. That’s a story that induces nightmares!

And because the Batman comics have become a lot darker and serious, it just seems unusual to have a kid sidekick running around with you. I mean is it really the best idea to have your 10-year-old son running around with you in the crazy streets of Gotham?

The Batman in the new 52 can and should function without Robin. And don’t get me wrong, I love my Robins. And I love that Nightwing, Red Robin and Red Hood occasionally come and help Batman out. That’s fine because they are now their own individual characters in their own individual worlds who function outside of Batman. They aren’t children anymore, they’re not with Batman all the time.

But the idea of having a kid Robin running around with Batman while Batman is trying to stop the Joker from causing the entire city of Gotham from killing themselves just seems stupid. The present day Batman doesn’t need a Robin anymore.

I guess at the end of the day this is the world of comic books, so having this kid run around with this darker Batman isn’t so ridiculous considering the other stuff that goes on in comics, but to be honest I could have done without this whole Robin Rises arc.

However I do think it’s good Batman has his son back, there’s only so much death one guy can take. And having someone who brings a little happiness into the Dark Knight’s life is always a good thing. So I’ll be cool with Damian just acting as his son, and not Robin. Even if Damian acts as more of an Oracle role, rather than actually being out there and physically fighting crime with Batman that would be a lot better, but obviously that’s not going to happen now that Damian has superpowers!

Anyways what do you think? Are you a fan of Batman and Robin? Let me know!