Detective Comics #38

Detective Comics #38 (1940)
by Bill Finger & Bob Kane
cover by Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson

It’s rare to find Golden Age comics that boast on their importance on the cover, but this one gets it right: Robin really WAS “the sensational character find of 1940”.

They were so proud of that cover that the teaser page has EXACTLY the same image!
You basically never get this in either Golden or Silver Age.

We begin at the circus, where young trapeze athlete Dick Grayson overhears the circus’ manager being threatened by a protection racket.

And the following night, Dick’s parents are murdered during a routine.
Golden Age stories are extremely efficient: this is still the first page!

Compared to many other series of the time, Batman stories definitely feel more heartfelt. In any other series we would’ve already walked past this tragedy, but we take the time to feel the impact.

Dick overhears the racketeers AGAIN, but he’s stopped from calling the police by the last person you’d expect such a request…

…BATMAN. You’d expect him to get the cops involved right away, right?

However he DOES have a pretty understandable reason: Gotham City is too corrupt to trust the authorities, especially thanks to Boss Zucco.

Batman gets surprisingly personal with Dick, but honestly this really humanizes him.
Even if it feels weird to see him talk about “exterminating” criminals, which sounds more like the Punisher than Batman.

I also appreciate that Batman doesn’t force this on him in any way: this is 100% Dick’s decision, and Batman even warns him of the danger involved.
Granted there’s an argument to be made that Dick is too young to understand this in full, but it’s still a good scene.

And speaking of good scenes: I absolutely adore this panel.
Not only because of the artwork playing with the light, but the whole vibe is almost mythological.

Another thing that elevates Robin’s origin over the VAST majority of other sidekicks: Batman is not condescending in any way! Obviously he’s the adult in the room and he’s the more experienced crimefighter, sure, but he’s not above acknowledging Robin’s strengths.

Dick is a natural at everything Batman shows him.

And so Dick Grayson takes on the mantle of Robin, apparently having been inspired by Robin Hood.
Which… okay I’m grateful we didn’t get “Bat-boy” or something… but what exactly is the link to Robin Hood here?

After training Robin for months, Batman’s plan is to get him a job.
Oh come on, you’re a billionaire but your “let’s not call him son for some reason” has to work?

No, that’s because he wants to learn more about the protection racket.
Which is a bit confusing to me. First of all, why is he so sure that the person behind racketeering newsboys is the same that racketeers a circus?
More importantly, don’t they already KNOW people linked with the racket? Robin overheard them TWICE!

I’m not sure I’m comfortable praising Bob Kane’s artwork (considering his very shady behavior over the decades)… but man is that some spectacular work with shadows and environments!
Drawings kids without weird proportions, not so much.

Robin’s investigation does lead him to Boss Zucco, who looks he’s straight from Dick Tracy.

Meanwhile, Batman goes on the offense on Zucco’s henchmen across town.

The highlight is definitely Batman crashing into a gambling house.

I especially like how, despite all the damages, Batman is not the one to cause the most problems to the operation: it’s the gamblers scrambling to take the money!!!

But don’t worry, he causes lots of damages himself.

No animals were harmed during this comic, SOMEHOW.
How does one mail a live bat!?!?

I really like those old comics when Batman leaves notes to criminals and signs them with his symbol, they should definitely bring that back.
Heck sell a stamp with Batman’s logo and I guarantee people will start writing letters again!

Another part of Batman’s world that I feel doesn’t get used as much: Batman playing mind games with criminals by exploiting their personality.
In this case, the plan was to make Zucco SO mad at him that he’d leave his hideout!

It’s also a pretty brutal plan when you get down to it. Because Batman dared Zucco to attack a building under construction…

… and I’m pretty sure Robin murders those guys.

Scratch that, they are 100% dead.

But this still a Batman story, so he’s the one to sweep by and arrest Zucco.

Also, if you thought Batman interrogating criminals by threatening to kill them was a recent thing… he’s been doing that since the beginning.

There are things that Batman doesn’t do anymore, however. Like allowing a criminal to murder one of his goons JUST in order to have evidence!!!

A bit of an overkill for Zucco, since I have to imagine that confession wouldn’t have been admissible in court, but “criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot” and all that.

And so we end with Zucco going to jail and Dick Grayson vowing to keep being Robin, becoming Bruce Wayne’s ward from the following issue.

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On the subject of Robin’s creation, we do have some information from his co-creators.

Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. As I said, Batman was a combination of [Douglas] Fairbanks and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn’t have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That’s how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea.
BILL FINGER

Bob Kane even goes so far as to give credit to somebody else, something VERY rare in his career.

The impetus came from Bill’s wanting to extend the parameters of the story potential and of the drama. He saw that adding a sidekick would enhance the drama. Also, it enlarged the readership identification. The younger kids could then identify with Robin, which they couldn’t with Batman, and the older ones with Batman. It extended the appeal on a lot of levels.
BOB KANE

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Batman is already firmly established as THE star of Detective Comics, but he’s not alone yet!
These are all spy and, unsurprisingly, detective stories.

Except one adventure story…

…which has one of the most hilariously fast infodumps ever.

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Historical significance: 10/10
Both for Batman and for superhero comics in general. Robin’s popularity is why teenage sidekicks were EVERYWHERE for quite some time.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Did you see how many people die? One of the deaths is explicitly part of Batman’s plan!

Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
Just have Batman save those criminals instead of letting them die, and you can basically do everything today. It’s also surprisingly decompressed for 1940: excluding the teaser page this is a 11 page comic, but it takes it time to establish mood and characterization.
As mentioned Robin starts out great: he has youthful exuberance but he’s not obnoxiously overactive, he doesn’t need to be rescued by Batman too much, and he’s really respected from what he brings to the table.
And Bill Finger was right: giving Batman someone to talk to during his adventures REALLY works well for him.

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How close is this to the modern character? 7/10
Going through the history of Robin would be the equivalent of analyzing the history of Batman, which is GIGANTIC.
Dick Grayson has moved on from being Robin for some time, becoming Nightwing in 1984 and keeping the name (although he was Batman for a while, because of course he was).
Which means that, in 2029, he will have been Nightwing for more years than he’s been Robin!!!

His evolution has been one of the most consistent and compelling from Batman’s family, arguably evolving even more than Batman himself.
But deep down inside, I would say that 1940 kid who enjoyed adventure and acrobatics is still in there.

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There have since been MANY Robins, and everyone has his favorite.
Here’s my own personal ranking, counting only those from canon:

#1) Tim Drake. He built on Dick Grayson’s legacy, his series was very good, and he’s basically the only Robin to have an interesting civilian life while on the job. And he wore pants.
I’ve argued before he could’ve been as good as Spider-Man, but too bad DC Comics seems to hate him.

#2) Dick Grayson. Varies from era to era, but come on.

#3) post-Crisis Jason Todd. His rebellions nature was interesting at first, but then he got exhausting. His death was a pivotal moment, but after bringing him back DC Comics seems to think making him a psycho is better.

#4) Stephanie Brown. She was Robin very briefly, and while she was fantastic in Tim Drake’s series, she barely got anything to do as Robin. If she was written as good as she was when she was using the codename Spoiler, I would EASILY rank her higher. But as brief as uneventful her tenure was, at least she wasn’t irritating like…

#5) Damian Wayne. There are SOME good comics with him, but is this little s##t annoying or what? The fact that he’s Ra’s Al Ghul grandson is interesting and his superiority complex was funny at first, but man did they run him into the ground by overexposure and overhype. Also the subtext that we’re supposed to think he’s a better Robin because unlike all the others he’s Batman biological son really irks me.

#6) pre-Crisis Jason Todd. Immensely boring, a carbon copy of Dick Grayson including his origin but without any passion.

What’s YOUR ranking?