There was an existing tradition of kid fic featuring kids going out adventuring without any adults at all at the time Robin was introduced. In the comic strips, Lil Orphan Annie et al got into all manner of shit with grownup badguys.
This is very true, and should not be overlooked. This was the era of Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys, of Terry and the Pirates and Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. Teenage boys (and even girls–remember Nancy Drew?) going up against and defeating fully grown, nasty adult villains was a pretty standard part of kids’ entertainment in those days. Robin wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow.
Originally, it was fairly simple: Bruce Wayne saw in Dick Grayson a younger version of himself–a child who saw his parents murdered. However, I think we’re all well aware that Bruce is not particularly sane; his perception of Dick was at least partially projection, leading him to believe that here was someone who would want to follow the same course he had, but who did not have the resources to make it happen.
Left to himself, Dick Grayson would have gone to the police, but Batman–with a mistrust of the cops in question that may or may not have been justified–convinced him that doing so would get him killed. That left Dick with a choice between death, life as a struggling orphan with no chance at justice, or life with a powerful, wealthy benefactor who promised him revenge. The writing in DC #38 is extremely simplistic, but from a modern perspective, I would say that it comes across as Batman manipulating the kid, trying to make a little copy of himself, probably out of unacknowledged loneliness.
(On the practical side, the one advantage to Batman of having a child sidekick was to use Robin as a sort of urban scout. Dick was nonthreatening in appearance, and could hang around and gather information in public places where Bruce Wayne would draw attention or cause people to clam up, even in disguise.)
Don’t forget, Dick Grayson was a circus performer before his parents were killed and Bruce Wayne took him in. Those are the kinds of clothes he was accustomed to moving around in. Many superheroes’ costumes, such as Superman’s and Batman’s, were inspired by circus costumes.
Actually, not really. Not originally, I mean. It was “many months” but seemingly less than year of training in Detective Comics #38. Dick’s age was also murky. Early on he seems 12-14 in his early Robin days. He takes an undercover job working as a steward on a boat shortly in his second or third issue (Batman #1) and flirts with girls on occsasion. Yet he also gets 8 birthday licks in another issue. Though he definitely didn’t look 8 in the original panels where his parents were killed. Of course, long-term consistency is not to be expected in comics.
Really, originally, it, of course, wasn’t an issue that the work was dangerous. He was rather a role the boy readers could see themselves in, I guess (I’m told sales doubled when Robin was created, though I’ve never seen actual numbers). But, of course, plenty of kid’s entertainment has children doing incredibly dangerous things and more than a little has adults allowing it. If kids stayed home and safe, they’d not have adventures worth reading about. And now he’s a legacy.
There aren’t really good excuses for bringing kids into the business, IRL, I admit. Within the fiction, there are only two that even halfway stand up to any sort of scrutiny. The first works with kids with powers (so not Robin) and that’s that they are still more capable and less likely to be hurt that non-powered people when dealing with these situations. The second excuse used is “they can’t be stopped.” Short of chaining them to the bed, you cannot keep a child from leaving the house. You can punish all you want, but you can’t really imprison them. So if they’re going to go out and do this job anyway, then you, as a hero, train them as best you can so that they are less likely to get themselves killed when they do go out. I think this was used in Batman: The Animated Series (where Bruce did not intend Dick to become Robin when he took him home), but it’s been a very, very long time since I watched the episode and checked that detail (definitely didn’t like the way that show went later).
Jason Todd as Robin was different. I think it was all Jason’s idea for him to be Robin in Pre-Crisis, but haven’t read those issues. Post-Crisis, of course, Bruce missed Dick and decided to keep Jason after Jason intervened in a robbery and just started calling him Robin (didn’t ask him if he wanted the job, and made it seem like he was adopting him in order to make him Robin). Recruited an 11/12 year-old to replace the 19-year-old he fired because the work was too dangerous. Treated Jason a lot like a replacement and, IMO, was a very poor parent to him and Dick in that storyline. Post-Crisis Batman (particularly from the late '90s or maybe early '00s onward) was a very bad parent and even emotionally abusive and I really prefer the late '60s to mid '90s Batman when he was more good than bad to his loved ones.
Tim’s recruitment really didn’t address the issue, IMO, and someone else has already commented on how it was handled with Damian. Steph never gets counted (that was really screwed up both in-universe and out), and Cass was never Robin (but has the same basic excuse as Damian), and they were both mid-to-late teens anyway.
Yes, there was a series of young frontiersmen, young roman soldiers, young detectives, and of course young supernatural questors.
Kids like reading about kids doing stuff. There’s nothing wrong with that and of course no real kids were ever in danger. “There’s not only the moral issues in letting an underage boy go out at night, fighting against armed thugs and the occasional superhuman criminal” is ridiculous, it’s fiction. We accept FTL travel, aliens, wizards and what not, why not kids making a difference?
“No, Robin, you can’t go out chasing the Joker tonight. You have homework to finish and your room is a mess.”
In reality, Robin was sneaking out to see the Penguin’s daughter. She’s a cute chick.
Batman needed a love interest.
The narrative reasons have been said. Within the fictional universe, another reason for Robin is deep down Batman is trying to create a surrogate family for himself. Alfred is a father figure and Robin is a son (in at least one case literally).
On a more practical level he is taking the opportunity to groom someone to replace himself when he is too old to continue or is is killed.
“Robin, what have I done to you?”
That depends on the era. Originally, Alfred met Bruce as an adult and sort of forced them to accept him as a butler (he was the comedic relief), and he was definitely not a father figure. Of course, back then, Bruce was pretty emotionally healthy (except for the dressing-up-as-a-bat-and-fighting-crime thing). That hasn’t been status quo for a long time.
The more serious and “realistic” Batman stories get, the more Batman looks like a horrible guardian.
For the most part though, I can believe, in the fictional world of DC Comics, that having a teenage sidekick to fight crime is an acceptable idea.
Once a Robin was killed on the job (Jason Todd), it’s poor writing for Batman to continue having child sidekicks. The writers try to justify it by implying it’s only when Batman’s sidekicks disobey orders that they get seriously injured and/or die. But if you’re going to add “realism” to superhero comics, then realistically, Bruce Wayne should realize that he’s completely at fault, as it’s unrealistic to train children as dangerous vigilantes capable and constantly put them in life-or-death situations, and not expect them to kill or be killed. You would think he would want these kids to have a long life, and normal life.
Do any of you remember when the Joker called him Robin, the Boy Hostage?
Robin’s purpose was to get kidnapped and have Batman rescue him. Same as Lois Lane’s purpose.
Mr Atoz:
The adult villains frequently lamented being unable to get away with their crimes due to the meddling of kids.
And, occasionally, dogs.
Yes. The 37 second example shown in the YouTube clip here provides an instructive example.
In the TV series, it was a given that Robin was always the first one to solve the Riddler’s puzzles. That didn’t actually make him look smarter - it just made the adults look more stupid - but at least it was some sort of justification for him being there.
Batman: The Animated Series dealt with Robin by having Dick Grayson be a college student and only around occasionally. Some college students work on their breaks and some just lounge around. Apparently Dick relaxed by dressing in a costume (which was basically the same design as Tim Drake’s) and fighting weirdos.
Yep. Comic characters age at a glacial pace and even then arbitrarily. And every few decades they have to do a retcon. It no longer makes sense for Tony Stark and Frank Castle to have been in Vietnam, since that would make them both over sixty years old.
FWIW, recent storylines have seen Dick Grayson ‘graduate’ to being Batman. We even had comics with two ‘Batmen’ (Bruce and Dick) conversing in the same panel. The rule seems to be that the current Robin ‘grows up’ when the authors are ready to introduce a new one.
This is a good point. Batman is supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, after all. Sherlock Holmes routinely used a network of street urchins to gather information.