This has started to bug me lately. Batman has a utility belt. Hell, in several panels of DKnR, he’s even pictured with a second, miniature utility belt strapped around his thigh, a utility garter, if you will.
Robin, on the other hand, just has that plain black belt with the silly little buckle. No place to keep tools, grappling hooks, robinarangs… all the stuff that a non-superpowered crimefighter would need to be effective at his/her job.
Near as I can figure, one of Robin’s major tasks is to rescue Batman when he gets into trouble. Hell, in DKnR, Carrie Kelly rescues him on three separate occasions. It seems to me that having a utility belt with all the attendant useful devices would make this a much easier job. I mean yeah, Robin manages without one, but still, wouldn’t having a utility belt make his/her life a lot easier?
What’s the deal? Is it some kind of ego thing? Is Batman like, “I’m the Dark Knight/Caped Crusader/World’s Greatest Detective, and you’re just the teenage sidekick, so I get to have a utility belt and you don’t?”
Or is it some kind of crimefighter test, like, a Jedi’s skills are complete when he/she builds his/her own lightsaber, Robin’s skills will be complete when he/she figures out how to miniaturize his/her own tools, build his/her own gadgets and make his/her own utility belt?