Robin's Oath

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

sun_soraya Requested Dick's Oath scene a while back, and I posted it in comments but wanted to give it its own post, too. I think it deserves it. Also, I was just rereading some other great stuff in "Untold Legends of the Batman"--really like that story! And it's related.

The Original Version, from Detective #48, 1940--Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson



From Untold Legends of the Batman #2--Story by Len Wein, Art by Jim Aparo











(Post continued here: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/946051.html.)

Comments

[jcbaggee.insanejournal.com]

Shortly before Batman '89 came out, the Batman brand tie-in cereal had a mail-away offer for all three issues of "The Untold Legend of Batman".

I was like 5. I'd read maybe 2 comics in my entire life by that point and was somewhat indifferent. But I read those three and I've really not stopped since.

Such a great book, with classic art and a fun story that served to introduce myself, and I'm sure dozens others, to Batman. I wish I still had it, but I think I lost the first issue somewhere during one of my many moves :\

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I LOVE this series!

LOVE.

What a great story about it!

Also, plenty of copies on ebay! That's where I got mine.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

I got mine around the same time period . . . except packaged with a dramatic reading of the series, on tape. I've lost the tapes, sadly. :(

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Nice scenes (and I love "Untold Legend" a lot"!). It's interesting to note that the original oath uses "We two", as Batman recommits himself to the cause with Dick.

Oh and I wouldn't be living up to my reputation if I didn't point out that - "I could cripple him with both hands tied behind my back" is just begging for the rider - "Lord knows I've had enough experience of THAT!"

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

It IS awesome that Batman recommits himself to the cause with Dick. Very! I really, really like it.

Also, heh. Yes. So true.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

What I like about Dick being Batman now is the sense of dramatic arc it gives their story; that the story of Batman is really the story of Dick Grayson.

And screw you, Frank Miller.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

And screw you, Frank Miller.

Huh :) Okay, but I'm a little lost. Can you elaborate?

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

IIRC Mr Miller has said that he views ASB&RTBW as being primarily Dick's story, not Batman's.

[pyynk.insanejournal.com]

Dark Knight Strikes Again is pretty much a multi issue crapfest on Dick Grayson. Well, in addition to being terrible in multiple other ways as well.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

Miller shit on Dick Grayson in DKSA by making him a successor to the Joker. And a poor one.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

In his treatment of Grayson in DK2(which I'm still scratching my head over--seriously, it really came out of nowhere, and was stupid) and the way he crapped up this story in ASSBAR.

[darkknightjrk.insanejournal.com]

"And screw you, Frank Miller."

The funny thing, though, is that Miller's All-Star Batman is pretty much a darker retelling of that scene in Untold Legends.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Woo-hoo! I love the oath. But I agree, it somehow seems like a telling change that in the first oath they're both doing it together. "We too" shows Bruce already thinking of Dick being, if not an equal partner, someone with the same commitment. In the second it's more like he's testing Dick.

But either way, they're both awesome and I'm so glad they kept Bruce's lines about leading a perilous life. Their meeting can stand a little old-fashioned, dramatic hero language. They'd both want it that way.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I do like the language of the first better. It does imply a better shared commitment.

But I too am so glad they kept the perilous life line and yes. Heh. They'd both very much want their meeting and commitment to involve the dramatic, heroic language.

Go them!

[superfan1.insanejournal.com]

It nice to see different variation of the oath,throughout the years. Wonderful little insight to bruce and committed to fighting crime. XD

Also love the art in the second story. :)

[cmdr_zoom.insanejournal.com]

Aparo defined the character(s) for an entire era, much like Curt Swan on Superman.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Agreed!

[retro_nouveau.insanejournal.com]

That's weird. When Dick first started out, his hair was like Jason's, but later he parts it in the same way Bruce does.

I think it's important that the gaudy red and yellow with green short pants should be attributed to the Flying Graysons' costumes. Otherwise, Bruce seems a little creepy.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Oh! I left out the part where we see that Bruce made that costume for himself and wore it for a time when he was a kid.

So he's got it handy and is passing it down. Costumes are a big element in this story, because it's about Thomas Wayne's original bat costume, then the Robin costume.

Personally, I do prefer that it's a Flying Grayson's costume, myself. It's one of the two things I really am not crazy about in this story, the other --that I like less--being the revisiting of a change in the violence visited on Bruce's parents--a change from a random mugging to specific murder.

But in fairness to the writer of this story, both elements (the murder versus mugging and the 'Bruce as a kid wore the Robin outfit while he learned Detective work') were there in 1950s stories, and then got re-included in 'Untold Legends of the Batman'.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

No, Jason's hair was modelled on Dick's original look, around 45 years previously.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Wait - Bats wore the Robin outfit as a kid? Has any of this been posted?

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I don't think it has...

I haven't, anyway.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Any chance of doing so, if it's convenient?

[sun_soraya.insanejournal.com]

Oh wow, thank you for the post! I hadn't the chance to read Untold Legends of the Batman yet. It's awesome that so many details from the original scene were included (I lead a perilous life!), though I like the oath better with the 'We two'.

I should try to get these comics somewhere. :)

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I like the 'We Two' better as well.

Glad you liked!