When Batman was Robin!

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

By Request for psychop_rex, who asked for more information on an event in this post

I'm very, very fond of Robin's uniform being something related to his days in the circus. Also, this story makes no sense. Bruce is a teenager who hasn't lost his parents and needs a disguise, so we are supposed to believe he randomly came up with a Robin suit. With an 'R' on it. However, there are some cute moments, and I love that Bruce learns here the values Batman prizes in his soldiers. I also like Harris's thoughts about taking on a kid. Harvey Harris shows up again in 1989's Detective Annual #2.



From Detective 226. December, 1955
Cover: Win Mortimer, Writer: Edmond Hamilton, Pencils: Dick Sprang, Inks: Charles Paris


A package arrives--a Robin suit!

And we flash back.


But he must conceal his identity while he stalks Harvey Harris.

And Young Casual Bruce wears a red sweater and green trousers--just like Dick wore for all of the Golden and part of the Silver Age.

Which is the only explanation for this panel.



(And I mean it. It's the only explanation.)

So Bruce doe does try to catch up with Harris, but before he reveals himself, Bruce realizes Harris is trailing someone! The crook gets wise and lays in wait to trap Harris, but Bruce saves the day via giant novelty prop. We learn that that was the moment Bruce learned he "had to make use of whatever he could, in emergency situations like that one!"

Harris doesn't really want to train Bruce as a detective.



But eventually...



And a whole lot of things happen. A lot. This story has events! (Not appearing in this post.)



More complications!





Unrelated to obeying your commanding officer--Bruce understands how to be a good soldier--"Robin" does make a mistake.

It humbles him and Bruce realizes he has a lot to learn. Harris tells him that someday he'll be a great detective, but for now he needs to study and learn and prepare. So could Bruce please give Harris the Robin suit for safekeeping?





Originally published in Detective #226, now reprinted in: Batman Annuals Vol. 1 HC (2009). Which looks pretty fun.

tags: char: Bruce Wayne/Batman, char: Harvey Harris, creator: Win Mortimer, creator: Edmond Hamilton, creator: Dick Sprang, creator: Charles Paris, title: Detective Comics, publisher: DC, era: Atomic Age

Comments

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

Didn't Bruce's father have a Batman Costume he wore to a party as well ?

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

He did!

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

More, if you're interested, on Thomas Wayne's Bat Costume:
http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/164175.html

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

Thanks .

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

No problem. And that's not the origin of the 'Dad wears a Bat Costume', just a related trippy story.

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

More info please.

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

John Byrne's GENERATIONS #4 had a "Clark Kent Superboy/ Bruce Wayne Robin" team up story, but I didn't know he had a reference for it.

There have never been that many "Bruce as a teenager" stories, have there?

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

There really aren't. Especially whole stories versus a flashback.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Well there was an old Silver Age story where Bruce Wayne (as a teenager, with his parents still alive, don't ask) visits Smallville, and as part of the usual contrivances, briefly assumes the masked identity of "The Flying Fox" to help Superboy solve a crime.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

I love Bruce as Robin. The shame in this story is there's really not any reason for his parents to be alive-it's almost like the writer forgot about his origin and just liked to think of Bruce as a regular kid who dreamed of being a detective who...wore a funny costume when he was detectiving. For some reason. His parents have even dumped him on the maid and the butler for the summer here to explain how he can take off on his own. (Bruce Wayne: Not really an orphan, just a latchkey kid.)

Doesn't Harris even call him Robin, like as a nickname, and to go with the R randomly on his suit? Hee!

Anyway, I just love Bruce being a fanboy and being all serious about his mistakes and seeing how this guy has so much to teach him.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Doesn't Harris even call him Robin, like as a nickname, and to go with the R randomly on his suit?

He does! He's as brilliantly dressed as a Robin Redbreast! That's it! I'll call you... Robin!

Anyway, I just love Bruce being a fanboy and being all serious about his mistakes and seeing how this guy has so much to teach him.

I love that too! And he even sews his own costume!

[stig.insanejournal.com]

Not nearly as trippy as in "The Nail", where Selina cosplays as Robin in order to get Batman to come out of his shell-shock about the death of Robin & Batgirl.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Nor as trippy as Robin dressing in Bruce's fathers costume and pretending to be Thomas Wayne in order for Bruce to come out of his crazy in the link I posted above to Untold Legends of the Batman.

[stig.insanejournal.com]

Although my example begs the question of why she didn't just put on a red wig and pretend to be Babs...would have been hella easier than stretching out Robin's suit, tying her hair back, and positioning herself in the convenient cave shadows.

[jcbaggee.insanejournal.com]

If you knew what they were gonna do when he snapped out of it, you'd understand why it's just easier for her to go ahead and put on that costume.

[stig.insanejournal.com]

Although I find it somewhat questionable that Alfred just goes and lets Bruce pursue a relationship with Selina immediately after having got over his tragedy...not really advisable, mental-health-wise.

[jcbaggee.insanejournal.com]

Alfred let's Bruce run along rooftops in his underwear, he passed any reasonable concern for his mental health years ago.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

To make sure she stirred up every possible variation of sexual tension?

[superfan1.insanejournal.com]

Ha good theory!

[thanekos.insanejournal.com]

Greatest detective?

Hardly. (http://www.dailyraider.com/film/thebatmanvsdracula/alucard.jpg)

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Dracula's the Greatest Detective? Who knew?!

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

LOL, it's like right out of a Dan Brown novel.

[espanolbot.insanejournal.com]

Aw, for all it's faults that is still a mean thing to say about 'the Batman'.

Comparing it to Dan Brown, I mean. The Batman was meant for kids, Brown's books are for people with a reading age of the cartoon's audience.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

If Harvey Harris left those instructions in his will, presumably his lawyer (or whoever dealt with it) now knows Batman's identity...

re: the cover
Man, nobody watches things with film projectors these days. I don't think I've seen one since elementary school.

[tanetris.insanejournal.com]

He left instructions that the sealed package containing the costume and letter be delivered to Wayne Manor. Presumably he just addressed it "Bruce Wayne", not "Batman, c/o Bruce Wayne" nor otherwise label the contents.

[freddylloyd.insanejournal.com]

So all that stuff about Bruce Wayne being galvanized into being a great crime-fighting detective only because his parents were killed? Not so much.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

You got it. Bruce Wayne: Teenage Fanboy. And his parents aren't even dead here.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Thanks!