Damian Wayne was a Better Robin than Credited

Most comic book fans really dislike it when a character gets changed drastically. I mean, even if the universe gets reset, a lot of things about certain major characters stay the same. That makes people happy. It makes me happy as well. But sometimes changing characters up can give you something new and fresh and actually quite likeable.

Case in point: Robin. To be exact, Robin V, Damian Wayne Robin.

Most comic book readers that I have spoken to either really hate Damian or are indifferent towards his character. So, Damian is always ranked last when ranked in Robin favorites. (That is, of course, if they even bother to include the female Robins, such as Stephanie Brown, in which case, Damian gets a bump up.) Despite that, I think Damian was one of the best things to happen to the Robin name.

Damian was a previously tiny idea of “What if Batman had a son?” that floated around. In 1987, Son of the Demon showed an unnamed son of Talia al Ghul and Bruce Wayne, but it fell out of continuity. He became the subject and key character in many spin-off and alternate reality arcs, such as Ibn al Xu’ffasch from the Kingdom Come Elseworlds storyline. There had even been a daughter of Batman, Helena Wayne, who had actually been a Robin, but was eventually integrated into the Earth-1 continuity as Helena Bertinelli/Huntress.

Then in 2006, Grant Morrison introduced Damian Wayne as the 10-year-old son of Talia al Ghul and Bruce Wayne, basically drawing from what he could remember from Son of the Demon. Damian was not what anyone could expect of a son of Batman. Ruthless, violent, uncaring, and brash, he was all but Batman.

Damian began as a spoiled brat, invoking Bruce’s wrath almost immediately after arriving because he refuses to eat the food prepared for him by Alfred. Within the first few issues, Damian goes on to behead a local criminal to impress his father. He constantly got into fights with Tim Drake, the then current Robin, over the title of Robin, claiming it rightfully belonged to him because he was Batman’s true son. He was often disrespectful to anyone who was not Bruce.

Now, in the New 52, Damian does become Robin and work alongside his father, which allows them to build upon their father-son relationship. But that’s not what made me come to like Damian for what he brought to the role of Robin. It was the arcs that ran in the old 52 universe after the events of Batman R.I.P. Through the events of Battle for the Cowl, the title of Batman is inherited by the first Robin, Richard “Dick” Grayson. From then on, Damian is in the care of his eldest “brother” as Dick was the first adopted child of Bruce Wayne.

As Dick becomes Batman, he chooses Damian in favor of being Robin rather than Tim, because Dick sees Tim as his equal rather than his sidekick. On the other hand, he believes Damian needs much guidance and perhaps being a Robin could shape him into a good person, much like how Dick had been when he was younger. While Damian had begun as a spoiled and violent child, he did regress to being more childish during the events of Batman R.I.P., obviously affected by his own father’s death. Dick builds off of these changes as they become the new Batman and Robin in Batman and Robin Reborn.

What is so unique about this run of books is the dynamic created between these two “brothers”. Instead of the old duo of the dark, brooding, and practical Batman and the wise cracking, fun loving, somewhat careless Robin, they are opposites. The Batman is fair and rational, as well as a touch more gentle and more willing to cooperate with others, while the Robin is angry, difficult, and serious. Damian is more violent and comes too close to killing someone more than once, but Dick is always able to bring him back from the edge, instilling in him the message that Bruce had always enforced—never kill anyone, for justice will prevail. Damian does come to think this way, choosing to remain with Dick and Alfred instead of going back with his mother when offered, because he much rather prefers saving people over being his mother’s pawn for violence.

Dick and Damian change one another as they continue their partnership throughout the series. At multiple points, Damian is taken captive by an enemy. Dick is usually more of a carefree sort of character, a complete opposite and balance to Bruce when he had been Robin and then later Nightwing. But when Damian is taken, the very rarely seen side of his anger and violence is revealed. Dick comes close to killing the enemies who have trapped Damian, angered that anyone would try to hurt his 10-year-old brother. It is only Damian who is able to pull Dick back to reality, using what he had been taught by Dick and his father to truly show that he had been learning and changing. On the flip side, Damian begins to become more trusting and respectful, showing worry for Alfred when he is captured in one arc, and respecting Dick because he is actually quite formidable in battle and Damian cannot defeat him with ease, like he could Tim. Damian truly grows to be less spoiled and more considerate, utilizing his strengths to get ahead and becoming a lot like his father, such as when, still only the mere age of 10, he takes over and fixes Wayne Corp’s financial issues.

I absolutely loved their dynamic and the Batman and Robin Reborn trades were one of the first series I actually purchased when I got into comic books. While Batman will always be Bruce Wayne, I think some credit should be given to Dick Grayson taking up the mantle and doing a good job at mentoring and raising his own mentor’s son. You had to love the fact that Dick absolutely loved Damian as his brother despite that they barely knew each other at all and was committed to working with him and helping him even though he was extremely difficult. It’s unfortunate that when the DC Universe was reset by Flashpoint, all of this progress was undone. Damian was reverted back into being a spoiled brat with a violent streak, even more violent than he was in the original 52 universe and having way too many issues with his father. Many people hate Damian because he was spoiled, rash, and ungrateful towards Bruce, but I think many didn’t bother to see his progress when he worked alongside Dick. Had he worked with Dick and then worked with his father, Damian would have had two very different yet similar influences on how he would grow up. You could see Damian growing and changing, becoming a whole new and different Robin and then maybe someday, Batman. It’s a shame that instead of allowing him to grow and become more likable and mature, Grant Morrison killed him off in Batman, Inc. issue eight.

Damian Wayne was a game changer. He was an extremely young Robin, most having been twelve when they assumed the mantle, who was violent, disobedient, and rational. He was nothing like the old Robins, but was sort of a combination of the three males who came before him. He had the naivety of Dick Grayson, the anger of Jason Todd, and the “no nonsense” mentality of Tim Drake. But from within these flaws, Damian grew and became his own character, showing that perhaps starting out as bad rather than good isn’t so bad after all. Instead of allowing him to be the new Robin archetype and continue to grow into Batman’s formidable son, Morrison chose to trashcan Damian for effect. Despite that the arc, The Death of the Family, had just ended and no one had died, they chose to kill Damian in the very next arc of Batman, Inc. The effect was to cause tragedy among the Bat Family and apparently give a true “scar” to Batman in the fact that he loses his son. The after effects are not effective. You find many characters grieving over Damian, especially Dick and Bruce. It’s funny that Dick is so distraught, despite that he had barely worked with him in the New 52, and had actually done more work with Jason Todd in Batman, Inc. issues earlier to his death. Bruce becomes distraught and distracted, and apparently even becomes obsessed with trying to find a way to bring Damian back to life (which I’m sure will be done eventually since they’ve done it with Jason Todd). But even characters who didn’t particularly like Damian were affected. Tim and Jason were shown to be in grief, even though Tim practically hated Damian and Jason had only worked with him on one occasion and had fought against him during Damian’s arc of challenging the former Robins. One of the biggest annoyances was that after Damian’s death, the actual series of Batman and Robin was left without a Robin and so has been bouncing between the former Robins to hold up his place for the issues running in that series. Did I think it was a good idea to kill Damian to scar Batman more than he already was? No. I think Damian had much more potential in being able to grow as a human being, showing how he changed from a murderous child brought up by assassins into a compassionate crime fighter who understands the idea of justice. He could have helped Bruce become less frigid and serious and truly been able to enjoy that he has a real family and a real life again. Batman has already had his parents killed in front of him and failed to save Jason Todd from his death by the Joker. He didn’t need his son to be killed too. In the long run, I think Damian’s death has caused more problems for the Bat Family rather than effective storyline development throughout all of the Batman franchise.

What do you think? Did I change your mind about Damian? What are your opinions?