The Robin Problem

Continuity in comics is a very strange thing. Characters, especially successful ones, tend to stay static for years, even decades. New costumes, new secret identities, new powers and more come and go but the character stays the same. Except the popular bits stick around sometimes even when they don't make sense.

Robin, for example. Batman and Robin are probably the iconic "hero and kid sidekick" duo. Captain America and Bucky are a distant second. Most duos have grown up past that since most comic fans aren't 10-year-old boys anymore. It's a smart move from a storytellying perspective. It brings a familial element to the super hero dynamic.

But Batman wants to have his cake and eat it too. Batman is still Bruce Wayne, more or less, but there have been multiple people that have worn the Robin costume. Five as of this writing. Batman is still in the vague mid-30's that main characters inhabit. But Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown have all gotten older. Damien Wayne probably will too, someday.

How long was each of those people Robin? Even if Bruce Wayne is 15 years into his career as Batman, that's one Robin every three years. Adjusting those times makes a bit of sense, but it still seems like being Batman's right hand man isn't a career so much as an internship.

Legacies need the old guard to give up to be truly effective. It also lets people remix elements of character in ways they find intriguing. Which version of death stuck? Is a new costume actually someone else taking over the identity?

There are examples like this all around comicdom, but this is what struck me as my players were discussing characters yesterday. Many of them had some neat ideas that connected to Marvel characters, like Nightcrawler's daughter and Wolverine's son. These characters exists in Marvel continuity, but the players are excited to get their hands on their own spins on these ideas.