Grayson Grown Up Robin

Dick Grayson is getting a new #1 (in his new comic, Grayson by Tim Seeley and Mikel Janin), leaving behind the costume and Batman, and becoming a secret agent.

Dick has left his Robin identity behind before, as in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July, 1984, by Marv Wolfman and George Perez)...but how about just becoming an adult and staying Robin?

Justice For Robin

Well, the original Robin did just that!  Not the Robin who was a co-founder of the Teen Titans, but the Robin from a magical world of Earth-2, a Golden Age, when Robin first appeared in Detective Comics #38 (April, 1940, by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson).  Being the Boy Wonder in the 1940s....meant that he had grown up by the 1960s.  So much so, that he had joined the Justice Society of America, and even got himself a new costume!  In Justice League of America #55 (August, 1967, by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky), the JSA faced a group of villains powered by black matter...and we first saw Robin, the ex-Boy Wonder in action!  This costume was inspired, in part, by the Bat-craze of the later 1960s (thanks to the 1966 Batman TV show), thus giving DC a way to show off a Batman related character again...

...and this costume stuck around, finishing the JLA-JSA team up in Justice League of America #56, meeting the Earth-1, now Teen Wonder Robin in Justice League of America #91-92 (more on this soon), being HQ support for when the JLA and JSA went searching for the Seven Soldiers of Victory in Justice League of America #101-102, and even meeting with JLA writers Elliot S! Maggin and Cary Bates in Justice League of America #123-124.

But, this was the end of Robin's "Bat-costume"...

Robin Grows Up On His Own

Robin started to sport an "adult" Robin costume as of All-Star Comics #58 (January-February, 1976, by Gerry Conway and Ric Estrada, and a cover by Mike Grell, also the first appearance of Power Girl!).

That costume should look familiar...it was the one the Earth-2 (JSA) Robin gave to the Earth-1 (Teen Titan) Robin in Justice League of America #92 (September, 1971, in a story by Mike Friedrich and art by Dick Dillin, but the costume was designed by Neal Adams, it even said so in the comic!).

The new and improved grown up Robin costume stuck around through All-Star Comics #59, Justice League of America #135-137 (where he worked with the original, Golden Age, no yellow oval Batman), All-Star Comics #66-70 (wherein he was replaced by the Huntress...Batman's daughter, who got an origin of her own in DC Super-Stars #17...and the implication in a panel there...was that Robin went straight from his Boy Wonder outfit to the grown-up version), All-Star Comics #74, Adventure Comics #461-464 and 466, Justice League of America #183, co-starring with the Huntress in Wonder Woman #283-285, a quick cameo in World's Finest Comics #271 and Justice League of America #195 ...

...before a starring role with the Earth-1 Batman in Brave & the Bold #182 (January, 1982), then back to the back-seat for Infinity, Inc. #1-6, 8 and 9, America vs. the Justice Society #1-4, Infinity, Inc. #21, Infinity, Inc. Annual #1,  and Crisis On Infinite Earths #5, 10-12, after which, we saw him no more.  Still...the original Robin lives on in our hearts!

And, the majority of these appearances have been collected for you to enjoy!

Finding Robin

Justice League of America #55-56 have been collected in Crisis On Multiple Earths #2 and Justice League of America Archives #7, Justice League of America #91-92 and #101-102 have been collected in Crisis On Multiple Earths #3, Justice League of America #123-124 and #135-137 have been collected in Crisis On Multiple Earths #4, All-Star Comics #58-59 and #66-67 are in the Justice Society Volume #1, All-Star Comics #68-70 and Adventure Comics #461-464 and 466 are in the Justice Society Volume #2,   Justice League of America #183 has been collected in Crisis On Multiple Earths #5, Justice League of America #195 has been collected in Crisis On Multiple Earths #6 and Justice League of America by George Perez Volume #2, Wonder Woman #283-285 and DC Super-Stars #17 are collected in Huntress: Darknight Daughter, Brave & the Bold #182 is in Batman: Secrets of the Batcave, Infinity, Inc. #1-4 are in Infinity, Inc.: the Generations Saga, and the Crisis on Infinite Earths has been reprinted many times.

Can't keep the ex-Boy Wonder down!