Goofy Trivia Time: Robin, Boy Wonder

UPDATE: If you're wondering why the main page is still missing an article, just know that technical issues still abound and someone will die.

My web host has been giving me problems from the moment my Art Crash started and hasn't really let up. This week's update is going to be running a little late as I reinstall a bunch of stuff and talk to Tech support again.

I'm going to announce a few weird projects and things that are coming up later on in the week, but I might as well do a little foreshadowing...or at least some goofy trivia sharing.

Before we begin, let me confess I don't read a lot of comics. I think that's both a good and bad thing when it comes to actually creating your own, but that rant is for another time. Last Christmas I got a gift that was "work-related". My family got me a reprinting of all the original Batman stories, mostly so that I could see conclusively how the original comics blatantly plagiarize from the silent film: The Bat. There will be a very intense comparison study on the site eventionally....but instead of pointing out how Kane's work is just a comic version of a movie character, let's focus on Robin for a moment.

Now, what is Robin named after? Sure enough, on the Teen Titans he's got bird-themed weapons, a bird-themed motocycle, and even a bird-themed flight suit straight out of G-Force. When he grows up he becomes "NightWing"....so the bird thing seems to be a common theme. Imagine my surprise when I found out what Robin was really named after. Take a close look at Robin's first appearance, as seen below:

Take a closer look:

Holy Crap, Robin is named after ROBIN HOOD?!? Talk about new levels of suck. Actually the Robin thing makes a lot of sense, mostly due to the psychotic popularity of Robin Hood in the media at the time. But still. At what point did Robin stop being "Lil' Robin Hood" and started being the goofy bird-themed sidekick that he is today (and seems to have been for decades)?

Food for thought. Maybe.

-jared

(And of course it goes without saying that the above images are not mine and are reproduced here for review purposes via glorious Fair Use.)