How Fans Reacted WHEN ROBIN LEFT FOR COLLEGE

Readers from 1969 — including Mike W. Barr and Alan Brennert — respond to a landmark event…

UPDATED 8/18/23: It’s that time of year again, when students head off to — or back to — college. Perfect time for this “reprint,” which first ran in August 2020, in slightly different form. Dig it. — Dan

“Wake up, Maggie, I think I got something to say to you
“It’s late September and I really should be back at school…” — Rod Stewart, 1971

Actually, it’s mid-August and most college kids are already at school, about to be, or planning a semester online. Routine but exciting rite of passage, y’know?

In any event, this time of year always gets me to thinking about the most groundbreaking college enrollment in comics history — when in the fall of 1969 Dick Grayson left the confines of Wayne Manor, after almost 30 real-time years, for Hudson University.

Neal Adams

DC had been teasing something they called the “Big Change” for Batman in the months leading up to the move, as the publisher worked hard to escape the camp hangover of the cancelled Adam West TV show in 1968 and bring the Caped Crusader back to his darker, Golden Age roots. (I’ll be writing much more about this fascinating, yet underrated, period in Bat-history in the weeks to come.)

For some time before the landmark Batman #217 hit in October, DC had been not-so-subtly finding reasons to keep Batman and Robin apart. The tone of the stories began to shift as writers like Frank Robbins and Mike Friedrich banged away at their typewriters, producing increasingly serious fare. Fans had fallen in love with Neal Adams’ covers for Batman and Detective, and his interior art in The Brave and the Bold proved so popular that pencillers like Irv Novick and Bob Brown adopted similar sensibilities. (A big boost came as well when Dick Giordano started inking the books.)

Batman #217. Written by Frank Robbins. Art by Irv Novick and Dick Giordano.

Anyway, in retrospect, the primary Batbooks were being used as a “backdoor pilot” to see how fans would take to the idea of the Dynamic Duo dissolving their partnership. (Except on holidays and during vacations, it would generally turn out.)

Finally, DC — under editor Julius Schwartz’s guidance — pressed the button and the “Big Change” hit just before the new decade, signaling the start of Batman’s Bronze Age (just prior to Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ historic Detective Comics #395).

So how did the fans react? Well, check out the letters columns from Batman #221 and Detective #398 — including missives from future Bat-writers Alan Brennert and Mike W. Barr. They provide a wonderful, thoughtful snapshot of one of the biggest moments in comics lore:

BATMAN #221

DETECTIVE COMICS #398

Man, I really miss letters columns — and ones like these really let you see historic events from the ground level.

They’re just a bit more enlightening than hot-take rage posts, am I right?

MORE

— How Fans Reacted to THE DEATH OF ALFRED — The First Time Around. Click here.

— How Fans Reacted to BATGIRL’s Debut — Over Five Decades Ago. Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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6 Comments

  1. i think it would be interesting to ask Mike and Alan their take on this Batman moment some 50 years later. As a kid, Robin going to college, Peter Parker going to college hopefully inspired a number of readers to attend college.

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  2. Can you imagine this playing out today? It really does show how much the world has changed (not necessarily for the better, sadly). This WAS a huge occurrence in the Bat-Lore, a real game changer that still resonates so dramatically.

    Looking at the sample page, too, really reminds just how much Dick Giordano’s inks added so much dynamic power to the page! A truly talented & underrated artist all-round. He (along with Tom Palmer) really emboldened an artist’s pencil. And, just like Tom, Dick was a talented penciller/storyteller in his own right.

    Long live the Bronze Age!

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    • Dick Giordano made every artist he inked better

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  3. First read this story in the pages of the volume BATMAN – 30s to the 70s. I loved the art and was becoming a fan of Irv’s style. Everything else I hated. No cave? No sleek jet powered car! No dynamic duo? Even at the young age I didn’t understand why the changes had to be so stark. And things would only get worse as the narrative moved into the whole idea that Robin had to get out from under the shadow of his mentor. I’ve never gone back and read that story a second time. Bring on the Bronze Age, just keep the dynamic duo!

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    • Ditto as to where I first read that story and ditto as to my reaction – I wanted the cool villains and bonkers paraphernalia – still do!

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