Who doesn't love DKR? It is pretty much the high point of Miller's career, where his cinematic style flourished without being bogged down by the absurdity of his characterizations and his disturbing recurring motifs (such as his obsession with prostitution and his work to turn every female character into a drug addicted hooker). I wish the modern Batman was a lot more O'Neil and a lot less Miller, myself, but you can't fault DKR, really. Fault everyone who uncritically accepted the unspoken premises to the extent that the deconstruction was ignored to the extent that it was adopted and became part of the undeconstructed assumptions of the genre (uh, I THINK I just came up with an interesting issue with deconstruction right here with you, now, in the sense that deconstruction can be subverted into non-deconstructed works, it can be adopted into the genre . . . which explains a lot about DKR and The Watchmen and subsequent comic book development). It's probably the key reason that I like Dick Grayson more than Bruce Wayne - he's sometimes allowed to be, y'know, a nice guy. (I am also troubled by the current construct in comic books that child abuse makes a person a better crime fighter, ugh.)
And, see, I was right that you would know more about the continuity of events! ;) But I first started reading about Robin as part of The New Teen Titans, so I pretty much had the "Batman is a controlling jerk" as one of my foundational personal comic book mythologies.
But, yeah, I think that in practical terms, the inclusion of Robin has certain allowed Batman the longevity to develop into the iconic figure he is now. Bigger than Jesus! But part of that is definitely Robin. In great truth, no Robin, no Batman.
I also noticed that the people who whine about Robin are also the ones who cleave most strongly to the worst of the characters in comicsdom (IMO). They're the crazy nutjobs who love the Punisher and any character with a huge body count, the asshats responsible for turning Wolverine into a troubled guy looking for redemption into a blood-minded mass murderer without remorse and the depth of a wading pool. Thanks, guys, hehe. You go over there and sharpen your triple bladed knife and I'll stay over here behind my pile of comic books. That MIGHT have been a touch of rant. ;)
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Who doesn't love DKR? It is pretty much the high point of Miller's career, where his cinematic style flourished without being bogged down by the absurdity of his characterizations and his disturbing recurring motifs (such as his obsession with prostitution and his work to turn every female character into a drug addicted hooker). I wish the modern Batman was a lot more O'Neil and a lot less Miller, myself, but you can't fault DKR, really. Fault everyone who uncritically accepted the unspoken premises to the extent that the deconstruction was ignored to the extent that it was adopted and became part of the undeconstructed assumptions of the genre (uh, I THINK I just came up with an interesting issue with deconstruction right here with you, now, in the sense that deconstruction can be subverted into non-deconstructed works, it can be adopted into the genre . . . which explains a lot about DKR and The Watchmen and subsequent comic book development). It's probably the key reason that I like Dick Grayson more than Bruce Wayne - he's sometimes allowed to be, y'know, a nice guy. (I am also troubled by the current construct in comic books that child abuse makes a person a better crime fighter, ugh.)
And, see, I was right that you would know more about the continuity of events! ;) But I first started reading about Robin as part of The New Teen Titans, so I pretty much had the "Batman is a controlling jerk" as one of my foundational personal comic book mythologies.
But, yeah, I think that in practical terms, the inclusion of Robin has certain allowed Batman the longevity to develop into the iconic figure he is now. Bigger than Jesus! But part of that is definitely Robin. In great truth, no Robin, no Batman.
I also noticed that the people who whine about Robin are also the ones who cleave most strongly to the worst of the characters in comicsdom (IMO). They're the crazy nutjobs who love the Punisher and any character with a huge body count, the asshats responsible for turning Wolverine into a troubled guy looking for redemption into a blood-minded mass murderer without remorse and the depth of a wading pool. Thanks, guys, hehe. You go over there and sharpen your triple bladed knife and I'll stay over here behind my pile of comic books. That MIGHT have been a touch of rant. ;)