Throughout a short encounter and dialog in Robin #5, Dick Grayson reminds Damian Wayne why they had been the perfect Batman and Robin.
WARNING: The next comprises spoilers for Robin #5, on sale now from DC Comics.
Batman and Robin has all the time been some of the necessary partnerships in comics. The dynamic duo has been a continuing within the DC Universe for nearly all the historical past of the Caped Crusader, with a number of totally different heroes taking over the mantle of Robin (and even Batman) because the partnership continues to exist throughout the a long time. Top-of-the-line iterations of the enduring partnership does not even function Bruce Wayne, and simply acquired one other probability to shine.
In Robin #5 (by Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov, Luis Guerrero, and ALW’s Troy Peteri), Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne reaffirm the connection they solid after they served collectively as Batman and Robin, confirming that they nonetheless may be the perfect model of the duo that has ever existed.
Damian Wayne had a troubled relationship with the bigger Bat-Household since he was launched in Batman #655 by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert. He developed a bloody rivalry with Tim Drake, and often enraged each his father and Alfred Pennyworth. The quickest member of the Bat-Household to just accept him was Dick Grayson. The unique Robin earlier than he graduated to the position of Nightwing, Dick took on Damian as his Robin when he took up the mantle of Batman after the obvious dying of Bruce Wayne on the conclusion of Last Crisis. The 2 proved to be a powerful duo, bouncing off one another properly. Dick turned a terrific mentor and pal to Damian, usually providing a shoulder to lean on and pleasant recommendation every time it was wanted.
Since then, Damian has expressed a deep affection for Dick, celebrating gleefully when he was revealed to have survived Endlessly Evil and admitting how necessary he was to him when Dick selected to take a seat by his aspect through the build-up to Batman and Catwoman’s aborted wedding ceremony. Even now, with Damian kind of faraway from the Bat-Household and selecting to seek out his personal path, the bond remains to be robust. Listening to that he could also be at risk on the Lazarus Event, Dick leads the different former Robins — Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Stephanie Brown — to convey Damian dwelling to security. The younger Wayne solely agrees to return with them if they will seize him, which not one of the different heroes are in a position to do.
Nevertheless, it is Dick who really will get by to Damian. He presents him with a gift: the identical baton that Alfred had created for him years earlier, handed right down to Damian as an indication of belief and affection. Damian really opens up about how Alfred’s dying throughout “Metropolis of Bane” has been particularly affecting him, and Dick brazenly apologizes for not being there for Damian (as he was on the time amnesiac from a head-wound brought on by KGBeast). As he explains to Damian, he understands the place the younger Wayne is coming from greater than anybody else as a result of not solely has he been in Damian’s sneakers however he nonetheless sees Damian as his Robin — a bond that may’t simply be damaged between the 2.
It is for these causes that Dick permits Damian to flee, with the information that he nonetheless has a spot along with his household and has earned Nightwing’s belief. There is a connection between these two that is by no means fairly been matched by any particular Batman/Robin partnership over time. Dick and Damian had been in a position to depend on one another throughout a really troublesome time within the DC Universe, and got here out the opposite aspect stronger because of this. It is nice to see that even when Damian not desires to work alongside his father, his bond nonetheless exists with Nightwing as they proceed to be the perfect dynamic duo of the Bat-Household.