Bermejo Expands Robin Concept Beyond "Teenage White Kids Who All Look the Same"

[CBR News]

Lee Bermejo's "We Are Robin" is designed to explore real world issues while expanding the diversity of the DC Universe.


Full article here.

[Rakiduam]

So Robin is orphan again? I don't know why I thought his parent were alive, gravely injured but alive.

[gsnake007]

looking forward to it after all the build-up of Duke Thomas in the main batman comic and that futures end issue i was wondering how they were gonna further develop him. Its also good to have a robin title on the stands again hopefully itll be just as good as tim's robin series

[Panfoot]

So Robin is orphan again? I don't know why I thought his parent were alive, gravely injured but alive.

I thought batman prevented them from being shot, but they still ended up infected like everyone else, though I would have go back and look at...I think it was #37 again.

[Punisher007]

He's right about the "they all look the same" thing. A lot of artists draw Dick, Jason, and Tim in such a way that you almost cannot tell the different between them, at least physically. They all look like "mini-Bruce Wayne." Heck even Damian looks like that to a degree, although him being 10 makes him stand out more and at least he's Bruce's biological son, so it makes more sense.

[SpiderOrange]

Definitely picking this up. He's so right about the "teenage white kids who all look the same" thing.

[JBatmanFan05]

Damian and Carrie and Steph already got Robin past "teenage white kids [males] who all look the same" some.

Kind of reminds of Miller's Sons of Batman thing though, but for Robins, so I can appreciate that.

[gwangung]

Emphasizing the inspirational segment of the Bat-mythos? I don't have a problem with that....I think hero concepts are strongest when they point to our own inner strengths instead of external solutions...

[Godlike13]

Eeh, im not interested in a political statement. There are some issues that actually shouldn't be touched on.

[JasonTodd428]

Eeh, im not interested in a political statement. There are some issues that actually shouldn't be touched on.

I'm not interested in a book that is being used to make to overt of a political statement either and I think it's unfair to the characters involved as well because then they come off as being merely mouthpieces for some writer's personal agenda. I like Duke but I hope the book doesn't get to bogged down in the writer's statement about current events. I just want an interesting story and I want to get to know Duke better. If the book is that then I'll stick with it but if all I get issue after issue of Duke dealing with racially charged topics then I'll be bored quick not because those topics aren't important but because I live not to far from where all the stuff that happened in Ferguson happened and suffice it to say I really don't want to read about something similar in escapist fiction. I'm already living it. I had enough trouble with that issue where Batman was accused of shooting some kid. In any case I will give this one a chance to hook me into it before I write it off completely.

[King's_Gambit]

Eeh, im not interested in a political statement. There are some issues that actually shouldn't be touched on.

I won't begrudge Bermejo for writing it, nor will I begrudge people for enjoying this book, but I think that this interview really turned me off it.

When central MO for an entire book is race and diversity, when that's the biggest motivating factor and story element behind a book, it's just not something I'm interested in reading.

And when he mentions Ferguson as being the touchstone for the book?

Nope, not for me.

At best, this sounds like the Movement all over again, this time with the "Robin" name and swapping Occupy with Ferguson as the "hot button" issue.

[DrNewGod]

If DC were ever to truly dare a complete universe reboot (last one doesn't count since they were so desperate to cling Batman, Inc. and the Polychromatic Lanterns), I'd say altering Robin's race and backstory makes a good deal of sense. Orphans of today tend to demographically skew differently than they did in 1939, and you just don't find too many traveling circuses and even fewer kids being raised in them.

If they're not going to pull a complete re-boot, this is stunt casting and nothing more.

[JasonTodd428]

I won't begrudge Bermejo for writing it, nor will I begrudge people for enjoying this book, but I think that this interview really turned me off it.

When central MO for an entire book is race and diversity, when that's the biggest motivating factor and story element behind a book, it's just not something I'm interested in reading.

And when he mentions Ferguson as being the touchstone for the book?

Nope, not for me.

At best, this sounds like the Movement all over again, this time with the "Robin" name and swapping Occupy with Ferguson as the "hot button" issue.

Yeah that's pretty much what bothers me about this whole thing. Diversity is fine and issues of race are important but I've no real interest in reading about those types of things in every issue of a comic I want to read. As for events in Ferguson being a touchstone for this book that likewise really turns me off to the title. I've already been living with the results of the whole thing in Ferguson and all the constant upheavals this has caused have not been good for that community, for the region that I live in nor myself healthwise so I've really no desire to read about something similar in a work of fiction that I'm using to escape reality for a bit. It hits far to close to home for me. I, however, won't begrudge the writer for writing it or people for being interested in such a title even if it turns out not to be my cup of tea.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

I'm bothered by the idea of any random kid being able to become Robin on certain degree. It not just paints Batman as being hugely irresponsible by exposing kids to the danger (does he want a record on highest number of incapacited sidekicks or what?) it also strains the already flimsy logic of a kid being able to do supreheroics.


Plus, it kinds of dilutes Robin as concept.

[Godlike13]

I won't begrudge Bermejo for writing it, nor will I begrudge people for enjoying this book, but I think that this interview really turned me off it.

When central MO for an entire book is race and diversity, when that's the biggest motivating factor and story element behind a book, it's just not something I'm interested in reading.

And when he mentions Ferguson as being the touchstone for the book?

Nope, not for me.

At best, this sounds like the Movement all over again, this time with the "Robin" name and swapping Occupy with Ferguson as the "hot button" issue.

Exactly...