The twelfth appearance of The Batman took place in the April 1940 issue of Detective Comics Issue 38. Robin makes his debut on the cover of the issue and Detective Comics issue 38 marks a change in Batman who becomes less grim and more of a swashbuckler type. Batman is even smiling on the cover and multiple times in the issue itself. The next chronological appearance of Batman will be in the pages of his own solo comic book title.
The reader finds out the now familiar origin of Robin who is Dick Grayson, son of circus acrobats John and Mary Grayson. The Flying Grayson’s are killed when mobsters, led by Boss Zucco, put acid on the ropes of their trapeze, because the circus owner won’t pay extortion money to the gang. Dick Grayson watches as his mother and father fall to their death having earlier overheard the mob’s extortion attempt.
Also, it just so happens that the Batman is at the circus as well. Why? Who knows, but he approaches the young Dick Grayson and talks him into not telling the police what he knows but, instead, helping him solve the crime. Batman reasons that Boss Zucco also owns the police department, and he wants a solid case against him.
The reader never actually gets to see where Batman revels his identity as Bruce Wayne to Dick Grayson but instead is treated to a montage of Bruce Wayne training Dick Grayson in gymnastics (which Wayne admits Grayson can teach him a trick or two), boxing, Jiu Jitsu, and more. We then get the revel of Robin in his bright red and yellow costume. Robin, for those who might not know, is not named after the bird but instead after Robin Hood, or so Detective Comics issue 38 tells us.
Dick Grayson takes on a job as a newspaper boy in order to lure the mobsters into extorting money from him in order to follow them to their hideout. Batman then infiltrates the mob’s headquarters and beats them up.
Batman then raids an illegal gambling establishment ran by the mobsters and, once again, exhibits near superhuman strength by picking up a roulette table and throwing it onto several mobsters.
Robin then tracks another group of mobsters to a skyscraper under construction. While Batman manages (possibly) not to kill anyone this issue, Robin on the other hand, kills at least one if not two people. First, he beans a mobster straight in the forehead David verses Goliath style with a sling shot. We do not know if the shot kills him or if he then falls to his death, so we will let that one go. However…
Robin does do an acrobatic swing around a steel beam knocking one of the mobsters off, several stories above the ground. Batman also may have knocked a couple of mobsters off the high-rise to their deaths, but it is not made clear.
Finally, the last couple of panels establish the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson with Bruce asking Dick if he intends to return to the circus or to stay with him and fight crime. Dick Grayson, of course, chooses to stay with Bruce Wayne. Robin becomes a staple of the Batman mythos from this point forward. The next appearance of Batman and Robin are in the pages of Batman’s solo series.
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The Batman Timeline and Chronology:
03-30-1939: 1st Appearance of The Batman & Commissioner Gordon. Detective Comics issue 27.
06-1939: Batman swings from building to building with a rope for the first time. Detective Comics issue 28.
07-1939: The Utility Belt is used for the first time.
09-1939: Fiancée Julie Madison is introduced. First Bat-Copter / Bat-Plane
10-1939: Batman uses a gun to kill The Monk.
11-1939: Batman kills Dr. Kruger by causing his plane to crash after knocking him out with gas. Origin of Batman.
12-1939: Batman is depicted holding a smoking gun. Commissioner Gordon returns.
02-1940: First appearance of Prof. Hugo Strange.
04-1940: First appearance of Robin (Dick Grayson). Robin kills a mobster.
Batman Kill Count: 5
Robin Kill Count: 1
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