This year is a very special one for sidekicks everywhere. It’s the 75th Anniversary of the character of Robin.
At San Diego Comic-Con, DC announced multiple plans to celebrate the Boy Wonder. One of them is great news for fans of female superheroes: Cassandra Cain, one of the most beloved but rarely seen characters to play Batgirl, will finally be returning to the DC Universe.
Cain will reappear alongside Dick Grayson as one of three lead characters in Batman & Robin Eternal, a new series and sequel to Batman Eternal.
DC Entertainment
“On the 75th anniversary of Robin, we wanted to tell a quintessential Bruce and Dick story,” said Scott Snyder at a Friday morning press conference.
Robin “is a ray of light in a cold, dark grey world,” said We Are Robin writer Lee Bermejo. The first issue of that series has already sold out and will be getting a second printing.
“Another thing that we’re all very, very excited about is that this series is returning Cassandra Cain to the DC Universe,” said James Tynion IV, who along with Snyder will act as “showrunner” for the series.
“This is a character that I have loved for my entire comic reading life. We have the opportunity to bring her back in a very, very central role. She is one of the three central leads of this story—her, Dick, and Harper Row.”
The series will see a rotating team of writers scripting issues, including Tim Seeley (Grayson), Genevieve Valentine (Catwoman), Steve Orlando (Midnighter), Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (Hacktivist) and Ed Brisson (Sheltered). Contributing artists include Tony S. Daniel, Paul Pelletier and Scot Eaton.
Additionally, the month of December will see a “Robin War” which crosses over three different concurrent series set in the DC Universe. Gotham Academy, Robin: Son of Batman, and We Are Robin will see a five-week interplaying arc in which Damion Wayne discovers the “Robin movement” happening in Gotham, in which Gotham teens take up the title of “Robin” and make it their own.
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The issues will include two one-shot specials written by Tom King, with art by Khary Randolph and various contributors.
The panelists, including Bermejo, Tynion, writer Tom King, and Batman group editor Mark Doyle, also shared their thoughts on the greatest Robin stories of the DC pantheon. Contenders included:
- Robin: Year One
- A Lonely Place of Dying
- Robin Dies
- The Dark Knight Returns, which Doyle noted was “a great hero arc for Carrie Kelley”
- Birds of Prey issue #8, which King called “the essential Dick Grayson issue of all time”
- Nightwing “Brothers in Blood” arc, Tynion’s pick for a look at the relationship between two very different Robins, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd.
The Batman & Robin Eternal series is scheduled to begin on Oct. 7, with weekly installments for six months.
Photo courtesy DC Entertainment
