Today, we see the various ways that the Batman and Dick Grayson Robin partnership broke up.

This is "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking," a feature spotlighting notable examples of retcons that don't fit into the framework of Abandoned an' Forsaked, which is specifically about stories that outright "overturn" older stories. There are many examples of "retroactive continuity" that do not actively abandon the works of the past (especially cases where the overall continuity was rebooted). Some of them are minor, some of them are major, all of them are interesting enough to me that I figure that they are worth writing about.

The split of the original Dynamic Duo has had a surprisingly large amount of versions over history.

THE ORIGINAL, AMICABLE SPLIT OF THE DYNAMIC DUO

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In early 1983, a new Batman villain, Killer Croc, was introduced at the tail end of Gerry Conway's run as the writer of both Batman and Detective Comics. Batman was getting obsessed with bringing down the new villain and so Robin visited some aerialists, the Flying Todds, who worked with a circus that Killer Croc was trying to extort and Robin asked the Todds for help with Croc, by stringing the villain along and letting the heroes know when he would be around so that they could bring him down...

That issue, Detective Comics #525 (by Conway, Dan Jurgens and Dick Giordano) was the first time that Dick Grayson met young Jason Todd.

In the next part of the story, Batman #359 (by Conway, Jurgens and Giordano), Robin worried that things were a bit too dangerous for the Todds and Batman tore him a new one for daring to question the plan...

And sure enough, the Todds were dead by the next part of the story, Detective Comics #526 (by Conway, Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala). Commissioner Gordon made Robin feel terrible about their deaths...

By the end of the story, the Todds' son, Jason, had taken on a costume and tried to help avenge his parents' death...

At the end of the issue, Bruce Wayne sets out to formerly adopt Jason Todd, putting the next step of our story into motion.

In Batman #366 (by then new writer, Doug Moench, and Newton and Alcala), Jason takes one of Dick's old costumes, dyes his hair and travels to South America to help save Batman from the Joker...

Batman yells at him to never wear the costume again, but Batman agrees to take him on as a NEW partner, just not as Robin.

Meanwhile, at the end of 1983, the Teen Titans and the Ousiders had a crossover and in Batman and the Outsiders #5 (by Mike W. Barr, Marv Wolfman and Jim Aparo), Robin is sick of Batman talking down to him throughout the crossover and lets Batman know that he probably knows more about leading a team now than Batman...

At the end of the issue, Batman basically apologizes and acknowledges that Dick is no longer really his sidekick anymore...

A couple of months later, Dick took things further and in New Teen Titans #39 (by Marv Wolfman and George Perez), he officially decides that he can no longer call himself Robin if he really isn't Batman's partner anymore...

Dick visits the Batcave in Batman #368 (by Moench, Newton and Alcala) and brings the costume with him and gives his blessing to Jason Todd taking over as Robin. It is a sweet moment, with everyone really happy with each other...

A few months later and Dick finally figured out his next step in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (by Wolfman, Perez and Dick Giordano)...

That was how things were BEFORE Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted DC's continuity.

WHY DID BATMAN FIRE ROBIN AFTER CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS ALTERED HISTORY?

In Batman #408 (by Max Allan Collins, Chris Warner and Mike DeCarlo), Batman and Robin are fighting the Joker when Robin is shot...

Batman is so distraught that he fires Dick as Robin, telling him that he can no longer risk Dick's life as Robin...

In a super weird sequence, Dick is basically all, "I'm GOING to keep being a superhero," and Batman seems fine with that, just so long as he isn't Robin. It's such a weird message to be sending.

Of course, by the end of that issue, Batman meets a young man named Jason Todd who is trying to rob the Batmobile's tires. By the end of the following issue (by Collins, Ross Andru and Dick Giordano), Batman has decided to make Jason Todd his new Robin...

Boy, that's sloppy as heck, right? I don't blame Collins, as he's just working with what he was told, I'm sure, but boy, firing the well-experienced Robin in one issue because it is not safe and then changing his mind but getting a younger, inexperienced Robin instead? What the what?

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WHAT WAS THE NEW REASON FOR WHY BATMAN FIRED DICK GRAYSON AS ROBIN?

A number of yeas later (you can say Zero Hour changed things, I guess), Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty kicked off the excellent Nightwing: Year One in Nightwing #101 (art by Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens) and in that story, Robin is late to respond to a call from Batman because of a Teen Titans issue...

Batman is a jerk to Robin throughout the issue and ultimately, after Dick saw the new Robin costume Batman had made him, Batman decides that he just can't rely on Robin, so he fires him!

I think that Nightwing: Year One is an excellent story, and I think that it probably gives Batman a slightly stronger leg to stand on for wanting to fire Dick Grayson than Dick being shot one time.

Thanks to reader Scott L. for the suggestion! Okay, folks, feel free to suggest more examples of this sort of thing! Obscure ones, famous ones, whatever! Send your suggestions to brianc@cbr.com!

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