Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the six hundred and forty-second week where we examine comic book legends and whether they are true or false.
Click here for Part 1 of this week's legends.
COMIC LEGEND:
DC was already planning a new Robin before Jason Todd was killed.
STATUS:
I'm Going with False
Reader Mark G. wrote in about an old Jim Starlin interview that he read in Comic Buyer's Guide after Jason Todd was killed following a 1-900 number vote...
In it, Starlin was quoted as saying "the death of Robin was planned all along, because DC intends to introduce a new version of the character"
Starlin himself has said that he was misquoted, but what I think is really at heart is something I dealt with in a Comic Book Legends Revealed a few years back, namely that while Jason Todd's actual survival was up for grabs by the voters, it was likely that he was not going to be in the book anymore. For instance, whether he lived or died, this is what he would have gone through...
Even if he technically survived that, he would need serious recuperation.
So I think Starlin likely knew that if he was taking Robin off of the board, that someone else WOULD be putting him back on to the board. For instance, in this week's Movie Legends Revealed, I wrote about how much Warner Bros. were pushing to include Robin in the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film. This is because the character was more important than just a comic book character, he was a major licensing figure.
And so yes, DC definitely rushed out a new Robin as soon as possible, only making sure to make him more likeable than Jason Todd, which they pulled off with Tim Drake...
Who also got a cooler Robin costume...
However, there were no plans for this new Robin before Jason Todd was killed off. Heck, the guy who created Tim Drake, Marv Wolfman, only took over Batman AFTER Jim Starlin was fired (in part because of the above interview where it made it seem like he was saying DC just pulled a hoax on everyone - but probably mostly because DC regretted killing off Robin as soon as they killed off Robin).
The only thing saying otherwise is that one Starlin quote, and Starlin has since recanted (or rather, said he was misquoted), so I think it is safe to say that this conspiracy is not true.
Check out my latest Movie Legends Revealed - How Close Did Robin Come to Being in Tim Burton’s Batman?
Part 3 will be up later on Sunday! Feel free to write in with suggestions for future legends to either cronb01@aol.com or brianc@cbr.com!