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DC Finest: Robin: The Origin of Robin
536 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 30, 2026
Nice collection of the Silver & Bronze Age Robin Stories. Nice entertaining read, especially if you are into the older comics. Recommended
September 13, 2026
I couldn’t have asked for a better DC Finest!
World Finest Comics #141 1*
Worlds Finest #147 1*
Detective Comics #342 3***
BATMAN #184 4****
Batman #192 2**
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #111 1*
Batman #202 2**
Detective Comics #386 4****
Batman #213 3***
Detective Comics #390 3***
Detective Comics #391 4****
Batman #217 4****
Detective Comics #394 4****
Detective Comics #398 3***
Detective #400 3***
Detective Comics #401 5*****
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #130 1*
World’s Finest Comics #195 1*
Detective Comics #402 4****
Detective Comics #403 3***
batman #227 3***
Batman #229 5*****
Worlds Finest Comics #200 3***
Batman #230 4****
Batman #231 3***
Batman #234 4**** Batman #235 4****
Batman #236 4****
Batman #239 4****
Batman #240 4****
Batman #241 3***
Batman #242 1*
Batman #244 4****
Batman #245 4****
Batman #248 3***
Batman #249 4****
Batman #250 5*****
Batman #252 3***
Batman #254 3***
Batman #259 3***
"A New Look for Robin" is a glorious display of reader suggested costume changes for Robin. They vary from horrible to not-horrible. 3***
Detective Comics #445 4****
Detective Comics #447 4****
Detective #450 5*****
Detective Comics #451 5*****
Batman Family #1 5*****
Batman Family #3 4****
Batman Family #4 3***
Batman Family #5 3***
Overall, this was a very mixed bag, but the fact that they tried to give Robin his own life outside the Batcave paid HUGE dividends later.
I wish there were more stories and I wish they were better stories but it was still a fun nostalgia trip.
If you have any interest in what Robin was doing when he went to college and before the New Teen Titans then this big batch of 48 Bronze age stories will tell you.
The whole book comes in at 3***
August 15, 2026
Surprised at how good the Robin solo adventures were from this era and enjoyed all his teamups with Jimmy Olsen very much silver age. 1964-1976. 8/10
September 10, 2026
Wow, they REALLY didn't have any idea what to do with Robin as a solo character for a while there, did they?
A collection of absolutely baffling back-up stories featuring the Teen Wonder as he makes the jump to being a solo act at Hudson University in the '70s. The subjects of these bite-sized adventures range from campus-bound mysteries to battles with demonic cultists to spy thrillers-- with the only common throughline being a vaguely reactionary propagandism, reassuring the (presumably young) readers that authority figures are trustworthy, hippies are misguided radicals at best and dangerous at worst, and that the evil Commies are out to subvert our wholesome American way of life. Hell, the last issue of this collection ends with a visit to the Lincoln Memorial!
What really hurts these stories, though, is that this version of Dick Grayson has almost no personality to speak of. These shorts are all action-focused, so we don't get to spend any time with Dick's civilian identity... and none of his adventures have any meaningful personal STAKES for Robin, so we don't learn about him through his crimefighting... He's just "Generic Crimefighter Man", whose alter-ego is a boring, clean-cut college student (to better serve as a role model for the kiddies). The guy's a cipher.
That said, if you're just looking for some colorful, generic superhero adventures... eh, you could do worse. But you could ALSO do a helluva lot better.
A collection of absolutely baffling back-up stories featuring the Teen Wonder as he makes the jump to being a solo act at Hudson University in the '70s. The subjects of these bite-sized adventures range from campus-bound mysteries to battles with demonic cultists to spy thrillers-- with the only common throughline being a vaguely reactionary propagandism, reassuring the (presumably young) readers that authority figures are trustworthy, hippies are misguided radicals at best and dangerous at worst, and that the evil Commies are out to subvert our wholesome American way of life. Hell, the last issue of this collection ends with a visit to the Lincoln Memorial!
What really hurts these stories, though, is that this version of Dick Grayson has almost no personality to speak of. These shorts are all action-focused, so we don't get to spend any time with Dick's civilian identity... and none of his adventures have any meaningful personal STAKES for Robin, so we don't learn about him through his crimefighting... He's just "Generic Crimefighter Man", whose alter-ego is a boring, clean-cut college student (to better serve as a role model for the kiddies). The guy's a cipher.
That said, if you're just looking for some colorful, generic superhero adventures... eh, you could do worse. But you could ALSO do a helluva lot better.
June 30, 2026
Not the finest from DC Finest. Was really enjoying this at firsr, until the 1970s where both the artwork and storylines seemed to veer into naff territory, maybe why I stopped buying the comics. Bad enough having a big brother pretending to be a hippy without having to read about them in DC comics. They weren't all lacklustre but more than a few were, maaaaaaaaan.
July 19, 2026
I went into this volume with medium expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a very interesting bit of comics history.
This volume starts out with a few mid- to late silver age stories, some of which are team-ups with Jimmy Olsen. I had no idea these two sidekicks used to team up - and even had their own headquarters, the “Eyrie”! The stories have the usual silver age-y silly and contrived plots but I had fun with them.
The interesting part though, is the period from about ’68 to ’72, with Robin off for college. That was a tumultuous time in America, and it seeped into comics too, most famously with O’Neill and Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow run. But other DC comics raised societal issues as well, and so here we get Robin up against warring political factions of the college campus, crooked elections for the school administration, and visiting hippie communes. What a fascinating snapshot of the time period!
The stories themselves are decent enough (many of them by Mike Friedrich), but I find the real joy lies in how these comics reflected their times, and the interesting political questions raised. At one point for example Robin confronts some religious fanatics (“jesus freaks” lol) which leads to some interesting points on the (non-violent) teachings of Jesus versus some of the methods used by some of his more zealous followers… Wasn’t expecting that in my four-color reading.
4 stars out of 5. While these are decent stories in and of themselves, I particularly recommend it for folks interested in comics history, and history in general.
This volume starts out with a few mid- to late silver age stories, some of which are team-ups with Jimmy Olsen. I had no idea these two sidekicks used to team up - and even had their own headquarters, the “Eyrie”! The stories have the usual silver age-y silly and contrived plots but I had fun with them.
The interesting part though, is the period from about ’68 to ’72, with Robin off for college. That was a tumultuous time in America, and it seeped into comics too, most famously with O’Neill and Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow run. But other DC comics raised societal issues as well, and so here we get Robin up against warring political factions of the college campus, crooked elections for the school administration, and visiting hippie communes. What a fascinating snapshot of the time period!
The stories themselves are decent enough (many of them by Mike Friedrich), but I find the real joy lies in how these comics reflected their times, and the interesting political questions raised. At one point for example Robin confronts some religious fanatics (“jesus freaks” lol) which leads to some interesting points on the (non-violent) teachings of Jesus versus some of the methods used by some of his more zealous followers… Wasn’t expecting that in my four-color reading.
4 stars out of 5. While these are decent stories in and of themselves, I particularly recommend it for folks interested in comics history, and history in general.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews