After a string of appearances - starting in the Batman: Year Three storyline in Batman #436; then the A Lonely Place of Dying crossover with The Teen Titans; and finally rescuing Batman from the Scarecrow - Tim Drake not only becomes The Dark Knight's partner as the third Robin; but also debuts in his first mini-series. Neither Dick Grayson or Jason Todd had their own book in the role.
Dick Grayson has had several short back-up features and teamed-up with Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in the '70's era Batman Family book; outside of his partnership with The Caped Crusader, he is mostly known as the leader of the Teen Titans. Jason Todd was more of a "transitional" Boy Wonder; the comic book equivalent of George Lazenby, who made only one appearance as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, before Sean Connery was coaxed out of retirement from the role to make a token appearance prior to Roger Moore assuming the role.
In this five-issue mini-series, Tim follows a similar path that Bruce Wayne took in becoming Batman. Similar, but not identical. Tim journeys to Paris on his own to learn "an obscure Tibetan Martial Art from its last living master", the Rahul Lama. On his arrival, he meets the Lama's grandson Shen Chi. Over the course of the mini-series he encounters Lady Shiva and King Snake. Tim's first mini-series is written by familiar Batman-scribe Chuck Dixon; pencilled by Tom Lyle (penciller on the Will Peyton Starman book, Impact Comic's The Comet, as well as a few Marvel projects); and, edited by Batman group editor Denny O'Neil (otherwise known as The Professor in The Batman Adventures).
The series spawned two sequels, Robin II: The Joker's Wild! and Robin III: Cry of the Huntress before a new ongoing, Robin, was launched in 1993, lasting 183 issues until 2009.
Collected Edition
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