Robin was the first DC title I bought monthly. Starting with this very issue, in fact. I had issues from the various mini-series they used to start Tim Drake out with. Mostly the one where he has to face the Joker while Batman's out of town. I had a handful of issues from the Chuck Dixon/Tom Grummett run which started this ongoing. Mostly tie-ins to larger linewide events. Knightfall. Knightsend (Knights End?). The Zero Hour issue where Tim meets a young Dick Grayson Robin.
Also issue #4, which was my introduction to Stephanie Brown, aka Spoiler.
Chuck Dixon wrote the book for about 100 issues, often with the approach of Tim's civilian and superhero lives getting in each other's way. Crimefighting causes Tim to miss class, or leaves him unable to account for his whereabouts when his father wants to know where he was last night, if not at home. Missing a date with his school acquaintance Ariana, or trying to have a relationship with a fellow vigilante when he knows her secret identity, but won't buck Big Daddy Bats enough to share his own.
By the time I was buying the book regularly, Tim and Batsy were having more frequent falling outs, as Batman was fully into his early-2000s, Paranoid Dickhead Era. Tim was also attending a private school, which gave Dixon and penciler Pete Woods a way to introduce new plots and problems, via Tim's various classmates. It did seem to get a little much when one kid turns out to be the potential rightful ruler of some Middle Eastern country, and ends up with a demon set on him, and another turns out to potentially be the next head of Kobra, both in about a 10-issue span.
As much as I like Tom Grummett's work, I do prefer Pete Woods on Robin. His Tim was skinnier, maybe even wiry (I don't think he's tall enough to qualify as "lanky.") That seemed to fit the approach Dixon was going with for Tim, compared to the earlier Robins. Tim wasn't the athlete, certainly not the acrobat, Grayson was. He had to be more cerebral, just to stay alive. I only saw Dixon write a few issues where Tim was dealing with what I'd call a mystery, but his adventures still usually boiled down to him having to think his way through a problem, because his opponent outmatched him physically.
Might have been why I liked him. That and the bo staff, the Ninja Turtles influence still strong in me. The long pants and ditching of the pixie boots didn't hurt, either. Apparently the costume design was strong enough it keeps getting adapted for Dick Grayson in other media, like Batman: The Animated Series and the Teen Titans cartoons.
Dixon left, Jon Lewis took over as writer, as Tim moved back into Gotham proper. Some of the plots Lewis trotted out were weird, or I just didn't get what he was going for. Two kids in some traveling rural roadshow who could heal from terrible injuries, but had to stay close to each other. Batman testing Tim by having Alfred pretend to time travel with a dire warning that one of their friends turns totalitarian. That plot was undercut by Batman criticizing Tim for not dismissing the idea outright on the basis of time travel, when Tim was literally on a team with a kid from the 30th Century, and it was still in continuity that Batman was on a Justice League roster with Booster Gold, who was from the 25h Century.
Then Bill Willingham took over as writer, and the Bat-Editorial took a sledgehammer to Tim's life. Spoiler died in War Games. Tim's dad died in Identity Crisis. Willingham sent Tim to Bludhaven, and had him fight magic-using losers and a bunch of other goofy villains. Also sent Tim's step-mom along, after she had a mental collapse, but oops, she got blown up with the city by Deathstroke in Infinite Crisis. Geoff Johns kept teasing futures where Tim would become some Authoritarian Batman in his depressing Teen Titans run. Then One Year Later, and Adam Beechen, and the whole Cass Cain mess, and boy did I regret not pulling the ripcord 30 issues sooner. Better late than never, I suppose.
All told, I bought Robin for about 5 years, but only 16 issues remain in my collection.
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