Robin has become as big a part of Batman canon as the Dark Knight himself, so it should surprise you to learn that he was initially scheduled to make only a single appearance. It was creator Bob Kane's idea to give him a kid sidekick, but the comic book's editor at the time was completely against the idea as he believed that "Batman was doing well enough by himself". When the Robin issue was released (Detective Comics #38), the comic sold twice as much as previous instalments, so he became a permanent fixture of the series from then. The DC Universe would have been very different minus Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, et al.
