Adam Beechen: A Sidekick's Graduation

A SIDEKICK’S GRADUATION: With his last issue of ‘Robin’ on stands, Adam Beechen looks back at the highs and lows of his two years with the Boy Wonder.

Looking back at your issues of Robin, what was the highlight? What was your personal favorite issue?

BEECHEN: I love the “First Date” issue [Robin #159]. And I tend to like the single issues. I like the “Father’s Day” issue [Robin #163]. But I think my favorite issue was the issue of Robin and the kid on the rooftop, which is a strange thing to say because there’s not a lot of action in the story, and it’s mostly talking heads. But I really felt that issue got to the core of who Tim was as a character and who Tim was as a person. It answered a lot of questions people had about how he’s dealt with all of the problems and tragedies in his own life. I felt like once and for all we got to explain that he gets by by talking to people and talking to his friends. And that’s a big difference that he has between him and Bruce. Bruce doesn’t do that. Bruce internalizes everything, and Tim doesn’t do that, I think in part because he doesn’t want to wind up like Bruce. He doesn’t want to be that closed off. So that issue I felt really got to what Tim was all about. And I did get some positive reaction to that, not just from comic fans but from professionals in the mental health field talking about how we dealt with the issue of teen suicide. I’m really proud of that issue. I’m also really proud of how Freddie drew that issue because it’s, again, not a lot of action with a lot of talking heads, so a lot of it rests on the storytelling ability of the artist with facial expressions and body postures and the angles of the shots. Freddie did a magnificent job on that issue, and Pat Gleason’s cover was extremely eye-catching. In fact, I bought it in San Diego, I liked it so much. [Laughs]

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