Big news on the Robin front today! DC Comics and writer Peter J. Tomasi revealed in an interview with the LA Times that Robin is definitely coming back this year for Batman’s 75th anniversary!

But which Robin?

Today’s news seems to point to a resurrected Damian Wayne – but doesn’t confirm it one way or another.

Zombie Robin?

Tomasi will be writing a one-shot called Robin Rising: Omega on July 16, which will kick off the finale of his ongoing ‘Search for Robin’ storyline. That issue will be immediately followed by Batman and Robin #33, returning to the series’ original title. When the last Robin, Damian Wayne, died last year, the series Batman and Robin played a game of teaming up Batman with a bunch of other heroes and villains. They went through everything from Batman and Nightwing to Batman and Aquaman. Throughout the series, Batman has been on a quest to try and resurrect his dead son, Damian – though first he has to get Damian’s body back from the madman, R’as al Ghul!

Will Batman succeed? Maybe. I guess that’s what Robin Rising: Omega is going to be about. Right now, Tomasi is only teasing the outcome of this new one-shot.

In the interview, he said:

Let’s just say that we are most definitely bringing back a Robin for Batman’s 75th anniversary. Batman needs a Robin and Robin needs a Batman, so what more needs to be said except that “Robin Rises: Omega,” drawn by the stupendous Andy Kubert, starts and ends with a bang and everything that occurs in this epic story all has seeds that Pat Gleason and I planted back during our first arc in “Batman and Robin: Born To Kill.”

There’s no gimmicks. We’re telling a character-centric action-adventure story that new readers can easily jump on board due to the way we constructed the opening pages of “Robin Rises: Omega” No. 1 that gives readers the ability to emotionally plug in and get up to speed without having read the series from the start of the New 52.

And it goes without saying, of course, that anyone following the book from our first issue will see that this has all been an organic uber-story and that all the moments they’ve spent with the characters will pay off as Pat, Andy and I serve our only purpose, which is to honor the actual title of the book so everyone can be invested in the roller coaster ride whether you’re new to the party or already scrunched up comfortably in the corner.

Tomasi isn’t coming right out and saying that Batman will succeed in resurrecting Damian, only that they’re ‘bringing back a Robin’ for the anniversary, emphasis on the ‘a’.

Heck, maybe they’re not even giving Batman a new Robin so much as just playing around with Robin. I don’t know what’s going to happen.

Apparently it involves Apokolips

Personally, I don’t want them to resurrect Damian. I think comic book resurrections are a little too silly these days, especially if you’re going to do it within a year of the character dying in the first place. If DC wanted Damian to stay Robin, why not just tell Grant Morrison not to kill him?

I’ll admit that Damian was growing on me as a character towards the end, especially in his partnership with Dick Grayson, but bringing Damian back from the dead just so  he can be Robin again strikes the wrong chord with me. Especially when DC has been teasing a new, female Robin.

I firmly believe that DC needs to create a new Robin to go along with the New 52. DC needs to create another Tim Drake, someone who can be a popular Robin for another 20+ years. Damian is turning into too much of a stunt character. Plus, what’s the point of threatening Robin’s life if all Batman has to do is resurrect them within a year?

Of course, if they don’t make Damian Robin again, that leaves Carrie Kelley available in Tomasi’s comic. Of the various female candidates, Carrie is the one Tomasi introduced and is writing about. But I want Carrie to be the new Robin less than I want Damian back from the dead, so I dunno what I’m supposed to do.

Just keep reading, I guess.