Robin (Dick Grayson) First Appearance: Detective Comics #38 Value by Grade

Robin (Dick Grayson) first appeared in Detective Comics #38 (cover date April 1940), published by DC, by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson. The source puts it this way: "Featuring the first appearance of Dick Grayson! As Batman's sidekick Robin debuts, learn how Dick Grayson went from circus performer to the Boy Wonder to crimefighter!".

PriceCharting values for Detective Comics #38 (1940) by CGC grade, based on recorded sales and updated September 25, 2026:

• CGC 2.0: $16,232
• CGC 3.0: $20,290
• CGC 4.0: $25,363
• CGC 5.0: $35,034
• CGC 6.0: $44,704
• CGC 7.0: $90,000
• CGC 8.0: $132,000
• CGC 9.2: $171,600
• CGC 9.4: $113,310

The spread from CGC 2.0 ($16,232) to CGC 9.4 ($113,310) shows how much condition matters on a key issue. Restored, trimmed or incomplete copies sell far below these figures, and reprints and facsimiles (see below) are worth a small fraction. Grade and restoration are confirmed by a grading service such as CGC or CBCS; prices move with the market and the character's popularity.

• Cover date: the CGC census record lists the cover date as 4/40.
• Original cover billing: the original cover bills Robin as "the sensational character find of 1940."

Several later editions reproduce this issue. They are easy to mistake for the original at a glance:

• DC Facsimile Edition #1 (2020): Modern DC facsimile reprint of the original 1940 issue, sold under this facsimile title on DC's own site

• Indicia: the small print on the first page or inside cover gives the issue number, date and publisher; reprints usually say so there.
• Cover price and barcode: a price or barcode format that did not exist in the year printed means a later edition.
• Paper and staples: decades-old newsprint is tan at the edges; bright white pages on an old date are a warning sign.
• Restoration: color touch, trimmed edges and married covers are common on expensive keys; a grading service can detect them.

Shoot the front cover flat, straight on, in even light, then the indicia page and the back cover. Include the top edge and staples in one frame. The app reads the title, issue number and cover and matches it against the checks above; the indicia photo settles most reprint questions.

The main Robins, with the issue where each first appeared and first became Robin (Wikipedia):

• Dick Grayson: Detective Comics #38 (April 1940); later became Nightwing
• Jason Todd: first appeared in Batman #357 (March 1983), became Robin in Batman #368 (February 1984)
• Tim Drake: first appeared in Batman #436 (August 1989), became Robin in Batman #442 (December 1989)
• Stephanie Brown: first appeared in Detective Comics #647 (June 1992), was Robin from Robin (vol. 2) #126 (May 2004) for only a few months
• Damian Wayne: Batman's son, Robin from 2009

Carrie Kelley is Robin in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, outside the main line.

PriceCharting values retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Batman #357 (1983), first Jason Todd and Killer Croc: $68.40 ungraded, $150.27 in 9.2, $544.33 in 9.8
• Batman #436 (1989), first Tim Drake: $4.81 ungraded, $38.12 in 9.2, $175.00 in 9.8. PriceCharting notes that some grades for this issue are estimates based on sales in other grades.

Both are far cheaper than Detective Comics #38, where even a CGC 2.0 is $16,232 on the same date.

No. The Red Hood of today's comics is Jason Todd, the second Robin. He was killed by the Joker in "A Death in the Family" (Batman #426 to #429, 1988) after DC let readers vote by phone; death won 5,343 to 5,271. He returned in the 2005 "Under the Hood" story and first appeared as Red Hood in Batman #635 (February 2005). The name was first used by the Joker, in Detective Comics #168 (1951), so Jason took over his killer's old identity (Wikipedia).

Dick Grayson's origin is told in the two-part episode "Robin's Reckoning", which aired February 7 and 14, 1993 and won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (Wikipedia).

Tim Drake realized he is bisexual in Batman: Urban Legends #6 (August 2021), where he accepts a date with his friend Bernard Dowd (Wikipedia). DC's first openly gay superhero was Extraño, introduced in the 1988 Millennium event by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton (DC.com).

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market.