Remember when being Batman and Robin was fun? It was a fifteen-minute window, about twelve years ago...

Twelve years ago their time, of course. This is nowhere near the first example of this, or probably even the best example; but here we go anyway: from 1998, Detective Comics #725, "At the End of the Day" Written by Chuck Dixon, pencils by William Rosado, inks by Tom Palmer.

This had "Aftershock" on the cover, so it was just after the "Catyclysm," or Bat-Quake storyline; and was ramping up to the big one, "No Man's Land." The devastated Gotham City is in pretty bad shape, and here we see Batman spraying rioters with a turpentine and guano mixture, while Nightwing reminisces about the proverbial good ol' days with him and Bats beating up thugs in an oversized bowling alley. Still, the prospects for Gotham look pretty bleak: criminals still on the loose from the prison collapsing, thousands of citizens leaving daily, and several major corporations opting not to rebuild in town.

Meanwhile, Dick had Bludhaven to watch over, and was considering taking a day job as a cop there, which Batman has reservations regarding. Still, he admits that Dick is better than him, in the sense that his Nightwing identity, and Robin before that, were "an extension of who you are," as opposed to Batman, who was pretty much just Batman. In the end, though, as some criminals try to rob a National Guard truck of weapons, Batman points out that old days or new, they're still busting heads, so there's that. Which seems like Bats trying to put a positive spin on things, either for Dick's benefit or his own.

I think that still exists in the current continuity; the idea that briefly, when Dick was Robin, that Batman and Robin had fun. It didn't last, but hey, at least they had some. I think Jason and Tim's Robin terms were grimdark the whole way...