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05/11/2004: my brain hurts
So, the events in that fateful night when Dick Grayson's parents die, and young Tim Drake watches, what do you think happened wrt Batman's appearance on the scene? In the scenario that Tim tells to explain how he made the connection between Dick Grayson and Robin, the two key pieces are the quadruple somersault and Tim witnessing Batman swoop down into the ring and examine the ropes. That's how it happens in Year Three (1989), how Tim tells it to Dick in A Lonely Place of Dying (1989). In all later versions, I've found, as well as in the Secret Origins #13 (1987) that was published earlier, Batman doesn't swoop into the arena in full spotlight, but investigates later. In Robin #0 (1994) in the brief flashback panel we only see Bruce Wayne at the circus, and Dick says that he didn't even believe in Batman until he was shown the cave, though we can probably disregard that as incongruent with all other versions. In Robin Annual #4 (1995) Batman first runs into Dick Grayson later the same night, outside, when he investigates and Dick eavesdrops. In Dark Victory (2000) it's not impossible that Dick runs into Batman later that night, as we don't see those events, but their first conversation seems to take place after Bruce Wayne took Dick in, but anyway only Bruce Wayne is shown in the scene of the Graysons death as onlooker. In LotDK #100 (1997) we see Bruce Wayne more or less discreetly remove evidence from the scene without any disguise, besides feigning clumsiness, and change into the Batman costume in his car, and encounter Dick later that night during the investigation.
Besides all the other differences (like whether Zucco dies from an heart attack, whether the ringmaster is involved and eaten by lions, etc etc), the thing with whether or not Batman appeared in the circus arena stands out, because it's central to Tim's explanation how he discovers Robin's identity. OTOH it makes more sense that Batman doesn't swoop into the arena with several hundred onlookers just to take a look at the rope and possibly comfort Dick.
So -- what's your vote for the most likely scenario? Was Batman in the limelight that night or not?
