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Some time ago, I asked a question about a precursor for Robin named Batboy, see here. I've since found the following image that I think is the story I was thinking of and it turns out the character was called John Vance with the alias Batman Junior.

Can anyone provide anymore details? I believe it was a relatively minor story to the main story, so don't think it had a major emphasis on the front cover. I notice that Batman's bat symbol isn't placed within a yellow ellipse (as well as the general drawing style) which gives clues about when the story was written.

Comic panel

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    Is this a different story to the one you previously identified?
    – Edlothiad
    May 24, 2018 at 12:50
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    So how many steroids did the Batboy pop between the first two panels?
    – Peter M
    May 24, 2018 at 13:59
  • @Edlothiad This is the story I was thinking of. I spent a lot of time looking up Batboy and kept getting links to dc.wikia.com/wiki/Midge_Merrill_(Earth-Two), who used baseball bats.
    – user66716
    May 24, 2018 at 19:50

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The story "Batman, Junior" ran in Detective Comics vol 1, #231.

Detective Comics vol 1, #231 front cover

From dc.wikia.com:

When Batman doesn't allow Robin to come with him on a case, and the Boy Wonder learns by accident that Batman had a partner before him, Batman, Jr. The real identity of Batman, Jr, is John Vance, who is currently working together with Batman to track down recently escaped gangster Birrel Binter. Out of frustration and sadness, Robin confronts Batman with the truth and he learns that Vance was Batman, Jr. for only one case, after which he never worked with Batman again until now.

This is the page your image is from:

Detective Comics vol 1, #231, matching page

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  • Thanks, I was wrong when I suggested that it was a relatively minor story, as evidenced by the cover.
    – user66716
    May 24, 2018 at 19:51
  • "There's only one robin." <- Did not stand up to the test of time.
    – candied_orange
    May 24, 2018 at 23:16

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