Robin Hood in popular culture

The folkloric hero Robin Hood has appeared many times, in many different variations, in popular modern works.

Books

• Robin Hood by Paul Creswick, 1917. Particularly noted for its illustrator, N.C. Wyeth.
• The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley, 1988, a retelling in which Robin Hood is, in fact, the worst archer in his band, but whose shrewdness leads them through their dangers
• Sherwood by Parke Godwin, 1992, and Robin and the King, 1993
• The Sherwood Game by Esther Friesner, 1995, features Robin Hood and his merry man as computer programs, who do not let their lack of flesh and blood interfere with their ways.
• DC Comics published a Robin Hood comic book in the 1950s. The character of Robin, Batman's sidekick, was partly modelled on Robin Hood, as is explicitly stated in the prologue to the first appearance of the character in Detective Comics #38.
• DC Comics Green Arrow is often compared (favorably and unfavorably) to Robin Hood.
• The Big Bang Comics character Robo-Hood is a tribute to Robin Hood.
• Spike Milligan parodied the legend of Robin Hood in Robin Hood According to Spike Milligan.
• The King Raven Trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead, 2006, relocates the Robin Hood legends to Wales. "Hood" (2006), "Scarlet" (2007), "Tuck" (Not-published).
• Robin Hood is mentioned in Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged as the "most immoral and the most contemptible" human symbol; although the original tale told of a man who took back what was looted by a tyrant, what remained of him in the minds of the people is "...a justification for every mediocrity who, unable to make his own living, has demanded the power to dispose of the property of his betters, by proclaiming his willingness to devote his life to his inferiors at the price of robbing his superiors."
• In the science fiction comedy book Bikini Planet, Robin Hood is a false name used by one of the characters on the planet Hideaway.

Films and television series

Main article: List of films and television series featuring Robin Hood

Music

• The Opera of Robin Hood was written by G.A. Macfarren (libretto: John Oxenford) and first produced at Her Majesty's Theatre, London in 1860. It was written for the voice of Sims Reeves, who played Locksley, and was first performed by him with Mme Lemmens-Sherrington (Marian), Mme Lemaire, Charles Santley and Mr Parkinson, under the direction of Sir Charles Halle. Includes the songs Englishmen by birth are free, The grasping, rasping Norman race, etc.
• W. H. Birch wrote an operetta called The Merrie Men of Sherwood Forest which was performed in 1871.
• "Robin Hood" by Louis Prima and Bob Miketta (1944) also recorded by Prima.
• The theme from the 1955 television series The Adventures of Robin Hood was covered by Gary Miller and released as a single (Pye N15020) in 1956. It reached #10 on the UK charts.
• "Desolation Row," a 1965 song by Bob Dylan, includes the following lyrics:

"Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood

With his memories in a trunk

Passed this way an hour ago

With his friend, a jealous monk."

• "The Sheriff of Noddingham", a surfing instrumental by David Marks, one time member of the Beach Boys.
• The 1973 Disney animated film included three original songs: "Whistle Stop", a mostly instrumental piece, and "Not in Nottingham", both written and performed by Roger Miller, and "The Phony King of England", performed by Phil Harris.
• The theme tune to the television series The Dukes of Hazard contains the last verse:

"Just good ol' boys,

Wouldn't change if they could,

Fightin' the system like a true modern day Robin Hood."

• Legend, an album by Irish band Clannad, is the soundtrack for the ITV television series Robin of Sherwood (1984). It featured the main theme and single, "Robin (The Hooded Man)".
• Composer Robert Steadman, who lived for some time in Nottingham, has written 2 musical compositions using the myths of Robin Hood:
  • The Dethe of Robyn Hood (1995) uses fragments of a mediæval ballad as its text and is scored for narrator and wind band.
  • Robin Hood & Little John (2005) was commissioned by Southwell Choral Society as was premiered by them in Southwell Minster. It sets an anonymous mediæval ballad about the first meeting of Robin Hood and Little John and is scored for choir and large ensemble.
• Two songs by the English band Ocean Colour Scene make references to 'playing Robin Hood'; "Robin Hood" (1996 b-side to "You've Got It Bad") and the single "Better Day" (1997).
• Sherwood (2005) is a rock band from San Luis Obispo, California, who took their name from Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood had his adventures.

Video games

• Robin Hood is the main character in the 1992 adventure video game for PC, Conquests of the Longbow.
• Cinemaware's classic 1986 title Defender of the Crown featured Robin Hood as one of the player's allies in the struggle to re-conquer England.
• In 2003, Defender of the Crown was re-mastered and re-released as Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown, with the player directly controlling Robin Hood (as originally intended by the 1986 game's designers).
• In 1991, Millennium Interactive released The Adventures of Robin Hood.
• Code Masters 1985 action platformer by the Oliver twins, Super Robin Hood
• The historically influenced video game Gengis Khan II by Koei featured Robin Hood as a character that would offer to enlist as a general in the player's service, provided that England is part of the player's kingdom.
• An NES game based on the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was released.
• In 2002/2003 a strategy game entitled Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood by Wanadoo, Strategy First and Spellbound Studios, was released. It featured many of the Merry Men listed above.
• In Shrek SuperSlam, a fighting game released 2005, Robin Hood appears as a secret playable character.
• In Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, the scenario editor includes many additional hero units such as Robin Hood, The Sheriff of Nottingham, and Friar Tuck. In the Gold Edition of Age of Empires II, the map "Sherwood Forest," a tree filled map within a forest setting is added. The map "Sherwood Heroes" is identical to "Sherwood Forest" but each player receives a "Robin Hood" and "Friar Tuck" hero.
  • AOE II also includes an easter egg "Robin Hood" which when typed into a chat window gives the player 1000 gold.
• RuneScape features the character "Robin," a master archer who resides in an inn in Port Phasmatys, having a role in the "Ghosts Ahoy" quest with a gambling addiction.
  • There is also a Robin hood hat and boots in RuneScape.
• Yoshimitsu, a character featured in both the Tekken and Soul Calibur series, is heavily based on Robin Hood.
• Odin Computer Graphics released a game, Robin of the Wood, based on the Robin Hood legend in 1985.
• Though not Robin Hood specifically, in the game Medieval II: Total War, the unit "Sherwood Archers" are available for hire by England once a Woodsman Guild has been built.
• In "Heroes of Mana" the first archer unit is called Chobin Hood.
• Other Robin Hood-themed video games are listed on MobyGames.

Strategy games

• In previous editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle the Bretonnians had a special character called Bertrand the Brigand who was based on Robin Hood

Comic books

As a public domain character with an established reputation, Robin Hood was an attractive feature for comic book publishers from the birth of the medium. The first continuing Robin Hood stories were written and drawn by Sven Elven and appeared in New Adventure Comics #23 through #30. There was also a Robin Hood back up story in Green Hornet #7 through #10, written by S. M. Iger. A small renaissance of Robin Hood comics occurred in the late 1950s, starting with the little known "Rodger of Sherwood" stories in the Young Heroes anthology series #39 through #37 by American Comics Group That same year Robin got his first title comic book from Magazine Enterprises which ran for eight issues. Brown Shoe Co. followed suit in 1956 with The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1956 which ran for seven issues. Robin soon attracted attention from more established comic publishers such as Charlton Comics — who retitled Danger and Adventure to Robin Hood and His Merry Men starting with issue #28 — and Quality comics, whose Tales of Robin Hood was picked up by DC on issue #7, and eventually totaled 13 issues, the longest lasting English language Robin Hood series. DC also published Robin Hood stories in their Brave and the Bold anthology series from #5 to #15. In the 1960s, Dell published a couple of Robin Hood one-shots, one a re-telling of the traditional legend, the other a Disney TV show tie-in. Then, in 1974, Gold Key Comics produced a 7 issue tie-in with the Disney animated film. Eclipse published a three-part miniseries in 1991, perhaps a tie in with the Kevin Costner film. Finally, there have been various one-shots produced by Moonstone Books, A-Plus Comics and Avalon Communications. Robin Hood and his band appear in one issue of the Vertigo Comics series Fables. Along with other folk heroes, they give their lives to buy time for the last ship to flee to the mundane world. Midnight Kiss, a comic written by UK writer Tony Lee for Markosia, uses the Robin Hood legend, specifically that Robin Hood's Silver Arrow is from Nuadha's silver hand — and is stolen by 'Maid MaryAnne' — one of the two main characters in a flashback sequence. Tony Lee is currently writing a graphic novel called Robin Hood - Outlaw's Pride for Walker Books, due for release in late 2007. Robin has fared far better in non-English comics. His most successful title series is a Mexican histoiretta that ran from 1963 to 1966 and included 23 issues. There were also some Swedish titles. The Wizard of Id, a daily newspaper comic strip by American cartoonists Brant Parker and Johnny Hart, occasionally features Robbing Hood, a forest-dweller who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. His first appearance in the strip involves, of course, a hold-up, at the conclusion of which his victim yells, "You dirty robbing hood!" — hence the name. Green Arrow is also considered very similarly to Robin Hood, if not directly based on him.

Other

• Lego had a theme based on Robin Hood and his merry men, called Forestmen.
• The radio show I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again did an episode about Robin Hood.

References

• "The Outlaw Legend: A Cultural Tradition in Britain, America and Australia" by Graham Seal. Cambridge University Press, 1996 ISBN 0521553172
• The birth of popular culture : Ben Jonson, Maid Marian, and Robin Hood by T Wilson Hayes. Pittsburgh, Pa. : Duquesne University Press, 1992. ISBN: 0820702412 (held in 274 WorldCat libraries)
• Robin Hood : the shaping of the legend" by Jeffrey L Singman. Westport, Conn : Greewood Press, 1998. ISBN: 0313301018