Warning! Spoilers for "They Make Great Pets" from Batman #119 ahead!
Once again Batman has found himself a new Robin, and this time she is the supernatural detective that he’s always needed in a sidekick. This tale can be found as the back up story "They Make Great Pets" in Batman #119, written, drawn, and lettered by Karl Kerschl with John Rauch doing the colors.
This sidekick is Mia Mizoguchi, also known as Maps due to her being an expert in cartography. Created by Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, and Karl Kerschl, her first appearance was in Gotham Academy #1 back in 2014. Maps primarily sticks to the YA Gotham Academy series, where she typically conducts investigations with her friends dubbed the Detective Club. In this new short story, Maps dons a homemade Robin outfit and works solo as she tries to piece together why one of her classmates has gone missing.
Many of the mysteries Maps uncovers are supernatural, which kind of makes her the perfect new Robin for Batman. Most of the Robins' specialties are physical in nature, but Batman is already one of the DC Universe’s most seasoned fighters. Batman also has the technological expertise to rival Tim Drake’s hacking abilities. It’s his knowledge and belief in the supernatural, however, where Bruce Wayne is lacking. Batman has even failed to properly learn magic from Zatanna’s father, Zatara, as seen in a flashback in Detective Comics #959. The threat in this short story hasn’t fully been revealed yet, but Batman is attacked by ghoulish creatures, which definitely places the story firmly in supernatural territory.
Obviously, having made a homemade Robin costume, Maps is obsessed with Batman and hopes to one day become an official Robin. Maps co-creator Becky Cloonan helped push this dream forward by featuring a Maps inspired Robin costume in the Batcave in Future State: Wonder Woman. This hints that she could one day become Robin in a possible timeline.
Although this is the first canonical story of Maps working with Batman, it’s not the first overall. Batman Black & White vol. 3 #4 has a short story titled “The Davenport House” that features Maps as Robin. It’s never explained how or why Maps is Robin, but the story features ghosts, which gives credence to the theory that Maps can help the Caped Crusader in areas of the occult. The two of them even share such an exchange as Maps get excited at the prospect of ghosts while Batman just dismisses the their existence outright. With an ending that suggests Batman will be up against more supernatural threats in the next chapter, he's going to be glad to have a Robin like Maps by his side.