According to the ancient Greeks, the phoenix—the firebird—was a long-lived bird that was cyclically born again and regenerated by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. As the ancient tales of Herodotus and others claim, the bird associated with the sun would obtain a new life over and over again.

But this is not the story of a phoenix. This is the story of a Robin—Robin Barnes to be exact.

Barnes is one of those ...