2009 saw him adopt the identity of Red Robin - you know, like the burger chain? - 2011’s New 52 reboot tried a drastic revamp of his origin story, but 2016’s Rebirth relaunch restored the original one. No longer “the youngest Robin” or even Batman’s main partner, DC has seemed to struggle to find Tim’s new niche. That changed with the introduction of Damian Wayne in 2006, created by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert, who was immediately installed in Tim’s place as Robin.
More independent than Dick and more empathetic than Jason, Tim simply was Robin for two decades of readers, as well as the enormous audience of Batman: The Animated Series.ĭamian (left) as Robin and Tim as Red Robin. And Tim was the youngest Robin, Batman’s partner. From his creation in 1989 until the late ’00s, Tim’s place was easy to explain. Police detectives Renee Montoya and Maggie Sawyer and the young vigilante Bluebird/Harper Row flitted in and out of continuity.Īt the same time, Tim Drake was struggling to find a new editorial niche in Batman stories. Midnighter became a recurring supporting character in Nightwing stories. Before she (nearly) married Batman, Catwoman briefly had a girlfriend. The subtext of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy was finally allowed to be text in the early 2010s. Gotham City has slowly become a much queerer place since her introduction, but mostly with villains and secondary characters.
She debuted as Batwoman in 2006 in the company’s year-long weekly-TV style series 52, and immediately garnered shock headlines - even though she ultimately had a fairly minor role.
Kate Kane is the most prominent canonically queer member of the sprawling Bat-family. Ultimately, this wouldn’t have happened without champions at DC, like Dave and James Tynion IV, and I hope it is as meaningful for others as it has been for me.” “I fully sat on the floor of my apartment for a solid two minutes in happiness as it sunk in. She says she spent days thinking it over before emailing back to say “Look, I don’t know if this is something that can happen, but this is the story, because it’s the only story it can be.”Įven after she got the go-ahead, Fitzmartin says it took some time to absorb the idea that she was going to create a coming out story for a Robin - and a very established version of Robin at that. “We talked about where Tim Drake has been vs where he was at the time and came to the conclusion that it needed to be a story about identity and discovery. “When Dave (my editor for Batman: Urban Legends) reached out about doing another Tim story, I was thrilled,” Fitzmartin told Polygon via email. Image: Meghan Fitzmartin, Belén Ortega/DC ComicsĪt the end of this episode of the story, Bernard asks Tim out on a real date, and Tim happily accepts. Tim and Bernard in Batman: Urban Legends #6. He feels as though he doesn’t know what he wants, until Bernard - not knowing that Robin and Tim are the same person - wistfully refers to their interrupted dinner as a “date,” and Tim has “a lightbulb moment.” In “Sum of Our Parts,” Tim wrestles with uncertainty in a way that has become core to his character over the last decade. Over several issues, Writer Meghan Fitzmartin ( DC Superhero Girls, Future State: Robin Eternal) and artist Belén Ortega ( Sensational Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel) have crafted “Sum of Our Parts,” a story in which Tim Drake tries to defeat a mysterious new villain who captured his old friend Bernard. In each issue, multiple creative teams share an episode of various ongoing stories starring characters under the Gotham City umbrella. That makes him the first new LGBTQ member of Batman’s immediate family in 15 years, since Batwoman herself.īatman: Urban Legends is one of DC’s new anthology series. A nice boy asked him out on a date, and Tim said yes.
Tim Drake is the Robin who isn’t really sure how to be Robin anymore - but in this week’s Batman: Urban Legends, he’s figured at least one thing out.