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Comic Era, why has Tim Drake failed to permanently transition from being Robin
- Thread starter PhoenixAKG
- Start date
And it helps that a high-profile superhero mantle like "Robin" is canonically LGBTQ+. It would be less of an impact if it's just "DC Comics' Tim Drake Gets a Boyfriend." Most people would go, "Who?"
I don't disagree with the importance of Tim maintaining the Robin identity for the purpose of being able to promote having a higher profile LGBTQ+ character in a recognizable role outside of the narrative.
However, I think for those of us who've been long-time readers of these comics, I think it's better watching Tim be conflicted and pushing to a role closer to what Babs has taken up where she rarely puts on the costume, though possibly going further to where he is actively trying to leave the life.
One of the best things the early Rebirth Detective Comics did was establish that while Tim certainly plays a significant role on the team providing tech support/detective skills/generally being Bruce's rock at times to help keep him from spiraling into even deeper levels of anti-social behavior, he has potential to be so much more if he wasn't so busy spending his time jumping around the city in tights.
Legit, Tim unlike most of the rest of the Bat Family can likely do more good focusing his time on solving the energy crisis or world hunger than he would coming up with faster ways for the team to get around the city or making their own Danger Room utilizing Clayface's biology. Part of the reason why I think he hasn't assumed a more lasting identity is that Robin honestly is the furthest he can reach in the costume-game and his next logical progression shouldn't be finding his own Bludhaven to start patrolling like Dick.
The only problem of course is that the way Bat-comics are written, this essentially relegates him to a guest character at best who barely shows up in the comics while he's out doing non-costume stuff that's not as exciting as what Dick, Jason, Damian, Steph, Cass or anyone else is up to. But again, narratively speaking this makes more sense for him than keeping up his night job.
A 1000 times this. Replacing a visually distinctive minority for a white guy is beyond garbage:
I always pictured him as a gentleman detective. Sherlock with manners and empathy
After reading all of this some thoughts. Tim is one of the few sidekick characters that was given time to grow as a person. His Robin run was a huge thing and defined who his character was. Dick kind of had that, but they did more with Nightwing for him. Jason was going to be a derivative of Dick (he was going to have the same backstory) until they changed it to be distinct as a thief and ran with it after crisis.
Tim started out as someone who just found out the truth due to how Bruce operated with Dick back then, in Daylight hours, and Tim took his picture. He figured things out. And even though Dick opposed the idea, eventually he became Robin. All the neat tech stuff came from Dixons run.
Tim also had, like Dick the most solid civilian stories, and the most normal life until writers were like kill his family off for drama. Second closest is Steph and Babs. DC originally had no plans on moving him up (Hell they originally wanted Dick to keep the Robin name in Teen Titans and Marv said nope, new name needed) since he was going to be THE Robin as why would you replace the fan favorite.
Then Grant came in and They wanted to write a story about how divorce can affect a kid. Thus they used Damian, and he was supposed to remain dead. DC liked him and if not for Tomasi and I would argue Snyder and a few other writers like BQM, in no way would Damian be as popular as he is now.
DC really wanted to push the true son narrative and new fresh teens, so they fucked up the generation before,Tim's group. That's why we're in this spot with them.
Tim also wouldn't be the first Robin to hold that title for so long. Earth 2 Dick Grayson kept it while he worked with Helena Wayne, Bruce's daughter.
As for the latest writer, I am really not enjoying how she is doing this arc for YJ, out right making it seem like Batman would be against Tim dating a guy. And again fucking over Steph. Even if this is a Twist, where she wants you to go, this isn't right,this was not the group to tackle this with regarding the team. Also character assaination of Arrowette. And I feel like she could have picked a way better love interest for Tim.
As for names, Redbird is a moniker that Damian took. Flamethrower is Betty Kanes. Redwing and Darkwing are both owned by Marvel and Disney. And, because DC has a thing for birds (Talon, Starling, Bluejay), it limits what writers can pick.
I still think Red Robin is the best choice going forward for him. Its a name that already existed via Kingdom Come, and it fits Tim's relationship to the bat team. Dick is blue, Jason and him are red, Harper and Babs are blue, steph is purple and Damian is gray.
Tim started out as someone who just found out the truth due to how Bruce operated with Dick back then, in Daylight hours, and Tim took his picture. He figured things out. And even though Dick opposed the idea, eventually he became Robin. All the neat tech stuff came from Dixons run.
Tim also had, like Dick the most solid civilian stories, and the most normal life until writers were like kill his family off for drama. Second closest is Steph and Babs. DC originally had no plans on moving him up (Hell they originally wanted Dick to keep the Robin name in Teen Titans and Marv said nope, new name needed) since he was going to be THE Robin as why would you replace the fan favorite.
Then Grant came in and They wanted to write a story about how divorce can affect a kid. Thus they used Damian, and he was supposed to remain dead. DC liked him and if not for Tomasi and I would argue Snyder and a few other writers like BQM, in no way would Damian be as popular as he is now.
DC really wanted to push the true son narrative and new fresh teens, so they fucked up the generation before,Tim's group. That's why we're in this spot with them.
Tim also wouldn't be the first Robin to hold that title for so long. Earth 2 Dick Grayson kept it while he worked with Helena Wayne, Bruce's daughter.
As for the latest writer, I am really not enjoying how she is doing this arc for YJ, out right making it seem like Batman would be against Tim dating a guy. And again fucking over Steph. Even if this is a Twist, where she wants you to go, this isn't right,this was not the group to tackle this with regarding the team. Also character assaination of Arrowette. And I feel like she could have picked a way better love interest for Tim.
As for names, Redbird is a moniker that Damian took. Flamethrower is Betty Kanes. Redwing and Darkwing are both owned by Marvel and Disney. And, because DC has a thing for birds (Talon, Starling, Bluejay), it limits what writers can pick.
I still think Red Robin is the best choice going forward for him. Its a name that already existed via Kingdom Come, and it fits Tim's relationship to the bat team. Dick is blue, Jason and him are red, Harper and Babs are blue, steph is purple and Damian is gray.
Not a Robin specifically, but there is a metahuman sidekick in the Bat Family:
Duke Thomas (Prime Earth)
Duke Thomas is The Signal, the teenage metahuman vigilante and daylight protector of Gotham. Following the loss of his parents' sanity at the hands of the Joker, Duke joined and led the We Are Robin movement, hundreds of civilian teenagers who donned the Robin R and fought for their city in...
dc.fandom.com
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Not a Robin specifically, but there is a metahuman sidekick in the Bat Family:
Duke Thomas (Prime Earth)
Duke Thomas is The Signal, the teenage metahuman vigilante and daylight protector of Gotham. Following the loss of his parents' sanity at the hands of the Joker, Duke joined and led the We Are Robin movement, hundreds of civilian teenagers who donned the Robin R and fought for their city in...
And DC has already thrown him to the side. He was also set up as a potential Robin but DC got coldfeet due to fear of upsetting racist.
Wait. Drake. Duck. Something like Nightwing but a Duck...
Hang on, I think I'm on to something here.
Hang on, I think I'm on to something here.
Because while Dick naturally kinda moved on, and Jason was taken out of the picture for a while, Tim ejecting the title was more a circumstance of Damian coming in than anything specifically related to his journey.
He's like the forgotten middle child who does everything right but to the point of where writers forget he's there or how to drive any drama from him. Like even the Drake thing feels like turning him into a Nightwing redux.
Once we approach the point where Damian has been the Robin longer than Tim, it's gonna feel real sad.
He's like the forgotten middle child who does everything right but to the point of where writers forget he's there or how to drive any drama from him. Like even the Drake thing feels like turning him into a Nightwing redux.
Once we approach the point where Damian has been the Robin longer than Tim, it's gonna feel real sad.
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Like I've said before she HATES Steph. And you're spot on the YJ not being the group to tackle this and Arrowette character assasination.
I've been mulling it over for many days now. Because Tim Drake is absolutely one of my favorite characters in DC.
And honestly the reason he never seems to move past the Robin stuff is that they have never really tried.
Not really. Honestly they should have put him on a team that is not the Teen Titans and had him gradually change to a new identity. And yes I know that is pretty much the same path that Grayson took but there's a reason why Nightwing stuck and none of Tim Drake's identies did.
As for what sort of identity he should have? I actually like the idea of them focusing on the fact that he wants to be the world's greatest detective rather than Batman. I like the idea of him working with Constantine and Detective Chimp and other characters of that like.
And as has been suggested multiple times but, hey DC owns the name Gray Ghost and they're not doing anything with it...
And honestly the reason he never seems to move past the Robin stuff is that they have never really tried.
Not really. Honestly they should have put him on a team that is not the Teen Titans and had him gradually change to a new identity. And yes I know that is pretty much the same path that Grayson took but there's a reason why Nightwing stuck and none of Tim Drake's identies did.
As for what sort of identity he should have? I actually like the idea of them focusing on the fact that he wants to be the world's greatest detective rather than Batman. I like the idea of him working with Constantine and Detective Chimp and other characters of that like.
And as has been suggested multiple times but, hey DC owns the name Gray Ghost and they're not doing anything with it...