Tim Drake plays a key role in the latest Batman arc, and Chip Zdarsky plans to do fans of the Boy Wonder who “worked his butt off” to be Robin proud.
Chip Zdarsky’s upcoming run on Batman promises to heavily feature the third Robin, with the key differences between Tim Drake and the other Boy Wonders playing into the overarching plot.
“It’s a really fun one to write!” Zdarsky said of working on the Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake relationship in an interview posted on the DC blog. “Tim is, in my mind, the Robin who worked his butt off to be Robin. Not to say the others didn’t, but it was a mission for Tim right from the start. Bruce respects his work greatly, even if he doesn’t show it all the time, and he’s proud of the man he’s become. And Tim will always be the Robin who has the most concern for Batman’s mental state.”
Zdarsky added that he planned to explore Tim’s newfound self-assurance in his run, which begins with July’s Batman #125 story arc “Failsafe.” Tim most recently began to explore his sense of identity and sexuality in “The Sum of Our Parts,” which ran in the pages of Batman: Urban Legends #4-6. The story culminated in Tim expressing the attraction that he felt for Bernard, a schoolmate from his past.
“It’ll really be reflected in his confidence, which comes with knowing yourself,” Zdarsky said of Tim’s development in his story. “And for Bruce, it’ll be a signpost for him that the various Bat-Family members deserve happiness beyond ‘the mission.’ Our story doesn’t really slow down enough for Tim to go on dates with Bernard, but it’s felt in the title for sure!”
Tim Drake first debuted in 1989’s Batman #436 and immediately stood out from his predecessors because he specifically chose to be Robin. Observing Batman’s extreme grief in the aftermath of the second Robin Jason Todd’s death, Tim helped the Dark Knight and Nightwing defeat Two-Face in “A Lonely Place of Dying,” which ran in the pages of Batman #440 to #442. After becoming Robin, Tim would headline three miniseries and a long-running solo book that lasted 183 issues, from 1993 to 2009.
When Bruce Wayne was presumed dead following the “Final Crisis” crossover event of 2008, Tim assumed the identity of Red Robin and ceaselessly sought to find his mentor in the pages of another self-titled series that ran for 26 issues from 2009 to 2011. Over the course of the book, Tim won the respect of Batman’s greatest foe Ra’s al Ghul — who called him “Detective,” a title typically only reserved for Batman himself.
Zdarsky’s take on Tim Drake goes on sale on July 5.
Source: DC
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