Tim Drake

Timothy Jackson "Tim" Drake is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman.

Created by Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick, he first appeared in Batman #436 (August 1989) as the third character to assume the role of Batman's crime-fighting partner and sidekick Robin.

Named after Tim Burton, director of the then-upcoming 1989 film, Tim first appeared in 1989's Batman: Year Three by the writer Marv Wolfman and interior penciler Pat Broderick, before having his origin detailed in Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying, a crossover story between the ongoing series Batman and New Titans, written by Wolfman and penciled by George Pérez and Jim Aparo (the latter with inks by Mike DeCarlo), in which he first introduced himself to Dick Grayson and impressed the former Robin with his skills.

This led Grayson and later Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler, to support Tim's request to be Batman's new partner.

Not wanting to make the same mistake as he did with Jason Todd, Batman had Tim endure an intensive period of training that was never given to his predecessors.

As such, Tim remained a non-superhero supporting character for the first year of his regular appearances in the Batman title, mainly operating in the Batcave.

According to Marv Wolfman, Tim was created to stand out from Grayson and Todd by having high intellect, a strong sense of justice and family outside of Batman's own.

The ensuing Tim Drake storylines, authored by the Alan Grant and penciled by Norm Breyfogle, coupled with the 1989 release of Burton's Batman, spurred sales of both Batman and Detective Comics.

1989-90 was indeed the "Year of the Bat:" Capital and Diamond City Distributors reported that the Year One-inspired Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight dominated four out of the five spots for preorders (not total sales and second printings).

The only exception was the third preorder spot, snagged by Batman #442, the conclusion to Tim Drake's "A Lonely Place of Dying" storyline.

The "Year of the Bat" continued into the first half of 1990.

Preorders for Batman and Detective Comics issues featuring a revived Joker and Penguin began to compete with, and even edged out, the last three parts of Grant Morrison's and Klaus Janson's Gothic storyline in Legends.

Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man arrived in the second half of 1990, inaugurating six months of Spidermania (or Mcfarlamania, depending on the reader).

DC closed out 1990 with vendors under-ordering issues, prompting the publisher to push Batman #457 and the first part of the Robin mini-series into second and then third printings.

The 1990s comics booming bust had begun.

In a supplemental interview with Daniel Best, Alan Grant added that "every issue from about that time [after the 'Year of the Bat'] that featured Robin sales went up because Robin did have his fans."

Although both Grant and Breyfogle initially believed that their Anarky character could potentially become the third version of Robin, they were quick to support the editorial decision to focus on Drake.

The social anarchist duo adopted the character as their own in the early 1990s, during Grant's shift to libertarian socialism but before his late 1990s emphasis on Neo Tech.

Breyfogle agreed that "it was a big thing to bring in the new Robin, yes. I know my fans often point specifically to that double-page splash where his costume first appears as a big event for them as fans and I usually have to point out to them that Neal Adams was the one who designed the costume. The 'R' symbol and the staff were all that was mine."

In the "Rite of Passage" storyline for Detective Comics, Grant and Breyfogle intertwined 1) Drake matching wits with Anarky; 2) a criminal and anthropological investigation into an apocryphal Haitian Vodou cult (revealed by Batman, asserting anthropological and investigative authority, as a front for extortion and crony capitalism); 3) the murder of Drake's mother by vilified cult leaders; 4) the beginning of Drake's recurrent nightmares and trauma; as well as 5) the perspective of a child of one of the cult's Haitian followers, unknowingly and inadvertently orphaned by Batman at the end of the four-issue arc.

Tim Drake eventually transitioned from preadolescence to adolescence, becoming the third Robin throughout the storylines "Rite of Passage" and "Identity Crisis," with all issues scripted by Alan Grant and penciled by Norm Breyfogle.

Story arcs that included Drake only in subplots or featured his training in criminal investigation, such as "Crimesmith" and "The Penguin Affair," were either written or co-written by Grant and Wolfman, with pencils by Breyfogle, Aparo, and M. D. Bright.

The next year, 1991, witnessed the ascension of Chris Claremont's, Jim Lee's, and Scott Williams's X-Men against Magneto, as well as Fabian Nicieza's and Rob Liefeld's X-Force, into the top of the preorder rankings.

The only exception to this X-mania was, again, Tim Drake and the sequel to the Robin miniseries, the first variant issue of which garnered the third spot, firmly wedged between variant issues of X-Force and X-Men.

The mini-series pitted solo Robin against the Joker, in response to fan demands for a matchup since "A Death in the Family."

For the latter title, Grant attested in 2007 that "when the Batman movie came out, the sales went up, if I recall correctly, from around 75,000 to about 675,000."

Following the events of Batman: Battle for the Cowl in 2009, Drake adopted the identity of Red Robin.

He has also been featured in various adaptations, including several television series, such as those set in the DCAU, Young Justice (2010–2022), and Titans (2018-2023) as well as the Batman: Arkham video game series.

Tim Drake was created to succeed Jason Todd as Robin after DC killed off Todd in their story A Death in the Family.

In 2011, Tim Drake was ranked 32nd in IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.

In 2019, Tim returned to his original Robin persona and briefly used the mononym "Drake".

As a young boy, Tim was in the audience the night Dick Grayson's parents were murdered and later managed to discover the identities of Batman and the original Robin through their exploits.

After the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, and witnessing Batman spiral into darkness, Tim attempted to convince Dick to resume the role of Robin, stating that "Batman needs a Robin".

However, Dick refused to return to being Batman's sidekick, and instead, Tim was appointed as the third Robin.

Neal Adams redesigned the entire Robin costume specifically for Tim Drake's character, with the sole exception of the redesigned "R" logo by the Norm Breyfogle.

Subsequent stories emphasize Tim's superior detective skills compared to the previous two Robins, which make him more similar to Batman.

He succeeded Dick as the leader of the Teen Titans, and later led his superhero team, Young Justice.

He was briefly followed in the role of Robin by Stephanie Brown, and later for a longer period by Batman's biological son, Damian Wayne, during the time Tim operated as Red Robin.

Tim has been shown to have a close friendship with Superboy.

He has had romantic relationships with superheroes Stephanie Brown and Cassie Sandsmark, and more recently his former schoolfriend Bernard Dowd.