(Images from DC Comics)
After decades of fighting crime and defending Gotham City at Batman’s side, all while having to deal with gay jokes, whispers and innuendos, the Boy Wonder has officially come out of the closet.
In the latest issue of DC Comics’ anthology “Batman: Urban Legends” #6 Robin comes out as bisexual. For those with a casual knowledge of the world of Batman, the response is probably “of course,” but to those who are longtime super fans the response is most likely “Which one?”
While there have been many Robins throughout Batman’s more than 80-year history, most will agree there are four main Robins — the original Dick Grayson, who goes on to become Nightwing; Jason Todd, who infamously was voted by readers to be murdered by The Joker in the 1980s and came back as Red Hood; Tim Drake, who was the first Robin to get his own comic book series; and Damian Wayne, biological son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul.
The third Robin, Tim is the one who came out.
In “Batman: Urban Legends” #6, Drake battles The Chaos Monster who has taken his friend Bernard while they were hanging out. When Tim dressed as Robin goes to save Bernard, Bernard tells him if he doesn’t make it out, “Tell Tim Drake … he helped me realize my true self. Who I am. Tell him … well, he probably already knows. He’s the smartest guy I’ve ever met. But tell him … I wish we could have finished our date.” Bernard is unaware that Tim is in fact the Boy Wonder.
After Robin saves the day, we see Tim, out of costume, at Bernard’s front door. After a short exchange, Bernard asks Tim, “Do you want to go on a date with me?” Tim responds, “Yeah … yeah, I think I want that.”
The issue concludes with “To be continued in Batman: Urban Legends #10!”
“This is, as I’ve said, a very big deal. In fact, that may be underselling it,” wrote Alex Jaffe, a columnist for DCComics.com. “For a certain, significant portion of Batman readers, the Gotham Outsiders who have always found themselves looking in, it’s a moment which we’ll continue to be talking about, to be celebrating, for years. The moment that queer fans were—not through subtext, and not through permissible ‘point of view’ reading—but unabashedly, textually supported for the first time since Kate Kane was kicked out of West Point. The moment that a Robin, any Robin, but particularly a Robin with history and legacy and now decades of queer-coded readings under his utility belt, was allowed to be the queer icon he’s always been.”
Tim Drake isn’t the first person in the Batman universe to represent as a member of the LGBTQ community. Batwoman — the Kate Kane Jaffe mentions about — is an out lesbian and fan-favorite villains Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are bisexual and have been romantically linked.
You can read Jaffe’s full take on Tim Drake’s coming out by going to DCComics.com/blog.
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