Batman series gets another queer angle

Tim Drake has helped combat Gotham City villains for decades as one of many Robins, but a new chapter in Drake’s story made the world of Batman queerer.

Tuesday’s release of “Batman: Urban Legends #6” housed the reveal, showing the DC Comics staple coming out on the final pages. The moment came when Drake’s friend Bernard asks him out on a date after Drake as Robin rescues him from the clutches of Gotham’s latest baddie, the Chaos Monster. Drake accepts the offer with a beaming smile in the issue’s final panel.

Penned by writer Meghan Fitzmartin, the issue wraps up the “Sum of Our Parts” portion of the “Urban Legends” anthology series by confirming what audiences have long speculated about Drake. For Fitzmartin, bringing Drake’s identity to the page was “the story Tim needed to tell.”

Haven’t cried reading a #ComicBook in awhile but after reading the #TimDrake/#Robin & #BernardDowd story with my own #gayboyfriend we both shed a few tears. Thank you @megfitz89 @BelenOrtega_ @loquesunalex
for this. Hate waiting till issue 10 for this to continue👨‍❤️‍👨🏳️‍🌈 pic.twitter.com/3N3ToyuT8K
— Monitor Earthprime (@MEarthprime) August 11, 2021

“The greatest thing about working with an established IP is that there are so many story decisions for characters that have already been made for you (often by people much smarter than you),” Fitzmartin told Polygon. “[‘Sum of Our Parts’] happened because this is who Tim is. I love this character very much, and as I went back to reread as much as I could to do Robin justice, it became clear this is the story Tim needed to tell.”

Unlike other characters who have donned the Robin persona, Drake’s identity beyond it hasn’t truly formed despite being part of Batman and other DC stories for upwards of 30 years. Focusing on Drake’s journey to self-definition was pivotal to Fitzmartin’s taking on the story. Discussions between Fitzmartin and editor Dave Wielgosz led them to “the conclusion that it needed to be a story about identity and discovery.”

While Drake’s coming out has been covered widely as him coming out as bisexual, Fitzmartin told Polygon that Drake “hasn’t put a label on himself,” leaving the character as his author space to further explore how he identifies. “I wanted to pay tribute to the fact that sexuality is a journey,” she said. “Tim is still figuring himself out. I don’t think he has the language for it all… yet.”

Regardless, the queer boy wonder joins the stable of out LGBTQ characters within the Batman-sphere, (Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Batwoman) and the greater DC universe.