By David T. Valentin
Just last Tuesday in Batman: Urban Legends No.6, an anthology series for DC comic book fans, dropped the major bombshell that Tim Drake’s Robin is bisexual, or at the very least bi-curious.
As of lately, Tim Drake is on a journey of self-discovery after Batman’s biological son, Damian, has taken up the mantle of Robin in recent years.
In the comic, Batman: Urban Legends No. 6, Tim Drake’s old friend Bernard is captured by the Chaos Monster while Bernard and Drake were out enjoying a dinner together. As Tim Drake, now disguised as Robin, must rescue him and his friend from the situation. But before anything goes down, Bernard, not knowing Robin is Tim Drake, tells Robin to tell Tim Drake that he wishes they could have finished his date. Eventually the two make it out alive. Fast forward after, Tim visits Bernard to have a heart to heart. In the end, feelings are confessed, new dates were planned, and an exciting future ahead seems to be in order.
After the release of the comic, Meghan Fitzmartin, the writer of the comic, tweeted, “My goal in writing has been and will always be to show just how much God loves you. You are so incredibly loved and important and seen. Forever and grateful to be trusted with Tim Drake.”
Tim Drake is now one of the many iconic Queer characters in the DC universe. Along with Tim Drake, fan-favorites such as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are both canonically bisexual and in a very healthy, supportive and quite comical relationship with each other. John Constantine the magician and anti-hero is also known for his bisexuality, confirmed back in 1992. There is also Javicia Leslie’s Bat Woman who is lesbian, Alan Scott’s Green Lantern, and even Wonder Woman herself is bi.
With the sudden news (that’s not all too sudden to Queer DC fans), there were of course many fans displeased with the creative decision to explore Tim Drake’s sexuality. But in all honesty, with a bunch of men and women running around in tights, I think it’s more shocking if most of the characters were straight than some sort of Queer. And given that one scene from Tim Burton’s Batman film series, Batman & Robin (1997), you know the one with Robin and… yeah. It would have been more surprising if they had confirmed him to be completely straight.