I know virtually nothing about Tim Drake, either as a Robin or as just himself.
I know he figured out Bruce was Batman by himself and convinced him to let him be the new Robin, and that he still had a dad but outside of that I just don’t know much about him.
Are there any stories that can help me understand him more? Doesn’t matter which series, just something to give me more insight into what kind of character he is
Tim is the easiest Robin to learn about because he had his own series and it was pretty good for most of its run. Try these:
Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (Origin - you might also want to read A Death in the Family and Batman: Year Three first to get some context and catch Tim’s one-panel early cameo in the latter)
Robin (1991 Miniseries)
Robin II: Cry of the Huntress
Robin III: Joker’s Wild
Robin (1993 Ongoing)
Young Justice (1998)
If you like the three miniseries and initial run of the ongoing, Chuck Dixon’s Detective Comics also used Tim a lot.
James Tynion’s run on Detective Comics was a favorite of mine. Also good if you’re looking to get into the Rebirth Tim Drake stuff.
James Tynion’s run on Detective Comics was a favorite of mine. Also good if you’re looking to get into the Rebirth Tim Drake stuff.
You should read everything that people have recommended here, but I’d like to toss out Identity Crisis as a great story for fans of Tim Drake.
I want to add my thoughts on Bat Jamags’s post but I don’t have time. Bat Jamags recommendations are solid. Might tweak them a bit if I find more time.
I’d recommend anything pre-Flashpoint.
Never bothered with Rebirth 'Tec.
Classic: The 1991 Robin mini-series.
Modern: Teen Titans (2003-2011 series) and Tynion IV’s run on Rebirth 'Tec.
Some more detail on Tim’s Robin series:
Chuck Dixon’s run: The real meat of the series, taking up the three miniseries and the first hundred issues. Kind of good stuff, but probably the weakest of Dixon’s many Bat-Book runs, despite being the best-known. The secret identity drama (not my favorite to begin with) gets repetitive after a certain point and the (only two or three, but they take up more issues than they’re worth) attempts at social commentary are kind of hamfisted and lame. Like, I barely (and only in a grudging “alright, fine, I suppose that wasn’t the worst thing in the world” sort of way) tolerate that stuff when Denny O’Neil does it, and he’s an absolute master at it. All that said, don’t get me wrong: there are still a lot of really cool stories in there and it really makes you care about Tim.
Jon Lewis’ run is short and really weird with an odd tendency towards sci-fi-ish plots, but I kind of enjoyed it.
Bill Willingham’s run was decent, though the art really went downhill. It also ran headlong into Batman: War Games, which is a real mess of a crossover.
I stopped reading before the One Year Later arc, so I can’t really comment on anything after that.
As a sidenote, I’ll agree with Rebirth Detective Comics. It’s pretty solid stuff.
His mini-series and Chuck Dixon’s run is quintessential. It’s the blueprint for the core of his character: tech wiz-kid and an independent sidekick. I love the classic Young Justice. It takes a more extreme and comical take on characters, but Tim Drake is the leader and I liked seeing relationships form out of that. Geoff Johns’ Teen Titans run is solid (it’s what got me into comic books) and it shows his graduation to a more established team. Identity Crisis is good. What happens in the book is unfortunate, but I liked that Tim Drake was such a major facet in a special that involved all of the DCU.
New 52 is where it gets dodgy to say the least. Even after Dixon’s run, Robin was still readable, but when they pigeonholed him to a poorly written Teen Titans book and canceled his solo, I stopped following his adventures. That is until James Tynion IV’s run on Detective Comics. His love and understanding of Tim Drake is all throughout that book and it’s become one of my all-time favorite runs.
I only know Tim from two titles , both of whom I recommend:
Detective Comics 2016 by Tynion, available in our library, not the current version.
Young Justice current and older, by Peter David.
One Year Later and beyond from the Robin ongoing was pretty good. I dug the change to a New Batman Adventures inspired costume.
Okay, this thread has been burning a hole in my brain ever since I read it. Tim was my gateway character from casual comic book fan to I must own and read everything. I probably own and read 90% of his starring or co-starring comic book appearances. I actually have a Word document full of all this info, but I’m not sure where I placed it, so I’ll do it from memory and Googling. I’ll try to separate the reason I recommend the story from the issues to avoid spoilers in case you care.
Batman 408-409 (Origin of Jason Todd)
Batman 410-411 (Relationship of Robins to Two-Face)
Death in the Family (Death of Jason Todd)
Batman Year 3 (Technically First Appearance of Tim Drake though just a cameo. Also sets stage for Dick and Bruce’s relationship at the time)
Lonely Place of Dying MUST READ (Tim’s first real appearance and crucial story line)
Detective 608-609 (Introduction of Anarky, one of Tim’s main villains)
Detective 618-621 MUST READ (Death of Tim’s mother and severe injury of Tim’s father)
Batman 455-457 MUST READ (Tim earns the right to be Robin)
Robin (1st Miniseries) MUST READ (Tim’s first solo adventure where he learns what kind of hero he wants to be and meets recurring villains King Snake and Ghost Dragons)
Batman 465 (Tim’s First Adventure as part of the Dynamic Duo)
Batman 467-469 (Rematch against King Snake and Ghost Dragons
Robin II: Joker’s Wild MUST READ (Tim’s first encounter against the villain that killed the last Robin)
Batman 480 (Tim’s Father released from hospital)
Detective 647-649 MUST READ (First Appearance of frequent ally and girlfriend, Spoiler)
Batman 654-654 (First Appearance of Robin villain, The General)
Robin III: Cry of the Huntress (Tim meets ally, the Huntress)
Knightfall (The whole series is a classic, but if you don’t want to read the whole thing, you could start at Detective 496 and work to the end. You’ll get the crucial bits. Find a reading order online because Knightfall crosses over between Batman and Detective Comics. (Batman is broken and Jean-Paul Valley takes the mantle which deeply affects Tim and sets up for Tim’s solo series)
I haven’t even reached Tim’s first ongoing series and I’ve already spent way too long on this. I’ll come back to it later. Suppose I need to get my complete list and create a thread for this.
Sorry about the strange formatting.
Whoops, got Joker’s Wild and Cry of the Huntress backwards. Sorry about that.