Putting the Bi in Ro-Bi-n? - Batman: Urban Legends #6

[icon_uk]

Tim Drake is confirmed as the first canonical, queer Bat boy!


Do you guys have ANY idea how long I've wanted to post something like that?

I mean, we've had subtext aplenty (especially with Tim and Kon and Dick, well, pretty much everyone), and yes we've got Kate being her awesome lesbian self, but to have a long established male member of the Batfamily officially come out as anything other thn straight is... look, it shouldn't feel like it's a big deal, but all darn well know it is!

In an earlier post, Tim met up with his old friend Bernard O'Dowd (a minor character from years back in his solo title) and it definitely had date vibes to it, but as so often happens, Bernard was kidnapped by a new villain called the Chaos Monster who had been taking kids for some time.

It took a while, but by allowing himself to be captured, Tim has tracked down where the kids are being kept by what turns out to be a gang of "Chaos Monsters" who aim to sacrifice kids to their deity.



Yes, Tim's friend is also this issues "damsel in distress"... that feels so right somehow.

So of course, as Robin, Tim free's Bernard and, in the course of facing down the bad guys...



Tim is super intelligent, but gloriously clueless sometimes, isn't he? :)

And as Bernard proves hismelf to be a dab hand at hand to hand himseld...



Of course, they DO make it out, and later.... well... this happens!





So whether this means that Tim is gay or bi or even bi curious is unclear as yet, but my money is currently on "bi" as it won't start the kerfuffle that Bobby Drake got, since it's not "invalidating" his previous relationships with Steph and the like.

A BIG thank you to Meghan Fitzmartin and Belén Ortega for giving us this!

(even if we DO have to wait for December for the next part of this story!)

And just to add that this was posted by former Robin artist Marcus To, who has been shipping Kon and Tim for a VERY long time

Comments

[leahandillyana]

They are treating the issue of Tim's queerness like a piece of hot coal here. The whole subplot takes place in euphemisms, a preteen read ing this comic may not catch the meaning of the date proposal in the end at all. In general, I see a recurring trend of having stories featuring same sex couples or queer characters in unrequited love in American media to not be romantic at all. I've watched the whole Legend of Korra and didn't get the impression that Korra and Asami are supposed to be together until I've read fan reactions and author commentary. On the other hand, some of the characters that *feel* like a same sex couple are later explicitly rejected as such. I think Takashi Shirogane is the most explicit example of both trends, as he has no romantic interractions with his canonical lovers on-screen but very romantic friendship with Keith that drove most of the story but gets completely dropped in the last third. And yes, I am still salty. Returning to Robin, from Doylist perspective it makes sense for a Robin to be made canonically queer. The character is the most camp mainstream superhero, and the costume redesigns don't change that, plus Robins have had historically a gay following. Though, given that nowadays gay fan of comics are into Incredible Hulk railing Red Hulk rather than a lightbuild teenager like Tim going on a date with another teen, I think this developement is meant to attract fangirls to a character who has the highs of popularity behind him.

[shakalooloo]

Someone may not catch the meaning of the date proposal??? It couldn't really get any clearer, there, save ending with a kiss, which would be very forward for anyone!

[leahandillyana]

A preteen specifically. It seems that girls in USA call any go-ou-together-and-have-fun event a date, so I *think* the word doesn't have unambigously romantic conotations.

[icon_uk]

Though, perhaps understandably, it's not something I have a lot of experience of, I'm not aware of young girls using "date" in a non romantic light.

If they're going out with non-romantic intentions they'd probably say they have plans, or are just "going out", but "date" (or even "study date") has specific connotations about the person you're going out with.

I might be wrong on that, but do you have any examples?

[leahandillyana]

I want to apologize for the last sentence of my comment. It was poorly thought out and crass, not to mention overly-generalizing.

[kurenai_tenka]

Maybe it's more about how you read things? The Korrasami ending was very clear to me while watching it.

Much like with Korrasami, the 'all or nothing' attitude some people have isn't helpful. The meaning here is still clear, and it's an important first step.