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179-836: Stories in this series tend to give more focus to Batman's supporting characters, which include fellow crimefighters Robin , Nightwing and Batgirl , among others. The show also features guest characters such as Supergirl , Etrigan the Demon and The Creeper , characters who would later appear with Batman in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited . The 2001 video game Batman: Vengeance and its 2003 follow-up Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu are based on this series. The New Batman Adventures premiered on Kids' WB two years after Batman: The Animated Series ended its original run on Fox Kids . While working on Superman: The Animated Series ,

358-536: A crystal ball . Late at night, three children - Matt, Nick, and Carrie - read a report on a mysterious arsonist and tell each other their perceptions of Batman. In these stories, Batman and Robin respectively fight the Joker, who seeks to steal valuable instruments and music sheets, and a gang of thugs dubbed the Mutants. As the three head home, they are attacked by Firefly before Batman rescues them. While reporting on

537-542: A 2010 episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008–2011), a fourth wall -breaking Bat-Mite ( Paul Reubens ) references "A Death in the Family" and the 900 number, and Batman is briefly seen cradling a dead Robin. Jason's portrayal in the video game Batman: Arkham Knight (2015) was inspired by "A Death in the Family". The DC Universe and HBO Max streaming television series Titans (2018–2023) features Jason as

716-596: A Robin symbol. Following the completion of their mission and the revival of Damian, he handed him the Robin symbol on his suit to welcome Damian back to life and the role of Robin. In the Pre- Convergence timeline of Futures End , refugees from Earth-2 are given a signal from Brother Eye, which allows them into the Earth-0 Universe, but start a war when Darkseid follows them, leading to the deaths of

895-401: A central character portrayed by Curran Walters . After the second season episode "Deathstroke" (2019) ended on a cliffhanger with Deathstroke ( Esai Morales ) attempting to kill Jason, DC Universe held a poll in which fans could vote to determine Jason's fate. The poll was only intended as a reference to "A Death in the Family" and had no effect on the series, but elements from "A Death in

1074-636: A companion and increase his appeal to children. The original Robin, Dick Grayson , made regular appearances in Batman publications from 1940 until the early 1980s, when Marv Wolfman and George Pérez began including him in the New Teen Titans comics. As this made Dick unavailable to the Batman comics , Batman writer Gerry Conway and artist Don Newton introduced Jason Todd in Batman #357 (March 1983). Wolfman and Pérez had Dick set aside

1253-531: A damaged Robin suit on display in the Batcave, while Suicide Squad (2016) reveals that Harley Quinn ( Margot Robbie ) helped the Joker ( Jared Leto ) murder him. Zack Snyder's Justice League (the 2021 director's cut of Justice League (2017)) features a scene in which the Joker mocks Batman ( Ben Affleck ) for Robin's death. Though Warner Bros. and Suicide Squad director David Ayer stated that

1432-408: A dark suit, no goggles, and red eyes with black sclera. Poison Ivy 's appearance also changed, her skin tone is chalk white and her costume is now black with leaf-green highlights. Bane 's redesign outfit is completely black with silver accents and his mask no longer has red lenses. Killer Croc received a major redesign with a more reptilian appearance, with Brooks Gardner replacing Aron Kincaid in

1611-461: A different universe. Tim Drake goes through multiple universes, and finally rescues Batman. He comes into conflict with Batman when Batman starts being aggressive toward his enemies, and fights Damian Wayne . He is temporarily captured by the villains, but escapes and helps Batman save the day. Tim Drake finds Bruce Wayne again after he escapes from his prison, and convinces Bruce to open up and rely on his family again. Tim Drake helps Batman and

1790-456: A former child of trauma and survivor guilt , guided "other trauma victims down a path of righteousness." Tim Drake, for example, endured trauma and "emotional duress" as a result of the death of his mother (his father was in a coma and on a ventilator). Drake contemplated the idea of fear, and overcoming it, in both the "Rite of Passage" and "Identity Crisis" storylines. Grant and Breyfogle subjected Drake to recurrent nightmares , from hauntings by

1969-464: A former model and spokesperson who retired after turning 30 and being subjected to ageism . They manage to defeat her and rescue her captives, but she has a mental breakdown after Harvey Bullock removes her mask, no longer able to see her beauty. While attending an auction, Bruce and Tim reunite with the former's friend Jason Blood. However, Klarion the Witch Boy , who was also in attendance, steals

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2148-529: A friend of his late parents, who gives him his father's old documents. Jason discovers that his mother's name on his birth certificate is blotted out. Her first initial is "S", not "C" as in Catherine Todd, the woman he knew as his mother. Jason concludes that Catherine was his stepmother and decides to search for his biological mother. He uses the Batcomputer to track three possible individuals to

2327-419: A ghoulish Batman to the disquieting lullaby (or informal nursery rhyme), "My Mummy's dead...My Mummy's Dead...I can't get it through my head," echoing across a cemetery for deceased parents. Drake ultimately defeated his preadolescent fears "somewhat distant from Bruce Wayne" and "not as an orphan." By the end of "Identity Crisis", an adolescent Drake had "proven himself as capable of being a vigilante" by deducing

2506-623: A level where he was able excel in computer science and gain a grasp of assorted scientific techniques, including biology, engineering, and genetics, which he has witnessed his attempts at re-cloning Superboy. As Red Robin, these skills became more advanced and he would be considered an expert martial artist and possess a genius with an IQ of 142, whose forte within the Batman Family includes his intelligence, detective skills, and computer hacking capabilities. His high level of intelligence has also lent him praise from Ra's Al Ghul, being one of

2685-724: A lexicon of teenage behavior from which to draw, unlike when Dick Grayson was introduced and the concept of the teenager was still nascent. They wisely mobilized the expected adolescent behaviors of parental conflict, hormonal urges, and identity formation to give Tim emotional depth and complexity, making him a relatable character with boundaries between his two selves." In the Robin ongoing series, when Drake had fully transitioned into an adolescent character, Chuck Dixon depicted him as engaging in adolescent intimacy, yet still stopped short at overt heterosexual consummation. This narrative benchmark maintained Robin's "estrangement from sex" that began in

2864-758: A lobster on air . The sketch garnered widespread publicity and nearly 500,000 viewers called in. O'Neil proposed a similar stunt involving one of the DC characters, which Kahn found intriguing. O'Neil decided that Jason was "the logical candidate to be in peril", as he was unpopular and placing him in such a situation would have massive ramifications. He said: "We didn't want to waste it on anything minor. Whether Firestorm 's boots should be red or yellow ... This had to be important. Life or death stuff". Kahn added that they wanted to allow fans to have input in what to do with Jason, rather than "autocratically" writing him out and replacing him. The idea of having fans call to influence

3043-415: A magic branding iron with which he separates Blood from Etrigan the Demon , who Merlin had bonded him with centuries prior, and takes control of the latter. Without Merlin's curse to sustain his youth, Blood begins to rapidly age, forcing Tim to take care of him while Batman races to retrieve the iron and reunite the two. He eventually succeeds, after which Etrigan helps defeat Klarion and imprisons him in

3222-482: A mature hero in his own right. The short spiky hair that Grayson wore as Robin had grown longer, styled to flow down the back of the neck. In his civilian guise, he wore it in a ponytail. As Nightwing, he wore a V-shaped mask and an all-black unitard with light blue hawk emblem that borrowed some elements of the comics version from the 1990s. The costume also featured collapsible wings under the arms that allowed Nightwing to glide for short distances. The designs of most of

3401-519: A minor role in assisting Batman during Joker War and Fear State event. In Tim Drake: Robin , Tim lives on a house boat while working to forge his own path away from Batman. However, shortly after his move, Tim/Robin gets framed for a crime he didn't commit while investigating a series of murders happening to the marina residents. He works with Darcy Thomas/Sparrow (a former initiate in the We Are Robins movement) and Detective Williams to find

3580-471: A new Red Robin ongoing series, written for its first twelve issues by Christopher Yost and thereafter by Fabian Nicieza. The series was canceled along with the rest of DC's publishing line for The New 52 reboot. In The New 52 period, Tim Drake primarily appeared as a main character in the Teen Titans series, with some guest appearances in the Batman titles, under the superhero name Red Robin. Tim

3759-452: A potential story. Starlin decided to have the Joker murder Jason, inspired by The Dark Knight Returns (1986), a limited series by Frank Miller that featured Batman retiring after the Joker kills Robin. Starlin wrote scripts for a six-issue story, and the decision was made to combine the first four across two issues to speed up the story because fans were participating. Aparo, inker Mike DeCarlo , and colorist Adrienne Roy provided

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3938-522: A return to the title by Chuck Dixon was aborted abruptly upon his departure from DC again. The final nine issues of the series were written by Fabian Nicieza, tying into the then-ongoing "Batman R.I.P." storyline. Following the miniseries Batman: Battle For the Cowl , Tim Drake took on the new identity of the Red Robin as the character Damian Wayne was made the new Robin. The character began starring in

4117-552: A revived Captain Boomerang during the Brightest Day . Though Tim ultimately stops himself from killing Boomerang, he is chastised by Batman for his actions. In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Teen Titans (vol. 4) #0 revealed Tim Drake's new origin, showing a large departure from his original origin, removing his connections to Dick Grayson's origin story. In The New 52 , Tim

4296-452: A scene in which Damian beat the Joker with a crowbar, paralleling Jason's murder. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Jason's death was one of the few comic book deaths that remained unreversed. Unlike traditional comic book deaths, Jason's was intended to stay permanent; at the time of "A Death in the Family " 's publication, O'Neil said that "it would be a really sleazy stunt to bring him back". A popular aphorism among comic book fans

4475-537: A sleeker, redesigned look with a dark color scheme. Bruce Wayne's appearance was also changed from the previous series: his hair was brushed back to highlight his face, with blue eyes instead of black, and his regular business suit was changed from brown to black. Kevin Conroy 's voice for Batman became more stern, as well as less distinguishable from his voice for Bruce than in the original series. The writers made an effort to keep Batman's dialogue terse and grim to heighten

4654-410: A smokescreen and that the real target is coercing Hush to sign away Wayne Enterprises, Red Robin decides to confront Ra's head-on. He calls upon all of his friends to protect the various targets. Drake has since moved back to Gotham City and reestablished ties with his family and friends. After Bruce Wayne's return, Tim begins to aid his plans for expanding their mission globally with Batman, Inc. Tim

4833-487: A supplemental interview with Daniel Best, Alan Grant added that "every issue from about that time [after the 'Year of the Bat'] that featured Robin sales went up because Robin did have his fans." Although both Grant and Breyfogle initially believed that their Anarky character could potentially become the third version of Robin, they were quick to support the editorial decision to focus on Drake. The social anarchist duo adopted

5012-411: A team of lawyers to erase his criminal records and replace Harley with a new hench-girl. However, he eventually learns that most of the money is counterfeit and is ultimately defeated and arrested. A mysterious masked criminal dubbed " Calendar Girl " attacks youth-oriented events on specific dates and kidnaps the businesspeople behind them. Eventually, Batman and Batgirl discover that she is Page Monroe,

5191-439: A warehouse. He sells them on the black market and stocks the warehouse with Joker venom , which will kill thousands of people. Jason witnesses the Joker blackmail Sheila, so he reveals his identity as Robin to her and offers to help. Shelia rebuffs him, as she has been embezzling from the aid agency; in an attempt to cover this up, she hands Jason over to the Joker. The Joker beats Jason with a crowbar and restrains him and Sheila in

5370-463: A way out, Tim finds Batman but discovers this version of Batman is Tim Drake from the Titans Tomorrow future. Unable to accept a future where he decides to become Batman, Tim is forced to aid his older self in evading and containing a freed Doomsday . Tim learns from his future self that Dick, Jason, and Damian all tried to be Batman, but either retired or was forced to be put down by Tim (in

5549-447: Is a character who shows initiative and is driven to do what he views as right. He knows he is living up to a legacy left by Dick Grayson and strives to not disappoint Bruce Wayne, Batman. Tim is a more natural detective than previous Robins and is talented with computers, which allows him to stand in his unique spotlight. Unlike his predecessors, Tim is not the most proficient combatant and has had to work on his fighting technique, taking up

The New Batman Adventures - Misplaced Pages Continue

5728-680: Is a talented athlete and computer genius who comes close to discovering Batman's identity, but never totally figures it out. When Tim finds the Batman and gets rejected for the role of sidekick, he decides to bring the Batman to him, by hacking the Penguin 's bank account and donating millions of dollars, thus putting his family in danger. The Penguin's goons come after Tim and his family, but Batman saves them. Tim's parents are forced to go into witness protection, but they believe Tim deserves better and ask Bruce to take care of him for them. The Witness Protection Program renames him "Tim Drake", and he takes on

5907-475: Is administered a truth serum by the duo. Batman and Jason travel to Ethiopia and confirm that Jason's mother is Sheila Haywood, an aid worker; Jason has an emotional reunion with her. However, the Joker discovers that Sheila had performed illegal surgeries on teenagers in Gotham and has been blacklisted as a medical practitioner. He blackmails her into giving him the medical supplies her agency has stockpiled in

6086-580: Is also considered a natural leader, having led teams such as the Teen Titans and Young Justice. As a precaution, Bruce inoculated Tim, as well as his other close allies, against several toxins the Batman family has encountered, including Joker Venom, the Scarecrow's fear toxin, and some of Poison Ivy's pheromones. While this does not create a full immunity, it does give them a strong resistance, allowing them to continue fighting or escape when exposed to

6265-564: Is eventually appointed as the head of the newest incarnation of the Outsiders that now serve as Batman Inc.'s black-ops wing. Red Robin eventually rejoins the Teen Titans and takes over leadership from Wonder Girl . He remains the team's leader during their climactic battle against Superboy-Prime and the new Legion of Doom . Following an adventure with the Black Bat where he faces Ra's al Ghul's sister, Tim stalks and attempts to kill

6444-417: Is less destruction, and the events of Convergence and everything afterward takes place. Tim is launched into the new future, 35 years later, where he becomes the new Batman and destroys a weakened Brother Eye. In DC Rebirth , Tim Drake still operates under the Red Robin alias. He gains a new and third overall Red Robin suit similar to his first Robin suit except with two "R"s as his logo instead of one. It

6623-572: Is reunited with Wonder Girl and Impulse, and meets Teen Lantern and Ginny Hex. The five young heroes later travel to Gemworld, where they are also reunited with Superboy and meet Princess Amethyst. Soon lost in the Multiverse, Young Justice struggles to return home, with Tim taking on the new identity of Drake during an attack by his Earth-3 counterpart. However, this identity was retired shortly after returning to his universe, and Tim returned to being Robin. Following Infinite Frontier , Tim's history

6802-547: Is revealed later on in Detective Comics #965 that Tim Drake's origin story has reverted to that of the original universe, where he discovers Batman and Robin's identities after Jason Todd's death and became Robin before adopting the Red Robin persona. Tim is primarily featured in Detective Comics as part of Batman and Batwoman 's new team in Gotham, along with Orphan , Spoiler , and Clayface . Batman and Batwoman were preparing this group to combat enemies known as

6981-451: Is similar to the first one worn by Dick Grayson and identical to Tim Drake's original Robin costume from the comics, but the color scheme was simplified to red, black and yellow, eliminating green entirely. The costume retained the familiar red short-sleeved shirt, as well as the black cape with yellow inner lining. New elements included black sleeves, gloves, trunks and boots with red leggings. The familiar domino mask had also changed, giving

7160-433: Is smoothed over again, restoring his pre-New 52 histories as Batman's third apprentice and re-establishing him as having been Robin since that time. In Batman: Urban Legends , it is revealed that he and Stephanie Brown broke up off-panel and he reconnected with a friend from high school, Bernard Dowd. Bernard is kidnapped, sending Tim on a rescue mission while still trying to understand what he truly desires from life. During

7339-570: Is teleported to an unknown place by Mister Oz and kept prisoner. Tim swore that his friends will find him. Later, Batman learns from Ascalon, a robotic entity created by the Order of St. Dumas, that Tim is still alive, with Batman resolving to find Tim. In Mr. Oz's prison, Tim is forced to relive his memories of the past by Mr. Oz. Realizing that Mr. Oz is using Kryptonian technology, Tim easily hacks into it and frees himself as Mr. Oz reveals his identity as Jor-El and disappears. As he tries to find

The New Batman Adventures - Misplaced Pages Continue

7518-555: The DC Daily web show unveiled all of the pages to the public for the first time, and the artwork was published in the 2021 deluxe edition. A physical fauxsimile issue of the alternate pages, including the original advertisements and letters column, was published on December 12, 2023. While eavesdropping on a child pornography ring and awaiting police backup in Gotham City , Jason Todd (Robin) ignores Batman's orders and attacks

7697-442: The Batman creative team knew Jason presented a problem that needed to be resolved. O'Neil decided that Jason either needed another personality revamp or to be written out of Batman . Around that time, DC was planning to publish a comic promoting HIV/AIDS education, and requested that writers submit suggestions for characters to kill off from AIDS. Starlin, who had advocated killing Robin when he began writing Batman , filled

7876-408: The Batman team received hate mail and angry phone calls; according to O'Neil, the calls ranged from " 'You bastard', to tearful grandmothers saying, 'My grandchild loved Robin and I don't know what to tell him. ' " Frank Miller was critical, calling the story "the most cynical thing [DC] has ever done ... fans can call in to put the axe to a little boy's head. To me the whole killing of Robin thing

8055-552: The Batman title, mainly operating in the Batcave . According to Marv Wolfman, Tim was created to stand out from Grayson and Todd by having high intellect, a strong sense of justice and family outside of Batman's own. The ensuing Tim Drake storylines, authored by the Alan Grant and penciled by Norm Breyfogle , coupled with the 1989 release of Burton's Batman , spurred sales of both Batman and Detective Comics . For

8234-516: The DC Rebirth relaunch, Tim Drake became the main character in the series Detective Comics written by James Tynion IV where it was reinvented as a team book. The character featured in issues #934-940 and #965-981, with some flashback appearances in the interim. The character has subsequently become a main character in the relaunched Young Justice series written by Brian Michael Bendis. The character received widespread media attention when it

8413-505: The Middle East to find his biological mother, but is kidnapped and tortured by the Joker. Batman #427 ends with the Joker blowing Jason up in a warehouse. Starlin and Aparo prepared two versions of the following issue: one that would be published if readers voted to have Jason survive, and another if he was to be killed. A narrow majority voted in favor of the latter, and Batman #428 features Batman discovering Jason's lifeless body in

8592-506: The 'same' and 'hate' the West". "A Death in the Family" was part of the American comic book industry's trend towards "grim and gritty" comics in the late 1980s, and is remembered as one of DC's most controversial storylines. Chris Snellgrove of Looper described the scenes depicting Jason's torture and death—with the Joker covered in his blood— as "one of the most disturbing moments in

8771-560: The 1970s and became the Batman group editor in 1986, said that Conway and Newton "[weren't] worried about creating a new character. I think they thought, 'We've got to have a Robin in the series so let's go with the tried and true. This Robin has worked for so many years, so let's do him again. ' " Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985–1986) crossover event, which rebooted the DC Universe , Batman writer Max Allan Collins

8950-646: The 1980s, and has been criticized as inaccurate and relying on racist caricatures. Starlin writes Batman as speaking Farsi, the Persian language , in Beirut (where Arabic is actually the commonly spoken language), and the Joker dons a traditional Arab headdress and robes as the Iranian ambassador, although Iran is not an Arab country. Inverse described the Joker's alliance with Khomeini as "the culmination of an embarrassing series of storytelling gaffs that flattens

9129-569: The 1989 storyline "A Lonely Place of Dying" by Wolfman, Pérez, and Aparo. O'Neil arranged for a nuanced introduction that explained why Batman would need a new sidekick after Jason's death, and Tim was designed to appeal to both Jason's fans and detractors. Tim proved popular and starred in several limited series and a 1993–2009 ongoing series , until he was replaced by Damian Wayne in 2009. Damian shared Jason's willingness to go against Batman's wishes and use lethal force; Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving 's Batman and Robin #13 (2010) featured

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9308-667: The Bat-family rescue Damian and defeat Zur-En-Arrh. Bruce Wayne builds a new home for the Bat-family calling it the Pennyworth Manor as a new base after regaining his money. Like Batman and other members of the Batman Family, Tim Drake possesses no inherent super-powers and relies on a combination of his combat skills, technology, and deductive abilities; As Robin, Tim Drake underwent training under numerous masters, including Batman , Nightwing , Henri Ducard , Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) , and Lady Shiva . Over time,

9487-468: The Batcave, but at first refused to involve Tim in the field out of concern for the boy's safety, not wanting a repeat of Jason's fate. After a series of events involving Tim's mother's death and his father's paralysis, and Tim rescuing Batman in an encounter with the Scarecrow , Batman eventually enlisted him as the third Robin at the age of fourteen. Before joining Batman as the third Robin, Tim Drake

9666-466: The Colonists, later revealed to be a military group under the command of Batwoman's father, Jake Kane, who have modeled themselves after Batman in a more violent matter. After the team rescues Batman and Tim hacks their database to discover their plans, Jake sends two waves of Bat-Drones to take down the "League of Shadows", which will kill hundreds of innocents in the process. As his teammates evacuate

9845-575: The Council of Spiders, blow up the League's base, and escape with Tam. After crippling Ra's' League of Assassins, Drake returns to Gotham City to overthrow Ra's' plans to use Hush (surgically altered to resemble Bruce Wayne) to gain control of the Wayne family resources and destroy all that Batman held dear by directing his assassins to target all of the Batman's associates. Realizing that these attacks are

10024-404: The Family" for its plot. Hailstone described "A Death in the Family" as "the ultimate 80s epic": "brasher than Top Gun , louder than Hulk Hogan and more implausible than The A-Team ". Both Hailstone and Goldstein found the plot hard to believe, and Hailstone said that it veers into nonsense when the Joker is appointed as an ambassador. Charles Prefore, writing for Screen Rant , said

10203-495: The Family" is considered one of the most important Batman stories for featuring the death of his sidekick Robin at the hands of his archenemy, the Joker . Jason Todd , the second character to assume the Robin persona, was introduced in 1983 to replace Dick Grayson , who was unavailable for use at the time. Jason became unpopular among readers after 1986, as writers began to characterize him as rebellious and impulsive, and Starlin advocated killing him off . Editor Dennis O'Neil

10382-473: The Family" is regarded as one of the most important Batman comics for its effect on future Batman stories. The story altered the DC Universe: instead of killing anonymous bystanders, the Joker murdered a core character in the Batman fiction. Alongside The Killing Joke (which featured Barbara Gordon, Batgirl , being shot in the stomach and paralyzed) and the success of the 1989 Batman film, "A Death in

10561-461: The Family" pushed the Batman mythos in a darker direction. It portrayed Batman as more violent and emotional following Jason's death, and for the next decade of comic book canon , he was haunted by his failure to save him. Conway felt that the storyline allowed for "the entrance of the real 'Dark Knight', the idea of Batman as the pitiless enforcer of Gotham". When the DC Universe continuity

10740-479: The Family" remains a popular story among readers and has been reprinted in trade paperback form since its initial publication. Plot elements have been incorporated into Batman films, television series, and video games. An animated interactive film adaptation, Batman: Death in the Family , was released in 2020. [The fans] did hate [Jason Todd]. I don't know if it was fan craziness—maybe they saw him as usurping Dick Grayson's position... It may be that something

10919-403: The Family", was released on August 23, 1988, and Batman #427, the second, was released two weeks later, on September 6. Fans voted to determine Jason's fate between September 15 and 16, and Batman #428, which featured Jason's death, was released on October 18. The storyline concluded with Batman #429, on November 29. The last two issues contained a guest appearance from Superman . After

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11098-424: The Family". According to literary critic Kwasu Tembo, it is generally only discussed "as either a case study within a broader discussion of Batman's ethics, or as a case study of DC's editorial decisions and socio-historical engagement with its readership". The story's message is that Batman cannot save everyone, and it portrays Jason as a tragic figure whose sympathetic journey ends in death. Tembo contended that

11277-498: The Grayson years. Erica McCrystal likewise observes that Alan Grant, prior to Dixon's series, connected Drake to Batman's philosophy of heroic or anti-heroic " vigilantism " as "therapeutic for children of trauma. But this kind of therapy has a delicate integration process." The overcoming of trauma entailed distinct identity intersections and emotional restraint, as well as a "complete understanding" of symbol and self. Bruce Wayne,

11456-539: The Hood " revived him as the murderous vigilante Red Hood ; the in-universe explanation for Jason's revival was that he was restored to life after Superboy-Prime punched the wall of a pocket dimension . Jason eventually re-joined Batman's supporting cast as an "on-again, off-again ally", and starred in the series Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011–2021). Despite his resurrection, in 2020 journalist Susana Polo noted Jason

11635-520: The Joker ( John DiMaggio ) to distract Batman ( Bruce Greenwood ) and Jason ( Jensen Ackles ) while he destroys Europe's financial districts. They follow the Joker to Bosnia, where he kills Jason in similar fashion to "A Death in the Family". An interactive film adaptation, Batman: Death in the Family , was released in 2020. The film is a sequel to Under the Red Hood , Vietti again directing. The cast of Red Hood returned to reprise their roles, with

11814-425: The Joker hijacks a broadcast of a football game to announce that he has decided not to kill anyone in the following year, but plans to kill several people before then with a sonic bomb. After Batman and Robin stop him, the former meets with Gordon to celebrate the new year. Notes : Following the death of crime boss Edward Barlowe, the Joker is selected to receive his $ 250 million will. With his money, he recruits

11993-470: The Joker rejects Harley, leading her to leave him. As she laments her life, flashbacks reveal that she was originally a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum before the Joker manipulated her into joining him by claiming to have an abusive childhood. Harley then attempts to kill Batman by having him be eaten alive by piranhas before being defeated and imprisoned in Arkham. On December 6, 2005, The New Batman Adventures

12172-446: The Joker to defeat Batman enhanced both characters: the Joker became "a deadly threat   ... whose actions have lasting consequences", while Batman had "a motivating loss at a time when new readers were coming in". Hilary Goldstein of IGN and Jamie Hailstone of Den of Geek praised the story's handling of Jason's death for its emotion and portraying the dangers of superheroics. Retrospective reviewers have faulted "A Death in

12351-477: The Joker's speech as blatant Islamophobia disguised as humor. Shaheen and Dar argued "A Death in the Family" promotes the idea of "Them vs. Us", pitting the Arab and Western worlds against each other as diametrically opposed in values. Dar said that "[Starlin]'s and [DC]'s disregard for cultural, religious, and political accuracy simply points to a crude and racist generalization: Arabs, Iranians, and Muslims are all

12530-425: The Joker, but Batman instead tries to save him; Jason attempts to stop Batman but knocks over more hydrogen tanks, causing the explosion and his apparent death. Elements from "A Death in the Family" were incorporated in the 2010 DC Universe Animated Original Movies film Batman: Under the Red Hood , an adaptation of "Under the Hood" directed by Brandon Vietti . In the film, Ra's al Ghul ( Jason Isaacs ) hires

12709-522: The Middle East and Africa. Jason travels to Lebanon, where he and Batman reunite. The two foil an attempt by terrorists to destroy Tel Aviv using the nuclear missile purchased from the Joker. Batman agrees to help Jason find his mother, and Jason interrogates his first suspect, Mossad agent Sharmin Rosen. His next suspect, Batman's old acquaintance Lady Shiva , says she is not Jason's mother after she

12888-412: The Robin identity and become the independent superhero Nightwing in Teen Titans , while Jason became Robin in the Batman family of comics. Originally, Jason's origin story was virtually identical to Dick's; like Dick, Jason was depicted as the son of circus acrobats, who became Batman's sidekick after his parents were murdered. Dennis O'Neil , who wrote Batman and Detective Comics throughout

13067-658: The Spoiler. Although at first, he regarded her as reckless in operating without Batman's guidance, the two would eventually become romantically involved. For a brief period when Tim's father found out about him being Robin and he retired from the role, Stephanie temporarily replaced him as the new Robin. Following the death of his father in Identity Crisis (2004) and the presumed death of Stephanie in Batman: War Games (2004–2005), Tim relocated to Blüdhaven,

13246-472: The Teen Titans, except for Drake. Tim abandons his Red Robin mantle and becomes a bartender until an attack by Brainiac , where changes to the timeline are made. Brainiac is captured, and Terry McGinnis dies at the hands of Brother Eye's Batman-Joker hybrid. Tim dons the Batman Beyond suit and goes back in time and prevents Brother Eye from sending the signal to Earth-2, creating a new future where there

13425-694: The United States and Canada from 9:00   a.m. Eastern Standard Time on September 15, 1988. Starlin and the artists prepared two versions of Batman #428, depending on the outcome. As O'Neil stated: "It really could have gone either way. We prepared two choices of balloons . We had alternate panels. We had everything set up so that the two outcomes could be accomplished with a minimum of changes. We prepared for either situation". Raspler explained that Aparo prepared three alternate pages and several panels with static images that could be easily rearranged. O'Neil voted to let Jason live, as he felt killing

13604-562: The WB, we usually get maybe two paragraphs of stuff we can't do. At Fox, they were really picky, not just about things you couldn't do, but just in terms of content and story. They had a million opinions about what we should be doing. Nobody bothers us like that at the WB". Three holiday-themed vignettes: (1) On December 22, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are staying in a hotel when they become depressed over their financial situation and decide to brainwash Bruce Wayne to gain access to his money. However,

13783-488: The age of thirteen, he saw that Batman had grown reckless and violent following the second Robin ( Jason Todd )'s murder by the Joker . Reasoning that "Batman needs a Robin", Tim at first approached Dick Grayson – who had since become Nightwing – to ask him to become Robin again. Dick refused, but Tim's actions in an encounter with Two-Face prompted him and Alfred Pennyworth to see Tim as a potential third Robin. Batman agreed to mentor Tim, train him, and use his assistance in

13962-430: The animal-like appearance from Batman Returns . The Riddler 's redesign now sported a green bodysuit with a question mark in the center and his domino mask and red hair are removed, while his bowler hat is retained. The Scarecrow was redesigned to have long black hair, a zombie-like face, and a dark preacher -like outfit. Henry Polic II was recast with Jeffrey Combs as the voice of the Scarecrow. Mr. Freeze now has

14141-465: The anniversary of the accident at Ace Chemicals that created the Joker, Jack Ryder is attacked by him, exposed to a combination of chemicals and Joker venom, and transformed into the Creeper. He attempts to get revenge on the Joker before Batman creates a skin patch to return him to normal. However, Ryder doubts the patch's effectiveness and secretly removes it. While planning better ways to kill Batman,

14320-587: The art, and assistant editor Dan Raspler suggested Mike Mignola as the storyline's cover artist. Batman #427 features Batman arriving at a warehouse where Jason is imprisoned just as it explodes. On the back cover, an advertisement featured Batman carrying a severely wounded Jason. Readers were warned that Jason could die of his injuries, but that they could "prevent it with a telephone call". Two 900 numbers were given: one (1-(900) 720–2660) which would let Robin live, and another (1-(900) 720–2666) which would cause him to die. The numbers were activated for 35 hours in

14499-480: The best Batman stories, though its plot has been criticized as nonsensical and its depiction of the Middle East as Islamophobic . Jason's death had a lasting effect on Batman stories, with Batman's failure to save him pushing the comic book mythos in a darker direction. Tim Drake succeeded Jason as Robin in 1989, and Jason was resurrected as the Red Hood in the " Under the Hood " (2004–2006) storyline. "A Death in

14678-416: The bo staff to give him an edge that Batman does not need. Tim almost always seeks to analyze a problem and outthink his opponent but has shown the ability to win a fight when necessary. During this period, the character also featured prominently in the comic series Young Justice , written by Peter David, as a core team member from 1998 to 2003. Subsequently, Tim Drake also became a prominent team member in

14857-422: The case of Damian). After Doomsday is lured back to his cell, both Tims teleport out of Mr. Oz's prison and arrive in Gotham in the Titans Tomorrow future. Before being sent back, Tim is asked by his future self to apologize to Conner, but the younger Tim has no idea who Conner is, although he later admits that the name is tugging at his heart, though he does not know why. Tim is incapacitated by his future self, as

15036-663: The chamber, the Joker gloats: I am proud to speak for the great Islamic Republic of Iran. That country's current leaders and I have a lot in common. Insanity and a great love of FISH. But unfortunately we share a mutual problem. We get NO RESPECT. Everyone thinks of Iran as the home of the TERRORIST ZEALOT ! They say even worse things about ME, would you believe? We've both suffered unkind ABUSE AND BELITTLEMENT! WELL, WE AREN'T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!! You'll no longer be allowed to kick us around. In fact, you aren't going to be able to kick ANYONE around ever again! Dar described

15215-408: The character as their own in the early 1990s, during Grant's shift to libertarian socialism but before his late 1990s emphasis on Neo Tech . Breyfogle agreed that "it was a big thing to bring in the new Robin, yes. I know my fans often point specifically to that double-page splash where his costume first appears as a big event for them as fans and I usually have to point out to them that Neal Adams

15394-457: The character became adept in the usage of technology and became versed in several expressed styles of martial arts such as Aikido , Karate , Boxing , Judo , Kung Fu , Tai Chi , Krav Maga , and esoteric Tibetian martial styles which include healing arts (which utilize pressure points). In battle, he also favored a bo staff and was trained in its usage by Lady Shiva herself. Over time, Tim's skills developed, his intelligence improving to

15573-416: The character starred in the five-issue miniseries Robin, written by Chuck Dixon , with interior pencils by Tom Lyle and cover art by Brian Bolland . The new Batman and Robin team went on their first official mission together in the story "Debut", again written by Grant and penciled by Breyfogle. Lauren R. O'Connor contends that, in early Tim Drake appearances, writers such as Grant and Chuck Dixon "had

15752-586: The character would complicate his job as an editor, and Starlin was unable to vote because he was in Mexico at the time. O'Neil and Raspler checked the results every 90 minutes. DC executive editor and vice president Dick Giordano expected readers to vote in favor of Jason's survival; O'Neil believed they would vote for his death to see if DC would follow through. The poll received 10,614 votes and 5,343 voted for Jason's death over 5,271 for his survival—a margin of just 72 votes. Although Kahn dispelled rumors that

15931-612: The city where Nightwing fights crime, for a period of time to escape the "ghosts" of Gotham City and to stay close to his stepmother Dana Winters, who was admitted into a Blüdhaven clinic after going into psychological shock over Captain Boomerang killing Jack Drake. Tim Drake was then given another redesign of the Robin costume with a red and black color scheme. The colors are those of Superboy 's costume, in tribute to his best friend Superboy after he also died in battle in Infinite Crisis (2005–2006). Once Dick takes over

16110-468: The closeness of the vote indicated fans may not have despised Jason as much as commonly believed. Fans who voted to save Jason may have voted to preserve the classic status quo, or because they found the Joker murdering a child during an emotional period in his life unsettling. Written in the aftermath of the Iran–Contra affair , "A Death in the Family" reflects American attitudes towards the Middle East in

16289-518: The comic book sequel Batman: The Adventures Continue (2020), written by Dini and Alan Burnett and penciled by Ty Templeton . In the Adventures Continue adaptation, the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnap Jason, and the Joker beats him with a crowbar with intent to kill him. Harley objects to killing a child and finds Batman, who arrives as the warehouse is engulfed in flames due to hydrogen tanks . A wounded Jason begs for Batman to kill

16468-464: The complexities of Middle Eastern turmoil into a homogenous caricature of racial stereotypes". Several writers have described the portrayal of Arab terrorists as Islamophobic . They are depicted as anti-American , anti-Israel fanatics who seek to violently take over the Western world . They are referred to as "bandits-in-bedsheets" and depicted as unshaved and always holding weapons, while Jamal,

16647-611: The contrast between him and the lighthearted supporting cast; this also highlighted his character change from the original series. Batgirl 's costume was changed to a look similar to her original outfit from her comic debut in Detective Comics #359 and in her appearance in the Silver Age of comics , which is now a black bodysuit with yellow gloves and boots, but keeps her blue cape and cowl and yellow bat-symbol and utility belt. Her father Commissioner Gordon 's appearance

16826-428: The control wears off shortly after they return home, enabling him to defeat them. (2) On December 24, Barbara Gordon is shopping to get a gift for her father while Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya are there investigating a shoplifting criminal. Eventually, Barbara discovers that the culprit is Clayface, who has split himself into several children, and works with Montoya and Bullock to stop him. (3) On December 31,

17005-480: The costume was slightly altered with spiked gauntlets, a cropped tunic, and a new utility belt. A Death in the Family (comics) " A Death in the Family " is a 1988 storyline in the American comic book Batman , published by DC Comics . It was written by Jim Starlin and penciled by Jim Aparo , with cover art by Mike Mignola . Serialized in Batman #426–429 from August to November 1988, "A Death in

17184-411: The couple confirm their commitment to each other. In the main Batman comics written by Chip Zdarsky , Tim Drake learns the existence of Failsafe (a robot that Zur-En-Arrh created in case Batman killed someone) and meets Zur-En-Arrh for the first time. He tries assisting Batman as well as Zur-En-Arrh (who temporarily took over Batman's body), but watches helplessly as Failsafe teleports Batman to

17363-421: The creative process was a novel concept at the time, and DC's sales and marketing vice president Bruce Bristow described setting up the numbers as the most difficult part of the project. Sales manager John Pope began calling AT&T to secure the two 900 numbers on October 1, 1987; it took him until March 1988 to reserve them. Six months after Starlin proposed killing Jason, O'Neil asked him to start working on

17542-484: The criminals. Batman chastises Jason and asks if he considers crimefighting a game; Jason replies that life is a game. At Wayne Manor , Batman decides Jason is emotionally unstable and relieves him of his duties as Robin; an enraged Jason storms off. Meanwhile, the Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum . Batman discovers that he has obtained a nuclear weapon and plans to sell it to terrorists, and tracks him to war-torn Lebanon . Walking through his old neighborhood, Jason meets

17721-499: The days following Batman #428's publication "doing nothing but talking on the radio. I thought it would get us some ink here and there and maybe a couple of radio interviews. I had no idea—nor did anyone else—it would have the effect it did". After three days, Peggy May, DC's publicity manager , ordered O'Neil to stop talking to the media. She also barred anyone from discussing the story on television. Though initially confused, O'Neil came to appreciate May's order because he did not want

17900-448: The dead Robin was Jason, Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder later said he had intended it to be Dick, unlike "A Death in the Family". Snyder had planned to explore Robin's death in detail in his Justice League sequels before their cancellation. Before the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League , Snyder proposed a comic book prequel to Batman v Superman that depicted Robin's death, but DC turned it down. In "Emperor Joker",

18079-442: The death leaves the reader to ponder Jason's nature as "Batman's greatest failure, as an orphan betrayed, and/or as a careless and overzealous lost boy who reaped what he had so impulsively and thoughtlessly sown". Tembo theorized that Jason's death, as voted for by readers, "can be more thoroughly understood as a complex form of scapegoating ", comparable to a public execution. Jason was unpopular because he struggled to live up to

18258-414: The early 1970s, and Tim Burton 's Batman (1989) feature film was in production. DC announced "A Death in the Family" shortly after the release of the critically acclaimed graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke in 1988; according to author Chris Sims, the Batman letter column immediately "broke out into debate" over whether Jason should live or die. Batman #426, the first issue of "A Death in

18437-410: The episodes of all four volumes that were released in 2004/2005. The series has also been released for online media distribution services such as iTunes and Google Play specifically as "Season/Volume 4" of the complete animated series when the original two-season animated series was broken out differently into three seasons. The series was released on Blu-ray as part of Batman: The Complete Series in

18616-520: The exception of Vincent Martella , who replaced Ackles. Similar to the voting system from the comic, the film allows viewers to determine if Jason lives or dies, leading to different scenarios that see him become Red Hood, Hush , or Red Robin . "A Death in the Family" is referenced in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), a shared universe of superhero films based on DC characters. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) features

18795-415: The fall of 2018. It is subsumed as Season 3 of the original series when it debuted on HBO Max on January 1, 2021. Capstone publishes children's chapter books containing illustrations with character designs from The New Batman Adventures . Tim Drake Timothy Jackson " Tim " Drake is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics , commonly in association with

18974-437: The few Batman Family members he addressed distinctively as "Detective". Despite his high level of training and skill in combat, Tim's future version from Titans Tomorrow stated that he eventually realized he would never possess the same level of skill in combat as Bruce, Dick, Jason, or Damian. Tim is also capable of speaking several languages beyond his native English, including Cantonese, Russian, Spanish and German. Tim

19153-571: The first Robin. Ayatollah Khomeini approaches the Joker and offers him a role in the Iranian government . The Joker leaves a warehouse containing the corpses of his henchmen and the address of the UN Headquarters for Batman. As Batman waits outside the UN building, Superman appears and tries to convince Batman to leave. The Joker is Iran's representative to the UN and will be giving a speech on

19332-409: The first ongoing monthly Robin series in its history, once again written by Dixon, with Tim Drake as its main adolescent character. The ongoing series continued for over 15 years, ending with issue #183. Mike Mullins on Newsarama has stated: Throughout [the entire Robin series], the character of Robin has been captured consistently, showing him to step up to greater and greater challenges. Robin

19511-461: The first three issues of "A Death in the Family" sold out, DC compiled the storyline into a trade paperback in time for the 1988 Christmas shopping season . The collection, Batman: A Death in the Family , shipped on December 5, less than a week after Batman #429. A 2009 hardcover reprint included Wolfman, Pérez, and Aparo's 1989 sequel storyline, " A Lonely Place of Dying ", which introduced Jason's successor Tim Drake . A hardcover deluxe edition

19690-477: The floor of the General Assembly , and any confrontation between Batman and him could start a diplomatic incident . During his speech, the Joker attempts to poison the chamber with Joker venom, but Superman intercepts it. Batman pursues the Joker onto a helicopter sent by his sponsors. During the resulting struggle, one of the Joker's henchmen opens fire with a machine gun and shoots the pilot, crashing

19869-424: The former Robin with his skills. This led Grayson and later Alfred Pennyworth , Bruce Wayne's butler, to support Tim's request to be Batman's new partner. Not wanting to make the same mistake as he did with Jason Todd, Batman had Tim endure an intensive period of training that was never given to his predecessors. As such, Tim remained a non-superhero supporting character for the first year of his regular appearances in

20048-508: The helicopter into the sea. Superman saves Batman, but the Joker disappears. Batman laments that everything between him and the Joker ends unresolved. The first three chapters of "A Death in the Family" sold out quickly, and according to Starlin, the storyline was DC's bestselling comic of 1988. The storyline drew coverage in news outlets including USA Today , Reuters , and the Deseret News . Many reports did not mention that Jason

20227-409: The identity of the "Red Robin", rather than that of "Robin", out of respect to Jason Todd. In later issues, he is shown to be a founding member of the Teen Titans as well as their leader and he shows feelings for Wonder Girl which are reciprocated. Tim was unwilling to meet with the rest of the Bat-family at the Batcave after he was infected with the Joker's new compound "HA". He was present when Damian

20406-565: The inside. It also had yellow stitching and a matching belt, a black domino mask, gloves, and boots. Tim Drake resumed the motif of a red and black costume when he took on the identity of the Red Robin . The Red Robin costume consisted of a long-sleeved red tunic, along with black boots, tights, gloves, cape, and cowl. It also included a black-and-gold utility belt that carries Drake's weaponry, such as his bo staff and throwing discs. After Drake's confrontation with Ra's al Ghul in Red Robin #12,

20585-413: The latter decides to go back in time to kill Batwoman, the apparent cause of Tim becoming Batman. Tim returns to Gotham and is reunited with the Bat-family, but warns them about Future Tim. After a battle with Ulysses Armstrong and Brother Eye, Tim leaves Gotham to investigate the alternate timelines, and Tim's restored memories of his past friends from Young Justice. This leads him to Metropolis, where he

20764-647: The latter title, Grant attested in 2007 that "when the Batman movie came out, the sales went up, if I recall correctly, from around 75,000 to about 675,000." 1989-90 was indeed the "Year of the Bat:" Capital and Diamond City Distributors reported that the Year One -inspired Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight dominated four out of the five spots for preorders ( not total sales and second printings). The only exception

20943-406: The locations the drones were sent to, Tim hacks the drone's mission directive to make himself the sole target, knowing that the drones will stop once the target is eliminated. While Tim manages to take down the first wave of drones, he is killed apparently by the second wave, devastating the Bat-family and his former Teen Titans teammates. However, just before Tim was blasted by the second wave, he

21122-507: The many characters that inhabited Gotham City . Batman was given a sleeker, brawnier appearance with an overall darker costume : the yellow ellipse surrounding the bat emblem on his chest and the blue highlights of his cape and cowl were both removed and his utility belt has pouches instead of capsules and is now light brown instead of yellow, which resembles his appearance in Batman: Year One . His gadgets and vehicles were given

21301-482: The mononym "Drake". As a young boy, Tim was in the audience the night Dick Grayson 's parents were murdered and later managed to discover the identities of Batman and the original Robin through their exploits. After the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd , and witnessing Batman spiral into darkness, Tim attempted to convince Dick to resume the role of Robin, stating that "Batman needs a Robin". However, Dick refused to return to being Batman's sidekick, and instead, Tim

21480-859: The murder of Drake's mother by vilified cult leaders; 4) the beginning of Drake's recurrent nightmares and trauma ; as well as 5) the perspective of a child of one of the cult's Haitian followers, unknowingly and inadvertently orphaned by Batman at the end of the four-issue arc. Tim Drake eventually transitioned from preadolescence to adolescence, becoming the third Robin throughout the storylines "Rite of Passage" and "Identity Crisis", with all issues scripted by Alan Grant and penciled by Norm Breyfogle. Story arcs that included Drake only in subplots or featured his training in criminal investigation, such as "Crimesmith" and "The Penguin Affair", were either written or co-written by Grant and Wolfman, with pencils by Breyfogle, Aparo, and M. D. Bright . Immediately afterwards,

21659-462: The network approached the creative team asking them if they could do more episodes of Batman, which would air alongside Superman. To freshen the look of the new show, the art style was revamped from Batman: The Animated Series for more consistent and fluid animation, as well as to keep similarity with Superman: The Animated Series. The show also had a significant change in focus from the original series, with episodes focusing less on Batman and more on

21838-605: The new Robin in the episode "Sins of the Father". However, Dini remarked that "the Tim Drake origin in the comics as written now didn't work for us with him having a father and living so close to Wayne Manor. It seemed to work fine in the comics, but we needed our own little family unit of Batman, Robin, Batgirl and occasionally Nightwing – and Alfred of course". For these reasons, the production team came up with their own origin for Tim Drake, though they later realized this new origin

22017-523: The new Robin a more wide-eyed, innocent look. The color scheme would later appear as Tim Drake's Robin costume in the post- Infinite Crisis comics, while the original costume worn by Dick Grayson was seen in the episodes "Old Wounds" and "Over the Edge". Dick Grayson , having abandoned his Robin persona as a result of a falling out with Batman, adopted the identity of Nightwing . Grayson's build became sleeker, with broader shoulders, showcasing his emergence as

22196-518: The new incarnation of Teen Titans written by Geoff Johns, from 2003 to 2011. The ongoing series Robin (vol. 4) was written by Chuck Dixon until issue #100, in which the series was handed off to Jon Lewis. Lewis's run as a writer concluded with issue #120. Bill Willingham wrote the series for issues #121-147. As part of DC Comics' "One Year Later" relaunch initiative, in which the events of all ongoing titles skipped forward one year, Adam Beechen took over as writer on Robin with issue #148. Later,

22375-498: The process was rigged in favor of Jason's demise, O'Neil said it was possible many votes favoring Jason's death came from a single person. He recalled hearing that "a lawyer programmed his Macintosh to dial the killing number every few minutes", but had no evidence. O'Neil canceled a party he planned to throw once the verdict was in and decided to keep the result secret until Batman #428 was shipped. O'Neil did not tell his wife, Starlin, or Aparo. Starlin had expected Jason to die but

22554-416: The public to see him as "the guy who killed Robin". Assistant editor Dan Raspler was chastised by DC's then-executive vice president Paul Levitz for referring to "A Death in the Family" as a "stunt" in an interview. Jason's death divided fans at the time. Many readers celebrated, some hoping it meant that Dick could become Robin again. Others lamented how bloodthirsty comic book readers were. O'Neil and

22733-733: The publisher's long history". DC editors took the lessons they learned from the controversy and used media coverage for publicity when killing off major characters in the future, such as Superman in " The Death of Superman " (1992–1993). Although "A Death in the Family" sold well, it harmed Starlin's standing at DC. DC's licensing department was infuriated over the death because of the amount of merchandise—such as lunchboxes and pajamas—that bore Robin's likeness. According to Starlin, "everybody got mad, and they needed somebody to blame—so I got blamed". Work quickly declined for him, and within six months he departed DC and returned to Marvel Comics, where he wrote The Infinity Gauntlet (1991). "A Death in

22912-462: The real culprit. But this is made more difficult by the appearance of glowing animals and mudlike creatures that take the form of trusted friends and family. Tim ultimately realizes that all these events are linked to a villain obsessed with him, with things coming to a head when Bernard gets kidnapped. Tim confronts the villain, a metahuman who uses the codename Moriarty and who dubs themselves Tim's nemesis. Tim defeats Moriarty and saves Bernard, and

23091-444: The rescue, Bernard tells Robin that his friend Tim helped him come out and understand himself, prompting Robin/Tim to realize his own identity as a bisexual man. Afterward, out of costume, Bernard asks Tim on a date, which Tim accepts. Tim would later tell Bruce (and the rest of the Batman Family off panel) about his breakup with Stephanie and new relationship with Bernard before moving to the Gotham marina on his own. Tim Drake plays

23270-416: The rest of its outlandishness. "A Death in the Family" remains a popular story among readers, and despite their reservations over the plot, critics still deemed it worth reading. Hailstone called the story a "guilty pleasure" that, while not as groundbreaking as "Year One" or Batman: Son of the Demon (1987), was entertaining nonetheless, and Prefore summarized it as "a good read if you don't mind all

23449-457: The role of Batman after Bruce's apparent death in Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis , he fires Tim from the Robin mantle and gives it to Damian Wayne , due to Dick believing he and Tim are equals. Tim, believing that Bruce is still alive, assumes the identity of Red Robin and leaves Gotham City to go on a worldwide search for Wayne. Red Robin , which was launched in late 2009, depicted Tim Drake's search to find evidence that Bruce Wayne

23628-603: The role of fear in instigating a series of violent crimes. As the character continued to appear in the main Batman titles, the original Robin miniseries was followed by the four-issue miniseries Robin II: The Joker's Wild! (December 1991-February 1992) and the six-issue miniseries Robin III: Cry of the Huntress (December 1992-March 1993) both also written by Dixon. Due to the success of these miniseries, DC launched

23807-428: The role. Harley Quinn , Two-Face , Clayface , Alfred Pennyworth , and Harvey Bullock were among the few characters who did not receive any drastic change in appearance or color alterations. Harley Quinn is also the only villain aside from the Joker who appeared in six or more episodes. Ra's al Ghul and his daughter Talia also did not receive any drastic re-designs, although their only appearance during this time

23986-493: The second half of 1990, inaugurating six months of Spidermania (or Mcfarlamania, depending on the reader). DC closed out 1990 with vendors under-ordering issues, prompting the publisher to push Batman #457 and the first part of the Robin mini-series into second and then third printings. The next year, 1991, witnessed the ascension of Chris Claremont 's, Jim Lee 's, and Scott Williams 's X-Men against Magneto , as well as Fabian Nicieza 's and Rob Liefeld 's X-Force , into

24165-586: The standard of his predecessor Dick, which made him a "bad" Robin. This created jealousy among readers, who concluded that Jason was unfit to be Robin. Citing René Girard 's theory of mimetic desire , Tembo wrote that O'Neil's decision to let fans determine Jason's fate created a "mimetic crisis" because readers "could now not only influence [Jason's] existence in the story world, but in being given this power, compete against him". Readers instead saw themselves as more fit to be Batman's partner; by voting to kill Jason, they thought they were helping Batman. Tembo noted

24344-432: The story "can't decide if it wants to be fun or dark"; while Jason's torture and death at the hands of the Joker is quite somber, elements like the "globetrotting nature of the story" and the Joker becoming an ambassador for Iran are evocative of the goofy Silver Age of Comic Books . Prefore said the story's grim moments, which caused "A Death in the Family" to gain a reputation as one of the darkest Batman stories, overshadow

24523-497: The strangeness". Publications ranking it among the best Batman stories include IGN and Complex in 2014, and GamesRadar+ and Screen Rant in 2021. Sean T. Collins of Rolling Stone ranked it among the 15 Batman stories he considered "essential" to understanding the character, praising Aparo's art and how Starlin characterizes the Joker. Despite Robin's status as one of the most famous sidekicks in comic book history, there has been little literary analysis of "A Death in

24702-449: The substances. Tim Drake's original Robin costume had a red torso, yellow stitching and belt, black boots, green short sleeves, gloves, and pants. He wore a cape made of Kevlar and Nomex that was black on the outside and yellow on the inside. This costume was different from that of his predecessors in that it provided increased protection with an armored tunic and gorget , long boots, an emergency "R" shuriken on his chest in addition to

24881-431: The suggestion box with proposals to kill off Jason, but DC staff rejected the idea after realizing all the papers had Starlin's handwriting. However, DC president Jenette Kahn wanted to address Jason's unpopularity. O'Neil and Kahn attended an editorial retreat, where O'Neil recalled a 1982 Saturday Night Live sketch in which Eddie Murphy encouraged viewers to call one of two 900 numbers if they wanted him to boil

25060-403: The superhero Batman . Created by Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick , he first appeared in Batman #436 (August 1989) as the third character to assume the role of Batman's crime-fighting partner and sidekick Robin . Following the events of Batman: Battle for the Cowl in 2009, Drake adopted the identity of Red Robin . In 2019, Tim returned to his original Robin persona and briefly used

25239-492: The terrorist leader, is overweight and perpetually sneering. In a 1991 study of Arab terrorist depictions in comic books, Jack Shaheen wrote that "A Death in the Family" conflates Arabs, Muslims and terrorists, and equates them to the Joker, an insane supervillain. Jehanzeb Dar and Shaheen cited the Joker's speech to the General Assembly as a particularly egregious example of Islamophobia. Before he attempts to poison

25418-521: The then-upcoming 1989 film , Tim first appeared in 1989's Batman: Year Three by the writer Marv Wolfman and interior penciler Pat Broderick , before having his origin detailed in Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying , a crossover story between the ongoing series Batman and New Titans , written by Wolfman and penciled by George Pérez and Jim Aparo (the latter with inks by Mike DeCarlo ), in which he first introduced himself to Dick Grayson and impressed

25597-423: The top of the preorder rankings. The only exception to this X-mania was, again, Tim Drake and the sequel to the Robin miniseries, the first variant issue of which garnered the third spot, firmly wedged between variant issues of X-Force and X-Men . The mini-series pitted solo Robin against the Joker, in response to fan demands for a matchup since "A Death in the Family". The 1990s comics booming bust had begun. In

25776-420: The traditional batarangs and a collapsible bo staff as the character's primary weapon. Following Infinite Crisis and 52 , Tim Drake modified his costume to favor a mostly red and black color scheme in tribute to his best friend, Superboy (Kon-El) , who died fighting Earth-Prime's Superboy . This Robin costume had a red torso, long sleeves, and pants, with a cape that was black on the outside and yellow on

25955-403: The villains from Batman's rogues' gallery were also redesigned, some more so than others. The Joker was redesigned to have white eyes with black sclera and a purple and green suit. However, this was not well-received by fans, and this led to him being redesigned again for Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000), Static Shock (2002) and Justice League (2002–04), where his appearance

26134-415: The voice of Batgirl, as the creative team wanted a younger-sounding voice. While Batgirl did not appear in every episode, she did appear more often than Batman's other partners in the series. She also was Batman's main partner in the series rather than Robin, which differs the series from most Batman television series and in the comics (as Robin is usually Batman's main partner). Tim Drake was introduced as

26313-489: The warehouse ruins. The storyline ends when Batman and Superman stop the Joker from killing the United Nations General Assembly . The story was controversial and widely publicized; despite Jason's unpopularity, DC faced backlash for the decision to kill one of its most iconic characters. Retrospective reviewers agreed with the decision to kill Jason and have ranked "A Death in the Family" among

26492-481: The warehouse with a time bomb. Jason throws himself on the bomb to protect Sheila as the warehouse explodes. Batman arrives too late to save them, and Jason and Sheila die from their injuries. Traumatized, Batman takes Jason and Sheila's remains to Gotham and holds a burial with Alfred Pennyworth , Commissioner James Gordon , and Barbara Gordon . Batman blames himself for Jason's death and resolves to carry on alone, rejecting Alfred's suggestion to involve Dick Grayson,

26671-694: The world on archaeological digs and thus he was left in a boarding school with relatively little adult supervision. By the age of nine, Tim, who had a very sharp intellect, had deduced the identities of Batman and Robin as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, after witnessing a gymnastic maneuver by Robin that he previously saw Grayson display in the Haly Circus. Inspired by the heroes' exploits, Tim trained himself in martial arts, acrobatics, detective skills, and scholastics to better himself both physically and intellectually, though having no intention of joining Batman one day, mainly for his self-fulfillment. When Tim reached

26850-483: Was a mix of his look from the original series and this one. Catwoman 's redesign now sported an all-black bodysuit (similar to her appearance from Batman Returns ) and her hair is changed from blonde and shoulder-length to short and black while keeping her green eyes, matching her appearance in the comics. The Penguin 's redesign resembled his appearance from the Golden Age and Silver Age comics instead of having

27029-479: Was a young child, he visited the circus for the first time with his parents. The Drakes asked the Flying Graysons for a photo together, resulting in a momentary bond between Tim and Dick Grayson as they met for the first time. Dick Grayson's parents were murdered that night, as witnessed by Tim from the audience. Growing up, Tim's parents were frequently absent for months at a time as they traveled around

27208-424: Was also altered, with a more slender build and a flat-top hairstyle. Producer Paul Dini said that Batgirl would appear in every episode of the new series because " Kenner wants to do a line of toys, we're taking advantage of the publicity from her being in Batman & Robin , and we just love Batgirl". In addition, Melissa Gilbert was recast with Tara Strong (credited under her maiden name Tara Charendoff) as

27387-470: Was also the main character in the 26-issue weekly series Batman and Robin Eternal alongside the other former Robins. Meanwhile, a version of Tim from five years into the future was also a main character in the weekly series The New 52: Futures End ; this alternate-future version of Tim would become the title character in the subsequent Batman Beyond series up until its relaunch with DC Rebirth . As of

27566-399: Was ambushed by an assassin from the Council of Spiders. He manages to drive himself and Pru (one of the assassins working for Ra's al Ghul, who had become an ally of Tim's) to Tam's hotel room, and they are promptly abducted by the League of Assassins. Although initially reluctant, Tim Drake allied with Ra's before nearly bleeding to death due to their encounter with the Council of Spiders. He

27745-510: Was appointed as the third Robin. Neal Adams redesigned the entire Robin costume specifically for Tim Drake's character, with the sole exception of the redesigned "R" logo by the Norm Breyfogle . Subsequent stories emphasize Tim's superior detective skills compared to the previous two Robins, which make him more similar to Batman. He succeeded Dick as the leader of the Teen Titans , and later led his superhero team, Young Justice . He

27924-408: Was asked to reintroduce Jason. Batman #408 (June 1987) began a four-issue story by Collins and artist Chris Warner that reimagined Jason as a street delinquent whom Batman attempts to reform. The revamped Jason was unpopular among readers, who disliked his rebellious, impulsive nature. A scene in Batman #424 (June 1988) in which Jason seemingly breaks Batman's no-killing rule and lies about it

28103-411: Was briefly followed in the role of Robin by Stephanie Brown , and later for a longer period by Batman's biological son, Damian Wayne , during the time Tim operated as Red Robin. Tim has been shown to have a close friendship with Superboy . He has had romantic relationships with superheroes Stephanie Brown and Cassie Sandsmark , and more recently his former schoolfriend Bernard Dowd. In 2011, Tim Drake

28282-412: Was concurrently a main character in the series Batman written by Chip Zdarsky. He was featured in issues starting from #125, and in "The Toy Box" back up story starting from issue #131. Tim Drake: Robin received a nomination for Outstanding Comic Book at the 34th GLAAD Media Awards . Tim Drake is the son of Jack Drake and Janet Drake, coming from the same social class as Bruce Wayne. When he

28461-451: Was considering having Jason revamped or written out of Batman when he recalled a 1982 Saturday Night Live sketch in which Eddie Murphy encouraged viewers to call the show if they wanted him to boil a lobster on air . Inspired to orchestrate a similar stunt, DC set up a 900 number voting system to allow fans to decide Jason's fate. "A Death in the Family" begins when Batman relieves Jason of his crime-fighting duties. Jason travels to

28640-403: Was extremely similar to Jason Todd . Dini and Timm later revealed that the new Robin was always intended to have Jason's origin story and characteristics of both Jason and Tim. The decision to implement some of Todd's characteristics on Drake came up after Timm and Dini decided to not adapt the violent " Batman: A Death in the Family " comic book storyline for the show. Batman made a new suit which

28819-582: Was given a modern redesign of the Robin costume and sent to train abroad with numerous experts to refine his martial arts. When Bruce Wayne retires after Knightfall , Robin goes solo to defend Gotham City . Robin would eventually go on to co-star with other teenaged superheroes in Young Justice and Teen Titans . He also made guest appearances in other DC comic books such as Nightwing and Azrael . Robin would also become increasingly closer to fellow teen vigilante Stephanie Brown, also known as

28998-580: Was in the episode "The Demon Reborn" from Superman: The Animated Series . Koko Enterprise Co., LTD. , TMS-Kyokuchi Corporation , and Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD contributed some of the animation for this series. The Kids' WB censors were much more flexible with episode content than the Fox Kids censors were with Batman: The Animated Series . Producer Bruce Timm recounted that "when we were at Fox, after every single storyboard, we would get five single-spaced pages of notes on things we couldn't do. On

29177-554: Was killed by the Heretic and admitted to Bruce that even though he had a dysfunctional relationship with Damian that he did grieve for him. He was also at the final battle between Batman and the Heretic when Talia killed her son's clone and blew up Wayne Tower. Tim was also part of the Bat-family's assembled team which went to Apokolips to retrieve Damian's body. As their mission focused on retrieving Robin, Tim, Jason, and Barbara wore costumes that resembled Damian's colors and each wore

29356-476: Was not the original Robin. As an editor at Marvel Comics , O'Neil had received angry mail from fans when characters such as Phoenix and Elektra were killed, so he was prepared for reader backlash to Jason's death. However, "A Death in the Family" created much more controversy, as Robin was one of DC's most iconic characters and the Marvel deaths had occurred during a period of recession in comics. O'Neil spent

29535-405: Was particularly controversial. After Collins quit over creative differences, writer Jim Starlin and penciler Jim Aparo took over Batman . Starlin disliked Robin, as he found the concept of a crimefighter using a child as a sidekick ridiculous. He initially avoided featuring Jason, but began to use him at the request of O'Neil. Starlin "decided to play on that dislike" in his stories. By 1988,

29714-493: Was probably the ugliest thing I've seen in comics". NPR cultural critic Glen Weldon found the criticism ironic, as it was Miller who came up with the idea of the Joker killing Jason in The Dark Knight Returns . Critics have agreed with the decision to kill Jason in retrospect. Sims wrote that killing Jason was "unquestionably the right decision" and made for a far better story. He opined that allowing

29893-613: Was published in April 2021. For many years, the version of Batman #428 in which Jason lives remained unpublished, though the pages remained housed in DC's archives in Burbank, California . Batman Annual #25, published in March 2006, used one of the alternate pages Aparo had prepared; some panels were released by Les Daniels in his book Batman: The Complete History (1999) and by Polygon journalist Susana Polo in 2020. In March 2020,

30072-471: Was put in charge of the League of Assassins by Ra's and used the time to simultaneously plan how to stop the Council of Spiders and destroy the League of Assassins. After failing to foil all but one of the Council's assassination attempts, Tim realizes that the Council will be attacking the League's base, and realizes that he left Tam in danger at the base. Rushing back to base, he simultaneously manages to delay

30251-604: Was ranked 32nd in IGN 's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes. He has also been featured in various adaptations, including several television series, such as those set in the DCAU , Young Justice (2010–2022), and Titans (2018-2023) as well as the Batman: Arkham video game series. Tim Drake was created to succeed Jason Todd as Robin after DC killed off Todd in their story A Death in the Family . Named after Tim Burton , director of

30430-401: Was rebooted during DC's 2011 New 52 initiative, the events of "A Death in the Family" were left intact because DC editors deemed it too important. Jason was likely to be replaced as Robin regardless of his survival. O'Neil wanted to wait a year for a successor, but DC management demanded a new Robin immediately. O'Neil and Wolfman began developing the character of Tim Drake , who debuted in

30609-438: Was released on DVD by Warner Home Video (via DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment ) under the title of Batman: The Animated Series - Volume Four (from The New Batman Adventures) to coincide with the previous three-volume DVD sets of Batman: The Animated Series . The series was released a second time on November 4, 2008, as part of a DVD release entitled Batman: The Complete Animated Series , which contained

30788-595: Was revealed that he was bisexual in DC's relaunch initiative Infinite Frontier through Batman: Urban Legends #6 (August 2021), written by Meghan Fitzmartin. This reveal made Tim notable for being one of the most prominent LGBT characters in comic books . He subsequently received a story in DC Pride 2022 and his own Tim Drake: Pride Special before DC announced a new ongoing series written by Fitzmartin. The series, Tim Drake: Robin , launched on September 27, 2022 and ran for 10 issues, ending on June 27, 2023. He also

30967-471: Was still alive after cutting himself off from the rest of the Bat-family . He was approached by Ra's al Ghul 's assassins, who were also interested in finding out what happened to Batman. At the same time, Tamara "Tam" Fox , Lucius Fox's daughter, has been sent to find Tim Drake to bring him back to Gotham. Tim goes to Iraq and manages to discover definitive proof that Bruce was alive and lost in time, but

31146-524: Was still most famous for dying in "A Death in the Family". Bruce Timm and Paul Dini considered adapting "A Death in the Family" for Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995), but decided it was too violent. Instead, they omitted the Jason character and incorporated some of his characteristics in Tim when the series was rebranded as The New Batman Adventures (1997–1999). The story was eventually adapted in

31325-446: Was surprised by how close the vote was. Production director Bob Rozakis supervised Roy as she finished coloring, and then had Steve Bove take the "real" Batman #428 to finish it in the secrecy of his basement. "A Death in the Family" was published when Batman was surging in popularity. Following the success of The Dark Knight Returns and the " Year One " (1987) storyline, monthly sales for Batman were at their highest level since

31504-412: Was that in comics, no characters stayed dead except Bucky Barnes , Uncle Ben , and Jason. Jason's revival was first teased in the " Hush " (2002–2003) storyline by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee , which features Clayface impersonating an undead Jason to taunt Batman. After writer Judd Winick read "Hush", he wondered why DC never revived Jason. Winick and artist Doug Mahnke 's 2004–2006 storyline " Under

31683-441: Was the one who designed the costume. The 'R' symbol and the staff were all that was mine." In the "Rite of Passage" storyline for Detective Comics , Grant and Breyfogle intertwined 1) Drake matching wits with Anarky ; 2) a criminal and anthropological investigation into an apocryphal Haitian Vodou cult (revealed by Batman, asserting anthropological and investigative authority, as a front for extortion and crony capitalism ); 3)

31862-517: Was the third preorder spot, snagged by Batman #442, the conclusion to Tim Drake's "A Lonely Place of Dying" storyline. The "Year of the Bat" continued into the first half of 1990. Preorders for Batman and Detective Comics issues featuring a revived Joker and Penguin began to compete with, and even edged out, the last three parts of Grant Morrison 's and Klaus Janson 's Gothic storyline in Legends . Todd McFarlane 's Spider-Man arrived in

32041-533: Was working in the writers' minds, probably on a subconscious level. They made [Jason] a little bit more disagreeable than his predecessor had been. He did become unlikeable and that was not any doing of mine. Dennis O'Neil on Jason Todd's unpopularity Robin , the adolescent sidekick of the DC Comics superhero Batman , first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940. He was introduced by Bob Kane , Bill Finger , and Jerry Robinson to give Batman

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