Teen Titans #1

The third person to take up the role as Robin, Tim Drake. But why title this post Teen Titans #1? Read on to see why.

Yes Tim Drake, the third Robin. This kid was able to deduce that Robin was Dick Grayson! Granted he was a big fan of the Flying Graysons (and strangely met Dick Grayson once when he saw their act), but he deduced Robin's identity just by witnessing Robin perform a gymnastic move that Dick Grayson had displayed during their act. Bet him and Batman would get along just fine. Following the death of Jason Todd, Batman went on a mini-rampage and Drake decided to intervene. Funny, Harper Row did something similar for Batman... but we'll get into that next week, promise. Batman eventually enlists him as the third Robin following the death of Tim’s parents (continuing the traditional orphan background for Robin).

Pre-New 52 

After Dick Grayson takes up the mantle of Batman, he assigns the role of Robin to Damian Wayne. His reasoning was that Robin is meant to be a student of Batman and Dick viewed Tim Drake as an equal. Tim Drake moved on from being Robin and became Red Robin. Deanpool asks what's the deal with the affiliation with red? Red Hood and Red Robin? Nevertheless, the Red Robin era was born (with a weird over-the-head mask/cape thing that he had going on, good thing he got a revamp in the New 52). His primary goal as a hero on his own was to find out what really happened to Bruce Wayne and the mystery behind his disappearance. This attracted the interest of Ra’s al Ghul and Tim Drake spends most of his career as Red Robin attempting to take down Ra's al Ghul and his operations. After Bruce Wayne’s return, Tim rejoins the Teen Titans and then eventually becomes the leader as Red Robin.

Not the best costume, but did distinguish himself from Nightwing and Red Hood.
Nonetheless, his New 52 outfit seems more fitting for him.

A touching moment.

New 52

Deanpool digs the new fit.

Well he still leads the Teen Titans (and is actually considered a founding member of the Teen Titans) but does have slight changes in the New 52 universe. And as seen from this blog post title, he doesn't necessarily have his own title (or doesn't have a "Red Robin and the Titans" title like Red Hood does). But as leader of this group of Teen Titans, and this being the only comic series he's really featured in, Tim Drake definitely holds most of the spotlight in this series (with the only competition being Superboy, the one who does actually have his own series). With tie-ins to the other Bat-titles plus his solo origin story in the zero issue, it's safe to say Red Robin is the star player of the Teen Titans and why Deanpool is reviewing Teen Titans #1 in the third installment of these "Robin" posts. From the #0 issue in the Teen Titans series, we see that Tim Drake has a slightly new origin as this one removes the connection Tim had to Dick Grayson. Tim is a talented athlete and computer genius who comes close to discovering Batman's identity but never actually figures it out. Young Tim Drake is even bold enough to find Batman and ask to take up the role as Robin, but is rejected. Tim forces Batman's hand when he hacks into the Penguin's bank account and donates millions of dollars. When Penguin's men come after Tim and his family, Batman is there to save the day. Yeah, Tim has a family in the New 52. Guess publishers felt it would be better for Tim's character. However, his parents do go into Witness Protection following all this but they feel Tim deserves better. You could probably guess that they ask Bruce Wayne to take care of him and Bruce rightfully adopts Tim. Now, here's where things get complicated with the whole what's in continuity and what's different: Following Bruce's adoption of Tim,  Tim Drake takes on the identity of "Red Robin" rather than "Robin," supposedly out of respect to Jason Todd. So basically instead of being Batman's sidekick as Robin, he went by Red Robin even when he was still an apprentice. And apparently there were other issues that refer to Tim being "Robin."

Teen Titans #1- No these are not the Teen Titans from the show on Cartoon Network (in fact, this Teen Titans team has no ties to the previous Titans). Don’t expect Cyborg, Starfire (read here), Raven, Beast Boy, or Robin. A) They’re no longer teens, B) That cast is now just referred to as the Titans, no Teen. Okay so there’s still a Robin, just not Dick Grayson. But we do have Red Robin aka Tim Drake! 

Don't expect this Teen Titans cast. But you can catch
Starfire in Red Hood and the Outlaws.

The issue starts with Tim Drake explaining how he left his gig as Batman’s Robin after a falling out. He now fights crime from behind the scenes using his computer skills and blogging on the internet (sound familiar?) in an Oracle-like manner (Oracle = Barbara Gordon after her “forced” retirement as Batgirl). The computer savvy teen is on constant watch of all teenager superhero activity happening around the globe as we see him observing the likes of Kid Flash, Solstice, and Miss Martian. Following an attack by an unknown task force (N.O.W.H.E.R.E.), he realizes that he needs to come back from his semi-retirement and return to his crime-fighting suit as Red Robin. Oh, and assemble a team of teenage superheroes to take on this shadowy organization, duh. His first recruit was Cassie Sandsmark, aka Wonder Girl, who is essentially portrayed as a hostile thief. The cover shows the full roster for this relaunch of Teen Titans: Superboy, Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Solstice and newcomers Bunker and Skitter. However, in this issue we only see Red Robin recruit Wonder Girl with appearances of Superboy and Kid Flash.

Kid Flash

Tim Drake keeping tabs on heroes.

Reminiscing on old times.

N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

Red Robin spreads his wings.

Wonder Girl unleashed.

Superboy appearance.

The first two members of this new Teen Titans.

The issue was fast-paced but perhaps did a little too much in this issue (much like this review). Deanpool also says it suffers from the same problems as most "first issues for a team-based series": recruit, character banter between members (which are more interesting when if it's the first meeting like in this case), and then off to the first mission. It set up the group’s purpose, or at least Tim Drake’s purpose, to take down bad guy organization N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and by the end we see how Superboy plays into the story. Hopefully, the story stabilizes as the team starts to come together and we can root for Tim Drake as he leads this teenage team of heroes into whatever adventures they run into. Also, Deanpool votes the idea of shipping Red Robin and Wonder Girl. Deanpool gives it 7/10 Red Robin feathers. Yeah, Deanpool tried coming up with a clever unit for the rating. Humor him.

C'mon Tim, don't do that to Alfred.
Grayson and Todd also pictured.