The Essential Tim Drake

[Volkditty]

With the news that Red Robin is likely to get a solo ongoing title, I'd really like to get to know Tim Drake. Outside of Identity Crisis, I don't think I've read anything that he plays a big part in, but the concept of the character interests me. What would you suggest to get me up to speed on the character? I'm not looking for every appearance, but the top storylines, the major moments that make him who he is. Any help is appreciated.

[Jeff Brady]

1. His first appearance was a cameo in Batman #436, part of the Year Three storyline.

2. A Lonely Place of Dying (Batman #440-442, New Titans #60-61. Reprinted with Death in the Family in a DC Comics Library hardcover)

3. New Titans #65 - Grayson trains Tim in the art of detective work. (not collected anywhere to my knowledge)

4. Rites of Passage - Detective Comics 618-621 (collected in Robin: Tragedy & Triumph)

5. Identity Crisis - Batman 455-457 (collected in Robin: A Hero Reborn)

6. Robin, first miniseries (collected in Robin: A Hero Reborn)

7. Batman 465-470

8. Detective Comics 635-637

9. Robin II: The Joker's Wild, second miniseries (collected in Robin: Tragedy & Triumph)

10. Batman 480

11. Detective 644-649 (Spoiler debuts in 647. Get 650, too; it's pretty fun.)

12. Robin III: Cry of the Huntress, third miniseries

13. Superman #70, Superman: The Man of Steel #14 - Tim & Superman vs Vampires.

14. Knightfall

15. Robin ongoing series #1-128, and its annual specials (the title obviously continues, I stopped reading because of the miserable War Games arcs. Issues 1-6 collected in Flying Solo.)

16. Showcase '93 #5, 11-12 (#5 crosses over with the ongoing Robin series, IIRC.)

17. Showcase '94 #5-6

18. Superboy & Robin: World's Finest III

19. Robin Plus #1: Impulse

20. Robin Plus #2: Fang

21. Robin & Argent Double Shot

22. Robin 80 Page Giant(s)

23. [Girl-Frenzy] Young Justice: The Secret

24. JLA: World Without Grownups (There is a recent reprint of this 2-issue miniseries in DC Comics Presents: Young Justice #1.)

25. Young Justice (the original series by Peter David & Todd Nauck, not the one based on the cartoon.)

26. Sins of Youth: a Young Justice event with a bunch of special issues.

27. Other YJ specials: 80-Page Giant, Our World at War, No Man's Land, Secret Files. Some of these are reprinted in DC Comics Presents: Young Justice #2 & 3.

28. Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day. I don't recommend this at all, because of its misery, shock value, and pointless tragedy rolled into one. But it leads into the next Teen Titans series.

29. Teen Titans #1-8. This is the best the series gets, but that's damning with faint praise.

30. Red Robin (of course)

31. Not related to Tim Drake in any way, but really great on its own: Robin 3000, a 2-issue miniseries by the late Byron Preiss and P. Craig Russell.

[Volkditty]

Awesome, that looks pretty comprehensive. Thanks man!

[master_of_puppets]

Good list.

[steelio2006]

Its a very solid list. Really awesome to see an essential list created for him. I'd highly recommend Lonely Place of Dying, Hero Reborn, and Teen Titans (Geoff Johns) as well as Identity Crisis. The Robin and Red Robin series were solid as well.

[jgiannantoni05]

Jeff Brady's list answers the question completely.

A Lonely Place of Dying (Reprinted with Death in the Family in a DC Comics Library hardcover)
Robin: Tragedy & Triumph
Robin: A Hero Reborn
Batman 465-469 (465 is Tim's first official night out as Robin, 467-469 is an uncollected story that nicely ties up a story started in A Hero Reborn)

....these above are the especial key introductions to Tim Drake


(it's ridiculous that 465, being so important, is not collected in a trade yet, but Jason Todd suffers as well as far as collecting his key first stories into trades)

[nepenthes]

A Hero Reborn is a decent trade. He has some great moments in Knightfall and the first part of Morrisons run (up to RIP)

See also
Greatest Tim Drake Stories Ever Told
Tim Drake, Fanboy

[Phelpzy]

Of the Tim Drake series, is OYL a good place to start reading?

[Whip Whirlwind]

Lol honestly it's a better place to stop reading.

Best place to start with Tim Drake's series is issue 1.

[sunofdarkchild]

Nonononononononononono. No place after issue 120 is a good place to start.

[Phelpzy]

Nonononononononononono. No place after issue 120 is a good place to start.

That bad? I'm a Drake fan from Teen Titans stuff

[sunofdarkchild]

One Year Later begins with that terrible story of Cass turning evil that seems to be universally reviled. After issue 120 Bill Willingham took over and the book turned from what had made it one of the best comics DC had in the 90s into a Tim Drake is a depressed dark character like Batman comic. You need to start from the Dixon days to see what made Tim special and not just a mini-Bruce.

See how in the 'Pick just one Robin' thread people were asking if they could split the pre and post-OYL Tim so they could only have the older model.

[Bat_Fan2232]

With the news that Red Robin is likely to get a solo ongoing title, I'd really like to get to know Tim Drake. Outside of Identity Crisis, I don't think I've read anything that he plays a big part in, but the concept of the character interests me. What would you suggest to get me up to speed on the character? I'm not looking for every appearance, but the top storylines, the major moments that make him who he is. Any help is appreciated.

How did i miss this? I love Tim Drake.. Thought hed be done after DOTF.