On Tuesday, DC Comics published "Batman: Urban Legends #6," in which comic book fans got the surprise of their lives: Batman's sidekick Tim Drake A.K.A. Robin in his superhero form is now a bisexual character.
In describing the new comic on its website, DC wrote that the newest edition will feature Robin "in the den of the Chaos Monsters with the other kidnapped teenagers of Gotham City."
"In order to free himself and the other teens, Tim will have to embrace help from his friend Bernard and hear something about himself he never knew," the description reads. "A brand new chapter of Tim Drake's life starts here."
In "Batman: Urban Legends #6" Robin, or Drake in his regular life, found himself in a personal struggle as he faced something that had been "taunting" and "easing" him, the Christian Post reported. He concluded that he was experiencing a "lightbulb moment" in which "you know you're supposed to be on the same page with your brain but not everything made sense."
In the comic strip obtained by TMZ, Drake mused, "People keep asking me what I want" and that "I couldn't grasp it. Whatever it was, it always felt just out of reach."
Drake was asked on a date by his friend Bernard, to which Drake accepted, establishing himself as the latest DC character to be associated as part of the LGBT community. Following his lightbulb moment, Drake went to visit Bernard, telling him "I've been doing a lot of thinking about that night and I - I don't know what it meant to me. Not yet."
Drake added that he would "like to figure it out," to which Bernard responded, "I was hoping you would." When Bernard asked if Drake would like to go on a date, Drake agreed. The storyline is set to continue in "Batman: Urban Legends #10," which will be released in December.
Earlier in the issue, when Drake and Bernard were scheduled to meet at a restaurant, the superhero was already contemplating his attraction to Bernard, questioning why he felt so "nervous" meeting his friend.
This is not the first time DC Comics featured LGBTQ characters in their wide range of comic books. Screen Rant reported in June that DC Comics revealed the heroes of "Justice League Queer. DC Pride #1," which featured lesbians Crush and Batwoman, Traci 13, and Tremor, DC's only official asexual hero, as well as Shining Knight, a transgender who came out in the "New 52" comic book. Bunker from "Teen Titanas Academy" is a gay hero, while The Wink, who appeared in "Suicide Squad (2021) #1," is partnered with the non-binary Aerie.
According to CBN News, the coming out of Batman's sidekick Robin in the DC Comics was met with mixed reviews despite the issue's writer Meghan Fitzmartin saying that her goal "has been and will always be to show just how much God loves you." A Twitter user, however, pointed out that that wasn't Fitzmartin's actual goal:
My goal has always been to pander to the latest thing that's popular" don't sugar coat it
"” Bob Ross Toaster (@DonetelloEsi) August 11, 2021
Another Twitter user also responded to Fitzmartin, writing, "It's so nice, isn't it? To force your political agenda into a character you did not create neither contributed for anything good or even relevant just to p**s fans off."
