{"id":33161,"date":"2025-06-23T16:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T16:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=33161"},"modified":"2025-06-23T16:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T16:22:07","slug":"tim-drake-robin-volume-1-mystery-at-the-marina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/06\/23\/tim-drake-robin-volume-1-mystery-at-the-marina\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Drake: Robin volume 1 – Mystery at the Marina"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Meghan FitzMartin & Riley Rossmo<\/strong>, with Ricardo L\u00f3pez Ortiz<\/strong>, Lee Loughridge<\/strong>, Bel<\/strong>\u00e9n Ortega<\/strong>, Luis Guerrero<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-77952-057-9 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Created by Marv Wolfman & Pat Broderick for Batman: Year Three<\/strong>, Tim Drake<\/em> debuted in Batman<\/strong> #436 (August 1989): a child prodigy who had deduced Batman\u2019s secret identity and – from a distance – diagnosed the Dark Knight\u2019s impending guilt-fuelled nervous breakdown following the murder of Jason Todd<\/em> – AKA Robin<\/strong> #2 and latterly The Red Hood<\/strong>. Tim would become – via a torturous series of circumstances – the third Robin.<\/p>\n

Still a child himself, Drake attempted to manipulate Dick Grayson<\/em> – the first hero dubbed \u201cBoy Wonder\u201d – into returning as the Dark Knight\u2019s partner before grudgingly accepting the position himself (see Batman: A Death in the Family<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying<\/a><\/strong>). After a long period of training and acclimation and many dangerous adventures, a deeply impressed if not quite recovered Batman instead offered Tim the job.<\/p>\n

This new kid took fans by storm, and Drake secured a series of increasingly impressive solo mini-series (see Robin volume 1: Reborn<\/a><\/strong>) and eventually his own long-running comic book. Being trained by Batman is an arduous and agonising undertaking. During the terrifying Batman: Wargames<\/strong> saga Drake in his turn became estranged from his moody mentor and forcibly retired from the fights \u2018n\u2019 tights game. Batman replaced Tim with Stephanie Brown<\/em>, daughter of the criminal Cluemaster<\/em>, who became the vigilante Spoiler<\/em> to compensate for her father\u2019s depredations. Eventually the role of Robin settled upon the tense and hostilely hunched shoulders of Bruce Wayne\u2019s assassin-trained son Damian<\/em>…<\/p>\n

In between a massively complex solo career work with the Batman family and leading the Teen Titans<\/strong> and Young Justice<\/strong>, restless Tim dated teammates Cassie <\/em>Wonder Girl<\/strong> Sandsmark<\/em> and Stephanie – who had now evolved into one of Gotham City\u2019s many Batgirl<\/strong>s. Peripatetic and aloof he vanished and frequently returned, briefly employing the codenames Red Robin<\/strong> and \u201cDrake<\/strong>\u201d but never seemed to find a comfort zone or niche all is own. However, in the wake of continuity resetting event Infinite Frontier<\/strong>, Tim\u2019s already incredible life was shaken again by a stunning realisation when Batman\u2019s only competition for the title \u201cWorld\u2019s Greatest Detective\u201d finally realised he was bi-sexual after rescuing old high school friend Bernard Dowd<\/em> from kidnappers…
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\nRe-presenting a tale from DC Pride: Tim Drake Special<\/strong> #1 (August 2022) and Tim Drake: Robin<\/strong> #1-6 (November 2022-April 2023) this breezy crime conundrum opens with \u2018Elephant in the Room\u2019<\/em> by Meghan FitzMartin, Bel\u00e9n Ortega & Luis Guerrero, previously seen in the aforementioned Pride special wherein Young Justice<\/strong> seek to stop a phantom pachyderm tearing up Gotham. They have no idea a mystery mastermind has targeted Tim, wrapped up as they all are in sorting out his so-fascinating love-life…<\/p>\n

The new nemesis – arrogantly deeming himself private detective Tim Drake\u2019s \u201cMoriarty\u201d – opens his campaign of terror after the other, other, other Robin moves onto a houseboat at Gotham City Marina, and spends weeks just settling into the area\u2019s utterly unique community and ambiance. Thoroughly grounded Bernard is a big help here, but being a grown up is tough, especially after City Hall starts working to close down the artistic outsider enclave. Former costumed comrade Darcy Thomas<\/em> – now calling herself Sparrow<\/em> – further complicates events, turning up just as leading anti-eviction activists M\u00e8re & Cam<\/em> are attacked. Mother and daughter are found butchered and dumped in a trash can…<\/p>\n

As Mystery of the Marina<\/em> begins, Tim and Bernard are still in the shaky early days of a first serious relationship… six months and counting… with our hero anxiously locked in the closet about sharing his super-sideline with his new love. Perhaps that\u2019s why he\u2019s happy to cede the lead investigator role to old contact Police Detective Williams<\/em> – a like-minded investigator who won\u2019t shirk, stint, jump to conclusions… or let the authorities declare this a \u201cboating accident\u201d. This leaves Robin to do what needs to be done in the shadows…<\/p>\n

Secret searches and a little deduction in the wake of further outrages lead to an inescapable conclusion: Tim Drake is the true target of an obsessive hidden enemy repeatedly testing him by restaging classic literary crimes, using spectral\/holographic\/robot beasts like the ghost elephant and a monster orangutan (have you read The Murders in the Rue Morgue<\/strong>? Goldfish<\/strong>? The Moonstone<\/strong>?) to disrupt his life…<\/p>\n

Stakes are raised when Robin is framed for a gem robbery and Williams finds himself clashing with his own colleagues, who are happy to call it another inexplicable \u201cmasks\u201d crime in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence, and things get out of control when the challenges cost librarian Mrs Jen<\/em> her life just for assisting Robin & Sparrow.<\/p>\n

Pressure mounts on all sides as reclusive city councilman Rathbone<\/em> seeks to evict all those degenerate marina dwellers, and Bernard silently accepts that Tim has a secret he can\u2019t share yet. It\u2019s all so fast and too confusing and Robin can\u2019t even work out which classic tale he\u2019s being forced to live out… until impatient, arrogant \u201cMoriarty\u201d overplays his hand…
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\nOr does he?<\/p>\n

As the clock counts down and atrocities escalate, the villain\u2019s plans and motivations are revealed as the opponents finally face off, but as the literary war becomes too much like real life and our hero forgets a major maxim of plotting… it\u2019s always the one you\u2019ve let get too close…<\/p>\n

Blending devious detective tropes with spectacular superhero schtick sweetened by a heaping of healthy romance, multimedia maven Meghan FitzMartin (Batman: Urban Legends Batman: Urban Legends<\/strong>, podcast Red Rhino<\/strong>, TV\u2019s DC Super Hero Girls<\/strong> animated and Supernatural<\/strong>) is an award-winning writer who crafts tales of genre stereotypes and archetypes via emotion-driven tales in fantastic worlds. Here they\u2019re realised by Riley Rossmo (Harley<\/strong> Quinn<\/strong>), Ricardo L\u00f3pez Ortiz & Lee Loughridge with gripping suspense and blistering pace as this Robin finds his feet and his place in Gotham…
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\nAlso offering a variant cover gallery by Travis Moore & Tamara Bonvillain, Jorge Jim\u00e9nez, Sweeney Boo, Dan Mora, Jamal Campbell, David Balde\u00f3n &Arif Prianto, Rossmo & Loughridge, Jorge Corona, David Talaski, Rian Gonzales, Todd Nauck, Simone Di Meo, Edwin Galmon, Nick Robles, Juni Ba, Karl Mostert & David Baron, this is a thoroughly modern totally traditional superhero whodunnit you must not miss.
\n\u00a9 2022, 2023, 2024 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meghan FitzMartin & Riley Rossmo, with Ricardo L\u00f3pez Ortiz, Lee Loughridge, Bel\u00e9n Ortega, Luis Guerrero & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-77952-057-9 (TPB\/Digital edition) Created by Marv Wolfman & Pat Broderick for Batman: Year Three, Tim Drake debuted in Batman #436 (August 1989): a child prodigy who had deduced Batman\u2019s secret identity and – from … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Tim Drake: Robin volume 1 – Mystery at the Marina”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[92,10,75,76,215,172,148,254,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batgirl","category-batman","category-crime-comics","category-dc-superhero","category-lgbtqia","category-robin","category-romance","category-young-adult","category-young-justice"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8CR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33161"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33170,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33161\/revisions\/33170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}