Fictional Obituary: Tim Drake / Robin (Absolute Batman comic spoilers)

Fictional Obituary: Tim Drake / Robin (Absolute Batman comic spoilers) Tim Drake, one of Gotham City’s Robins, has died after an attack by Clayface, who had assumed Batman’s appearance. His killing was arranged to implicate Batman and turn the surviving Robins against him. Tim belonged to a group whose identity and loyalties had been shaped under Jack Grimm’s influence. The Robin name gave him a place among others carrying the same responsibility, and it connected his life to people who would feel his absence personally. Jason Todd’s response to his death made the closeness of that loss painfully clear. The circumstances surrounding Tim’s murder have already threatened to eclipse the person who died. His appearance, his allegiance and finally his death were used in a struggle directed by people who regarded the young men around them as instruments. Clayface’s deception ensured that even the grief left behind could be turned toward another intended target. Tim’s life ended before he had the chance to step outside those arrangements and decide what the Robin name would mean on his own terms. The choices he might have made, and the relationships he might have formed beyond that conflict, are now among the things his companions have lost. He is mourned by the Robins who knew him, including Jason, whose anger reflects a loss that cannot be settled by another death. Their shared name will continue, but one of the people who gave it meaning to them is gone. In remembering Tim Drake, there is a responsibility to distinguish the truth of his killing from the story his killers wanted Gotham to believe. He deserved a future beyond their plans for him.