In the latest issue of DC’s Task Force Z, Red Hood delivers a savage burn on Tim Drake’s Robin that is bound to be pretty controversial among fans.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Task Force Z #8
In the latest issue of DC Comics’ Task Force Z, Red Hood slammed Tim Drake’s Robin with a pretty controversial putdown. While Batman had Red Hood go undercover and join a team of undead supervillains, the Dark Knight wanted to pull Jason Todd out when things inevitably began to spiral out of control. However, Red Hood’s refusal to leave has Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl standing in his way, resulting in a heated exchange between the former Robin and his fellow Bat-Family members.
Previously in DC’s Task Force Z, Red Hood was recruited by Two-Face to lead a new government-sponsored team of partially resurrected supervillains. Using pills derived from the DC Universe’s supernatural Lazarus Pits, Task Force Z partially brought back recently deceased villains such as Bane, Man-Bat, and Mister Freeze, promising full resurrections for their compliance on missions. In secret, Red Hood chose to lead the team as a favor to Batman, collecting intel and keeping tabs on the organization. That being said, Jason refused to leave the team after a bigger conspiracy was uncovered involving Mister Bloom and the corrupt corporation known as Powers International.
Following Red Hood’s attempt to steal more Lazarus resin from the Batcave after Task Force Z’s supply was stolen, Batman decided to pull Jason out by force in the new Task Force Z #8 from Matthew Rosenberg, Jesus Merino, Jack Herbert, and Vicente Cifuentes. This leads to Red Hood being at odds with Nightwing, Tim Drake’s Robin, and Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl. Believing that he can still do some good by sticking with the team of bad guys, Jason freely admits that he’s the edgy Robin while Nightwing is the fun one. However, he then says that Tim is the “boring” Robin, a description that is bound to be controversial amongst readers.
What sets Tim Drake apart from his fellow Robins is that he essentially applied to be Batman’s sidekick, having deduced on his own that Batman and Bruce Wayne were one and the same while recognizing the value the Boy Wonder brings to the Dark Knight’s crusade. However, DC has been largely unable to land anywhere concrete with Tim Drake as they have with the other Robins. Unlike Dick Grayson and Jason Todd who moved on and became Nightwing and Red Hood, similar evolution for Tim has never been all that permanent. While he was once Red Robin and then simply went by Drake, the new codenames and costumes didn’t stick. At the moment, Tim just goes by Robin with Damian Wayne having been estranged from Batman for the last few years. That being said, Tim’s genius intellect and skills of deduction make him the top choice to inherit the World’s Greatest Detective title from Batman one day.
Clearly, Tim Drake hasn’t had the most dynamic or permanent evolution beyond Robin when compared to his siblings (which is probably why Jason sees him as the boring one). While Red Hood’s comment points out that Tim hasn’t the same kind of growth with a new codename and costume, to say that he’s the boring Robin isn’t accurate. If anything, he’s the best Robin with the longest tenure, and sees the value of the role that provides a source of light and support to Batman who constantly operates in the darkness.
Task Force Z #8 is available now from DC Comics.
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