But is he the same Tim Drake I know and love? It seems that DC is going to make Tim the star of the new Teen Titans revamp, but the solicitation that is coming with Teen Titans #1 seems to indicate a large retconning/rebooting of the Teen Titans heroes. I’ve been scouring the Interwebs today to get some better understanding, but so far it’s mixed. Will Tim Drake still have his history as Robin?

Teen Titans with Red Robin

For everybody who doesn’t know, my favorite DC character of all time is Robin. I don’t particularly care who is behind the mask, I love me some Robin. When we get specific, Tim Drake is my favorite of the Robins. I remain pretty bummed that Damian Wayne will be returning as the official Robin in the reboot, but my hopes were raised a bit today with the announcementthat Tim Drake would still be Red Robin.

The part that’s got me bummed, however, is the blurb that comes with the announcement about Teen Titans #1:

“Tim Drake is forced to step out from behind his keyboard when an international organization seeks to capture or kill super-powered teenagers. As Red Robin, he must team up with the mysterious and belligerent powerhouse thief known as Wonder Girl and a hyperactive speedster calling himself Kid Flash.”

‘Forced to step out from behind his keyboard’? What’s that imply? It doesn’t mention anything about stepping out from behind the shadow of Batman. Is Tim going to be retconned into a new, independent hacker guy who decides to create a new identity all on his own? Keeping only his name, the costume name and, presumably, his general personality and whatnot?

This would make me a sad panda.

Likewise there are the statements about Wonder Girl and Kid Flash. DC has yet to reveal the status of Wonder Woman or Flash yet, so I’m left to believe based on this blurb that Wonder Girl and Kid Flash will not be part of their lives. It seems like WG and KF are brand new characters making their debut in Teen Titans. So therefore did Young Justice never happen?

Here’s what Jim Lee told io9about the Titans reboot:

I think of all the books coming out this September, Teen Titans has probably the most variety of what existed before.

So I’m definitely right about the changes to Wonder Girl and Kid Flash. In that same interview, however, here’s what Dan Didio said about Tim Drake as Red Robin:

I think you’re looking at every one of the former Robins to have a real showcase book, and this will be the primary showcase for Tim Drake.

But does he mean ‘former Robin’ in-continuity? Or does he just mean that as a way that people know Tim Drake? And that even though he’s going to be completely rebooted, he’s still popular to the fans as a former Robin?

I guess time will tell…