If we examine Robin first and foremost as a sidekick - a character defined in terms of his relationship to and with Batman - then Tim Drake is really the best Robin. If we look at Robin not so much as a character unto himself as an ancillary in the Batman universe, surely Tim is the best of the lot, because he's the one who most purely fulfills the role of Batman's confidant, safety valve and helper. But like Carrie Kelly and (later) John Blake, Tim Drake becomes Robin because Batman is awesome and needs someone to help him out. That devotion has cost the character dearly, but on a certain level it almost makes him the definitive wearer of the tights and domino mask. We meet Tim as he's on the road to becoming Robin, and from the moment he comes into the picture, there's no question he'll don that outfit; helping out Batman is literally his life's work. If Dick Grayson was who comic book's target audience in the '40s (kids) wanted to be - brash, grinning, always leaping into the action - Tim Drake is arguably who comic book's target audience in the '90s (teenagers) wanted to be. Tim had girl problems (a normal girlfriend, Ariana, and a superhero girlfriend, The Spoiler); he never got enough sleep (working with Batman leads to a lot of overnights); his relationship with his dad wasn't as strong as he might've wished; he got picked on at school. But he was also smart, something of a computer whiz (or at least '90s comic's version of a computer whiz), could handle himself in a fight, and was an all around stand-up guy. Tim wasn't a "goody two shoes", but he wasn't motivated by unbridled rage, either. He was just a decent kid who wanted to do the right thing. No wonder the fans warmed to him in ways they never had to Jason Todd.
C.B. Jacobson pops up at What Culture every once in a while, and almost without fail manages to embarrass the site with his clumsy writing. When he's not here, he's making movies, or writing about them at http://buddypuddle.blogspot.com.
