'At first, he was the guy who did reconnaissance from across the street. 'We waited several months before we actually had Tim in danger,' O'Neil said. To explain a child's presence in brutal battles, Tim Drake's character had to be developed in a way that made him an asset to Batman in the field, which the writers accomplished by making him a great detective and supportive presence for Batman.īatman #457 excerpt (Image credit: Norm Breyfogle (DC)) We used almost none of that design, but we did think about those things at the time.' I even hired somebody to design a costume that would afford maximum protection, thinking it might be acceptable to put a child in harm's way if he was well protected. 'But we had to think about that, because of the realism we were using at the time in the industry,' said O'Neil. Because stories were becoming more realistic, the editor felt like he had to come up with a reason why Batman would put another child in danger, something 'they didn't think about in the early days, when they made the first Robin character,' O'Neil also had to face a new challenge, particularly after the death of teenager Jason Todd. 'As a reader and rookie writer at the time, I remember thinking that Denny O'Neil's writing group was doing an excellent job of defining Tim's strong moral underpinning, and most importantly I think, the fact that he never became Robin for selfish reasons, he did it because he knew Batman needed it, and he knew how important Batman was.' Breaking the mold of Robin 'By developing the character slowly, making it obvious he would eventually become Robin, but not putting him into costume too quickly, fans got a chance to see the character's foundation,' Nicieza says. Yet O'Neil made sure the character was introduced slowly, something Fabian Nicieza, who wrote Tim's character in the Red Robin series, noticed as a reader.

'But word came down from on high - I mean, higher than Jeanette - no, we need a new Robin right away.' 'After we bumped off Jason, I thought eventually, we'd need a new Robin, but I thought we'd give it a year,' he told Newsarama. The late Denny O'Neil, who was DC's Batman editor at the time, initially wanted to wait a while before introducing a new Robin.

I had nothing to do with Jason so I could come in and create a Robin the readers of the time would like as a person.' 'He was a fine character, but during that time period in comics, the idea of a snotty, possibly criminal Robin could not be accepted.

'Nothing was wrong with Jason except that the fans didn't take to him,' Wolfman says. Marv Wolfman, the writer who created Tim Drake as Robin in the pages of the main Batman title, said he thinks it was important that DC successfully restore the Robin legacy after Jason Todd's death.

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