Did Tim Drake Die or Not in Detective Comics # 940 (Spoiler)

Detective Comics # 940 was a big ending for the first storyarc for Batman and his allies in this new DC Rebirth universe but it made waves with a rather controversial decision for a key Batman character, Tim Drake aka Red Robin.

We have to credit the creative team for such a masterfully crafted story here, James Tynion IV (who got his DC exclusive contract after the success of this issue) and Eddie Barrows. So in this issue we get to see all the major payoffs for the past issues including the fate of Batwoman’s dad, the fall of his plans and the untimely death of Tim Drake.

In this issue, we find out that Red Robin managed to survive the initial drone strike on the old Wayne Tower. Badly hurt and pretty much at death’s door Tim makes contact with the rest of the Bat-Family.

At this point there were ninjas chopping onions around me. This hit like a bag of bricks dropped from the fifth floor of a really tall building. It hurt.

Reading the dialogue between Spoiler (Stephanie Brown) and Tim Drake felt like that bag of bricks was dropped from the seventh floor. These two, it seems, will never get a happy ending apparently. Remember Batman: War Crimes where they “killed” spoilers in the Pre-New 52 era?

Props too for making Tim’s death carrying weight. It’s not as contrived or silly as how Marvel does their death stories these days.

A few issues in for the renumbered Detective Comics and I’m still shocked that Clayface is part of Team Batman now, let alone that he cares that Red Robin bit the bullet.

It’s been awhile since Batman “lost” a Robin and I’m surprised he’s handling this really well. Could the Dionysium bath he got at the end of Endgame change his POV and how he handles things? Where is the blood rage-y Batman we saw in the New 52 era Batman and Robin? I don’t want that guy so maybe I should like this version?

With no corpse to speak of, what exactly happened to Tim Drake?

For one thing he’s alive. That’s the good news. He’s alive and was teleported out of the missile strike in the nick of time.

Here’s the bad news though.

DC Rebirth is a big game? Who is the hooded figure? Bleedingcool believes its actually Ozymandias because we’re dealing with the Watchmen here but I don’t know. I want to believe that but there’s a ton of other villains who could work hand in hand with the “evil” Watchmen.

There are two more plotlines we need to examine but for now, let’s all sleep tight knowing Tim Drake is alive by the end of Detective Comics # 940.

Don’t forget to pick up Detective Comics # 940 from your favorite LCS especially today, since its Batman Day today.