Canon Recs & Resources

[dcu_memes]

With the DCU Universe being spread out over so many titles and, let’s face it, so many decades, trying to keep track of all that canon can be exhaustingThis post is designed to make things a little easier, but it needs your help

Comments

Tim and Kon's first meeting

[dcu_memes]

Tim and Kon officially met for the first time during Superboy/Robin WF3: World's Finest Three, a two issue special.

Metallo shows up in Gotham while Batman is away. Tim, quite rightly, realises that somebody who can take on Superman is a bit beyond Robin's capabilities. When he can't reach Clark, he figures Superboy will be the next best thing. Even if he does have to resort to blackmailing Rex Leech, Kon's agent, just to get Superboy to show.

When Kon finally gets his ass to Gotham, Tim quite literally falls into his arms.

Tim's Early Career (Pre-Robin)

[dcu_memes]

Tim Drake's first ongoing solo series had the distinction of being the second-longest running comic book series to feature a teenage character. But before anybody looking to read up on Tim's history dives into that title, I have a few recommendations they should check out first. This isn't a comprehensive list of all his appearances prior to landing his ongoing series, but it does give new fans or older fans wanting to relive Tim's adventures a solid starting ground. Feel free to skip each synopsis if you don't want to be spoiled.

A Lonely Place Of Dying
Batman 440 ♥ New Titans 60 ♥ Batman 441 ♥ New Titans 61 ♥ Batman 442Tim's origin story. Which is basically that Tim is a highly adept stalker. He's been following Batman unnoticed for several years and has realised that Bruce has been acting increasingly erratic since Jason's death. Sensing that Bruce is teetering on the edge, he contacts Dick, admitting he knows all about his secret identity and begging him to return to Bruce's side. Bruce and Dick form an uneasy truce, but are

Tim's Early Career (As Robin)

[dcu_memes]

Robin I
Robin 1 ♥ Robin 2 ♥ Robin 3 ♥ Robin 4 ♥ Robin 5

Bruce tells Tim that to become his partner, Tim must travel the world and gain experience from the great martial arts masters. First stop is Paris, where Tim is enrolled in a school specialising in a specific art of fighting. Tim meets Lynx of the Ghost Dragons, who'll become part of his rogues gallery for quite some time. More worryingly, Tim meets Lady Shiva, who offers to train him to help her take down King Snake, a crime lord.

Robin II
Robin 1 ♥ Robin 2 ♥ Robin 3 ♥ Robin 4

Tim goes up against the Joker! Although the Joker is initially shocked to be fighting somebody he killed, he eventually realises Tim is a different Robin than Jason and later claims dibs on being the one to murder Tim. Unfortunately, Bruce is out of town, so Tim concocts a plan, with Alfred's help, to fool the Joker into believing Batman is still in Gotham so Joker won't go on a rampage. It doesn't exactly work out the way he planned.

Robin III
Robin 1 ♥ Robin 2 ♥ Robin 3 ♥ Robin 4 ♥ Robin 5 ♥ Robin 6

Tim And Kon As Teammates (Young Justice)

[dcu_memes]

Tim and Kon have a long history of working together - almost as long as Kon's been alive! After their first meeting, they tended to bicker through their team-ups, although they obviously still counted each other as friends, and over time that friendship bloomed into one of the sweetest bromances in the DCU. This is a rough timeline of their career as team-mates.

Young Justice: Secret

Tim and Kon find themselves teaming up with Bart when a mysterious being known as The Secret is on the loose. Except it soon turns into a rescue mission when they realise she's just a girl in trouble. Secret joins them when they form Young Justice shortly after. As was often the case with their earlier appearances together, Tim and Kon spend a lot of time arguing over should be giving orders and who should be following them, as well as trying to deal with the challenge of working with Bart (Kon even admits they're likely to end up being Bart's parents, to which Tim makes it clear that Kon's the mother).

JLA: World Without Grown-UpsA young boy suddenly

Tim And Kon As Teammates (Teen Titans)

[dcu_memes]

Teen Titans

With Vic, Gar and Kory acting as mentors, Tim, Kon, Bart and Cassie come back together as the newest incarnation of the Teen Titans. This title is infamous for being Grim Dark, especially compared to the more light-hearted tone of Young Justice, and there are significant changes to the characters within the first story arc. Bart is determined to leave his Impulse image behind, Cassie begins changing from level-headed leader to somebody powered by anger and emotion (literally, in the case of her new lasso) and Tim and Kon are officially established as the BFFs we all knew they were when Kon automatically turns to Tim when confronted with bad news. There are a lot of changes for Kon - he's given the Conner Kent identity by Clark and moves to Smallville to live as Clark's cousin and he learns that his other genetic donor is Lex Luthor. This storyline comes to a head in the crossover Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders, where Luthor takes control of Kon and makes him attack the Teen Titans.

Infinite CrisisStill avoiding the

Tim And Kon As Teammates (Buyer's Guide 1)

[dcu_memes]

Unfortunately, a lot of Tim and Kon's early careers, both individually and as a team, aren't collected as trades, and the little that is collected is out of print. The following collect several key storylines from the Young Justice era (League Of Their Own contains the first few issues, I believe) but I'm only including these links for reference - I would not recommend paying some of these prices. Try eBay or second-hand bookstores. I've found Sins Of Youth at a library, so never say never! (Both JLA: World Without Grown-Ups and Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day are collected in other, more recent titles.)

♥ JLA: World Without Grown-Ups
♥ Young Justice: A League Of Their Own
♥ Young Justice: Sins Of Youth
♥ Titans/Young Justice: Graduation DayThere is some good news, however. The new Young Justice tv show may not be connected to the comics bearing the same name, but it has inspired DC to release several Young Justice specials collecting key stories. These all came out in the past 12 months, so finding back-issues should be much

Tim And Kon As Teammates (Buyer's Guide 2)

[dcu_memes]

Besides these team books, there are few more titles (both individual issues and collected trades) that feature Tim and Kon working together.

♥ World's Finest 3
As featured in the first comment on this post. I've yet to find these 2 issues in any comic book shop I've visited, but that doesn't mean they're not still out there.
♥ Superboy 85
Although this issue revolves around Kon's first encounter with Cass Cain, it starts with some laugh-out-loud banter between Kon and Tim. Kon is quite adamant in his belief that the entire Batfamily should talk like they just stepped out of Adam West's Batman tv show.
♥ Robin: Tales Of Fire And Madness
The story will probably make more sense if you read the entire trade, but the Tim/Kon interaction is all in issue 141, when Tim asks Kon to pose as Robin to help maintain his secret identity. More banter, more of Kon abusing the word "chum".
♥ Final Crisis: Legion Of 3 Worlds I wouldn't call this essential, since Kon is only featured towards the end, but it does show his resurrection for those

Kate Kane (Buyer's Guide)

[dcu_memes]

Power Girl & Terra (Buyer's Guide)

[dcu_memes]