Tim Drake hasn't been able to embrace a solo identity the way Dick did with Nightwing. Why? He was surely about to in the pre-Flashpoint Red Robin series, but the great majority of that book built upon the idea that Tim was Red Robin because he had to be in order to find Bruce, and it wasn't until the very last arc where we actually saw Tim getting comfortable with his new role. And, of course, the cancellation and rebooting didn't help matters; in the New 52, it seems Tim has remained a stagnant character, unable to really continue in his evolution to a solo hero.

When I originally heard that Tim would be in the Titans book, I knew that this would happen. However, I soon became hopeful that Tim's characterization would develop and he'd be allowed to mature within the Titans book, because, frankly, there's no reason why that shouldn't be possible. After reading the first few issues (full disclosure: I stopped reading the book at issue 6), it became clear that Tim's character was not going to receive any of the exploration that I think he deserves. The main reason for this is that, like many DC characters, he's been stripped of many of the things that made him unique and interesting.

The main thing lost in DCnU Titans is the camaraderie--the feeling that these characters (sidekicks most of them) have grown up together and are constantly trying to be these larger-than-life people while struggling with woes of being young. Making it so that the Titans were brought together for the first time in issue 1 strips them of their charm as a team. Conner and Tim's relationship is just a much-worse version of the same problem. These two characters had been through so much together and had such a strong friendship that it became part of who they were and was reflected well in solo titles (see Red Robin (pre-FP) and Adventure Comics).

Tim has also suffered from the ambiguity surrounding his relationship with Batman in the New 52. The connections that have been provided has been very superficial and, for the most part, felt cheap and poorly done. There's been very little attempt to lay out a specific timeline for the Bat-universe and to make it known where which characters fit in and how they got where they are today, but Tim has fared the worst out of the group because of this. He's the one that barely feels like he is, or ever was, a part of the Bat-family and the lack of a strong connection to Bruce renders his character generic and boring.

Like many characters in The New 52, Tim's history and characterization has been totally boiled down to the point of making the character seem unfamiliar and unremarkable. This is the result of a total lack of backstory, which in itself is a result of a destruction of the shared history of the DCU. To give credit where credit is due, I do feel like his personality traits have been preserved--certainly better than some other DC characters.

However, Tim is different from many others in that he was just coming into his own when the DCU was rebooted. We were in this period of immense growth and in the midst of watching Tim come into his own in the same way that we watched Dick become Nightwing, and the reboot seems to have totally stunted that growth and damaged the character. Before the reboot, Tim had a reason to strike out on his own. He had a motivation to out-grow the Robin identity that went well beyond Dick telling him he was taking on Damian. His search for Bruce molded him into a man and he came face-to-face with many of his 'demons' during the journey. For three years (2009-2011), readers watched as Tim was launched into a situation which he didn't know how to handle, and we watched him adapt, make the hard choices, and become a true hero in his own right, and--more importantly--he proved himself to be the heir to the throne of greatest detective. His role as Batman's apprentice had come full-circle, and instead of capitalizing on that, DC washed it all away, instead opting to make Tim into a generic 'smart kid' and leader of a team of youngsters. Its a total devolution of the character and real shame.

Will we ever see Tim grow into his role in The New 52 the way we did in the old DCU? Probably not, or at least not until (1) the universe is rebooted, or (2) a lot of time passes. My hope is that we'll see more of Tim in the Bat-books and get some decent character development there (Kyle Higgins will be writing him in Nightwing soon, so hopefully he'll do him justice), and maybe we'll get a solo title with a good writer to explore Tim's character, even if it has to be within the confines of the The New 52 universe.