In Young Justice #10, written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Nick Derington and John Timms, Tim Drake shed his Robin moniker in favor of a new superhero persona: Drake. While it's been a long time coming, the result hasn't exactly enamored fans of the former Boy Wonder.

Inspired by "one of the most dangerous birds" and his own surname, Drake is meant to give the character an opportunity to step out of Batman's shadow and be his own superhero -- much like Dick Grayson with Nightwing and Jason Todd with Red Hood. Unfortunately, this new identity lacks the originality or pizazz necessary to make Drake stand out like his predecessors. The name feels a little lazy and just another way that DC has done Tim Drake dirty in the past few years.

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After Damian Wayne assumed the Robin mantle in 2006, it was evident Drake required a new identity. The shift to Red Robin bought DC some time to develop a new angle for the sidekick, but the name stuck around, even being worked into the New 52 version of the character. For a short time, he also became Batman Beyond in the "Futures End" arc.

While Grayson and Todd went on to have their own successful storylines since shedding the red and green tights, Drake has felt out of place since the introduction of Damian. The presumed turning point, though, was DC Rebirth's initial Detective Comics run, where Drake joined Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Clayface, Batwoman, Batwing, Azrael and Batman as a new team. More significantly, Batman handpicked Drake to lead this project, known as the Gotham Knights.

After Drake's supposed death and revival in the Mr. Oz saga, it appeared as if DC had major plans for the character, even hinting that he'd be the (evil) Batman of the future. Instead, Drake left the Gotham Knights with Brown and then joined up with Young Justice -- which feels like a bit of a downgrade in the grand scheme of things. Now, like Prince or Cher, he's simply going by the name Drake.

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Compared to a hawk or falcon, a drake isn't exactly the epitome of danger. It's kind of like the name Norman -- nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't exactly strike fear into the heart of the person who hears it.

More importantly, it's his actual surname. The whole purpose of a superhero identity is to protect your loved ones and to not give any leverage to your rogues. Anyone with a smartphone could look up Drake on Google and identify the real Tim Drake by height, hair color and build -- as thus the whole Bat-Family -- in under 20 minutes. If Drake isn't scared of using his real name, why does he bother with the domino mask then?

Drake has been around for over three decades and he hasn't been the main Robin for 14 years now. As a beloved and fan-favorite character, he deserves a much better superhero identity than what he has right now. It's time to remove the shackles of the past and give him a better codename -- and outfit that doesn't feel like it was lifted out of the WWE in the mid-'90s.

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