For all the controversy around this book, you'd think it was the worst comic ever made.
Is it a truly great comic? No, but it's not totally awful either. I would call it average at best.
The main sticking point for people seems to be Riley Rossmo's art. He has a style that is different from typical superhero art, and IMHO his art is an acquired taste at best. I recently read an older series he did back in 2018 and thought the art worked really well there.
Does it work perfectly here? IMHO, no. For starters, why are so many characters drawn with pencil necks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo? Frankly it looks bizarre and so do the concave face shapes. Compare this to the Tim Drake Pride Special, where some of the artists drew Tim with more normal looking proportions. I realize Rossmo's interpretation is a stylistic choice, but I don't particularly care for it. I also don't think portraying LGBT characters as waif-ish figures with wacky aesthetics is good representation.
The writing is passable, but not anything profound. It seems to be using plot points from old detective stories as a basis to craft a new story. While this type of thing could be interesting, it's going to be difficult to pull off IMHO. I would have much rather Fitzmartin created a brand new detective story without these elements. To be fair, high quality detective stories are difficult to write and few comic book authors are capable of doing them these days.
Tim's relationship with Bernard is typical shallow comic book puppy love fodder. I realize mainstream comics aren't always good at portraying romantic relationships, but this one is particularly unsatisfying for me.
While I am not outright offended by the art and depiction of Tim, it feels like a swing and a miss for the corporate, watered-down version of LGBT representation. It's 2022 and we should expect better. Part of the job of an editor is to realize what each team members' strengths and weaknesses are. A creator's fit for a book should be considered closely before giving the green light on a project. I'm not sure that was done with any diligence here.
If I am being completely honest, my favorite part of the book was Loughridge's coloring work, which uses dark, blue-green tones with a lot of skill. That helps offset Rossmo's art a bit for me.
Between the promo blurbs and the previews, I think DC has been pretty up front about what this book is all about, at least in the few weeks before release. However, I think the hype and longer build up around this series, beginning with the Pride Special was a mistake. The fact that Tim has not had a dedicated series in many years also created some weighty expectations around this book. Those kinds of expectations are never a good thing because many fans are going to be disappointed in one way or another.
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Here's a suggestion for DC. This book is done at this point and the decision to publish it has already been made. It may not be the Tim Drake book that a lot of people wanted but that doesn't mean DC can't publish something else in addition to this book. If you want to make a more mature, impactful Tim Drake book, let's see a Black Label series and make the characters in their early 20s.
Put a creative team on the book that knows how to portray LGBT superheroes. Make the mystery complex, gritty, and real. Show us how smart Tim is and portray his crime-solving abilities in a more nuanced manner. If he's in a real relationship with Bernard - show us that instead of comic book cliche puppy love.
Now what I am proposing isn't the book that DC ever advertised, so I'm not criticizing Tim Drake: Robin just for that. I would just like to see some higher standards for this character.
Notes:
If you've never seen the documentary The Celluloid Closet, go watch it. It's about the history of LGBT representation in film and came out in 1996. Sadly, 26 years later a lot of the issues raised in the film are still relevant today. The mainstream film industry certainly hasn't progressed all that much in its portrayal of LGBT characters IMHO.
Comic books, especially mainstream ones, are in the same exact boat. The big 2 basically suck at portraying LGBT characters whereas the indies usually fare a bit better. Whomever is managing this project at DC needs to go do some indie comic research.
"Shipping Wars" are incredibly lame and represent the worst, most toxic aspects of fandom.
Some people are referencing Yaoi/BL manga in their reviews of this book. My understanding is that stuff is a lot more explicit than this book and the characters are typically drawn to look attractive. It's a red herring IMHO.
One more thing: attacking creators personally and threatening them online is very infantile and cowardly behavior. I do not support that in any way.