Warning! Spoilers for DC Pride: Tim Drake Special #1 ahead!

Out of all the superheroes, Batman might be the toughest to be the sidekick for, and as Nightwing points out, the hardest part of being Robin is more emotional than physical.

It's no secret that Batman has gone through a number of sidekicks over the years. It has been established that Batman should have a Robin to balance out his inner darkness, but the role of Robin takes such a toll on young people that many have had the identity. Dick Grayson eventually graduated into his own hero, Nightwing, and his successor, Jason Todd, met a bloody end. Even Tim Drake, as he ages out of being a sidekick, struggles to find his own place among DC's other heroes.

Related: Nightwing's Original 'Sister' Needs a Bigger Place In His Modern Stories

But the struggles of being Robin extend past the costume and crime fighting. In essence, being a Robin means having Bruce Wayne as a father figure. And as Nightwing points out in DC Pride: Tim Drake Special #1 by Megan Fitz Martin, Belen Ortega, and Alberto Jimenez Albuquerque, being an adopted son to Bruce Wayne is no picnic. Dick constantly sought to make Bruce happy, but Bruce's own darkness was so strong that Dick felt himself sacrificing his own future in order to make this father figure of his happy. And as Dick tells Tim, he eventually concluded that there is nothing that Robin can do to make Batman happy.

nightwing batman depressed

The psychological scars and trauma of the entire relationship is troubling. As a child, Bruce lost his father at a very young age, just like Dick Grayson. Perhaps Bruce never fully realized that by adopting Dick, he was essentially replacing Dick's own father as someone to look up to. But Bruce was so stuck in his own trauma that he couldn't see through the past and be happy. The tragedy of this whole situation is that being a Robin means perpetually seeking and failing to bring happiness to a brooding mentor.

This truth goes for all Robins, not just Dick, but they all experience it in different ways. Jason Todd was plagued by darkness and perhaps having a father figure fail to embrace that role meant his darkness only grew. With Damian Wayne, the father-son relationship was literal. Having experienced an abusive childhood, Damian could have benefited from seeing a father experience happiness. Instead, the two focused on fighting crime rather than building a relationship. Having grown up and become Nightwing, it's interesting to see Dick Grayson understand this troubling aspect of being Robin and try to teach the lesson to others.

Next: Tim Drake Returns as Robin in His Own DC Comic Series

DC Pride: Tim Drake Special #1 is available now from DC Comics.