Warning: Spoilers for Batman: Urban Legends #10!
The world of DC Comics made headlines when the third Robin, Tim Drake, recently came out as bisexual, and his quest for inner happiness has trickled down to the brooding vigilante known as Batman as well. Batman has always been the most stoic and emotionally stunted DC hero of the bunch, and now Robin has helped him become a more effective and efficient crime-fighter -- all thanks to Tim's recent personal revelations.
As seen in the first story of the tenth issue of Batman: Urban Legends, “A Carol of Bats,” by Meghan Fitzmartin and Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque, follows Tim Drake’s Robin and Batman as they team up for the greater good of the less fortunate citizens of Gotham City. Arriving at one of Batman’s micro-caves, Robin notices that Batman is acting more broody than usual, immediately making him worry about his father-figure and mentor.
Asking The Dark Knight to help him quell the growing unrest among some scared and angry Gothamites that have been looting and terrifying a local church post-Fear State, Robin is starting to worry about Batman’s increasingly stand-offish and blunt attitude. Saying that he failed Gotham (even though he just saved it), Batman forces Robin to remember a recent time when he visited Bludhaven and had a brotherly talk with Dick Grayson aka Nightwing, where he touched on the idea of being happy in and out of the spandex, especially now that he’s embraced his bisexuality openly. During that conversation, Robin tries to understand why he can’t help Batman be happy too -- something Dick thinks is more or less impossible at this point -- but something Tim thinks he can fix nonetheless, all leading to a surprise moment for Batman that fans didn’t see coming.
Meeting the potential rioters and looters in front of the church, Tim hammers home the idea that Batman shouldn’t be reverting “back to who you always are” so quickly given all he’s done for Gotham City as of late. Instead, he should take the win and realize that he’s done enough to earn some happiness for himself. Brushing off an increasingly concerned Tim as he confronts the looters, The Dark Knight does something unexpected to end this fight before it even starts: he gives one of the looters a hug.
Batman is usually known for solving problems with a well-placed punch or bat-gadget, but Tim Drake using his personal experience coming out as bisexual and seeking happiness in his own life is something that has helped bring some much-needed humanity to Batman’s war on crime. Originally noticing Batman going off the deep end after the death of Jason Todd, Tim sought Batman out and placed himself in a position to become the next Robin, effectively leveling out a man that was acting like a loose cannon on the streets of Gotham up until his arrival (a feat Tim’s clearly keen on replicating one more time).
So while Batman giving an angry Gothamite a hug is an unexpected, yet effective way to bring peace to the streets, if it wasn't for Robin looking inward and then trying to help Batman reflect on what makes himself happy too, this exchange never would have happened. Batman is slowly but surely becoming more mindful and effective in his crime-fighting ways, and at least some of that can be attributed to Robin never giving up on working towards some form of happiness for them both.