Holy Sidekick! : Batman Has a New Boy Wonder Wearing a Brand New Wardrobe

Rest easy, Gothamites, Batman has a new Robin. The Caped Crusader, who saw his sidekick blown to bits by the Joker two years ago, has found somebody to fill the Boy Wonder’s shoes--although the footwear and the rest of his outfit are new.

Tim Drake, who turned up at stately Wayne Manor one year ago, is now Robin No. 3. Drake joins Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego this month in Batman comic No. 457, where he manages to rescue Batman and Vicki Vale from the clutches of the psychotic Scarecrow.

The third Robin, you say? Yes. The original, of course, was Dick Grayson, who now works as a solo super-hero called Nightwing. His successor, Jason Todd, was murdered in Batman No. 428.

Like his predecessors, Drake is an orphan taken in by millionaire Wayne. “I think it’s part of the job description,” DC Comics spokeswoman Martha Thomases said.

Drake--who used his powers of deduction to figure out that Bruce and Batman were one and the same--has been hanging around the Batcave for the last year handling the more mundane aspects of crime-fighting.

But the folks at DC Comics decided the time was right for a replacement Robin.

“Over the last year, he has proven himself mentally, morally, spiritually and physically capable of taking over,” Batman editor Dennis O’Neil said Thursday. “Today is his rite of passage.”

Robin should also help Batman psychologically. The crime-fighter “would soon skew into a nasty insanity if he did not have someone . . . to maintain a link with common humanity,” O’Neil said.