#robin 43

Or do you think Mrs. Mac (the housekeeper)  cleans when she is there?  I think she cleans it.  It was neater when she walked in on Ariana?  Also neater when Tim was in boarding school, but Alfred was making his bed and doing his laundry and being a valet to him then.

Seriously, though, this a neat bit, because Tim calls Steph.  At her home.  And she wont know he’s Robin for  a while.  And he uses his home phone, not a Bat-provided one. Guess she didn’t use *69. Or he used *67. :)

Still, when I first read this, though, I was surprised.  I mean, we Tim was into Steph.  But he had a girlfriend and wasn’t pursuing her.  And really isn’t here, either, exactly.  But he wanted to talk to someone, and she’s the one that came to mind.  I enjoyed it for the “reaching out” aspect.  Of course, it ended with her hanging up on him, but he basically called say “I’m not pursuing this” so whatever.

This is where Ariana really starts to exit stage left.  Tim notices that she's not around school anymore and finds out that her uncle has transferred her to an all-girls school.  She'll show up again a few times, but I believe the majority of her page time is done.

At the same time, things are really starting to pick up with Steph.  Tim is already working with her at night, and now he's started calling her at home.  He's learning how to tease her (although it leads to him getting captured by the Baffler), which is something he could never really do with Ariana.  That's one of the reasons Tim and Steph worked so well--he helped her mature, and she helped him lighten up.

I also love Tim's interaction with Ives in this issue.  The two of them are really good friends.  Tim had noticed that Ives was covered in bruises, so he tracked him through the city to find out what was wrong.  Turns out that Ives had gotten a job as a character at a kid's play place (sort of like Chuck E Cheese) and the kids were ruffing him up.  Ives is very embarrassed, and Tim is really good about reassuring him.  It's only later, after Ives knows that Tim is happy he found a job, that Tim starts to tease.

I do find it cute that when Tim is looking for relationship advice he immediately crosses Bruce off the list, no explanation needed.  Dick isn't available, and he feels like Alfred wouldn't give him good advice. 

It's also worth noting that top panel.  A lot of people paint Tim as needing OCD levels of cleanliness, but most of the depictions of his room show quite the opposite.