Tim Drake, perhaps better known as Red Robin around the streets of Gotham, has been missing in action for a while after seemingly meeting his demise over a year ago in the pages of Detective Comics. However, all that changed with this week’s DETECTIVE COMICS #965 by James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows, which launched the eagerly anticipated storyline, “A Lonely Place of Living.” (Fun fact: That title is a direct reference to the storyline that first introduced readers to Tim Drake, 1989’s “A Lonely Place of Dying.”)

Readers have known from the beginning that Tim isn’t dead and recently, Tim’s friends and allies learned he was alive as well. Turns out the former Robin has been held captive by the enigmatic “Mister Oz,” who seems awfully curious about why Tim felt the need to become Robin. After questioning Tim aggressively about the past and his relationship over the years with Bruce and Dick, Oz reveals his reasons—he’s actually Jor-El, Superman’s father, and he sees many similarities in the life he’s led on Earth and Tim’s. (For much more about Mister Oz and his motivations, be sure to read “The Oz Effect,” the storyline unspooling right now in the pages of ACTION COMICS.)

Jor-El also has a fairly cryptic warning for Tim, one that seems to have a lot to do with the dark events happening to the DCU since DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH…

Jor-El departs, leaving Red Robin alone in his prison. Tim has no idea where he is or how to escape, but quickly growing desperate, he comes up with a last-ditch plan. By funneling all of the power in his suit into Mister Oz’s communication portal, he’s able to get a message out to Batman. However, Batman’s response can only be described as surprising.

Tim does what Batman says and deactivates the shields, rushing quickly to the corridor where his mentor is imprisoned. Sure enough, he finds Batman right where he said he was, but it becomes clear something is very off when Batman does something shocking.

Wh-What?!? Batman doesn’t use guns. It’s pretty much his number one rule. This figure may look like Batman, but he can’t possibly be the Dark Knight. Can he?

Turns out he can, just not the Batman that Tim was expecting to find. In fact, it’s a Batman Tim was certain would never exist. And quite possibly, might not exist for much longer, as we see when the issue ends…

Whoa, boy! DOOMSDAY?!?! How are the two Tims going to defeat THAT?! And that’s just the second big mystery here. Is that Batman really the Tim Drake of the future? Tim said he’d NEVER become Batman. He wanted to go off to college and leave his former life as a costume-clad crimefighter behind. What could possibly have changed that? What happened to Bruce? And if it really is Tim from the future, how did he end up in the past?!

So many questions, and we’ll all have to wait until Detective Comics continues on October 11th for answers. Don’t you dare miss it!