He microchiped 8 years old Bruce... That's a scenario people have been making about Bruce with the batkids to paint Bruce as a controlling parent, and Alfred did it to Bruce... And like, I can understand the batfam having microchip because they are vigilantes, but 8 years old Bruce was just a traumatized child...
having emotions about the yellow bat on Batman's chest and how its important it stays filled in with colour and isn't just a dingy little outline.
yellow means caution but it's also sunlight and the colour of the batsignal. it is literally a bright piece in an otherwise dark costume. it is metaphorically a light in the darkness. criminals catch sight of it and see WARNING, victims and anyone who is hurting see hope
its not even a particularly pretty shade of yellow, its obnoxious sports car yellow, mustard and traffic cone yellow, but in gotham it's you're about to get your teeth kicked in yellow, it's better things are coming your way yellow
it is a blaring target over Batman's heart and it is so, so important
Thinking once again about how Bruce is kind of a completely different character between titles. Like yeah there's differences in runs and writers and all but there is a Noticeable And Consistent difference in Justice League Batman, Titans Batman, Batman/Detective Comics/other adjacent title Batman, etc
Been reading a lot of JL comics recently and honestly? This difference is the most understandable one. Like yeah you take him out of his home setting and you put him somewhere where his allies are sometimes literal gods and his enemies are also sometimes literal gods and every problem is always 5000% more dire and far reaching in consequence... yeah you can kinda see why he'd care slightly less about certain issues than he normally would and be exponentially more paranoid about everything ever, etc.
Missed day 1 and 2 (and now 3😭) so I’m mixing together pre-Robin and badly injured, but tbh I just wanted to draw baby Duke, AND a little unfinished Elaine and Duke art that I made a while ago but never posted
I love the trope of characters explaining the meanings of words repeatedly (He took 40 cakes. That’s as many as four tens!) like mojo jojo or in a series of unfortunate events! I like the idea of Duke having that after studying to take on the Riddler, but it’s more worded like it’s straight from the dictionary. Like mainly the word, part of speech, the definition, and an example.
i think clark starting out as superboy is very important for a multitude of reasons in clark's development but i also can't stop thinking about his relationship with dick and how it makes it so much better. a lot of the time the robin/nightwing/superman friendship is portrayed as so onesided where dick is inspired by clark and clark loves him yes, but just because he's his best friend's kid. but when you add superboy to the mix you see that clark also sees something of himself in dick. dick *gets* whats it like to be a child hero and more importantly whats it like to *have* to be a child hero because you can't stand by while you can do something. dick may be a kid but he gets it like few people in clark's life do.
David Cain must have been pissed finding out about Shiva. Like, for 17 years he thinks he proved his theory on human language interfering with combat. Then Lady "I subject Richard Dragon to the WORST jokes known to man" Shiva shows up, completely equal to Cass, and leaves only to come back later AFTER Cass was more proficient with language trying to talk Cass into killing her.
Okay, okay, but instead of Bruce being oblivious to everyone’s relationship and not knowing his children are dating, like everyone says, he actually knows before they do
He catches a smile that’s a tad too fond, and he’s like ‘oh, they’re dating,’ and when they announce it a few months later, Bruce is unsurprised cause he labeled them as dating forever ago in his database
He doesn’t realize that some relationships are secret and being kept from him, because he naturally finds those things out. He is the world’s greatest detective after all. Any microexpression made in his presence has been analyzed and dissected easily
One of the kids thinks they’re hiding their relationship so well, but Bruce already knows how long they’ve been dating and where their first date was (cause they used his card to pay for everything)
He doesn’t say anything because… well, why would he? As long as there isn’t too much interference with their vigilante life, most of his children are grown adults and can do what they want.
Bruce is only oblivious to his own relationships. Or maybe, he simply chooses to ignore the obvious signs and act oblivious, simply because he believes it’s a better solution
If there’s someone who likes him, he knows it. Of course, he does; he’s been flirted with and hit on his entire life.
But if someone likes him and he also likes them back, then he suddenly can no longer use that big brain of his to tell what the other person is actually feeling
He truly believes he wouldn’t be able to give the other person the kind of love and attention they deserve while he lives his double life, even if this person was also a hero and had their own double life
It’s illogical, so he’ll pretend that he has no idea the object of his attraction also seems to be attracted to him, and he’ll keep them at arm's length. It’s the best he can do for them
Sooner or later, they’ll come to understand that he is nowhere near the wonderful, caring, compassionate, and good person some people see him as. He’s got darkness in him. He’s a monster that is barely being contained by his crusade to make his city a better place
my favorite Bruce look has got to be his magenta robe that reappears throughout multiple decades of comics. its his bandaged up and ready for bed robe. its his old timey noir protagonist robe. quite frankly? its his slut robe. I love it
It starts with Dick, as so many things do. When Dick finds out it is Mother's day in the US grief hits him hard but he still insists on visiting her grave with a bouquet of spring flowers. Bruce always drives him to the graveyard on that day, because he'll be damned before he lets his boy and Mary's Robin go through this alone. And once Dick gets older he calls Haley's Circus or visits them for the day if he has the time.
Next is Jason. Just like Dick they all would go to the cemetery together to grieve and tell their mothers of the time that has passed between this and the last visit. After his death Jason would go visit his mom's grave -Catherine's grave- in the morning. His mother's grave, Sheila's, he'd go visit at night. Not bc he doesn't care about her, he doesn't blame her for his death, just like with Bruce, and he can't blame her for not seeking revenge, unlike Bruce...considering, well.... But it's just easier in the dark when he can't see his own headstone next to hers.
Cassandra does mothers day she does almost every other societal convention. Not at all or as unconventional as possible. Usually the day is spend with Barbara doing whatever the other woman would like to do, going to the library, visiting Barbara's mother's grave (why do all their moms have to die?), fight crime. Whatever as long as Cass is with Barb and Barb with Cass. Sometimes, Shiva will appear at the end of the day and Cassandra is sure that she's been watching her the whole day. They'll exchange eye contact and awkward stances, and Sandra Wu-San disappears as quickly as she came.
Tim spends mothers day remembering Janet by doing the things he knows she would've wanted to do and what she'd want him to do. He'd go to sleep early the night before and tackle the long bucket list he'd made throughout the year. Checking in on the research programs that she'd shown interest in, taking a day trip to a digging site he knows she would have love, or simply cleaning his room because he remembers how she'd always nag him about the chaos whenever she had seen it.
Steph first tell the other bats she wont be able to patrol. She'll do the typical mother's day stuff during the day, a card and flowers, waking up earlier than ususal to take care of breakfast for once. Evening comes and the two would cuddle beneath a blanket with hot chocolate or a glas of wine, watching a movie. Pausing when Steph would have an anecdote about her vigilante work that somehow relates to the plot or when Crystal and her discuss the logistics of medical drama in said movie.
When Duke was in foster care and his parents still missing, he'd spend mother's day like all the other days, trying to survive the system and find his parents with everything he had. After he's Signal he'd visit them in the hospital and try to spend as much time as he could muster with them, despite what the Joker venom did to them. He understands how it turned their love into hateful words but on special days he'd feel extra hurt hearing his mom says horrible things that weren't true. But even if he'd end up crying in the hospitals bathrooms, he's far too relieved to know they're alive than to let it keep him down.
Damian would be whisked away by Talia for the day. He'd have some elaborate gift prepared, be it something he bought or painted, and then they'd have their version of a mom and son daycation. It could involve visiting foreign cities, exploring the wilderness, taking down poaching ring, finding a cursed artifact from one of Ra's stories he had told them both of, taking a pottery class together etc. etc.. At the end of the day Talia would give him a forehead kiss and leave him somewhere near or in Gotham at his insistance.
[Edit: probably gonna reblog how Bruce spends his mothers day]
So Mother's day arrives and it's complete chaos. Bruce wakes up, pockets the pebble he found months before for his visit and is swiftly carried off for whatever (minor) emergency is currently taking place.
He drives Cass and Steph to Barbs and Crystal respectively in the morning so that they can do whatever they planned for the day. Honestly, neither of the girls planned to stay at the manor til morn but they forgot the time the night before and decided to sleep over. And whoops- he has to stop at the next best flower shop on the way there and help Steph find a fitting bouquet.
Then Bruce is busy taking Duke to his parents (plus staying near during the visit and giving Duke Very awkward emotional support afterwards). While there he'll check on the progress (and difficulties) the doctors have found in their search for a cure and offers to increase his funding to them.
Back at the manor he's greeted by the sight of Dick, already holding the bouquet of spring flowers, and together they make their way to the graveyard in the city. By now it's a tradition for Bruce to stay back and watch over Dick as he recalls the highlight of the year, before staying back while the younger man leaves to thank Mary for the wonderful light she had brought into the world.
Throughout the day he checks in on Tim and tells (guilt trips) him to rest during whatever archaeological adventure or busyness proposal he embarked in the name of his mother.
In the afternoon he get's called away to deal with calendar man bc the fact that crime rates dip during mother's day is a perfect opportunity to cause havock. And Bruce rather deal with that himself than to bother the batkids.
It's already evening and it takes him an hour or two to find and pick up Damian from wherever he and Talia decided to part ways (the Zoo in Metropolis this time) and he'll gladly take the long way back to listen to Damian recall their trip.
After all that, he finally finds some time to go to his ancestral graveyard in his gardens– and Jason calls, telling him to come pick him up bc he did end up staring at his own grave next to Sheila's for too long and kinda needs him now. So Bruce drives there, stays with Jason for a while and brings him back to the manor.
By now it's already night and when Bruce opens the door and sees the time with only a few minutes left before midnight.
He runs, then sprints, as fast as he can so he doesn't miss mother's day.
He never missed it before, even in his travelling days he found time for his mom, but now he's begging to make it back to her before it's too late.
Heaving, slighty sweaty he stopps infront of her grave. Anxiously searching for the pebble and little trinket he gives her every year.
A wet laugh comes from him when he realizes he doesn't even HAVE anything to leave at her grave beside the pebble he carried around all day. Too busy helping Steph, Duke and Damian find suitable mother's day gifts the days before.
He looks at his watch as he kneels infront of her and back up at the stone.
"I'm sorry," he chokes out, "I'm so sorry I missed it, mom. I didn't mean to."
The time is 00:07am and Bruce has just missed mother's day.
"I know I usually bring you something, but I forgot," he confessed, "I-"
I was too busy helping my children with their own mothers day, is what he can't get out. If his children had missed father's day with him to help their kids, he couldn't be dissapointed or mad, he'd be proud of the people they grew up to be.
Maybe his mama won't be dissapointed either.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't get to you in time, but I promise I spend the day well.
Would you like to know how you grandchildren all spend their mother's day?"
