go read a comic book you freak

mack. 29. cambodian/canadian comic-book enthusiast for my chosen characters (dick grayson & rose wilson). specifically pre-nu52 because i'm an elitist.

[boiwcndr]

dick grayson on losing donna troy.

look back in anger by vechter // titans & young justice: graduation day #3 // for grief by john o'donohue // the song of achilles by madeline miller // teen titans and outsiders: secret files and origin (2005) // survivor's guilt by liz // outsiders volume 3 #1 // loving the gone by sara rian // teen titans and outsiders: secret files and origin (2003) // survivor's guilt by demon child // dealing with grief: a poetic journey by elfspoetry

[boiwcndr]

guys i just want to talk about dickie g

[absolutearsenal]

Dropping this and then almost immediately jumping to Dick and Roy sparring is so fucking crazy. That is SO fucking crazy.

[fyresfly]

where are you sitting?

[pentapoda]

"I can't lose you again, Grayson." for Damian? Or too angsty, just a simple sentimental "happy new year" of someone in the batfam. (thanks for taking these! I know requests can be overwhelming. Don't do it if you don't feel it! <3)

are you kidding, I’m AMaZING AT ANGSTY ART ❤

[hood-ex]

[boiwcndr]

i think also the issue with ric regaining memories in the ricroy verse is that trauma warps the brain. it holds onto the darkness easier than it holds onto the light. and so ric is going to get these painful memories without much of the good that balances out. he's going to remember being buried underground. he's not going to remember the five hundred+ times dick flew in the air with kory and they kissed in full light of the moon. he's going to remember that jason died and the guilt and the agony and the responsibility dick felt at that moment. he's not going to remember the ski trip or the times where dick just came by the manor to hang out with the new robin. he's going to remember cradling donna's body and feeling his heart torn in two. he's not going to remember when dick and donna just rode together on his motorcycle for ice cream and talking about their crushes and their break-ups and all of the love. he's going to remember all of the people dick didn't save. he's not going to remember that couple dick did save and hugged for hours upon hours until they stopped shaking. ric won't remember the hope that made dick.

[arch-aeology]

who up dicking they roy

[ashoss]

dc pleassseeeeee i misss themmmmmmmmm

[boiwcndr]

dickie continuously using the priest for confession even though he is a) not that type of religious b) he knows the priest is a murderer and could have turned him in but didn't

[boiwcndr]

🌹

“You’re fucking doing what?” He must be hallucinating. There is no way that Ric – Ric who has been thoroughly against learning anything that had to do with that part of Dick’s life (or, really, any part of Dick’s life) – Ric is going around with grease painted over his face to help out… cops and firefighters who have apparently stolen Nightwing’s gear? What the fuck?

for every "🌹" received in my inbox i'll post one random sentence of a random WIP i'm currently writing

[boiwcndr]

absolutely no reason why i'm asking but like uh

......... do we actually know if gannon survived

[boiwcndr]

🌹

Instead, his eyes turn a little bit soft, looking off to the side at something that’s not really there. Ric knows that means he’s thinking about Dick, recalling something that now only he knows.

for every "🌹" received in my inbox i'll post one random sentence of a random WIP i'm currently writing

[discocritic]

for every "🌹" received in my inbox i'll post one random sentence of a random WIP i'm currently writing

[three-semicolons]

Gotta admit, now that I’ve read a good bit of the 80s Flash run, I think it’s wild Terry Long (rightfully) has so many ops for getting into a relationship with an 18-year old Donna Troy as a divorced man in his late twenties, but there is almost no op-age for Tina McGee, the 32-year old still married woman who got into a relationship with a 20-year old Wally West and mooched off him until he was dry.

Throw in Liu, who groomed a homeless 16-year old Dick Grayson, followed by coercing him into crime using this as leverage, and I’m really beginning to think we could start a club.

There’s something to be said about the tendency of child sidekicks to fall into relationships with much older people who explicitly use them (Terry with his research/writing, Tina with the money, Liu with the… everything), and the inability for said child sidekicks to recognize that being used like this is wrong. I don’t think I have the intelligence or coherence to put that thought together. But it’s there.

[nibblewinger]

if you're looking to ship dick with more blonds, have you read anything with joey wilson in it? they're very sweet together but idk if you would vibe with it

Hehe they are very cute

[disco-troy]

DC: Look! Owlman murdered all of Dicks friends so Dick would have no support system and blackmailed him into changing himself for a mission, isn’t that insane! He’s so evil lol DC 2 minutes later: Bruce is isolating Dick from his friends again and forcing him to change himself for a mission. It’s hard but he’s a good father.

[disco-troy]

I actually really want to follow up on this, because Owlman is supposed to be a “Dark Reflection” of Batman, but he’s literally just a Bruce that went farther in the same direction. It drives me unhinged how DC literally shows this in Justice League (2011) 25 and Nightwing 30 are basically the same issue if you just switch the father figure. Both issues involve Bruce/Thomas fighting Dick in order to make him complete a mission for them (the Spyral mission, and pretending to be Talon respectively). 

“I’m here for you”

First, both men want total secrecy for their “talk” with Dick 

[Alfred: Master Bruce, my apologies, but there appears to be a malfunction in the lift. The door simply will not open. Bruce: The cave’s been having problems, Alfred. We’ve lost the cameras as well. I’m working on it. Get back to the mansion. It’ll be fine soon.]

Owlman: I want the cameras off when I go inside to talk to Grayson, Grid. I want to be alone. Make sure he obeys me Alfred” Alfred: “Yes, master Thomas”

Then, they both begin the fight by setting the stage: the world is in trouble. Things are dire. Owlman implies Dick’s culpability, Bruce goes farther and explicitly confirms it. He wasn’t enough. Nothing he does is enough. Being captured, being killed, the world nearly ending, he didn’t do enough to stop it.

Panel 1- Owlman: Everyone knows your real name, Richard. The society has already leved your apartment in Chicago. Your friends have been hunted Panel 2 - Owlman: His goal is nothing less than to enslave your earth and amass its power for himself, driven by his paranoia and fear. Panel 3 - [Bruce: “You let the crime syndicate capture you. You let them torture you. You let them give your secrets to the world. Dick: You weren’t there. Bruce: You let them turn you into a bomb. You let them kill you. Before Luthor rescued you, you let everyone watch you die”]

Then, they turn the situation over to Dick, he’s the only one who can help them, he’s the only one who can fix this. He is needed. This time, Owlman is explicit in explaining that Dick doesn’t have a choice. Bruce explains Dick is the only person who can do this. And if he doesn’t, it’s his friends and family who will pay the price.

Panel 1- Owlman: I don’t want your help destroying your world Richard. I need you help saving it from the crime syndicate. Panel 2 - Bruce: If you know our secrets, we won’t be able to fight. Dick: How can you ask me to do this Bruce? Bruce: Do you know how many people will die if we can’t fight? Panel 3 -  and for that I need your help Richard Panel 4 - Batman: We need a man inside, fight out what Spyral knows. What they want to know. We need you. They’ll come for you know. They’ll want someone like you. Someone who knows our secrets Panel 5 - Owlman: These are your only options Richard.

Dick says no. He says no to both men, a million different times in a million different ways. But it doesn’t matter. It was never going to matter. No matter the amount of times he said no, no matter if he won or lost the physical fight, they would not stop until the answer was a yes, and his life was decided.

Panel 1 -  Dick (to Owlman): No, thanks. Panel 2 -  Dick(to Bruce): … I just can’t Panel 3 -  Dick(to Bruce): No. I won’t do this. I can’t stay dead. I can’t do it to them! Panel 4 - *Dick kicks Bruce* NO! Panel 5 - Owlman: Until we’re ready, I have to chain you back up. Dick: No… Owlman: You’re in no shape to fight me any futher Richard. And if the syndicate find you free, they’ll kill you.

So to recap: Dick wakes up in an unfamiliar place, has to fight a man who “raised” him, who gives him an illusion of a choice, and forces him to change an identity and sacrifice his life, because everything depends on Dick. Then Dick wakes up in a bomb, almost dies, and then wakes up in an familar place, has to fight a man who raised him, who gives him an illusion of a choice, and forces him to change an identity and sacrifice his life, because everything depends on Dick.

It gets even worse when you look at the differences between the two fights, because Bruce was wearing his gauntlets the entire time they were fighting while Dick only had his hands wrapped up. Both Owlman and Batman had their cowl on. In both of the fights, Batman and Owlman are masked the entire time. Dick does not have the luxury of a mask during his fight with Thomas, and during his fight with Bruce, he loses it through the fight.

The fight with Bruce is also a lot longer and a lot bloodier. I mean just look at some of Dick’s body language. With Bruce, Dick is more ready to fight, he says no more, but it does nothing to change the outcome of the fight, except make it more painful for him.

Bruce: Everyone think you’re dead. I need you to stay dead.

Someone from a literal evil parallel universe hurts Dick less than the man who raised him? Every step of the way, the fight with Bruce is worse - he says Dick is at fault instead of implying it, he hits Dick harder and for longer, and the fight is in a familiar space, now weaponized.

Do you think Dick woke up in the batcave, finally feeling safe after a horrifying ordeal, only to be subjected to the same nightmare he thought he was saved from? Only to have it be even longer and even bloodier?

I genuinely can’t tell if these parallels were planned or not. Both issues are from different writers; Jl 25 (2011) was written by Geoff Johns and Nightwing 3 by King and Seeley, in preparation for Grayson. 

The parallels are so explicit, it’s difficult to imagine them not being planned. But on the other hand I can’t imagine them wanting to explicitly portray Bruce as an abuser to the same level as Owlman - a character who killed anyone Dick got close to in order to keep him dependent. If the parallels are on purpose dc is explicitly saying Bruce is manipulative and abusive. But it’s not what DC says in any official capacity and even if it was, it is never addressed again; Bruce is never seen realizing how horrible and abusive and isolating his actions are.  Dick says that if he goes on the mission, things can never be the same again, and then they just are?!? And a part of it is the circular notion of comics, things need to go back to the way things were, but it’s no excuse for why DC runs right up to the line, alludes to a horrifying conclusion, and then pretends nothing happened??

People tend to defend Bruce by saying that even if what he does is abusive, his intentions are good - which is absolutely not a valid reason to excuse abuse, although it’s very common. But Owlman loves his Dick Grayson too - his intentions are the exact same as Bruce’s. And there is no conceivable way to excuse Owlman’s overt manipulation and isolation of his Dick Grayson. What DC is saying, or what DC should be saying by presenting these parallels, is that what Bruce does to Dick is not okay. That even though he loves Dick, he still hurts him because of the actions he chooses to take. DC will literally walk all the way up to explicitly saying so and then just turn around and pretend this entire story arc doesn’t exist?????????

The other option, and maybe even worse than the first one, is that dc doesn’t even properly realize the parallels they are drawing. And if it was an accident, What does that mean about how DC sees Dick and Bruce’s relationship, that they can accidentally parallel Bruce to his evil self? That a writer writing a villain manipulating Dick when he’s at a low point will structure a story in the exact same way a writer writing Bruce sending Dick on a mission?

But maybe the most chilling question of all,  if the Dick Grayson of Earth-3 had to die to get away from his Owlman, what does that mean for our Dick Grayson?