give dick grayson his leather jackets, overcoats, bottom-ups and turtlenecks back i'm sick of the hideous hoods and color coded tshirts and boring suits
younger comic fans thinking that tim drake is underrated is insane bc if you talk to any comic reader above the age of 30 and you say your favorite robin isn’t tim (or dick) they shoot you on the spot
I’m still thinking of how tiny Dick was when Two-Face beat the shit out of him. He still had his baby fat and was like 2 feet tall :(
I wish people talked about that as much as they talk about Jason and Joker & as much as ppl talk about Tim and “Joker Jr.” (even tho I’m pretty sure that’s only in Batman Beyond?)
Idk I feel like people only focus on what happened with Jason and Joker (which I kinda get cuz Jason died and Dick didn’t) but I feel like what happened with Two-Face is still within a similar realm and would still cause a shit ton of trauma for him. Same goes for Steph being tortured by Black Mask.
Yeah, the Two-Face beating is and remains a very hard read for me. The vibe the comic sets up is immaculate and terrible.
Bluntly depicting Dick beaten like a real child…
The equally blunt descriptions of his injuries…
Just how afraid and small he looks, even. The blood splatter. Eugh.
Like the final panel of the first two pages above hurts. Imo the whole vibe of this scene is the comic equivalent of when the music cuts.
I get why it isn’t remembered the same way, because Dick doesn’t bring it up. In fact, I think that’s why so many of his other character defining “traumas”, if you’d like to call them that, are neglected. Dick doesn’t talk about them. The narrative doesn’t bring them up, nor other characters. On his end, I assume it’s either out of feeling like he doesn’t deserve/want the pity, or because he feels like other things are more important. This is only one instance of many, and not even the most famous one. The most famous instance, bar none, is probably either the sweeping under the rug of Tarantula or Forever Evil and the various shenanigans surrounding Spyral. Those aren’t referenced either.
Jason is a squeaky wheel as far as his issues with the Joker and his death goes, so of course he gets the narrative and fandom grease. This is something he, and on a meta level the publisher, wants us to remember as a foundational trauma. But it does suck that someone like Dick (or Stephanie, as you mentioned) can’t process or acknowledge experiences with potentially similar developmental implications, either out of their own character’s reluctance to talk about it or an editorial desire to keep their characters lighter to the general audience.
both Cass’s introduction in Batman (1940) #567 and Batgirl 2000 really hammered in the Cass-dog parallels (in the form of symbolizing how David Cain violently stripped Cass of her personhood) but looking back it’s such an insane way to tell your audience that the protagonist’s abusive father from hell will always love her unconditionally
Dick’s interest in literate and plays and poems and music (he sings). So many forms of art that require talking and storytelling. When Bruce says in Batman: odyssey “Robin… loves a good story”. And yeah Dick really will just sit and listen to Bruce go on about his woes (sometimes because Dick prompted him to) and the lessons he learned in his life.
“I need to trust (Roy) is as stupidly curious as I am” — thinks Dick in Nightwing: old friends, new enemies.
“I could take him down now. But I want to hear more” — Dick in Nightwing (1996) issue 61.
Dick’s civilian cover for why he’s so interested in crimes in Nightwing (1996) is that he’s writing a book.
(And yes Dick’s favorite genre is mystery especially when grounded in real world logic).
I imagine that as he got older Dick is probably too busy working himself to death to read but still, Dick’s interest in novels, dramas, music—that I think was most prominent when he was a kid–teen in pre-crisis—is so important to me (because I too love stories) and I wish it was used more. Like it could inspiration for a career in a no capes au. Something he and Jason bond over. Or just a door for literary references in fics/comics. And/or a flaw. Because yeah Dick loves a good mystery (especially a murder mystery). He’ll even go out of his way to find one to solve. I imagine that would get him into real trouble eventually.
Fanon prioritizing Dick’s acrobatics as a hobby/career/activity he just loves doing vs canon prioritizing his crime solving (being a detective) as a hobby/career/activity he just loves doing
I’m recently reading a lot of Bronze Age Batman comics and I can’t stop thinking about how well Cass would have fit into this pre-crisis Batfam. Like minus the racism and sexism of the area ofc I think Cass would absolutely thrive in these dramatic sometimes outlandish plots. Her body reading ability would probably be taken to the next level and she’d get to fight actual monsters. If Dick and Cass grew up as siblings in the Bronze Age I imagine they would fight for Babs/Bruce’s attention and approval but then inexplicably get along just fine every other issue. It would be so much fun.
I’m recently reading a lot of Bronze Age Batman comics and I can’t stop thinking about how well Cass would have fit into this pre-crisis Batfam. Like minus the racism and sexism of the area ofc I think Cass would absolutely thrive in these dramatic sometimes outlandish plots. Her body reading ability would probably be taken to the next level and she’d get to fight actual monsters. If Dick and Cass grew up as siblings in the Bronze Age I imagine they would fight for Babs/Bruce’s attention and approval but then inexplicably get along just fine every other issue. It would be so much fun.
Thought about Cass. We know she hates murder, but what does she think of murderers themselves. Like, if some guy killed another guy and the guilt felt guilty, would she still knock him out, or would she pull a “Go be free.”
Basically, what’s Cass’s thoughts about a killer.
Cass fights every bit as hard to save killers as she does to save the innocent. She is every bit as committed to the belief that everybody can change and deserves a second chance as she is committed to saving every life. That's why she only ever hits badguys exactly as hard as she needs to to stop them while hurting them as little as possible. If a murderer wanted to change, she would fight the whole goddamn world and happily die to give them that chance. Cass has to try to believe there's hope for everybody, even murderers, because she is one. That's a huge core pillar to her character.
Batgirl (2000) #1 opens with the above panels - a rose puzzle being assembled, David saying "You can take off the blindfolds now," a shot of a young Cass, and then someone else saying "What's with the camera?" Immediately there is a focus on visuality - the blindness of the "blindfolds" and the eye of the "camera" - and a link between Cass and objects. The rose puzzle precedes child Cass' appearance, connecting the object Cass is handling with Cass herself.
Personhood, objecthood, and visuality are themes that underlie Cass' relationship with her father David. They are also themes that pop up in Anne Anlin Cheng's ornamentalism, a theory of Asiatic femininity. Ornamentalism describes how Asian women are commonly depicted as aesthetic, decorative objects. (The theory has way more to it but for this post that's what I'll focus on! Highly recommend reading the whole thing!)
I'll be looking at ornamentalism within Cass' narrative, mostly through David but also other White people in Cass' life. This is mostly an in-universe reading, although an examination of how writers use Cass as an ornament would certainly be interesting as well! As always this is just my own interpretation!!!
An Upbringing of Objects
David brought Cass up in relative isolation - the only person she had a real relationship with was him, which means that for the majority of her childhood, she was surrounded by more objects than people. Returning to the opening scene again, the men discuss the objects in the room more than Cass herself:
Batgirl (2000) #1
The plastic, the camera, and the knife all form part of how the men (and David) perceive Cass. From the beginning of Batgirl (2000), objects are intrinsically tied to Cass' identity. It's not only that objects surround her, but that she's perceived as an extension of the objects herself.
Batgirl (2000) #11
This is particularly pivotal when considering David's desire for tapes of Cass. In this panel, Damion Scott draws a picture of Cass imprinted onto the surface of the film. Her literally flattened image is a metaphor for David's 'flat' conception of Cass - his love for her is, to an extent, equivalent to his love for this roll of tape. In many ways he has always loved her as a two-dimensional object. And not just any object but an explicitly visual one like video tapes. In other words, his love for Cass has always been tied up in his perception of her Asian femininity as an aesthetic ornament.
Surfaces
This 'flattened' image of Cass is a recurring motif in David and Cass' relationship. Throughout their time together, they are commonly separated by glass or screens, like in Batgirl #1 when the end of the issue reveals that the flashbacks have been David watching Cass' tapes all along. Another example is their first meeting after Cass runs away:
Batman (1940) #567
Cass spots David in real life, but David sees Cass through the scope of a gun (which the art emphasises by putting us in David's perspective). While Cass can see David as a three-dimensional person, David's viewpoint flattens Cass into a surface. Cheng writes that ornamentalism reduces Asian women into surfaces, "impermeable and insensate". Although David doesn't shoot Cass because he doesn't want to hurt her, it's also interesting to consider that shooting her would shatter his illusion of Cass as an 'impermeable' surface.
In fact, every time the 'surface' between them is shattered, it's Cass doing the shattering. She learns to see herself as more than a surface, but he never quite gets there.
Batman (1940) #567 // Batgirl (2000) #33
David's flattening view of Cass relates to how some people say David sees Cass as a weapon, which I won't dive into here (I kind of agree but don't? but that would be its own post). The important part for this post is what weapon he sees Cass as. Because while David himself is most associated with guns, the weapon associated with Cass is...
The Knife
If "Asiatic femininity is ornamental/surface/portable," then the knife is the perfect weapon for her - small, sleek, and often highly decorative. David connects Cass with a knife, from the opening scene where he encourages the men to try to cut her with one, to his birthday present in Batgirl (2000) #37.
Bruce highlights that the gifted knife, while useful, has not been used "for years". This parallels Cass, who hasn't been 'used' by David in the decade since she left. Neither the knife nor Cass are loved by David purely for utility - there is an extra element that cannot be accounted for by just usefulness. This 'extra element' is the aesthetic consideration, the enjoyment David gets by looking at the knife/Cass. Rewatching the tapes, gazing at Cass through glass, affords pleasure to David through the visual medium.
Batgirl (2024) #20
In Batgirl (2024), there's a direct parallel between Bruce handing Cass a letter with the name 'Batgirl' (how Bruce sees her) with David handing her a knife (how David sees her). The fact that the knife is a reflective surface is essential, because if that's how David sees her then he's never really seeing her. Cass is a two-dimensional reflection of him, his "heir" (as said in Batgirl Secret Files and Origins). Which is why David never truly understands that Cass ran away of her own accord; he calls it "his fault," because he is still viewing her as an extension of himself.
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive
When Bruce asks David why he's throwing his life away, David says "it simply left without consulting me." Another obvious allusion to Cass, and note that David uses the pronoun "it". Here, David conflates Cass with his own life, a nod to how much she means to him but also how unable he is to view her as her own person.
Projection
David is not the only one with this problem, of course. No. 1 projector onto Cass is Bruce, someone with numerous parallels to David and who is also a White man. Bruce's projection onto Cass is also a result of his ornamentalism of her Asian femininity - she is a surface for his own desires. This is captured well in Batgirl (2000) #1:
Notice how Bruce's projection onto Cass ("you... are me") is interrupted when Cass makes contact with him ("uh...). Bruce's projection is dependent on perceiving Cass as that insensate surface, but Cass' act of touching him destroys that illusion. Bruce's actions in early BG 2000 have a lot to do with trying to maintain the lilusion - from rejecting the evidence of the tapes to isolating her in the cave, Bruce tries to mould her into the perfect, interiorless surface he wants her to be.
This is particularly important in the Tai'Darshan/romance arc. Cheng writes that "the yellow woman is persistently sexualized yet barred from sexuality, simultaneously made and unmade by the aesthetic project". Bruce's perception of Cass as an aesthetic (i.e, as a surface to look at and project onto) clashes with her desire to explore her own sexuality. But it's not just Bruce - Babs, Tim, and Kon all contribute to Cass being sexualised while being barred from sexuality. The one person she desires (Tai'Darshan, an Asian man) is kept from her, while she is sexualised by the White people around her.
Batgirl (2000) #45 // #39
But Cass, who has spent most of her life as this kind of decorative ornament (as explored above), learns to refute this behaviour. She expresses discontent to Babs about Kon's comment, punches Tim in the face, and eventually directly confronts Bruce about his behaviour. She gains awareness of how other people look at her, and exerts more agency over her perception.
Breaking Free
DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Celebration
Cass' story constructs a duality between seeing and speaking. While seeing is a large part of Cass' abilities, it is also the medium through which she is ornamentalised - it is the gaze that often causes Cass the most discomfort, from Kon on the boat to David's tapes. On the opposite side of seeing is speaking, something David deprived her of and something she struggles with, but something that Cass comes to understand as freeing her from the White male gaze.
Cass speaking refutes the idea that she has no interiority - it dispels the illusion that she is a surface, a decoration. In DC Festival of Heroes (one of the few Cass stories written by an Asian woman), Mariko Tamaki demonstrates the power of speech.
In this panel, Cass thinks of words as "a thing other people do," while she herself is visually trapped in a double reflection. The reflections symbolise how her silent body is used as a mirror for White projections -her existence is limited to the visual medium, and she is barred from speaking. But then she meets and has a crush on Dr. Chin, which prompts her to think "Words. You will be mine."
As mentioned above, Cass' experiences with romance have been heavily restricted by the expectations and gazes of the White people around her. With Dr. Chin, though, it's her gaze that is being centered, leading to her reclaiming 'words' for herself. Instead of being an object owned by someone else, she has become the owner.
Final Thoughts
This post isn't meant to say David 'only' loved Cass as an object rather than a person. It's more about how the White gaze construes Asian women's personhood as inextricable from objecthood - that is, that David absolutely loved Cass as a daughter, which does not negate that he simultaneously (and interconnectedly) loved her as an object. Cass' visibility as an Asian woman coloured the way basically all the White people in her life dismissed her thoughts and desires, the way it was so easy for David and Bruce to project onto her.
Anyway this is a petition for more Asian women to write Cass!!!!! Although these themes are very much present in the White male-written Cass stories, I believe an Asian woman would be better able to draw these themes to the forefront and explore them in more nuanced ways!
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