Spes

She/her | Bi | ex-Jersey Girl | Pay no attention to the woman writing these things, she knows not of what she speaks

[spectral-phases]

A Quick Word

This account exists solely for my DC Comics (mainly Batman) fixation, my love of the TV show Danny Phantom, and sometimes the DPxDC fandom. (I will tag each one appropriately. Just mute the tags detective comics comics, Danny phantom, or dpxdc if you don't want to see certain things from me).

I am not the headcanon police. I like to clear up misinformation because it spreads like wildfire and I am aware most fans don't have easy access to the source material. I didn’t grow up with comic book money and streaming services are predatory cost-wise. If you have the information and like to enjoy your headcanons contrary to the source material, even if I say they aggravate me specifically, that's cool. You do you, boo. (Unless a Gothamite is calling pork roll Taylor Ham. You are not allowed this one /mostly joking and seething in exaggerated Central & South Jersey rage)

Sometimes I will be brave enough to post on Ao3: Spectral_phases

Sometimes I will even be brave enough to post on Reddit: u/Spectral_phases

I do not exist on any other social media site.

[three-semicolons]

HEY BTW THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PANEL OF NTT

And in fact one of the most important panels regarding Dick period.

It looks mundane. It’s not common to see in the wild at all. Barely circulated. So: Why is it important, you ask?

Well, there’s this classic conception of Dick during New Teen Titans as, well, an asshole. And he was. Point to how he handled the marriage in Tamaran, or other relationship conflicts. Point to the decrease in his quippy humor and personability, in NTT and in other books. Point to his uncharacteristic struggles to empathize.

All of these things were out of character for the Dick Grayson that had been established nearly a half century prior, up to and including the early issues of NTT itself. But these changes are some of the most common examples used to paint Dick as a cold, sometimes mean, dickish (no pun intended) guy.

So, isn’t it very very funny that he was partially mind controlled this entire time, SINCE HE WAS CAPTURED BY BROTHER BLOOD LIKE 40+ ISSUES AGO, OR MULTIPLE YEARS WORTH OF COMICS IRL, with the DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF MAKING HIM LASH OUT.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND???

DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS? HOW MUCH THIS CHANGES THE CONTEXT OF EVERYTHING??? DO YOU????? I DON’T THINK YOU DO. THINK ABOUT IT AGAIN.

EVERY TIME YOU SEE A PANEL WITH 80s STYLE ART WHERE DICK IS BEING HYPER CRUEL OR QUICK TO LASH OUT, THERE IS A DECENT CHANCE HE WAS BEING BRAIN BLASTED. SO MUCH SLANDER TO HIS NAME. SO MUCH. WAS MIND CONTROL. YEARS OF SLANDER. YOU CANNOT FATHOM.

[bitimdrake]

now that I think about it, the funniest part of post-crisis Tim and Jason isn’t just that Tim thinks Jason is a cringe loser. It’s that this must be the first time that Tim Drake, single most cringe boy in the entire DCU, has gotten to be on the other side of it. And the guy he’s calling cringe is a 6 foot, 250lb crime boss who can and will beat his ass.

[umbrellajam]

#and did!#was there anything quite as delicious as tim being beat to hell and coming out the end of it like#wow. you are such a cringe loser. (tags via @carol-ing​)

#sorry but every time tim is SO dismissive and annoyed about jason after he comes back it is hysterical#you almost killed that boy four times and you still can get any respect from him#he’s a bougie white boy who says oop and thinks weed is evil#and YOU are the one guy he had decided is too cringe to put up with#jason is the most serious and dramatic and tragic character everywhere else#and then he goes to tim…. (tags via @bitimdrake)

#said 6 foot loser is also weirdly obsessed with teaming up with tim#tim has never been more disgusted by that#jason: PLSSSS WORK WITH ME#tim: you’re a loser like the biggest loser i know#jason: UGH! I HATE U! like pls just work for me (tags via @damtroy)

#tim sees dick dressed like a CLOWN and still thinks he’s cool#but somehow Jason is the weird one#if I was jason id be offended too (tags via @dimtrake​)

#there’s no recovery from a tear away outfit that reveals an adult sized robin Halloween costume#complete with bright yellow tights underneath (tags via @aliteralchicken​)

#there’s no going back from the yellow tights#cringe be upon ye Jason Todd and fail be thy steed#gothamites#imagine being called cringe by somebody who says ‘oop’ when they fall over#I’d return to my grave tbh (tags via @alternis​)

#this is so true#its a comedy show#and like yes jason will beat his ass for it but tim will be like#“this is the most cringefail ass-kicking ive ever gotten :/”#“you get 2/5 stars did you even try (the 1 star is bc you used to be robin and dick grayson also used to be robin)#(and therefore you get some very slight coolness points from proximity to dick grayson)#(who is clearly the coolest guy to ever have walked this earth)”#which i also think would offend jason. critical hit#you think the guy who was DISCOWING is COOLER THAN ME??? **DISCOWING???**#and tims just like. uh yeah duh?? i have eyes obviously he’s cooler than you???#number 1 dick grayson fanboy. theres nothing jason can do abt that even if he does beat tim into the ground again#this knowledge brings jason great despair if he chooses to dwell on it. this is why he decides he cant let himself give a shit about tims o#*tim’s opinions (tags via @mamawasatesttube​)

[artemisaa87]

bruce 'im not your daddy' wayne

batman #481 (1992)

[briarette]

if supergirl 2026 has 1000 fans, i am one of them. if supergirl 2026 has 100 fans, i am one of them. if supergirl 2026 has 10 fans, i am one of them. if supergirl 2026 has no fans, i'm dead.

[sinhal-deactivated20241018]

We really need to return to Dick and Tim's best dynamic where Dick does insane stuff while Tim is horrified. Yes, Dick did just jump off that building to see if you could survive the fall. Yes, Dick is freaking surfing on trains. Yes, Dick did just use his acrobatic skills while playing tag in the middle of Bruce's building. In The Flash Plus Nightwing issue, Wally says that eating the "blood" to see if it was blood or just clay was a bat thing, it's not. Thats a Dick thing, he's the only one insane enough to do that

[silverwhittlingknife]

Y E S

knightsend:

legacy:

tim: REST!!! YOUR BONES!!! ARE BROKEN!!!! dick: yeah i considered it and i'm not gonna do that

nightwing 25:

dick: listen trains are cool but do you know what's EVEN COOLER?? blindfolds tim: but - dick: blindfolds AND trains tim: but - dick: JUMP

gotham knights 10:

Dick: I'm gonna jump off this building Tim: I really don't think that's a good... okay you've already done it okay cool cool cool this is fine

[spectral-phases]

My favorite part of this dynamic is that Tim is the exact same way (and Bruce too, to a certain extent) and thinks he's the normal one.

Let us never forget the way Dick first met Tim was for Dick to realize that this kid had tracked Batman down, taken photos, and tracked Dick all the way to Haly's

(Batman 1940 440 and The New Titans 1988 60)

They all taste questionable substances, though Tim might just be copying Dick/Bruce

(Detective Comics 1937 #611) (teen titans spotlight 1986 #14 and The Flash Plus Nightwing 197 #1) (batman 2025 #2)

And they have never sat down for an injury, ever. Like, there's the time Bruce got electrocuted, his heart stopped, and Tim had to convince the guy who had the electricity powers to revive Bruce, and then Bruce refused to stop working the case afterwards.

detective comics (1937) #645

But then Tim gets the Clench (Plague+), nearly dies, is still recovering, and decides to go out. This is where we get the iconic sleeping on the rooftop while watching a situation, because he's so tired from nearly dying, and he insists he's fine a minute later to Catwoman, the one who found him napping on the roof.

(Robin 1993 #28)

They are all so fucking unhinged, but Tim is not yet aware of how unhinged he is during this era and that is so important to me. Tim will criticize big bro (or Bruce) and then do the same thing they're doing, except he's right to do it.

[erdarielthewhumper]

Okay I know it's an old thing everyone's seen a million times, but...

I really do love it when a character gets to safety after some grueling experience they survived and got out of by their own strength and skill and cunning, and... then gets drastically worse very rapidly afterwards. Just utterly collapsing, sick, out of strength, in so much pain, hardly able to get out of bed without help, probably emotionally an utter mess too

Because they've just been pushing their body on and on, to its limits and past, because they had to, because it was up to them to deal with it all, there was no help, no back-up, nothing to rely on but themself. So their mind and body have just burned up all the reserves and endured it all as best as possible, they've held together until they got out of that situation

But now that they're finally safe, their body recognizes it. Now that they're finally safe they no longer need to endure more, they no longer need to keep anything together, to push the pain and exhaustion aside and refuse to feel it in order to go on. They're finally safe to stop all of that. And so- they collapse. All of it catches up with them all at once, and they have no optipn to keep it at bay anymore, they just have to feel it. Have to suffer the consequences of all the injuries, exhaustion, whatever illness they might've picked up, whatever's going on

And they just feel so miserable and weak and vulnerable and tired, and have no real option but to allow whoever's around to care for them and deal with everything while they recover

[comicpolls]

Favourite Platonic Duo: Semi-Finals Match One of Two

Dick Grayson (Nightwing/Robin) & Donna Troy (Troia/Wonder Girl)

Bruce Wayne (Batman) & Dick Grayson (Nightwing/Robin)

Remaining time: 1 day 20 hours

[nyukaart]

Hardest decision of my life

[dusty952]

Drew this last year in honour of Peter David. Here is the Classic Young Justice Roster in the art style of the Young Justice Animated Series.

[molabuddy]

really specific trope i like that i feel like can only be explained in a diagram

[mockingwing]

i do think danny has a tendency to be oblivious but i also think he actively chooses to be oblivious most of the time.

in dannys mind the portal accident was Not That Bad. what do you mean he died? he's literally fine and right here. nothing happened it was just weird and then he got cool ghost powers.

danny knows that he cant just abandon his friends to deal with the aftermath of a fight, that it makes him inconsiderate, but he's already so weighed down with fighting ghosts in the first place and he knows that sam and tucker will deal with it so he just.... disappears after the fight is over. he pretends not to notice his friends frustration. sorry guys, he'll try to do better next time.

he knows that sam has a crush on him. but he doesn't really want to think about that right now. so he pretends not to pick up on anything. isn't he just so bad at noticing how people feel about him?

choosing to give up his ghost powers and try to be a normal kid an opportunity for less moral ghost hunters and unfriendly ghosts to take over amity. but he really, really wants to just be a normal kid. so it's it better to pretend he doesn't know about the consequences?

his parents are trying to kill him but it's really not that big of a deal. vlad's obsession with him isn't that creepy he's just a sad lonely old man. he knows that the situations he ends up in are deadly and terrifying and traumatizing, but it's it so much easier to pretend that they're not? that he can laugh his way through with sarcasm and corny jokes and brute force? repression has worked out for him so far, so why bother changing his strategy? he can just keep choosing to be oblivious so that he doesn't have to face reality.

danny basically operates under "if i can't see it it can't hurt me" logic

[redrobins6dayoldcupofcoffee]

Despite what my name is I’m firmly believe that Tim Drake doesn’t actually drink that much coffee. That man is obviously drinks energy drinks and the occasional cup of tea made by Alfred.

The real question is, what type of energy drinks dose he drink?

[spectral-phases]

The Post-Crisis comics version of him strikes me as a Mountain Dew/Monster gamer type based on his bedroom while living in Drake manor. This is pure 90s kids energy.

Though I think there's an argument that he could love the Panera Charged Lemonades that had your entire daily allotment of caffeine in a large, especially the fandom tidy CEO version of him.

(You should only have 400 mg of caffeine in a day, all the drinks are 200mg in a regular and 390 in a large. Monsters only have approx. 160mg in a can and death wish coffee only goes up to about 210mg in a serving)

[jokin-around]

I’m gonna be honest, people pretending Bruce has an adoption addiction Is funny and all, but it’s starting to trick people into thinking he goes out searching for and wanting to put all these actual children in the line of danger when in reality they just sorta latch onto his leg while he stands there trying shake them off screaming “NO, I’M NOT DOING THIS AGAIN” ‘till he caves and teaches them jujitsu

[questbedhead]

Bruce: Please, for the love of god, small child, stay home in my giant mansion and be safe.

Every Robin, Batgirl, and various other assorted baby Bats:

[batfam-belfry]

Detective Comics #542

When Bruce Wayne comes before Batman

[peachesandcows]

I’m gonna need you all to get more obsessed with Supergirl 2026. It’s literally every single sarcastic, messy, depressed, grieving, male lead from recent media that accidentally adopts an angry, young girl (also grieving) which forces him to confront his self destructive behavior and realize the impact he can still make. But she’s a girl. This is the character you all love in every piece of media. I’m begging you all to adore her the same way.

[spectral-phases]

A non-exhaustive list of legally distinct brands in DC Comics

This is mostly for me to reference later

Zesti-Cola/Zesti

stand-in for Coca-cola or Pepsi-Cola

First appearance: Detective Comics 1937 #645 (Dective Comics 1937 646, Robin 1993 40, Robin 1993 57)

Soder-Cola

Stand in for Coca-cola or Pepsi-Cola

First appearance: Action Comics 1938 663 (JSA 2025 14, cover variant)

Spite

stand-in for Sprite

(No idea where this comes from, but it looks like it's from the latter half of the Robin 1993 run, amazing synergy with his expression)

Pixtagraph

stand-in for Instagram

Batgirl 2011 37

Chirper

stand-in for Twitter, does this making "chirping" the equivalent of "tweeting" and "chirp" the equivalent of "tweet"?

Teen Titans 2014 2, Nightwing 2016 16

Tales of Our Own (TO3)

stand-in for Archive of Our Own (AO3)

Far Sector 2019 6

Feel free to add on with any others you know of

[spectral-phases]

Late news, but just found this out:

(Far Sector 2019, #3 & #6)

Computer, enhance

DC has, in canon, a legally-distinct Ao3, which is To3. Beautiful.