#dc comic ref

[junkdrawerfan]

The more giant and ridiculous Bruce’s cape is the better. I want his cape to swallow him. I want it to drag on the ground like a bridal train. I want it to flare out and encompass the moon, darkening Gotham’s blocks like a great bird of prey.

What a ridiculous man. I love him.

[junkdrawerfan]

Final Thoughts on Nightwing: Year One....

Nightwing: Year One is a fun comic with a lot of great moments, fun DickBabs teasers, and works as a fantastic solo-Nightwing introduction. However, it sanitizes the original Dick-Bruce-Jason confrontation and robs us off the richer 1980s Post-Crisis relationship.

Let me explain.

N:YO opens with Dick having left the Titans on temporary leave to find himself now that he is no longer Robin. He reaches out to Superman. He returns to Haly's to explore his roots. Both events lead to him taking the name Nightwing and wearing the dark blue-medium blue suit we see below. And then he returns to Gotham, introduces his new identity to Babs, Jim, Joker, and a variety of goons with every intention of continuing to work in Gotham.

And then he meets Jason.

First! I want to say, Jason is so lovable in this. He is so cocky!! I want to pinch his cheek and give him a noogie. Maybe flick his nose Haha! What a little rascal!!

Now on to the meat and potatoes:

Like the original 1980s story (Batman (1940) #416), there is resentment. But it's a cold resentment. He's upset but he's jaded. Dick thinks "I should have expected this" as he quietly grinds his teeth.

As the story progresses, Dick forges a brief partnership with the new Robin while trying to save Alfred and fight Killer Croc. Eventually reaching a quiet acceptance of the new status quo before recording a farewell speech to Bruce and riding off into the sunset, abandoning Gotham to return to the Titans.

It's all very different from the original post-crisis rewrite of Dick & Jason's meeting in Batman (1940) #416.

There Dick runs hot there. He's betrayed. He's angry. He confronts Bruce and refuses to leave until he hears the truth Bruce is too scared to admit. And when Bruce tells him to get lost, he grieves. This is a painful moment in the epic that is Bruce & Dick's relationship. And its all the better for it.

As the issue goes on, Dick meets Jason one last time, offering him the Robin suit and his phone number. A lifeline for when Bruce gets to be "too much." But you can tell it's more an act of empathetic kindness than any real attempt to foster a relationship with his new "brother." There is no follow up. Dick doesn't try to foster a relationship. He's a distant lifeline that Jason never grabs.

(Partially because Jason is scared of Dick. Jason sees Dick is much better than him and immediately worries that Dick is here for "his old job." Which is very inline with Post-Crisis Robin!Jason. Post-Crisis Robin!Jason is a very nervous young man. He's afraid of losing what he's gained and that persists until it costs him everything in Death of the Family.)

To be honest, I prefer the original.

A defining feature of Jason’s Robin era is how isolated Jason and Bruce are from the wider DC hero community. Nightwing is gone. Batgirl exists but doesn’t work directly with Batman. Huntress isn’t part of the family. Selina comes and goes. Most of Gotham’s other heroes and anti-heroes won't appear until post-Tim.

While Jason occasionally fights alongside the Titans, he’s never truly one of them. He’s Nightwing’s plus-one, not a teammate. He never builds a peer community the way Dick, Tim, and Damian do as Robin. That absence is unique to Jason, and it explains a core element of Bruce & Jason's relationship: their co-dependence.

Nightwing: Year One flattens the Dick-Bruce-Jason dynamic.

On Dick and Bruce’s side, we are robbed of the explosive confrontation between Dick & Bruce that will lay the groundwork for their poor relationship in Batman: Year Three post Jason's death and subsequent painful reconciling post-Batman: Prodigal.

It also severs the small but vital connection between Dick and Jason—the lifeline never meant to be taken. Without it, Dick’s grief over Jason’s death becomes far more self-centered. In N:YO, Dick never even attempts a relationship with Jason while he’s alive. By contrast, Batman (1940) #416 frames Dick’s guilt as the regret of a genuine missed connection.

The greatest loss, however, is how N:YO reframes Bruce and Jason entirely. Instead of a lonely man clinging to a grieving child, as in Batman (1940) #416, N:YO presents Jason as a cocky wild-child who demands the Robin mantle and needs to be "saved" from his "worst impulses." For fucks sake, Dick jokingly asks Bruce "did you pick him up before the Joker could?"

In Batman (1940) #408-411, we see Jason as a nervous, well-meaning kid doing what he can to get by, who sees a chance at a better life if he accepts the Robin mantle and dedicate himself to Batman's crusade. Hell, Batman (1940) #416 directly states that "Bruce made Jason Robin to save him from himself" is a lie and pure cope so Bruce doesn't have to confront the fact that he is endangering a child because he's lonely!

Of course, canon is flexible. It twists and turns with the flow of time. We pick the stories that appeal to us and construct the narratives that we enjoy. Batman (and all DC/Marvel) is similar to many mythological storytelling patterns of civilizations past.

But one thing I really do love about the OG 1980s post-crisis stories about Jason and his death is that Jason was a victim as much as he was a hero. Its so unique and makes his Robin tenure so much richer.

I know people love the "Robin is Magic" Jason of the Silver and Bronze age; the lighthearted second Boy Wonder who danced across the page with a fun school life and a perfect father.

But the Post-Crisis 1980s retelling, in my opinion, offers a much deeper story: the story of a child desperate to do his best, wrestling with his anxieties/traumas while trying to find his place in a new family after the devastating loss of his first one, alongside a wounded mentor who tries (and fails) to do right by him. Until, ultimately, it all ends in tragedy.

I encourage everyone to give it a read!

[junkdrawerfan]

Cool interview with Edi Garyegi about his role as Mr. Terrific!

[junkdrawerfan]

So I decided to continue on my Dick Grayson binge and just finished reading Dark Victory, Robin: Year One, Nightwing: Year One, The New Teen Titans Issues #55, #63, #110-114, and Nightwing (1995) so I can finally start reading Nightwing (1996).

Wow! I have so many thoughts. But to summarize here are my favorite through lines:

The idea that Dick was cold after his tenure as Robin & Starfire and the other Titans injected this love of life back into him was not something I knew. His refusal to deal with grief because it made him think of his parents and how much Robin was both a way to control his life and run away from it is interesting.

And I think my favorite thread was Dick’s fear that Robin & Nightwing had killed Dick. At 21 he doesn’t know who he is. He’s been hiding from his feelings for so long that now that Starfire is no longer there to distract him, he finally has to confront himself!

Now that I’m finally at Nightwing (1996), I’m really excited to read Dick’s “second coming of age” story! It’ll be fun to see him dedicate himself to Blud and grow closer to the Bats (I really did enjoy that little training arc we got with Tim in The New Teen Titans #65!)

Below the cut are some of my favorite panels:

- Dark Victory

- Year Three

- The New Teen Titans #55

- The New Teen Titans #114

- Nightwing (1995)

[junkdrawerfan]

What comic does Tim meet Oracle for the first time during post-crisis?

From what i've seen, it is probably pre-knightfall. Does anyone know which issue, specifically?

[junkdrawerfan]

We need to be more critical of how stupid an infinite multiverse with finite borders is.

The fact that everyone, in every multiverse, ends up in the same heaven and hell is the dumbest thing DC has ever cooked up. Let alone the finite borders of New Genisis and the concept of multiversal beings. And DC has a lot of wild world building.

At some point, 9 quadrillion BoosterGolds will time travels to the exact same spot in Times Square and the compressing matter will blow up that section of the multi-universe.

Darkseid doesn’t hate the League. He’s tired of fighting them every 15 seconds while trying to make a cup of coffee, because every infinite multiverse variant is constantly invading. And he’d like 5 minutes of peace and to take a nap without Batman kicking him in the face.

If there is an infinite # of universe where every possibility is possible, but all soul variants will go to the same heaven and hell. That means, by the end, there will be the exact same number of X soul-type in heaven and hell. Where they will either combine into a mega soul and duke it out with their heaven/hell counterpart to see where that X soul-type spend eternity. Or there is just a 1/2 of infinity # of you’s in both regions and the likelihood of running into yourself is too high.

It just ruins so many stakes and makes everything make less sense! Don’t do it guys!

And that doesn’t even get into the ridiculousness of a Dark Multiverse! If the Dark multiverse is also infinite. Then guess what Infinity + Infinity is just Infinity! The Dark Multiverse isn’t dark, guys! It’s just a sampling error!

(Source: DC Death Metal and the basic understanding of Infinity)