chechek

[chechek]

[chechek]

Some silly meme

[chechek]

Some silly sketches

[chechek]

[chechek]

[chechek]

The cover for batman #147 features Damian and I think I remember Jorge Jimenez posting a wip of Damian for a batman issue in december, so I guess Zdarsky will finally acknowledge that there is a whole other book going on that kind of requires them to be on good terms.

Then again the solicitation says that Bruce is "all alone" and that Zur gets a new sidekick, so honestly I'm expecting Zdarsky to continue with his "Tim is the best Robin and Damian is just a stupid tool" agenda.

[chechek]

Well I read batman and robin #5

At least they got a new artist. Now all they have to do is get a new writer.

Like it wasn't awful-awful but it also wasn't really good. There were some moments that could've been cute if they fit more in with dcs other comics at this time, it feels like it's very disconnected

It seems as if Williamson's scene in batman and robin #4 was not actually trying to show good mom talia, just "not literally the worst" talia, as we see damian reflect on his previous teachers, thinking of ras and talia and saying "some were not great" and comparing them unfavorably to his new bio teacher. Like that's as far as Williamson is willing to retcon.

[chechek]

Dick poll

Jason poll

Tim poll

[chechek]

I don’t know who this new artist is but I like them better already

[chechek]

In other news: the only reason people headcanon Tim as asian is due to the idea that he is smart, in which it than makes sense for him to be asian from all the stereotypes that “asians are smart”

[chechek]

[chechek]

random question but i'd love to hear your analysis of damian's speech patterns/cadence! ik it's changed over time a bit but i'd love to hear ur take on it

I kept saving this in my inbox trying to be like "i'll think of a good response sometime and dedicate time to it" but I could not ;_;

In general, when he just starts in the comic, Batman and Son, we see a lot more focus on him having like "spoiled kid" vibes (at least how people conceptualize that) in dialogue, with stuff that it's hard to imagine him saying later (like yelling 'why can't I have a laptop').

He also curses freely in Batman and Son, I can't remember level of cursing later.

IIRC he doesn't start calling people mostly by their last names until at least batman and robin 2009 (possibly 2011?) but he does speak notably different in batman and robin 2009. He takes himself seriously. We see later comics indicate he doesn't use slang a long (like when he says something sucks, dick is like "i'm proud you're finally using youthful colloquialisms").

Damian in general sounds pretty confident when he speaks, and does not readily admit fault. He likes trash-talking people as he's fighting. we see this multiple times in Robin: Son of Batman (in his fight with Talia in a flashback, in the preview comic, etc) and in Batman and Robin 2011.

Williamson kind of bland-ified his voice so much I don't count it as evolution of Damian's speech patterns but Williamson just failing as a writer.

like IDK for some reason this bit

Batman and Robin #2

just seemed so un-damian-like to me? like I get him being concerned about the animals, that's not OOC. But him pleading immediately is super weird. Williamson's probably like "oh the reader's too stupid to tell he cares about animals if he doesn't" but like.. in general, in pre-Williamson writing, Damian can obviously care about people or animals without immediately coming across as pleading or desperate

I will keep in mind how his speech is portrayed as I continue my Damian re-read! Hopefully then I'll have a more defined answer for you :P

[chechek]

Btw, if someone is wondering why I'm not really talking about comics anymore, DC seems to have abandoned continuity altogether and what is happening with Damian right now isn't all that interesting.

Even things like the last back-up story in Ram's Tec run...yeah, I liked it somewhat, but what was the purpose?

Apparently 10-year-old Damian had nightmares about Aleasa? And? He's 14 now. What does current Damian think about what is going on with his father? With Gotham? What is the point? And what is Talia wrong about? I don't get it.

It's not a bad story, but I simply don't understand what the purpose of it was. I doubt that Damian is going to show up in the next few issues to influence the plot in the present, so why talk about how he felt about the story his mother told him several years ago at all? If you don't intend to use Damian in your main plot then don't waste time on a meaningless side-story set several years ago. It doesn't matter.

[chechek]

[chechek]

I don't fully understand how he did it, but Williamson made the Batman and Robin book so boring. How do you make a book with BRUCE WAYNE and DAMIAN, two of DC's most dramatic and at times unreasonable characters, boring?

[chechek]

Drawing different faces is a special antistress

[chechek]

Williamson continues to disappoint in batman and robin 2023

Like (spoilers. also CW child abuse)

I respect the general intention behind the talia portrayed as putting limits on damians instructors in the league and not being portrayed as a 100% abusive monster. It's necessary to show that, though obviously the best option would be for her not to have been portrayed as involved in raising him as an assassin at all.

But Williamson has previously done half assed al ghul retcons that went nowhere, often while later portraying them in a more unflattering manner in a way that makes me question if he was actually trying to fix writing in the first place.

He also just... is a huge fan of making damians abuse I guess like more "conventional", or more immediately obvious to see, which I don't like. Like whenever he writes damians instructors their always telling him he's not good enough or being extremely harsh in ways he needs to be saved from.

But like... previously in tomasi and gleasons writing, we see damian told that he is great. It's not unwarranted - he is incredibly talented and he works hard and does impossible feats. But i feel like if Williamson wrote those scenes he'd rewrite it for damian to do something incredibly impressive and then people come in and tell damian he sucks anyway and needs to be better and that is so NOT THE POINT. Like his childhood can be abusive... and he was treated like the heir who was going to take over*, he was not insulted a bunch, he was told he was great (while he also demonstrated capability).

Like I'm reminded of how horrocks wrote cass and david's dynamic compared to puckett (link). Where when Cass reflects on her childhood with David while Puckett writes her, she often is portrayed as happy. Even when he shoots her to keep her on her toes. She doesn't see anything wrong with her childhood! Horrock portrays their dynamic with a much more "typical" take on an abusive dad and abused child, with cass being touch starved and sad.

Williamson takes a complicated situation (raising a child in such an extreme way to kill people is abusive, but he also was supported/encouraged vocally by his family and told he's awesome (not unwarrantedly, he does demonstrate being awesome)) and then flattens it into something that is more palatable and obvious to the reader. There were these mean guys who insulted Damian and hit him or wanted to throw him to the wolves. It just sits so wrong with me to flatten a complex situation that is not immediately obvious to many people what's wrong with it into a more stereotypical situation

In terms of Talia I feel like... it is not making things worse, and maybe trying to be a little better, but it's still working off foundations that are so OOC it's hard to imagine. Like yeah realistically Williamson can't retcon Talia raising Damian as an assassin without DC editors approval probably, but given the rest of his writing I really doubt he would try to do that anyway. No matter what, the major complaint ("she raised her child as an assassin") is still there

*going by new 52 onward stories, pre new 52 was kind of unclear and I could see some arguing for Williamson's interpretation... but also pre new 52 would not have had Talia present at all (just while she's being villainized)