gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

This is what should've happened when Dick got pick-pocketed.

Nightwing (Vol. 4) #79

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

daaamn

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

it's actually super funny when you think about how the Superfam 🤝 Flashfam 🤝 Arrowfam 🤝 Wonderfam = basically all collectively being friends with and/or respecting the hell out of Dick Grayson

You think it's just Clark but no. Lois loves him. Post-Crisis!Kara thought of him as a mentor and big brother figure. Kon canonically thinks Dick is cool. And Jon looks up to Dick a lot (and obviously Clark literally put Dick in charge of looking out for Jon while he was off-planet)

And then you think it's just Roy, but no. Lian calls him "Uncle Nightwing," Dinah thinks he's good for Babs, Connor's generally chill with him, Emiko thinks he's nice and hot (lmao), and Ollie's apparently fond enough of him that we're told Dick is the one who named the Arrowcave

And then you think it's just Wally but no. Wally's kids love him, Barry likes him, he's on good enough terms with Bart to get a focus panel at Bart's funeral, he's led Jesse on two separate teams, and Jay's willing to swing by NYC with the rest of the JSA to help him move out of the Cloisters after Final Crisis

And THEN you think it's just Donna, but no. Diana watched him grow up and thinks fondly of him, and Cassie respects Dick enough that she not only took Damian onto the Teen Titans on a trial basis just because Dick asked but he's also the first person she calls when she thinks Tim's gone crazy after Bruce's death

truly the linchpin character of the DCU, we have no choice but to stan

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

(New Titans #55)

Bruce isn't a great listener. This exchange is right after he punches Dick in the face (with the gauntlets on) for "daring" (Bruce specifically uses the words "don't you dare blame me") to point out that Bruce was negligent with Jason's safety. Noteworthy is that this is the first discussion the two have about Jason's passing. Bruce told Alfred that he would tell Dick himself. He did not. Dick had to find out by hacking into the bat-computer's database. When he confronts Bruce, Bruce acts like Dick should know already. Calls him out for not attending the funeral of a boy that he did not know was dead. While he was in space.

Bruce invited three people to Jason's funeral: Alfred Pennyworth, Jim Gordon, Barbara Gordon. Five people were present when you add Bruce and the priest. He kept it extremely private because "That's the way it has to remain, if I want to maintain a secret identity" (Batman (1940) #428). Alfred offers to tell Dick. Bruce says no. He says he'll handle it. Again, he does not do this. He told Alfred that he'd handle talking to Dick during the funeral and then asks Dick why he wasn't at the funeral where Bruce openly acknowledged that no one had told him yet. Parental figure who criticizes you for something you didn't have any way to know was happening. How typical.

Seriously. Can't stress enough how little Dick knew about Jason's death. Bruce seems to just expect him to figure it out himself as if it was just another case and he can't be bothered to fill Dick in on it.

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this has been discussed before but reducing female characters to the girlboss braincell holder in the name of combating misogyny in fandom is ironically also a form of misogyny

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

Titans (1999) #17

;__;

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

Adding my two cents -- I'm really sad that Bea Bennet wasn't allowed to just be a civilian! Characters shouldnt need to be special to be worthy of consideration from heros, especially ones who we're supposed to view as members of their community. Thinking on good Nightwing comics, what really sets him apart is his connections to the community via civilian characters! Recently it feels like if someone in Nightwing doesn't act as a crazy cameo they aren't valued as much as they otherwise would be.... I've said this before but a major downside to a lot of comics is the cast not reappearing after a run regardless of their quality. If we want Nightwing to be different from Batman through his relationship to the community, if we want to actually care about Blüdhaven, why is Blüdhaven not given a firm identity outside of it blowing up?! I wish they would bring back those guidebooks they would do on characters and locations, giving them maps, specific characteristics, backstories, and everything -- even if they arent going to appear in the comics! This would make the world seem a lot more planned out and allow for authors to better piggyback off of one another! I also think it would be nice if when authors write about characters that they actually read prior comics... this seems obvious but some of the errors in characterization and lineups seem more derived from social media discussions than actual reading....

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

ao3 for dick grayson fics is such a trying experience, truly bc what do you mean there's not one, not two but an overwhelming abundance of fics where dick is a bad sibling and jason todd is the ideal, supportive, drops-everything-for-your-crisis sibling?

like i can understand the appeal of exploring the lesser of dick's choices and character traits and how those impact his relationships with the rest of the bats but you mean to tell me that any of them- damian, tim, cass- tim, especially- would willingly go to jason for help when they have the option of asking dick?

as much as red robin is a deeply rich, complex story about grief and morality, i'm afraid it did irreparable damage to dick's character, not to mention tim's (that boy does not have an egregiously high body count, comics would never gloss over that kind of mass death or be implicit about it in any way if that had actually happened)

dick's primary character thesis is being a safety net for people who fall- the way bruce and batman were for him after his parents died. it's one of his chief driving forces. there is no world where he doesn't help out a stranger, let alone his siblings if they come to him for help. and despite all of the bats being notoriously bad at asking for help and support, the number of instances where dick is an empathetic listener, doling out advice and emotional support and compassion (even when people are tight-lipped about needing any of those things) far outweighs the times he has been short-sighted or intentionally harsh. no character is perfect but to see how often jason is written favourably whilst simultaneously dragging dick is maddening fr

like, fine you like jason a lot. it can be fun and cathartic to write about him choosing to develop relationships outside of his grief/trauma/revenge with bruce (although i think that the most compelling thing about jason is how much of his character post-resurrection is driven by existing as a dead boy walking so to see him actually care about living and making healthy choices would probably require something beyond therapy with harley quinn lmao) but is it really necessary to do that while putting dick down? both tim and damian have seen dick while he is decidedly not at his best (reeling from the circus burning down in nw '96, grieving bruce, finding his footing as batman) and have come out the other side firm in their belief in him. cass, unfortunately is more removed from dick's immediate circle but that's a whole other tangent about how peripheral dick is to both of the batgirls that come after babs. steph, by virtue of having a parent who is alive, is lucky enough to be removed from more of the complicated dynamics all of them have with each other. and while dick is an ass in her initial batgirl days, he does warm up to her (but that again is a whole other post considering the legitimacy and nuances of characterizations in batgirl- tim never gets the same flak for his treatment of steph despite being much, much closer to her and actually knowing her beyond the second robin to die- and even then, when dick finds out about steph's death, the gist of initial reaction is to blame bruce, perhaps, rightfully so)

like you're falling for his act!!! as readers of a form of media like comics, we are lucky enough to get a glimpse into dick's inner neuroses and thought-processes while simultaneously seeing how he acts on them. ofc we see him make mistakes but a lot of the other characters don't!! and if/when they do, they don't see beyond the performance he delivers. even barring the fucked-up-ness of a high stakes job like vigilantism where trauma and death and adrenaline are linked together messily, no relationship between two people is perfect. people hurt each other, people lash out!! but the most compelling thing about dick is how often he reaches out, how often he swings back even after he has swung away!! that's what makes him such a source of light, hope and positivity for everybody he encounters

and this is not even touching n52 which seems like the most hasty kind of decision making and writing from editorial with no consideration for a lot of the characters' histories, lore and their core characterizations

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

today i have decided to feel insane about nightwing and cheshire interacting. how she has only met him in professional capacities but because they both love roy, it is very evident to her how much dick and roy care about each other.

in nightwing: old friends, new enemies, she hesitates to use her poison claws on him because she knows that he's only doing this for roy, a man she once loved, the father of her child. and that hesitation costs her. at this point in the story, dick has only just found out her location and he doesn't yet know roy's real motivations for asking dick for help. he's holding back because roy is awol and he doesn't have the full picture, yet.

towards the conclusion of this story, when she has been defeated and is being escorted to captivity, she calls out for him:

just. how can i not be insane about this. she knows what roy means to dick, how much lian means to roy. she has now seen both first-hand and she entrusts dick with this- asking him to take care of her daughter. this is such a big leap of faith, she's injured, has just been tranquilized, is on her way to losing custody of her daughter and probably going to prison for the foreseeable future. and to ask this of dick? heartbreaking but also, of course she can ask this. this is what dick has been doing since he found out why roy asked him on this mission- taking care of roy and by extension, lian.

another instance where i enjoy their dynamic- their shared love of roy is titans (1999) #12:

just look at his fond lil expression when he's talking about roy, arguably to one of the most important people in roy's life. their shared commiseration over roy's big heart and impulsivity.

jade's bleeding out and when she's cheshire, she doesn't usually show weakness. but she feels comfortable enough to be vulnerable enough to ask if she will make it. and how he attempts to soothe her with levity and she meets him there. he might never understand why roy loves her but at the same time, he can understand roy's ever-present affection for her. this is the mother of roy's child. and dick gets that! just look at titans (1999) #21:

just feeling insane about how both jade and dick's immense love for roy is reflected and recognized by the other. it's such a fun nuance to explore and a big contributor to my dickroy propaganda. <3

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

"My boy, my son."

Like great googly moogly my son is dead again! Lmaooo.

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

i mean we don't know jason is for suuure dead, but we're led to believe he is. it could be a misdirect. i hope he's dead though.

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there tends to be a kind of under estimation in regards to dick’s attitude towards his parents. they’re more often used as The Reason for his path of heroism, and that’s true enough, but it’s a very focused Reason that often fails to include the actual Loving Parents. i would argue that thomas and martha wayne get more attention in regards to their loving on bruce, and in certain time traveling corners on dick as well, but it’s rare to see that kind of respect paid to john and mary grayson. the parallels we can draw between bruce and dick pretty much end after dick is taken in. we can count: loving parents; stable family structure; only child; bright future; horrific murder of parents; witness to said murder; and plot for vengeance as the core parallels between dick and bruce. where they begin to diverge is the point in which bruce becomes the guiding mentor for dick in how to channel that sense of grief and rage (though bruce had alfred, alfred played no part in diverting bruce from his self destructive path and encouraged it)

to that end, there’s a lot of talk about martha wayne’s pearls and mary grayson’s robin, but even then talk seems to only center around dick’s hero name and never what about the history the name implies. “robin stands for hope”, okay what else? martha’s pearls symbolize the catalyst for bruce’s transformation into batman, but does mary’s robin do the same? i think not, bc going back to the divergence between bruce’s and dick’s origins, though bruce remains the defining fork in the road for dick, if dick were raised in extremely similar circumstances as bruce, bruce would have more or less fulfilled the role that alfred did for bruce- which was mainly distant but caring adult figure that served to simply agree rather than direct. a reasonable conclusion, should bruce have fulfilled such a role for dick, would have been that dick should’ve become bruce #2. obviously, dick didn’t and the reason for that lies in john and mary grayson

this may ruffle some feathers, but there is a point to be made in the difference between the wayne parents and the grayson parents. let’s do some quick if thens: if alfred was left in charge of bruce, then alfred holds some responsibility in how bruce turned out. if bruce grew up to be someone emotionally closed off, then bruce is an emotionally distant, closed off adult. if bruce is an emotionally distant, closed off adult, then it stands to reason alfred reflects the same. so, if bruce and alfred are both emotionally distant, closed off adults, then when they take in dick grayson, dick will grow up to be an emotionally distant, closed off adult. right?

well, we all know that’s not how it turned out, and all reason for such a conclusion reside solely in the short time john and mary grayson raised their son. “but bruce had about the same time with his own parents. why did he and dick turn out so different?” and again i point directly at the implied differences in the wayne’s and grayson’s child rearing! the waynes represented a very nuclear family, one that is generationally upper class and in very prominent leadership positions. tracking the assumed and typical rearing patterns for that kind of family, though it may be a foundationally loving one, it’s also one that is radically different from the type the graysons represented. power and job structure rested solely with thomas and martha; bruce had very very little to worry about or any responsibilities other than making good grades and being a generally good son. comparing such a dynamic to the graysons, the power lines begin to blur a little. john and mary are employees, not leaders or heads of anything. however, they work in an extremely team oriented and cooperative environment- their earnings depend on everyone and themselves. though a prominent act in haly’s circus, they are not a completely solo one, and even then, it is a team, FAMILY act. since his birth, dick has been raised in an environment that focuses heavily on teamwork and perseverance. he took on enormous responsibility in being a part of the flying graysons, which likely wasn’t something he was being forced to do, young as he was. taking on a JOB as young as 9 years old, one that tests his physical, mental, and emotional strength sets him drastically apart from bruce when he was the same age. but let’s go back to john and mary again

no parent on earth would ever want to put their child in such a dangerous position as performing on the trapeze. and yet, john and mary did. why? dick’s initiative and his parents’ trust and strength. if john and mary believed that they lacked in some way that could put dick in harms way, i find it impossible to believe they would have ever let dick join them. dick did not learn his strength and endurance from bruce. dick already possessed those qualities before meeting him, otherwise dick would have never become robin and joined batman so quickly. the graysons set an ENORMOUS example for dick, one that set the tone for the rest of his life. taking into account the “it takes a village” familial structure that dick was raised in while with haly, dick would have learned that the strength of individuals COMBINED is what makes a person strong. even the formation of the flying graysons relies on trust in each other, that they will be caught in the next leap and that they can do these amazing stunts without fear of failure BECAUSE of the Faith they have in each others abilities. in addition to that, an environment that encourages strength and teamwork must also encourage FAILURE. one cannot learn from perfection- only through mistakes does one grow, and dick grew EXPONENTIALLY. dick grew, at the age of 9, to PRODIGY levels of talent and acrobatics. john and mary set an example so strong and so steadfast that it fostered dick’s stone-solid character for the rest of his life, even after they were gone from it

dick would have not survived his parents’ deaths were it not for the way they had raised him. it is why dick can move on and grow from it, whereas, as we’ve seen a dozen dozen times, bruce has failed to ever move on. coddled and adored as he was, bruce never had to face a challenge that his parents wouldn’t have gladly taken care of for him. the waynes did everything for their son because they loved him enormously, and what parent in the world would force their child to do difficult things- especially at 10 years old? of course bruce never had to confront things like failure or hardship before, his circumstances in life simply wouldn’t have allowed for it, and that is why bruce was so incapable of handling his parents’ deaths. thomas and martha did not prepare bruce for difficulties in any department, whereas john and mary introduced problems AND solutions to dick very early on. the SOLUTIONS bit is what set up dick for so much success- that’s the key difference between the two. dick had both parents AND guides, while bruce just had parents

dick would not have become a light in the world while with bruce were it not for john and mary grayson and their love and dedication towards their son. the credit for dick’s achievements as a hero may fall to bruce most of the time, but even bruce recognizes that he had zero part in the formation of dick’s strength of character. dick’s continued success and perseverance has EVERYTHING to do with those first 9 years he was with john and mary, and not a single one of the innumerable tragedies dick has endured has ever been able to disavow that

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

Also, it bugs me that in TT's interpretation of Dick's past, Dick apparently hasn't even been on the trapeze yet as a 7 year old.

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

“batman loves his nightwing” this and “batsibs love nightwing that”, what about the batsibs’ friends / team loving nightwing ‼️‼️

YES!!! They love him!

The thing about Dick Grayson is that he has such a unique quality that just draws people in and holds them captive.

Titans (2016) Issue #26

He has a charisma that's intense. People from all walks of life find themselves just constantly looking at him for friendship, advice, love, guidance, and just something that calls them to him.

It's the impact he has on people that's astounding.

Titans (2016) Issue #27

They love him so much and they respect him so much that his absence is like a huge gaping hole in their chest. People feel lost without him because they've come to rely so heavily on him. Gar and Steel literally only joined because Dick asked.

This is something Roy catches on to and is well-aware of. He practically hounds Dick into creating the Outsiders with him.

Outsiders (2003) Issue #1

But you think Roy is the only one to capitalize on Dick's Nightwing effect? Hell no.

Titans East Special

Dick isn't just a person. He's a home. He's the guiding hand and the ship's steer control. He's special to people because he's everything they want him to be. He's their lover, best friend, brother, and partner. Whatever role they're missing in life they find it him him because he makes himself versatile enough to fill whatever they're looking for.

Dark Crisis Issue #1

We say batsibs' teams but he's the whole Justice community's everything. He fills the connections of both Batman's side and Superman's side.

He IS the most well-connected person in the entire community.

Teen Titans (2003) Issue #23

Look at what Kon says -

"Nightwing and Starfire brought wave two. Which is just about everyone whose ever been a Titan. It's a natural thing when Nightwing shows up. None of us are conscious of it, really--but we all look to him for orders. Robin's lucky."

The sheer respect. That Kon has for Nightwing is indomitable. Oh, but you think that's all?

Do you know what the superhero community says about Nightwing? Kon will tell you what they think -

Teen Titans (2003) Issue #33

The Titans (1999) Issue #39

He calls. They answer.

Hero-worship of Nightwing is canonically universal. Renaming this the Nightwing Effect

Epilson

The Titans (1999)

Red Condor

Nightwing (2016) Annual #3

Hutch

Nightwing (2016) Issue #75

Kara

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #49

Supergirl (2005) Issue #3

And sometimes this means more than friendship love but still born out of respect. It's so funny to me how Dick goes around friendzoning people.

Cassie

Even when people don't like what he wants they still do it because they respect him. Because he had an impact on them and they were were moved

Titans (2003) Issue #89

Aquaman, Ollie, John (Green Lantern)

JLA (1997) Issue #121

Kyle Rayner

Even people he's just met are like - this guy's pretty good!

Green Lantern (1990) Issue #81

Coming from a Green Lantern comic!! Not even a Wondergirl, Wonderwoman, Batman, or Nightwing writer. A green lantern!

Speaking of which, when Hal Jordon dies, a list of people are selected to be The Hal Jordon's replacement and guess who it is?

Action Comics (1938) Issue #642

Hal forces his soul back into his body and comes back to life but DC does a "what-if" thing and shows what it would be like if Dick actually became a Green Lantern.

Superman/Batman Issue #60

AND BRUCE'S REACTION!! His most favorite son combined with one of his least favorite people 🤣🤣

Superman/Batman Issue #60

But Bruce's faith in Dick actually elavtes his opinion of Hal.

ALSO!!-

Superman/Batman Issue #61

I JUST KNOW THAT BRUCE WAS WRITHING IN JEALOUSY!!

But anyway, shows to prove that no matter who Dick is and what identity he takes, he will always be the love of the hero community. Because in this world, each member is a combination of the Justice League AND the Titans.

Superman/Batman Issue #60

Yet Dick is still the center of it all.

A literal god

Nightwing (2016) Issue #49

Jon and the hero community

Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis Issue #1

"It would mean a LOT to people if you came and said--" "You're all overreacting." "We need you."

"You're all overreacting." - Clearly, this isn't the first time someone has already come to Dick about being the center of the community.

Not just by the batfam, but for everyone Dick is the most beloved person in the community. That is a fact.

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

A huge hyperfixation: Dick Grayson and his fur collars <333!!

Batman and Robin Eternal

Batman/Superman (2013) Issue #26

Nightwing (1996) Issue #68

adfjhadljfhdasf he looks so pretty!!!!

The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract

Titans (2016) Issue #26

I love the fur lining on his clothes. His Young Justice snowsuit is also fur-lined.

Bonus: Wonders Twins twinning!!

Titans (2016) Issue #26