#Bruce being a good dad and letting his kid explore new experiences

[ectonurites]

for the character headcannons ask game, jason and cass?

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT im putting this one under a cut because it got SUPER long bc i cant shut up ever

lets start w jason

A (realistic headcanon): 

ok using the ‘realistic’ category here loosely but GOD i love the idea of Damian & Jason having interacted while Jason was staying with the League before getting dunked in the Lazarus Pit. like. this obviously would need to be set more in preboot and following the Lost Days & Batman Annual 25 version of Jason’s resurrection, but god the idea of it just makes me scream in a good way. Like... these are things Jason likely doesn’t remember very clearly once he’s brought back to life more fully by the pit because he was uh pretty catatonic, but Damian being a little kid and knowing about the boy that his mother keeps around the base, that she’s trying to help bring back to health. Damian not even knowing that’s his big brother, just that he’s a presence that shares his mother’s attention. Jason again being unresponsive but like, ok god you know that part of lost days where Talia shows the others observing him that he only fights back at those he perceives as genuine threats trying to hurt him, 

Because Jason can perceive that she’s safe, she’s not actually trying to hurt him, he trusts her because she saved him? thinking about lil child Damian who is ya know already being trained in fighting stuff and like the idea of him trying to provoke Jason just to see what happens but Jason not fighting back because on some level be it his connection to Talia or even little baby Damian visually reminding him of Bruce, he knows that Damian is safe too 🥺 

and then when Jason and Damian meet again in Gotham as Red Hood & Robin respectively, Jason not really remembering because there was so much going on back then for him, but Damian realizing that oh... that was Him

B (hilarious): 

alright so if we are looking at comics currently, in modern stuff jason is what, like 22? hes old enough to drink in the US but still definitely early 20s so around my around my age, thats what im using as a basis here. if we adjust timeline and still consider his death having happened when he was 15, that puts it around 2013. and then coming back to like interacting with people about three years later if we still kinda base things off of the preboot timeframe (since we never got a super solid retelling of the timeline of death -> resurrection -> training -> tries to get revenge aside from knowing he went to the all-caste instead of the lost days version of the story) making him reenter the regular world and stuff around age 18 in 2016. meaning a solid three years of pop culture that he was entirely missing, and like im sorry but he really doesn’t strike me as the type to bother looking into what he missed, he’s kinda busy focusing on other stuff. lets take a quick look at some major things from those years. 2013 gave us ‘what does the fox say’ and ‘the harlem shake’ . 2014 had that time U2 just put a fuckin album on everyone’s phones, The Fault In Our Stars movie came out. 2015 introduced the phrase ‘Netflix and Chill’ and the whole blue & black vs gold & white dress debate happened. imagine any of the other batkids (or even arguably roy during rhato stuff) bringing these things up and jason’s ensuing confusion. thank you for your time

C (heart-crushing): 

so. there are two specific instances from rebirth era Jason i want to bring up here and much like a lot of these it’s less a headcanon and more of an inference based on observations, but i wanna take a sec to discuss Jason’s relationship with other people’s death. early in rebirth, Tim ‘dies’ from that whole thing in detective comics. he didn’t actually die, we as readers know, but in-universe they all very much so thought he was dead. frustratingly a lot of the batfam wasn’t really shown mourning him aside from in the Detective Comics Rebirth title itself (which just. when a major character dies even if its temporary- that should have a ripple effect) BUT an exception to that is in RHATO 2016, where we get this offhanded comment in Jason’s internal monologuing

similarly later when Roy, who like, had an incredibly close relationship w Jason that had just gotten mended before Heroes in Crisis, gets fuckin murdered in that whole thing... Jason doesn’t go to his funeral either. He leaves a dramatic voice mail and then visits the grave on his own later, choosing to instead keep working on the mission they’d started rather than going and taking the time to mourn properly.

Jason’s relationship with death is incredibly complicated, obviously. He has died, he has come back, and he now is willing to cross the line most other bats won’t and will kill people when he deems it necessary. I think thats something important though- he doesn’t just like... go around killing for fun (usually, some writers preboot made him a little murder happy but even then usually this still was vaguely followed) he kills people he thinks deserved it. Like, even looking back at the mess of Morrison’s Jason during Batman & Robin 2009, Jason was still trying to bring a sense of justice with who he was killing (”punishment that fits the crime”), it wasn’t killing for the sake of killing. He sees things in this kind of almost black and white ‘people who deserve it’ and ‘people who don’t’ way, and he has no problem dealing with death when it’s with the people he thinks deserve it. 

but when someone who doesn’t in his mind ‘deserve it’ gets killed? i think he just goes into total avoidance mode. throws himself into other things he’s doing, tries not to dwell on it too much no matter how much he still thinks about it (this is especially evident in him consistently telling people “i’m fine!” after what happened to Roy, despite bringing Roy up literally like every few issues for a WHILE after he died and very clearly still struggling with it, Artemis is the only one who gets through to him on it a little bit) 

but yeah, I just think that from Jason’s relatively unique situation of having been murdered, he knows what it’s like and he is perfectly fine wishing that on people he thinks are bad and deserve it, but it crushes him to imagine the people he loves and cares about having to experience something as painful as what he went through. not to mention the whole “I came back, why do I get a second chance at all this when they, who are a much better person than I am, probably won’t” mindset we get some implications of him having 

D (canon is a coward and won’t) 

hello DC i am once again insisting a batfam member is bisexual

CASS TIME

A (realistic headcanon): 

ok so we know cass likes ballet. thats canon. however i think we also should in general explore cass experiencing other types of dance/performance as well, be it herself as a performer or even just watching. like... god imagine her & like my brain just automatically for group activities puts her with tim steph and duke but also for this in particular I feel would be a Jason embraced activity, but like them going to see a broadway show or some other professional theatre or something, and her just being enthralled by the reading of body language of the performers! like again by any point in current stuff cass does have like, the ability to speak fine (reading still hard tho) but even so I think like. okay im a theatre kid if that’s not obvious from the Everything About Me but one thing I always do after seeing a show is ya know spend dinner afterwards discussing it with whoever i saw it with.

I just think that like, bringing those people i just mentioned to the table to discuss seeing a show after would be so FASCINATING because cass would bring this whole perspective of critiquing their acting on a whole different level- not based on how well they delivered lines out loud, but by what their body language was saying as they moved on stage. like im very amused by the idea of cass getting a totally different picture in her mind about what a character’s motivations were because she was paying way more attention to what their physicality was saying vs the words that were written and how they were delivered. i think the debates her and the others would have would be EPIC there. jason defending the text as it was written adamantly and cass being like ‘ok yeah sure but thats not what they did’

B (hilarious): 

cass having no concept of money because why would she bother? is SO funny to me. like it’s not that she couldn’t be reasonable if she wanted to, but like, she knows that the Waynes are well off so it’s not something she actually needs to be concerned about, so she just goes hog wild. takes steph out to fancy dinners and makes steph order for them since cass ya know doesn’t really read the menus, and steph’s like ‘jesus christ this costs-” “don’t worry about it” “but cass-” and she just holds up one of bruce’s credit cards and steph’s still like “but you don’t even know the range-” “it is fine”

bruce does not have the heart to tell her to stop

C (heart-crushing): 

i mean this is pretty much canon but especially now after death metal where she’s remembering, not just being told by a guy using weird alternate timeline technology, that she used to be an adopted member of the Wayne family... like that hurts so bad. To look at these people who have ya know been kind to her, Bruce has still been a father-like figure to her (i mean literally from the moment they met in New 52 canon during the flashback in Batman & Robin Eternal, where he’s telling her that she’s not a monster just because of what people forced her to do.... that she’s a hero... that hug.... dad behavior), and they do to some extent treat her as family... But to then really know, to feel and remember that she was actually adopted! She was a part of their family. To look at how she’s been calling herself Orphan while working with them this whole time... that’s so heartbreaking! I have cried about this idea so much! I want so badly a conversation between her and Bruce now where he offers to officially adopt her again, I need it so bad and if it doesn’t happen at some point in the next year or two I will be so distraught.

D (canon is a coward and won’t) 

i want an in-depth exploration of cass’ relationship to her own gender. being raised without language and you know with so much of her life being independent (remember: CASS RAN AWAY AROUND THE WORLD WITHOUT REALLY KNOWING ANY SPOKEN LANGUAGE) and outside of an organized society impressing too much of gender expectations on her, i feel like the way she experiences it would be very unique! like sure she’s so far been fine with being assigned ‘girl’ (ya know that comes with batgirl, and how people just automatically treated her based on how she looks) but in terms of gender expression and like her actual relationship with ‘traditional femininity’ etc like... because of how she was raised I just think she’d have a really different perspective on it that could be cool to explore, and I think she’d fall outside of the binary after she really thinks about how she identifies.

tldr on that: she/they nb cass is what i’m getting at here

[godstaff]

Diana and Kal bring Aster and Selene to the Watch Tower on bring your child to work day

J’onn and Oliver, this year organizers of the “Bring Your Child to Work”, were terrified something could go wrong. They’ve crossed all the “T’s” and dotted all the “I’s”, but the feeling of unrest remained.

Oliver: Why the hell are we still doing this scheisse? It’s an invitation for potential snafu to happen!

J’onn: You don’t have kids and...

Oliver: Thank goodness I don’t!

J’onn: ...you don’t, therefore you can’t understand the educational potential of the experience. Also, how it helps to create a closer bond between the children and their parents, making the little ones put themselves in the shoes of a grown up.

Oliver: What do you kno...nothing. I’m sorry. Continue.

J’onn: Yes: I had a daughter...and a home (his red eyes got wet). But it’s not only that: I also have empathy, a thing your fortune can’t buy, it seems.

Oliver: Look, J’onn...I’m an asshole. I didn’t mean...I’m so, so sorry.

J’onn: Don’t give it any more thought. We can’t be stuck in the past. How’s the scanning filters working? 

Oliver (checking the blue light arches in all the entrances): All seven working at full capacity. I believe nothing undesired will past them.

J’onn: Good. Let’s check the recently installed emergency toilets. Children have a much smaller bladder than adults, among other things.

So they continued with the preparations for the following day.

The following day:

Aster was already 12, but this was his first visit to the fortress since Diana and Kal took him as a baby to introduce him to the League.

Aster: Dad: are you sure Damian will be there? I don’t want to get bored if the other kids turn out to be a pain in the a...

Clark: Language. Uncle Bruce promised. Besides, I don’t think the little snot will miss the opportunity of visit a place more technologically advanced than the Cave. He may even learn something.

Aster: Good. At least, I can have fun pissing him off.

Clark: Why d’you wanna do that?

Aster: C’mon! Don’t tell me you don’t do the same with uncle Bru...Batman.

Clark: Okay, but try to be as subtle as I am: don’t be too obvious or they’ll notice you are making fun of him.

Aster (with a confident smile): “Subtle” is my middle name.

Clark: No, it’s not: it’s Martin. And you have the subtlety of a raging bull in a place full of china. Be careful. Besides, you’ll meet with other kids. Try to mingle. Promise?

Aster: A-ha.

Diana was helping Selene get ready. “Lena” was already 24 and 7′2″ tall, but she was trying to get used to the place soon to be her working place: the Watchtower, as soon as she finishes college, her 10th doctorate. Besides, it was an opportunity to be with her aunts, Karen (Power Woman), Kari (Superwoman) and Donna Troy. She hoped to see Irey West again. Last time they met, there was a certain vibe between them, and Lena wanted to explore it further, if it still was there.

Selene: Tell me the truth: do I look fat in this suit?

Diana: Sweetie: you don’t have visible fat in all your body. Nothing can make you look fat. You have all the curves in the right places. Stop being so insecure.

Selene: But I’m too bulky...

Diana: That was a awkward phase when you were 17, but it’s in the past. Why this negative body image? Your brother only wants to piss you off when he calls you “Big Larda”.

Selene: Don’t say it! I’m gonna kill the insufferable gremlin! But it’s not him this time, I’m expecting to be reacquainted with somebody I knew 2 years ago.

Diana: Who’s she? Do I know her?

Selene (lowering her eyes): Irey, Irey West.

Diana: Wally’s daughter? Cute girl! Don’t worry: if there’s still something there, it will manifest itself. If not, it wasn’t meant to be. Her lost if she let’s my baby go by.

Selene (pouting): I’m not a baby.

Diana: Of course you are. You’ll always be, even if you are of legal age to drink (Both women merged in an emotional embrace. As tall as Diana is, she’s got shrunk by the height of her daughter).

Once on the satellite, Clark wanted to give Aster the visitor’s tour, but with no waste of time, the children went their own separate ways. Clark expected that from his eldest, already a grown woman, but wanted to spend some time boasting about his working place in front of his pre-teen kid.

Clark: Oh, well. Want to have a beer, Honey?

Diana: Sorry, the girls are already drinking wine. Smells like a nice Merlot. Bye, Melopita.

Clark: Go enjoy your gossiping spree, Honey. J’onn! Oli! Hi, guys! Great job, with the arrangements!

Oli: Thanks! Mostly J’onn’s merit.

J’onn: He’s exaggerating, of course. But there’s more: Batman prepared a surprise for the children. A detective mystery.

Clark: Interesting. Let me find Bruce, so he walks me through his preparations, so I don’t spoil the entertainment with any interference from my part.

After fetching a snack and a soda, Aster went looking for Damian.

Aster: Hey, “Robian”. What’s up?

Damian: Kent. Already eating, I see. Careful with the carbs.

Aster: Don’t sweat. I’m still in my developing years. (Aster towered over Damian by 4″, even though he was 1 year younger), I need sustenance. You should eat more if you wanna gain a few inches.

Damian: According to my current diet, perfectly balanced, and my DNA antecedents, my stature, when my growth has completed, will be exactly 6′1″. My estimations are precise: I’ve contemplated...

Aster: Yeah, I’m sure it was a thorough calculation. Lots of fun, I’m sure. But, tell me: what can we do in this place so we don’t die of boredom?

Selene met her aunt Karen near the bar, sipping a glass of chardonnay.

Selene: Auntie Karen! Long time no see! How are you?

Karen: Shhh! Just “Karen”, please. Don’t make me look older.

Selene: You’ll never gonna look old. Dad told me that, as long as we’re under a yello...

Karen: It’s the perception what matters. If they see me with a grown ass woman, who calls me “auntie”, it doesn’t matter how I look if people get the idea of me being from a previous generation than somebody like you.

Selene: Okay. So, tell me, “Karen”, how’s your company?

Karen: Blossoming! My engineers developed a new chip capable of three times the clock speed of the faster microprocessor and half the size.

Selene: Any chance of you suggesting some Kryptoniian shortcuts.

Karen: I may had dropped a hint or two...

Selene: That’s cheating.

Karen: That’s business.

Selene: Oooh! Careful, Mrs. Luthor. 

Karen: It’s “Miss”. And it would be developed a year or two from now, anyway. It was in the plans of every major computer company. You know? I liked you better when you were just a wide eye brat, without so much scruples.

Selene: I love you too. I still remember when you used your boobs to make us skip the line for ice cream in Disney World.

Karen: I plead the fifth (laughs).

Aster and Damian sneaked inside the Command Center of the Station.

Damien: I found out Father prepared a “surprise” to keep us kids involved in a “wild goose chase”. It involves a fake security breach here, in the Watchtower. The idea is make the children discover the infiltrate. I plan to give it a reality twist.

Aster: Sounds like fun. How are you planning to do that...?

                                                                                      (To be continued)

[tzigone]

De-aging fic for the Batfam

I’ve started thinking of this more lately.  I didn’t read it at first just out of lack of interest, then I read a couple later. I saw some good ones - ones that dealt with the lost sense of identity of child (in this case Dick, who knew he wasn’t who/what he was supposed to be) and his own sense of loss regarding his grown self, or with the family having difficulty adjusting to the new dynamic with the recently de-aged. 

Then I saw lot of fluffy, humorish, no-real-meaning ones. A chance to see Bruce with a baby Damian.  A sweet little Jason.  Tim who was way too woobie and wounded.  Usually for vulnerability or laughs at Bruce’s inability to handle young kids. Which isn’t really my thing, but folks can have fun.

Then came the ones that really bugged me.  The permanent de-aging ones.  They are horrifying to me. They entirely destroy everything a character has accomplished, all their growth.  All relationships to everyone outside Bruce are either destroyed (particularly applies to romantic relationships) or completely re-written.  I think in service of “Bruce’s second chance” or “Bruce with his babies” everything else is diminished. The actual grown character is completely lost, a lifetime of experience lost, to be rewritten by the new version. I just can’t fathom people who think this is a good idea - there’s a reason this is usually treated as a punishment for villains in professional fiction. Albeit often a humorous one. 

FTR, in the good fic I mentioned, regaining sense of self and an awareness of what was lost when de-aged played a big part.  Really liked that.

I, too, think permanent de-aging ties into a common trope - infantilization of the boys (Cass often gets left out family fic even preboot, and isn’t used in these nearly as much in these fic types).  A desire to keep them all under daddy’s roof instead of being the growing up, being their own men, and yes, moving away. I’ve seen Dick move back to Bruce’s home or just be put there as an adult so many times - it’s a step backwards, IMO.  Or one where he comes back home crying and says he can’t handle being a solo hero, it’s just too hard, and Bruce welcomes him with open arms and says he can stay here forever - I certainly felt that the author meant for me to perceive it as a sweet scene, but all I saw was tearing Dick down. Jason suffers this, too, though not the same way. Not typically as Red Hood, but as a 15 year old Jason when resurrected. He will frequently call Bruce “dad” a lot, want to cuddle, and act more like 8 than 15 (and I’m not talking about when still in shock or trauma, either), sometimes referencing reading material that’s targeted at the 8-12 set (IRL, I like YA fic and read it as adult, but it sort of sends a message in this kind of fic).

Bringing the boys in at younger ages (Dick has varied so much over the years, from at least 8-16), having Damian a baby - those I think are pretty good ways to explore the dynamic.  Having them act younger than their years and refusing to let them grow up (either literally or in behavior) is absolutely not.  I wish someone would tell DC that last part, too.  ;P

[insanusnavicularis]

Beauty and the Beast platonic AU

Tony Stark- playboy, genius, billionaire-

Lives life going from party to party

Getting drunk

Hooking up

Without a care in the world and wasting his brains

One night, a young woman visited him, claiming he was pregnant with his child

Only for him to tell her off, he didn’t want the child

The woman suddenly became an enchantress, cursing him and everyone in his tower

“If you ever learn to take care of someone, and that someone accepts your care, you’d be free”

Peter has been living and was raised all his life in the small town of Queens

His aunt May, who raised him, is a visionary scientist, who’s experimenting in the medical field

Peter though, is more inclined to engineering

He’s the best at not only engineering, but almost everything related to physics and maths and chemistry

And that’s why Flash’s jealous of him, making his life impossible with the help of his father

One day, May has to go outside the city for a meeting

When she asks what Peter wants her to bring him, he tells her the same thing he always asks for “A hexagonal nut”

But she doesn’t return, only her loyal horse, Ben, finds his way back to Queens.

Peter, being the worried and self risking teenager he is, decides to go on a quest to find her

He finally gets to an old and wrecked tower, plants were everywhere as well as old pieces of technology and equipment, a big ‘A’ was thrown on the side, as if someone threw it from far above

He really didn’t want to step inside, but it was snowing and cold, and he had always had problems with extreme temperatures

“Uh- Hello?” he shouts “May?”

“Peter?” he isn’t waiting for a reply, but when it came, he doesn’t hesitate to grab a candelabra and run upstairs, where the voice came from

He felt terrified when he found his aunt in a cold cell and with a fearful look

She pleads him to get out of there, saying the tower is cursed

But he isn’t abandoning her there

He is working on something to get her out

When suddenly he hears a loud roar “Who’s in my tower?!”

An enormous and hairy beast appears in front of him, raging

He tries to show courage, he isn’t backing down when his aunt is in danger and so, he exchanges his aunt’s liberty for his

Peter jumps when the candelabra he was using speaks, presenting himself as Thor, and then a clock appears and presents himself as Steve. He thought nothing could surprise him anymore.

He’s just a bit surprised when the beast leads him to a room- bed, drawer, wardrobe, everything, even a window- instead of a cold and lonely cell

“You’re a kid, I’m not that evil...” the beast just grumbles “And forever is a long time”

Inside he finds a harpsichord whose name’s Bruce, a teacup named Clint, and Natasha, a teapot.

Peter tries to escape

“You know, he’s not that bad when you get to know him” Natasha tells him, somehow figuring out his plan

One day he drifts off to somewhere he shouldn’t be, a basement

There he finds plenty of things

Newspaper articles thrown away, lots of old blueprints, and, what was the most strange

A blue circle floating under a glass case and rusting, its light, which Peter can tell once was bright, was now dull and seeming like it would give up at any moment

Peter runs away after that, because when the beast finds him there he is mad. He shouted and roared at Peter, making him escape in fear

As Peter runs and runs through the woods, he hears something in the distance...

And then, a horse is jumping from behind a big bush, scaring him

Peter rolls down the hill, as he missed a step

He lands over an iced lake

Which breaks under his weight

And he’s pulled under the freezing water

Just when he was about to pass out, Peter sees a big and brown figure jumping in the water and getting him out

The beast.

They go back to the tower and, grumbling, the beast gives Peter a fluffy towel, a new and warm set of clothes, and pushes him inside the bathroom

Thor lights a fire and Steve is telling Clint and Natasha to help with warm food. Bruce plays Peter’s favorite tune

When Peter’s out the beast patches him and the kid thanks the beast for saving his life

“You’re my prisoner, I’m responsible for you” it’s all the beast responds

As the days pass, Peter finds himself more and more eager to see the beast and learn more about him and this castle

And to learn in general

Tony, he learns the beast is called

You see, he learned the beast had a lot of knowledge, from physics to chemistry to astrology to math

Tony is kind of a genius, in Peter’s opinion

And it wasn’t a secret that Peter loved learning

So, one day when Tony asked where he studied and Peter replied somewhat sheepishly “I don’t, we can’t afford it”

The beast started to teach him everything he knew, amazed at how much this kid already knew without going to school

Amazed at how brilliant Peter truly was

And Peter loves it

He always dreamed of going to a school and learning new things everyday

“You’re a genius, kid!” the beast says

“I just like reading” he responds

The beast brings Peter to a room he has never seen before, not even when he was exploring the tower

But Peter jumps when he enters, feeling like he is on a dream

Blueprints and every kind of material you could ever dream of where inside the lab in that tower

Desks and boards decorating it

“You like it?” the beast asks

Peter nods, he looks amazed around, trying to take in everything at once

He loves engineering! This was his dream!

“It’s yours” Tony tells him and Peter looks at him with stars in his eyes and confusion in his face

“What?”

“You like engineering, right? It’s yours”

And Peter jumps to hug him

The next days pass in a blur of Peter and Tony in the lab, the beast teaches him whatever he wants to learn and Peter shows him everything and anything he makes

It almost doesn’t feel like he’s trapped there anymore

He befriends the objects of the castle and manage to make his way to the heart of everyone in the abandoned and cursed tower

One night, when Clint suggests to have a movie night- ‘like the old times’ goes unspoken-

Someone mentions a magic mirror

And Peter being the curious kid he is, wants to see it by himself

“Show me my aunt” he wishes softly, with hope

But what he sees is not what he expects

Flash and his dad are there, and they’re sending May to a mental hospital

He cries for his aunt and curses Flash and his family. That Flash has a problem with him doesn’t mean he has to take it out on his aunt!

Tony looks down, feeling horrible for his selfish desire to keep the kid he loves as a son there

“You can go” Tony tells him, barley thinking about the curse at the moment

“What?”

“Go. Help your aunt, kid. You’re free”

Peter looks awestruck for some seconds before standing up and throwing his arms around him

He then runs outside, getting on a horse and going to help his aunt

In the city, he tells everyone about the beast and the tower, in hopes they realease his aunt

“It seems the madness runs in the family, Penis” Flash comments before shoving him inside the truck with May

“God. Are you okay? Baby? Peter? What did he do to you?” May asks concerned for her boy

He just shooks his head “No... he, he taught me and kept me safe. He’s good once you get to know him”

He hears shouting from outside

Lot of people are together, with pitchforks and torches, chanting about how they have to kill that beast

Flash and his dad are in the front, with shotguns and knives

He has to get out and help the ones in the tower! They’re good people- objects, beast-

Peter manages to get himself and his aunt out with the help of Clint, who snuck inside his pocket before he left

“What can I say? Tony wanted someone to keep you safe”

Together they go back to the castle, helping the others objects in there to fight against Flash and his people

But it isn’t enough for Flash, he wants to kill that beast Peter was talking so highly about

No beast can be more brilliant than his dad, Flahs thinks, or more brave. His dad always will be the best, no beast will get in their way

Peter finds Flash standing in front of Tony with a sword raised and pointing at his chest

“No!” Peter shouts before jumping at Flash’s back

They fight, and just when Flash was about to kill Peter, Tony steps in front of him and takes the blow

Tony is dying on the floor, blood is everywhere, and Peter is raging

He never got to meet his parents, and his uncle died when he was little, he wasn’t letting Tony die

So, with one last surge of adrenaline, Peter pushes Flash outside the room

And the objects of that tower restric Flash

Peter kneels down besides Tony

And mourns him

It took him time and Tony dying to realize it

But that beast was his teacher, his friend, his protector and his mentor

Tony couldn’t die

And that’s when the beast started floating with blue light around him

Peter doesn’t know what is happening

He just knows that now instead of the beast there’s a man

A man in a ragged suit and a goatee, with the blue circle he saw earlier under the glass case in his chest

Where one time Peter saw objects now stood different persons

In the end Peter becomes Tony’s apprentice and they all live happily ever after

So, this is much longer than I intended, but I love Beauty and the Beast and Irondad so I couldn’t not do it

I know that this sucks, I just had to get it out of my head or else this would have been the only thing I’d have been able to think about in the next days

[coolgirl]

Im just so sad because pre n52 Jason really got brutally murdered for trying to save his mom and even when that bitch sold him out and like watched him get beat up completely detached of the situation he wanted to save her!! And he didn't fucking blame her like WHO DOESSS THAT (that one Yuri on ice post voice) HOW CAN HE BE REAL. and like then he fucking comes back to life on his goddamn fucking coffin and he has to crawl out while still being injured for the ass beating the joker gave him AND ON TOP OF THAT he gets fucking RUN OVER and it's in a coma and whatever and HE ONLY WANTS BRUCE ALL THIS HAPPENING TO HIM AND HE WANTS HIS FUCKING DAD and then he like. Fucking lives in the street for like weeks months I don't even wanna think about it and it fucking SUCKS ASS HES FIFTEENNNNNNN HES A KID and then Talia takes him and you know what's sad that's probably the most peaceful moments he has since he died with him like in a "safe" place with a roof over his head and food and talia who came to care about him whatever BUT SIKE HE'S STILL SUFFERING BECAUSE HE MISSES BRUCE! And shit only gets worse because after he gets thrown into the pit he remmebers everything and BOY! Didn't he just get the rug pulled from under his feet! Everything he knew! Has changed! Everyone moved on! He feels replaced and like his death meant nothing! And when you think about it he's right because the mom he gave his life for also died! And to top it all the man who took everything from him! His mom! His life! His future! Everything! Is still alive and kicking! Like bitch! His life sucks! His life really does fucking suck! And like literally not a single character, NOT A SINGLE FAMILY MEMBER, stops for a second like oh man this dude died when he was 14/15 and then went through even more traumatic experiences afterwards (LIKE HELLO??? IMAGINE THAT), shouldn't we like help him or smth? HM nah leave him deal with it by himself clearly he's a balanced person who can take care of it alright kek! Let's go celebrate Christmas or smth 🤑🤑 and one would thing oh gee he went through all that but at least things must have started looking up at some point right? NO THE ANSWER IS NO! THE BOOK THAT WAS LIKE EVERYTHING IS LOOKING UP TODD, COUNTDOWN, REALLY SET ALL HIS DEVELOPMENT ON FIRE ON HIS LAST APPEARANCE! BECAUSE HE WASN'T ALLOWED TO GROW! And now you must be like well at least there's some elseworld where his life isn't shit right? THIS IS WHERE I HAVE TO LAUGH. NO! EVERY SINGLE ELSEWORLD TREATS HIM WORSE! HES TORTURED OR KILLED YOUNGER OR HES EVIL FOR DUMB REASONS OR DIDNT EVEN EXIST TO BEGIN WITH.

And like canon events aside! He never got closure over fucking anything! Not a single one writer explored any of his feelings towards literally anything related to his death besides small dick winick! Like man! It sucks! Oh yeah Jason's introductory comic and genesis has him thinking the only reason he came back to life was to kill the joker but guess what.. we're never bringing that up! Jasons feelings towards his mom? Who cares we're throwing all that shit to the garbage in a couple years anyways! His ptsd? FUCK THAT NOISE he's FINE he's just a psychopath because he was the bad robin duh! His relationship with Bruce? PLEASE who cares about in character Bruce let's just make him leave Jason on his own instead of like actually trying to help him and bring him back home, it isn't like Bruce almost made a deal with a demon to have Jason back before or like it's been referenced multiple times Bruce would've done anything to have him back right? All his characterization before he died? DELETE THAT SHIIT! We know every single fucking character out there gets a life outside of their vigilante career but Jason isn't getting any of that and you know why? Because who cares about Jason! He's just there for the development of others! As villain #3 of the week for Dick or Tim!

Anyways! New 52 fucks Jason up all the time but at least they don't throw him completely under the bus 24/7! And that's so sad! The bar is set so fucking low! So fucking low! And I don't even wanna get into the issues with new 52 because then I really might lose my marbles thinking Jason gets treated like shit all the damn fucking time in all continuities! If you read all this call 1-900-720-2660 to donate to your nearest oppressed Jason stan thank you and good night!

[thecartoonarchivist]

Weekly Spotlight #5

Welcome, welcome, one and all, to the Weekly Spotlight!

This week’s spotlight is~

*panting... and a weak drumroll*

Batman Beyond!

Some of my earliest memories of this show was watching reruns of it on Toonami at oddball times back just before Toonami got moved to a daytime time slot. During this time period, I found it to be a little mature for me, a little dark, and a little hard to follow since around this time I was about 4 years old. Still, I remember thinking it was cool, simply because Batman was cool, but otherwise, I wasn’t all that interested.

Back a couple years ago however, something in my mind trigger my memory of this show, and it became pretty apparent to me that I had never actually sat down and watched this show all the way through. So, I did some searching, found out Netflix had it on demand and I sat down and watched it whenever I was free to do so. I’d watch it a couple episodes at a time as I didn’t want to binge the entire thing in one sitting and leave me wondering how I was going to fill the void after finishing such a good series. It became a nice treat to watch on evenings and weekends and became a nice ritual for me. I enjoyed it. 

However life became a little bit busy not too long later and I put the series to the side for a later date when things got a little less hectic. Besides, I was on the last episode and I really didn’t want to end the series just yet, so stepping away from the series didn’t seem like such a terrible thing to do. 

I didn’t get back to it. Netflix took it off streaming. I pretty much admitted I was never going to finish the series and that was the end of that. I knew that it also had a movie afterwards to wrap up the series, since it was suddenly cancelled and since THAT wasn’t on Netflix either, it was pretty easy to just walk away from the show altogether.

However, a couple months ago, I saw a clip on Youtube that went into the origins of Terry McGinnis, the star and Batman of this series. It was in a completely different animation style, so I assumed that it was the direct-to-video movie. I was intrigued. And seeing as there was no hope that I was going to see this movie any time soon, I thought, “What the hell? Spoilers never hurt anyone.” The info, that I’ll get to later, left me so disgusted and outraged that I vowed never to watch the movie.

All of these things swirled in the back of my mind the next couple months and here we are! It’s getting it’s own Weekly Spotlight! So let’s get into it’s background, shall we?

Batman Beyond is an animated TV series that was premiered on Cartoon Network’s Toonami and even showed over on Kids’ WB’s Toonami on January 10, 1999. Yeah, you heard me right: Kids’ WB also had Toonami. So, let me throw down a little bit of history for ya’ll.

Cartoon Network is owned by the Turner Broadcasting Company, which is a subsidiary of AT&T’s Warner Media. Yeah--- that Warner Media. The Warner Media that makes DC comics, and DC TV shows, and just about anything DC under the sun. That means that they not only own the rights to Batman Beyond, they own the rights to Toonami, and Cartoon Network, and Kids’ WB. So as an attempt to diversify Kids’ WB’s afternoon line-up, Kids’ WB “borrowed” Toonami from Cartoon Network and began showing their own individual line-up, separate from Cartoon Network’s line-up. There was a little bit of an overlap, as I recall, since many popular shows were underneath the Toonami name, but overall, they’re line-up was fairly different. In 2002, Toonami was dropped from Kids’ WB and was replaced with syndicate programming and infomercials. (Kids’ WB wasn’t doing the greatest in the “kids” department and eventually, was absorbed by Warner Bros.’s other channel The CW in 2008.)

So, Batman Beyond was interesting in that it was showing on two stations at the same time. My research indicates that it premiered first on Cartoon Network, and then would show over on Kids’ WB not too long later, but there’s a lot of conflicting sources in that regard. Pretty much the only thing I’m certain of is that it premiered new episodes on Toonami, but as far as whose Toonami, I have no idea.

Batman Beyond was an intended continuation of the “Batman legacy,” or more importantly, a follow-up to the legendary Batman: The Animated Series. At the helm of this ship was a man named, Bruce Timm, who was a co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series. He would go on to co-create and produce Static Shock, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and produce for Green Lantern: The Animated Series. This guy’s a legend. Although extremely popular amongst fans and critics alike, the short-lived series only had 3 seasons before it was placed on hiatus and eventually cancelled. The simple reason? Time. Having signed aboard with the creation and production of Justice League, Bruce Timm simply didn’t have the time to be working on both series, despite attempting for a little while. All plans for a 4th season were discarded, and as to whether there were any episodes produced or if there were simply ideas on a sheet of paper, only the production team themselves know the answer to that question.

So! Let’s get to the premise!

So, the beginning of this series actually opens up with Bruce Wayne still as Batman. While his company of Wayne Enterprises is dealing with competition by the Powers Corporation, Bruce is on the look-out for a girl who has been kidnapped in association with the Powers Corporation. (At least, that’s how I interpreted it.) He finds her, fights the baddies to save her, but in the midst of the tussle, Bruce starts to suffer a mild heart-attack. He tries his best to continue the fight but is quickly overpowered. Having had the living snot beat out of him, Bruce Wayne does the only thing he can do in this situation (still suffering a heart-attack mind you) and pick up a gun and aims it at his assailant. Freaked out by the fact that Batman is threatening to use a gun for the first time ever, he runs away to meet the cops outside. The girl is freed and Batman hobbles away completely disappointed in himself. He places the suit inside the Batcave, seals it all away and vows never again to have the caped crusader to see another night.

Fast forward 20 years. Gotham is practically a brand new city. There are flying cars everywhere. Tech is crazy and out the wazoo--- think something along the lines of a Cyberpunk aesthetic--- and Wayne Enterprises is now dealing with a hostile take-over by the Powers Corporation with Bruce Wayne surprisingly absent from the whole affair. Gotham, as always, is dealing with rampant crime; one of the most vocal and trouble-making groups being the Jokerz--- a gang with its members dressed up in outfits very similar in style to the original Joker gang. Enter in Terry McGinnis: he’s just your typical teenager dealing with girl problems, bullies, and a real bad habit of placing his foot inside his mouth whenever he gets angry. 

Having been grounded by his Dad for punching a kid at school for spitting on him, Terry sneaks out to meet his girlfriend at a local club. While there, the Jokerz show up and Terry quickly comes to the aid of his girlfriend and tries to teach these pranksters a lesson. Quickly overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, Terry steals a motorcycle and thus a good ol’ motorcycle chase begins. Finding himself outside of Wayne Manor, Terry runs into Bruce Wayne, almost hitting him with the motorcycle. Bruce Wayne tells him to get off his property, but with the Jokerz showing up mere seconds later, they team up to fight them off (Bruce doing most of the ass-kicking despite his crazy old age.) Terry turns to thank him but finds that Bruce is near collapse and needs help getting to his manor where his medicine is. Having gotten his medicine, Bruce falls asleep and Terry takes this opportunity to explore a little bit. Finding a bat trapped in an old grandfather clock, Terry stumbles upon the Batcave and all its contents. Bruce finds him in the Batcave and subsequently throws Terry out of both the Batcave and his property.

Terry, miffed about the whole experience, returns home to find the police swarming his Dad’s apartment. Questioning his Mom what happened, apparently, the Jokerz surprised him while he was at home and murdered him. Having fought with his Dad only hours before he was killed, Terry is distraught, wracked with grief, and determined to figure out who it was who killed his father. Looking amongst his Dad’s old possessions, Terry finds a disk with some suspicious looking info on it and goes back to Wayne Manor to solicit Bruce’s help. After a series of events, Bruce agrees to take him on formally as his personal assistant who chauffeurs him around and picks up items that he is unable to get himself, but secretly, he’s training him to become his successor and to become the new Batman! 

Whew... I think that’s my longest premise to date! (I basically had to summarize the first 2 episodes because it sets up basic situation for the entire series. It’s a lot to take in...)

So...let’s start off with the animation.

As you can see from the previous gifs thus far, for how old this series is the animation is is really fluid. The fight scenes are clean. The attention to detail is so fantastic. Even the character expression are so subtle and beautiful that it’s just so hard not to feel for the characters whenever tragedy strikes. But... it’s also dated. Since many of the backgrounds are hand-painted, a lot of fights on city rooftops, or bridges, or even sinister laboratories are pretty generic and even recycled from time to time. The color palette, although unique enough to give it its own funky style, is... yikes... And the intro? God, it just screams the 90s.

Since I can’t get any other gifs of the intro to work, if you want to see it in all its 90s glory, here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMXjtvMAFlI It’s so cheesy and awful and terrible. I fucking love it.

The soundtrack is this weird... 90s punk with a twinge of metal, with its shredding electric guitar and electronically distorted bass as well as some... electronic additions? Honestly, if the intro didn’t sell you on how old this series is, the soundtrack does. For the most part, the soundtrack sounds like an regular action cartoon series, but went that electronic guitar kicks in.... *whistles* It’s bad.

As for the rest of the show? It’s... it’s fucking fantastic. You’d think that writing for a teenage protagonist, especially a Batman teenage protagonist, they’d really hype up the melodrama and the angst to the point that it’s just flat-out cringe-worthy. I mean, all you have to do is google the recent dystopia craze that’s been plaguing teen action movies to see how... cringey the protagonists are. And I mean, how was a 19-year-old action animation not only touch on the stress of being a teenager, but also one whose Dad is murdered in the first episode of the series? It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. 

Turns out... they actually did a really great job of writing Terry. He really does seem like any other male teen you’d meet in high school. A lot of people try to talk about how teenage angst is just so terrible and awful to watch and that it’s flat-out cringey. The problem is that teenage angst is a real thing and if it’s written-correctly, it actually seems believable. The interesting part about Terry’s case that makes him an actually interesting character instead of a walk-talking edgelord is that a lot of his “angst” comes from a place that he believes is injustice. He believes that a lot of people are being unfair (and in some cases, they really are) and so he goes out to fix these “injustices.” Problem is that in his attempt to “fix” things, he actually makes things worse. He doesn’t see that other people’s decisions are actually made to protect him, or made for other reasons that he can’t see. So instead, he rushes in headlong and unprepared, running his mouth because he feels he’s doing the right thing, and ends up getting himself in deeper trouble. I felt a connection with Terry because although he was a punk kid getting into trouble, causing fights and mouthing off to his parents, he’s just somebody trying to make the world a better place and ultimately, failing really bad at it. He makes stupid decisions because he doesn’t think things through. He thinks that he knows best, when in all reality, he isn’t even playing with a full deck of cards. And it’s because of these character flaws that I love Terry and it’s what makes him so interesting to watch. And the best part is? When Terry realizes he fucks up, he admits it. He apologizes. He even cries because he’s made a mistake that he can’t ever undo. He’s not some idiot who thinks he’s better than everyone else--- he’s just an idiot who’s trying to make the world a better place. And that’s really cool. They wrote him with real emotions and a realistic responses to stressful situations that never came across as melodramatic. Instead of writing him as a teen who has emotions, they wrote him as a person with emotions who just happens to be a teen. And that’s just fucking awesome.

I loved Bruce’s and Terry’s dynamic. You had grouchy, old Bruce who’s just way too tired for this shit, helping out sassy, back-talking teenager Terry that made for fantastic snark sessions. Like... the sarcasm was palpable between these two and I loved every second of it. The fact that this series won numerous awards when it debuted isn’t surprising because it’s just a treat to watch the misadventures of these two sass-masters is fucking great. 

As far as Terry’s home life, it seems pretty realistic. Terry’s got a little brother named, Matt, and as an individual who has a little brother myself, the interactions are pretty realistic. The little arguments, the nit-picking, the pranks--- all of them felt pretty true to life. Now, the interesting thing about this series is that the martial status of the McGinnis’s are unknown. Although Terry’s Dad gets murdered in the first episode, Terry makes a comment about wishing to live with his mom instead of his dad, which leaves the impression that the two are divorced. However, later on, as the origins of Terry are revealed in further detail, it’s pretty heavily implied that Terry’s parents were together before Terry’s dad’s death so... I don’t know. However, Terry still seems to deal with normal teenage problems: fights with his mom, annoyances from his little brother, stresses of schoolwork, a girlfriend that wishes he was more around, problems with kids at school and his friends. When you layer that on with the grace in which they write Terry’s character, it produces a very believable character that you can build a connection with and feels hella realistic. I completely approve.

Honestly, although all of it is so... dated, the aesthetic is pretty pleasing. It’s weird enough that makes you think, Ew, what the fuck? but also the fact that it’s set in an unnamed (yes, unnamed--- I’ll get to this later) future, makes you go, Oh. Okay. Weird, but interesting. If you want a famous example to compare it to, think Samurai Jack. Otherwise, see Cyber-six for a similar cyberpunk, futuristic tech vibe. Speaking of future timelines, the show’s idea of teenage lingo in the future is just so... laughable. You constantly hear teens say that things are so, “Schway” or let slip a fake curse word, “Frag.” It’s terrible. I legitimately thought it was something that kids used to say back then but after doing some research, I realized how ridiculous it actually was. Just as a tip: if you’re going to change the way people speak in your writing, you’re going to have to change a pretty much all of common speech in order to make something like this natural. Otherwise, it just looks more and more stupid as it ages.

Each episode is a villain of the week with a couple of two-parters here and there. Although there isn’t much in terms of an overarching story, there are references to previous episodes and encounters, so watching these in some sort of relative order is pretty recommended. There were also a number of interesting cross-over/reference episodes, which I found myself pretty surprised by. But I guess it also made sense, seeing as it was a very popular series that ended way before its time. In the beginning, the writing’s a little clunky, and the animation is a bit fuzzy, however, it’s a series that ages better overtime; the pilot is pretty fucking good one-two punch. But as I was watching it, I couldn’t help but laugh at the melodramatic close-ups and the pauses between some dramatic lines of dialogue. I never felt that the drama itself was melodramatic. Just the way they presented it.

In a lot of ways, this series is very dark and mature (especially the movie like holy shit it’s fucked up) which is really ironic considering it was intended for kids. However, they never really showed any gruesome deaths, showed pretty much negligible amounts of blood, and honestly, the majority of the “dark” stuff would pretty much go over kids heads. I say this as someone who has watched this show once or twice as a teeny child. I always knew bad stuff was happening, but I don’t think it ever really hit me as to the gravity of the situation. Yet, I also remember labeling this as a “big kids’ show” growing up so... who really knows. But for the best amount of enjoyment, I’d recommend this more to teens or young adults than for kids. It seems more up their alley. 

Now... let me touch a little bit about the movie and subsequent crossover episodes that were released after the series ended.

The direct-to-video movie that “wrapped up” the series so to speak wasn’t what I thought it was. It was a fantastic, dark, macabre, sinister ending to a great series. I think I’ll save my thoughts on that for a different post. But to give you a little taste: it involves brainwashing, a child murdering a fucking adult, a whole lot of guilt and regret, and even a bit of a hostage situation so... Yeah. It’s great. I highly recommend. Don’t be afraid of what I said before.

However. There is an episode in the Justice League Unlimited which is supposed to reveal the secret origins of Terry McGinnis. What supposedly happened is that Amanda Waller (or the lady that ran the Suicide Squad) saw that Bruce Wayne was getting older and would eventually have to retire as Batman. Knowing that Gotham wouldn’t survive without some sort of Batman out there, Waller concocted a plan in which she would make sure that Batman would live on forever. What she did was without Bruce’s knowledge, she took a bit of his DNA and made it into a serum that would overwrite the host’s reproductive code to that of Bruce Wayne’s. She found a neo-Gotham couple that had a psychologically identical match to that of Bruce’s parents, Terry’s mom and dad, and injected it into Terry’s dad in the guise of a flu shot. This means that Bruce Wayne is Terry McGinnis’s father. Waller, then, concocted a scheme to get Terry’s parents murder but after the assassin called Waller out on her shady tactic, the project was dropped. It was just sheer coincidence that Bruce and Terry met and that Terry’s father got murdered in an unrelated incident. Here’s the thing: the great and fantastic aspect of Terry’s McGinnis’s character is that we finally saw a Batman, a successful Batman at that, that was neither Bruce’s child nor a Robin or a Batwoman/girl that he basically housed and raised. He was a completely unrelated kid who took up the mantle of being the next Batman. The Batman was no longer a person, but a symbol, and that’s one of the things that made Terry’s Batman so fantastic! But this episode completely ruins Terry. It’s awful. Especially when you consider the fact that they didn’t even have the guts to make their own movie about it with the original crew, they simply slapped it on as in after thought in series that fans may or may not follow to. It’s terrible! A complete afterthought! 

It also comes with some interesting implications. As I said before, when the series begins, we get the implication that Terry’s parents are divorced and he resents the fact that he’s living with his dad against his wishes. If Terry’s parents are a psychologically identical match to Bruce Wayne’s parents (which, what the fuck does that even mean???) does that mean that Bruce Wayne’s parents were eventually bound for divorce? Something to think about.

For those Batman fans out there, I’m not entirely sure where this series fits into the whole Batman continuity. First off, there’s no reference at all to Jason Todd--- especially not in the movie, which seems kind of odd considering that Tim Drake plays a big role in the movie itself. Part of me says that it has to do with the fact that Jason Todd fucking died yo and you can’t really put that in a children’s TV show/movie. But at the same time, with the shit they wrote in the movie and the other dark and fucked up things they put in the movie, it seems odd they wouldn’t at least mention it... An interesting thing to note as well is the fact that this was before the movie Under The Red Hood was made, so the Jason Todd resurrection canonically hasn’t happened yet. So the fact that there’s no reference to The Red Hood makes sense. This is also before the rather... problematic origin of Damian Wayne has been created, so again, no references to Damian Wayne despite the fact that Talia al Ghul makes an appearance in the series. However, the TV show was resurrected into a comic book series that continues to this day. Having not read them myself, I have no idea what the current status as far as Terry’s origins/relevance within the continuity. But I am eager to find out.

Overall, this series was a wild ride! I loved every minute of it, and sitting down and watching not only the episode and movie that I hadn’t before but a couple of my favorites made me fall in love with the series all over again. I’m so upset that it ended.

Rating this series out of 10, this easily earns an 8.5 on my scale.

It’s aged pretty poorly. I can’t deny that. And for that reason, although I want to give it a 9, it really is deserving only deserving of an 8.5. Despite that though, this series is easily one of my favorites. I love sitting down and rewatching it and the intro always gets me hyped despite the fact that I’ve seen it a thousand times already. If you haven’t seen this series already, go fucking watch it. Seriously. It’s sssooooooo gooooooddddd. I’ll always have fond memories of this show. And the moment that they discuss bringing it back, given that they have a good writer/producer/animator and all that, I will be the first person on board for that reboot. It was such a good show for how short-lived it was. It’s simply tragic...

If there are any corrections you’d like to make in regards to this post, please feel free to send me a message with your corrections and I’ll get back to it as soon as I can!

Do you remember a cartoon your friends have never heard of? Got a scene from an animated film that you’re dying to know the name to? Send your questions to The Cartoon Archivist and I’ll see what I’ve got in the vault!

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Why Rebirth’s Stephanie Brown isn’t the Same as Preboot Stephanie Brown

Hi I’ve got opinions about how the reboot has been handling my girl. 

I’ve been enjoying Detective Comics for the most part, but I’ve been frustrated with Stephanie Brown’s role in them for a while. And I think I’ve finally put my finger on it. 

Special thanks to @renaroo for all her help finding panels and issue numbers!

Below the cut is 2k of screaming and panels. 

Stephanie Brown in the preboot era was a kid with a bad past. Her mom was a drug addict, her dad was abusive and a villain. She lived in poverty for at least chunks of her original run as Spoiler. She dated older guys, one of whom got her pregnant and ran away, and has been implied to be a sexual abuse survivor.

And as Spoiler, her life wasn’t necessarily better. She dated Tim, and they had a pretty decent relationship, but Tim didn’t tell her his secret identity, on orders from Batman. For reasons. (Bruce later told her his identity without Tim’s permission, which… doesn’t really make things better.) From day one, she was an outcast from the family; she regularly got locked out of the Batcave, wasn’t informed about major developments in the family, and Bruce denies her training and resources. She even suspects that this is because of her family life. 

(Robin (1993-2009) #100.)

@renaroo and I have talked about this, and a part of Bruce’s reaction to Steph during this time period was clearly based off Bruce’s recent trauma because of Jason’s death. Steph, Cass, and Tim’s relationships with Bruce in the preboot were all tied to that event. Tim stepped up as Robin, providing Bruce with the balance and support that he knew he needed, so Bruce couldn’t really send Tim away. Cass had no secret identity, no life to return to. Bruce looked at her and saw his own morals concentrated, a dedication to the cause that he thought makes Cass an ideal protégé and possible successor down the line. (Not that it ever happened of course because of course it didn’t.) Besides that, Cass was a better fighter than he was, and had been looking after herself for years. Firing her wasn’t very effective, although he certainly tried in the later parts of Cass’s initial Batgirl run.

But Steph?

Steph was none of those things. Bruce didn’t need her, she wasn’t trained and capable like Cass. Instead, everything that Bruce saw when he looked at her probably remindd him of Jason. A mother lost to drug abuse, a father entrenched in crime and violence, a kid from the less great parts of the city. The parallels were right there to Bruce. But Bruce was too late to save Steph from this life, unlike Jason. Instead, Steph had decided to save herself. But he looked at her, and he saw a kid with no training and no experience. And he’d just lost a partner from a background very similar to hers.

He told her to go home. He never really stopped, not until she became Batgirl. (Although they had some amazing bonding moments as well, which I’ll probably make another post about later)

As a result Steph was an outcast for the majority of her run as Spoiler. She got brief flashes of integration and family; she teams up with Cass, works with other heroes like Black Canary, Huntress, and Oracle. She worked with Tim and Bruce as well. But just as often, Bruce did things like forbid Cass to patrol with Steph and the aforementioned locking her out of the Batcave and not telling her that the family was undergoing a MAJOR crisis at the time.)

(Batman: Bruce Wayne: Murderer? Robin (1993-2009) #98 - Yes Bruce was in prison at the time, but you’d have thought that SOMEONE would have thought to tell her he was unavailable.)

The end result of this should happen when she becomes Robin. Steph becoming Robin should have been cathartic; a culmination of Steph’s hard work paying off and Bruce recognizing her place in the family. And it was for a while!!

(Detective Comics (1937-2011) #796. Making me nostalgic for what could have been. Steph with anger issues and a complicated but growing relationship with Bruce? Amazing.)

Instead, it was a cheap stunt by DC. Steph got fired, Steph screwed up by starting a gang war, Steph died. (And then came back in an outrageously OOC manner, but that’s another story.)

We got some of the catharsis of her becoming part of the family in Steph’s run as Batgirl, but it was undermined by a lot of things. To make her Batgirl, Miller began what Tynion and the Nu52 (and later Rebirth) continues to do.

They take away what makes Steph interesting.

Steph’s anger issues were integral to her early character. She canonically went to visit her father in prison to fight him. Her anger was not once touched upon in Miller’s Batgirl. Her status as a teenage mom was similarly erased. Her trauma at the hands of Black Mask was only hinted at once, after Steph was shot in the head, when she saw him in a flashback. 

(Batgirl (2009-2011) #6. Don’t worry, this will never come up again.)

And her friendship with Cass, a relationship I would say was defining and important to Steph, was washed away, with Cass not even appearing in Steph’s history of the Bat Family. Steph still had to fight for her acceptance in the family; Babs didn’t want her to be Batgirl, her first ever meeting with Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne was a disaster, and she struggled to find her place. There was still catharsis there; she built a team and support network for herself, and it was wonderful, despite my issues with that run.

Miller also started moving Steph away from her roots with her mom; Crystal in Miller’s run was clean and she and Steph seem to have achieved financial stability. But in the preboot, both of those worked, since we’d seen how far they’ve come. Arthur’s abuse wasn’t directly stated, but his attack on her specifically through Black Mercy mad it pretty clear that there were still elements of abuse present, even if the events Steph had referred to in previous stories weren’t shown.

But Tynion doesn’t have that history to build off, because the Nu52 annihilated Steph’s entire history.

Steph in Batman Eternal is from a perfectly happy middle class background, with her parents already split up and with joint custody. Her dad isn’t abusive (in fact, him being a supervillain appears to be a complete surprise to her), her mom isn’t an addict. She’s never been a teenage mom, and although she starts a relationship with Tim off page, she knows his secret identity from the beginning.

(Batman Eternal #3)

And Bruce accepts her into the fold right away in Detective Comics. As a fan of Steph, the catharsis is there on a meta level; Stephanie Brown is accepted enough by the company to allow her to be in the comic which they named themselves after! What a change from the days when Steph was brutally killed off and then banned from appearing in any medium! But in universe? That catharsis doesn’t exist.

So suddenly, Tynion is faced with a character with many of Steph’s traits; the name, the upbeat attitude, the costume, with none of her history or markings.

(Sidenote: Steph’s anger isn’t completely non-existant in the Nu52/Rebirth era: Selina notes that Steph is angry during Steph’s appearance in Catwoman #42.)

(Catwoman (2011-2016) #42. Thank you for this moment, it’s a balm to my soul.)

Steph’s inclusion by Bruce in this initial team he sets up is a fascinating choice. He’s integrating her into the family from the very beginning of her character arc. This could have been a chance to let Steph grow in new directions; she could have grown closer to Cass and Harper, have Bruce and Kate as mentor figures, and explored her relationship with Tim in new and exciting ways. She could have met Duke and Jason and bonded with them over their similarities.

But instead, Steph and Cass barely interact, Harper’s relegated to cameos and sage advice, and Steph’s character is instead defined solely by her relationship with Tim. She has a few nice moments with Bruce, like the hug I’ve been waiting for ever since I got into comics.

(Detective Comics (2016-) #940. THAT HUG)

But overwhelmingly I’ve been left wanting more, and not in the good way. It’s not satisfying. Steph has some great moments in ‘Tec and even some great lines, just like during her run as Batgirl. But there’s a kind of hollowness there for me, lacking the heart and soul of Stephanie Brown.

Tynion also makes some strange changes with Steph; she loses her snark and attitude that even Miller managed to maintain. 

(Robin (1993-2009) #56. Just hanging around, you know.)

(Detective Comics (1937-2011) #796. Poor Bruce has to hang around with snarky teens.)

She’s lacking her relationship with gravity. 

(Batgirl (2000-2006) #20.)

She also no longer loves being a hero and doing good, instead having her arc being dedicated to… saying that superheroes shouldn’t exist… while still functioning as a vigilante… (I really don’t like this kind of arc in comics, not going to lie, so I’m predisposed to not be happy here. But I still think this is a RADICAL departure from Steph’s prior characterization.) 

(Robin (1993-2009)  #100. Here we see Tim planning on retiring, and knowing that Steph is hardly about to stop being a hero.) 

It all culminates, of course, in Steph’s departure from the team after Tim’s death. She calls out Batman for his actions, raises some valid points about how he’s not really parenting Cass (which… Tynion continues to ignore, because what, letting Bruce adopt Cass and teaching her to read? Nah, she’s too busy learning Shakespeare and hanging out with Clayface.) And after that moment of awesome she… leaves.

(Detective Comics (2016-) #947)

She becomes the outcast again. But this time it’s her fault.

And it’s so frustrating to me, this idea that Steph’s isolation is her own fault in Rebirth. That Bruce offered Steph a place and a team, but that she rejected it, is so aggravating. Steph’s isolation is supposed to be Bruce Wayne’s mistake which she pays for throughout her superhero career. Steph wants this place with the family, fights for it tooth and nail in the preboot. Now, if Steph had gone through the preboot arc, fighting for this, trying to earn it, and then turning away from it out of frustration with Bruce? I’d have been willing to listen, and might have even been excited for it.

(Detective Comics (2016-) #957. This is just such a departure from preboot Steph that it boggles my mind.)

But this is a Stephanie Brown who has not been a hero for long. This is Stephanie Brown, who is about the age preboot Steph was when she became Robin, new and inexperienced (meanwhile Tim is exactly where he was in his own timeline when Steph was Batgirl, a frustrating process that’s also familiar.) Steph is younger than she was in preboot and less competent. So are Barbara Gordon and Cass. The Batboys have gotten to grow up and improve. The Batgirls were forced backwards in both age and ability, and yet were older when they started their superhero careers, making them inherently less experienced then their male counterparts.

Part of it is, of course, DC’s refusal to let the Batgirls move forward in the status quo. Babs can’t become Oracle again, Cass can’t become Batgirl, and Steph can’t be Robin or Batgirl. The Batgirls (and Harper) are all now around the same age, and their relationships have been completely and utterly decimated by the retcons and reboots. Steph and Cass aren’t best friends, Babs isn’t a mentor to either Steph or Cass. Steph’s relationship with Bruce is no longer the complicated beast that it was pre-Flashpoint, she still hasn’t met Damian and established their bond, and her first interaction with Dick was an aggravatingly airheaded “kiss me sexy Batman”.

(Batman and Robin Eternal #2. Just. Why.)

And her relationship with Tim is lacking some of the most interesting elements; the drama of Steph’s history and Bruce’s disapproval. But despite its blandness, it continues to be the front and center of Steph’s arc. It’s what drives her away from the others and causes her to isolate herself. Steph functions as a manic-pixie figure to Tim, encouraging him to live his dream, while still being the goofy and funny partner he needs, with her primary motivation being his death.

Her goofiness and mourning are both clearly about to pay off in a manner which I am terrified about. In Detective Comics, Anarchy clones Steph’s phone. A phone which, it was shown in the previous issue, to contain information which could compromise Tim (and by extension everyone’s secret identities). 

(Detective Comics (2016-) #963. Oh look and Tim even told her it would be a bad idea! Haha, how funny!) 

(Detective Comics (2016-) #964)

We could be about to witness War Games, reboot version.

But this time, there will be no one to blame but Stephanie Brown. She chose to isolate herself, she was sloppy with her phone’s security, and she was fooled by Anarchy.

If Tynion does what I’m scared he’s going to do, we’re looking at some next level bullshit.

I live in fear.

[bluering8]

TNG S02

TNG S02 roundup let’s do this let’s make it happen!

Data - I still love Data!! That’s it that’s all you’re getting on the topic because I love Data so much that if you let me talk about him at all I’ll Talk Forever and there are non-Data things in this show which  need to talk about.

Geordi la Forge - I’m glad that Geordi’s the chief engineer now. Last season was kind of weird in that there wasn’t a dedicated engineer character so they were pulling out a new random yellowshirt every time they needed someone to explain a thing to the main cast. If I’m yelling something at the screen (use a shuttle! fly in a different direction! fate is bullshit shut up riker!) then usually Geordi will be the one to say it. This is like, one of the fastest ways you can possibly endear a character to me.

Anyway, I love Geordi and I love his friendship with Data and honestly, you could give me an entire show entirely about these two being bros and I would adore it. I forgot that Geordi likes to build model ships, but now I remember and it delights me that he’s just like, a huge fucking dork in his own right.

...it occurs to me that I’m better-disposed to characters when I know what their hobbies are. Part of the reason I love Data and Geordi so much both as individuals and as a brotp is that the show devotes a lot of time to showing them fucking around and getting into shenanigans outside of their duties. Contrast that with the characters I’m more ambivalent towards, such as Riker or Dr Crusher, and it becomes really obvious that part of the reason I’m ambivalent towards them is that I have no real idea what they do when they’re not doing their jobs.

Kate Pulaski - I hated Pulaski the first time I watched TNG and now, several years later, it turns out that I still hate Pulaski!! I talked about her before and tl;dr: my issue with her isn’t how she treats Data or that she’s decided he isn’t a person, but that she thinks treating someone that way is acceptable as long as she’s decided they’re not a person. Listen, mate, I’m not here to insist that everyone should be a perfect morally-pure cinnamon roll (all my faves are problematic as Hecke). I hate Pulaski because it would be so so easy for me to love her as a character, but she simply doesn’t fit the universe. In a grittier setting? Fantastic, splendid, superlative, I’ll take ten. In spacefuture utopia? I can believe in Pulaski as a person who might exist, sure, but I cannot believe that the rest of the Enterprise crew would stand there and watch her treat Data the way she treats Data, and not respond by hauling her off for sensitivity training. I hate Pulaski not because there’s anything wrong with Pulaski, but because the way the rest of the characters let her get away with it feels like a betrayal of everything I believed in about Star Trek.

Wesley Crusher - Alias FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER, because he is the absolute worst. Why is he wearing a uniform now? I am not usually a guy with strong opinions about wardrobe choices, but I actually really liked his collection of ugly-ass sweaters. If Wesley adds anything to the cast it’s his identity as someone who, despite all his smarts, is still just a teenaged civilian, and as a result lacks both the experience and the training of the other characters. Once you stick him in a uniform you start to lose the impact of that difference. I mean yes the difference will inevitably be lost as he embarks on his Starfleet career but at this point he’s still not even a real cadet yet, let me have the one thing I actually kind of like about the character.

Also why is he on the bridge. Seriously why. Why why why. Stop this!!

William Riker - Somehow it took me until halfway through this season to realise that Riker is mostly just a clone of Kirk? I think this contributes to how bland I find him, all Kirk’s philosophical inclinations got given to Picard instead so Riker ends up feeling super flat and underdeveloped. He’s, like, generally a decentish person (sometimes), and he’s good at his job (sometimes), and he flirts with pretty ladies (often), and his dad is a piece of shit? That’s all I’ve got on him. Dude could use another personality trait or three.

S02E02 Where Silence Has Lease - I have very mixed feelings about this episode. The first half was excellent horror, the kind of thing I love about the SCP Foundation or the Sick Land, that scenario where you’re trying to look at a thing from the perspective of a researcher but you’re in a situation where research simply doesn’t work because the thing is a fundamental violation of the way you interact with reality, and you’ve reached the point where all you can do is look at it and describe what you’re seeing and hope really, really hard that someone will figure something out eventually maybe. (The exploration of the Yamato reminded me a lot of House of Leaves, which also has that delicious sense of nightmarish slowburn reality-breakdown even if it lacks the desperate attempts to Do Science to something which completely resists the application of the scientific method.) Horror is an incredibly subjective genre, but for me a vital part of it is denying me any explanation while maintaining the illusion that if I go just a little further, learn just a little more, suddenly I’ll have my explanation and everything will make sense.

This episode not only gives an explanation, but salts the wound by giving an incredibly shitty explanation. See, something something rats in a maze and then there’s a face in the sky and I don’t give a shit. It was Whatsisface all along!! All it achieves is making me super super confused about what are Whatsisface’s capabilities even. He can make fake ships and fake people and instakill a dude, but he can’t deactivate the ship’s autodestruct or prevent Picard from activating the autodestruct in the first place?

S02E03 Elementary, Dear Data - What the fuck is up with the holodeck? My friend pointed out that “bear in mind they probably have a thousand problem free uses of the holodeck for every freak issue” but like, that’s not the fucking issue here, the issue is that regardless of how many problem-free uses they’ve had, they’ve also had an alarmingly high number of potentially-fatal malfunctions in a relatively short span of time. Why is overriding the mortality failsafe even a thing which is possible?? I can completely buy the holodeck being too useful as a training tool to get rid of it, but they should really have some kind of restrictions or guidelines on the thing for recreational use. You’ve had it demonstrated to you multiple times over that holodeck malfunctions can end in corpses, why are you not doing something about this! Why is there apparently no Health & Safety department on this ship!!

S02E07 Unnatural Selection - Philosophical argument time: do transporters kill people? Normally I’m happy to put this question in a box labelled “let’s not think about that too hard” but the ending of this episode makes more sense to me if the answer is yes. Instead of some bullshit technobabble de-aging nonsense, what they’re actually doing is replicating a new body using the hair as reference and jamming Pulaski’s memories into it then destroying the old body.

S02E09 The Measure of a Man - See, Bruce Maddox is Pulaski done right. I’m straight-up incandescently mad that this episode was Pulaski-free, because whenever she never misses the opportunity to remind Data that he’s not a person, and I super wanted Pulaski and Maddox to interact. Pulaski’s absence here makes the issue with how casually the show treats her attitude towards Data even worse. I feel like if you’re going to spend an episode debating whether Data counts as a person you should at least have the decency to acknowledge the cast member who comes down firmly on the “no” side. You can’t have Data’s personhood as a serious topic for serious debate while simultaneously shrugging your shoulders and going yeah well Pulaski’s just Like That I guess nbd. It doesn’t work that way!

S02E10 The Dauphin - “She’s perfect, absolutely perfect,” says FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER about a girl he’s only met once and barely exchanged a dozen words with, and then he gets super super mad when it turns out she’s a weird space alien shapeshifted into a human which just goes to prove that her personality mattered to him not one iota and he only liked her because she was hot and gave him a boner. And... that’s it, that’s the episode. There’s no subplot, nothing else happens, the entire episode is about FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER having a crush. In conclusion: FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER.

S02E15 Pen Pals - If anyone ever attempts to fight me on the topic of Does Data Is Emotions?, this is the episode I’m pointing them to. I’m pretty sure there’s not a single action Data takes in this entire episode which can be justified from a completely unemotionless point of view. He goes from “I’m too focused on my personal project to spend two seconds stacking this crap neatly so I’ll just leave it lying around as a trip hazard” to “hey Captain remember when you said I could break the Prime Directive a little bit, is it okay if I break it twice that much? actually I broke it ten times that much sorry not sorry” to “so I know this kid has no memory of me or our interactions now but I stole Pulaski’s weird space rock to give to her anyway because sentiment is important to me”.

S02E17 Samitarian Snare - The a-plot of this episode is that multiple people tell Riker that sending their chief engineer over to some random alien vessel is a bad idea while Riker tries to insist that it is a great idea and will be totally fine and then is completely fucking blindsided when it turns out to have been a terrible idea. I’m pretty sure this is the first time Troi’s said anything useful so of course Riker ignored her because she’s not allowed to be a worthwhile character.

The b-plot is that Picard and Wesley take a shuttle trip together and Wesley is so incapable of taking a fucking hint that even when Picard gets up and moves seats to be away from him Wesley doesn’t realise that his constant stream of personal questions might not be welcome. In conclusion: FUCKING WESLEY THE WORST CHARACTER.

S02E18 Up the Long Ladder - Oh my god it’s like they listened to my complaints about S01E17 and somehow managed to fuck it up even worse!! WHY ARE YOU ALL SO WEIRD ABOUT CLONING.

tl;dr: Direct from my liveblogging of S02E03: “DATA CHANGED HIS OUTFIT data my boy my son my precious cinnamon roll how many sherlock holmes cosplay outfits do you own”. I know the reasonable explanation would be that he replicates one fresh each time, but I choose to believe that Data owns an entire closetful of Sherlock Holmes cosplay outfits.

[camsthisky]

Prompt 9 between Bruce and Bat Fam where perhaps Bruce was magically transformed into something else, be it angst or comedy. I need more fic with Bruce bonding with his kids.

This didn’t turn into exactly what you wanted, and I’m sorry about that. But I have some problems working with specific prompts like this sometimes. I swear my fingers have minds of their own sometimes. I hope you still enjoy!

This is set a few weeks after Bruce comes back from being lost in time.

“How many times have I told you notto run down the stairs, Dick?” Bruce says when he hears feet stomping down intothe Cave. His head is pounding something fierce, and he’s lying on a medicalcot. Must have gotten hurt on patrol then. Wouldn’t be the first time. He onlypushes himself up when the steps falter at the bottom of the stairs, and thenhe tenses.

Because that’s not Dick. That’s—he doesn’tknow who that is, but it’s not hisson. A young man, maybe seventeen or eighteen, with dark hair and blue eyesthat sport dark shadows underneath, is standing at the bottom of the steps. He’salso extremely pale, and he’s staring at Bruce like he’s just seen a ghost.

“Who—” is all Bruce manages to getout before the other cuts him off.

“I’m just gonna go get—get Alfredand the others," the teen says, blinking rapidly. And before Bruce can respond(like ask how the hell this guy knows Alfred, or why he’s in Bruce’s secret cave), he’s gone. Up the stairsand into the manor.

It takes a few minutes for Bruce tomake himself move from the medical cot and tumble over to the stairs. He’s justabout to try and go up them when the clock above him opens and he hears asharp, “Bruce!”

Bruce’s vision wavers, and onlyonce he steadies himself does he look up to find—Dick. But not Dick. BecauseDick is eleven years old, and this man is clearly only a few years younger thanBruce himself is. If that.

“Dick?” he asks, his browfurrowing, and No-Dick supports him when he wavers again, leading him back overto sit on the cot. “Or are you—you can’t be John.”

Not-Dick sucks in a sharp breath,and no. Bruce would know those bright blue eyes anywhere. This is Dick. This ishis son. But somehow, he’s in his twenties, not his little boy who’d justcelebrated his eleventh birthday. It looks like Dick’s aged fifteen years in anight, and that’s when Bruce’ circling mind really starts working overtime.

“What’s going on?” Bruce asks,meeting his son’s eyes. “Why do you look so—is this some kind of vision? Timetravel?”

Dick grimaces. “Our best guess istime displacement,” Dick tells him. He’s searching Bruce’s face, and Brucesearches back. There are so many—lines. Scars. Even a few freshly stitched cutson his forehead. His hair is still a mess, though, and his eyes shine with thatsame troublemaker glow they’d had just yesterday when Bruce had found Dicksliding the banister full speed. “We found you unconscious on the street whilewe were looking for our Bruce.”

“I see.”

Bruce had known the possibilityexisted, but this is his first experience with it. And Bruce doesn’t doubt thatDick is lying, either. Which means—it means something that Bruce isn’t sure hewants to explore right now. So, he cups Dick’s face with his hands, and justholds him.

Dick’s grimace turns into a frown. “Pleasedon’t look at me like that.”

“You grew up.”

“Yeah,” Dick says, covering one ofBruce’s hands with his own. “I guess I did.”

“Grayson!”a voice calls from up the stairs of the stillopen clock, and Dick smiles fondly at the call. Bruce lets his hands fallaway from his son’s face and turns towards where Dick’s looking. There’sindistinct murmuring between two voices—the one that had called Dick and theyoung man from when Bruce had first woken up, Bruce thinks—from upstairs.

“Dick,” Bruce says, feeling alarmwelling up inside him. Seeing Dick all grown up had thrown him off, and hecurses himself silently for forgetting about the teen from before. “Why arethere more people in my house than you and Alfred?”

Dick coughs awkwardly. “You mayhave, uh, adopted a few more kids.”

Bruce honestly doesn’t know how torespond to a statement like that. But luckily, he doesn’t have to, because akid comes barreling down the stairs and over to Bruce and Dick, barely payingthe former any attention. The teen from before follows, but at a much slowerpace.

“Grayson!” the kid calls again, hisdark eyes furious as he crosses his arms over his chest. “I demand you dosomething about Drake!”

Dick sighs, but it’s exasperated,like he’s one this a billion times. “I’m sure that whatever Tim did to you washarmless. I’m not going to kick him out just because he accidentally upset you.”

“Oh, no,” the teen—Tim Drake, Bruceis guessing, which raises a lot more questions than it answers—says, hiseyebrows raised. He’s a lot twitchier, Bruce notices, giving Bruce side-glancesevery so often. “I definitely did it on purpose. You know, since Damian triedto stab me again.”

“It’s not my fault you can’t dodgeproperly,” the newly named Damian sneers. “I am doing you a favor by—”

“Enough,” Dick says, and Bruce isslightly taken aback. Because he’s never heard Dick sound so authoritative before.And Bruce is having a hard time lining up this man with his eleven year oldback—back in his own time. And these are supposed to be his kids? “Damian, we talked about trying tokill Tim. And Tim, really? He’s eleven years old and he’s still trying to breakout of old habits.”

“He’s a demon,” Tim hisses, hisfists clenching and eyes narrowing as he takes a step forward. “He tried to kill me and now he—”

“Tim,” Dick says, eyes flashing, and Tim’s mouth snaps shut as hedeflates. Those shadows under his eyes look darker than ever, though, and Brucewatches as the teen looks away from Dick and closes in on himself. After aquiet moment of Damian and Bruce both looking in between the two, Dick finallyslumps. “Look, Tim. I know it’s been hard. And that this situation is kind oflike the one before, but—”

“This is nothing like before,” Damian snarls. “Father is not dead this time.He is alive.”

Bruce raises his eyebrows, and cutsin before Tim or Dick can say anything to that. “Dead? I died?”

Dick winces. “Kind of. It’s morelike you were lost in time.”

“I see,” Bruce says. But he reallydoesn’t. “So, is anybody interested in telling me what’s going on?”

This is one of the most insanethings to ever happen to him, and he thinks he should be actively searching fora way home. To his Dick. Who is eleven years old and probably scared. Time displacement, Dick had said. Thatmeant he needed to go home.

“We ran some tests,” Tim saysquietly, and he’s staring at the floor. “Physically, you’re around Dick’s age,so we think something may have gone wrong when Bruce—our Bruce tried to travelto a different dimension.”

“Which means,” Dick continues, asad smile on his face, “that the only way we’ll know where our Bruce is, iswhen he comes back.”

“Do you think your version of me isin my time, then?” Bruce asks, relaxing by a fraction. “And I assume there issome sort of device that can be altered to fix this, as well. The same that wasbeing used to jump dimensions?”

Dick winces. “Sort of. Tim and Bcould probably modify it, but Bruce took the device with him when—”

A sound—louder than thunder—decidesthen is the perfect moment to try and rupture Bruce’s eardrums. Bruce covershis ears with his hands and watches as a bright light flashes in the middle ofthe cave, and when it disappears—both the light and the noise—all that’s leftstanding there is an eleven year old Dick Grayson and an older—well. An olderBruce Wayne.

He has to be in his forties at theleast, with more scars and wrinkles than Bruce has ever seen in the mirror. Theother him looks dispassionate and grumpy,and Bruce can’t help the wrongness bubbling in his stomach. No one should looklike that after spending five minutes with Dick, who is literally a ray of pure(troublemaking) sunshine. And this older version of himself had raised Dickinto a young man.

Why? What happened?

Dick—Dickie, his eleven year oldson from his time, the one Bruce isn’t sure how to admit he’s relieved tosee-bounces up to him, a gigantic smile on his face. “Hey, B! Heard you gotlost. Need some help finding your way back home?”

Bruce smiles fondly, and then, whenDickie jumps at him to wrap his arm around Bruce’s neck, Bruce slides off thecot to catch him and hug him back. Maybe he can admit it after all. “It’s goodto see you, Dick.”

Dickie detaches from Bruce’s neck,stepping back a bit but not losing complete contact, and that grin turns into asmirk as he puts his hands on his hips. “Good to see you, too, B.” Dickie jabsa thumb over to where the other Bruce is watching them. “That Bruce is crabbierthan you would believe. All he does is grunt and brood all the time.”

The older Dick laughs sharply, andeveryone looks over at him. “What?” he asks as his chuckles die down, lookingat the other Bruce in particular. “Little me is right. And I’m sure Jay will behappy to make a sign for you, too. ‘World’s okay-est dad. Warning: will usegrunts and brooding as main forms of communication.’”

The other Bruce shoots Dick ano-nonsense look. “You got me that ‘World’s Okay-est Dad’ mug for me forChristmas five years ago. Try again.”

Dick shrugs, but he doesn’t look fazed.“I’m sure Cass would be able to come up with something.”

“Is that really how you want to getthose two together?” Tim asks, seemingly over whatever was bothering himearlier. “You know that those two will literally turn the entire manor into completechaos, right?”

Damian snorts. “Like it’s notalready chaos? You and Todd seem to bring it with you wherever you go.”

“What about Dick? He literally dyedB’s cape pink last week. Alfred had to make a new one.”

“Grayson is—tolerable,” Damiangrumbles. “You and Todd, however, should be banned from being in the same roomas each other.”

“You’re such a—”

“Okay!” Dick—the older one—chimes in,his cheer sounding a little forced now. He turns to the older Bruce. “A littlehelp here?”

The other Bruce huffs a laugh,shaking his head. “Don’t mind me. The World’s Okay-est Dad thinks you’ve gotthis one handled.”

“Bruce,” Dick whines.

“Wow,” Dickie says into Bruce’s earas the four dissolve into another petty argument. “They fight a lot.”

Bruce chuckles—because, yeah. Theydo. They’ve been arguing since Bruce woke up. But, there’s something underneaththe fighting that resounds in Bruce’s chest. He can see it now that he hasDickie in his arms, settling the ruffled parts of his mind.

And part of him, especially seeingDick grown up like this, scolding his younger brothers, it makes Bruce thinkthat maybe he’s done something rightwith this kid in front of him. Even if he doesn’t quite believe his family willgrow this big. After all, Dick and Alfred are the only family he needs.

“What say we go home?” Bruce asks.

Dickie smiles. “Yeah, I’d likethat.” And then he pauses a moment before he says, “I missed you, Bruce. Itwasn’t very long but—but it was still a little scary not being able to findanyone but that older Bruce.”

“I know,” Bruce says, because asmuch as he hates to admit it, he thinks it was a little terrifying for him,too. To see Dick grown up, his age, at a place where he didn’t seem to needBruce anymore. “I missed you, too.”

And years later, after Bruce andDick are returned to their own time, after Dick’s become Nightwing and provedthat he really doesn’t need Bruceanymore, Bruce finds a kid trying—and succeeding—to jack the tires from theBatmobile, and he does something he’s really only done once before.

He takes him home.

[theoddcatlady]

Energy Potion

Alan: Oh my god I’m dying.

Alan: End me guys. Just take my body and throw it in a hole six feet deep.

Melody: Stop complaining, it’s not that bad.

Bruce: Shut the fuck up and pass me more coffee.

Alan: Coffee. All I consume, all I taste. Is goddamn coffee.

Cleo: I don’t know about you guys IM DOING GREAT :D

Melody: Oh god I think she found where I hid her Monster.

Melody: Cleo no do you KNOW how bad that is for you?! Spring water. Deep breathing. That’ll get you through finals!

Alan: … On what planet do you live on?

Melody: The one where nature provides rather than artificial chemicals and manmade poison.

Bruce: Oh man I haven’t laughed this hard since… I can’t remember. More coffee. More coffee. My fingers are shaking so much and I still don’t have this paper done. Spellcheck thinks I’m developing Parkinson’s.

Cleo: Your fingers only JUST started shaking? D:

Melody: Your kids are all going to end up with ADHD.

!~*~!

Melody: I have decided my earlier statements may have been naïve.

Alan: Nooo, really?

Melody: RIP. X.X

Cleo: Okay, after spending all morning in bed with a migraine maybe drinking that many Monsters in a row was a bad idea. Whoopsie daisy.

Bruce: I’m surprised you’re not dead.

Cleo: Same bro. Fuck finals.

Melody: We’re all doomed.

Alan: … hold on a sec guys I got this weird ad on the college website, lemme show you.

Alan: [IMG]

Alan: Ignore that it looks like every ‘graphic design is my passion’ advertisement ever.

Melody: Oooh, a natural remedy?

Cleo: No crash? I’m sold. How much is it, I don’t wanna blow my food budget.

Bruce: Thiiis sounds like bull. Don’t do it man.

Alan: Too late. Emailed the seller.

Bruce: Cocksucker.

Alan: You wish jackass.

Cleo: Shut the fuck up guys. I’m emailing Gus too. See if he’ll work out a deal. Jesus, a week’s amount of doses is over thirty bucks… hello Ramen cups and poptarts. How I missed you.

Melody: I have some extra quinoa!

Cleo: Errrrr…

Bruce: I mean. We only need a week’s worth. Then finals will be over.

Alan: Ooooh, changing your tune, mister skeptic?

Bruce: If I don’t pack in as much study time as possible I’m going to fail. I’m not gonna let that happen.

Alan: Awww yeah! Let’s try some kid’s science experiment!

!~*~!

Alan: I’m still laughing that it’s called ‘Energy Potion’. What sort of geeky ass bullshit?

Bruce: Taking the first pill now. I have to study.

Melody: All at once, readysetgo!

Cleo: …

Cleo: I didn’t expect it to dissolve. Thought it was like birth control.

Bruce: Literally tastes like piss. Literally.

Alan: Spend a lot of time doing that Bruce?

Bruce: Eat shit.

Alan: :P

Melody: Maybe it’s the color that brings on the whole urine sensation. So icky.

Cleo: Blergh. My mouth feels awful, how’s this supposed to work Alan?

Alan: ‘One pill and you’ll have bursts of energy throughout the night, a slow burn rather than a high followed by a crash.’ Taken right from the product description.

Melody: Oddly enough, I feel its working! Or maybe that’s the crystals I set up around my study place.

Bruce: Or placebo effect. That too.

!~*~!

Cleo: Bruce?

Bruce: What’s up Cleo? Any reason you’re not messaging with the group?

Cleo: … I took another pill this morning.

Bruce: Shit, are you feeling sick? I mean it does wonders don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think you can stay awake all day like that.

Cleo: I know I know I’m sorry, I’m just letting you know in case something goes wrong. And it did work. I didn’t feel tired until the sun went up. Still pretty sleepy.

Bruce: You wanna come over to my apartment to study? I know the dorm’s pretty rough on you.

Cleo: Well…

Bruce: I’ll have more Monster for you.

Cleo: Sold. Can we play a few rounds of Overwatch too?

Bruce: As long as I can be your pocket Mercy.

!~*~!

Melody: This is the best stupid idea you’ve ever had Alan!

Alan: I know right? You know how productive I was last night? Focused?

Melody: I know! I didn’t even feel buzzed! Just AWAKE!

Cleo: Slept through one of my classes though. The crash does come, just when the sun comes up.

Bruce: Whatever man, most of my classes don’t care about attendance except when it comes to finals. Two more days until it begins.

Cleo: I can’t wait for them to be over. I might take it easy. No more all nighters. I’ll save the rest of my pills for another time.

Melody: To be honest I haven’t even been taking mine.

Alan: … What?

Bruce: Sure Melody haha how the heck have you put in more studying time?

Melody: I just feel more awake at night. I think my internal clock is changing, a few sessions of meditation and I’ll be able to refresh myself.

Alan: That’s weird.

Cleo: You know, now that I think about it, I think I forgot to take the pill last night because of how awake I was? It just felt more natural to be awake at night rather than the day. I powernapped at midnight but that’s it. It’s probably just working its way out of our systems.

Bruce: god I hope so. I swear if you end up hospitalized because of this…

!~*~!

Cleo: TMI, I don’t care.

Alan: You too?

Bruce: Same.

Melody: I’m anti shaving but this is RIDICULOUS.

Bruce: …  How the hell did we get on the same wavelength so fast?

Cleo: I mean we’re friends. That’s how it is right?

Cleo: That’s beside the point. The point is my bush is thicker than a jungle, and I JUST got waxed as a reward for passing finals.

Alan: That is really TMI but same.

Melody: I might actually break out the razor.

Bruce: probably just get a weed whacker…

Cleo: Took the words out of my MOUTH.

Alan: Maybe it’s just a full moon, either way, finals are over, toss out the damn pills, we’re GOOD.

!~*~!

Bruce: I’m still not sleeping at night.

Melody: Neither am I. I��m back at my mom’s and she’s getting SUPER worried.

Alan: I keep nodding off at work. This fucking sucks. I’m gonna get canned at this rate and I don’t wanna go back to living with my parents.

Bruce: Have either of you heard from Cleo? I haven’t since she got home to her parents. I feel like she’s fine, but you know, I worry.

Alan: I know you two finally got together but relax, she’s fine.

Melody: She’s probably just organizing her room.

Bruce: … How the fuck did you know we were together?

Melody: …

Melody: I… don’t know. I just guessed I guess.

Bruce: Bull. We haven’t told anyone. Her dad’s racist as hell, you really think he’s cool with his princess dating a black guy?

Alan: Isn’t that beside the point anyway?

Bruce: No, not it’s not.

Bruce: I really didn’t want to say this.

Bruce: Alan, I know you’re bisexual. You were at the LGBT safe space the night before graduation.

Bruce: And Melody, you believe in this vegan hippie bullshit only to make your mom happy. Because she’d be horrified to find out you’re atheist. You were at Burger King yesterday and I know you weren’t there for the salad.

Bruce: I just know what you two are doing at any time, any place, anywhere. I know where to find you right now. I can’t put it into words but it’s like we’re connected.

Bruce: Do you realize it too?

Melody: … Yes.

Melody: I was worried last night because you weren’t safe. And when you got home and told me that you were nearly in a car accident I almost screamed. I don’t believe in this sixth sense bullshit. I don’t believe in any of it. I was a vegetarian because of logic reasons, not that I ‘feel the animal’s souls’.

Alan: But you’ve also been eating a lot of meat lately too, huh?

Bruce: There’s so many jokes I can make about the meat thing.

Alan: Time and a fucking place, Bruce.

Alan: I’ve basically become a carnivore overnight. I made myself three steaks last night because I just couldn’t get full. I’m blowing through my food budget like there’s no tomorrow.

Bruce: Damn. I’ve been getting by on chicken nuggets but nothing beats a rare steak right now. I could go get one right now. If I wasn’t so damn tired.

!~*~!

Bruce: Cleo? Are you there? I know you’re okay but I’m wondering for how much longer.

Bruce: Please tell me you’re okay.

Cleo: … I’m hideous.

Cleo: My new teeth are all sharp. I’m so hairy. The only thing I like to eat is meat. I only like being out at night, and when I do, I explore my territory.

Cleo: I’m not what you want.

Bruce: No no no, it’s all of us, Cleo. My teeth just started to get loose. The night is beautiful, isn’t it?

Cleo: Especially the moon. But I feel so alone. I’m not supposed to be alone. I love you, Bruce. So much. We’re meant to be.

Bruce: We are. All of us need to be together. It’s getting stronger by the day. What’s happening to us?

Cleo: The potion. The energy potion.

Cleo: That fucker turned us into freaks!

Bruce: Nonono, you’re not a freak. If it wasn’t for this new connection, I wouldn’t have made a move that night. Appearance or not, this isn’t… all bad.

Cleo: Not all bad?

Cleo: What is even the end of this? What are we turning into?

Bruce: Hang tight. We’ll be okay, I promise.

Cleo: … my dad’s banging on my door fuckfuckfuck I think he knows about us

Bruce: Cleo?

Bruce: Cleo?!?!

Bruce: CLEO PLEASE REPLY

Bruce: CLEO!

!~*~!

Bruce: She’s in trouble.

Melody: I’m already almost to her house. Alan’s with me. Meet us there.

Bruce: Keep her safe.

!~*~!

Bruce: Shaken them off?

Melody: Yes.

Cleo: They couldn’t keep up. They’re weak. They don’t have our senses in the dark.

Alan: I got rid of the body. And our clothes.

Bruce: You know where to go?

Cleo: We’ll meet you there.

Alan: You’re in charge.

Alan: We’ll get through this together.

Melody: Yes.

Cleo: Yes.

Bruce: Yes.

[redrobin-detective]

I'm a writer and I've gotten a couple complaints that my characterization/psychological state is off. I was wondering if maybe you could give me a little synopsis/character analysis of the main Batfam? Especially Bruce, Damian, and Tim? Those are the ones I'm weakest with. I've looked to many of your answers for more information on the characters and I just want to thank you for being so in depth!!!

It’s hard man and, wow, thank you for the compliment but I’mnot perfect either. With Batman there’s so much history and variability that Icherry pick the parts I like best and combine them to create the ‘ideal’character for my tastes. So keep that in mind, there’s no one right answer.

Bruce- Bruce is one of the most caring people you will evermeet. Such a big heart that loves super intensely. But he’s afraid and he’svery damaged from his experiences. He has all this love but he a) doesn’t knowhow to healthily express it and b) is afraid to acknowledge/express hisemotions for fear of being hurt again. So he comes across as kind of a coldjerk a lot of times. But as he adopts his children (big heart again) he reallydoes make and effort and does as much as he’s capable. He messes up, a lot, buthe still cares. The mission is the most important thing, just slightly behindhis family enough even he forgets sometimes. Motivated and obsessed, hesometimes pushes himself and his feelings too far with consequences.

Dick- Outwardly very bright and cheery, happy and full ofhope and love. It’s one trait he maintains but as tragedies continue in hislife, he hides of that away and instead puts up the mask of a goofball tocompensate. Refuses to be like Bruce but sometimes acts like him anyway. Such apeople person, can make friends in an instant. Observant and caring, sometimesa little overconfident and patronizing but he means well. Being a bigbrother/mentor is very important to him, he loves trying to help out thoseyounger than him to avoid repeating his mistakes. Wracked with guilt and griefand anger that he keeps bottled up cause he hates those negative emotions butthey manifest and cause lots of damage cause he never learned to deal withthem. While he seems easygoing, he’s very stubborn and hardworking and wouldmove literal mountains for those he loves.

Babs- Barb was a very cynical, mature young woman who becameBatgirl as a fuck you to her dad for not letting her join the police force.Eventually she came to love the thrill and intellectual challenge and doinggood. But she grows up and decides Batgirl is a child’s thing and puts it awayjust before her accident. The accident changed her, once a sassy but playfulknow-it, now she’s bitter and angry at her circumstances. It’s unfair whathappened and she broods in her loss, lashes out and pushed people away. Onceshe realizes that she’ll never not miss her legs, she moves on. She’s harsher,more cutting but she’s got her life back and she won’t let her paralysis defineher. Forms the BOP, works with Batman and makes a real difference as Oracle.She’s still angry a lot, bitter but she’s learned to work through it, channelher feelings into positive manners. She’s warm and comforting to those underher wing, an unofficial mom/big sister but a vicious storm to those she fights.

Jason- Jason was a street rat from day one. He grew up incrime alley with a criminal father and an addict mother, he learned to be toughand survive and fight dirty. But despite everything, he still avoided doingmuch crime himself and maintained a good heart. Despite this he has angerissues and insecurities and fears of being just what everyone said he was.Death didn’t help. The Pit scrambled his head, amplified his negative traitsand made him a bit crazy for a while. It calmed down eventually but he’d made alot of enemies and he didn’t regret too much. Through that all, he still caresfor people though, all his murders are done to save people. He’s still bitterwith the batfam, angry about being replaced but he’s tentatively working hisway back in. It’s not easy and they’ll never truly be on good terms, he’s adarker hero now and the Pit still influences him, but he wears the Bat and thatcounts for something.

Tim- Tim’s parents were away a lot as a child so he neverreally developed any bonds. He grew up quiet and alone, honing his intelligencefor lack of anything better to do and a bone deep understanding that he wasn’timportant or worthy of love. He love B&R, looked up to them as heroessaving the city, being important was lowkey obsessed as lonely kids are. Hetook over as Robin, unwillingly at first but then he saw it as an opportunity todo some good in his life, help people. He didn’t think he’d last. As a Robin hewas quiet and contemplative, always hung back and observed rather than jumpingin. Prone to depression and extreme anxiety. Probably the closest to B butstill very warm and friendly, he put everyone else before himself. He gainedsome confidence and grew into himself. When things turned bad, Tim nearlycrumbled. His eternal hope and optimism was darkened and made smaller. It madehim harsher, more willing to bend, not break, the rules. He became more self-reliantbecause people let him down and he won’t make that mistake again. Bitter still,but underneath he’s still that lonely boy who just wanted to help but he coversit with meticulously plans and calculated moves.

Cass- It took Cass a while to learn how to be a personinstead of a weapon. She hated herself and what she’d done (been forced to do)as a child. She was wandering, aimless until Batman found her and gave her backher purpose. Batgirl is so fulfilling for her, to use her skills for goodinstead of hurting people. She’s very kind, she doesn’t want to hurt but shealso will fight against those who do wrong. Very out of touch with culture andpeople in general, especially because she can’t read/write and doesn’t speakwell either. It makes her feel isolated but she tries to move past that. Very curious,loves to explore new things and meet people. Confident in herself but like haveyou seen Cass, she’s every bit as skilled as she insinuates. Loves her newfamily to death would do anything for them. Falls in love with beauty, sheloves dance because it’s a chance to use her natural body reading and movementsto make something beautiful instead of deadly.

Stephanie- Steph is a bit of a wild child, a normal kid but incrediblybrazen, even more so than most teens. When she starts as Spoiler, she reallydidn’t understand the risks and what she was getting into. But as she gotdeeper into the hero gig, she learned how treacherous and demanding it is butshe fell in love with the rush and feeling of accomplishment and also Robin.She wanted to be helpful too, she wanted to feel important and on top becausefor all of her life, she’s just been Cluemaster’s stupid kid. Bubbly but not tothe point of ignorance. She’s happy because she chooses to be and not let theworld drag her down. But it covers a bitter mean steak. Has a mean punch andwill take down anyone threatening or demeaning her. She’s angry at her dad, atTim, at Bruce, at Gotham for how things went down. But she took a page fromBarbara’s book and squared her shoulders, looked her troubles in the eye andsaid fuck off. Very open and playful because if she gives in to all thehardships in her life, that would feel too much like losing.

Damian- Damian was raised a killer but, more importantly, hewas raised to be Batman’s downfall and to eventually become Ra’s vessel. He’sarrogant and rude and doesn’t think he needs anyone. But time with the Batstells him that he doesn’t know everything and the way he was raised wasn’t thebest thing. Dick absolutely changes him; he looks up so much to the acrobat andactively tries to change for him. But changing comes naturally, he develops hiscompassion and builds a relationship within the family and a connection withRobin. He really comes to enjoy this new family and life but he’s insecure andterrified that it will all get taken away: Robin and his family and he’ll besent back to the League. He’s afraid that no one will see that he’s changed or,worse, that he really hasn’t. Covers his fears with sass and false bravado, ‘fakingit until making it’ so to speak. He’s still angry and more violent but he’sworking hard against those ingrained ideas. Feels a strong connection withanimals because they trust him and don’t judge him for his past. Awkwardlyformal and uncomfortable with people, especially kids. He was never allowed tobe a kid himself so he’s very mature but also aching for love and attention.

Also throwing in this bad boy for relationships between the fam, hope that helps!

[tessatechaitea]

Doom Patrol #4

This cover is trying too hard to be incomprehensible.

Death metal bands in the Doom Patrol universe seem to have a common theme.

• Lucius is a fifteen year old sorcerer who feels like a nobody and has Daddy and Mommy Issues! Sounds perfect for the Doom Patrol! • Meanwhile, Cliff and Larry have touched the face of N'ihil (or whatever the Lord of Negative Entity Land is called) and entered into the negative courtroom where they'll be tried for their negative crimes. Man, I would be so guilty of negative crimes! • Double meanwhile, Casey and Fugg have found themselves in Space Jail (Casey's words...although they probably would have been mine as well if she hadn't called it that so quickly). There they meet the Niles Caulder Robot that Niles Caulder made during last issue's Intermission (there won't be an Intermission this issue because I've already skipped it. Niles met a dog or something. Also, he was watching Casey through his robot's eyes). They also meet Ricardo, the friend of Danny's who has been searching for him so he can warn Danny that he's about to be invaded by an Evil Fast Food Franchise. They easily escape Space Jail using Casey's new powers which she luckily discovers just in time to escape. • Back at Negative Court, Larry Trainor pleads "Make me Negative Man again." And so the court is all, "Cool! Way to be a good guy! You're a true hero, unlike some ex-racecar drivers who hate to be called by their superhero alias and are constantly going on about not being able to have a normal life, one of which might be in this room and listening to me and rolling his robot eyes.

So every time he lets the Negative Spirit loose, he'll get an extra Picard lifetime?! Awesome!

• Back in Vectra Space Jail, Casey and company discover Danny the Ambulance hooked up to a meat grinder so all of the people living inside of him can instantly be turned into fast food hamburger when he expels them. Casey finally realizes that maybe she shouldn't be upset about the way Danny created her. Although I'm still upset about the way my mom and dad created me. How dare they! I could have remained nonexistent and happy! Well, maybe not happy, but ignorant of existential terror. Well, maybe not ignorant, as I would never have existed to feel anything whatsoever. My father wearing a condom on that particular Christmas morning would have been the greatest Christmas gift of all time! • To try to bond with Casey, Danny tells her about the last time he tried to evade evil people who would exploit him and how he was destroyed then as well. All that was left that time was Danny the Brick. And that brick was saved by...oh. Oh my. I'm having the tears.

My dear, dear Crazy Jane!

• I bet they completely drop the "crazy", society being the thing full of scolds that it is today. • Danny went on space adventures with Jane until one day, they met a person who was only a white silhouette in a red cape. That person befriended them...up to a point. Eventually the friendship ended the way all friendships tend to end: one friend bashes somebody's brains out with the other friend. After that, Danny lost touch with Jane. • Casey accepts her role as the hero Space Case so that she can save Danny the World. But to do that, they need to do a little bit of time traveling. That's because Danny the World has already become burgers. • After Casey drives Danny the Ambulance away through space, it is revealed that her current nemesis is Torminox! He was also created by Danny to be Space Case's archenemy. He doesn't seem to mind that Space Case is getting away and might stop the whole Evil Fast Food Franchise thing because he has some other plan up his sleeve. It's probably super complicated. It definitely involves a synthetic being! The Ranking! +1! This version of Doom Patrol has my full approval! Although that could change at any moment! I'm one fickle motherfucker.

[rilenerocks]

I am presently on a lengthy road trip with my son. Our itinerary is ambitious – by the time we return home in sixteen days, we’ll have driven over 4000 miles. I’ve always loved being on the road. So much to see and experience. I feel like I’ve really challenged myself with this one. I’ve had one knee replacement surgery but the other one is ahead of me so hiking is a bit of a stretch. But I don’t want to squander my general good health at this age, and most certainly, not my mental fortitude which fires me to keep ticking items off my to do list. During this trip, we’re covering history and nature. My son has committed himself to making good memories with me which is a perfectly understandable plan after going through the unexpected loss of his dad two years ago. The two of us are well-suited to traveling together as we share similar musical taste and are both eager to learn as we roll along. In our typically dorky fashion, we’re listening to some Great Courses he selected, one on the greatest geological sites in the world and the other on mythology. We’re self-actualizing together. It’s pretty entertaining.

Yet on Day 4, we diverged from new shared experiences to one that I most especially planned into this trip. It all began with a book. When I was growing up, if I wasn’t outside playing and exploring, I almost always had a book in my hands. I was an indiscriminate reader – there was virtually nothing I wouldn’t read from long tomes to cereal boxes. At home, the big joke was that I read all the books on our one measly book shelf and when I was finished, I went back to the top shelf and started over. I had a tendency to pick a topic and read everything about it. I read about the presidents. I read biographies about athletes. I would find an author I liked and then read every book that person wrote. I started reading about the Civil War when I was about eleven and haven’t stopped since. When my son and I drove within the proverbial stone’s throw from Gettysburg, I found it hard to pass by. I’ve been there before. Whatever a religious experience is supposed to be, I think I had one on that battlefield. Images that I inferred from reading dozens of books about those days in July of 1863 seemed as real to me as if I’d been there at the time. That visit evoked some of the most powerful emotions I think you can get from just being in a place. I

When I was about 11, I came upon a book by Albert Payson  Terhune called Lad: A Dog. We’d had a collie mix when I was a few years younger but we gave him up when we moved from Iowa to Chicago and an apartment. No dogs allowed. So reading about Lad’s life and adventures struck a chord in me. Terhune wrote other books about Bruce and Treve and Gray Dawn, but Lad and his extended family always were my favorite. I must have read that book a hundred times. I still have a copy on the shelf by my bed. One day, maybe a dozen years ago I was at work, tired of my current task and in need of a break. Lad’s imaginary home was called Sunnybank and I just decided to type the name into my computer to see what came up. I was totally floored to discover that the Lad and other collie books were not fiction. Terhune was a collie breeder who lived on a big swath of land in Wayne, New Jersey. A graduate of Columbia University, he was also a journalist and novelist. He started writing during the late 1800’s and continued for decades.

As I scrolled incredulously through the website, I found myself looking at photos of Lad and the other collies, their home, their lake, their special places. And the dogs were buried on the grounds of Terhune’s property. I was dumbfounded at first but that quickly turned into obsession. I needed to be at that place. I just couldn’t figure out a trip to New Jersey at that point in my life when I had so many responsibilities and so many other places to knock off my list. This trip was the right time for finally realizing my dream. Today, on the way to Cape May, my dream came true.

Terhune Memorial Park is a beautiful, serene place located on Lake Pompton in Wayne, New Jersey. The grounds are well-tended and the mature trees are alive with birds, chipmunks and squirrels. The house succumbed to fire some years ago but there is a museum in town which has artifacts from it and the dogs’ careers. I was interested in the graves. As we entered the park, my kid, a biologist and bird specialist pointed out several lifers, first time bird spotting for me. I quickly selected a favorite tree, a purple European beech with beautiful leaves and a gorgeous trunk.

While he pointed his binoculars at the sky, I walked from grave to grave, from stone bench to stone bench, recalling all the stories of the dogs’ lives, especially Lad’s. I surprised myself by dissolving in tears as I found myself racing back almost 60 years in time to those days when I began gobbling up those books. As I then reversed direction, moving back to the present, I realized how the books shaped the choices in my life. The majority of my dogs were collie mixes, most of whom looked exactly like pure collies.

My beloved Flash, my dog who I suspect was the dog of my life, looked just like Lad. My current dog Violet is a rescued purebred, my first one with papers and championships which mean nothing to me as I think she was abused. In the two years that I’ve had her she’s turned from a vacant alienated creature to a real dog. You can actually teach old ones new tricks. I think of Michael constantly teasing me about my “intellectual, psychological dogs,” who were always looking me in the eyes and trying to figure out what I needed. He was right. I wanted my dogs to be just like Lad whose gravestone reads: A Thoroughbred in Body and Soul. I wove those books into the fabric of me where they remained an influence in my life’s choices. I hope books can still do that for children, letting them build life visions from the inside out. Today was another religious experience for me. I’m glad that what came from reading can still stir such powerful feelings. And that a park by a lake can fill your soul, at least for awhile. I’m grateful to be that person.

The Books of Your Life I am presently on a lengthy road trip with my son. Our itinerary is ambitious - by the time we return home in sixteen days, we’ll have driven over 4000 miles.

[redrobin-detective]

Don't know if this had been asked before but how would resolve/explored/develop the batfamily dynamics pre 52? I don't know if it was you or someone else, but it was brought up that the idea of Damian being more Dick's kid than Bruce's would be a neat idea to explore. Bruce would still bond w/Damian but he'd have to deal w/Damian seeing Dick as his real dad and Dick staying Batman for Damian's sake. Tim and Dick repairing their bond while the former and Damian would learn to accept each other.

Sorry, I know, I’ve held onto this for nearly a week but this is such a big ask I’ve been thinking about how to best describe and format it so I’ve been doing it bit by bit. Because I’ve given quite a bit of thought to how to integrate the ideas of pre-Flashpoint smoothly into N52, using the plot lines and developments from the later without sacrificing the former. I think it could have easily have been done and been more interesting because DC dropped off on some intense plotlines. *Also to save my fingers, Pre = Pre-Flashpoint/N52

Dick/Dami- I have done a few posts about how close they were pre and how Dami and Bruce really weren’t. Bruce was not the best father before he came back from the dead and had no interest in working with Damian in order to help the boy heal. In my fantasy, this would have played out. Damian would have refused to leave Dick’s side as his partner while now Bruce is hurt/confused on why his son now doesn’t want to be with him. I want Damian and Bruce to have a relationship but I want B to have to work for it. Nightwing and Robin shows Dick and Dami together with Batman and Red Robin has Tim and Bruce teamed but slightly at odds with each other, the once close relationship showing strain while Dick and Dami are going strong. Eventually Bruce earns Damian’s love and trust and begins patrolling with Bruce but he still remains immensely close to Dick and, no one says it aloud, but everyone considers him more Dick’s child than Bruce’s. By the time of Damian’s death, it should be Dick who is outraged and inconsolable with grief barely able to function while Bruce goes into his angry/panicked mode because he’d barely gotten any time with Dami and now he’s gone.

Tim- Just Tim in general would need a lot of work done and I’m not just saying that cause he’s my favorite. Red Robin left us with some pretty massive loose ends not to mention Timmy had be been bent and twisted by his experiences to the point that he was different and not always in good healthy ways. In Batman and Red Robin, we see the strain slowly start to show. B is still mad for Tim almost killing Boomerang at the same time he’s upset at how much Tim has grown-up and grown away. He’s also lowkey upset about Dami and, I don’t want to say he’s using Tim to fill in until Damian comes back but it’s implied. He also becomes increasingly concerned for Tim’s mental/physical health. Tim meanwhile is a slow, steady downward slope of depression and feelings of isolation and hurt/anger/insecurity over how the batfam treated him the past few years. First half would show the two fighting and generally slipping down, maybe Tim has a bad health scare with spleen and finally enough is enough and they focus on pulling Tim back. Also like to see a resolution to the Ra’s arc in which Ra’s comes in and tries to sway Tim over to his side which becomes more possible as Tim slips further away from the batfam. The whole fam/Titans get together and help get Red in a better place. (also wishful thinking, as all this occurs, Tim begins to realize his love for Conner and is dealing with that on top of everything. It spills out one night and is delighted/terrified to find his best friend has felt the same way for a long time. they agree to put any relationship on hold until Tim is in a better place but they sneak a few kisses and the support really helps Tim get back together)

Tim/Jason- Just as an aside I’d really like to see this (brotherly/friend) relationship develop. I like that N52 had these two be friends but it drove me nuts that after 6 years of Jay wanting nothing more than Tim’s death they’re besties? I’d like to think Jay would be one of the first to see how bad things have gotten for Tim because he’s been there, he know what it’s like to be the forgotten Robin. And Jay is still angry but his head is finally starting to clear from the Pit and he acknowledges that what happened with him and B wasn’t Tim’s fault. And as he watches Tim slowly spiral downwards with seemingly no help, Jay decides he won’t see another Robin die. Jason approaches Alfred, then B about Tim’s health and ways to help. It’s tense and awkward as they test the waters but they agree to, separately, help get Tim straight. It’s slow going but between Outlaw missions, Jay stops by Tim’s apartment and hangs out with him. They patrol when B is with Dami, they talk and properly get to know each other. They find they have a bit in common and actually like talking. Tim finally talks about some of the messed up things that happened and lets Jay know how bad things got and Jay finally talks about his traumas and comes to terms with them. As Tim is still angry at Dick/Bruce, Jason becomes a confidant in the batfam.

Jason- Actually RHATO Rebirth Jason is a pretty good idea of what I’m thinking of. We have a Jason who, after a few years finally is able to move past the Pit’s influence and think clearly for the first time in a while. It makes him realize that most of his actions were done out of anger so he re-evaluates. B sees this and takes the opportunity to reach out which Jason appreciates and returns by telling B about Tim. That’s where B and J start making things right, when they’re talking about how to best help Tim, they’re also covertly talking about how to deal with what happened. It gets out that Hood is a Bat and Jay is forced to ally himself properly with his family in order to avoid being torn apart by the criminal community. Jay will never be the golden son, he agrees that he won’t purposely kill but he toes the line far more than Bruce is comfortable with. The trust between them is razor thin but they’re trying. B hates it but he uses Jason as an agent who does the things B cannot/will not do. Jay spends only about half the time in Gotham, the other half with the Outlaws (NOT Kory/Roy, Jay needs his own team not hand-me-downs, Artemis/Bizarro?). He gets on better terms with Tim, but is still at odds with Dick even more so on Tim’s behalf for replacing the kid when he was down. Eventually learns to like Dami and becomes a proper big brother with him. I’d like a side arc seeing Jason going back to school? Going to GCU maybe with Steph under a false ID, that’d be nice.

Cass and the BOP- Having read Cass’s Batgirl run I think it’d be a natural progression that she’d fit in with the Birds. Cass loves her new family but she also needs space for herself to grow and she remembers Bruce was rather suffocating with her. She moves in fulltime with Barbara on the excuse she’s there to help/respond quickly but honestly she’s working on bettering her people skills and needs that constant human interaction. Babs teaches her to read when not on missions and the other Birds are very supportive of Cass. Cass also trains the other Birds in techniques and really hones the Team’s skills. They become just as formidable and respected as the Bats. They learn to coordinate better so they each can have more times off. The Birds would have their own section of Gotham as “theirs”, their own rogues gallery, get involved in the ladies’ personal lives. Barb is still struggling with her on again/off again relationship with Dick, now complicated by children in all but name, Damian and Cass (lol Bruce lost two children to other people). Cass is working on being a person and not a weapon but trying to keep up her impressive skills. Steph is a reserve member, available if needed but she’s really trying to ally herself with the Bats. She and Cass though retain a strong relationship, Steph because her relationship with Tim has soured and she needs someone and Cass because Steph was her first friend.

Stephanie- I’d basically like a continuation of her Batgirl run which was marvelous and go read it. Stephanie is still trying to prove herself to that Bats that she’s worthy of the cape and cowl and, for the most part, she’s earned it. Bruce now grants her the Batgirl title and keeps her on the roster and her belt equipped. But there’s always gonna be some tension between them and he’s undeniably harsher on her than the others. She patrols often with Dick and Damian who like/trust her more and, a lot of times, if Dick is working or whatever it will just be her and Damian. She relishes the big sister role and the feminine influence is good on Damian (though he’ll never admit to it). Continues her classes at GCU, nearly falls over when Jason sits next to her in her English Lit class. The big problem for her is keeping up with the other more confident/well-trained heroes and also repairing her relationship with Tim. She messed up, he took it badly, she moved up in batfam, he started spiraling out of control. He’s still angry about what went down but recently has been trying to repair the relationship. But too much has happened and they’ve both changed so much. Neither likes admitting how different from Robin and Spoiler they are. Her and Jay discuss how to handle Tim while studying poetry. As Tim’s health improves, he lets Steph in more and they start their friendship over. Also very close to the BOP/Cass and while she’ll hang out with them a lot out of costume, she’s determined to be a Bat. Maybe after she gains some confidence, she might switch over to the BOP for good.