#IF ONLY DC ACTUALLY GAVE DUKE MORE STORIES IN REBIRTH

[wesavegotham]

if you were a dc writer and had complete freedom to do whatever you wanted with Damian would you make damian leave robin's cloak but without destroying development so he becomes an independent hero without being a red hood 2.0?

The thing is, I know sooner or later DC will give Bruce another Robin even though it keeps getting harder and harder to find a character archetype that isn't yet part of the batfamily and they also already have enough problems explaining how Bruce raised all these sidekicks without being too old to be Batman. But before that day comes I want to see DC just letting Damian be Robin. Like Dick, Jason (at least for a few years) and Tim got to be. With Damian it feels like his role is never secure.

It started with him being Robin to Dick's Batman and of course that didn't last long. After one year DC demanded that they bring back Bruce and the only reason Damian got to stay on as Robin was probably because Grant Morrison had always planned to kill him off anyway. There were also a bunch of comics in which characters told Tim he's better and their Robin, despite Damian being the official Robin.

Then Grant Morrison killed Damian off and it looked like Snyder would replace Damian with Duke or Harper as Robin. DC did decide to bring Damian back in the end, but Snyder gave Bruce amnesia and Tomasi's Batman and Robin book had to end. They gave Damian the Robin: Son of Batman solo book, which is an excellent book, but it was shortlived because of DC Rebirth. DC Rebirth seemed pretty determined to keep Damian away from Batman by putting him in two awful Teen Titans teams while they put Tim back in the Robin suit, only slapping a second R on it. Tynion made it pretty clear that it was his goal to make Tim Robin again.

Teen Titans by Adam Glass had the explicit goal to kick Damian out of the mantle in the most dishonorable way and Bendis made Tim call himself just Robin again. Since then they gave Damian a Robin solo, but after only 17 issues they cancelled it (according to Williamson not because of sales) and gave Tim a Robin solo instead. Damian has also been excluded from batfamily events for ages.

Like...can we just get Damian being Robin without anyone trying to take it from him for a few years? Letting him actually build relationships with the batfamily? He barely has one with Bruce, his own father, and most of his interactions with Dick are "remember when I was Batman and you were my Robin" nostalgia bait. His relationships with the others were either erased by the New 52 reboot (Steph), barely developed (Tim, Jason) or were never fleshed out in the first place (Cass, Kate, Barbara, Duke).

So to answer your question, if I had complete freedom I wouldn't force Damian to take a new mantle yet. I would tell the writers to stop sabotaging him because of their nostalgia or desire to make money by being the creator of the next Robin.

Damian is still too young, DC has barely used his story potential and his relationships with the other bats (and the wider DC universe) are underdeveloped. If they kicked him out of the prestigious Robin mantle for good right now I fear that DC will never fix their mistakes. DC will put out a Batman and Robin ongoing, they won't put out a Batman and "insert Damian's new mantle here" comic. We also aren't in the 90s anymore when even a new character like Azrael could hold a solo title for over a 100 issues. I genuinly believe that kicking Damian out of the mantle would just end with him getting sidelined even more.

[dukethomas]

y’know as much as i rave abt duke and bruce’s consistently positive relationship, you know what i would have loved to see if duke’s entering the family had been given more attention?? a teensy bit of distrust sprinkled into there. in the beginning of we are robin duke very much distrusts authority figures bc he’s been in the foster care system for a while at that point & says he’s gotta do it all himself and while by the end of that series he’s much more of a team player…. he’s probably still got that distrust of authority figures, because it’s all been up to him and the other robins. sure, in superheavy duke appeals to bruce going “you inspired me and the rest of gotham” etc and it worked and batman returned! but bruce taking duke in is right after that, how is duke not gonna look at bruce and see the guy who only stepped up last minute? he used to describe batman as “another adult who bailed” like bruce has let him down before & duke hasn’t forgotten that.

but think abt how cool it would be to see duke showing up, not abt to turn down an offer from the freaking batman, and yeah, at first he’s hesitant. he’s wary. he’s waiting for when life’s gonna screw him over, despite his best hopes. and instead bruce really commits to training duke & throughout the cursed wheel arc duke rlly feels more and more like part of the family. it’s a subtle, gradual thing where duke begins to trust bruce alongside his evolution into the signal. and that distrust of authority never fully goes away bc duke rlly does feel like he’s the one that’s gonna take on the world but also now he’s got bruce in his corner and he’s never gonna take that for granted, ever.

[redhoodssweetheart]

Blackbird | Epilogue

Pairing: Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1.6K

Requested: No

Warnings: Swearing, angst, some fluff, talk of having a dark soul and not being a good person, death mention, shot with a gun

Description: You were once a member of the BatFam known by the moniker Blackbird.   You and Dick Grayson were close, but when a tragic accident left many members of the team thinking you were dead you went into hiding and tried to build a new life for yourself. But now Dick is back and he’s about to find out your secret.

A/N: Thank you for following along on Blackbird's journey with me.  This was the first DC story I ever wrote, it was actually the first ever fanfic I started.  Back then it was an OFC story and when I started my blog I made it into a Reader Insert.  It was meant to be more of a healing journey for Blackbird than anything else.  Her coming to terms and confronting her past while finding love with her best friend and the one person who understands her pain more than anyone else.  I hope you all enjoyed it and thank you for your comments and love on this journey! 

One Year Later

The plane touched down in Gotham and Y/N stared out the window at the familiar setting.  Despite how much fun she had had on her year long sojourn with Jason there was still a part of her that had missed home.  She missed the way the city sounded during the day with the hustle and bustle of people.  She missed the pancakes from that shop she had frequented as a teen.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was home and she didn’t know how she had done without it for all those years after her rebirth.

That was how she had come to think of her resurrection.  It was a rebirth.  She wanted to put a positive spin on it after so long of it controlling her and bothering her.  She still had her bad days, but she wasn’t going to let her past and the bad that she had done after coming back define her any longer.  With Jason’s help she had come to terms with her past and learned that she was worthy of love.  

“How did you convince me to give you the window seat… again?”  Jason’s voice came from beside her, it was a little groggy from sleep, but he was looking at her with a mischievous spark in his eyes.

She stuck her tongue out at him, “Because you love me?”

He moved in close to her and smirked, “I do love you.”  Then he kissed her sweetly.

The two of them had grown a lot over the past year together.  They had been all over the world from Lagos to Paris to Tokyo and so many others.  They had shipped souvenirs of their time in these countries to Bruce for safekeeping until they got back.  Y/N had gotten snow globes and flags of each of the places they had gone to visit.  Jason had been in charge of pictures and he gathered postcards that he meant only for himself.

With their bags collected they headed to their apartment which looked the same as always.  Tim had made sure nothing happened to it while they were away.  They tossed their bags down and collapsed onto the couch together, tired but happy.  “You need to call Bruce,” she reminded Jason.

He groaned, “He’s gonna want to see us.”

“I don’t care,” Y/N poked his stomach.  “You promised that you would call once we landed and were home safe and sound.”

Jason sighed and dug his phone out of his pocket and pulled up Bruce’s contact info.  “If we have to go to the manor I’m blaming you,” he told her as his finger hovered over the call button.

She laughed and stood, “Let me know what he says.  I’m gonna go shower the plane off of me.”  Then she disappeared into the bedroom to take her shower.

Just as Jason predicted he wanted them to come by the manor and he said to dress appropriately which meant there was gonna be a surprise party.  “He’s not slick,” Jason said around his toothbrush.  “He wants us to believe that it’s just gonna be a quiet dinner at home and then everyone we know is gonna be there and we’ll have to tell the same stories at least fifty different times tonight.”

“And it’ll be fine.  I’m sure they won’t make us stay too long.  Plus we got gifts for the others that I want to hand out,” Y/N told him as she put the finishing touches on her outfit.  She was wearing a dress she had bought in Paris, and Jason was already eying her.  “No,” she pointed a finger at him.

“Come on, babe, I’ll make it worth your while,” his arms went around her waist and his minty fresh breath fanned across her neck as he bent to kiss her.

She gently pried him off of her, “Nah-uh, you’re not going to rope me into doing anything because we’re already running behind because you wanted a quickie in the shower.”

That got him to smirk, “Sweetheart that was definitely not a quickie.”

She tried to glare at him, but she couldn’t help the grin forming on her face.  “I hate you,” she said.

He chuckled, “No you don’t, you love me.”

“I do,” she sighed.  “So damn much.”

“That’s my girl,” he said as he sat her on the counter of the sink and began kissing her neck again.  

An idea struck Y/N and she said, “Jay if you stop and finish getting ready I’ll make it worth your while later tonight.”

His hand paused on her calf, and he looked up at her, “I’m listening.”

She smirked, “Oh sweetheart,” she turned his nickname against him.  “I’ll make your wildest dreams come true.”  She gripped his chin between her fingers, “But you have to behave.”

He stole one more kiss, “You win, Blackbird.”

Slipping off the counter Y/N moved back into the bedroom, “I knew I would.”  The sound of his chuckle followed her.

Jason was ready five minutes later and they were off.  The manor was lit up like a Christmas tree when they pulled in, and there were several cars in the driveway along with motorcycles that they knew belonged to the boys.  Y/N wondered just how many people were actually waiting inside when they entered.  Bruce knew that they knew something was going to happen, but he was still going to try and surprise them.

“Miss Y/L/N, Jason,” Alfred smiled when he opened the door for them.  “It is wonderful to see the two of you again.”

“You too, Alfred,” she said as she kissed his cheek.

Jason patted Alfred on the shoulder, “So how many people are we going to be greeted by?”

“I am not at liberty to say,” Alfred told them.  “This way.”  He ushered them into the living room where a group of people was waiting.

“WELCOME HOME!”  They all shouted when they saw Y/N and Jason round the corner.

Bruce was the first to greet them, followed by Tim, Damian, Barbara, Duke, Cassandra, Stephanie, and Kor’i.

Y/N’s eyes went to the back of the room where Dick was lingering, he offered her a smile when he noticed her looking and she gave him a little wave before her attention was pulled away by something Barbara was trying to tell her.

It wasn’t until later that she finally got to talk to Dick.  He had pulled her aside after the gifts had been given out that they had a moment.  Together they stepped outside onto the back patio where they could have a moment alone.

“I should probably say sorry first and foremost,” he said as he rubbed the back of his neck.  “I didn’t handle you coming back to life in the best way.”

Y/N chuckled, “I think you handled it the best way that you could, Dick.”

He smiled at that, “It took me awhile to realize that things couldn’t be the same.  We’ve both changed since that day you died.  I was just so caught up in the past that I didn’t realize that we couldn’t just pick up from where we left off.”

“If things had been different maybe we would still be together,” Y/N admitted.  “But we’ll never know now and to be honest I’m pretty happy where I am.  I’ve grown a lot in the past year with Jason and coming back.  And I’m sorry I never told you I was still alive and that you found out like you did.  But I just wasn’t ready to see you, not after I tried killing you.”

He nodded at her words, “Kor’i really helped me understand things from your perspective and helped me grow past them.  I realized that you were right, we were different people and that  that’s okay.  All that mattered to me was that you were still in my life in whatever way possible.”  He placed a hand on her shoulder, “As long as you’re happy that’s all that matters to me.”

Warmth spread through her and she wrapped her arms around Dick, “Thank you, Dick.  And I just want you to be happy too.  That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”  They broke apart and she nudged him with her shoulder, “So you want to tell me what’s going on between you and Kor’i?”

His cheeks heated, “We’ve been dating for a few months now.”

“That’s great!”  Y/N gushed.  “I’m happy for you, she’s a great person.”

“She is,” Dick said, happy that you agreed.  “And you and Jason seem happy together, I’m glad he was there for you when you needed him.”

“Me too,” she said softly.  “I didn’t feel so alone after I came back.  Jason knew what it was like and he was really there for me.  I love him.”

“He loves you too,” Dick glanced inside and saw Jason watching them, he didn’t look mad or upset, just curious.  “Do you think he’s gonna ask you to marry him?”

“Oh God, I don’t know,” she laughed.  “We talked about it a couple of times, but I think we’re just enjoying life right now.  Plus I think he wanted to wait until we got back to Gotham before we made any big life decisions.”

“Can I make one request?”  Dick asked.

Curious she asked, “What’s that?”

“If the two of you do get married, could I… be the one that gives you away?”  It was a weird request, but it made sense.

“I’d really like that, Dick,” she took his hand and squeezed it.  “But I have to get engaged first.”

Dick looked at his brother again and knew it was only a matter of time before Jason asked Y/N to be his for the rest of their lives.  “Yeah, we’ll just have to wait and see.”  He slung his arm around her and said, “Come on, we’re missing out on the party.”

And the two of them walked back inside together.  Laughing as they caught Tim recounting a funny patrol story to Damian from their younger days.

[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

[mattzerella-sticks]

hi! i’m new to reading dc, because i hear new 52 and rebirth kinda suck, do you have any batfamily recommendations?

Welcome aboard! I’m gonna say something controversial - new 52 and Rebirth aren’t totally bad. Don’t get me wrong, before Flashpoint Batfamily was GOING PLACES. But I think they started strong with Batman in new 52 (like the Court of Owls wer fantastic and Julia Pennyworth is amazing) but then the aftermath of this Batman v. Joker fight during Scott Snyder’s run kinda fizzled the Batman run. And don’t get me STARTED on the bullshit Tom King has done. Not even James Tynion can save the Rebirth Batman title (but that’s because the powers that be probably had a vision that’s most likely been canned given how a lot of the brass was let go). I digress...

For New 52, I highly recommend: Batman (up until the Batman mantle gets passed, which is 50 or so issues in), Grayson (I enjoyed the spy atmosphere, plus the introduction of Helena Bertinelli, Tiger, and Midnighter - officially), Red Hood and the Outlaws (although the early issues and how they treated Kori are iffy), DEFINITELY Batgirl (especially the Gail Simone run and then the Babs Starr run, Batgirl of Burnside ftw) and - I’m including her into the Batfamily - the Harley Quinn series, because that’s good no matter WHAT. Things I’ve heard good things about but haven’t fully in-depth read were We Are Robin and Catwoman, although the former ends kind of unsatisfyingly. And, again, not Batfamily but adjacent - Gotham Academy. I was SO MAD when it ended because it was one of the best comics DC was producing. Oh and there was a Robin series where he has a giant bat!!! That was really good, too. 

Rebirth they really fucked themselves over for the Batfam. Don’t even look at Batman, the first few issues are okay but then it gets muddled in this Bane plot and ‘War of Jokes and Riddles’ which was the WORST Batman storyline ever. Went on too long imo because you kind of forget this is all Bruce telling Selena about his ‘worst sin’ even though she’d be DTF no matter what. Plus there’s so much emphasis on Kite Man (i think even an issue is dedicated to his POV which makes no sense given the context the story’s being told but again Tom King SUCKS). It’ll make you feel like you read a comic book of How I Met Your Mother. Only Batman issues I recommend are the ones that are Flash crossovers because those are my favs for obvi reasons. What you want to do is get into first year of Rebirth Detective Comics because 1) Cassandra Cain 2) Stephanie Brown 3) Kate Kane 4) Clayface!?!?! 5) Tim Drake 6) Dr. Oktober; Honestly it was such a good ensemble piece (James Tynion is an awesome writer, he’s not a miracle worker unfortunately). That was a good run, although it does change plot at a certain point - which was sad - but it still feels like a Batman book even after the ensemble leaves, better than the actual Batman title. So sticking with that over the Batman main series is good. I think Rebirth Outsiders was trying to capture that magic except the writing isn’t that good plus there were a bunch of creative differences that delayed the first issue and I lost any excitement for it (which was sad because I love all the characters in it - Duke, Black Lightning, and Katana). Batgirl, again, although you’ll come to a point where it stops being amazing - and that is when she ditches her Babs Starr costume for something AWFUL. #BringBackBurnsideBatgirl Once you see the costume change either lower your expectations or move on because it doesn’t recover. I’ve heard good things about the Catwoman series but I haven’t read it. What I have read is Harley Quinn (again unofficial Bat family member) and that has been consistently amazing (even if the last few issues gave Harley questional/straightwashed tastes). DEFINITE reads though that shouldn’t be too long (because DC likes ending good things) are Batwoman and Batgirl & the Birds of Prey. The Batwoman comic was too good for this world, we need more Kate Kane in our lives. And the Birds of Prey series felt like the movie a bit. They definitely seemed like friends (unlike the new 52 version, which was AWFUL) and there’s one story where the men of Gotham get sick that is so good I’m waiting on DC to turn it into an animated feature. Those titles are both like twenty or so issues. There’s a Midnigther and Apollo miniseries that was so great (also unofficial member). Red Hood and the Outlaws I liked, but after Roy leaves it lost the magic. Rebirth Nightwing was good at first, but Tom King ruined it even though he doesn’t write for that title. Best storyline was when he gets involved with this group for reformed criminals while in Bludhaven. The most recent storyline wasn’t bad, in a sense. The characters brought on were interesting. It was just apbrupt and clearly not what the actual writer had in mind, but they had to write around Tom King. And overall the character of Nightwing suffered. Young Justice doesn’t feel too canonical (and Drake is a stupid name); Teen Titans is okay but Damian is an edgelord. 

Moving on from that, outside of Rebirth and New 52, some other titles that I’ve enjoyed featuring the Batfamily were: Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl, Stephanie Brown’s Batgirl, Gotham City Sirens, Batman, Inc., Batman & Robin (with Dick as Batman, Damian as Robin), the Outsiders (the spin-off from Titans, probably in the mid-2000s with Dick Grayson leading)...

There was an interesting Detective Comics arc I read about the GCPD starring Renee Montoya that dealt with her ‘coming out’ (in the loosest of terms given how it happened).

A Batman/Superman arc I love revisiting is when they re-introduce Supergirl (and speaking of Batman/Superman, find the issue(s) where Superman gets affected by silver kryptonite and turns into a stoner because THAT was funny)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention No Man’s Land or Batman Year One because those two kind of establish Gotham and the Batman character... You could read the Killing Joke but you can easily sum the entire story up with one panel (probably one of the first images that pops up when you google The Killing Joke). A better, edgier Batman story - imo - is when he gets addicted to Venom. Or the Death of Jason Todd - which reminds me Under the Red Hood is a good story! (I didn’t read the comic lol but I did watch the movie - Jensen Ackles ftw).

If you’re looking for kooky, anything from the 40s up to before Crisis on Infinite Earths where ANYTHING went. From World’s Finest to the Batman title, they got to some pretty insane shit. Very campy. Although the nineties-early 2000′s were campy in their own way, like so on the other end of the spectrum from ‘camp’ that it became camp again. There’s two different Batman storylines that were VERY anti-drugs (Shadow of the Bat was the running title, I think; one story against weed and the other against LSD) that were so ridiculous and trying to push kids away from doing drugs that you couldn’t help but realize how ridiculous and over-the-top this was.

Finally there are Elseworlds titles. Everyone always raves for Batman: Gotham by Gaslight but I think two very interesting takes on a Batman of a different world are: Batman - Holy Terror, and Batman: Nosferatu. There’s also an Elseworlds with Barbara as Batwoman and a female Joker (Batgirl: Thrillkiller I believe) and one that has Catwoman as the hero of Gotham and Bruce Wayne as a sadistic killer.

Hope at least one of these suggestions helps 😀

[bigskydreaming]

I'm not sure if you got my request because i didn't had internet when i sent it, so i'll write it again xd Do you think Dick (and the batboys in general) are famouse like Bruce? Because in the comics there's not any clue about it, i've never seen anyone say something like "oh look! Its Dick Grayson!, y'know, Wayne's first ward/son And its a shame, because reporters would make such a hard life to all of them, it would maka a good narrative tool

Honestly, this is a prime example of that inconsistency I rant about, and also DC’s refusal to just COMMIT on even the most basic aspects of their universe like….uh…how many kids does Batman have. 

afhsahfklahsklfhal

Like, you would think that would meet the MINIMUM requirements of “shit you should probably have figured out and make sure everybody’s on the same page with” but DC’s like….nah, that’s not important.

So I mean…..I’m reasonably certain - like this is just my personal belief, but I’d put money on it being right, lol - but I think the primary reason there’s so little mention in the comics of how Bruce’s kids are viewed in the public eye/how much the public are aware of them (in the New 52, at least, as pre-Flashpoint there was a lot more plot around that kind of thing, especially back in the 80s and 90s)……

…is because 90% of the writers and editors have no clue either, and nobody wants to be the one to ask, and like, open that can of worms. I 100% think you could ask five different writers at DC which kids Bruce has OFFICIALLY adopted in this current continuity, and get five different answers, lol.

There’s been so much handwaving about Dick’s status ever since Spyral, and again - I think its because nobody bothered to think through the logistics of the Hypnos/global-mindwipe machine BEFORE writing it into the story, and then once it did occur to any of them to like….wonder just how specifically it worked, they were like, fuck it, better just be as vague as possible. So, according to Grayson, everyone Helena didn’t program into the exclusion list before the satellite was activated should have no recollection of Dick Grayson, which is why he was able to ‘go back to his old life’ and be Nightwing again, without worrying about his secret identity having been unmasked…..

But what does that mean for his official identity as adopted son or even just ward of billionaire Bruce Wayne? People can’t have NO memory of Dick Grayson and still remember that Bruce Wayne took in a kid named Dick Grayson. I mean, as far as I can tell, the overall consensus in the comics seems to be that after the satellite was activated, Dick just kinda started from scratch as ‘Dick Grayson’ like, he was free to be himself again, but it was like he was a blank slate/came out of nowhere as far as everyone else was concerned. But again, that means as far as anyone outside of their close circle of family and friends know….Dick Grayson is a non-entity to Bruce Wayne and the two have no history. 

Which I mean, is fairly shitty and you’d think if nothing else, there’d be massive story potential there for delving into Dick’s character and his relationship with Bruce and examining how he felt about ‘having his old life/identity back’….except with the caveat that as far as the world is concerned, his life and identity don’t and have never included his father.

Cut to DC: Naaaaaaaah.

But even WITH that, plot holes persist, and abound, because…..why didn’t the satellite erase the Court of Owls’ knowledge/memory of Dick? Even before Luthor gave Cobb those goggles and files to help him with bringing Ric into the fold, Cobb clearly was already stalking Ric and knew exactly who he was….the Court obviously already had that doctor in place while he was still in recovery…so, whoops. I mean, you could probably come up with an explanation about the Court, via their own tech and resources, having had some protections in place 24/7 that kept the satellite from affecting them even though they weren’t on guard for it specifically…..but again, Occam’s Razor….I feel like the real answer is DC just didn’t care enough to think things that far through. Especially since the average Bludhaven citizen, like Bea, at least didn’t seem totally blown away when Ric revealed to her that amnesia aside, he was supposedly some rich billionaire’s adopted kid….which again suggests that as far as the writers were thinking, people in general are familiar with the idea that Bruce Wayne has more than one kid.

Then you’ve got Jason’s whole situation, and to be honest….I really only have the vaguest idea what’s going on there, because reading Lobdell books is against my religion, and I am a devout and deeply spiritual person, as you all probably can tell. I mean, I know that there’s something going on where like, Jason had himself legally resurrected in the public eye and is openly referring to himself as Bruce Wayne’s formerly-assumed dead foster kid……but like, is that the official official word, or would other writers if you asked them say they’d been operating under the assumption Bruce had adopted Jason too at some point in the Rebirth timeline, or….idek, man.

I…..honestly don’t have the faintest fucking clue what to make of the many back-and-forth retcons about Tim and his parents and his official place in the Batfam/relationship with Bruce, and am actually slightly terrified of even trying to make sense of that clusterfuck of a Gordian knot, so my official stance on Tim is to just like….back sloooooowly away from the anthropomorphic-migraine-masquerading-as-a-backstory, without like….agitating it and accidentally setting off another multiverse Crisis birthed wholly from just that one all-consuming black hole of a retcon.

I mean, there’s a reason I basically just shoehorn all the kids’ official pre-Flashpoint family statuses into anything I write in Rebirth continuity, and that’s not just stubbornness and my refusal to play the “now this kid is adopted…now he’s not…now he is again….except he’s not….oh he’s adopted again…..oh wait now he’s not again" game. 

Its like. Also for the sake of my sanity and stuff.

(And also hahahahaha fuck you DC times infinity, every time you use the words “blood son,” or “real family” in a comic, or have one of Bruce’s other kids refer to Bruce as “your father” when talking to Damian, as if that’s not an utterly bizarre and roundabout way for any sibling to refer to their mutual parent and thus I j’ete REFUSE to acknowledge it as valid….ahem, anyway, my point is, every time they do that in a comic, I double down and headcanon Bruce throwing a random as fuck gala for literally no other purpose than to remind all of Gotham that he has half a dozen kids and they’re all better than everyone else’s. Ugh. Kill it. Kill the “blood son” nonsense with fire and lightning and also lots of stabbing maybe).

Anyway, that’s my official stance on DC’s stance on Damian in the books.

Then as far as Cass goes….ugh, her origins were pretty much utterly butchered by the New 52, which IMO has also failed to give us Cass and Bruce bonding and dynamics sufficient to Sate Mine Ire™, sooooooo…..I mean, my perception of the current canon is that Cassandra’s official status is “secret mystery foster child that nobody really knows about,” but because I do not care for that and there’s the whole not sufficiently sated ire thing I mentioned, I officially reject this canon and willfully replace it with pre-Flashpoint Bruce and Cass love and adoption. DC’s welcome to kiss my critically acclaimed hiney if I’m doing it wrong.

Which brings us last, but certainly not least, as its only this way because I go sequentially and Duke is still Shiny and New comparative to the others and will be until the next inevitable fostering/adoption/clone hi-jinks bumps him up the sequential ladder (except I randomly switched Damian and Cass around this time because LOOK I DONT MAKE THE RULES, THERE ARE NO RULES i hvea Adhd hiccup sob leavem e aloooone soooooob)…..

Duke’s official status, much like the rest of the Batkids, can be summed up as Honestly, I Really Don’t Have A Fucking Clue And Am Just Winging This Whole Thing.

I mean, there’s less inconsistency with him, due mostly to the fact that so few writers other than Snyder use him (boo, hiss, and not just because I hate having to give Snyder credit for stuff - look, I love his Duke, but I loathe how he writes Dami, its a thing, I just…don’t get me started). But what inconsistencies there are….well….they’re a bit glaring.

Basically one major storyline showed Duke as being an official foster kid/ward of Bruce’s and living out of the Manor with Bruce and Damian and occasionally Tim when he’s not off road-tripping around the multiverse….and then Batman and the Signal had Duke in the care of his uncle, who was stated to be his legal guardian and Duke was constantly sneaking out in order to meet Bruce in the special Signal-cave he built specifically for Duke to operate out of so he didn’t have to like, drive all the way out to the Manor to change just so he could then drive back into the city and patrol. And then Batman and the Outsiders just said fuck all that, here’s Duke and Cass hopping hemispheres with the Outsiders every other issue, so apparently nobody’s making unscheduled visits anywhere back in Gotham to make sure these two are where they’re legally assumed to be, which again, for the record is…..*error, source not found*

LOLOL and the really fun thing about this little back and forth is I’m pretty sure allllll these conflicting takes are all the work of the same writer. Like. GET ON YOUR OWN PAGE, DUDE.

Also, again I have to assume the “Can’t Be Bothered To Give A Shit, Or Maybe They’re All Just Really Bad At Logic” curse has struck again, because….uhhhh…..

….at no point anywhere in Duke’s stories have I seen Bruce or literally anyone else express concern about the fact that Duke living with Bruce as his official foster, like he definitely and clearly was at some point at least…..means that literally every single one of his We Are Robin friends who knows that he was taken in by the Batfam (and there’s several of them who know this)….like, by the transcendent properties of You Can’t Honestly Think They’re That Dumb, that’s a good five or six civilians out there who probably took all of five seconds to play connect the dots and figure out the Wayne family, having officially taken Duke in on paper…..is pretty likely the Batfamily.

I mean, I like all of Duke’s friends and would definitely headcanon/write them as all being trustworthy and able to keep this knowledge to themselves for Duke’s sake, if nothing else, but I mean, its pretty unprecedented for Bruce to out himself and all of his kids/allies by extension, to like, that many civilian teenagers all in one swoop….

…sooooooo, you’d think, AGAIN, logically, maybe, perhaps, this is the kind of thing that should be brought up in a narrative somewhere as a plot point worth delving into, y’know, just for shits and giggles and maybe a little bit of that whatchamacallit - oh right, character development, but.

Cut to DC: Naaaaaaah.

 *throws up hands and does the I Can’t Even Shuffle all the way home*

In conclusion:

DC is a mess. The official/public status of each and every Batkid is a mess. Except for Damian, the blood son, but we have that pencilled in on the schedule to be killed with fire and also stabbing, so he can get filed under ‘just a fucking mess’ with the rest of his siblings. Hashtag Solidarity.

I mean, I say just write or headcanon their official status however you damn well please, and it’ll STILL be more effort than I believe DC has put into organizing and staying consistent with all of this, and thus STILL make more sense than what we currently have to work with.

*Shrugs* If they don’t care enough to provide a clear canon blueprint to follow when mapping the Bat Family Tree, I can’t be bothered to care if the one I make up myself happens to contradict one single mention of one kid’s official status as claimed by one issue of one book.

Especially if it was written by Lobdell.

Jason’s just a foster son my ass. grumble mumble bitter vengeful swears and a pox on all DC’s houses. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ADOPTION SO MUCH, INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW AND ALSO FUCK YOU.

[deadletterpoets]

I disagree with the idea that someone's a better Cass fan than people who want to see Cass as Batgirl again just cause they support her as Black Bat or Orphan. Saying that we don't care about Cass unless she's Batgirl is ignorant. DC doesn't care about Cass unless she's Batgirl.

Listen I am well aware that plenty of fans prefer Steph's run as Batgirl over Cass. I've read Steph's run because of that so when I talk about it I know what I'm talking about and have an actual opinion on it. However I find it hard to believe that Cass's time as Black Bat was a high point for the character and when I see someone trying to argue that point it's hard to take them seriously. DC did nothing with her in terms of actually development. She just showed up when she was allowed and they randomly gave her a new code name that for me at least fell flat. Could Black Bat have been a new era for Cass bringing her to a new sense of self after giving the Batgirl mantle to Stephanie? Yes. Was it? No. Gates of Gotham is the closest we ever got to true development for Cass during that era and they rebooted the universe quickly after that. Black Bat was the era when DC finally figured out a way to get rid of a character they didn't want anymore, but fans loved so they let her cameo in other people's stories but never going so far as allowing her to be the focus.

A similar thing is happening right now with Rebirth!Cass "Orphan". At this point in time she's basically the distant cousin of the batfam. Once she was the daughter of Bruce Wayne, now she's that girl they call when they need some extra muscle. Rebirth!Cass's development is slow, it's happening sure, but it's slow and painful. Mostly because DC won't let her exist outside of team books. We have barely gotten a glimpse into what her life is like outside of the batfam and then when she's around she's only ever in service of Batman or whoever the team leader is. Even in Tynion's Tec during the League of Shadows arc which was specifically for her, it was basically long version of Batgirl #25 (granted a lesser version) and she was still sidelined often in her own arc. It was more about Batman/Batwoman and the Colony trying to stop Shiva and the League of Shadows, even throwing in Ra's for a couple issues. All while in the background Cass has an existential crisis about Shiva being her mom. That's what it was. And then after that we got some decent Cass and Clayface stuff and then Cass discovering the old timeline when she was Batgirl and wore the symbol. Good stuff. Unfortunately it all went nowhere cause Tynion left. Now Hill is writing Rebirth!Cass and I'm excited about that. I hope he's able to give Cass the development she deserves, but it's STILL A TEAM BOOK! So he can only do so much. He even said he decided against doing a Cass focused arc first cause he was to scared he'd end up making it a solo Cass book. Team books are great, but when a character isn't getting focus anywhere else they can be a drag on the development of said character. I don't expect Hill to make Outsiders a Cass solo, nor would I want him to. I want him to write a team book. Unfortunately, much like Tynion's Tec that means we could go months with no real development for Rebirth!Cass.

Now I say all this to say. Of course most Cass fans want her to be Batgirl again. It was the high point for her as a character. It showed her developing constantly, gave her a supporting cast, gave her interesting stories that challenged her as a character with such a deep seeded moral compass, it let us as readers learn more about her with every issue and also made her part of the batfam in a way Black Bat never was and Rebirth!Cass could only dream. However as someone who is friends with a crap ton of Cass stans who love her more than me, we all continue to support her even now in Rebirth when she's going by possibly one of the most insulting names ever given to a character with her backstory. So yes, we want Cass to be Batgirl again, not because we don't love Cassandra Cain only when she's Batgirl, but because we want the company that uses her to love her too. And right now the only time we've seen them show that love is when she's Batgirl. Also Cass as Batgirl just works. She defines that role in a way Babs never could and Steph never had the opportunity to. If Rebirth!Cass were to take that mantle it would be more character development in a single issue than she's gotten in a very long time cause the implications of it. She's wearing the symbol again, her relationship with Babs would come back into play (seriously that's just gone now), her relationship with Batman comes back into play, her relationship with Gotham as a city comes back into play. It opens up a whole world of storytelling that isn't being explored right now. Now could all of these things still happen with her not going by Batgirl? Yes. However there's been no indication that it will. Now I'm cool with different things happening. I miss Cass and Babs or Cass and Steph, but I love Cass and Clayface and think Cass and Duke could be something special.

So to end this, yes I want Cass back as Batgirl. I think that mantle is her's to carry till she doesn't want to. Not cause Bruce tells her to pass it on, not cause editorial wants a white girl to be Batgirl again, but because she actually does find herself moving on from the mantle (to Batman, but that's another conversation). However I also continue to support Cass when she's not Batgirl cause I love her character. Two things can be true at once. I don't consider ppl that only support Cass when she's Batgirl less Cass fans than me. I don't consider Cass fans that like the Black Bat era or Rebirth!Cass less Cass fans than me. And neither should you. We're all fans of Cassandra Cain. And that's what matters.

[kierantc-blog]

Dark Nights: Metal #1 - An In-Depth Look

So with the first issue of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights: Metal dropping this week, i thought i’d take the time to write a bit about the references of the issue as not everyone fully grasped the magnitude or significance of everything it had to offer.

Braal and The Legion Of Super-Heroes

One of the things that has been teased by DC since Rebirth is the return of the Legion Of Super-Heroes. Currently they have Saturn Girl locked up in Arkham Asylum after her appearance in DC Universe Rebirth #1, and in Metal we get another mention. Faced with Mongul and his new War World, Batman wonders how he managed to do it considering the Braalians were suppose to be watching him. The Braalians are a race of human-like aliens from Braal, a planet that is home to LoS founder Rokk Krinn AKA Cosmic Boy.

Even though Rokk won’t exist for another 9 centuries, this is an important detail in the story. Rokk and other Braalians have a unique ability to manipulate magnetic energy, and as Batman later notes that a planet like Braal with a heavy metal core is probably going to come under some stress due to the nature of the current Metal problem, thus explaining why Mongul was seemingly allowed to make his new War World.

What's the deal with the Tribes?

In the DC Universe there were 4 known tribes at the beginning of mankind, the Wolf Tribe, the Bird Tribe, the Bear Tribe and the Bat Tribe. These all directly relate to known people in the DCU, the Wolf Tribe is known for being the tribe of Vandal Savage (although they were previously known as the Blood Tribe), the Bird Tribe is where Carter Hall AKA Hawkman came from, and the Bear Tribe was home to the Immortal Man, a person we saw talking about Duke Thomas’s mother in The Forge #1. And then we have the Bat Tribe....

The origins of this tribe directly relate to Bruce Wayne. In the first issue of the pre-Flashpoint story The Return Of Bruce Wayne, we find the Caped Crusader stranded in the stone age, surrounded by a small tribe known as the Deer tribe. Meanwhile the Wolf tribe, led by Vandal Savage, tries to kill Bruce as well as destroy the entire Deer tribe, but when Bruce fights back and saves the tribe, they decide to rename themselves the Bat tribe and would later be known as the Miagani people of Gotham.

This tribe would literally lead their lives around Batman (or Man Of Bats as they called him), carrying with them the relic of the original cape and cowl Batman wore when he shot Darkseid, which would eventually end up in a cave beneath Wayne Manor centuries later.

The tribes are a very important part of the story because they lead into the next segment.....Barbatos.

Barbatos? Who The Heck Is Barbatos?

So now that you understand the history of the tribes slightly, it’s time to rewind a little bit in the timeline of Bruce Wayne and venture back to Final Crisis itself. During this Crisis Darkseid has everyone on the back foot and he plans on destroying everything, but Bruce manages to get hold of a radion bullet that killed the New God Orion (Darkseid’s son) and uses it to mortally wound Darkseid.

In immediate retaliation, Darkseid unleashes the Omega Sanction and kills Batman. Even though Batman is dead in the present day, he’s thrown back in time by the Omega Sanction into the stone age. Then Darkseid releases the Hyper-Adapter, a creature that will follow Bruce Wayne throughout history, feeding on his timeline until it reaches the present day when it will effectively destroy all of creation. It’s basically Darkseid’s final gambit after realising that he was mortally wounded by the radion bullet.

As this Hyper-Adapter follows Bruce throughout time, it begins to share the legend of the Man Of Bats and sometimes appears as a giant bat as well as an octopus creature, but it’s the bat sigil that has the bigger impact and would later lend to the name Barbatos. It’s through this Barbatos myth that one of Batman’s biggest villains prior to Flashpoint would come to light, Doctor Simon Hurt.

In 1765, one Thomas Wayne of Gotham was part of a cult that summoned Barbatos, and when confronted with the giant bat Thomas would bargain with it and become imbued with some of its powers, granting him a long life. Thomas would later be driven mad by this power and would later adopt the name Simon Hurt. 

During the Batman RIP story, Hurt would try to discredit the Wayne family name by claiming to be Bruce’s father Thomas in an attempt to take the Wayne family fortune but he would be stopped by The Joker of all people and a banana peel.

The important part of the story of Barbatos when it relates to Metal is that he was seemingly a tool of New God origin, but it appears he might actually be more than that. Could he in fact be a New God of the Dark Multiverse and the Hyper-Adapter we met in Final Crisis and Return Of Bruce Wayne was merely an avatar? Time will tell, but Barbatos is a name that we should keep an eye on going forward in this event.

Lady Blackhawk And The Bird Tribe

In Metal #1 we’re finally introduced to Lady Blackhawk, a woman we had heard rumblings of back in All-Star Batman (also written by Snyder) but now we know her identity, Kendra Saunders AKA Hawkgirl. The Blackhawks are a team that Kendra has seemingly assembled in order to investigate the disappearance of Carter Hall, following a trail of clues he left behind to his whereabouts. For years the Blackhawks and by extentions the Bird Tribe would utilise the expertise of various people such as T.O Morrow and his Metal Men as well as the explorers The Challengers Of The Unknown and the original Star Man.

For years both Kendra and Carter were curious about their ability to reincarnate over hundreds of years and began to investigate the Nth Metal in their wings. Eventually Carter concluded that the metal must have come from a dark side of the Multiverse where dark matter comes from. Kendra disagreed and in order to prove he was right he and the Challengers Of The Unknown decided to go there, and in the process the base of the Challengers known as Challengers Mountain was ripped out of reality. This is the mountain that appears in the middle of Gotham in Metal #1.

Given Batman’s comments here that the material for the equipment is old but rather advanced in design means that the Challengers Of The Unknown and Hawkman have seemingly been missing for a number of years, possibly decades.

The story of issue 1 ends with Batman finding Carter Hall’s journal in the study of Wayne Manor, hidden for some time and in it Carter says that he entrusts the journal to a family he trusts and name checks the Wayne family as a member of the Bat Tribe. This isn’t a sentiment shared by Kendra though as she tells the Justice League that Barbatos’ entry into their Multiverse will be paved by a member of the Wayne family, and as Carter says in his journal that Barbatos has marked this person since the “final moment of crisis”.

Kendra believes that Challengers Mountain appearing in Gotham is no coincidence and she’s probably right, but could her disagreements with Carter be bigger than we realise? If Carter trusts the family of the Bat Tribe and she doesn’t, it could be an indicator of the politics between them that forced Carter’s hand.

Neil Gaiman Drops By Wayne Manor

The ending of Metal #1 is crazy, like seriously crazy. Batman finds Carter’s journal in his study (coincidentally the place he chooses to become a Bat) and is confronted by a pale figure called The Dream Of The Endless who tells him that his nightmare is only just beginning. 

This pale figure is a man created by legendary writer Neil Gaiman for the Vertigo series The Sandman. Now i haven’t read The Sandman but i know of it and the love it receives from all who have read it, and the fact one of the main characters of that series is in this book is a feat in itself. Unlike most creator/publisher relationships where the publisher can use characters as they see fit, DC and Gaiman have an agreement that his characters will only be used with his permission, so for one of them to be in Metal #1 means that Gaiman has given his seal of approval.

In The Sandman series, the Endless are physical manifestations of powerful forces that exist throughout creation. The man we see here is Dream, but there are others such as Death, Destiny and Desire. This particular version of Dream is inhabited by a young man named Daniel Hall, who is actually the grandson of Carter Hall AKA Hawkman and thus he technically belongs to the Bird Tribe. His mother, Hippolyta Trevor-Hall was the daughter of the Golden Age Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor and his father Hector Hall was the son of Hawkman who would later become Doctor Fate.

Daniel is not the first version of Dream to exist, the previous one Morpheus gave up his life for a new Dream to exist and they are different in appearance too, making it easy to identify the one from Metal #1 as Daniel. Morpheus in appearance has spiky black hair and pale white skin, with two white stars for eyes, whereas Daniel only shares the pale skin with him and has medium length white hair and black space for eyes. 

The significance of Dream as a character is that he is literally the embodiment of all dreams and has untold powers that make him as powerful as any God, maybe even more so. 

So why is he in Metal #1? This is speculative but if the Dark Multiverse is made up of Nightmares, the one person who would know about it is Dream, and he would certainly want to help the heroes against such an enemy, especially if his grandfather is somehow involved too.

So there you have it, i hope i’ve done justice to some of the story elements from Metal #1, it’s truly a fantastic story but it does need some background information for new readers to fully appreciate what Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are crafting.

Anyway thanks for reading! I’ll soon be posting a review of sorts for the entirety of DC’s Rebirth lineup, but there’s a lot to go through so i’ll probably post it by Tuesday at the latest.

Stay safe.