#nightwing 1999

[gffa]

Since you’re a DickBabs shipper,

What are your thoughts on Nightwing Annual #2 from 2006/2007 besides its more…infamous moments?

I merely ask out of curiosity

Hi! It'd been forever since I read that issue (probably not since around when it first came out!), so I had to go hunt it down again to reread and I have Thoughts. As an explanation about me, as a DickBabs shipper and just a fan of things in general, I tend to really like things that I see as having a solid foundation but lots of fun, crunchy sharp edges that can really hurt when they're dug into. I very much love adorable wholesome moments for them, but I also very much love when they're so far under each others' skins that it makes them do really wild, sometimes awful things. But I think the cheating thing is just fundamentally out of character for Dick. I think I see what the author was going for, in that it came across as Dick feeling desperately guilty that he wasn't there for Babs after she was shot, that he would have done anything to comfort her when she needed it, this person who has always been so strong, and because this is Barbara Gordon, the woman he's loved for so long and would throw just about any moral out the window for her, because she's so deep into his heart. Reading the whole issue, where Babs turns down his marriage proposal because she believes he's living too much for other people, he hasn't really defined who he himself is (and that's why she hopes he goes in the trip with Bruce and Tim, not something as Nightwing for Batman, but as Dick Grayson with his family), that that night was part of what the author was going for, that their take on Dick was that he would do anything to help others, anything to help her, including stomping all over his own personal morals and boundaries. But even squinting to see it through that lens, I just don't really buy it. I don't buy that Dick would cheat on Kory like that, not when he was about to marry her, not even for Babs. And I really do not buy that he would give her the wedding invitation so casually like that the next morning, that guy has way more emotional intelligence than that. I enjoyed most of the annual, because I really like Dick and Babs running the gamut of their dynamic with each other, that sometimes they're in a really good place and are cutely adorable and so fluffy that it makes everyone around them want to vomit, and other times they've both got all the these really sharp edges that make each other even more interesting, that they're fun to read about because they have conflict and I think they both really want/need that sometimes in their relationship, someone who can bite back when necessary. The annual provided a lot of good fodder in how complicated they are, how there's all these roadblocks put between them, that there's been unresolved tension between them forever, there's been feelings between them forever, but they just weren't the right time yet, there was too much else going on around them, that it's not a lack of love for the other or that they don't fit, but that it just wasn't lined up for them yet.

I like that Dick and Babs are so deeply entwined in each others' hearts that they can really hurt each other and with these characters, who are very much not perfect people, who indeed are both sometimes kind of real assholes, that's going to happen. They're going to say nasty things to each other, because they're both strong personalities and both kind of fucked up at times. It's similar to how I enjoy Dick's relationship with Bruce, one of the most defining ones of his life, a relationship that is deeply imperfect, but all the more valuable for it. Sometimes Dick and Bruce are horrible to each other, but it only highlights how much deeper down the love goes, how important they are to each other, because even this horrible fight can't truly break them apart, not long term. That's a lot of how I look at the Dick/Babs relationship, in a sense! Sometimes you have warm, happy months in the sun. Sometimes you have tearing into each other level of fighting. Sometimes they both just need a little space. Sometimes there's an issue the other needs to get their head on straight about and the other knows they're important enough to say, hey, you gotta deal with that and stand firm on it. But they always, always love each other and always, always come back to each other. Dick/Babs works for me in part because they have been through so much crunchy stuff together, but also so much good stuff together. Because they know each other so thoroughly--Babs knows that sometimes what Dick needs is a drill sargeant, rather than someone gently holding his hand, like she does for him in this annual. Sometimes he needs someone who will be the one to put on the breaks because he's not always good at that when it's someone he loves. Dick knows that sometimes Babs needs someone to lovingly call her out on the boundaries she's really willing to cross when it comes to dealing with people. The best parts of this annual are the ones that capture the sense of scope about them, the hard edges they both have and how sometimes they enjoy getting a little mean with each other, because there's a lot of dark corners to both of them. They're both deeply loving, kind, caring people, but they're also both Bats, they're both not always nice people, that they're both a little fucked up in how they relate to other people, but that they challenge each other, they push each other, they shove and kick each other, into getting their shit in gear. Babs being the one to help Dick with his physical therapy and recovery after everything worked well because she was kicking him out of his self-pity and guilt spirals, she was kicking him out of going right back to living for doing everything for everyone else, and instead taking some time to figure himself out. When the annual worked, it worked because Babs loves him so much that she knows him well enough to kick him into gear and she's right. And it's fun because she's not always the softest about it--she can be very soft and gentle, but Miss Barbara Gordon is also always willing to kick someone in the ass if she thinks they need it and she will not be sorry about it. And when it doesn't work, it's just. Sigh. Sometimes comics are dumb and we have to make our peace with that.

[mysterycitrus]

uh oh bro u have bewitched me mind body and soul

bonus

[timstephfangirl]

Roy is precious

[make-the-devil-cry]

titans drinking challenge : take a shot everytime someone mentions batman

[call-me-oracle]

barbara gordon in birds of prey (1999) covers pt. 1

[shyjusticewarrior]

[desperatecheesecubes]

I’m sure he’s supposed to be passed out but I like that it looks like Dick’s so concussed that he’s drawing pictures in the air and giggling about them

[frogaroundandfindout]

“Jeez, since when did he grow ‘channeling the dead vision’? Got the bat voice and everything.”

Dick, appointed field commander of the JLA by Batman, makes a speech and starts the meeting off (JLA Vol.1 #70)

[wondertwinsenthusiast]

Aw :(

from Titans (1999) #16

[punkeropercyjackson]

THANK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH TO MY YOUNGER BROTHER @cottoncandyspikes FOR REBLOGGING THIS TWEET I LOST THE POST ON MY OLD BLOG ANYWAY Dick Grayson Core

[celaenaeiln]

I've been meaning to ask. But if i wanted to get a good view on Dick and Slade's relationship what comics would you suggest i read?

To understand where they began, you have to start at The New Teen Titans (1980) and the The New Teen Titans: Judas Contract. The Judas contract is part of Tales of the Teen Titans Comic ( 42-44) but it's more consolidated about the Titans and Slade.

New Teen Titans (1980) Issues #2, 9, 10, 13, 34, 39

Tales of the Teen Titans Issues #42-44, 53, 54, 55

New Titans (1988) Issues #62, 63, 64, 65, 70, 71-91

New Teen Titans (1984) Issues #11, 27, 47, and Annual #3

Nightwing (1996) Issues #17, 18, 23, 79, 80, 81, 82, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117

Deathstroke the Terminator Issues #7, 13, 14, 15, and Annual #1

Titans (1999) Issues #9, 10, 11, 12

Batman and Robin (2009) Issue #11, 12

Titans (2016) Issues #6, 10, 11

Teen Titans (2016) Issue #8

Deathstroke (2016) Issue #19

Dark Crisis

[horsechestnut]

Quick survey if you would be so kind:

Please help me out, I'm genuinely so curious about this and want to see if my hypothesis is correct! Comment/ramble in the tags if I missed an option or you have thoughts!!

[make-the-devil-cry]

was reading titans 1999 and there was a part where everyone had to sign their names and did so but nightwing just…

it makes sense but it made me feel really sad for reasons i am unable to articulate

also unrelated but roy’s signature was the cutest

[cryptocollectibles]

Batman Day of Judgment #1 (November 1999) by DC Comics

Written by Scott Beatty, drawn by Dean Zachary and Robert Campanella, cover by Rodolfo Damaggio and Robert Campanella.

[tiffanybluesclues]

me: stop understating Dick Grayson's abilities as a detective, he is second only to Batman, I stg

dick, trying to make me look bad:

Titans (1999) #24 "Who Is Troia?" Part 2

[big-gay-apocalypse]

// The Titans (1999) #20