#one batman book. one nightwing book. etc

[nightmareinfloral]

I get so pessimistic about the current comics industry because is there even a way to try and save it or are we doomed to have these instagram post stories about the same five characters forever while the rest fade into relative obscurity

[unadulteratedsoulsweets]

A DC X DP IDEA #7 The Summons

Imagine dis…

It is always Danny being summoned by cultists, John Constantine, enemies…etc to the mortal plane that starts a beautiful meeting and adventure between the two fandoms. But what if Danny pulled an uno reverse this time, and shenanigans and misunderstandings ensue?

Danny is getting tired of all types of summoning around the Infinite realms, being King and immortal quickly gets boring after a few couple centuries. As well as the fact he is getting annoyed at the summoning that he kept getting himself into. The monologue is getting less creative and less creative by the day, he was sure that all villain monologues are either copyrighted or even ripped off from the same book and source, as they are either A. offering their world for his liking B. making him do something, or even C. kill a certain someone, and you wouldn’t believe the number of times he was summoned for the sole purpose of killing either Batman or Superman from the dubbed both liked and least liked dimension for Danny. Liked as they have real live aliens in that dimension as well so far begun the exciting one in this dimension, Least because the majority of the uncomfortable summoning's are from that dimension and the majority of the so-called heroes are either messing up the timeline which comes to the headache of both Danny and Clockwork as well kept jumping through the dimensions of their universe.

Today he sat on his throne with all of his eldritch glory when he felt that feeling of being summoned, now when being summoned is like a very annoying ring that you have on this phone on volume that kept on ringing until you answer it. Sighing at his current life, the number of times he summoned in that dimension to the point he can already feel and identify the same ringtone for that dimension. In a spur of a moment as well an ungodly amount of pettiness at that moment for all the times he has summoned as well the headache he and his mentor received he pulled an uno reverse on the heroes and prepared himself to get back at them.

…

Superman, Constantine, Batman, Red Hood, Nightwing, Red Robin, and Robin interfered with yet another cult dedicated to freeing the tyrant Pariah Dark. From what little information they have gathered through the relics and scrolls, Constantine stated that this Pariah Dark will make most of their world-ending fights look like a kid’s squabble due to the vast powers of the Pariah Dark stating that if he wishes though he can destroy this universe in a flick of his hand.

This cult, however, is on a large scale seeing that they were led in a wild goose chase while the other members prepare the runes, sigils, and sacrifices for the necessary ritual.

They managed to stop the cultists from killing their supposed sacrifices when the runes suddenly glowed green, blinding them completely.

The moment they gained consciousness they immediately knew that there is something wrong.

Looking around they noticed that they have been teleported to some sort of forest but looking up to determine the time of the day made them pause.

The sky is painted with endless toxic Lazarus green, and all of the heroes are now on high alert as they assess the situation. They either dimensioned hopped again or they have been dragged by the cultists and transported to wherever this Tyrant ruler is.

Constantine kept reassuring himself that it would be the former but the amount of death magic that flows through the air like oxygen made him think the worse.

Superman tried to fly upwards to have a better view around them but found out that he couldn’t use any of his powers.

As they were navigating this new and dangerous territory Batman kept grilling Constantine for information as every bit of information is now precious as they need to find their way home. Despite Batman drilling for any information that he knew, he knew nothing more other than the following facts.

Pariah Dark is a tyrant that ruled the Infinite realms. Using both fear and his unlimited power to control and dictate the Infinite Realms.

The Infinite Realms have also known as the Ghost zone, in all of the limitless universes and other histories. The Ghost Zone occurs at every feasible and non-feasible moment in time, which means that no matter where or when you are in the Ghost Zone, you are everywhere and every when because it all exists at the same time.

Without the Infinite Realms then there would be the end of their world and reality as they know it.

The residents here are told to be the most powerful ghosts in existence as Deadman could not even measure up to their strengths.

Suddenly the group heard a loud commotion and quickly hid by climbing up the trees for a better view.

There they see a group of large flaming black armored people that covered their entire body and face except for their glowing green eyes. Two of them caught their attention, the larger one has a purple flame surrounding his helmet, carrying a flaming sword as he rides a menacing black horse that has bat-like wings while the other one has a blue flame on top of his head pointing an electrified sword towards the cultists that were teleported differently from them.

From where they at, they were able to hear about the black armored knights that mortals are trespassing around the Infinite Realms. All of the cultists are now screaming and trying to fight off the knights that tried to restrain them, in the end, they were dragged and caged in a metal cage that is connected to a chariot of the skeleton of horses.

They were brought out of their stupor when they heard the continued screaming and begging’s of the cultist in a distant direction and when they heard a child’s giggle below them.

Looking down below them they saw a small child. The child could not be more than 6 with gravity-defying white hair, Lazarus green eyes wearing a simple white cuffed sleeve with brown pants and black shoes.

He pointed at them for being a mortal and looked at them with awe and proceeded to exaggerate the fact that mortals are in the Infinite Realms.

Nightwing being the friendliest face alongside Superman asked who and where they were. The child proceeded to introduce himself as Danny and tell them that they are in the Infinite Realms and that they are trespassing in the land of the dead, being without the High King’s order.

Danny kept gushing at the fact they are living heroes, as well as proceeded to act like a naïve child that will spill information with a few sweet words.

The kid kept asking Nightwing what it’s like to be alive and to eat food that doesn’t attack you.

Of course, that made the heroes grimace seeing that they were reminded that they were in fact in the land of the dead.

Danny next floated towards Superman and excitedly asked about his culture and language as a Kryptonian alien race.

As the ghost child kept asking Superman some questions nobody saw Constantine pale at the moment, they saw the child. As a dark magical user, he can sense the amount of death magic towards a thing or someone. The moment the child appeared in front of them the man Constantine tried to calm his nerves down seeing the abundant concentrated death magic that clings to the child like some parasite.

Batman tried to ask more relevant questions but Danny flew towards Red Hood and Robin exclaiming that they need a doctor, putting on a frown on his face. Batman’s questions kept growing when they heard a siren that seems to echo throughout the realms and the only thing the kid, Danny, said Oh no.

Looking in the direction where Danny looked, they saw a large army of flaming flying horses with black armored knights each of which look like a black sword as the largest one that they have seen before leads them towards their direction the moment they locked eyes on them.

Without thinking of the consequence Red Hood picked up the dead child and proceeded to retreat alongside the rest of the Bat clan, Superman and Constantine.

…

Danny was enjoying this, the soul-whore man was just a bonus. The fact that he owns this poor man’s soul just out of pettiness for tripling the amount of his paperwork for selling his soul to different deities. Once he dies, he is going to embarrass this man to the point he wished he was in hell.

His plan was simple, make them scared at the act of the High King being mad at them. Make them see the horrors of the Infinite Realms and send them home, simple right?

He was about to give them one last scare when he heard an alarm that blared throughout the realms. He just knew that Fright Knight had just pulled the alarm. For the spirit of Halloween, he is serious and zealous about his job. The fact he had forgotten to write a note might be on him.

He was just about to turn around when Red Hood picked him up and carried him like a sack of potatoes. Now in any political sense Red Hood is committing treason, he kept trying to wiggle out of the man’s arms, unable to phase out due to the man’s nature as one of his subjects.

He may be petty but he didn’t mean on making them commit treason, he can do that on his own to piss off the Observants, thank you very much.

Now Danny is panicking about how this prank had railed off course due to his luck.

…

The team of super mortals is now running away from the army approaching them. Using the forest where they have landed to conceal themselves as they think of a way to escape the army of the dead.

Suddenly a green swirling portal opened in front of them, they were about to change direction but Constantine exclaimed loudly that, that portal is the same one that brought them here. So, by that logic that portal will lead them back to their universe.

When they returned to the dark warehouse before they were transported only then they noticed the extra baggage that Red Hood may have brought with him. In fear, Constantine asked why would he bring a ghost child who has extremely protective ghost parents that will hunt them down the moment they realize that he is gone.

Jason argued that ever since Danny appeared the pits quieted down to the moment the ghost child appeared as if he was never been dunked on the Lazarus pits.

As they were arguing Red Robin noticed Danny that he looked worried and kept looking around as if to look for another portal.

…

Newsflash, he was looking for a way to escape the heroes undetected to create his portal.

…

Red Robin was about to ask what was bothering him when all of the heroes present suddenly saw a green outline of a crown and a cape coming from Danny.

Danny asked nervously why were they looking at him funny.

Constantine dropped his cigarette and paled several shades whiter in fear, to the point he was paper.

Batman is now on the verge of a breakdown as well. In a span of a few minutes, they traveled to the land of the dead and saw some ghostly knights and children, and Jason adopting strays in his way. Apparently in the argument the two have and the action, Jason had done in a matter of minutes, his son Jason decided to adopt a ghost child which in return Constantine replied that it is not possible seeing that ghost children in general have protective parents that may hunt us down now that ghost child has a highlight and outline of a crown and cape.

Seeing his look and reaction of Constantine when looked at Danny due to the green highlight outline, Batman demands Constantine's answers as to why and what could be worse news other than Danny’s ghostly parents hunting them down for unintentionally kidnapping their child.

Constantine replied in a small and shaky voice that they didn’t just kidnap an ordinary ghost child, they kidnapped the Crowned Prince of the Infinite Realms.

…

Danny was sure that the cat is out of the bag, but when the sad trench coat man whispered Crowned Prince instead of High King. He can turn this whole situation turn around in his favor, now if only the spandex-wearing men stop harassing him on his so-called “Father-King.”

…

PS: If someone out there wants to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so don’t forget to tag me though.

[babyyoda234]

Alfred’s extra help

Batfamily x new maid part 1

The past couple years haven't been kind to Alfred. Although, he would never admit it... His years have slowly been catching up with him. After a recent attack on the household, Alfred took it upon himself to hire some extra part time help during the school year. The new help just so happened to be a college band kid in desperate need of money. This is how it went.

Jason:

It was the little things, Jason had decided, that made the family enjoy the extra addition to the household. The faint singing that could be heard three doors down as she made her usual morning rounds. Dusting. Bleaching . Sweeping. It didn't matter what she was doing: music always played in her head. If you were lucky, sometimes you'd get to hear it too.

Alfred:

Monday Mornings were Alfred's favorite. After a long weekend of dealing with super-powered vigilantism, Alfred looked forward to the way she would clock into Wayne Manor with shy grin. It didn't take much prompting to get a play by play of how the Gotham U football game went. The Batfamily had never considered her being targeted by Batman's Rogue Gallery until Halftime was interrupted by the Joker emerging from a comically large birthday cake. When reinforcements arrived, they were shocked to discover the entire Color Guard beating the Joker senseless with their wooden rifles. To any outsider, this would have appeared to be part of the choreography with the way each guard member chanted "5,6,7,8 SLAM DOWN."

Y/N couldn't figure out why Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin had all come to check on her until Monday morning when the door opened to reveal a hallway full of smiling Wayne's. Even Damian couldn't help, but give her a hug... after an intense lecture on how dangerous the Clown Prince of Crime was.

Even more confusing was the way Damien's older brother, Jason, would always end up forgetting something at the manor when she worked. After chatting for a couple hours, she would say her goodbyes and silently acknowledge the fact he left empty handed... again.

Damien:

Damien admired the dedication on display. In the early morning mist when she thought nobody was awake, the wooden rifle would make an appearance. With the kitchen wiped down and the oven on self cleaning, all there was to do was wait. Damien admired her resilience when practicing rifle. Each brutal slap of the wood and metal on skin had to be painful, but she never complained when the bruises littered up and down her forearms. She was radiant. In her element, it was easy to get distracted by the crisp rotations on display. One day, he hoped she would feel comfortable enough to show him a few tricks... until then he enjoyed his early morning performances.

Dick:

Dick had warned her against working for Bruce from the beginning. The Bats mood swings could drain even the sweetest of souls. The relentless pursuit of a better Gotham has always been tainted by the blood of those lost. Bruce Wayne was not always known as the nicest guy to work for. Yet, after years of witnessing the tragedies of Gotham... Dick couldn't help, but notice the way her eyes shone with excitement whenever they would visit a new part of the city. The alley Scarecrow tested his fear toxin for the first time now is littered with book shops, ice cream parlors, diners, etc. In every area seeped with trauma, a fresh perspective forms. The quiet formality that he had grown accustomed to growing up in the Manor faded away. It was a nice change.

Tim:

Tim didn't even notice there was a change in the household until he stumbled into her conversation with Jason for the 3rd time that week. Typically, her shift would have been over at 3pm, but since her classes had been canceled that day she had worked overtime. With Jason's sudden reappearance after months of no contact, Tim took note of the way his older brother's voice deepened ever so slightly whenever she was in the room. Or how during Saturday night patrol they always managed to spot Red Hood "doing business" on a building close enough to the stadium to watch halftime. If anybody questioned it, Jason would have fiercely denied any interest claiming that he was merely "watching out for the Joker".

Tim mostly minded his business whenever she was working. His night life tended to consume most of his waking time, so if he got sleep (big if) he tended to wake up hours after she left. Mostly he appreciated the cute little animals she would make out of the groceries that week. One day, he opened the fridge to a cheese ball that looked like a turkey. Two olives made the eyes and each of the turkeys feathers were made out of crackers. His favorite had to be when she made a Robin out of Bell peppers and Grapes. Tim had left his sketchbook out the night before flipped to that exact drawing. After she had cleaned the kitchen, she left the treat along with a note explaining how beautiful she thought the drawing was.

[mysterycitrus]

top 5 dc writers & top 5 dick grayson writers pretty plssss

i feel like this q has to come with a big * beside each name because most of these writers have written twice as many terrible comics as they have good. like chuck dixon is a foundational writer for dick (and tim and connor) and he’s also a violent turbo-fascist who’s made the industry indescribably more toxic. devin grayson’s run on nightwing 1996 is an exercise in her weird racist fetish, but she also wrote for titans 1999, one of the better fab 5 comics. grant morrison wrote batman and robin 2009, and irreversibly butchered the popular interpretation of talia al ghul, etc.

so take these with a grain of salt —

1. mark waid — this should be obvious imo. there’s really no competition. the writing (for dick in specific) in worlds finest blows everything else out of the water rn. he can balance large casts well, his version of the titans was fun, he has an obvious knowledge of comic canon. i wish he’d pick up the ongoing nightwing solo and give back dick’s personality.

2. kelley puckett - unironically wrote the best run of all time. no one has done it like him before or since. i need him to come back and write for cass again (or damian). would love to see him write the dick + damian + talia dynamic.

3. scott snyder — this man wrote black mirror (the best dickbats story) and court of owls (which ruined everything). he's three dimensional. he is my enemy. he is not allowed to worldbuild unsupervised.

4. greg rucka — i met him at a con once and he was a very chill dude. he's an ally. he's always wearing a hat. no man's land, u will always be famous.

5. judd winick — this man either writes something that changes the status quo (utrh) or one of the worst books ever (titans 2008). no inbetween. he's a freak. he wants tim drake and kon-el to kiss. honorary ment for being another guy that ruined talia. he does get points for writing outsiders (2003).

also a shoutout to jeff lemire and amy wolfram

[cuephrase]

i didn't realize this needed to be said, but jason doesn't die at the end of UTRH?? not in the comics, or in the movie. and on top of him not dying, bruce does not kill him??

like, this is most obvious in the movie. jason isn't suffering from any potentially life threatening injuries when the building blows up, bruce grabs (or attempts to grab) him, and then they get separated in the explosion. bruce digs through the rubble looking for him and doesn't find him. ambiguous, yes. and there is no sequel to the movie to like definitely prove that he's alive in that universe, but bruce doesn't find his body which is superhero logic 101 for 'this character isn't dead'.

moving on to the comics.

now, this is...not a great look. i'm not a medical professional, okay, and it's not the clearest shot, so i can't sit here and claim with 100% confidence that jason's carotid artery did not get cut in some way. but i can reasonably assume it wasn't, because, well, look:

do you see how deep inside the artery is? and again, not the clearest shot, but it looks like if the batarang was to hit anything, it would probably be the jugular vein.

the jugular vein being cut would bleed a LOT. but, and just to remind you, i am not a medical professional, it would almost definitely not be fatal. while it bleeds a lot, it doesn't bleed enough fast enough. (but that's so much blood!!! yeah ik. it's a comic book. they like drama.) and, if the victim is able to put pressure on the wound, that reduces the bloodflow a lot and the blood is able to clot better, etc. we see jason do exactly that. the amount of blood on the floor doesn't appear to increase a whole lot from the initial gush either. he'd still need medical attention, don't get me wrong, but he's not dying from that.

we can't even assume that he's dead when he drops to the floor because if you pay attention to the panels, jason's moving. his back is initially facing the joker and then by the last panel his back is facing bruce.

anyways, joker blows the building, and we see no bodies. just bruce's silhoutte in the wreckage in one panel, and the narration is cryptic and foreboding. ambiguous, certainly leaves room for fans to come in and what if?

but dc answers the question about whether or not jason is alive almost immediately. i say almost because infinite crisis takes over immediately after batman 650. because of this, there is no neat follow through directly after the events of utrh, because instead we get One Year Later. (they just went big event!! no resolution!! gap year!! perfection!! pure brilliance.) so does jason pop up in batman's first issue OYL? no, but he does in nightwing's. dick seems somewhat surprised to see him, but i honestly think it has more to do with dick being surprised that the person running around nyc killing people in a nightwing costume is jason than him being surprised jason is alive.

so we know he lives. big whoop. how the hell do i know that he didn't just get dragged into another Lazarus Pit for a refresh while infinite crisis was happening? i don't. i mean, if i remember correctly, all the pits were destroyed by bruce and bane, except one, and at the time i don't think the location is known? point is, would've been hard to get to one.

but the biggest reason, aside from everything else, the way i know jason did not die temporarily again in the comics, is that it requires assuming one of three equally improbable outcomes.

outcome 1: jason doesn't survive the explosion, because he's incapacitated and bruce tries to save him, but fails. why is this improbable? because literally what is the point in telling that story again if you're just going to have jason pop up alive again basically as soon as he can. bruce certainly feels like he's lost jason post-UTRH, but not in a my-son-is-dead way, in a my-son's-lost-his-way way.

outcome 2: jason doesn't survive the explosion, because he's incapacitated and bruce chooses not to save him in that moment. bruce, who has only gotten himself into that situation to begin with because he was trying to save his son, decides to let him die at the last moment. bruce, who has been haunted by finding jason's body in the smoldering remains of a warehouse for years, allows history to repeat itself when he's right there and he can save him this time. bruce, who will always try to save someone, even the joker, even if it means risking his life.

outcome 3: the batarang sliced jason's carotid artery and he bled out and died...at the hand's of batman. batman, who does not kill. batman, who has never killed. batman, who refuses to take life, decides to break his one rule in the spur of the moment to kill his son and save the joker? oh, but, maybe it was an accident. maybe he didn't mean to cut jason that deeply with the batarang. maybe, for the first time in batman's many years of precise batarang throwing, he messes up and whoopsie, kills someone.

maybe, let's set the batarang down for a sec and pick up occam's razor- we know that jason is alive post-utrh. there is a crap ton of hoops to be jumped through and rules broken to explain how jason might've died, and then you've got to figure out how he's alive again. it's a much simpler path of logic to follow that jason was injured, survived the explosion, and that is how he is still alive post-UTRH.

look. you can dislike how bruce chose to handle jason's ultimatum. you can explore the what-if-it-had-happened-this-way in fanfic or posts. but you cannot claim that jason canonically died at the end of Under the Red Hood. it's just not true. and claiming it's true directly contradicts immutable canon foundations. there is a lot you can say about bruce wayne, about batman, that are canonically true, but he is not a murderer.

plus, i mean, c'mon, if jason had died at bruce's hands, do you really think he'd never bring that up? you really think his petty, dramatic ass would keep his mouth shut about his father killing him to save the joker? you think the hero community would find out that batman killed his son and just be casual about it?

from here (Green Arrow #70), we at least know that ollie knows about their fight, which if he knows the whole justice league probably knows. (there might be a comic out there were bruce discusses it with them, idk.) it seems like ollie was under the impression that jason was dead again, or maybe not in good enough shape to be running around in a costume. interpret as you want. ollie being under the impression that jason is dead would fall under outcome 1 imo, maybe 2 if you want to imagine that bruce fudged some details when he filled in the other heroes, if you're assuming he decided to do that. i haven't read a whole lot of comics where bruce is interacting with non-gotham heroes, but it is my understanding that bruce is not exceptionally forthcoming with info. personally, i think ollie asking for clarification comes more from a place of green arrow writers not assuming that green arrow readers know what's up with batfam comics, but that they might've heard about UTRH and so they're just going, yep there was an explosion, no jason isn't dead. bottomline- there's no way ollie will be working with bruce, especially with mia, if he thinks bruce is a killer.

look. you can dislike how bruce chose to handle jason's ultimatum. you can explore the what-if-it-had-happened-this-way in fanfic or posts. but you cannot claim that jason canonically died at the end of UTRH. it's just not true. and claiming it's true directly contradicts immutable canon foundations. there is a lot you can say about bruce wayne, about batman, that are canonically true, but you cannot say he is a murderer.

[zahri-melitor]

if I wanted to get into the bat comics do you think it matters if I miss a few? Does it matter that I go in order and read every issue, or are they not that deeply connected? Every guide on the internet says something different about which comics are the essential ones for the batfamily and I am so confused. I don't know how to tell what to read and how to tell what isn't worth my time. Help?

Short answer: no, you don’t need to read all the comics. However you’ll find it a lot easier to follow if you read comics in arcs or runs, rather than skipping between issues following an appearance list.

Longer answer: ‘essential comics for the Batfamily’ is a question that resembles ‘how long is a piece of string’, which is part of why you’re getting confused - people like different stories, and what ‘essential’ means differs between people, particularly as some stories get repeated over and over.

Now I don’t know which Bat characters you’re interested in, so I’m going to give general advice. If you’re getting into comics and don’t feel confident about where to start, my best advice is ‘pick one character or one team’.

Maybe two. But one is better.

This is for a very practical reason. The best way to get to know a character is to read comics specifically focusing on them.

There are four general categories of superhero comic.

Family Title. This is a headline book. For Batfam it’s Batman and Detective Comics. Batman is generally tightly focused on the current Batman (usually Bruce Wayne), though other characters may appear. Detective Comics is more the BatFAM title - it’s still often focused on Bruce, but is also where you’ll find team ups, stories focused on rogues, sometimes story arcs about a completely different character in the group.

Solos. These usually have the character’s name in the title. Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, etc. They star the named character.

Team books. Yes, there are teams within the Bats, but these also include other characters. You’re looking at Birds of Prey, Batman & the Outsiders, Red Hood & the Outlaws, Batman & the Signal, etc. More general team books are Justice League, Titans, Young Justice, etc. These are where you’ll often find stories focusing on characters who DON’T have a current solo.

Anthology books. These ARE samplers. You’ll get a taste of all sorts of characters here. Gotham Knights and Batman: Urban Legends are the best regarded.

Pretty much every Bat character you’re considering picking up has had at least one solo run. The simplest way to start is to pick up one of their solos and start there. (Their name is generally in the title). For some characters, you’ve only got a few choices. Open whichever sounds interesting/you like the cover art. For others, if you just picked up Nightwing, say, you’re staring at 28 years of ongoing solos at this point.

Now, you’ve probably heard or noticed people throwing around the names of different writers. What you want to do is EITHER start at #1 of the title you’ve picked, or start at the first issue of a new writer. Sit down. And read that writer’s whole run (or at least the first full story - that will usually be somewhere between 3-12 issues).

A new main writer on a title will generally give indications at the start of their story arc about where you are in time. They’re also considered a jumping on point - plenty of readers switch comics when a new writer comes in.

You’ll have an easier time if you treat a writer on a title like its own book. Don’t read issues #1-3, #7, #9 and #12 as those are the ones that have Damian in them; read #1-12.

If while reading a comic you come across a random crossover issue that doesn’t make sense, you have two options. Track down and read the crossover event, or skip it. I promise, it’s almost always safe just to skip over the issue (If you’re reading 90s Bat comics, it’s actually just easier to read the events and I can talk you through that, but that’s very much more Guide Dang It).

The more obscure a character you’re interested in, the more scrappy what you read will be. Honestly, don’t start with anyone less prominent than Helena Bertinelli.

Once you’ve read that story, skip ahead to the next one that sounds interesting to you. Keep trying for CHUNKS to read, rather than one or two issues. You’ll find branching out comes more easily once you’ve read a couple of dozen issues - you’ll want to follow someone to find out more.

I’ll finish with some suggestions for various characters:-

Bruce: honestly for Bruce, you might as well hop on board for either the current Zdarsky run in Batman (#125-) or the Ram V run in Detective Comics (#1062). They both work as entries. You will NEVER run out of Bruce comics. Just take whatever Bruce rec calls to you and read it.

Dick: Nightwing #1 (1996, 2011, 2016) all work as starting points. Also, if you really haven’t read a lot of comics, starting from Tom Taylor’s current run (you want Nightwing #78 2016) is probably going to be enjoyable, and line up with characterisation you’re used to seeing in fandom. If you want Dick as Robin? Robin: Year One, Robin & Batman, or Batman/Superman: World’s Finest.

Jason: I am not good on Jason, but you probably want Under the Red Hood (Batman #635-641, #645-650) followed by Red Hood: The Lost Days. Alternatively, I hear Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) is better than (2011).

Tim: the three Robin miniseries between 1991 and 1993 make good intros to Tim, then dig further into Dixon. Alternatively I suggest Young Justice 1998. I personally would suggest saving Red Robin till you’re read more of his stories, just because it improves the more you know Tim.

Damian: look, go straight to Batman & Robin 2011, or Robin: Son of Batman 2015. Batman & Robin 2009 is far more uneven than these two.

Duke: We Are Robin or Batman and the Signal.

Jean-Paul Valley: Batman: Sword of Azrael #1 or Azrael #1 1995.

Selina: Catwoman #1 2002. Or honestly any other run of her solos, but 2002 is a particularly good starting point.

Barbara: okay, this depends on what you want. Early Batgirl? Batgirl: Year One. Oracle? Birds of Prey 1999 #1 (for Dixon) or #56 (for Gail Simone). Post-2011 Batgirl? As much as I hate to say it, you are the audience for Batgirl of Burnside. Start at Batgirl #35 2011.

Helena Bertinelli: Huntress #1 1989, Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood, or Huntress: Year One.

Cass: Batgirl #1 2000. Then read Spirit World.

Steph: you have three options. Batgirl 2009 is one. Pulling a list of Steph appearances and following her as Spoiler through Robin 1993 is another. The third is reading her four issues as Robin (Robin #126-128, Batgirl #53) but that’s actually hard mode.

ETA: Kate Kane: you are blessed and basically everything starring Kate is a high quality comic. Batwoman: Elegy (Detective Comics #854-863) or Batwoman #1 2011.

[mzminola]

In-universe if Jason never died, Tim is just off somewhere in Gotham doing Tim things (until his parents are murdered). But out-universe Tim only existed because of Jason dying, so like...what would the comics look like if either Robin Lives won the poll, or if just didn't do a poll in the first place?

I've seen sketches of Jason-in-the-hospital (in a coma?) storyboarding, so he's out of the picture for a bit. Since he got killed via poll because they were already leaning grimdark/edgier, we'd probably still have Bruce going off the rails, chasing loved ones away, etc.

But we wouldn't get a brand new character when they decided to back away from that. They'd just have Jason recover. Return to being Robin undeterred by the bad experience (it's not like he hasn't gone through shit before). Maybe a little harsher himself, the shift in comics tone already set. Or maybe not! Maybe determinedly optimistic, because he has to make it worth it.

I've seen it pointed out that Jason was pretty isolated as Robin. So I think my main question is: would we still get the extended Batfam of the 1990's/early 2000's that Tim gave us? What's the chicken-egg situation for Tim's characterization, his team-up enjoyment, leading to those connections? I can imagine Jason being down for team-ups, but is Bruce open to letting him fly solo the way Tim was allowed to?

I could actually see Jason working with Oracle a lot more than Tim did at first, since she actually knows who he is. Do Jason and Helena get along? Would he get Tim's first Paris arc, with even more emphasis on being sent to learn healing arts? Does he travel to Bludhaven to badger Nightwing as much, or is there more distance there?

I think Robin!Jason still joins Young Justice, but does he actually get his own solo title? One of the ways Tim had enough plot to carry that was because he wasn't Bruce's kid. Living with Jack and having to hide Robin meant that Tim had both the dedicated cast & shenanigans to fill up the page-time outside the mission, that whomever was writing Bruce's books didn't need to pay much attention to.

If Robin!Jason has his own title to fill up with solo patrols, missions, disasters, that means you either need to coordinate with Batman, Detective Comics, etc for what Jason & Bruce tell each other at the dinner table, or just...have Bruce weirdly uninvolved in his son's life.

Huh. Okay. Jason lives, Young Justice 1998 happens but Robin 1993 doesn't, and I'm still not sure about the extended Batfam.

[rileysw1fe]

Hiii🥹

Here’s something’s about me💜

My favorite color is pink💕

I’m into Greek mythology ☽

I’m also a girl who loves games and books

Like Horror games,crime solving games,building games, shooting games etc

Books

Horny kinky books🙂‍↕️

Ofc Greek mythology books or spell books

Sherlock Holmes books

I love Marilyn Monroe💗

I have over like 100 plush’s

I also like fnaf(fnaf is like a part of me)

Favorite YouTube’s

Coryxkenshin(it’s been a HOT minute since he’s posted😭🙏🏼)

Caseoh

Special edd

Kubz scouts

Gizzy

Diet joov

Pezzy

Jacksepticeye

Markiplier

I love Asmr😍

Like spicy ones or like ones to put you to sleep

Here’s some YouTube’s I like for Asmr🙂‍↕️

Edafoxx

FrivolousFox

Gibi ASMR

Asmr zeitgeist

Tingting ASMR

Calamity ASMR

Crispy princess ASMR

Jojo’s ASMR

Keara’s ASMR

And that’s it I think💀

I’m a nerd for Harry Potter😭🙏🏼

I’m soooooo in love with Harley Quinn

DC comics are my favorite thing to read😍😍

My favorite DC character’s

Harley Quinn, Poison ivy, Catwoman, batwoman, Punchline, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Zatanna, Hawkgirl, Supergirl, Raven, killer frost,Red hood, Nightwing, Robin(Damian Wayne),Red Robin(Tim drake), Superboy(Conner Kent), Jon Kent, Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Doctor fate, enchantress.

I think that’s it about me💗

[a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all]

You are such a talented writer! Like I can totally imagine these scenarios playing out in my head! Another head cannon!

Thank you so much! 🥰 That is very kind of you to say and I really appreciate it! I'm glad you are enjoying these!

Jason x Dick:

Jason was at the manor for a little over two months before Dick visited for the first time. By this point, Jason had become pretty attached to Batmom and was jealous when he saw her giving Dick so much love and attention. Part of him thought that now that Dick was back, she would abandon him (just like everyone else in his life) and only pay attention to her "real" son (Dick only referred to her as Mom). It was only that night once Batmom came in to read with Jason, just as they had every night since he arrived, that she noticed something was wrong. When he finally confessed his fears, Batmom put the book away and instead of reading, she told Jason the story of how Bruce, Dick, and her had become a family. Jason had never realized up to that point that Dick wasn't their biological son, and Batmom assured him that blood wasn't the only thing that made a family. Jason was now just as much a part of her family as Dick was and nothing would ever change that. As she was leaving that night, he hesitantly whispered, "Good night, Ma" which caused Batmom's eyes to fill with tears. She ran back to the bed, wrapped him in a hug, and didn't let go for five minutes despite how much he squirmed and tried to break free.

Dick and Jason grew to like each other and thought of the other as family. However, it was sort of like having a brother who had gone off to college. Dick only came by every few months and didn't stay for long. Occasionally, he would stop by as Nightwing to help out when Batman and Robin needed it but that was rare too. However, when he was in town, he taught Jason some of his fighting/gymnastics tricks, took him to the movies or dinner with just the two of them, played video games with him, etc. Jason always looked forward to the next time Dick would visit, though he always tried to act like he didn't care.

When Jason died, Dick didn't handle it very well. He felt partially responsible because he felt he should have been there too or he should have helped train Jason better from the start. He also had slight survivor's guilt having been the original Robin and being seriously injured by the Joker in the past yet surviving. He came back to Gotham for the funeral but left the next day, unable to handle seeing all the reminders of Jason and Robin around the manor. Plus, Batmom had practically barricaded herself in Jason's room and Bruce only left the Batave to go on patrol so there wasn't much to keep him there. But when Batmom was arrested for the Joker's murder, Dick moved back into the manor and did not leave Gotham until a month or two after she was sentenced. During that time, he visited her every day in jail.

I have a ton more so if anyone wants more or specific HCs about characters, relationships, or moments, please let me know! 🥰

HC’s Part 1, HC’s Part 2, HC’s Part 3, HC’s Part 4

One Bad Day.... Series Masterlist

[aboutzatanna]

FYI, if there was ever Batman or Nightwing story where Zatanna lost her agency, killed off or treated like an incompetent nincompoop just to prop up Bruce or Dick, we would have have called it out. Just like how we criticized Lazarus Planet for being a Bat centric magic event that sidelined the JLD.   

Also while we have occasionally posted fan art of Zee with Dick or Bruce, we have never ‘salivated’ over them. In fact, we like BruceZee because it’s platonic in the present and the characters have moved on from their crush and also Bruce has no fucking clue about magic thus has to rely on Zatanna for that which maintain her agency during their team ups. We’ve warmed up to Chalant but our problems with YJ Zee is more due to story decisions than shipping decisions. 

 Our criticism of JohnZee is how centered John Constantine has become in Zatanna’s narrative and these days any Zatanna story that doesn’t involve him doesn’t seem to count. Plus how often she gets Worfed in JLD stories so John can show up later with a solution. This blog is not a shipping blog, it’s always been about exploring stories and aspects of the characters that doesn’t get much lampshade these days.  Because as we just learned recently, those higher ups at DC just see Zatanna as John’s girlfriend and object to narratives that attempts to center her even if those stories include John.    

We are not the misogynist ones for calling this bullshit out.   

(Side note: I’m not sure how Batman and Nightwing are suddenly characters who take away female heroes agency when the Bat franchise has had more female led books (Catwoman, BOP, Sirens, Batwoman, Batgirls, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, etc) than any other DC franchise and Batman related Panels have had more female attendees than Superman panels.    

And if we are suddenly making a list of characters who took away a female characters agency than John Constantine would absolutely be on that list and probably much higher than either Bruce or Dick. lol)  

[daydreamerwonderkid]

What fandoms you currently hyperfixated on?

Your oldest fandom?

Your favorite animes?

Favorite games?

How long you've been drawing?

Your favorite character from any franchise you can think of rn?

Sorry for the introgation LMAO, i just want to know more 👀

Lol you're all good, I don't mind asks like this :3

What fandoms you're currently hyperfixated on?

-Currently I'm pretty stuck on Batman/DC (can you tell?), but I'm also really into Dungeon Meshi and Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. My sister recently introduced me to The Greatest Real Estate Developer and we've both been having an absolute blast with it. Idk if it has that big of a fandom, but it definitely should pffftt

Your oldest fandom?

-I wanna say Marvel and Star Wars since the first movie I ever saw was A New Hope and my first comic books were Spider-man and X-men comics. I was really hardcore into the MCU at its height and I'm a diehard fan of the Clone Wars series.

-Funnily enough, I was getting a bit burnt out by both the Marvel and SW fandoms a while back and that's actually why I got back into Batman and DC XD

Your favorite animes?

-My #1 favorite anime/manga/story of all time has got to be Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I don't know what to say about it that hasn't already been said, but it really is that fucking good and Hiromu Arakawa is definitely a huge inspiration to me.

-Other than that, I gotta say Paranoia Agent, Mob Psycho 100, Love is War, Spy x Family, Trigun (haven't seen Stampede yet), Mononoke, Castlevania, and Mushishi. I'm sure there's more, but those were the ones I could think of off the top of my head.

Favorite games?

-There's so many games I play, so I'll try to narrow it down a bit. Tbh my longest favorite running series/franchise has got to be Legend of Zelda. The only game from the series I didn't enjoy was Spirit Tracks, but otherwise I've pretty much enjoyed every single entry.

-I also love the Ace Attorney series, Stardew Valley, Jedi: Fallen Order (I have Survivor, but haven't played it yet), Disco Elysium, the Yakuza series, Ib, etc.

How long you've been drawing?

-Genuinely don't remember when I started. I think I've always been drawing. Of course, I was taught traditional art mediums first. I did a lot of oil painting, watercolor and charcoal drawing. It wasn't until, I wanna say, my third year of college that I started learning about digital art. It's not a medium I'm a 100% comfortable with and I've only recently started feeling more confident with it when I realized I could download brushes that were similar to pencils/ink/charcoal/watercolor/copic markers/etc.

Your favorite character from any franchise you can think of rn?

-That's a little difficult since I have so fucking many XD

-Atm, I can say my brain has been super fixated on Marcille Donato (Dungeon Meshi) and Dick Grayson (Nightwing/Batman). Tbh my brain is constantly rotating my favorites, so it really depends on the day or the week who my new top blorbo(s) is gonna be

[arabian-batboy]

Have you heard? Tim got a new series called "Tim Drake : Robin"

Why did they do this when Damian's Robin series still going. Not only that, Tim got a whole lot cooler variant covers with fan favorite artists (Jorge Jimenez, Dan Mora, etc) :/

Bye bye Robin 2021, it seems like no one will bat an eye for Damian's series after Tim's got out. Even Robin 2021 was not this hyped, the variat covers was so mediocre, they don't even have Jimenez even tho he had drawn/did Damian comics multiple times before.

I hate this fucking Peter Pan so much, I was tolerating him squeezing himself in his old Robin costume and calling himself Robin for a whole year because he said "this is only because Damian is out of town" and because we had that one issue in B:UL where Nightwing told him that Damian earned the title now and that Tim needs to move on, so I thought that was foreshadowing to him finally getting a new identity, but then DC pulls this shit on me?

That's so disrespectful to Damian, his Robin solo isn't even 15 issues long yet and now he has to share the Robin title with a character that already had a 200 issues long Robin book that spanned almost 20 years? And the worst part is that when you look at what they're wearing right now, Tim is the one wearing a normal-looking Robin costume in red/yellow/green with great artist set to work on his comic and having everyone refer to him as Robin every 5 minutes, not to mention that he’s set to star as the Robin in the upcoming arc in the Batman comic.

Meanwhile Damian is wearing this ugly ass grey costume that doesn't like a Robin costume with R*ger Cr*z doing the art for most of his comic and almost every character in his solo refer to him by his name, not Robin (yeah most of them know his real identity, but so do Tim's friends and THEY call him Robin?) and is spending 90% of his solo half-way across the world from Batman/his family.

As a Damian's fan this is so disappointing, I know that that they want to milk Tim's popularity post-coming out, but at this point it feels like DC is more interest in promoting him as Robin (both visually and story-telling wise) than Damian and for what? To please old nostalgic fans? At this point Tim is becoming the Barbara to Damian's Cassandra.

[scattered-winter]

ok winter...it's my turn now: jaykyle. i am intrigued, and i'd like to know as much as is feasible to tell me. (it's killing me to send something this open-ended but i feel like i don't actually know enough about them to be more specific.)

TEEHEE <3333 SOOOO GLAD YOU ASKED BECAUSE I CARE THEM <33

jaykyle is a ship between two of my favorite dc characters, jason todd and kyle rayner. they're both sooo fascinating on their own AND as a pairing and I just <3333 this is gonna get long because 1) they both have very long and complicated stories that's gonna take a bit to unpack and 2) I love them <33 and I love to talk about them <333 a bit of forewarning, but comics storylines are RIDICULOUSLY complicated and pretty much every single character has more origins, timelines, and personalities than you can shake a stick at. in the comics fandom we take marie kondo's words to heart because if we tried to stick to What Canon Says, we would be running in circles all day because everything contradicts itself. everything is canon and nothing is canon and if it doesn't spark joy, it isn't true <3 I'll explain everything to the best of my ability but it's gonna get Real Complicated Real Fast

tw for death (child and otherwise)

jason todd (playlist) is part of the batfam (group of vigilantes associated with batman) and he's also part of the wayne family (by adoption). I looked everywhere for the panels to show how he was introduced because it's objectively the funniest way to introduce any character but alas, they have eluded me so I'll just tell you: he grew up in the poorer parts of gotham city with his parents, catherine and willis todd. willis got caught up in two-face's gang (because gotham city as a whole has a trend of eating its people alive/forcing them to do crime because they're desperate and have no choice etc etc) and ended up getting killed because of it, and catherine died of an illness, leaving jason to fend for himself on the streets.* he is brought into the story by jacking the tires off the BATMOBILE, and getting caught by batman himself. in response to this he hits batman with a tire iron, calls him a big boob, and runs away (and in the process making bruce laugh out loud in the same place his parents died which makes me SOO OUGHOUGHOUGHOUGH)

*catherine and willis both loved jason very much, but recent comics have portrayed willis as abusive/catherine as neglectful, which doesn't spark joy for me personally so I tend to ignore those ones and stick to the others where they were genuinely loving parents who fell on hard times.

the original robin, dick grayson, recently moved on from the mantle and went to live somewhere else,* so bruce adopted jason and started training him as the new robin. he was a very bright, very loving boy who enthusiastically went to school and read books and loved bruce so so much and bruce loved him because that was his KID.**

*I can't remember if he went to live with the titans or went to gotham's sister city, bludhaven; but in any case he ends up in bludhaven eventually and operates there as nightwing

**In more recent comics, jason's robin days are portrayed as him being brash and violent (new drinking game: take a shot every time a comic describes robin jason as "angry" or "reckless" smfh) and of course while being a vigilante involves violence, and being a well-rounded character, jason did indeed have moments of anger, I strongly dislike this way of thinking because it takes so much away from his character and you'll see what I mean by that in a minute.

however, the happy days weren't gonna last. jason discovered that catherine todd wasn't his biological mother, and he had found some evidence pointing to who his birth mother was. (I think it was a birth certificate that was partially damaged so he couldn't see the whole name but it's been a while since I've read the comic where that happens so don't quote me on that) but regardless of how he found out, jason set out to find his real mother. he'd narrowed down the list of possible mothers to a few different women, so he found them each in turn and ruled them out as he went. he ran away from home to go on his little self-discovery mission, and the only reason bruce didn't go after him was because the joker had a big scheme with a nuclear missile that kinda took precedence. but by pure happenstance, they ran into each other and decided to work together for both their goals (stopping joker AND finding jason's mom). eventually jason and bruce narrowed the list down to one woman: sheila haywood. they travelled to ethiopia to find her, and jason actually did, but moments after meeting her, sheila betrayed him and handed him over to the joker, who proceeded to beat jason within an inch of his life with a crowbar while sheila watched.

(batman: a death in the family)

he then tied up sheila and left them both to die in the warehouse because he rigged it with a bomb. jason, despite being betrayed by her literally minutes before, stopped to untie her to get her out instead of saving himself. but the bomb went off with them both inside, just in time for batman (who had been frantically rushing to the warehouse as soon as he heard that jason had been captured) to see the explosion <3

(batman: a death in the family)

and the thing that REALLY fucks me up is that even after everything she did to him, jason still used himself as a human shield to try and protect sheila. these two panels have literally caused me lasting damage

(batman: a death in the family)

this is also why the narrative of jason being reckless makes me so angry. he didn't die because he was a reckless idiot who rushed into danger without a thought, he died because he tried to save a woman who nearly got him killed. he died shielding her with his own body even though she betrayed him literally a few minutes earlier. some comic writers have rewritten the scene to take out sheila entirely, but that takes away a huge part of the story!!!! jason didn't die because he was reckless!! he died because he was trying to save someone!!!! I will literally fight people on that to my grave smh

bruce brought jason's body back to gotham and buried him, and was never really the same after that (but that's a topic for another ramble because this is about THE BOY <3)

this is where things get a little trippy <3 first thing you gotta know about comic books is that death is RARELY permanent. the exact details are lost on me since I tend to avoid the big crisis events (and the headache they give me) but basically superboy-prime punches the fabric of the universe and kinda .. breaks some things. and jason wakes up in his coffin (slightly zombified), six feet underground. after clawing his way out of his own fucking grave, jason gets hit by a fucking CAR and is then taken in by talia al ghul (one of bruce's past lovers, daughter of ra's al ghul [leader of the league of assassins]). talia put jason in something called a lazarus pit, which is basically a pool of green bubbly goo that can resurrect someone (ra's al ghul is hundreds of years old and keeps himself alive with the pits). jason came fully back to life and stayed with talia for a time, during which he travelled the world to be trained by some of the best/most notorious fighters and assassins all over the globe. at this point, he'd been dead for quite a while (a year AT LEAST) and so when he finds out that the joker is still fucking ALIVE, it's .... a shock, to say the least. it's a very complicated issue because batman's deepest-rooted rule is to Never Kill, and there were a lot of underlying circumstances preventing him from killing the joker right after jason's death (despite really, really wanting to) but the thing is. the joker just keeps killing and hurting people, and he gets put in arkham asylum, and escapes and kills more people, then gets put in arkham again, and it's just a vicious cycle where the joker just keeps hurting more and more people. and like. jason got murdered by the joker and the guy is still fucking alive and murdering more people. so he heads off to gotham with a huge plan to confront bruce and make him choose once and for all: kill the joker, or let jason die. this whole arc is my very favorite comic book of all time, batman: under the red hood <333 basically jason becomes a crime boss called red hood (which was the joker's old alias before he became...well, the joker) and plots CIRCLES around bruce, joker, and the other crime bosses. they're literally his pawns the entire time <3 but this all comes to a head when jason traps batman, the joker, and himself in a room where he finally reveals his identity to batman and gives him an ultimatum: kill the joker, or kill him. he had the whole place rigged with explosives so that no matter what bruce chose, they would still blow up (as a form of insurance? as a form of suicide? who knows!)

I'd like to point out the obvious and say that jason was NOT in a great state of mind during this whole thing. like. this post highlights it very well imo, but tl:dr jason didn't really...make a plan for after the showdown. it was clear that he had a single goal in mind, which was facing off with bruce and the joker once and for all, and it was also clear how it would end because he knew deep down that bruce would never kill the joker. so he knew he would die going into it but he didn't really care. he did in fact die at the end of under the red hood, since he was originally meant to be a one-off character, but he was so popular that dc sorta erased his death at the end of utrh and established him as a main batfam player.

jason's post-resurrection characterization is REALLY inconsistent, but really at his core, he's deeply traumatized and angry, and his driving motivation is to save gotham in what he deems is the "right" way: killing criminals so that they're no longer a problem. which, considering how many times supervillains break out of arkham and wreak havoc, isn't really that far of a stretch. but because of batman's firm moral stance on killing, the two have a very .... complicated relationship. but regardless jason has one of the coolest designs in the entire batfam in my opinion <3

(batman: three jokers)

(red hood and the outlaws) (I hate this comic for what it did to the other characters but the art was pretty at least)

sometimes he's drawn with a white streak in his hair (a side effect of the lazarus pit) which is one of my FAVORITE looks for him <33 and he's a regular contender for my icon because he's my blorbo bingus blob boy <3333

BUT ANYWAY <333 ON TO KYLE <333

disclaimer: I haven't been reading kyle's comics as long as I have jason's (jason was my gateway character who first got me into comics in the first place so I had a lot more time to really dig into his comics and characterization) and there's a lot of info about each character that's kind of...absorbed over time. because there's so many different stories and comics about each character, it's hard to find everything they appear in, and since I haven't been reading kyle for as long, I don't consider myself an expert on him in any way but I'll do my best to talk about him because he's my favorite green lantern <3

(playlist) in order to explain kyle, first I need to explain hal jordan. he's the Original green lantern (meaning when you think of the dc superhero green lantern, he's probably the one who comes to mind despite there being more lanterns than I can count. he's the most well-known by FAR) but basically, the green lanterns are an intergalactic military/police force led by the guardians (a bunch of really tiny blue guys). they use green power rings that are fueled by willpower, and so only someone with a lot of willpower (specifically, the will to "overcome great fear") can be a green lantern. (there's a ring for every color on the spectrum, but that's another ramble for another day). hal jordan had been losing faith in the lantern corps for a long time, but the last straw was when his hometown, coast city, was destroyed. hal basically went into a massive grief spiral and tried to bring back the entire city and didn't have enough power to do that, so he took on the name parallax and murdered pretty much the entire corps, and most of the guardians to absorb the main green power source to get enough power to Resurrect The City. but one guardian managed to escape to earth, where he found kyle rayner and gave him the last green power ring.

being practically the only green lantern left, kyle had to defeat parallax and restore the corps practically by himself. and the thing about kyle is that he's the GOOFIEST guy on the planet (affectionate). upon finding out that he's now a superhero he proceeds to immediately go tell his ex-girlfriend about it (alex <333) and they have a photoshoot of him in his suit. I fucking love them <333

but alas!!! happy days don't last <3 kyle leaves alex alone for literally only a few minutes to go be a hero, and while he's gone, one of green lantern's biggest enemies breaks into her apartment and murders her. kyle comes back to find her dead body stuffed inside the fridge (fun fact: that's actually where the term "fridging" came from <3) and he proceeds to. torture and almost kill the guy who did it. we love an unhinged icon <3

(green lantern #55)

it's been a while since I've read his origin comic, but kyle eventually defeats parallax. further down the line, he becomes a white lantern (mega-powerful because it has the powers of all the colors in the spectrum, not just green) and in my personal favorite comic, also becomes ion (basically the living embodiment of green lantern power. also basically a god) and tbh it's his BEST look of all time

(ion: guardian of the universe)

like I said, I don't really have as clear of an idea of kyle's timeline since there's a few gaps in my reading, but the essentials is that he literally can't keep a girlfriend because they keep dying, and he continuously gets the power of a literal god and is so humble and heroic about it that it never goes to his head. but he also consistently tortures and kills without really showing any remorse whatsoever <33 he has the range <33

BUT. AT LAST. WE GET TO JAYKYLE. THE THING YOU ASKED ABOUT IN THE FIRST PLACE. there's only ONE comic that I know of where they actually interact on-panel, and that's countdown presents: the search for ray palmer. it's tied in with countdown to final crisis, which is one of the biggest dc events of all time, and I haven't read it and probably never will because the big crises always give me SUCH a headache to try and understand </3 but I HAVE read search for ray palmer because <3 of them <3

essentially it's a story where the atom (ray palmer) gets lost in the multiverse and so 3 people who are already kind of...Outside the Mainstream Timeline embark on a multiverse journey to find him. those 3 people? jason todd, kyle rayner, and donna troy. jason is only alive because the timeline shattered, kyle was literally a time-and-reality-altering god not just once, but multiple times, and donna troy has also died and come back and like. is the only comics character with Self Awareness (remember when I said every comic book character has a gazillion different origins and reboots? donna remembers ALL of them <3) and so all three of them are affectionately referred to as "cosmic mistakes" because. they're literally irregularities in the cosmic timestream. and I love them for it <3

the reason I'm a jaykyle truther is because. they're so fucking funny in that comic. they argue in pretty much every single panel they share, but their internal monologues are....very, very homoeretic.

(kyle, about jason) (countdown: search for ray palmer: wildstorm)

(jason, about kyle) (countdown to final crisis #33)

and honestly, it's about how fucked up they would be together. they would tear each other apart and also tear apart everyone else and it would be a horrible time for everyone involved <3 there are ships for cute cuddles and then there are ships for fucking killing each other and jaykyle is the second one <3333

[northoftheroad]

Can you give some Pros and Cons about Marv Wolfman’s portrayal of Dick Grayson, his characterization, capabilities, interactions with those around him and the impact it had on the fandom in the present day?

I don't love everything Marv Wolfman has written with Dick, but I don't think you can underestimate MW/George Pérez and the New Teen Titans' importance for what the character is today. Remember, the bat-office wanted Batman to have a Robin again; without Wolfman & Co, Dick would probably have gone back to the second half of Batman and Robin. Would Robin have become a legacy character without their suggestion to let Dick become Nightwing and create a new Robin? Who knows?

Dick had been without a stable comic book home for more than a decade since Robin split from Batman in 1969. He had a number of solo stories (enough to fill a 900-page omnibus) and sometimes worked with Batman, but he didn't have a book where you always knew you would find him. NTT (#1 in 1980) changed that, making Dick a young adult with many responsibilities instead of an older kid/teenager.

Wolfman also wrote a fair number of Batman stories in the early 80s. Including the Lazarus Affair, where Bruce and Dick butts head (1983); Batman Year Three, where Bruce has to admit Dick had become a man; and A lonely place of dying (with George Perez), where Tim Drake was introduced.

Wolfman created Tim as a likeable guy that had Dick Grayson's support from the start. (This was shortly after the readers had voted to kill off Jason Todd, but DC still wanted Batman to work with a Robin.) The start of the idea of big brother Dick Grayson (because while I always argue against those who claim Dick was an ass towards Jason, he wasn't; but they also never had much interaction).

I don't remember the original Teen Titans book enough to be sure, but I think you could argue that while they were good friends, the NTT made the new team even closer, almost family. The Dick and Donna closeness is, as far as I remember, definitely from the NTT era.

Dick was written dating a few girls in his college days, but the relationship angle was cranked up within NTT (I've sometimes likened NTT to a soap opera...). Relationship problems were an essential part of the stories (not only romantic relationships but also, for instance, Dick and Bruce's relationship). As far as I remember, MW was the first who wrote Dick as reflecting on his love life. He felt strange living with Kory without being married and couldn't see himself sleeping with someone he didn't love.

You can argue this aspect has partly changed, with for instance the Grayson run where Dick flirts right and left etc. As I've said before, I prefer to read Grayson as Dick is playing a part - there are scenes where he is clearly unhappy with his situation. A superhero comic book character can't exist for 80-plus years without having some relationships. While I stand by that Dick Grayson should and mostly is written as someone who feels deeply for people he sleeps with, I don't think he's been written being explicit about this for a good while.

When Marv Wolfman wrote a few Nightwing arcs of volume 2, he introduced more conflict between Dick and Bruce in flashbacks. Dick demanded to be emancipated, he left Gotham and fell in love with Liu, who, it turned out, wanted to use him to rob Bruce. In the comic "now", Dick thought about whether this had influenced his difficulties with his relationships with Kory and Barbara. Personally, I think that's an unfair take because Kory and Barbara were not written as flawless. Also, Wolfman wrote a fair number of the older stories about how Dick stepped out of Bruce's shadow and the relationship with Kory. I don't understand why he did these worse retconns... (thought there's at least one 90s NTT comic where Dick thinks back and blames himself for how the relationship with Kory ended, so maybe I'm the one who is unfair). And I guess it's very in character for Dick to feel responsible and blame himself for everything...?

This brings me to another point - character traits such as being serious and intense about the job at hand, setting a very high standard for himself, and having a tendency to self-blame is very much a product of the NTT era. Also writing him as being... less than nice 😉... when he's very stressed/have mental health problems, for instance because of torture and brainwash.

NTT wasn't the first time Dick was written thinking about his identity as Robin and his relationship as Batman (nor the last...), but it did reach a climax when he decided he wanted to dissolve the partnership and then leave the Robin identity.

I've written before that it was during Wolfman's era that Dick not being adopted became a thing. Dick had been called adopted in earlier comics, and it would have been easy to write him as already being formally adopted, since the laws and customs has changed since 1940. Wolfman also wrote Bruce hitting Dick without ever having him apologize, regret it or think about what he did wrong. Also, NTT is full of sexism, when you read it with modern eyes. So there's things I'm not fond of.

(Yeah, of course writers write things to create drama... But I do think it's sometimes unnecessary, and I don't like when things are left what I would call unresolved, for instance that Bruce never reflects about hitting Dick.)

Now, I'm even less of a fan of the later NTT years. I haven't read them enough times to remember exactly why, but I think it has a lot to do with the endless drama, Mirage in effect raping Dick without it ever being acknowledged as rape, how Dick and Kory split and he left the Titans. It's difficult to know how much of this is on Wolfman and how much was up to editorial demands to get Dick from the Titans and to the bat-book.

Well, I hope you feel you get something out of these ramblings 😎

Ps. I appreciate how you expressed your question. Much as I enjoy thinking about favourite fictional characters as real people, it can go overboard. They are tools creators use to tell a story, and it's sometime tiresome when characters are treated as that they should be held accountable for what the creators have done.

[fishfrommars]

MY IDEA OF HOW THE BATFAM TIMELINE GOES DOWN

(Based on what I have read. SPOILERS AHEAD FOR: REBIRTH, New 52, pride issue 2022, Robin 2021)

So does it go:

Batman becomes batman around age 25(?)

Flying Graysons die

Dick becomes Robin

Barbara becomes Batgirl

Dick stops being Robin

Dick becomes NightWing - has his Titans run, Chicago run, Blüdhaven run, etc. Boy is everywhere tbh.

Batgirl gets shot in the spine - becomes Oracle sometime

Jason becomes Robin

Jason dies

Batwoman in here somewhere(?) sorry Kate I have no idea when you start but it is in the beginning I know for sure :(

Dick and Bruce have a big fat fight *insert Batman slaps Robin meme* (i always thought it was about Jason when Bman slaps the bird but I think it's actually about Superman)

Tim and Bernard meet, their families are rich, etc they always end up at galas together, possibly the Waynes are there too...

Tim confronts Bruce and Dick about Batman and Robin

Tim becomes Robin

Tim's dad dies

Jason comes back, tho no one knows yet I think(?)

Timmy and Batman split up - cuz Bruce is a dick holy shit

Timmy is working with the Teen Titans

Jason tries to kill Timmy

Jason becomes mean Red Hood

Damian comes into town - which everyone (the three previous Robins) is mad about.

IDK when Stephanie becomes Robin but she is supposedly the fourth Robin - but becomes Batgirl and then Spoiler

There are two working Robins - Tim and Damian

Bruce goes missing - something about a time stream(???)

Dick chooses Damian to be his Robin - Timmy and Dick have a bigass fight

Everyone thinks Bruce is dead except Timmy

Connor dies

Steph dies(?)

Wally dies

(Holy shit Timmy's edgy time begins as he searches for Bruce) as Red Robin YUMMMM

Batman (Dick) catches Red Robin YUMMM (Tim) as Ra's al Ghul kicks him out a skyscraper window (holy fuck i loved that issue)

Bruce comes back - holy shit why does no one listen to Timmy

Jason forms the Outlaws(????)

Jason and Bruce reconcile (somewhere in here I am not sure where tho, suddenly Red Hood has a red bat on his chest and is occasionally out with the Robins and either only used rubber bullets or shoots people in the legs)

A little very short time passes where the batfam gets to hang out and do missions, which leads to the next event.

Damian dies

Wayne family fortune goes away(????) idk when it happens but here somewhere

Dick "dies" but the batfam doesn't know that he is an agent of Spiral

Batgirl comes back, Babs has her spine fixed with technology, so it works kinda like a conputer(????)

Damian comes back(?????)

Bruce loses his memory???

Dick comes back for a second - gets his stupid face punched by Jason, (timber and jaybird have been through a lot losing Damian, Bruce, and Dick in such a short time span holy shit) and he deserves it

Robin school(?????) (i did not finish the "Grayson" series so IDK what the frick that is about)

The world somehow forgets who Dick Grayson is through comic book magic????

Tim is back to being regular Robin(????) so there are two Robins?(???)

Alfred loses his hand (idk when this happens I just know it is in here somewhere)

Bruce's memory comes back

Dick gets shot in the head - honestly just... there are so many questions I had about this, the main one is why the fuck the Joker(s) are not dead yet, after everything they have done to the bats and the birds

Dick becomes Ric after losing his memory - we don't talk about it because - well - DC fucked up :/ (i have a lot of rants planned out for this tbh. Starting with how the bat fam treated Ric, and how after Nightwing went missing none of the bats decided Blüdhaven was worth defending, and how they did Bea dirty even tho she was an ideal partner to someone like Ric / Dick....)

Alfred dies

Robin - Timmy and Damian both in Gotham as Robins - i think Timmy is pretty independent at this point, also he is legally emancipated at this point so he doesn't answer to Bruce anymore...

Dick's memory comes back

Damian and Batman have a falling out(????) and Robin goes off on his own - the newest Robin (2021) series (which I totes recommend if you need to understand Damian a little more - also bonus all five Robins have a scene in it (issue 5 i think) and it is fantastic)

Fun fact all of the Robins have died by this point (though idk if Dick's counts cuz his heart did technically stop but there was no lazarus pit to bring him back just pure adrenaline shot to the heart...)

Tim and Bruce get along again?

Tim and Bernard go out after reconnecting (?????) new thing, waiting for the issue in August 2022 I think?

Tim gets shot in the neck(?????) new issue july 2022

Duke and Cass come into the picture as (?) Outsiders(????) i forget their group name I am sorry) So Spoiler, Signal, orphan now a team since Bruce adopted them I guess. Also Batwing is there (is that his name?) - it's Luke Fox, the guys who had a rescue mission and stole some cool Bat tech to get Bruce back after Talia kidnapped him (also a cool guy to check out. He is a good one to keep up with too. Butts heads with Bruce a lot when it comes to raising the bat babies - which GOOD).

Idk about you, but there is defs over 80 years worth of history here that is supposed to happen over the span of like 20 years (holy cow) and Bruce is supposedly supposed to pick up the mantle of Batman at around 25 or so, and a year and a half in he adopts 9 year old Dick Grayson. Holy shit these kids....

@ me if you think I forgot something or if I need to fix it :)

[turboacek-blog]

The Nightwing death in Harley Quinn (Max)

Basically people are upset that they killed Nightwing again and it was mostly used for a joke especially for those that just seen that screenshot

There are two things to look at

Killing Nightwing and the Harley Quinn Show’s world

Killing Nightwing… again

Nightwing is in the weird position where he’s a fan favorite mostly everyone loves him for one reason or another but he’s also in a position that makes him expendable whenever someone needs to tell a story

Essentially in a Batman or just general DC story if you have to hurt or kill a character to get a reaction without losing one of the core members Nightwing is always on the top of the list

Nightwing is the first Robin, a likable guy, attractive, etc so you kill him off then you get a reaction from not only the characters but the audience and you don’t have to kill a character like Batman which either feels unbelievable/would affect the story too much for people to care or you kill a character that isn’t as loved as Nightwing leaving both the characters and audience with a lower response reaction

Nightwing also varies a lot from comic run to adaptions, one run he’s Batman and even better than Bruce, one he loses to a Damian Wayne, one he is just another random hero that is there because Batman needs to have Robin making him usually the staple sidekick is Batman has one

In Harley Quinn he’s a former sidekick that has some awareness that he's known and somewhat established but he isn’t the next Batman or is seen as a true leader like how he is with the Titans as they play more into other aspects

The Harley Quinn universe

Given the nature of the show this universe only works that the heroes aren’t as competent in most of the other adaptations

In season 1 (iirc) the main Justice league members were trapped in a book

Joker took over Gotham

This universe has the Legion of doom have a public headquarters and no one is taking them down

They have super villain award show etc etc

Batman in most versions would of stopped the Joker from taking over Gotham or have defeated him even if he did but in this version he was captured and Harley and co saved the day

And it’s not even a Mary Sue or main character thing, in this universe characters like Batman Superman and etc are more on par with the villains so Batman can lose to the Joker, Superman can get tricked, Flash can’t outrun everything etc

And like with the supervillain awards example, the villains are seen as a normal thing in the world so when certain things aren’t taken as seriously that’s a reason why

It's like the meme that Gotham is a horrible place to live and why would anyone move there but now everywhere basically is like that now so it’s the new normal

The whole world isn’t taken seriously which I can see the appeal and the dislike

Appeal: it’s great for comedy and to allow a character like Harley Quinn to roam free and make certain villains be comparable to the heroes

Dislike: it can be disrespectful to a lot of the established characters for the sake of “comedy”

My opinion

I do think too many of the people talking about it didn’t watch the show to that point so it out of context is an overreaction

Nightwing to that point was a butt joke, they were expanding on his character though so I can see the disappointment there

But in this world, Batgirl might as well be the Nightwing, Robin, etc all into one as even Damian is just a spoiled child and not much of the angry assassin in the show

So it sucks that they killed Nightwing again someone pointed out this is like the fourth time he died which is definitely high for a notable comic character despite the idea that everyone comes back in comics

But in a show where Batman is in prison, Harley is now a good guy, and Joker was mayor of a city he conquered, so Nightwings’ death is just parred for the course

I do think the remaining of the season will let me have more concrete thoughts as we don't see Bruce’s reaction, characters like Alfred and Damian were joking/had comedy bits and it only really affected Barbara hard as it seems we're going to lean more into the Harley Joker Ivy stuff now

I think until they explain how he exactly died the moment is fine but in the grand scheme of dc disrespecting this fan favorite character then yeah its getting out of hand which isn't the Harley Quinn’s shows fault it just now becoming a trope people are tired of as it's not like Jason Todd becoming Red Hood but like how people say Peter Parker Spiderman can never be happy