#source: batman: no man’s land

[bonesbitchesboutcomicbooks]

Barbara “most gorgeous woman alive” Gordon

detective comics #739 /// Batman: legends of the dark knight #125

[suzukiblu]

WIP guessing game: "Robin"

Superboy has existed for about six months at best (five months, two weeks, and six days, but who's creepily spying on their fellow heroes and vigilantes? not Tim, for sure) and was created in a lab full of extremely niche genetic experiments whose creators very rarely bothered making look human, which is probably why he has some weird ideas about certain social norms.

Tim assumes that's why the guy just decided to drop a very annoyed Catwoman on him out of nowhere, anyway.

"The fuck?" he says, though through his vocoder it comes out more like the incoherent screeching of the damned. That being, well, the whole purpose of the vocoder and all. Superboy grins down at him from the nighttime sky all bright and sunny and weirdly adorable, for being a lab-grown weapon and a guy who is technically capable of disassembling Tim down to his individual atoms with, like, a touch and about two seconds' worth of thought.

Not that Tim has been creepily spying on anyone or said anyone's Cadmus files, again.

Also Superboy might not even know he can do that yet, so it's really not a smart thing to mention right now.

"Hey, man!" Superboy greets cheerfully. "She was breaking into that big museum a couple blocks over, figured you'd care about that. As opposed to, like, breaking into some rich asshole with insurance's penthouse. Figured you would not have cared about that."

"The museum also has insurance, for the record," Selina informs him sourly as she makes an art of getting off her unceremoniously roof-dumped ass while looking like being on this roof was her idea to begin with. Because, like: Selina. "And has not properly sourced the artifacts in their new Bast exhibit."

I know, that's why I was on my way to the museum to keep an eye out for you, is what Tim does not say, since Robin is supposed to be a splintered aspect of a mysterious all-knowing city spirit given human form and not just, like, a really dedicated teenager surviving on semi-legal energy drinks and conspiracy-board detective work and the occasional occult ritual to summon the Batman.

What he does do is jerkily cock his head and say, "Preyyyyy?", and let his vocoder horribly mangle the word into a sound usually best described as "unholy avian screeching". Superboy beams, which is not a normal reaction to hearing Robin's voice. Selina just rolls her eyes, but Selina of course knows about the whole "really dedicated teenager surviving on semi-legal energy drinks and conspiracy-board detective work and the occasional occult ritual to summon the Batman" thing.

Like she's never summoned the Batman for anything, geez. Or "Bruce", as an eight year-old Dick Grayson had once upon a time decided to randomly dub him. Tim still can't call the eternal and unsleeping eldritch protector of their city that without feeling like he's going to spontaneously combust, but it is in fact a thing that the Batman will answer to.

Might as well call Pennyworth "Alfie", though.

Jason was even worse at names than Dick, Tim is pretty sure.

"Yeah!" Superboy says, sounding still more cheerful and floating down the rest of the way to the roof to land lightly in front of Tim. Selina eyes him in a way that would end very badly for anyone who was not functionally invulnerable. "I mean, she seems cool and all but I dunno, figured the Bat wasn't big on Cats in his territory. And also the criming. Definitely also the criming."

"How . . . find Robin?" Tim asks. Superboy doesn't have enhanced senses, as far as he knows, so . . .

"Oh, I've been stalking you," Superboy explains. Tim blinks behind his unblinking mask and feels several ways about that statement. "That's what you Bats all do when you're interested in somebody, right? So I figured you'd like it if I did it back."

. . . Tim feels several ways about that statement.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Bruce Wayne is used to ransom calls. They happen often enough despite his children's training, though it doesn't help that they sometimes purposely get themselves captured to later mock the kidnappers but he digressed.

This call was different. "We have Tim Drakes children" what did that even mean? Did they kidnap some random infants with black wisps of hair and blue eyes and just hope that Tim miiight have had a night of indiscretion in the last year or so to be concerned about?

Spoiler was the first on scene, actively teasing Red Robin about the whole fiasco. He swears they couldn't possibly be his and this had to be a scam of some kind. They had been assessing the situation from the rafters of the warehouse when another guy who looked like prime Batman Adoption Bait stormed the place and beat the crap out of the guys before zooming over to the infants.

The pair nodded at eachother and leaped down from the rafters and landed behind the man. He whirled around, holding the kids protectively to his chest, careful to support thier heads.

They asked him to confirm if he's the father which he did so readily. Red Robin got a wierd feeling though and asked to get a swab for testing, just to be sure.

The guy refused. That wasn't overly suspicious but the defensive way he acted was. Were these not his children? The bats chose to try a different tactic and asked him to wait for the police to arrive so they could confirm he was the twins father.

He ran.

Danny was having one of the worst days of his afterlife, and trust him, he's had some rough days. Being chased through Gotham at night by its local terrifying vigilantes while trying not to drop or harm the babies was hard, especially since he was trying to hide his powers. But really, what was he supposed to do?

He can't exactly just say "a ghost with genie powers overheard my mom wish for grandbabies from me and granted that wish but screwed us by making the other half of the babies DNA that of some random rich guy from another reality?" Cause thats going to go over soooo well.

Why do they care so much anyway? He doubts they're going to make the guy pay child support, not that Danny needs it. Then again its probably better to stay in this world where no one knows who he is and his children are safer...from his parents OSHA violations if nothing else.

Vlad couldn't enter this universe cause he couldn't get past the "source wall" whatever that was, but Danny and his babies had no problems so meh.

The bats had him cornered and hiding invisibly inside an abandoned arcade (why were so many places in this city abandoned???) the bats kept combing through the place looking for him. He knew they were about ready to give up looking for him when one of the babies sneezed.

The next thing he knew the littlest bat, Robin was right next to him, "Found you." Then he was knocked out.

[about-faces]

Two different versions of Cassandra and Harvey’s first (and to date, only notable) encounter.

Sources: the Batman: No Man’s Land novelization by Greg Rucka vs the original comic version from Detective Comics #734 (July 1999), “Mark of Cain, Part 2,” by Kelley Puckett, Damion Scott, and John Floyd.

[tumbling-darkling]

The candles in the circle flared a bright and brilliant green, the lines of the blood drawn circle lighting up the same hue as Nightwing and the bats of Gotham were held back by the cultists.

They were too late.

For weeks, there had been a series of disappearances and summons, monsters of various kinds being brought into Gotham and causing death and destruction. While the Gotham knights had been able to quickly locate and fight the creatures coming through, they weren’t easy battles. The beasts had unique power sets, each one showing different kinds of abilities in powerful ways.

They also were aware that all of the beasts were connected based on a common ability they all shared otherwise: they all held abilities similar to martians. While each creature they took down had unique abilities, they all shared the ability to fly, turn invisible, or go through solid objects. The knights had been lucky that the intangibility was not permanent, that the creatures needed to be solid to land hits, and with precise timing could eventually be taken down.

Red Robin had been able to analyze the first beast the group encountered and create a containment cell that the creatures couldn’t phase through, but it had taken a lot of time and effort, as well as a few escaped beasts when they also realized they needed something else to limit their extended abilities after the beasts tore apart the cell through other means.

The bats were exhausted, and had only recently managed to find the source, but it was too late by the time they located the cultists. Based on the information they gathered, they had been building up what was described as ‘ectoplasm’ in the area with all the summonings, their end goal being to summon a supposed ‘Pariah Dark’. A king of ghosts. Tyrant of the undead. They believed that by giving the ghost king Gotham, he would reshape the living world into a paradise and spare them the fire he would use to rebirth the planet.

It was insane.

And the bats were too late.

The cultist were aware that the bats where on their tail, they set up traps and percautions, all of Nightwings brothers and sisters were incapacitated or trapped, even Batman had been restrained in the middle of the circle. ‘A knight as a sacrifice’ the cultists had whispered.

Was this it?

Was he going to watch his father die and be unable to stop it?

This couldn’t be it…

It couldn’t!

The bright green lights began to get more intense, so much that Nightwing couldn’t look directly at the circle any longer.

Then the light snapped off, a blast of mist erupting from the circle and shrouding the room, dropping the temperature and even leaving frosty tips on clothes and hair. Nightwing carefully focused on the circle, expecting Batman to be nothing more than pieces and a beast to stand over him, blood ok it’s maw as it got ready to burn the world down to ash.

Instead, he spotted two shadowed figures within the mist, Batman still recognizable in a similar position as before, and a lankier figure… floating above him.

Then the mist blasted away as if a huge gust of wind chased it from the centre of the room… and revealed his older brother being the floating figure.

Daniel James Fenton, originally Daniel James Grayson, was floating above Batman with a hand outstretched, a very surprised look on his face as he made eye contact with Nightwing.

He looked like how he always looked, his hair an absolute mess of tangles that was pushed to the side, pale blue eyes like crystals that held both kindness and a hidden danger within them, a NASA hoodie covered in holes from being constantly worn, torn jeans with dark stains, and rough hands that belonged to a fighter. All packed into a 6’4 lanky giraffe of a man, who sometimes looked more like the wind could knock him over based on his horrible eating habits. Danny had been raised away from Dick, and he only discovered he had an older brother about 8 years ago, reconnecting with him and slowly building a bond with him and his older sister.

But he never knew his brother was some sort of Meta.

Danny glanced down at Batman, then back up to Nightwing, and finally his eyes trailed to the rest of the restrained Bats, “Either this is a weird dream or someone tried to do something stupid.”

“Oh great, who messed up the summoning circle?” One of the cultists complained, catching Danny’s attention.

“Summoning? Who were you summoning?”

“Quiet, ghost!” A cultist hissed. “Go cause some chaos or something while we figure out how to summon the dark king!”

Ghost? What did that cultist mean, ghost?

Danny’s eyes instead brightened, a familiar mischief dancing in them as he grinned, slowly floating to the ground and letting his feet touch the ground. “Oh, the dark king? Did nobody tell you?” Danny asked with a tilt of his head, and suddenly Nightwing noticed frost spreading from his brothers feet with every step he took towards the cultists, “the infinite realm has been under new management for the past decade! The dark king is no longer the king, and gets to spend eternity in nap time!”

The cultists exchanged confused looks before one brave one spoke up, “then who is the new king?”

“You summoned him!” Danny laughed. But it echoed in an unnatural way, and there was a new burst of light that erupted from his brother, light engulfing his entire form before dispersing and revealing he changed.

White hair replaced the black hair, whiter than snow itself and even slightly glowing in the low light, he wore a black lightly armoured suit with white accents, a black cape hanging off his shoulders and drifting in non existent wind that also seemed to affect his hair. Inside the cape seemed as if Danny had taken the night sky and sewn it into the cape itself. His skin became a deep blue, green flecks speckled his cheeks and nose, his eyes now black with toxic green irises that glowed in a menacing way in the dark of the warehouse. Around his neck seemed t be a crown, but as if the aurora borealis had been forged into one. His teeth were sharper to match his sharpened grin, his ears pointed, and the air around him sent off a chill that settled into everyone’s bones.

“You know, I’ve noticed a few of my subjects have been going missing. I couldn’t seem to find them when I went looking where they usually would be. But they must be here, thanks to your little stunts.”

“Y-you’re the king?” A cultist stuttered.

“Forgive us for not realizing-!”

“Please, we have set up offerings! Sacrifices!”

Nightwing was shoved forward just as the rest of his team was, and Danny frowned at the act.

“You think this is what I want?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

The cultists began to shift uneasily, “well… the books said to appease the king, we must spread death and ectoplasmic destruction.”

The crown flared, “did you kill people? In my name?”

The cultists flailed, “well, of course! It’s to give you more power-!”

It was if the lights went out, darkness engulfing the warehouse like a deep dark wave. Screaming was heard in the dark, and Nightwing couldn’t do anything but listen.

As fast as it began, it was over. The light returned, and Danny, no longer glowing and terrifying, was knelt next to Batman, undoing his restraints as he set him free.

The cultists were nowhere in sight.

The moment Danny had finished freeing Batman, he stepped over to Nightwing, and easily set him free from his own restraints, easily standing back with a carefree smile like he didn’t just admit to being the king of the dead. “Sorry if I freaked you out, Dickie. Just had to put on a fancy show to make sure those idiots don’t try to pull anymore of those stunts.”

Nightwing froze.

“You…?”

Danny grinned, that mischievous glint returning to his eyes, “know? I’ve known since the day we met. Why do you think Bruce and your family keeps managing to avoid death?”

[armed-with-a-waffle-iron]

The Bat Family Timeline and Ages (Post-Crisis and New Earth) with Sources

Evidence

In Batman: Year One, Bruce is said to be 25 in the January he returns to Gotham. The 1976 DC Calendar puts Bruce's birthday on the 19th of February so Bruce is 26 during his first outing as Batman in April.

Marv Wolfman's Batman: Year Three (Batman vol. 1 #436) tells us that Dick Grayson's parents die in Bruce's third year. In Batman vol. 1 #441 (also by Wolfman) Tim says that Robin started appearing around 6 months after the death of the Flying Graysons. For Dick's age when he becomes Robin, see below.

Bruce joins the Justice League before Dick forms the Teen Titans. Both these teams form before Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl at 16 (Batgirl: Year One).

Barbara and Dick are each other's dates to their high school prom and so are less than 2 years apart in age (Detective Comics vol. 1 #871).

I suspect Dick, who was an emancipated minor, graduated high school and started college a year early, which allows Dick and Barbara to have some time as the new Dynamic Duo, as we see in Batman Family.

Dick Grayson is 18 when he forms the New Teen Titans, all of whom are also teenagers (Nightwing vol. 2 #137 by Wolfman, who also created the New Teen Titans).

Dick Grayson is 19 when he becomes Nightwing (Batman vol. 1 # 416).

21 year-old Helena becomes Huntress (Huntress: Year One #1), and interacts with Batgirl, meaning that Barbara is not yet Oracle.

Jason dies at 15, 4 months before his 16th birthday (Batman Files). This is before the New Teen Titans' third year anniversary (New Titans #71), before any of the Titans turn 22 (Deathstroke vol. 1 Annual 1), 2 years after Dick becomes Nightwing and almost 10 years before Dick's parents are killed (Batman vol. 1 #436). Dick is hence 21 during these events and 11 when he became Robin.

I also kinda like Dick being 17 years younger than Bruce because that's also the age difference between Adam West and Burt Ward from the 60s TV series.

After these events, Tim Drake becomes Robin and is 13-14 (Batman vol. 1 #441 and Robin II #1)

Soon after, Stephanie Brown is 15 when she becomes Spoiler (Secret Origins 80-Page Giant).

Stephanie is still 15 when she realises that she is pregnant (Robin vol. 2 #59) and Tim is almost 15 during this time (Secret Origins 80-Page Giant).

Cassandra Cain is 17 when she comes to Gotham during this time (Batgirl vol. 1 #1), during No Man's Land which lasts one year.

Helena’s family were killed when she was 8 and during Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood, Tim says the murders happened roughly 15 years ago, making her roughly 23 during this storyline.

Cass turns 18 in January (Batgirl vol. 1 #39), Tim Drake turns 16 (Robin vol. 2 #116), Jason would have turned 18 in August (Detective Comics vol. 1 #790), and Stephanie is 16 when she "dies" (Batman Allies Secret Files & Origin).

Personally I'd re-arrange Tim's 16th birthday to be the last of these events four events to accommodate him still being 17 late into the Batman: Reborn, see below.

Jason soon returns to Gotham as Red Hood, not long before Infinite Crisis, 52 and One Year Later.

Following the one year time skip, Dick says it's been almost 10 years since his misadventures with Metal Eddie and Liu as a 16-17 year old (Nightwing vol. 2 #133 by Wolfman), which makes sense because he would be 25 by my math.

Stephanie returns from her time as a medical volunteer in East Africa, finishes high school and begins university during Batman: Reborn. She'd turn 19 by the end of this year by my math, which is a typical age to be begin attending university (Gotham Underground and Batgirl vol. 3 #1).

Dick calls Damian Wayne a "10 year-old" before Stephanie attends university (Batman and Robin vol. 1 #2) and Steph still calls Damian a "10 year-old" while she's in her second semester (Batgirl vol. 3 #13 and Batgirl vol. 3 #17). He might have turned 11 before the reboot.

Batwoman: Elegy (Detective Comics #858), during the Batman: Reborn year, shows that Kate was 12 when she was kidnapped and saw her mother and sister killed. This incident is also said to happen "20 years ago”, making her 32 and hence 30-31 during her first appearance in 52/One Year Later.

Tim Drake is still 17 while Steph is in her second semester of her first year at university, and it's stated that he is meant to be in his senior year at high school (Batgirl vol. 3 #13, Red Robin #17 and Red Robin #25). It's possible he turns 18 before the reboot.

Mistakes I Made

Cassandra Cain is 21 in Year Eighteen.

The "Titans disbands" in Year Thirteen was definitely a year early but it's done.

[brucewaynehater101]

Running over here to give an idea spawned from binging Pretty Cure transformations

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The Drakes uncover artifacts on land once owned by their very own ancestors, to which they are the closest related descendents of

This gives them the absolute rights to distribution, and considering they spend less time with Tim than desirable, it's gifted to their boy in hopes of bonding with him through their ancestry

The last thing Tim expected upon opening the vintage birdcage was for the perch to swing and the sudden appearance of an bearded vulture flying out and soaring all over the room

Even stranger? The bird looked like it came out of a painting, from the brushstrokes to the exaggerated colors, like, its feathers were a wine red instead of red-orange one would expect

Oh, and the cheering—"Free! I'm free! Child, did you free me from my prison? Splendid! Spendid! I can cast revenge on those dastard Drakes at long last! Long last!"

Unfortunately for birdie here, they've been imprisoned for so long that any Drakes who imprisoned them are long dead

Remaining descendents are all innocent in this conflict

"A shame, a shame indeed, but now that I no longer fear them, and you too are ignorant of why they did not pass down their evil, I should give thanks to you."

"Tell me your Deepest Dream, and I'll isee if we can fulfill it."

Introducing Mes'Dremere, a painting granted life by magics long ago

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I haven't developed quite a backstory, I'll leave it to you guys to brainstorm, but this vulture (they/them) isn't going to be having any beef with living Drakes since their sworn enemies died long ago

More trivia, their name is a blend of Mesmerize and Dream

They are far from the only magical being to slip through the cracks and go unknown for so long

Tim Drake, descended from a line with the power to ensnare one of Mes'Dremere's power, is a canary in the coalmine so to speak, seeing strange beings that appear to do nothing, but attach themselves to practically everyone, even Batman

And with every rogue attack, every act of corruption, and especially Arkham Breakouts they only grow more numerous

He can even photograph them

"This isn't my Deepest Dream, I still need to figure it out, but can you tell me if there's a monster on this man's head, or if I'm just hallucinating?"

"To think, to think, I would ever see such a thing again. My boy, an awful, awful evil has beat me here, such that it will cast this place into a greater despair than ever seen before, before."

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Hollowing Wish, entities as older than Mes'Dremere; they seek personhood, purpose, dreams and the will to go forward by feeding from unprotected and unsuspecting victims, so that they may finally end their everlasting hopelessness

But saying they are eating victims into depression isn't true. When someone, for example, expresses willpower, they release an energy the Hollowing Wish will then consume. A junk food compared to getting it from the source, right inside. It's not enough for them

Pursuing a fruitless path to ending their plights, Hollowing Wishes take but never give to even themselves, only continuing the ever downwards spiral

victims can include but are not exclusive to: people, animals, and objects granted oh so much love and care

Regarding the last one, objects have a dense core inside them of all the deeply held feelings towards them, whilst surrounding it are the passing feeling people have for it

In the rare case of a Wish attaching to a target for so long, the two will become one, becoming something that could be mistaken for a meta, alien or something else---this form is a Nightmare Awakening

they unleash their pain and greedily keep their happiness locked away in their head in a desperate bid to hold into the remains being sapped away from the brain---until the target is reduced to a hollowed husk with nothing left within

As for the Hollowing Wish? they fucjing combust since taking in joy fresh from the fruit pulp instead of the juice is more than they're built to contain, leading to surrounding area and beings being entrenched in brief happiness, and then an onslaught of magical despair until the magical despair in the area and people dries up over time

What is it that causes them to spawn? Who migrated here, bringing their anguish with them?

The Hollowing Wish is an extension of a will, a will in even greater despair---Praying For a Forever Demise

"To think it was a Forever Dream they prayed for long ago, but then, but then?"

"Their unending praying manifested into a terrible, terrible demise . . . a name so long is easier to call Praying. It too serves well enough in reminding us how we got here, does it not, does it not?"

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More tethered to the physical plane as one born into it, Tim is offered the power to become a hero himself, specialized to fight against the Hollowing Wishes

But he's just a fanboy! Wouldn't Batman or even Robin be better?

"Speaking from personal experience, he seems like far the man who would let these practices into his life, even with him having no other choice, no choice."

"Besides, besides, Robin must have his plate full, plate full. What better way to express your love for the Bats, than to ease their burdens, no matter how thankless, how thankless?"

"His own body can only go so far, hold so much, so much magic indeed."

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The streets have begun to talk of a boy . . .

"Magical Boy!" "Do you think Gotham is some kind of Sailor Moon episode?"

A boy without a mask yet crusading as the Bats do. Unrecognized like them; magic it must be

"I'm Dreaming of Robin," he says he is, "but I've never met Robin or Batman yet."

Colloquially, Dreaming Robin or Dream(s) Robin

He's found where the Bats won't be, putting a stop to crime, giving thankless aid, and other acts of public service

But stranger is that which he grants and insists people keep around their house for protection

Blank photographs that upon touch become depictions of the little things that grant a bit more joy

And less pressure on their shoulders

By Dreaming Robin's side is a vulture, a guardian calling themself Mes'Dremere

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Magical Boy Dreaming of Robin, Tim Drake. What does his arsenal hold? Listen Right Up!

[Materialized Eternity] is the ability to utilize photographs Tim takes by pouring his magic into his photos of choice

Say for example that Tim photographed Nightwing quadruple backflipping, a feat impossible for Drake

If Tim puts magic into that picture and he has it on his person, he will be able to reenact that quad-backflip just like Nightwing did, but doing so will drain the magic in the photo like a battery

After running out, the picture would need to be recharged on magic to be put to use again

That's just one way Tim can use the magic

[Lasting Photoshoot] the ability to pause time on entities and an area right after Tim takes a photo of for a short period of time

[Merry Memory] is the power to take a blank photograph and enchant it to protect people from magic by taking the image of something they love. It's Tim's go-to for defending people and himself from Hollowing Wishes

[Realization in Reach], Realization for short, is a magical staff and his primary weapon, as it can channel Tim's latent magical powers along with his gifted ones.

While feasible as a physical weapn, it gives Tim's magic more strength and a much wider area of effect. Emphasis on the more strength which Tim has to be careful about

[Forever Remember] is the power to photograph a Hollowing Wish that Tim defeats and thus seal them permanently within those photos

Photoed Wishes can be weaponized against other Wishes and Nightmares to make them fight for the same resources they crave. When weaponized wishes run dry, unlike Eternities, those Wishes effectively die and cease to exist

the photo becomes blank, and can picture something else

Tim also has safes with as much scientific and magical security employed, storing albums with Hollowing Wishes and Materialized Eternities to swap out 

Now for The Best Part yet!

"My Deepest Dream, I'll make you true!" A heirloom locket holding Tim's most precious photo of Robin he's ever taken, it is his chosen transformation item

(here's to hoping it never gets taken away due to that very picture within, because Tim won't be the only person fucked over by it)

As a rule of thumb, Dreaming Robin's outfit, his arsenal, and the photos he gives to protect against Hollowing Wishes all look like they came out of a painting, specifically what you get when googling "mystical painting"

Tim does learn some other magics that can be used to fight against Hollowing Wishes, Nightmare Awakenings and purify an area and people suffering the affereffects of a Hollowing Wish exploding and spreading their despair everywhere

Yeah Tim is gonna angst every time he fails to save a Nightmare Awakening before it's too late for them, poor him :(

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In unrelated news? Tim has himself a pet too well trained, yet several times proven unabused and pampered

American Robin Dreams Come True 'Dreams' who people swear came from a painting despite their vibrant feathers being so picturesque, and vibrantly red all naturally

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Gotham is yet again the source of insanity. That being strange monsters that abruptly show themselves to people before forcibly turning them into monsters

Thankfully, Dreaming of Robin always comes to save the day

Hollowing Wishes, he calls these monsters

Nightmare Awakenings, the victims are named

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Some extra deets

Haha depression go brrrr

Praying For a Forever Demise is like this due to how much anguish, and hollowness they hold, and the desire for joy they want &/or used to have

Maybe they got their depression all naturally, or maybe magical shenanigans lead to them possessing an ungodly amount of it inside of them idk, maybe a blend of both

But yeah, Praying is only going to put to a stop when help and empathy is placed in front of them, and the shot of a happy dream everlasting is finally in reach

Also uh, Praying isn't wholly aware of wtf is going on outside of their head as they stew in their despair, with the rare blips of hope provided by Hollowing Wishes

Their situation is similar to a powerful deity unaware of their godhood and untrained into their powers which need to actively be restrained, but that has evidently not happened

so yeah, they're unknowingly spreading their depression everywhere

Or maybe they have come to awareness that spreading Hollowing Wishes is what they're doing and have compartmentalized that, it doesn't stop their depression from being worse nor even more Wishes spawning but willful ignorance is intoxicating

idk how they traveled to Gotham either lol, but they're dead center in Arkham Asylum, and with it being the new source for Hollowing Wishes, its gonna became way, way worse than in canon

Also prior to being Praying For a Forever Demise, they were Praying For a Forever Dream, do with this knowledge what you will

Are other Drake artifacts magical as well? You decide!

For clarification, Tim's magical boy alias, "Dreaming of Robin" is maybe an accident where he just states that "yeah I dream of Robin, he's my hero" but people thought he was stating his name so it stuck

Or maybe he intentionally introduces himself like that for the symbolic name

Mes'Dremere employs a whitelist geass preventing people from finding out Tim is Dream Robin unless they're whitelisted

I'm thinking that Tim could accidentally snatch up future Waynes into his team, and under Mes' tutelage, Stephanie, Duke, Cassandra and maybe even Damian

I think Jason, after dying and reviving, and he alongside Damian due to the Lazarus Pits, would be especially vulnerable to Hollowing Wishes, so woof

Side note, I think Tim would offer Jason-as-Robin the chance to become a Magical Boy with him, only for him to decline and after resurrection thinking

"I should've taken the Magical Boy route when I had the chance," lmao

Idk if Tim would still become a Teen Titan here, but it'd be neat if all of the Young Justice core four and maybe more became/joined the magical boy & girl team

Since Arkham is a breeding ground of Hollowing Wishes, people there are the least likely to become Nightmare Awakenings since they all have countless Hollowing Wishes attached to them

that means several Wishes are fighting for resources against eachother to sap up expressed will/joy/accomplishments etc.

Because they're fighting over the same person, often dying in the process and others joining the fray in fighting over their victims, they often make little progress in making way to becoming Nightmare Awakenings

So yeah, where as Batman and the clan will be more focussed on their rogues, Tim is more worried about normies who are more likely to fall victim to Hollowing Wishes

That being said, he doesn't wanna see a rogue or bat become a Nightmare Awakening, so he gives them both tons of Merry Memories and get rid of as many Hollowing Wishes on them as he can

And he's rightfully afraid, all hell will break loose if they subcumb to Nightmarehood

Feel free but not pressured to expand on this as you all wish

A magical boy Tim AU? Hell yeah.

Some additional ideas to add:

Tim's outfit comes from the culture present at the time of when Mes'Dremere was imprisoned. Tim has absolutely no choice in this matter, which is an initial point of contention. However, it eventually becomes a point of pride and comfort

The culture is one specific to this AU (so there's no cultural appropriation). Similar to Atlantis, Krypton, and other lost societies, Tim starts to discover their practices, rituals, customs, etc when he's trying to connect to his roots (since it's also the culture of his ancestors).

Jason rejects becoming a magical boy because he's "a literature nerd, not that kind of nerd." Tim's a little offended by this, but they get over it quickly. Jason also grumbles when he gets the All Caste because he ended up becoming a magical boy anyways, just without the transformation scene.

There can be angst added where Jason says Robin is magic so he doesn't need to become a magical boy. Then Jason dies and ends up getting All Caste.

Tim ends up learning a lot about psychology as a nonmagical way to help people as well. If there are fewer depressive symptoms, there's less for the Hollowing Wishes to feed on. Also, mental health techniques/coping mechanisms can delay the progression into a Nightmare Awakening.

The YJ core don't end up becoming magical boys/girls except for Bart. They do team up, though, and Tim helps a lot in battles even when there aren't Hollowing Wishes.

Cass would definitely vibe with becoming a magical girl since there's no killing. She'd probably do both the magical girl routine and become a Bat cause she's awesome like that

Would Damian view the Wishes as creatures?

Tim is able to form a different type of friendship with Zatana, Raven, and Anita due to his magical status. He also likes to call up Constantine to bother the poor bastard (it's funny to him).

[002yb]

I don't know, I just really like the idea of a reverse!robins au, you know??? Just little baby Dickie being an absolute menace to a slightly older Jason, and just being completely obvious with his little (huge, enormous, really) crush on Jason, and just Dick being a possessive and jealous little shit as a kid, before they started dating just cracks me up. And like everyone knows about his crush, but they all think its so cute and innocent, and it'll probably go away, right???? Right???? Something like this probably

https://www.tumblr.com/mlim8/691663407306440705/i-want-to-say-how-much-i-love-your-reverse-robins?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/mlim8/681971460563140608/jaydick-week-day-3-reverse-robins-soulmates?source=share

So I think I may have answered an ask with similar vibes here. (: Here's some thoughts inspired by the first link though! Super cute vibes, kudos to mlim8!

Dick emulating Kon because he genuinely believes Kon is the definition of c o o l g u y. Like, how else could Kon land Tim? The man is playing out of his league; he's a legend. Peak aspiration. Of course Dick is going to be smitten with his older brother's cool boyfriend; Dick needs to learn all the tricks of the trade. He's got his own babygirl to win over. C:

(The term 'babygirl' comes from an overheard conversation and while Kon laughs about it, Tim gets so embarrassed. Despite how he tells Dick to not say that, Dick refuses).

Anyway, Kon? Thriving. Some might call his moves cringe, but Dick is so earnest and hopeful and Kon feels like fucking superman no one can touch him. ;U;

Damian nagging both Tim and Jon about Kon's influence on Dick because Dick won't listen to him; he can't be deterred and Damian is losing his mind over how Dick keeps winking and finger gunning and throwing out these truly terrible, punny lines at Jason and ahhhhhhhh

Basically Damian not liking Kon because of the impact he's had in Dick's life. It's created a hassle for Damian, but more than that? Big brother might be a little jealous. ;3;

Extra detail: Damian didn't like Kon even before Dick came into the picture because he became a distraction for Tim. It's an ongoing argument between Damian and Tim, actually. Damian is convinced Tim keeps Kon around for the sole purpose of annoying him (this isn't the case, but Damian is convinced)

Tim scoffing about it and telling Damian that his envy is showing. Just get laid, damn.

Which Damian gets indignant because no )<

To which Tim smirks a bit and purposefully badgers, 'Alright, Brother Complex (affectionate nickname), if you're threatened by our baby brother stealing Jason from you, then—‘

And Damian hisses because shut up, Drake. Fuck forbid father hear such crass speak omfg Damian will bury Tim himself.

Jason does have a crush on Damian though. The brother complex goes both ways. Or rather, it's a transference sort of deal for Jason that lingers big time because in this verse, Damian chose to save Jason from Joker, consequences be damned. The point stands, Jason is very sweet on Damian.

When Dick realizes this, devastation. Betrayed by his own partner!? Because...maybe Damian would have a similar batman stint where Dick was his Robin?? Yes.

Anyway, Dick refusing to talk to anyone, even Jason. Which is how they all know Dick is distraught.

So despite how it pains Damian, they send in the b i g g u n s: Kon. (:

Who hypes Dick up so hard. Just a bro looking out for his little man, y'know? Kon might hype Dick up a bit too much though because when Dick finally leaves whatever high nook he's sequestered himself away in?

Dick walks right up to Damian and challenges him for Jason outright and the family is caught in a perpetual state of ∑(ﾟﾛﾟ〃) because omfg Bruce is right there watching this play out and Jason is his babygirl, first and foremost.

But Damian accepts the challenge if it means having his brother back. And Damian, the sap, kneeling and drawing Dick in for a hug because fuck, having Dick be mad at him? Someone so happy and hopeful and wonderful? It was like a stab to the heart ngl.

And yes. While Damian's brother complex persists, there's zero intent to act but he still plays into this challenge of Dick's because it's highly motivating for the little punkass twerp.

Meanwhile Jason is just...there. Dumbfounded after Dick winks and shoots finger guns his way with a declaration of: 'you're gonna fall for me some day, babygirl.' But don't worry, Dick will catch him.

And Tim groans because Dick, please.

[popculturebuffet]

Batmarch: The Secret Origin of Batman's Trophys (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to Batmarch, or celebrations of all things that go bump in the dark knight

Today we've got a special treat... and i'm not just talking the nice art Kev had comissioned! Looks really good and I really appcirated it. Thank you KEv and thank you Alan Patreon. It was a nice suprise gift.

As for what this is about, this was a fantastic idea Kev cooked up: the batcave is one of the coolest hero bases in all of fiction. The layout is never 100% consitant across media but your usually guaranteed a batmobile, a big ass computer at the center, water falls, and over time a display for various costumes from past sidekicks, alternate outfits etc.

What really spruces the place up are three distinct decorations that we almost always see in the comics and ocasionally in other media, if not live action since these bitches would be expensive to make: A giant dinosaur, a big ole penny, and a giant playing card of a joker. These three are staples of the bat cave, to the point when the original was caved in during the earthquakes that ravaged gotham in the build up to no man's land, Bruce made a point of fishing them out for the new cave he built after that traumatic year.

Yet most of us.... have no idea where he got these wonderful toys. Even I didn't. The Joker Card comes from an obvious grinning source, but what CASE did it come from? Where did he get that dinosaur? What was someone using that giant Penny for? It's a question i've asked once or twice but never looked into. Kevin did though, and while the through and lovely DC wiki helped him find each one, he went the extra mile, asking for a review. And I was entirely on board with this comission as I just.. never had those answers and I doubt i'm the only one whose wondered what the context for these things were. So today we're looking at three disntinct golden age batman stories, at a time when goofy nonsense reigned supreme, logic was optional, and weird shit like this was just another day in the batcave. IN other words, this is going to be a LOT of fun so join me under the cut as we look at gambling themed death traps, penny obessed gangsters and batman being hunted by the most dangerous game: mechanical dinosaurs.

The Giant Joker Playing Card:

(from Batman #44)

I love these old titles, such flair and cheese. It's incredible.

Anyways this one starts because Joker decides to hit an off the books casnio after his win. Luckily for them, he just wants to play which feels entirely like a joker move: instead of robbing an easy target that can't call the cops and that the mafia presumibly running it would be stupid to retaliate on, he decides "fuck it let's try this whole gambling thing men, sounds like a hoot and a half".

And sure enough.. it goes really well. He spends what's implied to be the whole night just winning and winning until he cleans house. This being the joker this gambling bug can only end one way

I just.. love everything about this. Joker just had fun at a casnio and turned it into a death trap. It's such a brilliant setup.. and one that while nicely goofy, is also well done: it fits the joker's unpredictablity to just go a gamblin and it fits him just as much to turn a new hobby into a death trap. I also love Lewis' reaction calling it SUPERGAMBLING., like he's some gambling expert and most dangerous game shit is a type of gambling.. which given we're in the dc universe, you probably DO need a name for this kind of thing in the crime world.

So he set shte perfect trap: he has a random balding middle aged man tell the two he has info on a recent raidum theft, raidum a hospital badly needs. To save the presumed orphans about to die without eating their radium, Batman and Robin go to a sketchy island with one house perched on a hill

The World's Greatest Detective.. sees NOTHING wrong with this and goes ahead and gets caught in the most devious trap imaginable.

Several head injuries later, our heroes wake and joker reveals the radium theives, who he captured for this scheme but have kept the radium's location to themselves. This is by deisgn: the joker wants the two and their "radium screts" as the ante here, along with Robin to make sure Batman does this. Batman repedately states "I don't gamble' as if logic suddenly works on the clown man who set up a gambling death trap, so Joker reveals if Batman won't play his three supergambling games, he'll just kill the hostages. Batman reluctantly agrees,

Game 1 is super pinball.

But when Batman proves to be an expert at the snes Joker goes with plan b.. his giant pinball table of death. Sorry his giant SUPER pinball table of death.

As you can see the same joker face from the card is here and you see it all over his lable. it seemed to be Joker's logo back the. I love this whole setup and mostly show it not only because it' sdope but because those pins must've been what bumpers were. I also had no idea PInball used to be a gambling thing. Makes sense, it's just fun to find out.

The game goes well mostly though one of the guys nearly slams into a pin. Thankfully Robin is an expert gymnist and batman smartly saved laucnhing robin till the last minute and Dick's able to save the goon.

Game two is super rolling some dice, which apparently used to land on numbers. This yugioh style death game involves our bait being tied to polls on three of the numbers. If Batman guesses wrong, someone dies. Or maybe not since the board is pretty damn big. Not every death trap can be super murder pinball. Batman spots some mud on the dice though and correctly guesses they'll pivot. This is the weakest of the death traps here, a bit convolunted, not really guranteed to be as deadly. I know the chance of nothing happening is part of it.. but with pinball there's really almost no chance you won't hit the bumpers. Here it feels like pure luck or simple cheating that both dice flew at the joker.

Next game and the one that introduces our prop, though the dice apparently are also in the cave sometimes which I love. The game is a game of cards.. batman has to correctly guess which face matches the door Robin and the hostage goons are in or they'll choke to death on the deadly gas released inside.. and naturally he figures out it's the Joker card. It's too joker not to work.

Turns out though, naturally the joker isn't playing fair both having a final one on one game ofr him and Batman and having his goon go to get robin behind the joker card door... and Robin dispatches him hilaroiusly and awesomely

With that the hostages are free and the final death game begins. A giant super roulette wheel with both batman and joker getting in a slot. looser gets crushed alive. It's an awesome finale, and it fits joker to put himself at risk: after all he risks his life all the time why wouldn't he for such a fun gag?

Batman's able to get the wheel to turn fairly and then escape it, leading to a chase. THe Radium Theives agree to give themselves and the radium up but there's still the matter of the joker and we get a short but neat final chase as Joker uses the dice against the heroes then jumps off a cliff, gambling his life one last time.. and rightfully batman isn't betting on the joker having died.

Gamble With Doom is an excellent story. While the trophy we get out of it is only in it briefly the story itself is pure fun. It has some fun dated elements like Bruce's opinon gambling is EVILLLL and the old fashioned designs on the traps, but it's pure fun. The traps are clever, the tension palpable and the climax great. The gambling motif's really fit the joker and it adds up to an all time great joker story with a suprise impact. The Trophy Itslef. is barely in it but Robin DID break a guy's face with it so i'll say it was still cave worthy.

(From World's Finest #30)

The Penny Plunderer is a name I had heard but had no real context for. I assumed he was some goofy silver age villian with pennies for eyes who drove around chucking pennies at everyone.

I am an artiste.

Instead it's just a guy in a suit. He has the backstory of any good golden or silver age villian to justify his gimmick

I love.. everything about this backstory. It reads like if a writer was given the thought exercise "Make the pettiest batman villian origin you can find.". I mean other villians gimmicks make sense: Poison Ivy was a botonist, Mr Freeze had a horrible accident, the penguin was born looking like a penguin with a lot of money, the Joker fell into a vat of chemicals and came out a clwon, the riddler liked puzzles.

Here Joe just... got screwed over by pennies a lot. Even funnier is that the last one has nothing to do with pennies. Like.. even if it'd had nickels he'd still be arrested.

So Joe vows since pennies runied his life, he'l lbecome the penny! Sadly this does not mean him dressing up like a giant penny with a cane and top hat.. nad now I can't show you it that last drawing put me too far behind and... oh fuck it.

Instead he just wears a suit but makes his gimmick pennies. Commit to the bit man. I do get it as some golden age villians were just guy in a suit, even Joker and Penguin technically counts but one is a clown and the other is a rich penguin man. They have mor ethan just "suit and a vendetta against pennies that somehowturns into stockholm syndrome.

So the penny plunderer begins his reign of terror, setting up a penny arcade as a front, and cashing in a roll of pennies in the most diabolical scheme ever devised by man.

A true criminal mastermind.

Batman picks up on this pattern because it's what he does and finds his next case, a coin and stamp exibiton with a rare one cent stamp. It's here we meet the reason we're here: the giant penny!

Yeah to my shock the penny had NOTHING to do with the penny plunderer other than being at the site of one of his robberies. He prefered just.. chucking pennies at people.. which is awesome and a truly great tactic only topped by Batman's use of said giant penny

I adore the fact that this iconic artifact is there not because it was seized from the villians or a police options.. but because, presumibly, Bruce thought this penny he found was kick ass and bought it off it's actual owner.

Most of the theives escape but they find one willing to squeal. Unfortunatley he dies for his hubris

Yup bet you weren't expecting the penny guy to kill someone and to see his corpse weren't you but here you are. Also batman is apparently a cop now. George Lopez tried to warn us...

But we didn't listen! We didn't listen!

A fight breaks out at the gambling parlour and we get two of the best moments in batman history that much like the blue beetle film, ar ehighly underated.

I just.. I get the sense that is how batman ALWAYS plays pinball. Just judo kicks it every time even as bruce wayne. Both bruce wayne and batman have been banned from so many arcades.. often the same ones. Perks of having a secret identity. We then get coyne once again THROWING pennies at someone and it working. I don't know why he hasn't been brought back with the telkeentic ability to contorl pennies. Give him a copper helmet and a proper costume and oh dammit..

Then Joe knocks batman out iwth his one weakness: a roll of pennies. He's trapped them in the parlor for your standard batman death trap, having removed their belts and ripped out the phone lines as usual. He then throws them a few pennies when then prove to be a mistake as it's time for SCIENCE WITH DR. BATMAN, who uses one old penny, copper, and one new penny, zinc to make a battery. Good thing jimmy didn't wish it away THIS week.

The cops arrive to free one of hteir own and batman finds a clue once the parlor is cleared of gas. Turns out Coyne was catering a penny slot party for a rich billinoare's houseboat, and naturally their filled with gas. I swear it's always gas with these golden age villians. Get another knockout device fellas.

With that our final chase enses as Batman and robin chase Coyne and while he nearly bests them with a good game of 1940's donkey kong

He's foiled by his own gimmick: he has only pennies but the pay telephone.. dosen't.. take 5 seperate pennies for some reason? the hell? I get payphones not taking pennies once they went up to a quarter but come the fuck on 1940's payed telephones. he's foiled.. and sentenced to death.

Yes folks that's the cannoical till some lucky fellow brings him back fate of the penny plunderer: PUT TO DEATH.

This story is as you can tell nonsense that's only gotten more hilarious with the passage of time and I loved every page on it and on getting the panels for this review, I only found MORE hilaroius nonsense to laugh at. We have a story where a guy with a penny gimmick smacks batman with a roll of pennies, trips robin with more, kills a man without pennies, is foiled by pennies yet somehow dosen't actually use the giant penny that's the only reason people know he exists. It's beautiful bollocks and worth your time.

(From Batman #35)

As I hope you are, this issue had me hooked from the first panel: Batman vs dinosaurs being forced to fashion a bow and arrow for some reason. Yes... fuck. Yes. Also nice of bruce to eat Ollie's lunch.

Okay so this story starts, as many real life stories do, with a billionare having a zany idea; Mr. Hart is a man who puts on shows: ice follies, aqua carnival, 40's razzle dazzle type stuff. For his latest idea though he's going above and beyond: a DINOSAUR ISLAND. With mechancail dinosaurs and cavemen who throw giant sponges at you. Thankfully spongebob wasn't born yet but his great great grandpappys quarepants did the honors. Honorable old fool.

To ramp up the insanity, Mr Hart is inviting a club of big game hunters to eat mammoth steak with batman.

If that weren't enough, and in any other golden age story it might be... our heroes get CHALLENGED at dinner by one of the rich assholes. Yeah turns out rich assholes who hunt innocent animals for sport and eat reheated mammoth aren't the most stable indviduals and Mr. Breech scoofs at the fact Mr. Hart says Man is the most dangerous game. He's hunted man, they went down like cowards. COWARDS. He feels Batman couldn't hut a dinosaur without his gadgets, and certainly not his bare hands... even though as this issue with prove and has already shown early man had tools.

To prove his point he challenges batman to a fucking challenge: survive on Dinosaur Island: no utility belt, no vehicles. If the dinosaurs touch him he looses. Mr Breech will man the controls. Honestly i'm convinced Breech knew hart well enough to know he'd both agree to this for the publiclity and why he'd invite batman and robin and just wants to play iwth giant mechanical dinosaurs and also batman. Which granted if I were invited to this sort of thing i'd also want to chase batman with mechanical dinosaurs for fun, who wouldn't, so I totally get it and respect the game.

Hart is on board, offering 5000 to the winner's charity and Batman is like "Why the bat-fuck not. Let's go".

Now you might suspect Breech's real motive is trying to kill batman. I mean you have a setup where batman will be without his weapons, the plausable deniablity of a machine malfunction and a secluded island with 24 hours to kill the batman. And you'd shockingly be wrong. Breech really just wants to prove dinosaurs are the most dangerous game so when that Jurassic Park he's working on opens no one will object to him hunting them for sport.

But his plans are foiled by Chase, anothe rich knob who wants to kill batman and robin to, as he says later form a "crime combine". So he wants a bunch of middle aged guys drinking beers to yell at him for not training the joker on tackling well enough. I see.. well played.

So the game is afoot and our heroes take a bit to catch up, first brushing off a real rock among the sponge rocks as a mistake. Theis ends when a Triceratops to trismash them into a tree. Batman calls for a war council on a nearbye island but naturally THAT'S NO ISLAND

Batman fought a mechanical fucking seamonster. That.. that's cannon. To almost every batman timeline. God bless you Golden Age, god, bless, youuuu. Also i'd be stupid if I didn't say that Tally Ho, Batman! is one of the greatest phrases in batman history up there with "I Am the night" , "I'm batman" and "Something something joker's boner".

So now the games for their lives, Batman and Robin don't have to play fair and start fashioning bows, arrows and knives out of mechanical dinosaur bones. You know.. sometimes this job can be draining: 2-3 reviews a week, many a plan having to be delayed due to a review taking longer than expected.. but then you get a review where Batman and robin have to outrun a manical billinoare who hyjacked dinosaurs from a diffrnet billionare who was having a charity dinosaur hunt with batman and robin using a third billionare's dinosaur, while fashoining weapons from mechanical dinosaur corpses and fashion a kite from a mechanical ptreadon and remember why you love reviewing stuff so mucH: sharinng a good story with the world and finding a good one or two yourself while your at it. And thanks to Kev i've found three truly wonderful, truly bonkers batman stories, with this one being the easy winner. It's both a decent enough concept for the time and hilariously insane.

And I ddin't make up the kite thing: when, after a night of survivial, Robin brings up the batplane, Batman has an idea: since the flying dinosaurs are on a programmed pattren rather than directly controled, they can use them to make themselves a kite yor style.

So to win the day Batman has a plan: he uses himself as bait since Robin's the more agile of the two, and has robin CATAPULT HIMSELF into the air after chase, who is riding on t-rex back with an army of dinosaurs.. and how does he defeat chase' smighty dino army?

It's both genuinely clever and wonderfully bonkers: Robin defeats an evil billionare RIDING a mechanical t-rex.. with water balloons.

Also props to this story: in the previous two the trophy was impressive.. but it was taken from what felt like a minor point in the story: the card flip game was fun as was batman slammin ga door on a guy, but it's sandwitched between far more elaborate death traps, while the penny, again awesome, wasn't even something the penny plunderer used. Batman just bought it off some offscreen character to relive fond memoreies of crushign some crimianls alive with it. Here the main villian ROAD IN on the thing. Granted he still had to likely buy it off his actual owner, but this time at least a criminal actually used it as a murder weapon. I can see Batman wanting this thing for his cave.

Batman chases chase over the now still dinosaurs and punches the guy out. With this Batman's saved the day AND won the bet. 5000 for batmobiles for kids, donate your batmobile today!

As for chase...

With that our story and this trilogy comes to an end.. and as I said, it's great. check out all three of these issues their a lot of fun. Next time dc puts some up for sale I may have to get some 40's batman, this stuff is golden.

Thanks for reading

To conclude batman month: Wait'll you get a load of this

[bonesbitchesboutcomicbooks]

Batman: No Man’s Land

Just some cute panels of Babs and her family :)

Jean-Paul

Jim

Cass

Jim and Cass

Bruce

Bruce and Cass

[havendance]

Inspired by @upswings' polls, I wanted to do one of my own for Helena. Helena's in much fewer comics so we've got looser standards, going with people who've written a Helena-centric mini or have written a significant number of comics in which she is a player/team member.

Sources:

Joey Cavalieri - Huntress (1989)

Chuck Dixon - Huntress (1994), Robin III: Cry of Huntress, Birds of Prey: Manhunt, Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma, like 50 other bat appearances in various 90s comics

Grant Morison - her JLA membership-era (roughly 16-40)

Devin Grayson - Nightwing/Huntress, the Fear of Faith and Spiritual Currency stories in No Man's Land

Greg Rucka - Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood, a large chunk of her No Man's Land appearances

Gail Simone - Birds of Prey #57-108, Birds of Prey (2010)

Ivory Madison - Huntress: Year One

EDIT: Tony Bedard - Birds of Prey  #109-112, #118-127

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

So, since apparently I'm in a DC posting mood right now, you all want to hear this concept that's been baking in my mind for a while now?

Stephanie Brown is the same level of crimefighter as Bruce Wayne. Hear me out.

First, a common thematic reading of the Batfamily, especially the Batkids, is that all of them are in some way better than Bruce at one specific thing. Like with the equally broad thematic reading of 'All of Batman's rogues reflect a part of his psyche' this doesn't entirely hold up to scrutiny and doesn't apply to all of the Batkids, but it applies to enough: Dick is the better leader, Babs is the better strategist, Tim is the better detective, Cass is the better fighter, you get the idea. Now, normally when considering this reading the consensus for Steph is that she is the negative archetype, similar to how the Joker is interpreted in the rogues reading - an inverse of the common rule, in this case meaning that Steph isn't particularly good at anything. Some people who take this reading end this part with 'And that's why I love her!' - most don't. But I think that's entirely wrong, and to explain why we need to examine Bruce's own past.

In most versions of the Batman origin, there's a period, usually immediately or closely after Bruce graduating from either high-school or college, where Bruce travels the world, seeking masters of specific disciplines and learning all he can from them. The amount of people he meets is extensive - seriously, I have a word doc of 40 names and that's not even all of them - and later stories, particularly the Nolan trilogy, Batman/The Shadow, and IIRC Batman: Earth One, try to par that down to a single entity - The League of Shadows, The Shadow, and Alfred, respectively - teaching him all that is necessary to become Batman. It's not a change I particularly like, for one simple reason - the trek around the globe is as much metatexual as it is backstory. Like many of the prototypical superheroes, Batman isn't just one thing, he's many influences that Bill Finger brought to the table when creating him - he's a pulp hero like the Shadow, an adventure swashbuckler like Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel, a detective like Sherlock Holmes, all melding together to form our concept of 'Batman'. Having him learn from all these disparate sources - from ninjas and car thieves and magicians and detectives - seems like a way of acknowledging that breadth of influence, and I can't help but feel like limiting it to only Ra's or Lamont or Alfred takes away from that.

So, what does all that have to do with Stephanie Brown? Well, think about it - almost all of the Batfamily have only one real mentor - there are exceptions, like Tim basically becoming Babs' apprentice in No Man's Land and Cass' very funny shared custody situation, but mainly all of the Batkids learn from Batman, and what they excel at they were just kind of naturally good at anyway - Babs and Cass especially, no shade. With Steph, though? It's not as impressive as Bruce's list, but she learns general Cowl skills with Bruce, hacking and cryptography with Babs, detective skills with Tim, get fighting tips from Cass and Black Canary, is taught teamwork by Kate, evasion skills with Damian (that last one may not be purposeful), plus whatever else she can learn because, unlike the rest of the Batfamily, at least Pre-Flashpoint Steph was always learning.

True, Steph started out with very few practical skills in crimefighting, but you know who else did that? Bruce - every single time a comic or adaptation has shown him attempting to fight crime before the training trek has him absolutely suck at it. At the very least Steph never decided to stop her dad by attempting to assassinate him in a courthouse full of witnesses by veeery slowly pointing a gun at him, like Nolanverse Bruce.

Bottom line? If one more person says Steph 'isn't particularly skilled at anything', I will chew glass.

[forthegothicheroine]

Convention has it that Batman's adventures work best when they're rooted in a basically realistic world of gritty crime violence and back-street reprisals, but from the very start of his career, he was drawn into demented episodes of the supernatural, uncanny and inexplicable. His was the territory of the dark unconscious, after all, and writer Finger wasn't afraid to try Batman in any kind of story that played with elements of the grotesque. For instance, another story, indebted to the Decadent and Symbolist authors of the late nineteenth century, was set in Paris and featured a man whose face had been wiped blank for reasons never adequately explained. "ASK CHARLES HERE," the swooning heroine pleaded with Bruce Wayne, "HE WHO OWNS NO FACE. HE CAN TELL YOU. HE IS NOT AFRAID TO DIE." Even without a mouth, the afflicted Charles was somehow able to explain himself perfectly, and he quickly identified the source of his unlikely troubles as a Duc D'Orterre, who sounded like an escapee from a bound volume of the Marquis de Sade or Comte de Lautreamont. A confrontation with the diabolical Duc ended when Batman was hurled from a giant spinning wheel through a trapdoor in the ceiling, only to land in an upstairs garden where the giant flowers all came complete with life-sized, female, and exquisitely made-up faces at the heart of their petals. During a brief, matter-of-face conversation with the head of a blond girl on a giant green stalk, it was requested of Batman that he "release" the girls. This baffling episode was never mentioned again or resolved in any way, and its conclusion staunchly offered no explanation for the chatty flowers. As for the evil Duc D'Orterre, he perished obliquely without revealing the lucrative secret of how to genetically splice giant crocuses with Parisian showgirls.

Grant Morris, Supergods

[scintillyyy]

i do want to talk about drake industries ~no deal kidnap policy~ because i feel like people do misunderstand it and what it means for tim. because i see a lot of the idea in "oh, tim is kidnapped, but drake industries has a no deal policy so his parents ignore the calls. if tim knew better he just wouldn't have gotten kidnapped."

so the no-deal kidnap policy comes up in rite of passage, when tim's parents get kidnapped. and it's a source of tension at first because there's a question on whether or not the company will pay for jack and janet to be released, despite them owning the company. it's first brought up by gordon talking to batman.

interestingly he implies that jack himself made the rule--and he made the rule with no special exception for him and his wife either. also, the policy specifies it's for employees.

then we get to see jack be obnoxious about it!

where he implies that it was both of their decision to do the no-deal policy and he very clearly regrets signing it now that he's affected. but uh, given how obnoxious jack is being in comparison to janet's very real fear over their situation, was it really an equal decision on both their parts or was it a jack thing and he basically was like "yup, we decided this (but really i decided this)" considering the company itself told gordon that it was a jack decision.

also. keep in mind. he made a no-deal kidnap decision for the company that specifically did not exclude him and his wife, but still had every expectation that they would ignore the official company policy to pay his and janet's way out.

which they do.

policy aside, the company still paid. not that it mattered, the drake's kidnapping was never about the ransom.

so, what does this mean for tim?

here it is: absolutely nothing. not a goddamn thing. the drake industries no-deal kidnap policy has nothing to do with a potential kidnapping situation for tim because tim is not a drake industries employee, which the policy specifies. any ransom demands for him would be for his parents (jack and janet) to pay and i hate to tell you all this, but they would actually do anything to save their son, including paying a ransom (see no man's land and immediately prior to cataclysm when tim runs away). anyways, even if a potential kidnapping did have anything to do with drake industries, jack would probably fire any employee who told them not to pay to release his son as he because as we can clearly see he does consider his family the exception to the rule.

also it's never mentioned again after this.

anyways, i find it interesting that people use it as a tim angst thing when it was created specifically for jack&janet and them having issues because of it.

[blackjackkent]

House of Grief Boss Battle Report!

Initial state of play: THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM OH MY GOD

Yikes on bikes.

As pictured, Viconia immediately starts out by turning several of her followers into wolves, which is really pretty mean because Shadowheart has a crippling fear of them due to the memory that was implanted in her head.

Intriguingly, the source of this is a series of connected abilities she has:

Wild. I'm assuming that if we came down here without Shadowheart and Hector had gone through the Mapping of the Heart himself, this attack would be keyed to him and to something he said during the conversation.

Shadowheart is NOT HAVING ANY OF THIS BULLSHIT:

Atta girl.

>:(

Looking at Viconia's other features:

That's going to make Shadowheart's abilities as a damage dealer pretty much moot unfortunately.

Holy tankiness batman.

I'm not entirely sure if she's meant to be a paladin or a cleric here.

She has 124 hit points, which compared to some of the bosses we've fought is really not much; this is very much a mob battle rather than a single target battle. The various other Sharrans around the room range from 30 at the low end to 150 at the max. Including her, we're looking at 20 enemies.

Hector and Karlach are such battering rams that I'm not overly worried about this, but let's see how it goes.

Round 1:

Given the debuff Shadowheart has against Viconia, getting the two of them apart as soon as possible seems like it should be a top priority. With this in mind, Hector comes in with Flurry of Blows for two pushes in a row.

Given the massive number of enemies on the field, I think Jaheira's conjuring abilities are (tragically) more relevant for this fight than her owlbear form is. Conjure Woodland Being puts a dryad on the field who can themselves summon a wood woad which puts two new ally combatants on our side for the price of one. I don't expect them to last very long but they are not intended to. XD

Of course, once again, despite the two extra fighters we just brought on the field and all the other more threatening members of our party, everyone goes STRAIGHT FOR JAHEIRA and starts beating up on her.

STOP BEATING UP ON THAT OLD WOMAN, DAMN IT.

Shadowheart lands a clutch Hold Person to take one of the Justiciars out of the fight temporarily and gets her spiritual weapon on the field for another ally.

It's really disheartening watching the like ten enemies in a row go in the middle of the initiative order.

And of course Jaheira goes down again before I can do literally anything about it. Maybe I should have owlbeared her after all. (Legitimately I don't know why this keeps happening. Normally I would blame my bad combat skills but I hadn't even done anything yet.)

Speaking of bad combat skills, I decide to send the wood woad over to try and draw enemies away from her, and forget it's next to a bunch of enemies already, which all AOO and obliterate it immediately.

This is not off to a good start. None of these enemies are strong in and of themselves but they're making a lot of progress through sheer numbers. Top priority instantly becomes getting the squishy enemies out of the fight immediately.

Round 2:

Hector puts this new plan into action immediately by one-shotting two of the squishies because he is a fucking wrecking ball of a man now.

Jaheira has biffed two death saving throws in a row.

Karlach wrecks one of the wolves; turns out it's a polymorph variant and reveals the person underneath when the wolf form runs out of health. Karlach wrecks that too. XD

Shadowheart is also in VERY rough shape due to Viconia focus firing her and auto-critting everything. I have her disengage and back away from combat and then cast Mass Healing Word. Tragically, everyone is bone chilled and apparently that persists through downstate, so literally nothing happens. Fuck.

This is actually going quite badly. The Sharrans spend their turns casting Darkness on a large portion of the battlefield (which they are immune to) and surrounding Hector in a big deathball. Between Bone Chill, Darkness, and the fact that our party is almost completely optimized for single target damage (except for Jaheira, who is unconscious), things are really not looking good.

Round 3:

Jaheira dies. Shadowheart gets downed on another crit from Viconia. I reload and reconsider the situation.

Attempt 2. I have Jaheira drop all her healing spells for now since we have Shadowheart. Instead, I have her load up everything she can do that does AOE damage or CC, and cast Stoneskin on herself before the fight.

It's called fashion, look it up.

This time we're going to do our best to keep her and Shadowheart to the BACK line and just topping up Hector and Karlach as much as possible and casting AOEs. I've also loaded her up with Daylight again in the hope that it might counteract the Darkness spells.

Let's see if this goes better.

Round 1:

We kick off with Jaheira dropping an ice storm on half the field and then running back towards the door. Only one of the bad guys eats shit on the ice, but it does considerable opening damage to a number of the squishies at once.

I also have her drop a grasping vine in the very center of the arena where hopefully it can mess up Viconia's day. It's a real Dr. Seuss ass lookin' thing.

Hector one-shots one of the squishies on the opposite side of the map and makes a good start on a second.

Viconia spends her whole action obliterating the grasping vine in one go, which is much better than her obliterating Jaheira so I'll take it.

Shadowheart flamestrikes two more enemies almost off the field entirely.

While Hector runs around the arena, this time we keep Karlach on squishy defense duty for now, beating up the Justiciar who is trying to get at Jaheira and Shadowheart.

The long string of enemy turns is still disheartening but not quite as disheartening as it was last time, so that's promising. Darkness on the field again. Two of the enemies eat shit in the ice field at last. Several of them get distracted by how shiny Shadowheart's spiritual weapon is.

Round 2:

Bone chill is really quite a problem but we made it through the first round without anyone taking a dreadful amount of damage.

Jaheira casts Daylight and it does indeed remove the darkness effect!

Hector kills THREE separate people on his turn.

Viconia goes after Shadowheart again at once but this unfortunately moves her into Karlaching range.

At this point I realize two critical things: Shadowheart's Spirit Guardians can do necrotic as well as radiant damage, and (to my surprise) the Sharrans aren't resistant to necrotic damage.

Let's fucking go.

During the enemy turns Jaheira's health starts getting dire again. We also discover that Daylight only removes EXISTING darkness and doens't prevent new ones from being cast, which is annoying.

Round 3:

Hector kills Viconia and one of the Justiciars. The quest completes, but the additional bad guys definitely did not get the memo.

I had a brilliant idea about sending Shadowheart to grab Jaheira and teleport them both out of danger with Dimension Door. This fails for several reasons - Jaheira is in the midst of darkness and thus Shadowheart can't target her for the spell, and Jaheira raised a wall of Entangling Vines which do damage to Shadowheart on the way in. So they're both kind of just standing in the midst of a lot of enemies while very injured and Jaheira is bonechilled. Rawr. Shadowheart just sighs and casts Cure Wounds on herself instead. Her spirit guardians still do mega work though.

We're starting to gain the upper hand, though. Karlach manages to knock several more enemies out on her turn. This has not been a clean or professional fight but we're getting it done. XD

In a moment of unusual generosity, the enemies decide not to go after Shadowheart and Karlach, both of whom they could easily kill, and instead take potshots at Hector and Karlach who are almost full health.

LOL jk [sigh]

Shadowheart mysteriously obtains a second bonus action from somewhere and I'm legitimately not sure where.

????

Oh, it's from her helmet - she gets an extra bonus action when below 50% health. Nice!

Down to three enemies remaining, which is feeling rather more manageable, even if Jaheira dies. (*spongebob arms outstretched meme* TEMPORARILY)

VICTORY! And we didn't quite lose Jaheira. XD

I'm so good at this.

[buriedalienfma]

This week saw the release of the season finale of 'My Adventures with Superman', and instead of talking about just the one episode, I'm going to talk about the entire season, and what I felt about the series as a whole. Obviously there will be spoilers here for the entire season, so take that into consideration.

Let's get this out of the way : Is this show perfect ? No. It has glaring flaws in the writing, the pacing and how it handles some of its characters. I consider this show to be a spiritual successor to the some of the more experimental superhero cartoons of the early 2000s such as the 2004 Batman cartoon or the MTV Spider-Man series, both of which took some extreme liberties with the source material and had some obvious flaws in how they were written. And yet I love those cartoons dearly, since they were, and still are, such fresh and unique takes on the two superheroes with the MTV Spider-Man being a gloriously edgy 2000s Spider-Man cartoon and The Batman being an anime inspired action show.

I remember those cartoons being criticized when they came out for how non-traditional they were compared to the comics and previous adaptations, but now they're considered cult classics, and I think the same is going to happen to 'My Adventures with Superman'. For the most part, I think the show is still quite good despite some of its flaws.

In any case, lets get those flaws out of the way, so that I can talk about what the show does right. The biggest point of contention is the pacing which is quite rushed in certain areas. I think the romance between Lois and Clark is extremely rushed since they fall in love and start dating a little too quickly for my tastes. The early episodes very much made it seem like the characters were just beginning to get to know each other, only for them to start dating in the next two of three episodes. I suspect that's why people complained about the dramatic cliffhanger in episode 5, since it feels like the characters aren't quite as close as they should be for them to have a falling out that works with how the characters have been written. Still, I think one can overlook that because the two characters are cute together and have excellent chemistry. The show transitions from the episodic narrative of the first few episodes to a more serialized structure in the second half, and I don't think it's as seamless as it should be, particularly since the show is still throwing a lot of new concepts at the audience in the second half and it doesn't land the way it should.

Some characters seem to be introduced and then quickly forgotten when the show has no need for them. In Episode three, the trio of Cat Grant, Steve Lombard and Ronnie Troupe are introduced only to be forgotten within the episode itself and the rest of the show. At least Steve Lombard gets one spotlight episode, but even that feels weird since he fades away into the background in subsequent episodes. Wouldn't it make more sense for Cat Grant to be the one who goes around interviewing the people of Metropolis in Episode eight instead of introducing a whole new character in Vicki Vale ? That would have given the show a stronger sense of continuity. 

And as a lot of people have already pointed out, the villains are underwhelming. There are some standouts like the General, Amanda Waller, Mxyzptlk and to a certain extent, Parasite. But the rest of the villains are pretty bland. I'm not going to complain about how the villains are different compared to the source material. As I've stated before, the cartoon is allowed to change things for the sake of the story. And yet, I still feel like the villains are the weakest part of the show since they mostly serve as obstacles for Superman. 

Some episodes are weaker than others. I was not fan of Episode 6 since I feel like the characters and concepts in that episode belong in a different show. And I also have some gripes about how the show handles the multiverse aspect in episode 7. 

Despite it's flaws, the show does have a lot of positive aspects, and one of them is how it handles the main character itself. I've said this before and I'll say it again. This show totally gets Superman. It's not just that he's a kind and compassionate man who wants to help everyone, including his enemies. This show understands that Superman is an alienated character. He has some deep seated anxieties about not being a 'normal' person, something that's set up in the very first episode. He's given a character arc where he has to slowly come to terms with the fact that he isn't normal and that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Clark is also not a perfect person, as he does hide his true identity from his friends, which does drive a wedge between them, but stuff like that only makes him more relatable. I absolutely love that Clark has no real idea of where he comes from, and is even led to believe that he is part of an alien species that will invade Earth. Not only does that fuel his anxieties even more, as we see in the series finale, but it's just another part of his ongoing character arc, where he has to face his worst fears about himself and eventually conquer them. One thing that I liked about this show is that Superman seems to be subconsciously holding his powers back, which unfortunately gets him beaten up a lot in the fight scenes. I know a lot of Superman fans like to see a more powerful Superman, but the various fight scenes feel so much more visceral and tense when it feels like Superman is at risk of actually dying. Jack Quaid, the voice actor for Superman, absolutely nails the performance especially in the more emotional scenes.

The other characters are also great. I like that Jimmy is given more of a spotlight in this show, and gets his fair share of moments where he gets to save the day. I also like that he helps to ground both Clark and Lois as the voice of reason. Certainly hope that he gets a lot more spotlight and that the show adapts the Matt Fraction Jimmy Olsen comics, especially with how the season ends with Jimmy apparently becoming rich which is one of the major plot points in the Fraction comics. Lois is also quite excellent. She's a little different from traditional portrayals of the character, as she seems to lack the cynical and snarky edge that some versions of Lois have. This version of Lois is much more perky and emotional, but it works for what the show is going for. Both Lois and Jimmy have excellent voice actors in Alice Lee and Ishmel Sahid. If the show were to go on for longer, they, along with Jack Quaid, could very well become the definitive voice actors for these characters.

The romance between Lois and Clark is extremely well done, even if it is a little rushed. You totally buy the two as a couple since there's plenty of heartwarming and wholesome moments between the two. 

Speaking of that, I was a little worried that the show might just be nothing but a toothless wholesome and fluffy Superman show. I know a lot of people certainly expected the show to go in that direction, but we were definitely wrong about that. This show has its fair share of dramatic and even dark moments, and that's not a bad thing. Tension and conflict are at the heart of the best stories, and this show has plenty of that. I love the action scenes in this show. They get significantly more ambitious and exciting starting with the fight in episode five and it only gets better from there. 

So that's the first season of 'My Adventures with Superman'. It is by no means a perfect show, but its positive aspects outweigh the negative. If I may speculate on the upcoming plot points for the next season, I hope that the show subverts the idea that the Kryptonians are evil. I've said it before, but that would miss the point of Superman's story. That idea works for characters like Goku, but not for Superman. It does seem like the show is leaning in that direction considering how it ends with the Jor-El hologram saving Clark. On the whole I love this show and would recommend it to anyone who's still on the fence. It's quite different from traditional Superman shows and movies, but that only makes it feel more fresh and exciting.