#robin special 80
Text
I regret something? I regret nothing
#dc comics#robin#batman#damian wayne#dc#comics#damian al ghul#son of batman#Super Sons#Jonathan Kent#Damijon#JonDami#Damian x Jon#Jon x Damian#jonathan samuel kent#edit#just edit#robin 80#robin special 80
824 notes
·
View notes
Text
[Before Law can get a word in edgewise explaining how he would rather not. Luffy's gone in a whirlwind. Or a typhoon. Any natural disaster that left the land devastated in its wake. Law is left standing in the middle of the cafe, clutching his phone as the door slams shut behind Luffy, the bell ringing his exit.
Law slumps into his stool, suddenly exhausted.
“Sorry about him.” Nami says sliding into the seat that Luffy just vacated, “He’s like that. Once he takes a shine to you, that’s it. He’s all in. He has no care about whether you want to be his friend or not.”
“We’re not friends.” Law mutters. Nojiko snorts into the mug she’s drying, “I barely know him.”
“I’ve been friends with him for years and I barely know him.” Nami responds with a shrug, “That’s just Luffy. Count your blessings that he likes you. People he doesn’t like usually get punched in the face.”]
---
I should be working, but today brain bad. Here's a peek into my LawLu hospital AU that is never going to see the light of day because i'm a BAD person who can't finish things.
#LawLu#One Piece#jojomakesart#jojowritesfic#monkey d. luffy#trafalgar d. water law#Law is a ER surgeon who specializes in cardiothoracic trauma#Luffy is a firefighter who is surprisingly good at their job#the first drawing has some of my favorite little detail work#also Cora is ALIVE in this AU because I want him to be an embarrassing dad#Ace is NOT alive because I need that good good angst#Sabo is and he's feral#Zoro owns a dojo called Santoryuu that Luffy trains at#Nami is a weather girl for the local news station#Robin is a archeology professor who also has a shady past in espionage#Franky is a engineer that specializes in ship building (and also likes to make wild and outlandish treehouses in his spare time)#Usopp is a biochem major who also spray paints murals into parking garages at night#Brook is an 80 year old musician that is surprising spry but cannot help making the 'when I die...' jokes at every opportunity he can#Sanji obviously is at the Baratie but he also does DRAG because he likes to wear dresses DAMMIT#A list of fun easter eggs because tumblr does not want people to see my genius#1. Law's Coffee Cup is from Camie's the local coffee shop and art house that services the greater area of the Grand Line.#It has Hachi on the logo a la starbucks#2. Nurses station- Kaya as a oncology doctor and Conis as a triage nurse. They gossip a lot and Law does not GOSSIP#but he does#3. CP9- Going to visit Rob Lucci#4. Room sign- 2Y3D#I imagine the hospital is set up not unlike the mangroves in Sabody#5. Reallllly tiny can't see it but the exit sign has Bon Clay on it#6. Patient File- Whitebeard's Law's patient
236 notes
·
View notes
Text
Batgirl Special #1 (1988) by Barbara Kesel & Barry Kitson
#dick grayson#jason todd#robin#nightwing#barbara gordon#batgirl#richard grayson#marcy#barbara kesel#barry kitson#dc#80s#80s comics#dc comics#comics#special
18 notes
·
View notes
Text
s3 steve with his blonde highlights and robin with her balayage like the girlies are so right the summer is for fun hair they definitely went to get touch ups together idc idc
#they made a whole day of it like whatever the 80s small midwest town version of a girls starbucks/target/ross/tjmaxx day yk#the stobin bestieism remains special to me#stranger things#platonic stobin#steve harrington#robin buckley
25 notes
·
View notes
Text
speak your truth mrs mac ‼️
#p#from robin 80 page special#i think. whatever issue jack and dana get married and steph knocks dana out with a single right hook#lb
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
≋A≋h≋o≋y≋!≋ ≋E≋m≋b≋a≋r≋k≋ ≋o≋n≋ ≋a≋n≋ ≋o≋c≋e≋a≋n≋ ≋o≋f≋ ≋f≋l≋a≋v≋o≋r≋ ≋h≋e≋r≋e≋ ≋a≋t≋ ≋S≋c≋o≋o≋p≋s≋,≋ ≋A≋h≋o≋y≋!≋
Pc: @ernestguz @strangerthings.experience @strangerthingstv @converse @maya_hawke
⚓️
Calling all stranger things fans‼️ Do you copy? 🚨 Do not miss your chance to check out the stranger things experience in Los Angeles, California! This was an outstanding and bitchin immersive / interactive experience! This is perfect for anyone who is a big fan of stranger things! It is truly like being in an episode of this epic series! You still have about 3️⃣ weeks to discover your own powers, plus help 1️⃣1️⃣ and the gang save Hawkins from Vecna but time is running out! Sadly this is not going to be a permanent attraction but luckily it’s been extended to the middle of April! I highly recommend checking this out! The immersive / interactive part of the experience is fantastic! The telekinetic escape room and 3D special effects are unforgettable fun! So rad and on point! Thankyou so much to the actors and staff here for creating this spectacular experience! You guys nailed it and made everything feel so real. There is also amazing photo ops after the immersive adventure where you get to spend as much time as you want taking photos, shopping for stranger things merchandise, 🛍️ eating at surfer 🏄♂️ boy pizza 🍕 if you’re in the mood for a delicious slice and of course don’t forget to stop by scoops ahoy for a sweet treat! 🍦 Tell them Robin and Steve the hair sent ya! 😉 Or try out the upside down bar for some signature and refreshing beverages!🍹 If you absolutely love stranger things as much as I do and tons of 80s nostalgia / music then come down to L.A.! Where you can take a totally tubular trip to the 🆙side ⬇️
🔹🔺
#cosplay#robin#stranger things#stranger things experience#livingmybestlife#los angeles#california#scoops ahoy#hawkins#80s nostalgia#immersiveexperience#escaperoom#special effects#highly recommend
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
Because she was an intentionally mysterious woman initially only seen in a single episode, and before she got an on-air backstory in the recent streaming series, Star Trek supplementary material developed contradictory information on who - or what - Number One, the female first executive officer of the Enterprise, was. To my count, she has four different, completely incompatible backstories in the comics and novels, and this is absolutely unique in Star Trek, which usually keeps it consistent.
Peter David, in his New Frontier novels, identified Number One as a long lived immortal human mutant (like Flint from the original series) named “Morgan Primus” who was an early genius in cybernetics and artificial intelligence, which is why the Enterprise computer has her voice. One of the names Morgan Primus assumed to hide her immortality was Morgan Lefler, and one of her daughters was Robin Lefler, Wesley Crusher’s love interest from the Next Generation Series played by Ashley Judd. Robin Lefler did not inherit her mutant ability to heal all injuries.
Alternatively, the DC Star Trek Comics of the early 1980s said that Number One was from an obscure planet of peaceful, open, friendly telepaths who resemble humans exactly, and that she was present at first contact with Starfleet. They explained that her blunt, direct, undiplomatic manner is due to her being from a telepathic culture that values total honesty. This would make her the first telepath on the Enterprise, with Spock and Arex coming later. Her planet was created before the Next Generation, but her species being a peaceful, open, telepathic race resembling Mediterranean humans who are not well known or commonly encountered in the original series era….well, that certainly sounds an awful lot like Betazoids to me. If this backstory is true, she may have been the first Betazoid seen on screen, in much the same way fans generally believe Trelane was either Q or a member of the Q Continuum.
D.C. Fontana’s only Star Trek novel, “Vulcan’s Glory,” was one of the earliest attempts to give the character a backstory, and was the most consequential long term. The first novel set in the era of the first Star Trek pilot with Captain Pike and a young Spock, "Vulcan's Glory" identified Number One as being an Illyrian, a race of human-like beings who specialize in species wide breeding programs and genetic improvement. This genetic superiority is why she was cool, intellectual, aloof, and a bit arrogant. Her nickname “Number One” came from the fact she was the supreme product of the hyper-competitive Illyrian system, and won at everything from academics to athletics. According to DC Fontana, her actual Illyrian name is impossible to pronounce, so when dealing with humans, she assumed the human name “Una Chin-Riley.” Una of course, being “Number One” in Greek.
As DC Fontana is such an important figure in Star Trek history and only actually wrote one Star Trek novel in her life, many future materials used the backstory established in “Vulcan’s Glory,” like the David Stern Pike-era novels of the 2010s....but more importantly, the Discovery and Strange New Worlds series, which canonized the “Una Chin-Reilly” name by using it on screen (I remember gasping when Pike called her Una in a Discovery episode, meaning they were going with the Fontana backstory, a detail that may not have been significant to the casual viewer). Since DC Fontana wrote “Vulcan’s Glory” in the 80s, a lot more information was learned about the role of genetic engineering in the Federation, however, and interesting things were done in that series to bring her in line with everything we’ve learned since in Deep Space 9 and Enterprise about augmentation and the society wide prejudice against it. For example, they established that the fact Number One was Illyrian was not public knowledge, but that she pretended to be human her entire life.
The one person who didn’t see fit to give her a backstory or even a real name was John "Johnny Redbeard" Byrne in his comic series about the Cage era Enterprise, who thought the mystery of the character was the most interesting thing about her, and he was deliberately cagey about any details. To Johnny Redbeard, she was just “Number One.” There was a running joke that every time someone says her actual name, or when we see her personnel file, it was blurred out, or somebody’s thumb was over it, and so on. It was rather like the running joke where Mr. Burns never remembers Homer Simpson's name. Johnny Redbeard loves mystery men and women who don't talk about their past, since that was the characterization he famously gave to Wolverine in his X-Men comics.
The one detail of Number One's past that is clear is that Number One in Byrne's comics is competent, mysterious, and has mystique, certainly, but she is completely human, without any powers. Byrne always got exasperated that his X-Men co-creator Chris Claremont added fantastical and far out details to the background of X-Men characters (like how Nightcrawler's girlfriend Amanda turned out to be a sorceress) because he felt "some people should just be allowed to be normal." Byrne always said his original idea for Wolverine's "true" backstory was that he was a Vietnam veteran in intelligence who volunteered for bionic experiments that wiped his memory, and disliked the idea he was immortal, and vetoed the very, very early Dave Cockrum idea Wolverine was an actual mutated wolverine who achieved sentience and a human shape (which early X-Men comics hint at). Byrne was reportedly enraged that they gave Moira MacTaggart a mutant power, as he saw her as just being a scrappy Scottish housekeeper.
Johnny Redbeard didn’t give Number One a past (other than to show she was on the Enterprise's shakedown cruise with Robert April as a rookie officer), but he did give her a future, as he showed an older Number One as a starship commander in the Kirk era (aging gracefully with a white tuft like Tongolele), and later, a flag officer in the Motion Picture era.
To what extent are these backstories compatible? Well, with what we currently know about Number One, that she hid her true species and status to avoid prejudice, it could be that some of the other versions were tall tales she spread to obscure her true origins. The John Byrne idea she served as an Ensign with Robert April in the Enterprise's very first mission hasn't been confirmed, but hasn't been denied, either. The Peter David "Morgan Primus" backstory is completely incompatible, but perhaps there are some elements to it that are true, like the idea that the early part of her career involved working as a computer engineer in artificial intelligence, which is why the computer has her voice.
556 notes
·
View notes
Text
Blüdhaven becoming Nightwing’s base has kind of overshadowed the fact that Dick’s first several years as Nightwing were in New York City with the New Titans. In the 80s and early 90s, even Gothamites associated Nightwing with NYC enough to question why the New Yorker hero was in Gotham when he came to save Bruce one night.
Importantly, Dick lived in Manhattan during the entire time Jason was Robin, at least in preboot timeline. Jason associated Dick with NYC. Enough that when Jason came back and Blüdhaven was blown up and Dick was nowhere to be found (traveling), Jason went looking for Dick in New York, expecting him to be there. And Dick did move to New York again, without even knowing Jason had anticipated that.
Blüdhaven certainly has its own special place for Nightwing, but so does New York. It’s one of the places Nightwing was born.
#also. kind of sad when people have tim go to dick in Blüdhaven instead of the og NYC for his intro. NO he needs to freak out the Titans!!!#dick grayson#nightwing#jason todd#batfam#dcu geography#heroesriseandfall#bonds: don’t let it be yours
3K notes
·
View notes
Text
the thing is that i genuinely think the idea of batburger in current continuity is kind of dumb (jokerize the fries, rolling my eyes) partially because it's clear it's a concept so you can have 5 panels go viral for humor partially because the way everyone's fast and loose with secret id's in the field they may as well have a bruce wayne burger on the menu-
but there's a part of me that thinks that the concept of batburger (sans jokerize the fries, because again. rolling my eyes) would have been absolutely hilarious and on-brand for 90s comics during the urban myth era.
because fast food today is nothing compared to the branding and advertising of fast food era of the 80s and 90s. like when mcd's got swarmed for the teenie beanies by collectors causing fights and injuries over kids meal toys??? you could never see that kind of passion today.
imagine. you are a local businessman in gotham. you are trying to think of a fast food restaurant to market to 10 year olds. you hear of a local urban legend that all the kids are talking about, the batman, and you've decided you've struck gold. you get to work. batburger. you make mascots a la ronald mcdonald and the crew, but you don't have any idea what the batman actually looks like so you just make it up based on what would appeal to kids and make them want to eat your food. i imagine your batman has vampire teeth or is literally a man dressed in a bat costume. your robin is a man dressed up as a literal robin. you make a tv show about them where the crimes they solve are the mystery of the missing fries. you have commercials. there is no copyright on batman as a concept. bruce wayne is powerless to stop you. when you do a special limited edition superhero toy series in your robin meals, collectors come and start a riot. batman comes to break it up.
#tim drake shows up with a robin meal on patrol and bruce's frown intensifies#batman? oh you mean the fast food mascot yea i've heard of him#i just think the concept would have been infinitely more hilarious during the actual heyday of fast food
591 notes
·
View notes
Text
I have to laugh at the Jason stans who think Jason as a kid made Dick jealous because he was super special and super smart and read a lot. First Dick was the detective Robin of the 80s, he was literally referred to as the 2nd greatest detective of the time period. He also knew like 14 plus languages. Just because someone dropped out of college it doesn’t make them not intelligent. It’s absolutely ridiculous when paired with “Jason was probably going to be the one to graduate college” that really doesn’t mean anything? College degrees doesn’t define intelligence in the first place.
Dick was not around in Gotham, he barely talked to Bruce and his anger was never directed towards Jason. He could not care less if Jason was performing well or even better than he was, if anything that’s literally what he would have wanted considering he gave Jason his old costume and his number.
I get it Jason was victim blamed for a long time but you don’t have to twist Dick into some kind of immature jealous person who seethed at his younger brother to prop up Jason some more.
in terms of Jason being the biggest light of something as Robin? No they functioned similarly to Bruce. Dick was the first, in majority of his books he wanted justice for Zucco as in prison time. He never seeked to kill or murder him. So the need to swap Dick as the “leash kid that wanted to murder and Bruce had to stop” and Jason was the sweet bookworm one is facetious when in canon that’s not what happened.
#jason todd#red hood#dick grayson#batman#batfamily#batfam#dc comics#dc universe#tim drake#damian wayne
153 notes
·
View notes
Note
What do you think of Slade and Dick’s relationship ok the comics? Dick somewhat killed his first child, was friends with his second and mentored his third so idk about you but I’d feel like Slade would have some pretty twisted feelings towards him by then even without the whole apprenticeship thing
It's weird? I can't really pin it down because Slade and Dick are kinda everything. They're enemies, allies, friends, as well as mentor and student. Dick is the one that Slade is closest to in the entire family. They're so close that Bruce actually called Dick to ask him for information about Slade.
Deathstroke (1991) Issue #7
"Dick--I need information. Tell me about Deathstroke. I remembered you fought against him several times...as well as fighting alongside him recently."
Bruce...do you need that calming tea because you're mad at criminals or because you're mad that Dick had dealings with Deathstroke?
Anyways, after Bruce hangs up on Dick, guess who Dick calls?
Deathstroke (1991) Issue #7
Wintergreen!
Who also lies to Adeline about someone calling Slade because she's mad at him.
Deathstroke (1991) Issue #7
So Dick and Slade have a tight mutual enemies but also friends relationship. And this was after joey died.
After Grant died, Slade was furious at the Titans and hated them for a while
The New Teen Titans (1980) Issue #2
He then uses this hate to plan and trap the Titans into the way of a specialized bomb but the titans escape. Afterwards comes the Judas Contract where he tries to kill all of them but fails.
However between Grant's death and the formation of Nightwing in Judas contract there's a very important scene between Dick and Slade. Even though Slade hates the Titans and blames from for Grant's passing, he still respects Dick an incredible amount. A year after Grant dies, Slade seeks out Dick individually.
Deathstroke (2016) Issue #19
So basically he finds out about Rose and the first thing he does is dump her on Dick. This ties into Dick's comic Renegade era because Dick as Robin has trained Rose when she was a kid in the rights and wrongs and how to be a good person but Slade as usual has the conscience of a goldfish so he changed his mind after he grew a little more separated after Grant's death. He now decided to push Rose into his ways.
Nightwing (1996) Issue #112
Instead of morals, he now wants Dick to teach her skills, tactics, and fighting techniques because even at his maddest moments, Slade has always respected Dick.
Nightwing (1996) Issue #80
The change from Slade asking Dick to teach Rose only his moral to teaching her his everything is a testament to how much Dick has grown from Robin to Nightwing. One of the most formidable villains ever is asking his long time enemy to teach his daughter. That's-there aren't enough words to express the weight of these scenes.
So Slade heavily respects Dick. He actually respects him the most out of the family despite what happened with Grant.
He respects Dick so much he was absolutely furious at Dick that he got himself shot and got amnesia.
How do we know this? It came out against his fight with Batman.
Batman Secret Files Issue #3
Wait, who's the great man that lost everything?
Batman Secret Files Issue #3
"You're going to got try and kidnap somebody you think I care about. So get to it. What do you think you can offer me? Why would I say yes?"
Batman Secret Files Issue #3
HE'S SO MAD THAT JOKER EXPLOITED HIS CARE FOR DICK AND HE'S SUPER MAD AT DICK AND BRUCE FOR HAVING THE JOKER FORCE HIS HAND.
He got himself involved so he could control the damage without seeming like he cares too much because he has a reputation to upkeep.
Slade really cares about Dick.
That's not to say he doesn't hate Dick at times. When Dick turned his daughter away from him, he got so furious he made a society of supervillains just to bomb Bludhaven. His rage was explosive (haha). He even used Damian to get to Dick.
Batman and Robin (2009) Issue #12
Talia gets it.
Batman and Robin (2009) Issue #12
Batman and Robin (2009) Issue #12
But at this point Dick's just like seriously? screw off.
Batman and Robin (2009) Issue #12
At this point Dick literally doesn't give a shit-he's just so done with everything.
Batman and Robin (2009) Issue #12
Going back to post Grant's death, Slade still kinda sees himself as a mentor or like an older friend to Dick.
After the JL failed to contain Deathstroke, the Titans had to step in and Slade's thoughts about Dick are so funny
Deathstroke (1991) Issue #14
More than hating each other, it's more like Slade is a nuisance to Dick and he really only acts out when he thinks Dick's taken away one of his kids. They have a really long and complex history where their stories are deeply interwoven with each other. Dick has influenced the pivotal moments of Slade's life and Slade has done the same to Dick.
This moment from their team up in the Titans (1999) comic explains their dynamic best
Titans (1999) Issue #10
Dick keeps all of Slade's stuff to study but treats him with a healthy amount of suspicion while still helping him out and being on opposite sides.
Titans (1999) Issue #10
lol
Dick is sort of responsible for Grant's death, yes, but also Dick is Joey's best friend, Rose's second parent, allies with Wintergree, and helped save Adeline. He's involved with Slade's entire family.
Yeah Slade's feelings toward Dick are pretty confusing but I guess you can think of Slade's relationship with him as Slade's hero confidant. He also feels some sort of responsibility over Dick which is weird. Their history is too tight and closely connected for Slade to ever permanently hate Dick but his bouts of rage mainly come from him feeling betrayed by Dick.
Overall, Slade just wants Dick's attention, and Dick for the most part just wants Slade to stop pestering him.
#dick grayson#nightwing#slade wilson#deathstroke#cl anon asks#thanks for the ask!#bruce wayne#batman#dc titans#grant wilson
340 notes
·
View notes
Text
A (Negative) Review of Tom Taylor's Nightwing Run - What Went Wrong? Dick's Characterization
Introduction
Who is Dick Grayson?
What Went Wrong? Dick's Characterization
What Went Wrong? Barbara Gordon
What Went Wrong? Bludhaven (Part 1, Part 2)
What Went Wrong? Melinda Lin Grayson
What Went Wrong? Bea Bennett
What Went Wrong? Villains
Conclusion
Bibliography
In the previous section, we explored not only who Dick Grayson is and why he is so beloved by his friends, but why many people — including Taylor and others at DC — have a hard time understanding his character. By reducing Dick to a hero who is “good” and transforming into an “everyman” that anyone can project themselves onto, Taylor fundamentally removes that which makes Dick special, transforming him into a different character.
But there are other ways in which Taylor and DC mischaracterize Dick by erasing his history and transforming into a more “palatable” mainstream hero. That is what I wish to explore in more detail now.
Let’s begin by examining how Taylor’s framing Dick’s story in Nightwing (and that of the Titans in Titans) as a coming-of-age tale contributes to a grand erasure of Dick Grayson’s greatness.
In Taylor’s run, Dick is treated as if he were a new superhero. However, even if this run (not the entire title that started in 2016 with Rebirth, but just Taylor’s run) were to become a new stand-in for the 1996 Nightwing solo in which Dick arrives in Bludhaven for the very first time, Dick Grayson should not be portrayed as someone new to vigilantism. Even if one were to generously interpret Taylor’s Dick as being only twenty-two years old after starting as Robin at twelve years of age and only recently having become Nightwing, Dick would still have a decade of experience doing detective and hero work. It is notable that most of that decade was spent with him leading the Titans, serving as Batman’s partner and second-in-command, and mentoring numerous young heroes.
(Wolfram, Amy, writer. Kerschl, Karl, illustrator. In the Beginning… Part Three. Teen Titans: Year One no. 03, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2008. pp. 09)
One of Dick’s core traits is that he is a natural, if at times reluctant, leader. Many key moments in his character history are defined by Dick feeling the weight of the responsibilities placed upon him and having to push through his personal reservations for the sake of others.
Dick was the first child hero. He was the first sidekick. Out of universe and in universe. (In the introduction to Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder: Scholars and Creators on 75 years of Robin, Nightwing, and Batman, Kristen L. Geaman mentions that some argue Mister America from Action Comics #2 is, in fact, the first side-kick. However, this claim is debated since Mister America played more of a comedic and “Watsonian” role [as Dick Grayson Fan C suggested], and Dick was the one who popularized the formula of the role.) He was the proof that the concept of a sidekick — a partner — could work. Proof that kids could be trained into this life. Proof that they did not need powers in order to be a hero. That is one of the reasons why, in-universe, he is admired by so many characters – because he is the trailblazer who opened the doors for every young hero and side-kick that came after him. Dick’s history is also why he has so many connections — it is because he was the one who opened the doors for everyone else, mentored so many people, and partnered with those who were his age and those who were much older that he gained so much respect in the superhero community.
And yet, that history is called into question in Taylor’s narrative when he frames Dick as a young, new hero who is just beginning to assess what he wants to do with his life. Not only is it bad storytelling to portray Dick’s connections without factoring in the experience tied into them, it also demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of who Dick is, what he represents, and why he’s been so beloved for over 80 years.
This lack of appreciation and of respect towards Dick is extended to the other Titans in Taylor’s Titans (2023) run. As he himself pointed out, the first arc is called Out of the Shadows because, in his words, the Titans are “stepping out of the shadows of the Justice League.”
(Taylor, Tom [TomTaylorMade]. Twitter, 22 June 2023, https://twitter.com/jesswchen/status/1636971185782259716?s=20.)
And yet, to its fans, the Titans were never in the Justice League’s shadows. They were not inferior or subordinate to the Justice League, even if they may be less known. In-universe, the Titans may have modeled themselves after the Justice League and they may be allies, but the Titans are still an independent entity. From their very inception they defined themselves in contrast with how the Justice League operates.
In fact, in JLA/Titans #02, Dick himself draws this distinction when arguing with Bruce and calling him out on his condescending behavior towards the Titans.
(Grayson, Devin; Jimenez, Phil, writers. Jimenez, Phil; Brown, Eliot R., illustrator. The Generation Gap. JLA/Titans no. 02, e-book ed. DC Comics, 1998. pp. 23)
Trying to repackage Dick and the Titans as newbie heroes who are only now experiencing independence demonstrates a lack of understanding of their history and who the Titans are meant to be. The Dark Crisis and The Dawn of the DCU attempt to frame Dick’s Nightwing series and Titans as coming-of-age tales, where only now the characters are stepping into adulthood. Taylor’s writing goes a step further and portrays them as making rookie mistakes, coming across as newbies, and as a result, erasing all of the rich history that have built these characters into who they are today.
As I mentioned above, even if we generously interpreted that Dick never lived in Bludhaven before, Dick should still have plenty of experience being a hero and living on his own. The moment in which he transitions from Robin to Nightwing (willingly or unwillingly depending on your preferred Nightwing origin story) is Dick’s coming-of-age moment. By the time he comes to Bludhaven, Dick already knows who he is, what he wants, and he knows how to care for himself. By the time Dick comes to Bludhaven, his internal struggles are not that of a young adult who just left the nest and does not yet feel like an adult, but rather that of an adult who knows his own abilities and is confident in who he is.
And yet, in Nightwing #84, the first issue in Nightwing: Fear State, Taylor has Dick pondering on the responsibilities of taking care of Bludhaven. Right on the first page, he says “Fighting an entire corrupt system? Saving a whole city? There’s no training for that.”
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Rodriguez, Robbi, illustrator. Fear State Part 1 of 3. Nightwing: Rebirth. 84, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 03)
Except even the most basic knowledge of Dick’s character shows that he was, in fact, trained to save an entire system and to fight a corrupt system — he was trained to care for Gotham and to take out the corrupt systems that prevail in that city. Not only that, Dick has also been Batman, at which point he was also Gotham’s main protector.
This mistake becomes even more outrageous when one considers that, though Taylor’s run is at times treated as a soft-reboot, Dick is still shown to have lived in Bludhaven while operating as Nightwing. This means that that generous interpretation I’ve been alluding to is not, in fact, compatible with the story as it is written. It is a falsehood, and therefore cannot be used to excuse the “new-in-town” approach Taylor uses when writing Dick.
Dick’s apparent inexperience and, frankly, incompetence, is further highlighted by the amount of times Dick is saved by others, or the amount of times when he is dependent on others to do the work for him. These instances include, but are not limited to:
The people of Bludhaven answering Nightwing’s call when Heartless sets the tent city on fire in #81
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator Leaping into the Light Part 4. Nightwing: Rebirth. 81, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 13)
Dick being knocked out with a single blow and then unmasked during his first attempt to investigate Melinda also in issues #81
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator Leaping into the Light Part 4. Nightwing: Rebirth. 81, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 20 - 21)
Babs calling people to Dick’s rescue rather than trusting he could get out of it on his own in #82.
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Leaping into the Light Part 5. Nightwing: Rebirth. 82, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 03)
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. The Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart Part Four. Nightwing: Rebirth. 95, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp 24 - 25)
In #90, when his building blew up and Wally came to save him, then proceeded to force him to rest away from Bludhaven instead of letting him take action.
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator Get Grayson Act Three. Nightwing: Rebirth. 90, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2022. pp 15)
And needing Babs’ help during a car chase in #106,
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Byrne, Stephen. The Crew of the Crossed Part One. Nightwing: Rebirth. 106, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2023. pp 16)
Which greatly contrasts how, in #113 of the Nightwing (1996), Dick handles a similar situation while simultaneously mentoring Rose Wilson.
(Grayson, Devin, writer. Chian, Cliff, illustrator The Scorpion and the Frog. Nightwing no 113, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2005. pp. 19)
The thesis of Taylor’s run is that people need to rely on one another — we have to be each other’s safety net. And while that is an interesting theme to explore and one that certainly speaks to Dick’s history of doing things on his own out of fear of putting others in danger, Dick should still, more times than not, be able to do things by himself. After all, this is not an ensemble piece — this is Nightwing’s story and as his fans, we want to read about him. Cameos are fine. They can be fun, in fact. But cameos are different from Dick constantly struggling and needing help whenever he faces a challenge – the former portrays Dick as someone with powerful connections that deeply love him; the latter portrays Dick as being incapable of doing things without someone holding his hand.
This is another thing that Waid understands about Dick and portrays it clearly in World’s Finest. When Kara explains to Clark what first attracted her to Dick, she emphasizes how, despite the fact he had no powers, he could still save himself.
(Waid, Mark, writer. Lupacchino, Emanuela, illustrator. Scream of the Chaos Monkey. Batman/Superman: World’s Finest no. 12, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2023. pp. 06 - 07)
Being not just competent, but exceeding even the highest expectations is at the core of Dick’s character. And, as was pointed out in the previous section, it also serves to feed into his toxic perfectionism — he is one of the top tier heroes, therefore people expect excellence from him. Dick does not want to fail those who put their trust in him, and so he demands perfection of himself to the point of self-destruction.
Beyond that, we cannot give Taylor credit for trying to tell a story about Dick growing out of his perfectionist bad habits by learning to rely on others. After all, if Dick is constantly asking for help, then he is not resisting help. And that removes his chance for growth. A character arc requires development and change, which means one cannot start at the endpoint. Therefore, it cannot be claimed that Taylor’s intentions are for Dick to learn to rely on others, for he has been doing so without hesitation since the beginning.
As a result, the story is not about Dick being Bludhaven’s safety net while learning that he also has a safety net of his own, but rather about Dick always relying on his safety net, always knowing it was there, and having them also shoulder the responsibilities he took when he named himself Bludhaven’s protector. There is no room for Dick to grow because he is already at the end of his journey. And there is no room for Dick to be the hero of his story because others are constantly coming to his rescue when things get too difficult.
Once more, I must clarify that I’m not saying that Dick is not loved, or that Dick is not important to many people. I’m simply stating that the way his relationships are built gives him very little room to rely on them. He is their safety net but he doesn’t trust them to be his safety net. Exploring this requires going into the nuances of each relationship, where conflicts are created, and where people hurt the other in the heat of an argument. It would mean dealing with the messiness of complex human emotions, forcing characters and the audience to sit with uncomfortable feelings as we get to the root of Dick’s perfectionism and his fears.
In June of 2022 a reader on Twitter asked Taylor about his decision to have Dick constantly falling, for, as they pointed out, this makes Dick look incompetent.
(Jonathan [@Nightwingdagoat]. Twitter, 21 June 2022, https://twitter.com/Nightwingdagoat/status/1539267708310765568)
Taylor responded by saying that these instances were Redondo’s call, and that it was their attempt to humanize Dick.
(Tom Taylor [@TomTaylorMade]. Twitter, 21 June 2022, https://twitter.com/Nightwingdagoat/status/1539267708310765568)
In fairness to Taylor, the following criticism will then be directed primarily at Redondo who believed these instances were the best way to “remind people that Nightwing is human.” That being said, as Taylor appears to support such a position, and as he has written numerous incidents where Dick is conveniently knocked over by others, I do believe this can be directed at him as well.
Simply put, to have a character constantly fall is a superficial and lazy way to humanize said character. Casual falls like this, after all, are not failures. They contribute little to the story and have very little consequence.
Nothing happens once Dick falls. The bad guy doesn’t get away, the innocent civilian is not hurt, the crucial piece of evidence needed to crack the case is not destroyed. There are no lasting consequences for Dick to deal with, no conflict that can arise from these falls, no tension to make Dick’s future success more emotionally effective. Furthermore, these falls are completely out of Dick’s control, taking away any responsibility he might have for his mistakes.
If the flaws that are meant to “humanize” Dick are falls which he bears no agency over, then he, the good guy, has no responsibility over his own “failures.” Said “failures” also end up having no consequences to the plot, which gives Dick no crisis to respond to (furthering his passivity), and this robs Dick of character development opportunities.
It creates a stasis in the story where the only conflicts Dick faces are the ones against really bad guys that always – always – lose to Dick and his connections, and ones which do not ask for moments of introspection.
Despite almost never falling in The Untouchable, Dick is far more human there than in Taylor’s and Redondo’s run. This is because Dick is forced to face the consequences of his “failure” to capture the Judge twice in the past. Dick is constantly thinking about the Judge’s victims, forcing himself to carry their lives on his shoulder. He pushes himself to toxic lengths. Whenever the Judge escapes his grasp, the conflict evolves, the stakes are raised, and the tension builds. Dick’s desperation becomes visceral to the reader, and that is what humanizes him to the reader. Similarly, the emotional pay-off of the climactic battle in the end grows with each obstacle Dick faces.
(Humphries, Sam, writer. Chang, Bernard, illustrator The Untouchable: Chapter Four: Infiltration. Nightwing: Rebirth no. 38, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2018. pp. 09)
But Dick’s newbie incompetence is not the only way Taylor mischaracterizes Dick. It is by combining the lighthearted tone of his story, his depiction of Dick as a blank canvas “good guy,” his avoidance of conflict, and his attempts at answering difficult real-world problems that Taylor ends up creating a version of Dick Grayson that is utterly self-absorbed and lacking in foresight.
Telling and not showing is an immense problem in Taylor’s writing. There’s a difference between how a writer attempts to portray a character and how, given their actions in the context of the narrative created, the story shows them to be the complete opposite. In such cases, the story triumphs over the writer. This is why I claim that, though Taylor tells the reader that Dick is caring, intelligent, and a hard worker, he actually shows Dick as as selfish, incompetent, and naive.
Take, as an example, how Taylor sidelines the Heartless storyline in favor of slice-of-life scenes. If Heartless was not there, perhaps those sweet moments could be just that. However, as in the world of the story there is currently a serial killed running around free, making orphans out of the youth Dick vowed to protect, the fact that Dick is not constantly working to catch Heartless is not only out of character, it makes it so it seems he doesn't care what happens to the people of Bludhaven (And now also Gotham, given #111, which was released as this essay was being edited). Rather than stopping crime and bringing justice to Heartless’ victims, Dick would rather spend his nights in his apartment, enjoying a relaxing evening with his girlfriend and his dog.
Please do not take this to mean that I consider a slice-of-life story to be inferior to other genres. My reason for highlighting this is not to undermine the value of slice-of-life, but rather to argue that such scenes do not live in isolation. They exist within the context of a larger narrative, and what would be sweet in a sitcom-style story comes across as something entirely different when other characters are facing life-and-death stakes. It does not matter how much the writer tells us that these characters are caring and compassionate — their lack of action and urgency portrays them as self-centered.
Just as Taylor attempts to write the big climatic moments without properly building the momentum necessary to make them impactful, he similarly forgoes the work required to win the reader’s trust, and instead expects his audience to simply accept that important plot and character developments are happening off-screen. Rather than letting the audience experience the intrigue and devastation of the Heartless mystery by showing us how the horrors of these murders motivate Dick to continuously search for this cruel killer, Taylor instead advances these elements off-screen, opting instead to tell the reader they’ve occurred.
That is not to say that writers cannot streamline plots. They absolutely can and, in some cases, they absolutely should. However, streamlining a subplot is a far more complicated matter than just telling the reader said events happened off-screen and expecting them to simply accept it.
While it is impossible to provide a precise checklist with the step-by-step guidelines on how to properly streamline a subplot, I believe one of the factors one must consider is whether that plot should be streamlined or not. Personally, I believe that Dick investigating the character who was meant to be this run’s main villain is too big and too important of a story to be played off offscreen.
Dick has hardly spent any time attempting to apprehend Heartless. Instead, as time of writing, his investigation of Heartless has practically nonexistent. Instead, after not focusing on him for the majority of the run, we are simply told by Dick and Babs that they’ve been keeping an eye on Heartless, even if their investigation is never shown to us.
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Basri, Sami Nightwing. Nightwing: Rebirth. 111, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2023. pp 09)
If we, as readers, are to believe that Dick is the selfless detective and hero — the Heart of the DCU — that Taylor tell us he is, then finding and apprehending Heartless should be one of his top priorities. If Heartless was meant to be Nightwing’s big nemesis, then their confrontation should always be a source of great tension and conflict. Such importance would be demonstrated by showing Dick working towards stopping him at every moment he has free. But either those moments are not happening at all, or they are happening off-screen.
Having such an important conflict and such a crucial antagonistic dynamic develop does nothing to enrich the plot — in fact, it only detracts from them, for because we do not get to witness this relationship grow and we are only told that it is happening, the pay off that must come when Nightwing and Heartless finally have a big confrontation will be cheapened as a result.
Heartless' actions are so brutal and create such urgency that not prioritizing Heartless' arrest makes it seem like Dick doesn't care about his victims. Batman doesn't wait around when the Joker breaks out of Arkham – he hunts the Joker down. Similarly, Dick didn't wait around on the Judge – he hunted him down.
For Heartless to be the Big Bad, Dick should have put him in jail already and Heartless should have escaped. DIck should have faced him multiple times. He should have been Dick's priority because of how cruel and urgent his actions are.
Finally, there are three particular moments that I wish to discuss to illustrate how ambivalent Taylor is when it comes to Dick’s characterization, choosing to prioritize online discourse over who Dick Grayson’s established history and personality.
The first one comes from a throwaway line. And yet, because this was a throwaway line that demonstrated how little thought Taylor gives to his main character.
When Tim makes his first appearance in Taylor’s run in #80, Dick’s narration says that many would consider Tim to be the best Robin, and that he “totally gets it.”
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator. Leaping into the Light Part Three. Nightwing: Rebirth. 80, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 09)
“Who is the best Robin” is a discourse that I, admittedly, care very little for. It serves no purpose other than to get fans to fight one another, bashing each other’s favorite characters in order to prop up their own. When posed on social media, this question becomes a thinly veiled attempt to generate high engagement. In reality, when people discuss “who is the best Robin,” they are, most often than not, truly arguing about who is their favorite Robin. But the question is framed in a way to be purposefully divisive, creating conflict within the fan community. The fact that DC plays into that divisiveness that requires their characters to be brought down so others can be lifted up for marketing material is concerning, but the fact that writers such as Taylor are letting that fan perception bleed into in-universe narration is nothing less than lazy writing that prioritizes online leaning into buzz over good storytelling.
Naturally, as a Dick Grayson fan my opinion is that Tim is not the best Robin. Dick is. But my problem is not that Taylor said that Tim was the better Robin, but that I think Dick would never concede to the existence of a “best Robin.” In fact, not only do I believe that it is out of character for Dick to believe that one Robin can be defined as the best Robin, I would argue that Dick would be offended that such a question could be asked.
Dick, more than any of the other Robins, understands the purpose of a Robin, as he was the one who created the mantle. By seeing so many others inherit his family’s colors and his mother’s name for him, he also understands better than anyone that each person who becomes Robin has their purpose in their own unique way. Dick would understand how each of them made the Robin mantle unique, how they added to its mythos in their own way, and how all of their contributions are equally valid and equally important. He would never single out one of them as the best because he knows that Robin is about an ideal of justice by bringing light into the darkness. Most importantly, understanding how many Robins tied their self-worth to the mantle, Dick would never want others to feel as if they fell short of some arbitrary measure by proclaiming they are not “the best.” Dick would be against that measure, against the very idea of ranking Robins, as if they were interchangeable, as if they each didn’t make relevant contributions. He would hate the idea of the mantle he created in honor of his parents being used to judge and measure the worth of those he loves. Dick would argue that there can never be a "best Robin" because Robin is always about being your best self in the service of those who need your help, and you can't quantify that.
The concept of a “Best Robin” is a marketing strategy and a fan-oriented discourse that Taylor casually imposed into the narrative without considering whether his protagonist would adhere to such ideas. He prioritized internet discourse over characterization, and while the former may be immediately fulfilling as the page is cropped and shared a few thousand times in the first few days after publication, only the latter will leave an impression that will last decades. Taylor is embodying a current DC Comics trend to favor the former over the latter. As scholar Steve Baxi said in his review of Leaping into the Light, that page “doesn’t feel like Dick Grayson appreciating his brother, it feels like Dick Grayson saying what the audience wants to hear.” (Baxi, Steve, “TRADE COLLECTION REVIEW: Nightwing Vol. 1 - Leaping Into The Light” Comics Bookcase, August 2021)
Although they share similar problems, unlike the “Tim is the best Robin” throwaway narration, the second example I wish to discuss in detail became a big plot point in the beginning of Taylor’s run. I’m referring to the choice of having Dick become a billionaire due to the inheritance Alfred left to him.
To be more clear, my problem is not with the fact that Taylor made Dick into a billionaire (after all, Dick inheriting wealth from his parents is not a novel concept), but rather with Dick’s musings on the subject. (Dick’s financial situation is inconsistent across the years. While some like Dixon and Wolfman allude to him having a trust fund his parents set aside and that remained untouched until Dick’s adulthood, other writers like Humphrey who portray him as more middle class and sometimes struggling financially. Then there are the numerous times in which Dick was left homeless, implying that he did not have a safety fund to go to when tragedy struck.) On #79, Dick says, without a hint of irony, that he always thought that Bruce could do more to help Gotham with Bruce Wayne’s money than he does as Batman.
(Taylor, Tom. writer, Redondo, Bruno, illustrator Leaping into the Light Part Two. Nightwing: Rebirth. 79, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 07)
This is a popular online discourse that reveals lack of knowledge about Batman and a naive understanding of how corrupt systems function. I understand we are currently very critical (and rightly so) of billionaires and the hoarding of wealth. I understand that this leads many — media critics and everyday fans — to analyzing how wealth is portrayed in the stories that resonate within our culture. But anyone who claims that Bruce has not used his wealth for the benefit of Gotham outside of funding his Batman endeavors has not engaged properly with Batman media. I’m not going to go into the merits of how Bruce’s wealth should or should not be portrayed and how DC has currently been handling this issue (that is the subject for an entirely different essay that is not relevant to this discussion), but I will say that Bruce has, canonically, used a lot of his money to fund safety net programs in Gotham, to invest in small businesses and on individuals, and in trying to make the city more affordable and kinder to those with less.
Twitter user Ashley|TheBatFamily 🦇 (@TheBat_Family) created a comprehensive Twitter thread of examples. These are but some of the ones that stood out to me and that feel most relevant to this essay:
In Cataclysm, Bruce attempted to lobby the US government to offer aid to Gotham after the earthquake;
Bruce used his money to rebuild the city during No Man’s Land;
Bruce invested in the people who were ready to start new businesses so Gotham could offer jobs to its people and rebuild itself without being fully dependent on others;
Bruce created scholarships so more people could attend university;
Bruce funds Leslie’s free clinic as well as other hospitals around Gotham;
Bruce invested on low-income housing developments in Gotham by working with local firms, providing accommodations to local residents so no one would be displaced;
Bruce expanded and modernized Gotham’s public transportation system;
Bruce ensured all Wayne properties were secured against earthquakes (which led to those residences being the only ones standing during NML);
Bruce funds libraries and museums;
Bruce funds green efforts not just in Gotham, but in other places by buying land and making them nature preserves;
Bruce funds orphanages and provided them resources (from educational supplies to toys for the children);
Bruce provided support for immigrants;
Bruce funds appeals for wrongful convictions;
Bruce provides employment for former convicts;
(Ashley [TheBat_Family]. Twitter, 13 October 2020, https://twitter.com/TheBat_Family/status/1316006509923520512.)
In short, Bruce Wayne has done everything and more that Dick claimed he wished to do for Bludhaven. There’s nothing novel about the idea. Batman narratives don’t put as much focus on these endeavors and do not place as much emphasis on Bruce’s philanthropy simply because they Batman stories are, at their core, detective stories first and foremost. Their focus is on investigation and crime solving (Though I would argue that Cataclysm and No Man’s Land put a lot of focus on issues of wealth, class, and examine Bruce’s financial responsibility towards the city).
But just because these examples are not the focus of the stories in which they are present, it does not mean that they do not exist. Neither does it mean that Batman stories do not engage with themes of wealth and class inequality, as well as systemic corruption. In fact, I would argue that many of the best ones know how to use Bruce’s privileged status to explore these issues. The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder, for example, brilliantly uses the Court and the Talons to engage with these themes. (An essay analyzing the Court of Owls through such a lens would be a fascinating study, especially when exploring the parallels and foils between the Court and the Talons, and Bruce and Dick. Alas, this is not the place for it.)
Dick, who not only has always been characterized as knowing Bruce better than most people, but who was also raised by Bruce, would know about every single one of the examples listed above. Dick, of all people, had a front row seat to all the ways in which Bruce helped Gotham with his wealth, both in examples that were covered by the press, and the ones Bruce did secretly without taking credit. Dick attended countless fundraising events, press briefs, boardroom meetings. But most importantly, Dick would have witnessed with his very own eyes that lack of funding is not at the root of Gotham’s problems.
The problem in Gotham is not lack of money or safety nets, but rather, it is that its systems are so corrupt that pumping more funds into it will do nothing to help those in need. Instead, it will only further enrich those who are already in power. That’s why in this comic book world with comic book conventions and comic book logic, Batman is needed. Batman is a disruption to the system, forcing it to change, dismantling it from both the outside and the inside. In Dixon and Grayson’s Nightwing runs, Dick’s understanding of systematic problems can be observed in his motivation to become a police officer, as he joins the force with the goal to weed out the corruption and dismantle the system from within. Money alone cannot save a city if the foundation was purposefully designed to favor those on the top by taking from those at the bottom.
(Dixon, Chuck, writer. McCarthy, Trevor, illustrator The Threshold. Nightwing. 60, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2001. pp 22)
But of course, Taylor never takes a moment to wonder how being raised by Bruce Wayne would influence Dick’s perspective on this matter. Instead, he once more takes a popular online discourse and makes Dick say it out without considering characterization. A more in-character and canonically accurate approach to such a story moment would have Dick comment on all the ways Bruce used his money behind the scenes to help Gotham, and how he wishes to do the same for Bludhaven. A single line change would have demonstrated Taylor's willingness to engage with Dick’s character history rather than just copying the hot takes he sees on social media.
Not only that, this change in dialogue would also establish Bruce and Dick’s closeness as it would show that not only is Bruce a source of inspiration for Dick, but that Dick is one of the few people who have seen this side of Bruce. That would have also made the hug between Bruce and Dick in the #100 more emotionally effective and thematically cohesive, especially as they are in front of Alfred’s grave.
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator Power Vacuum: Part Four: The Leap. Nightwing: Rebirth. 100, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2023. pp 44)
The truth is that Dick's Haven project engaged with issues homelessness only in the most shallow of manners. Rather than discussing the realities of this matter, it simply used it as a backdrop. It is an appropriation of hardships by someone who is unwilling to engage with the difficulties brought upon by said hardships. It is substance-less writing masquerading as social consciousness.
The third example I wish to cite which demonstrates Taylor’s lack of consideration for Dick’s character or his backstory comes when Haley is taken in #87. Dick’s internal monologue reads that “The last thing I’d want is for anyone to be threatened because they’re close to Dick Grayson,” referring to the fact that he is now a public figure thanks to the press conference he gave about his plans for Bludhaven.
(Taylor, Tom, writer. Redondo, Bruno, illustrator Get Grayson. Nightwing: Rebirth. 87, e-book ed. DC Comics, 2021. pp 09)
The idea that Dick Grayson, billionaire Bruce Wayne’s first child, was unaware of the dangers faced by those associated with a public figure is laughable. The idea that the first Robin, who was often taken hostage by villains who wished to get to Batman (so much so that Frank Miller famously nicknamed him “Boy Hostage”), did not understand the threat posed to those who are close to powerful figures is insulting. After well over a decade as a superhero, and after well over a decade of being associated with a wealthy public figure, Dick should know better than most how such ties can put loved ones at risk.
In-universe, this line makes Dick appear so self-centered that he does not take into consideration how his actions affect his loved ones. It makes him appear dense, unable to think through his actions and strategize contingency plans and safety precautions before taking such a giant risk.
Out of universe, this betrays a lazy way of storytelling, with Taylor going for low-hanging fruits without thinking of how that might affect the characterization of his protagonist. Out of universe, a collection of throwaway, thoughtless lines like this demonstrates just how uninterested Taylor is in giving even the slightest consideration to who Dick Grayson is meant to be, instead putting his focus on the gimmick that will get him noticed on social media.
98 notes
·
View notes
Note
ok you said go wild and i will fully embrace that. i wanted to brainstorm about this idea I had and had also posted but like in a sentence, when it’s more of an outline. it’s of a robin!tim that can sense dead people so when the red hood makes his debut he’s naturally curious and tim follows him around and jason obviously realizes, holds up a knife to his throat and startles when tim asks “how are you here” with just no regards for his own safety and genuine curiosity?? literally not knowing he’s jason but jason stops and goes “you know who I am?” and tim whispers “I know you died” and jason coils back because that is as much confirmation as he needs cue panic because the kid knows surely then the bat knows too and that just won’t do, so in his panic he ends up kidnapping the kid and taking him to his safehouse where he keeps pacing because jason needs answers and he refuses to get them torturing the kid (because fucking kid had gone out looking for him despite knowing the red hood had it out of his head, did this kid even have any self preservation skills? he didn’t even seemed fazed jason’s back??which wow, hurt not gonna lie) then when tim wakes up because jason knocked him unconscious the reveal happens and Tim is so shocked that Jason is shocked because bitch I thought you knew!!! what how the fuck would I know!! chaos ensues but then jason abruptly realizes this is great! his plans did not derail *looks at timbo munching his food and watching indiana jones* his plan with the bat he means
Jason, sitting in a room with all his plans on fire: This is fine :’D
No but seriously, I LOVE a Tim with the self preservation instinct of a wet paper towel. He’s a competent teen vigilante, but where it concerns the Bats (and especially his hero, Jason) he’s an absolute human disaster.
Ok but first of all we need to talk a bit more thoroughly about “sensing the dead” thing. Dead as in ghosts? Or dead as in— murder victims and such. Either would apply to Jason if we go with a “Death clings to people who’ve seen beyond the veil” scenario, but Tim’s thoughts would differ vastly upon first meeting the Red Hood.
And Jason, poor Jason, the Pit Madness didn’t stand a chance faced with what is essentially a toddler looking at him with wide and curious eyes, so damn trusting despite that knife to his throat, and he’s just losing his mind because he could have slit Tim’s throat and nobody would have found out until it was too late. What if Jason had been literally anybody else? The kid would have died.
Obviously this Robin can’t be trusted to keep himself safe/alive, that means Jason has to do it for him. Easy. He can do this. It’s cool. Jason is freaking the fuck out.
Tim, upon realizing that the Red Hood is Jason, promptly goes from mildly alarmed over his kidnapping to ✨starstruck✨ and steadfastly refuses to leave Jason’s safehouse unless Jason agrees to come back to the manor. No, he doesn’t care about the multitude of death threats (he totally calls the bluff from the get go).
Jason promptly decides to make the best out of a shitty situation and pretends to be an evil kidnapper and just— keeps dangling the baby bird over Bruce and Dick’s head, slipping them concerning photos (Tim wasn’t exactly happy about the “hostage photo shooting session” but he agreed after Jason promised to make him his special coffee flavored cake) and telling them he’s torturing their Robin with a crowbar (because Jason is a drama queen).
And you know what else would be funny? If, after a few days, Tim slips out to go on patrol with Jason. He completely ignores Bruce and/or Dick when the call out to him and actively helps Hood with his crime stuff (while also sneakily forcing Hood to cut down on the killing by about— 80-90%).
Bruce and Dick are fairly convinced they’re looking at a brainwashing situation.
#brainstorming#jason “’I did not sign up for this’’ Todd#Tim ‘’try getting rid of my NOW bitch’’ drake#and maybe his ability to sense the dead comes in handy with cases#oh who am I kidding it definitely does#Bruce and Dick tearing the city apart looking for Tim#meanwhile Tim: blackmailing Jason into making pancakes with coffee flavor#it’s a disaster from start to finish but somehow it works out#jason todd#batfamily#batfam#bruce wayne#dick grayson#robin#tim drake#red hood
180 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ok, so my younger sibling had this friend who carried themself as more knowledgeable than they really were. They would use a couple of their topics of interest to add the appearance of credibility to everything they said, and relating to other topics they would take the knowledge of the facts they did have and make assertions surrounding them. Kind of like trying to insert world building into reality. Mostly they were just talking out of their ass and tbh they weren’t even that good with their topics of interest. But my sibling would basically take their word and often use them as google
Now Stranger Things taking place in the 80s which is before google, so the inclination to just have your smart friends give you the answers would be stronger. And tbh I definitely think that Dustin isn’t nearly as smart as he carries himself. His specialized topics are in fantasy worlds and science (basically world building in general lol), but he acts like the smartest person in the room constantly. Maybe this is because he wants to be, and since he can’t always he wants to at least give off the impression that he is, and he likes the respect that comes with that. There are a few explanations that could be given for why he’d do that. But we see that he’s failing Latin at the beginning of season 4 and in season 2 he doesn’t know what the word “presumptuous” means. So language, just as an example, isn’t something that he really puts much effort into.
So if Steve has a question he’d take it to Dustin and take his word for it, but Dustin would just talk out of his ass half the time. It’s not until after season 3, after he befriends another nerd in Robin, that it really comes out that Dustin doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Steve offhandedly asks a questions and Dustin answers, and Robin is like “What??? No???”
So with Robin in Steve’s life now, he stops taking Dustin’s word for things, and starts questioning things for himself, and that’s why Dustin is so pissy at him in season 4. He feels somewhat betrayed for Steve no longer trusting his word, even though... he is just bullshitting. It’s just annoying he doesn’t have Steve wrapped around his finger about it anymore
I’ve done it. I’ve cracked the code
#stranger things#dustin henderson#steve harrington#platonic stobin#stobin#platonic with a capital p#robin buckley#headcanon#fandsart
412 notes
·
View notes
Text
Lisa Frankenstein will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 9 via Universal. The 2024 coming-of-age horror-comedy is currently available on PVOD and will hit Digital on March 29.
Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin Williams) makes her feature directorial debut from a script by Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body). Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, and Carla Gugino star.
Special features are listed below.
Special features:
Audio commentary by director Zelda Williams
An Electric Connection featurette
Resurrecting the '80s featurette
A Dark Comedy Duo featurette
5 deleted scenes
Gag reel
A coming-of-rage love story about a misunderstood teenager and her high school crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse. After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness… and a few missing body parts along the way.
Pre-order Lisa Frankenstein.
#lisa frankenstein#kathryn newton#cole sprouse#diablo cody#zelda williams#liza soberano#henry eikenberry#joe chrest#carla gugino#jenna davis#dvd#gift#horror#horror comedy#jennifer's body
127 notes
·
View notes
Text
Helena Bertinelli/Huntress Reading List/Completionist Guide
Helena Bertinelli is the Huntress of Prime Earth. She has existed as a character since 1989, and has appeared in her own series as well as multiple other series throughout the years. Most well known for being a Bird of Prey, she has a long history that tends to be hard to track. Instead of hunting down all of the issues, this guide has every one of her appearances in the attempt to follow her chronologically, but where her movements couldn’t be followed the natural passing of time was used to follow the story.
This is both a reading list and a completionist guide. This means there will be times when the issue only has a cameo of Helena. For a casual reader this list may be a little much. If that is the case click [here] for a shorter list that can get you started on Helena.
Moving onto Content Warnings.
There will be mentions and depictions of Sexual Assault of Adults and Minors, Slavery, PTSD, and Murder. These are some of the big Content Warnings. That being said let’s get started.
[Start Here]
Huntress (1989) #1, #2
Justice League America (1987-1996) #26
Huntress (1989) #3 - #6
Justice League America (1987-1996) #30, #31
Huntress (1989) #7 - #12
Justice League America (198-1996) #35
Time Masters (1990) #1
Huntress (1989) #13 - #19
Justice League International Special (1990) #1
Justice League America (1987-1996) #42
Justice League International Special (1991) #2
Armageddon (1991) #2
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #652, #653
Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #1 - #6
Justice League Europe (1989-1994) #47 - #50
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #662
Showcase ‘93 (1993) #9 , #10
Black Canary (1993) # 9 - #12
Green Arrow (1997-1998) #83
Showcase ‘94 (1994) #5
Robin (1993-2009) #6
Showcase ‘94 (1994) #6
Huntress (1994) #1 - #4
Robin (1993-2009) #17
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #686
The Batman Chronicles (1995-2000) #1
Underworld Unleashed (1995) #2 , #3
Batman (1940-2011) #529
Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-1999) #49
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #698
The Batman Chronicles (1995-2000) #4
Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-1999) #53
Batman (1940-2011) #533
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #701
Robin (1993-2009) #33 , #34
Birds of Prey: Manhunt (1996) #1 - #4
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #703
Green Lantern (1990-2004) #81
Robin (1993-2009) Annual #6 , #45
Genesis (1997) #1 - #4
Catwoman (1993-2001) #51 , #52
Spectre (1992-1998) #62
JLA (1996-2006) #16 - #19
Nightwing and Huntress (1998) #1 - #4
Batman 80-Page Giant (1998/1999) #1
Green Lantern (1990-2004) #103
Superman: Doomsday Wars (1998-1999) #1 - #3
DC One Million (1998) #1 , #2
JLA (1996-2006) #1,000,000
DC One Million (1998) #3, #4
JLA Secret Files (1997-2000) #2
JLA (1996-2006) #24 - #26
Hourman (1999-2001) #1
Nightwing (1996-2009) #26 - #29
JLA (1996-2006) #27
JLA/Titans (1998/1999) #1 - #3
Batman 80-Page Gaint (1998/1999) #2
The Batman Chronicles (1995-2000) #19
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #720
Batman: Huntress/Spoiler - Blunt Trauma (1998) #1
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #721
The Batman Chronicles (1995-2000) #14
Robin (1993-2009) #65
Batman: No Man’s Land (1999) #1
Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-1999) #83
Batman (1940-2011) #563
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989-2010) #116
Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-1999) #84
Batman (1940-2011) #564
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #731
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989-2010) #117
Batman (1940-2011) #565
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #732
Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-1999) #86
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #733
JLA (1996-2006) #28 - #31
Martian Manhunter (1998-2001) #6 - #9
JLA (1996-2006) #32
Martian Manhunter (1998-2001) Annual #2
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989-2010) #119
Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-1999) #87
Batman (1940-2011) #567
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989-2010) #120
Nightwing: Secret Files and Origins (1999) #1
Batman (1940-2011) #568
Catwoman (1993-2001) #72
Batman (1940-2011) #570
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #737
Batman: No Man’s Land - Secret Files & Origins (1999) #1
Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-1999) #93
The Batman Chronicles (1995-2000) #18
Nightwing (1996-2009) #38 - #39
Batman: No Man’s Land (1999) #0
Batman (1940-2011) #573
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #740
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989-2010) #126
Batman (1940-2011) #574
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #741
Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-1999) #94
Batman: Gotham Knights (2000-2006) #1
Batman: Gotham City Secret Files and Origins (2000) #1
JLA: Foreign Bodies (1999) #1
JLA (1996-2006) #34 - #41
JLA: Secret Files and Origins (1997-2000) #3
Azrael: Agent of the Bat (1994-2203) #63 - #65
Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E (1999/2000) #8
The Batman Chronicles (1995-2000) #15
Batman: Gotham Knights (2000-2006) #7
Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood #1 - #6
Batman: Outlaws (2000) #1 - #3
Nightwing (1996-2009) #52
Wonderwoman (1987-2006) #164 - #167
Justice League: Justice League of Amazons (2001) #1
Justice League: JL? (2001) #1
Superman: The Man of Steel (1991-2003) #109
Batman (1940-2011) #586
Batgirl (2000-2006) #18
Batman (1940-2011) #591
JLA (1996-2006) #58
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #763
Joker: Last Laugh (2001) #5
Robin (1993-2009) #95
Joker: Last Laugh (2001) #6
JLA: Incarnations (2001-2002) #7
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #773
Batman: Gotham Knights (2000-2006) #34, #35
Nightwing (1996-2009) #75
JLA: Welcome to the Working Week (2003) #1
Batman: Family (2002-2003) #2, #4, #8
Batman (1940-2011) #609
Batman: Gotham Knights (2000-2006) #37 - #40
Action Comics (1938-2011) #802
Batman (1940-2011) #617 , #619
Bird of Prey: Secret Files and Origins (2003) #1
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #57 - #61
Robin (1993-2009) #120
Batman: Gotham Knights (2000-2006) #48
Superman/Batman (2003-2011) #5
Outsiders (2003-2007) #8 - #10
The Adventures of Superman (1987-2004) #623
Gotham Central (2002-2006) #17 , #18
Batman: Gotham Knights (2000-2006) #50
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #64 - #66
Outsiders (2003-2007) #12
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #67 - #80
Teen Titans (2003-2011) #21
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #81, #82
The OMAC Project (2005) #2
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #83 , #84
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #809
JLA (2005-2008) #117, #119
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #85 - #87
Nightwing (1996-2009) #112
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #86
JSA: Classified (2005-2008) #3
JLA (2005-2008) #121
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #88 - #91
Infinite Crisis (2005-2006) #5 , #7
Adventures of Superman (1987-2006) #648
Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special (2006) #1
52 (2006-2007) #1
Robin (1993-2009) #148
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #92 - #99
Nightwing (1996-2009) #127
52 (2006-2007) #34
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #100 - #103
52 (2006-2007) #48 , #52
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #104 - #108
Justice League of America Wedding Special (2007) #1
Green Arrow / Black Canary Wedding Special (2007) #1
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #110
Green Arrow and Black Canary (2007-2010) #1
Detective Comics (19337-2011) #837
Gotham Underground (2007/2008) #2 , #7
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #111 - #115
Countdown to Mystery (2007/2008) #6 , #8, #9
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #116
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #117 - #119
Huntress: Year One (2008) #1 - #6
Manhunter (2004-2009) #33 - #36
Trinity (2008-2009) #9, #13 , #14 , #50
Final Crisis: Requiem (2008) #1
Final Crisis (2008/2009) #3
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #120 - #123
DC Universe: Decisions (2008) #3
Secret Six (2008-2011) #1 , #7
Batman and the Outsiders (2007-2011) #13
Birds of Prey (1998-2009) #124 - #127
Batman and the Outsiders (2008/2009) #4 , #5
Batman: Battle for the Cowl (2009) #1 , #2
Batman: Battle for the Cowl: Network (2009) #1
Batman: Battle for the Cowl (2009) #3
Batman: Streets of Gotham (2000-2011) #3 - #6 , #9, #13
Blackest Night: Batman (2009) #2
Batman (1940-2011) #693 - #695 , #697
Azrael (2009-2011) #2
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #859 - #663
Justice Society of America (2007-2011) #38
Detective Comics (1937-2011) #864, #865
Red Robin (2009-2011) #12
Batgirl (2009-2011) #10 , 11
Birds of Prey (2010-2011) #1 - #4
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne (2010) #3
Birds of Prey (2010-2011) #5 , #6
Superman/Batman (2003-2011) #78
Birds of Prey (2010-2011) #7 - #10
Brightest Day (2010-2011)
Birds of Prey (2010-2011) #11
Batman Incorporated (2011) #6
Secret Six (2008-2011) #36
Birds of Prey (2010-2011) #12 - #15
Batman (1940-2011) #713
Convergence: The Question (2015) #1, #2
New - 52
Batwoman (2011-2015) #2
Secret Origins (2014-2015) #8
Nightwing (2011-2014) #30
Grayson (2014-2016) #1 - #5 ,Annual #1 , #6 - #11
Batgirl (2011-2016) Annual #3
Midnighter (2015) #3
Harley Quinn (2014-2016) #20
Grayson (2014-2016) Annual #2
Batman & Robin Eternal (2015/2016) #2 , #3
Titans Hunt (2015-2016) #1
Grayson (2014-2016) #13 , #14
Batman & Robin Eternal (2015/2016) #5
Midnighter (2015) #8
Batman & Robin Eternal (2015/2016) #17
Grayson (2014-2016) #16
Midnighter (2015) #9
Batman & Robin Eternal (20115/2016) #18 - #20
Grayson (2014-2016) #17
Midnighter (2015) #10
Batman & Robin Eternal (20115/2016) #23 , #24
Grayson (2014-2016) #18
Batman & Robin Eternal (20115/2016) #25
Midnighter (2015) #11
Grayson (2014-2016) #19
Midnighter (2015) #12
Grayson (2014-2016) #20 Annual #3
Rebirth
DC Universe: Rebirth (2016) #1
Nightwing: Rebirth (2016) #1
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey: Rebirth (2016) #1
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey (2016-2018) #1 - #4
Nightwing (2016-) #9
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey (2016-2018) #5 - #13
Nightwing (2016-) #26 - #28
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey (2016-2018) #14
Nightwing (2016-) #30 , #31
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey (2016-2018) #15 - #22
The Hellblazer (2016-2018) #19 - #24
The Unexpected (2018-2019) #3 , #4
Green Arrow (2016-2019) #45
Aquaman/Justice League: Drowned Earth (2018) #1
Detective Comics (2016-) #1000
Batman (2016-) #71
Action Comics (1938-) #1011
Harley Quinn (2016-2020) #64
Batgirl (2016-2020) #39
DC Villains Giant (2019) #1
Batman (2016-) #81 - #83
Birds of Prey: Sirens of Justice (2020) #1
Birds of Prey (2020-) #1
Batgirl (2016-2020) #50
Dark Knights: Death Metal (2020) #5
Infinite Frontier
Infinite Frontier #0
Detective Comics (2016-) #1034 - #1039
The Other History of the Dc universe (2021) #5
Batman Secret Files; Huntress (2021) #1
Detective Comics (2016-) #1041 , #1042 , #1046
Robins (2021-2022) #4, #5
Detective Comics (2016-) #1047. #1049 - #1058 , #1061
Nightwing (2016-) #95
Batman: Dear Detective #1
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (2022) #5
Batman (2016) #129
Nightwing (2016-) #98
Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate (2023) #1
[Current Present: July 2023]
Else Worlds and Others
Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey (2020) #1 - #4
Superman and Batman: World’s Funniest (2000) #1
JLA: Act of God (2000-2001) #1
Future State:
Future State: Dark Detective (2021) #1 , #3
Future State: Nightwing (2021) #1 , #2
DCeased:
DCeaased (2019) #3, #4
DCeased: Unkillable: #1
DC vs. Vampires:
DC vs. Vampires (2021-2023) #2 , #10 , #11
DCAU:
Superman & Batman Magazine (1993-1995) #1 , #4
The Batman & Robin Adventures (1995-1997) #19
Justice League Unlimited (2004-2008) #20 , #22 , #27 , #31 , #36
Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two (2021-2022) #3
Injustice:
Injustice: Year Zero (2020-2021) Chapter #1 , #2
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013-2016) #6 , #7 , #9 , #11 , 12
Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year Two (2013-2016) #3 , #6 , #7 - #11 , Annual #1
Injustice: Gods Among us - Year Three (2013-2016) #2 , #6 , #9 - #12
Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year Four (2013-2016) #1
Flashpoint:
Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman (2011) #2 , #3
Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies (2011) #2 , #3
Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance (2011) #2
Convergence (2015) #6 , #7
Tiny Titans:
Tiny Titans (2008-2012) #45
Bombshells:
DC Comics: Bombshells (2015-2017) #6 , #10 , #16 , #17 , #18 , #26
Bombshells: United (2017-2018) #36
Batman: The Brave and The Bold:
Batman: The Brave and The Bold (2009-2010) #11 , #14
All-New Batman: The Brave and The Bold (2011-202) #4
Lil’Gotham:
Batman: Lil’Gotham (2013-2014) #3 , #5 , #6 , #8 , #10 , #12
Scooby-Doo:
Scooby-Doo Team-Up (2018) #34
The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries (2021-) #5 , #12
Other Appearances (Crossovers)
Batman Versus Predator II (1993/1994) # 1 - #4
JLA/Witchblade (2000-2001) #1
Avengers/JLA (2003/2004) #4
Other Characters to hold the name, Huntress:
Paula Brooks
Helena Wayne
Carol Danvers (Amalgamverse)
Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe
>~<>~<>~<>~<
To the Helena Bertinelli fans I hope you enjoy!
@inkareds I finished the complete guide if you want to check it out.
If I made any mistakes or forgot something leave a comment, or send me a message. I tried to include everything, but I could have messed up. I will also try to update this as new Huntress stuff comes out, so the list may grow.
#reading guides#reading order#comic guide#character reading list#comic reading list#helena bertinelli#Huntress#dc huntress#DC comics#dc reading list#helena my love
355 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
windupiceheart
10 Foot Vertical Leap
junglerofthoughts
ThoughtsJungler
0hrt
Great art!!!
moviemuncherao3
Moviemuncher
