It's Only the End if You Want it to Be

sea-dilemma:

luanna255:

graydaughters:

robinless:

varlandgear:

You weren’t at the funeral. People asked about you.

Dick really fucked up with Jason. Both Bruce and Dick did, in a sense. I think that’s why he was such a good brother for Tim.

Uh, how did Dick fuck up again? For one thing, he was on another planet when Jason died, and for another, Bruce even didn’t tell him about Jason’s death.

# i want to type out a long rant but I have to head out in a few minutes # i can’t recall where these particular panels are from though

They’re from New Titans #55. (The issue where Dick finds out about Jason’s death. Also the infamous Bruce-punches-Dick issue.)

And thank you! I was going to comment on this myself, but it’s nice to see that my work has been done for me. :-)

Frankly, I’ve always been amazed that Bruce actually had the nerve to try and turn this around on Dick, when he was the one who, y’know, couldn’t be bothered to tell Dick that his little brother had died, let alone when the funeral was. (Not that this was an isolated incident - in this time period, Bruce seemed to love trying to blame Dick for situations that he himself had created, which tends to make me distinctly uncomfortable when you consider that transferring blame is one of the key signs of an emotional abuser. And when you add in the fact that this scene ends with Bruce punching Dick in the face and throwing him out, the abusive undertones here become… well, not really undertones anymore. I could go on for quite a while about how disturbing I find all of this, but, uh, I should probably stop here.)

I mean, I get that Bruce was grieving, but the way he acts throughout this entire issue just makes me cringe. (Which is the point, of course… but that doesn’t make it less painful to watch.)

I think we have to attribute this to poor writing and a HORRIBLE editor who let something like this get past him/her (I don’t know who the editor on this title was at the time and I don’t care to look it up).  The whole point of a comic editor, in my opinion, is to make certain that a) continuity is maintained, and b) characters are written in a consistent manner, with the same development throughout various titles, within arcs, etc.  

If that is the case, then the editor is DEFINITELY at fault for allowing such an outlandish plotline.  Dick was OFF-PLANET - and, even if Bruce didn’t know that, how could he have expected Dick to know if he didn’t bother to leave a message?!

…Maybe I am giving too much power/responsibility to editors, though!

Unfortunately, this one can’t be put down to a simple continuity error/editing gaffe, as not only did this all occur within one series (New Titans), in the same issue we see Dick at Jason’s grave, talking about how Bruce never even tried to call him (he didn’t know Dick was off-planet, but nevertheless didn’t try getting in touch), before flashing back to how he found out about Jason’s death when he returned from Tamaran. And then, still in this same issue, we have this scene with Dick and Bruce. So this isn’t a continuity problem, or a problem of different writers being fed different versions of the story.  It all happens within one issue, and it was clearly written as Bruce knowing full well that Dick hadn’t known about Jason’s death.

Now, you could argue that within the story it’s out-of-character for Bruce to act quite this horrible, and I personally do prefer when Bruce is written as less full-on jerk than he is here. But it’s not an issue of bad continuity or a negligent editor. For better or worse, this is the story that was intentionally written.

graydaughters:

robinless:

varlandgear:

You weren’t at the funeral. People asked about you.

Dick really fucked up with Jason. Both Bruce and Dick did, in a sense. I think that’s why he was such a good brother for Tim.

Uh, how did Dick fuck up again? For one thing, he was on another planet when Jason died, and for another, Bruce even didn’t tell him about Jason’s death.

# i want to type out a long rant but I have to head out in a few minutes # i can’t recall where these particular panels are from though

They’re from New Titans #55. (The issue where Dick finds out about Jason’s death. Also the infamous Bruce-punches-Dick issue.)

And thank you! I was going to comment on this myself, but it’s nice to see that my work has been done for me. :-)

Frankly, I’ve always been amazed that Bruce actually had the nerve to try and turn this around on Dick, when he was the one who, y’know, couldn’t be bothered to tell Dick that his little brother had died, let alone when the funeral was. (Not that this was an isolated incident - in this time period, Bruce seemed to love trying to blame Dick for situations that he himself had created, which tends to make me distinctly uncomfortable when you consider that transferring blame is one of the key signs of an emotional abuser. And when you add in the fact that this scene ends with Bruce punching Dick in the face and throwing him out, the abusive undertones here become… well, not really undertones anymore. I could go on for quite a while about how disturbing I find all of this, but, uh, I should probably stop here.)

I mean, I get that Bruce was grieving, but the way he acts throughout this entire issue just makes me cringe. (Which is the point, of course… but that doesn’t make it less painful to watch.)

discowing:

Dick, you’re so spoiled.

#honestly dick #i mean really #he’s such a rich kid though #like he’d totally deny it because he’s from the CIRCUS #but in reality he’s basically been a billionaire since he was eight  #damian is the most spoilt no-one can argue with that #but i think dick and tim really do take being incredibly rich… well  #not exactly for granted #but they’ve never had to worry about money themselves ever and that obviously gives a certain perspective #on life you know  #obviously they’re batkids they’re hardly sheltered #but it wouldn’t really occur to them that having no money is a thing that could happen to them #(jason is a whole nother story but these tags are long and stupid enough already)

It isn’t really true that having to worry about money is something Dick’s never known, though. In New Teen Titans #60 (I don’t have a scan, but I’ve just read this recently so you’ll have to believe me), there’s this scene where Mr. Haly is telling Dick about how even in the “good old days”, the circus was barely breaking even in terms of money. And if the circus was barely breaking even, the performers were getting paid next to nothing, including Dick and his parents.

I wouldn’t necessarily say Dick worried about that (Mr. Haly comments in the same scene that no one cared if the circus was struggling because “we were having fun!” which is, I think, the attitude Dick was raised to have about money - it doesn’t matter how much or how little you have, as long as you’re doing something you love), but his family did struggle financially somewhat. He certainly wasn’t poor on the level of Jason, or even Steph, but the Graysons weren’t exactly rolling in spare cash, either.

I think a lot of fans tend to assume (see: this post, for example) that because the Flying Graysons were so awesomely talented they must have been totally rich and famous, but the canon doesn’t really support that, IMO. There doesn’t seem to be much canon evidence that they were necessarily even particularly well-known, and it’s outright stated that the circus struggled financially. I mean, the thing is… show biz isn’t an easy business, and being awesomely talented isn’t necessarily a guarantee of financial security. Even Harry freakin’ Houdini had times when he was down to his last five dollars.

That doesn’t negate the privilege that Dick came into when Bruce took him in, but it’s still a necessary distinction that, unlike Bruce and Tim and Damian, he wasn’t born into that privilege. (Something Bruce outright states in this scene - “Dick wasn’t like me. He didn’t come from a world of privilege.”)

What is true is that Dick has something of a “rich-boy” attitude in that he has no problem solving problems by throwing money at them, and I could find you example after example of that. (“Haly’s Circus might be going out of business? No problem, I’ll just buy it!” “Bounty on Amy’s head? No problem, I’ll just pay more!” “Oh, and Bruce, could you just buy me this building? And this one and this one and this one. You’re the best!”)

It’s interesting because as a rule, Dick doesn’t seem to like the idea of living off of Bruce’s charity (one of the reasons he works for a living, even though he has no financial need to), but when he sees a way that he can use money to help someone or facilitate his work as Nightwing, he has absolutely no problem asking Bruce for huge sums of money - or using his connections.

I tend to think wealth and privilege are things Dick isn’t entirely comfortable with - he’s more at home in a small apartment than a mansion - but he also has no problem using them to his advantage, especially for something he considers a good cause. In that second aspect, he’s a lot like Bruce, who (IMO) sees money mainly as just another tool that can be useful in his larger mission. The difference is that Bruce, having been born into a life of wealth, feels more natural in that lifestyle than Dick does.

yasminliang:

Trinity Mothers

Still one of my favorite pieces of fanart of all time.

emvie:

Cassandra Cain and her papa Bats.

I reblog this picture every single time it comes up on my dash, and I’m not gonna apologize for that. Because it is one of my very favorite pieces of fanart in this world. <3

brianmichaelbendis:

 

World’s Finest - Adam Hughes

One of my all-time favorite covers from anything. <3