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

“Dick has so many connections to other characters. In many ways, even more than Superman or Batman, Nightwing is the soul, the linchpin, of the DCU. He’s well respected by everyone, known to the JLA, the Titans, the Outsiders, Birds of Prey – everyone looks to him for advice, for friendship, for his skills. He’s the natural leader of the DCU.” - Phil Jimenez

~Casually reminds people that Dick Grayson is both The Heart and The Leader of the entire freakin’ DCU and if you don’t think that’s awesome then frankly I don’t even know what to do with you~

batgirlrising:

somethingcomics:

Why I love Dick #31648: He was always sharing the computer chair with his siblings

He is such an amazing big brother.

I think it also shows something about his approach to being Batman? He doesn’t really have that… controlling aspect that Bruce does. Don’t get me wrong - Dick can and does take control of a situation when necessary. He couldn’t be such a good leader if he couldn’t. But he fundamentally treats the people he works with as his equals, even when he’s technically the one “in charge”, and I think that’s something really important about him.

(Source: somethingcomics-old)

More scene comparison! This time from Batman #416 and DCU Holiday Special (It’s a Wonderful Night), respectively. (If you’re interested, there is also a quite similar pre-Crisis scene with Dick and Jason here, which is adorbs, but I thought we’d keep it to stuff that’s in-continuity, at least theoretically.)

 So, Dick, I’ve just got a few questions, here:

1) Exactly how many of your old Robin costumes do you have lying around, anyway?

2) Exactly how many times have you pulled this stunt?

3) Exactly why would Jason and Tim want your old costumes when they both have their own, and that’s not even the version Tim wears*?

4) Exactly how hard did Damian punch you in the face when you tried pulling this shtick with him?

*Although they both seemed pretty happy to get it, so what the heck do I know.

asparkofinsanity:

makaeru:

arturosavinni:

Of course, he’s not ALWAYS, annoying. Sometimes Dick listens. <3

The last page in particular gives me feelings.

TBH he was annoying.. like, twice or something. And then everyone thinks, oh he’s annoying all the time. -__-

There’s also a difference between teasing and being genuinely annoying. Honestly, I think the majority of the time when Dick teases Tim, it doesn’t genuinely annoy Tim. If anything, I think he probably likes it. I mean, look at his face here:

and here:

Both from the examples of Dick being annoying. But Tim’s face is, IMO, very much not the face of someone who is genuinely annoyed. It’s the face of someone who is happy and having fun with their big brother.

And that makes total sense to me. Tim is an only child and he was pretty alone growing up. He always had to act more mature than his age and he didn’t really have anyone to “play” with. When he and Dick play around and tease each other, I think Tim is not only having fun, it also makes him feel loved. He never had someone in his life like that until Dick came along (er… more accurately, until he came along and inserted himself into Dick’s life. Same difference.)

Now, granted, once or twice Dick has pulled pranks on Tim where Tim was clearly NOT having fun. That time he pretended to be dead and Tim was genuinely terrified? Not funny, IMO. Especially not in the Batfamily where the fear of losing someone you love is very real and ever-present. I have no doubt that Tim did not enjoy that particular instance of Dick’s sense of humor.

But the majority of the time? They’re just playing around. Tim might pull faces and act play-annoyed, but that doesn’t mean he’s truly bothered by anything Dick’s doing. He’s having fun, too.

Y’know, Dick and Tim are bros. There are many facets to a relationship like that. Sometimes brothers play around and tease each other. Sometimes they talk more seriously and support each other. In the end, it’s all coming from the same place - a place of loving each other and being close. Dick loves Tim. That’s true whether he’s playfully messing with him or being there for support and advice. There’s no contradiction here.

yellowcape:

- Nightwing 138, The Ressurection of Ra’s al Ghul

I love these guys so much!

Part five. More coming.

“For him, a thousand ninjas is just the start of what I would do.”

Um, you guys? Have I mentioned that Dick is the best big brother?

Because, um. Seriously. A thousand ninjas. Is just the start of what he would do for Tim.

I totally don’t think he’s exaggerating, either. His tone here is completely matter of fact. He totally would fight 1,000 ninjas for Tim if he had to, because he loves his little bro that freaking much.

Dick, you are perfect. Everyone else go home mkay.

holyismstogoddamn:

“You don’t need to worry about Bruce. As long as it serves a direct purpose, he can put with almost anything.”

“Does it serve a purpose, though? I mean, yeah he needs his secret identity to ‘protect his loved ones’ and all that—-but honestly, most of the people he’s close to, present company included, can take pretty good care of themselves.”

“Okay, picture this…Bruce wakes up one morning as says, ‘Forget it. I’m tired of the charade.’ By six, it’s all over the news: Gotham’s Dark Knight is Bruce Wayne. By six-twenty, the mayor has ordered Gotham Police Commissioner to arrest the vigilante know as Batman—and, by six-forty—-Jim is forced to come for me.

“Chances are they’re knocking on your Dad’s door, warrant ready, by four the next day. And let’s not even think about what happens to Alfred and Babs.”

“People know, though, right? I mean…bad guys like Bane.”

“Yeah, Bane. Ra’s Al Ghul. Shiva. Hugo Strange. Cain. Fortunately, Bane likes having the card to himself, Ra’s is oddly protective of the man he still thinks of as a potential heir—Shiva doesn’t care, Strange is dead and Cain has a different agenda.

“On those counts, all we can do is pray that none of them decide to drop a dime.”

[Gotham Knights #08]

Another great series of panels from this issue.

• Tim really is still very young, inquisitive and for all his intelligence is still quite naive, it’s nice to see a writer who doesn’t make Tim a miniature adult superhero.  He isn’t, and honestly speaking, despite his methods, Timmy is still far behind the level Dick was at the same age.

(But that is understandable, Dick had been Robin for nearly seven years at sixteen, Tim has only three years under his belt. In addition to being more suited as a detective rather than as a crime-fighter; Tim isn’t the natural Dick was as a fighter and he’s always had to push himself harder. That’s why I have a lot of love for him, Tim is often very hard on himself and as an outside observer you see that he really should be so hard on himself.)

• Dick is, without a doubt, the most natural, wise councilor and leader in the DC universe. He’s been there, done that, suffered through countless things, (as a typical Scorpio he’s thrown himself into the fire like a phoenix and come out anew.) And Dick, (with a manner he’s gained in skill from combining both Bruce’s wisdom and his own skilled abilities with people from his time as leader of the Titans,) is always the person his friends, teammates and young superheroes turn to for advice.

You see clearly how Tim always goes first to Dick for advice because he knows how lucky he is to have him as a ‘Older Brother.’ All the Robins do, even Jason, who is insanely jealous he can’t get Dick’s approval or attention, (look at the jealousy when he attacks Tim at Titans Tower and then goes searching for Dick…dressed as Nightwing!)

It’s always nice to see when authors address this instead of shoving Dick back to side-kick position in the Batman books.

Oh and:

“Okay, and he knew we were in this room because…?

” ‘cause he’s Batman…”

Okay, first of all THIS COMMENTARY IS PERFECT.

Secondly, this is why I get really annoyed when people imply that Dick is unintelligent.

Dick has the misfortune to hang out with geniuses a lot. Bruce, Babs, and Tim are three of the most important people in his life, and they all have genius-level IQ, and Dick does not. In terms of pure book-smarts, he can’t compete with any of them.

But Dick is, in his own way, actually an incredibly intelligent character. Now, he’s far from book-dumb by any means (this is where the whole hanging-out-with-geniuses thing starts to make him look bad by comparison), but where he really shines is human insight.

I think this whole exchange shows the different types of intelligence between Dick and Tim perfectly. Tim is, without a doubt, the more “intelligent” character, but here he needs Dick to explain things to him. Because Tim is great with facts and skills and problem-solving, but what Dick has is understanding. He’s great at looking at people and being able to understand their motivations and the intricacies of human relations. And, of course, part of that is that he’s older and more experienced than Tim and he’s known Bruce longer, but part of it is just who Dick is. He’s a people person. Not only in the sense that he’s friendly and loves people, but also in the sense that he has a real gift for understanding people. I guess you could call it a kind of emotional intelligence. It’s not as simple as saying “Dick thinks with his heart”, because it’s more like a way of using both his head and his heart to observe the world around him.

The kind of insight Dick shows here shows not only how intelligent he is, but also the way that he’s intelligent. He’s someone who thinks deeply about things. He has the ability to see the people around him with an incredible clarity and come to conclusions based on his understanding of human nature. (I’m not sure I’m explaining this at all well, but what can you do.)

tl;dr - Dick isn’t stupid, and please stop saying he is.