Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Other Things Batman Did

Since all he seems to do recently is kept secrets and manipulate I thought it was a good time to remember some things he did before the relaunch.


  1. Firing Dick when he was an adult (19/20) and claiming he can't take the responsibility of being blamed if he's killed. ...Although Gotham thinks Robin died and blames him which he shrugs off and takes a second Robin despite swearing he wouldn't.
  2. His reason for making Jason Robin. Granted it changed over time from him honestly wanting Jason to make something out of himself and seeing his skill. The next writer had him as a replacement for Dick on an emotional level. In New 52 Jason calls Bruce out on using him to fix himself.
  3. Not telling Jason his father was murdered by Two Face. Even if you agree he shouldn't know who killed his dad let me remind you that Jason thought his father was alive prior to this. He assumed he was in jail and Bruce never told him otherwise.
  4. After Tim goes through hell to keep his ID a secret Bruce tells Stephanie without Tims' permission. 
  5. Nightwing Year One. Bruce fires Dick. He literally kidnaps Jason (he's tied to a chair) and seems to give Jason Stockholm syndrome. Never tells Dick he replaced him. He never explains who Nightwing is or what Jasons' supposed to do leading him to believe his test is to fight Dick. Makes Barbara lie to Dick to spring the Robin 2 surprise on him. Has Alfred dressed up as Two Face who nearly beat Dick to death and murdered Jasons' father. Which almost leads to Dick beating up Alfred.
  6. The whole situation with Stephanie as Robin. 
  7. Going off with Dick and Tim for a year and abandoning Cassandra which led to her being drugged then turned in an assassin. Only Tim seemed to care enough to do anything about that.
  8. DITF. Instead of getting help from the league to find Joker and go after his runaway possibly suicidal (Bruce thought he was) adopted son he just goes after Joker. His behavior towards Jason wasn't that of the worlds greatest detective but the most clueless guardian. The excuse for not making Jason go while he stayed with Shelia was just weak. Bruce knew it was the wrong call.
  9. Not showing up for Dicks' almost wedding with Kory.
  10. Not informing Dick that Jason died then remarking that everyone wondered where he was. Was Bruce mad because the answer is in space? The only one who'd wonder where Dick was would be Gordon.

4 comments:

  1. Bruce really needs to have a sort of bible to streamline his character (on the main canon at least). At this point one has to wonder how is that he hasn't called out by his stunts or the fact people are still willing to work with him.

    Heck, the whole "Happy amnesiac" angle looks underserved in light of those actions.

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  2. No one wants to deal with the plots they set up. DOTF was a mess with every book changing who was mad at him. Even Tomasi who set up the "Batman jackass in mourning" arc didn't want to deal with what he wrote and just shrugged everything off.

    It is and I half believe it was done because Bruce did too many asshole-ish acts at once. Now Alfred gets to be the jerk of the family in his place.

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  3. We have actually seen the aftermath of any story? Even Grayson sort of handwaved most of the implications of Dick's return in favor of some sappy and fanfiction-y moments.


    Considering the current Batman writers knack for bringing family as a big topic on his stories, they sure don't know how to write a family dynamic at all.

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  4. Tomasi had them address DOTF and the jerky grieving arc things. But he had Alfred act like they were being brats, Bruce promising never to keep secrets again (as Dick was "dead" no less) and acted like some of his offenses weren't as bad as DOTF.

    Tomasi had previously written Jason as forgiving Bruce before the others yet he suddenly cared about the fake face thing? Everyone just brushes these things aside, I think the only one that showed growth in terms of forgiveness with Bruce was Lobdell in RHATO #18.

    They really don't. One of the reasons DOTF didn't work for me was the lack of focus on the actual family. Except for Bruces' dream and a couple scenes it felt forced.

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