DC Comics Officially Spoils This Week’s Batman Incorporated
comicbook.comDammit, DC.
I usually support your decisions, but I feel like killing a Robin as a
storyline plot point will always be a desperate move that shows a lack
of creativity. Sorry, Morrison and Morrison groupies, but ugh.
I hated that kid when he first showed up, but I’ve grown to be very fond. D:
Just to be clear,
although I’m joking around with lazarus pits posts and DAMINYAN cat and shit, I’m not saying Damian Wayne’s supposed demise is something to be okay with.
It’s unfair. And it’s not okay that the Big Two lets writers off characters so easily, just to lazarus pit/retcon them/GREAT PETER PARKER’S GHOST back to life.
It’s a shitty old plot device that is never permanent, done with any real emotional impact or makes a character develop better because of it.
And I guess my numbness and attempts to bring humour into the situation are just my way of trying to get that across, that someone like me — who usually screams and raves when I read comics, even the shittiest ones — is so desensitized to a little kid dying for A FUCKING METAPHOR, A FUCKING METAPHOR ABOUT DIVORCE, or whatever the fuck else they’ll kill him off for, knowing that it never really means anything ever.
And that’s really not okay.
So I won’t buy Batman Inc. I won’t mourn. Because he’s not dead, no matter what the fuck DC does. The Apocalypse doesn’t come until Batman says so.
And the world doesn’t end for Damian unless we say so.
*hugs on tighter* I just don't understand why they are doing it. They have already upset so many people with the new 52 or the way Tim isn't a robin anymore or the way Jason is no longer focussed on the Batfamily like he used to. Why do they keep doing this to us? And now Damian?! Jeez, they might as well handicap Dick now that Barbara has her legs back. I... Do you think they will bring him back eventually? Especially if we don't let him die?
You have to remember, rarely does anybody stay dead in comics. Even Steph who was extremely unpopular at the time, managed to only stay gone for about 2 years. Popular characters only vanish for up to a year. Damian was killed off in the HEIGHT of his popularity with a heavy dose of ADVERTISING (putting an article in the NY Post isn’t CHEAP). They put a LOT of money into making sure people knew he was going to die. Now, historically, when DC’s done this in the past, they later follow it up with “RETURN OF PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT DEAD CHARACTER” to pick more pockets. The fact that Tomasi’s plan so far includes only rotating in the other bat boys, for me, is a good sign. The title is Batman and ROBIN, and eventually, somebody will have to pick up that mantle. And if DC’s learned anything from Jason and Steph, it’s that fans do NOT respond to their Robin being replaced quickly, if at ALL. So the obvious choice is to make another big arc to bring Damian back, that way, they make a fortune, and we THANK THEM for the emotional abuse. And everybody wins…I suppose.
A Moment's Interlude (A Jason & Damian fix-it fic)
Because in light of tomorrow’s/today’s events, this is very necessary for coping. Set Pre-Batman Inc 8.
Spoilers for Batman Inc 8
“Damian.” Jason spoke carefully, feeling the weight of this agreement press down on him, “Are you sure? It’s going to be painful.”
Damian’s eyes were dark, reflecting back the narrow beam of a high window above them and nothing else. Not a flicker of excess emotion in them. Nothing that he should be feeling.
“I’ve dealt with pain.” Was all he said, young voice sounding so resolute, so sure.
So familiar.
“No.” Jason denied and fought the mad urge to laugh, “You haven’t.”
“The first story I knew I had to tell after Damian's death would be Bruce's reaction in "Batman and Robin" #18. It's an entirely silent issue; no text, no sound effects, storytelling at its purest form -- show don't tell -- and, holy crap, does Patrick Gleason show why, in my humble opinion, he might be one of the best Batman artists ever. He knocks it out of the park.”
—Oh no, I am weak to silent issues. And Gleason has been so good at conveying emotion in these situations. And this is going to involve Titus looking for his master isn’t it. ;___;I am so unhappy with Damian’s death. He is the one batman character who has so much unexplored depth. He still had to grow up, experience changes, make other friends his own age, and balance Wayne Life-Robin Life. He was a new chapter in a book that needed a breath of life, someone to rile Tim, to focus Dick, to force Jason to realise that he wasn’t so different, and to make Bruce adapt to the role of parent, over role of partner. And Damian, Damian himself had all these issues to still overcome, faults he could have worked through.
I still think out of all the Batman characters, Damian because of his youth and his history would have had the largest story to tell, and story that isn’t just a retelling. He had such a large future… and now?
I feel whatever Batman Inc 8 could bring, it won’t satisfy the massive gap that has been made.
It’s taking the meta of Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader a bit too literally, but if you’re up for more tears tonight consider the possibility that Bruce will not join his parents or Damian in the afterlife, because whenever he dies he just gets reincarnated as a new version of Batman, and Damian will not even exist in all those universes.
On a related note I was just noticing how Damian is the only one looking up at the ghostly image of Batman on this cover.
So I’ve been trying to stamp down on my comics-related anger tonight, at least on the internet (I had a therapeutic rant-laden phone call with hollythedolly), but you know what, here it is.
I’m angry DC, I’m angry and sad, at you and at me because frankly I thought I was past the point of getting myself worked up over your actions.
I’m going to spoil the news that broke regarding the upcoming issue of Batman Inc now, so if you’d like to remain unaware, please stop reading now.
SPOILERS. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
As you may have gleaned from Tumblr, it’s been confirmed that Damian Wayne, the current Robin, is going to die in the upcoming Batman Inc issue.
Damian quickly became on of my favourite characters when I first started regularly reading comics in 2009, and has remained so. So I’m more than a little upset.
And I appreciate that the works that we are fans of often make decisions that we as fans disagree with, and are upset by. And often those decisions are good for the narrative, wonderfully written, and while I often wish the character who has met their end were still around, I often wouldn’t change that ending (I’m thinking in particular of Doctor Who). I’m hoping that will be the case here, and am trying to reserve judgement until the issue is released and I’ve had a chance to read it.
But frankly DC, you haven’t given me that kind of faith in you. Since the New 52, I’ve waited and hoped for the return of beloved characters, or at least a satisfactory explanation of their absence. I’ve been continually disappointed.
You decided Helena Bertinelli couldn’t co-exist with Helena Wayne.
You couldn’t give any indication about the continuity of Barbara Gordon’s identity as Oracle.
You’ve repeatedly denied writers the use of characters like Cass Cain and Stephanie Brown.
That’s just the bat-family.
I’ve been feeling a lot more positive about comics lately. I’ve started picking up some Marvel titles, sponsoring some Kickstarter/IndieGoGo projects etc. My dominant thoughts regarding comics had shifted to enjoyment rather than anger.
And now, well. Maybe I was only feeling that way because you were no longer the publisher I was primarily dealing with.
I’m not going to threaten to take my comic book dollars elsewhere; it’s been made more than clear to me as an LGBT female reader that my money means little to DC.
In the end, I don’t know what this post should be. I think for me this is a reminder that I do enjoy comics, but maybe when I don’t, those stories/publishers should not longer be a part of my comics experience.
Maybe it's the clone that dies! or my wishful thinking idk
That’s a cute theory. Isn’t “the clone” named Benjamin? Or maybe those were just fics ignore this
It’s definitely Damian. The spoilers I read straight up said that Robin dies saving the world, and doing his job as Robin. And his death is a plot device, to cause more angst and grief and conflict for the Batfamily, especially Bruce and Dick he has just lost so much and now Damian this is going to crush him I just. If it were the clone dying, there wouldn’t be too much impact on the Bats, now would there?
Then it said something about the possibility of a new boy or girl wonder. Maybe this is how they’re planning on introducing some of the missing pre-boot characters (such as Stephanie Brown or Cassandra Cain, maybe even Carrie Kelley or Helena Wayne who even knows at this point). All I know for sure is that Damian Wayne is dying tomorrow with Dick Grayson at his side and it is going to shatter me.
I know you didn’t ask for the spoilers or any of my feelings or thoughts but like there you go and I love you anon thank you for sharing care for a hug I need one
morejoyful said: oh thank fuck i was not the only one who saw that
and was like ‘uhhh’. i love damian and hate that he’s getting killed
off but the way some fans are reacting makes me want to slap them and
grind their faces into their whiny tears
Damian is awesome. But he’s not the first Robin to die and the idea
that Bruce is going to take the death of his bio kid more harshly than
the death of his adopted son really rubs me the wrong way. The only
reason that Bruce should have stronger feelings is if he finally
realizes that his sidekicks keep dying so maybe he should stop getting
them.
(Yo, Bruce, retcons aside, this is the THIRD TIME.)
But because it’s his son? Nah, been there, done that. He got another
one. He’ll do the same this time, too.
