Christmas Batman's way

[thebigapricot]

My Christmas tree is up so to celebrate here is something from DCU Holiday Bash III from 1999.


The evil Toyman has brought a popular action figure, Captain Adventure, to life to wreak havoc on the family of its creator because he tried to go out on his own. The family's home ends in ruins. But Batman and Superman both show up to capture Toyman and stop Captain Adventure from doing more harm.




Now for you to get the full poignancy of the next scan you must know the story opened with Clark getting a Captain Adventure toy for Christmas and than doing a group hug with Ma and Pa Kent.


Hey, did you know Batman's parents are deeeaaaaaad?

Comments

[icon_uk]

Oh c'mon, he had years with Dick and then Jason on Christmas morning, tell me that a hyperactive, happy Robin wasn't an antidote to the Christmas blues, or did they all take it in turns to angst?

Though that second last panel does make me wonder who the toys (action figures and costumes) under the tree, were for? Tim? Bruce? Alfred?

[pyrotwilight]

I almost want to believe Bruce hasn't moved the stuff from his parents last Christmas all these years and those were all for him.

[icon_uk]

Cue the "Brave and the Bold" Christmas episode, which managed to actually make the death of Bruce's parents even MORE heartbreakingly rotten for him.

[darklorelei]

It's really kind of amazing that they managed to make it more traumatic.

[thebigapricot]

Or he recreated it in a secret wing of Wayne Manor so he can sneak off to have a "moment" after his Christmas with Dick or Jason or Tim and Cass.

[deepspaceartist]

Maybe that last page is Alfred flashing back to Bruce as a child?

[icon_uk]

I thought about that, but it doesn't really work as the panel after that is panning up from Bruce to the painting of his parents.

[koschei]

I'd say it's clearly his first christmas after the murder.

[icon_uk]

You think that looks like the silhouette of a 9 year old kid in the last page?

[tsunamiwombat]

http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1328218.html?#cutid1

Yes, Batman is ALWAYS angsty on Christmas.

[taggerung301]

*hugs bruce

[salamangkiero]

In some other happier reality, I bet all the Robins in their own turns must have had oodles of great gifts. Because if you know how it feels not to have anyone, then you're going to damn well make sure somebody else won't.

[icon_uk]

Not that I can imagine Dick or Jason being acquisitive either, but as I'll post tomorrow, it doesn't need to be an expensive gift that makes the difference.

[baihu]

Extreme Makeover, Clark Edition 8D

[taggerung301]

heh, I'd watch that

[icon_uk]

It would be kind of... short though, no? :)

[taggerung301]

he would just have to do multiple houses in each episode I suppose

[nezchan]

Team him up with the Time Warp guys.

[superfangirl1]

Lol even better!

[filthysize]

Heh, I like how they're both generous, but Supes is all like "We should help by giving and building them stuff!" while Bats is "I'll give him a job so he can help his family."

[icon_uk]

And, ultimately "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, TEACH a man to fish and he'll eat for as long as he lives"

[nezchan]

Give a man a fire, he'll be warm for a day.

Set a man on fire, he'll be warm his entire life.

[icon_uk]

Nods sagely in agreement.

:)

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

Rebuild the house of someone whose own house was just destroyed and he'll have somewhere to live right away. Give a job to someone whose house was just destroyed and he'll still be homeless for a while.

[blakeyrat]

Thus proving conclusively that Superman is better than Batman! QED!!!

[filthysize]

No, it just proves that they work best together as a coupl--PARTNERS! I meant to say partners!

[thirdblindmouse]

Motto.

Additionally, if he's really such a talented toy designer, I'd bet more on his employment status than on his home insurance coverage.

[nezchan]

Adult Bruce is still getting action figures at Xmas?

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

[mullon]

I wonder if Bruce did that for altruistic reasons, or just to show Superman up.

[aaron_bourque]

Showing up Superman: The gift that keeps on giving.

[mullon]

Unless that was Superman's plan all along.

[schala_kid]

Either way Clark doesn't care (unless it's the Silverage).

[sailorlibra]

You don't have nothing, Bruce. You have Alfred! And Dick and Clark and Diana and Tim and Cass and Babs... They all need to get together and group-hug him.

[aaron_bourque]

The thing about Bruce is, he loves all of them: he loves Alfred, he loves Dick, he loves Tim and Cass and Babs and even Helena and Selina and Clark and Diana and everyone, but if he were ever given the choice?

He'd take his parents. None of the other Batfamily, except maybe Tim, would make that same choice. He'd give it all up, the heroic life, all the lives he's helped, everything, for his parents. It's not fair to the people he's with now, but that's how it is.

[icon_uk]

I think Dick would make the same choice. Tim.... maybe not.

[aaron_bourque]

You sure? Dick went from acrobat to one of the wealthiest kids in the world.

He went from a performers' life to a life of adventure.

Not to knock his parents, he obviously loved them, but they were murdered and he was rewarded with becoming Robin.

Whereas Tim's family was slowly picked off, and he was Robin (by technicality) before his parents died.

Either way, it would be a horrible choice to have to make.

[icon_uk]

Yup, I'm sure. Dick has the same motivating factor in his life that Bruce does; loss. He hasn't got the same angst over it that Bruce does, mostly because Bruce made sure he wouldn't, but that moment of horrible tragedy still defines what his life has become.

I don't think he's EVER viewed becoming a Robin as a "reward", not even a fair trade.

To recall one of the more memorable lines in PAD's Young Justice, when Arrowette's mother starts on a rant about how Nightwing, since he isn't a parent, couldn't understand her worries about losing someone he loved.

"Lady, I hear the screams of the people I couldn't save every morning when I drift off to asleep." and it's obvious he's talking about his family.

The only writer who has ever suggested that Dick might make a different choice is Devin Grayson, during her "Gotham Knights" run and I don't think I was the only reader whose though was "You have so completely lost missed the point of Dick Grayson here it boggles the mind"

[3goodtimes]

But Dick said himself in an issue of Gotham Knights that though he's certain Bruce would trade everything for his parents, he wouldn't give up Bruce and his life to get the Graysons back.

[icon_uk]

And as I said in another reply on this thread, that moment was essentially flying in the face of decades worth of Dick's backstory. Never once before has he expressed the slightest thought that he wouldn't take his parents back over his life as Robin and Nightwing.

[3goodtimes]

Most modern versions of characters fly in the face of the 'aw shucks' golden and silver eras. The Dick who resides in my head from my readings of Nightwing and modern Batman and Detective comics is far more attached to the family that adopted and raised him than the memory of his parents.

But I won't dispute your knowledge of Dick's character. I'm sure you're right that more canon supports Dick's love for the Graysons, and lord knows you're more of an expert on this than most.

[sun_man]

no he wouldn't, because the world needs Batman. There was a comic where that happened. And Bruce saw that without Batman the world would go to shit.

And honestly Tim would chose robin over his parents anyday of the week.

Dick and Bruce are more alike in their thinking.

unlike Dick and Bruce, Tim actively wanted to become a sidekick. Bruce and Dick were fated to be heroes. Tim made the choice and inadvertantly sacrificed loved ones for it. Thats the difference, characters like Tim and Barbra(to a small extent) chose this life.

Bruce, Dick, Jason and Cassandra had very little choice.

[icon_uk]

no he wouldn't, because the world needs Batman. There was a comic where that happened. And Bruce saw that without Batman the world would go to shit.

There have been all sort of variants, including one world where his parents survived and Bruce became Batman anyway.

And honestly Tim would chose robin over his parents anyday of the week.

Absolutely not, that would be an inhuman choice to make.

[aaron_bourque]

Bruce doesn't need Batman. Fuck the world.

[thirdblindmouse]

None of the other Batfamily, except maybe Tim, would make that same choice.

Do you have evidence for this for anyone besides Dick? I mean, Cass's father is good riddance, and Jim is still around. Would Helena not give it up for her family? Did Jason even know his family?

Not that I'm arguing that that isn't "the thing about Bruce". Tim's family is a recent loss, whereas Thomas and Martha Wayne have been dead for 3/4 of Bruce's life. While I don't think Bruce ultimately would (has) chosen living parents over a world where he became patriarch of the Batclan, I do think he continues to think he would...

[ar_feiniel]

Bruce doesn't get my sympathy here. He could have hung around and helped rebuild the house (and still given the father a job) with Supes and experience the joy of giving and togetherness. Instead he locks himself in his Fortress of Emo-tude and sends Alfred.

[aaron_bourque]

He could have hung around and helped rebuild the house

He would've just slowed Supes down.

Superman would have finished three new houses by the time Batman finished nailing in one plank.

experience the joy of giving and togetherness.

Overrated.

[ravenous_raven]

I think I know what the blue and white striped package is...*points to icon* for Alfred, of course :)

[megami18]

I agree. I think that Dick wouldn't thrive in a civilian life the way he does in this one. He doesn't even have any civilian friends at all. I think that Tim is wracked by enough guilt that he'd give up the life for his parents (he did once anyway, right?) despite knowing he'd be miserable.

I never really thought about it this way, but Bruce and Tim are similar in that they chose this life, but Dick didn't, and I think it makes a difference. Maybe it makes them feel more guilt and culpability for everything they've done, for all the lives they've saved and all the ones they didn't, since it was their choice to do what they do. Going back and undoing it all would not only get their parents back but it would release them from that guilt. But if Dick were to undo it all, he'd only get his parents back. I don't know if I'm making sense.

[icon_uk]

Are you kidding? Dick is the sort of guy who would thrive anywhere, whether as a member of the Flying Graysons, half of the original Dynamic Duo, or leading the Titans. As everyong (including himself) have noted, he's at heart a performer, whatever his mission or aim. Bruce taught him to maximise the skills required to be a hero, but the kid was a veritable sponge of picking up skills. He might not have picked up the skillset he has now, but with his parents guidance, I could easily see him being the circus star performer, Olympic gymnastic competitor, and/or running the circus by now.

And Dick is the sort of guy who makes friends wherever he goes, and pretty much effortlessly, so I'm not sure what makes you say Dick doesn't have ciivilan friends? When he was working at the bar, he was friends with the owner and the customers (who all liked him), when he was a cop, he had a few people on the force he viewed as friends (and in Bludhaven, that can't have been easy), he was friends with Clancy, when he was working in the gym he was friends with the staff there. The fact his life changes more often than most, and people move out of his circle of acquaintance more than would usually happens doesn't mean he doesn't have friends.

And finally (Sorry if this seems like a diatribe, it's not intended to sound like that) again, what do you mean Dick didn't choose the life, but Bruce and Tim did? Dick made the choice that Bruce did and for the same reason loss. It's TIM who chose to become a hero for a different reason; because Bruce needed a Robin for balance, rather than an outlet for emotional grief