Batman Year Three: Jason and Tim and Grief and Pictures

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

A conversation with lipsofpoison brought up Jason's death and Bruce's grief, and this recent post by runespoor7 http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/979880.html made me think of the Year Three story and how it shows post-Jason Bruce.



There was a discussion about Bruce having pictures of Jason in his bedroom--until Jason's death and Bruce's inability to cope with the loss of his son--but no pictures are visible at all in the third panel above and it made me think of the rest of the arc and way the story is filled with pictures, including the ones on the other side of the room, visible in a moment.

Just like in the hallway.


This is leading up to Tim's appearance, and there's a lot of focus in the Year Three story arc and Tim's story arc on Bruce's grief over Jason (of course) and family pictures.

More pictures show up in Batman #440.




And finally we've made it to the picture that leads to the next whole story arc of Tim Drake. Who's all about... the pictures he takes of Batman and the picture Tim's parents sent--of young Tim and the Flying Graysons and the Drakes--to Bruce when Bruce got custody of Dick after his parents died the night the picture was taken.







Batman 436 by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by John Beatty.
Batman 440 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, art by Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo.

Comments

[lipsofpoison.insanejournal.com]

Ha! Thank you. This is what happens when you don't read all the issues and make assumptions on one.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

No problem! The pictures connection is well-done, imo. Across quite a few issues. In the New Titans tie-in, we see more family pictures in the Haley's Office. And then, soon, of course Tim presents Dick with the pics he's taken stalking Batman and the copy of the one from That Fateful Night when he met Dick and Batman for the first time.

[lipsofpoison.insanejournal.com]

I've read most of that arc but it is hard to find older issues sometimes and they can be fairly expensive but I did enjoy it. Though am now slightly confused about Alfred "not being there" for Bruce.

[kksimone.insanejournal.com]

This was before the "Alfred raised Bruce" retcon. Alfred just appeared one day because he promised his father that he'd continue the family business. And since Alfred's father was the Waynes' butler...

Not that this explains where either Beagle Pennyworth spent the 2 decades or so between the death of Thomas and Martha and the appearance of Batman. It probably helps that, when he first appeared, Alfred was so stupid you could believe he either forgot his father died or it took him that long to find Gotham City.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Actually, I believe that this came many years AFTER the "Alfred raised Bruce" retcon, which came along with Batman Year 1, this is the start of Batman Year 3/Lonely Place of Dying.

[kksimone.insanejournal.com]

Huh. So then...why's Alfred saying he wasn't there?

(And I should just write off the Year 3/Adult Dick thing as "comic book time"?)

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

No clue, perhaps he means that he wasn't ABLE to temper Bruce the way he was with Dick.

And Year 3 was about Dick being an adult, having to take a look back on his childhood, the loos of his parents and his training to be Robin during Batman's third year of operation, as Zucco is released from prison having served his time.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I believe at this point the story is (according to Miller's Year One/Batman 404) that Bruce went away abroad for 12 years, returning home to Alfred at age 25.

[lipsofpoison.insanejournal.com]

So he was 13? That's much younger than I thought.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

It's very young, isn't it. I'll post the relevant scans.

[the_lassiter.insanejournal.com]

This is really good, thanks for posting it. This really shows how much Alfred influences Batman's sanity an emotions to the positive.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Glad you like!

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Ooh, I love the use of pictures here. It makes perfect sense. As has been pointed out in numerous places, Bruce (and the Bats) are all obsessed with family, including dead family. Most of them do like to have pictures of people, and a lot of artists show that in the places where they live. Wayne Manor has plenty of Wayne pictures on the walls (even ancestral pictures), Dick tends to have smiley pictures of the Flying Graysons, the Titans, him and Bruce and Alfred and Ace on fishing trips. Alfred recently had those two pictures of a fishing trip and one of Damian and Talia together. And of course here it's centered around the important picture-taking moment with the Graysons and the Drakes. Which is totally one of those pictures that would gain more meaning now that the family's gotten shuffled: originally it was the two families posing together, now Tim and Dick are family, so they share an early family photo--the Graysons and the Drakes are family too, even if they didn't bond that way in life.

Also I love that picture of Dick on the wall.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

It really does make perfect sense. I love when artists show us the pictures they have around them. Dick having a picture of Clark in his room, Babs having Batman's, Jim with a picture of Babs on his desk, Bruce with the family portraits, Batman, even, with his rogue's gallery of pics down in the cave, the photo Dick recently took from the Manor to bring to the penthouse.
Oh! And Dick's scrapbook!

I love that picture on the wall, too. Looks like it could be a school portrait.

[retro_nouveau.insanejournal.com]

Alfred: Sir, I'm afraid you're on a course that will mean your undoing. Please consider making some changes, as I do not wish to lose you. ... Sir?
Bruce: *VRRROOOOM!*

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Heh. Bruce really appreciates input.

Is your icon sharable? Because I'm grabbing it!!

[retro_nouveau.insanejournal.com]

Cool, very glad you like it. I didn't know if it would be a good icon, but the image is so great I had to try. Aparo <3!

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I think it looks great! <3s Aparo with you!

(switched out for Aparo BatBruce)

[ladymirth.insanejournal.com]

So, by this time it was not yet canon that Alfred had been Bruce's guardian after his parents had been killed? Because he says he wasn' there for Bruce growing up and that Bruce was already Batman when he first entered his employ.

Come to think of it, when DID it become canon that Alfred had brought up Bruce?

How much do I love that photo of wee!Timmy on Dick's lap, surrounded by their families? I wish that had come out again at some point after this story arc, but then, we can't have nice things.

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

Come to think of it, when DID it become canon that Alfred had brought up Bruce?

BATMAN: YEAR ONE, I think. At the end of the first chapter, Bruce thinks how Alfred was a sort of "gift" from his father.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Pretty much, on the gift. But then there's the 'abroad' years.

[kksimone.insanejournal.com]

Post-Crisis (unfortunately Wiki's not giving me any specific information--like issue numbers or something--that would actually be helpful).

[icecream_cool.insanejournal.com]

I wish I could remember the issue when this was established but I love how Alfred first started out knowing Bruce as a small child to later being there before Bruce was born.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

maybe in this case once Bruce got old enough to do his traveling/training Alfred stayed in Gotham?

Or maybe this writer just screwed up the continuity

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I think it could easily fit into Y1 continuity.

[ar_feiniel_.insanejournal.com]

Regarding the time of Alfred's employ, I'm guessing continuity goof. His narrative about wishing he had been there to temper Bruce could be read as "I wish I had tempered you" or refer to Bruce's time traveling around searching for gurus to learn from.

But coupled with the later conversation where he tells Bruce "When I first entered your employ, I was impressed by your extraordinary planning and deductive skills. You spent as much time orchestrating as your actions as executing them"...yeah, that just doesn't read so well as a description of a kid.

[superfan1.insanejournal.com]

Oh alfred,you try so hard to get through bruce. But it futile getting your concerns across, I want to hug you though.

I love the scans. :)

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Me too!