a post with entirely innapropriate commentary

[3goodtimes]

I have trouble believing this hasn't been posted before, but a search and quick glance through the tags came up with nothing. So, please bear with me if I'm showing you something you've seen here already. I wasn't around when scans was on livejournal.

I'm a sucker for beautifully drawn origin stories. Dennis O'Neil's "The Choice" from Legends of the Dark Knight #100 is no exception (even if it does include a brown-eyed Dick).

Grayson Sr. is a-rather fond of a-folksy colloquial language. And naming his kid after those pretend turtle neck things my mom wears under her holiday jumpers. He kind of resembles a mustachioed version of Peter Sarsgaard in that last panel.


Hey look who it is, Bruce! Your adorable future stalker-turned-sidekick! Also, The Gazette needs new writers.


That hat now has a memorial case down in the Batcave. Bruce never truly recovered from the loss. Hopefully, it won't be ressurected into a pimply villain-hat in a lollipop helmet.


Dick's vengeance face is cute.




I don't know if you guys knew this, but Batman's parents totally died. It's true. And his mother wore a shit-ton of pearls.




Motormouth Maybelle is so right. It's an awesome idea to let a strange man in a batsuit bring a small boy back to his car in the middle of the night.



Then stuff happens. And more stuff. And finally...


It's a Robin! Good thing Bruce had that costume lying around in case a flexible orphan child ever decided to live with him and fight crime.

Ready for some woobie? Ollie and Dinah deliver in Green Arrow #75.



Is it bad that all these pages make me think is 'damn, I really want Slade and Ollie to bone?' They can rub their beards together in passionate embrace!

YOU CAN'T DENY THE SEXUAL TENSION, PEOPLE!


Aww, shucks, Slade that's awful nice of you. Remind me to never let you pull my name for Secret Santa.

Although I'm an Ollie/Dinah fan (despite recent atrocity that was the writing on Green Arrow/Black Canary), I can't help but think the above pages would have been much cooler if Dinah had been making that speech. Less predictable. Still, Scott McDaniel's art works well for me on this title, and that makes up for the cliches.

Comments

[sailorlibra]

Damnit, Bruce, you're so in denial here. Dick is gonna totally become your son and you're going to love him and be proud of him... Can anyone tell that I was just re-reading The Black Cat's stuff?

[3goodtimes]

Oh I'm sure Bruce started feeling that way the first week. But then he spent many of the rest of his years driving Dick to madness by denying it, haha.

The Black Cat should be hired by DC to write sweet Bat stories. I would buy them!

[mad]

Oh, I love your icon. That's happy!bus-driving!Helena, isn't it?

[majingojira]

Did the sword have to be in Dinah's mouth? Really?

[3goodtimes]

Honestly, I didn't even notice the implications of the sword fellatio. *sigh* That is rather gratuitous.

[mad]

This.

[bean_montag]

Thank you for making this comment. That shit is fucked. Up. Not cool.

[bean_montag]

oh and um--your icon? it is triggering some old childhood memory... help a sister out? what is it?

[merseybeatler]

MR. GLIIIIITCH! 8D

That is all.

[jelly_ace]

Is it just me, or does the Batman story seem a bit...disjointed? The flow is off or something. And I'm not liking the art very much. Special mention goes to Bruce's furred pimp coat.

This story is no Robin's Reckoning.

[3goodtimes]

The flow might be off because I'm posting it in chunks. Skipping around and whatnot.

Ross's art tends to be of the 'take it or leave it' sort. :)

[chipsnopotatoes]

lol. that fur-lined coat was the first thing i noticed as well. i just cannot see bruce wayne wearing something like that --- shearling yes, that ratty long haired thing, no.

[aaron_bourque]

I'm a sucker for beautifully drawn origin stories.

This isn't beautifully drawn. In fact, it's quite . . . inexpertly drawn in some places. What it beautifully is is beautifully colored.

Even if it does have Dick's eye colors wrong, the colors are exquisite.

[aaron_bourque]

Oh, and Alex Ross just did the cover. The Choice is drawn by David Taylor.

[ex_frolics927]

I know, I know but I always still want father moments.

[mad]

Awww, little Timmy!

But, um, "never a father"? Ouch, Bruce. I mean, it's one thing to say "I'm not trying to replace your parents", but it's another thing entirely to say "I'm never gonna be a father to you, kid, so don't get start with the warm & fuzzies, because you won't be getting any of that from me".

[warpedhand]

I'm pretty sure at this point he just wants to ensure that Dick knows he's not trying to replace his dad. I mean, his actions are obviously contradicting what he's saying.

[joysweeper]

Huh. I actually do like this art.

Some of this story was told in a much less cool way in ASSBAR, right? I saw that on At4W. This is much better.

[darkblade]

Then again there are things better than ASSBAR that are considered crimes against humanity.

[zordboy]

I quite liked the art, actually. Batman comes across as very wraith-like in his scenes. I dig that.

Although I fully confess, I got to this part...

"I don't know if you guys knew this, but Batman's parents totally died. It's true. And his mother wore a shit-ton of pearls."

...and LOLed quite heartily :).

[ravenous_raven]

same :) wasn't sure if the OP was being serious or not...

[icon_uk]

Interesting (if not always successful) art style, but it was something like one of three Dick Grayson Robin origins that came out in incredibly short order, all apparently in some sort of continuity, so it was a mitr confusing.

And the Deathstroke scene just pisses me off because seeing Deathstroke the Terminator arching for Green Arrow like that (and especially without a contract) seems wrong, especially when Deathstroke is responsible for the destruction of Bludhaven in a deliberate attempt to irk Nightwing and he and Nightwing have barely seen each other since and neither seems to care.

[lamashtar]

'arching for Green Arrow'? The pictures aren't currently available for me, is it that slashy?

[adze]

I always loved the next sequence from the Green Arrow stuff, when the entire JLA breaks down the wall to rescue Ollie & Dinah.

It's like the sequence when Connor gets shot, and Ollie starts shouting for Clark - moments where I think "Why doesn't this happen more often?"

[icon_uk]

Perhaps because "Ollie yelling for Clark" is one of the most ridiculous moments in DC history? That Clark could hear a single, unamplified voice on the other side of the world when he wasn't listening out for it? Clark's senses have never been shown to be THAT sensitive this side of "Man of Steel" (even Jimmy's signal watch isn't that powerful).

[requiem2adream]

Did they really need to use the phrase 'wacky zillionaire' twice on the same page? Even the first use of it was one use too many.

[icon_uk]

I think that's the point, it highlights that it's a media creation, and reinforces that people are actually buying into it.

[lyraeinne]

Wow, that first story is amazing. In fact, I think it might have to become my favorite version of the origin story ever, as long as we're ignoring the DCAU. Sensitive, caring Bruce! Tiny, adorable, precocious Dick! A story that actually invests a small amount of time into exploring Bruce's motives for taking on the responsibility and his fears of forming intimate bonds with new people! Given the impact that attitude has had on the arc of their relationship over the past few decades, it really is something that needs to be dealt with in a conscientious origin story, and I love that this one manages to do it without giving the impression that Bruce really just doesn't give a shit I'm looking at you, Dark Victory. Oh big bathand tucking Dickie in, you break me. <3

[jaybee3]

The Batman pages were gorgeous and Denny O'Neil probably knows his Batman probably better than anyone.

I loathe the GA stuff. Didn't they do the same thing during the Wedding. With Slade putting his (phallic) sword in/near Dinah's mouth. And yet the same Dinah who has a super-power and is one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the world has to be saved by Green Arrow, who is neither of those things - again and again and still. Isn't there some writer other than Gail Simone who is willing to writer HER as the hero for once?

[ravenous_raven]

/so/ true. I was actually looking at that whole scan and thinking, "Wait, how did Slade get the jump on Canary?" and since it doesn't look like she's backed up to a wall or anything, why doesn't she just step back quickly and round-house Slade to make him drop the knife?

[sistermagpie]

OMG, I've been trying to find that first comic for so long--I remembered reading it but couldn't remember who did it. Just because of that first part with Dick's parents. Why does his father use that weird "a'spinnin'" construction? And ever since I saw this I've always thought of Dick's mom as Betty Paige. Check out that pose there! I was thinking of it in that recent Batman issue where Dick's looking that the file Bruce has on his family and his mom again looks like a pin up.

Also I love that they live in that wooden trailer. And that Tim looks like some penny dreadful Victorian drawing or something.

[icon_uk]

It sounds like a family expression, like "Time's a wastin'" or the like. (And where does Tim appear in this?)

[tornadotwin.blogspot.com]

Little Richard looks like Ibn al Xu'ffasch from The Kingdom's Son of The Bat comic when he was a little kid.

[hatman]

Little Timmy? Would that be Timmy Drake?

Beautiful art.

I'm a little confused about the hat. Does it make more sense in context? He's using it as an excuse to run down and get to the scene or something?

BTW, your GA pages show for me as "unavailable."

No comment on the phrase "brown-eyed Dick."

[3goodtimes]

I think so, yes!

And yeah, the hat does make more sense in context. I believe he uses it as an excuse to run out and grab his batsuit. Had to cut that out to fit the rules.

Argh, I don't know what happened to them! I'll try to fix it.

LOL yeah, I was hoping no one would notice the terribly gross implications of that. Damn you and your ability to spot inconvenient euphemisms! *shakes fist*