Well, the world may NOT have ended, but here's a possible sign of the Apocalypse..

[icon_uk]

Icon_UK buys a page of original art from a Devin Grayson story!


My assessment of Devin Grayson's work with the Batclan has been repeated too many times to be worth THAT much focus here. Let me stress I am positive she is a delightful human being and all round good egg, I've never met the lady and genuinely wish her joy and happiness in whatever avenue she wishes.

However, despite some excellent character moments and vigenttes, the sexual overtones she ladled on with a trowel in the Bat-titles, and especially Nightwing, don't so much impress or intrigue me as make me roll my eyes and occasionally giggle at the hilarity of it as presented.

I've had all sorts of weird thoughts and notions in my head over the years, but I've never warmed to the notion of Batman being a sexual partner for any of this Robins, they are his children, they view him as a parent, anything beyond that is a place I have no interest in seeing the characters go (I'm also not a fan of Robin on Robin, they're siblings and should IMHO stay that way).

Case in point is this page from Gotham Knights #11, where Hugo Strange, having taken Robin, Nightwing and Bruce Wayne (Who seems to have NO awareness that he is Batman) prisoner, interrogates (whilst dressed as Batman) a captive Hunk Wonder.

First Strange comments that he had thought that Batman was Nightwing's father...



This was just too hilarious a page not to acquire when I had the chance. A lunatic psychiatrist lecturing a tied up Nightwing (posed in a classic submissive position) on unresolved sexual tension whilst dressed as Batman... I was giggling by the end of the second panel ("Sticky and hot"?") and by the fifth panel it's like the subtext has punched the text in the gut and is standing on top of it waving a large hand illuminated sign shouting "I'm the slashy subtext LA-LA-LA LA-LA!")

And that dialogue, so florid, so over-ripe, it's like a very bad teenage romance novel (I read "Flowers in the Attic" in my youth.. though for the life of me I still have no idea why)

Now it's tempting to dismiss it as Dick playing along with Hugo's insanity, but given Ms Grayson's comments about her views on the Dick/Bruce dynamic, and Dick's extraordinarily sexualised nature (Her famous comment that Dick has a "Fight or fuck" response to physical contact) there's still the sense that he is supposed to be actually acknowledging that there is at least some truth to Strange's assessment.

I do really like the art here though, the black and white really pops better than the coloured pages I think, and the poses may be obvious, but work...

A nice little surprise on the back of the art were some test sketches that Roger Robinson did before doing the art properly on the front. I've seen him do this on other art samples, presumably so he can lightbox when drawing (though I can't swear to that) I wasn't expecting it on mine... and we DO get better ass definition in THE bottom panel, so enjoy! :)

Interesting that Robin's chest logo is new, and made out of a bow and two arrows, emphasising his "Robin Hood" inspiration perhaps?

Comments

[misterbug]

It's looking much more "Adam West Series" than "Turn Off The Dark", so...hopefulness!

[star_of_airdrie]

There is so much you've said here that deserves comment, but as far as 'Flowers in the Attic', I think all of us in the entire English speaking world of a certain generation read it, perhaps for no other reason than just to piss our parents off...? I can't think of another good reason... and it was traumatizing.

[icon_uk]

There is so much you've said here that deserves comment

Good comment or bad comment? I know that FitA is kind of... derailing, but I didn't mean it break the post! :)

[thehefner]

I've been putting off posting this story for months, thereby delaying my Hugo series! I really should get back on that. Good buy! I'm fond of what Grayson did with Hugo in that one, which--for my money--is the character last truly great appearance.

[thehefner]

character'S, I mean

[whitesycamore]

And that dialogue, so florid, so over-ripe, it's like a very bad teenage romance novel (I read "Flowers in the Attic" in my youth.. though for the life of me I still have no idea why)

I am so terribly sorry. D: Hugs if you need them, and also this

I'm also not a fan of Robin on Robin, they're siblings and should IMHO stay that way.

Eh... some of the Robins are siblings in my mind, some of them not. I base my judgement on the length and emotional quality of each relationship. Tim and Jason, for example, are most definitely not brothers, having met on only three or four occasions and only once as civilians. Both having been coincidentally adopted by the same eccentric millionaire does not a sibling relationship make, imo. As for Dick and Jason - eh. Canon is vague on how much of a brotherly relationship they had before Jason died, but my impression is "not much." And Steph's no one's sister either, but especially not Tim's, for obvious reasons.

[icon_uk]

Good point on the Stephs, I should noted that yes, she does not have the sibling thing going, except Dick probably feels a somewhat big brotherly vibe for her (the way he appears to for just about anyone younger than he is who is not actively trying to kill him at the time).

Tim and Jason though, have a rather odd dynamic, because for most of Tim's career Jason is "the one who died as Robin". They may not have met or interacted (for obvious reasons, and necrophilia not being Tim's bag AFAIK) but Jason's shadow would have haunted him for the entirety of his Robin career up until Jason's dirt-nap-wake-up. Memories of Jason would make Bruce go quiet and Alfred look sad, that HAS to have an impact, even moreso when he comes back as something not quite the same as he was before (to say the least).

[whitesycamore]

Uh, yeah? Jason had a big impact on Tim. That doesn't mean they relate to each other as brothers (tbh I'm still iffy on the whole Tim-adoption thing anyway - I never really saw Bruce's relationship with Tim as paternal in the same way it was with Dick and Jason).

Idk, I dislike the trend of projecting some Brady-bunch dynamic onto the Bats. It's fun and cute as a fannish thing, but I find it simplistic to approach actual canon with the idea that every significant relationship is in some sense a familial one...

I mean, to me the Bats are a family in the sense that they are *clannish.* But trying to map the dynamics of a conventional, nuclear family onto them is foolishness.

[icon_uk]

They don't relate to each other as siblings I agree, nor would I expect them to) but they do share a father figure, and in Tim's case, as he does view Dick as a brother, in some senses he would probably view Jason as a brother too, just one who died before he met him.

Tim as Bruce's adopted son is, yes, something I could have lived without and whatever issues I have with Chuck Dixon as a writer I will forever applaud him for insisting that Jack Drake be kept alive (albeit/particularly it as something of a jerk and not a terribly effective dad), to give Tim some emotional distance from Bruce.

Certain members of the family have definite "classic" (for whatever meaning that has) family relations. Bruce and Dick, father and son. Dick and Tim, siblings. Throw in Jason, Steph, Cass and Damian and you have more... esoteric relationships.

Bruce and Damian haven't really been shown as father and son, despite the fact they biologically are (Damian is perhaps more the son the ex-girlfriend dumped on the doorstep without ever having mentioned she was pregnant) and Dick and Dmian extends beyond step-siblinghood because of their mentor/pupil relationship (I leave it to the individual imagination as to who views whom in which)

IIRC the thing about The Brady Bunch was that they were one of the first families to NOT be a standard atomic family dynamic shown on TV, since they were step siblings (In name only mostly I grant you, but it was groundbreaking for it's day, and led to a couple of fun movies too, one of which DID feature a hint or two of step-sibling attraction)

Hmm, a rather wandered reply, and I'm not sure it addressed your comments, but once it got started it sort of ran away from me! :)

[whitesycamore]

Yeah, there are plenty of individual dyads within the batfamily who relate to each other in fairly classic parent/child, sibling/sibling ways, but as a whole the relationships are very varied, and depend far more on individual personalities and circumstance than legal or biological ties.

IIRC the thing about The Brady Bunch was that they were one of the first families to NOT be a standard atomic family dynamic shown on TV, since they were step siblings (In name only mostly I grant you, but it was groundbreaking for it's day, and led to a couple of fun movies too, one of which DID feature a hint or two of step-sibling attraction)

Atomic family? Is that a joke, or a telling Freudian slip? ;D

I get that the Brady's were supposed to be non-traditional family, but they still all knew each other and lived in the same house and had everyday interactions with one another. It's not like one of them lived in Hong Kong, and another two hadn't really ever met, and one of them was in jail, and Marsha was just a distant figure of parental approval for Jan, who really knew more about her through hearsay than through interaction, and Cindy had only actually joined the family *after* Jan had died... etc.

[icon_uk]

Atomic family? Is that a joke, or a telling Freudian slip? ;D

Ahem... "Nuclear family"... "atomic family". Bad habit of mine, sort of word dis-association. I know too many words and tend to use homonyms when I don't mean to. (Also the reason, I think, that those "Rememeber everyone in a room by name in 15 minutes" memory course things never work for me.)

It's not like one of them lived in Hong Kong, and another two hadn't really ever met, and one of them was in jail, and Marsha was just a distant figure of parental approval for Jan, who really knew more about her through hearsay than through interaction, and Cindy had only actually joined the family *after* Jan had died... etc.

I would watch the HELL out of that version of "The Brady Bunch" :)

[whitesycamore]

Ahem... "Nuclear family"... "atomic family". Bad habit of mine, sort of word dis-association. I know too many words and tend to use homonyms when I don't mean to.

You mean "synonyms," darling (you're doing it now).

[icon_uk]

Duuuurr.... I'm going back to bed...

[janegray]

But but but... I like Timmy and Jason as brothers... *trembling lip*

[whitesycamore]

I like it too - in fanon! But as it is I don't think they've interacted enough yet to make them canonically brotherly.

I guess it kind of depends on what one thinks of as 'brotherly' though...

[whitesycamore]

"You need him like you've never needed anything, before or since."

Ew. I almost feel embarrassed on Devin Grayson's behalf.

[icon_uk]

You can all but hear the heavy breathing as he says it, can't you? (From whom, I'll leave to the individual tastes and perception of the scene)

[janegray]

I notice that, once again, the villain was too stupid to tie the ankles of the acrobatic fighter who is bendier than a ballerina.

Honestly, whatever happened to the sensible villains of old, who used to tie their victims from neck to toes, taking just the shortest break to twirl their mustache?

[janegray]

BTW, what's Batman Live? This is the first I've heard of it.

[icon_uk]

A Batman themed arena show that's touring the world. Looks like fun, and does promise to be about Dick Grayson joining Batman in his crusade against Gotham's criminal scum.