Gates of Gotham #3

[zechs80]

Four scans under the cut.



If you're all wanting a well written event then look no further to Gates of Gotham. It's a shame it's dropped so lowly but come on people! BUY THE BOOK! I mean look at the wondrous things it has plus Cass. Anyway the issue is a slow burn with some great moments again sprinkled throughout:



So the four split up.

Damian/Tim:



Cass/Dick:

Comments

[red_menace]

"She's just one more person your father picked over you."

Tim Drake, ladies and gentlemen.

[rordulum]

Yeah, Tim really knows where to stick the knife in, doesn't he?

You've got to love him for that.

It's nice to see Dick and Cass getting on after that terrible Batgirl mini from a couple of years ago. The one where they were both almost unrecognisable.

[icon_uk]

At some level, from Tim's POV, I think Damian will always be the murdering little creep who attempted to kill him in order to become Robin, and who he then discovered had been GIVEN the role of Robin (Which was still Tim's as far as he knew) by his beloved older brother just after the loss of his father.

(Sorry, I know Morrison has his fans, and I'm often one of them, but I will never quite forgive him for the shoddy writing of Damian getting the Robin role from Tim.)

[mrstatham]

Frankly, Damien deserves it, sometimes. I don't give a shit that he's ten or a child - he's Bruce Wayne's kid and he knows how to choose his words. He shouldn't be surprised when someone proves better at it than him.

[euthanatos]

wow. that was uncalled for.

[espanolbot]

Hey, Damian was the one who told Cassandra that the reason why Bruce put her in charge of the "East Asian Office", as it were, was because he thought that she was a failure and this was his idea of exile.

He might only be ten, but still he's smart enough to know when he's hurting people's feelings, which he did in Cass' case, though with her it was kind of subtle.

[blackruzsa]

I dunno, I thought someone needed to put Damien in his place the same cruel way he's been insulting everyone else.

[18lemons]

Tim, I used to like you, love you even, you were my favourite Robin. The Robin I had when I was growing up but now you really are written to be as much of a jerk as you can. Damian has issues, he's also 10. You're anywhere between 17 and 19, you don't have to remind him that he's not daddy's favourite whenever you get the chance.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I dunno, the way Damien snaps at everyone, I think *everyone* should take time out of their day to correct him. Not like he's learned his lesson yet.

[blake_reitz]

To be fair, when Damian first showed up, he killed a dude, bragged about it to Tim, then beat him up and tossed him into the Robin display cases. Damian may have made progress since then, but I can see how he would still rub Tim the wrong way.

[anothermoviegeek]

Perhaps if Damien would maybe even attempt to meet him halfway, Tim might ease up on the little snot a bit.

From earlier in this same issue:

Damien: "And look--Drake may have been useful for once"

So when the little snot ever gives perchance an ounce of non sarcastic respect to Tim, then maybe you would have a point. But until that day...Damien can suck it.

[espanolbot]

Damian is smart enough to know when he's being deliberately hurtful, rather than accidentally as other kids his age might be.

Him getting a little blunt honesty back is still better than him going around calling Stephanie "Fatgirl" or telling Cass that Bruce put her in charge of Batman Inc's East Asian branch because he thought that she was a failure and that sending her to Hong Kong was a form of exile.

[pyrotwilight]

That and because she's the older sister who could kick his ass. :D

[biod]

In my canon Damian totally has a thing for Cass, but is afraid of the cooties and of admitting she can kick his ass six wasys to sunday.

[espanolbot]

At this point I think that so many people think that that it must be more than a little canon to an extent.

[lucky_gamble]

you mean that isn't main canon already?

[espanolbot]

I suppose the fact that Damian had something of a similar background to Cass yet does see what was wrong with it might be another thing that rubs Tim the wrong way about how he reacts to Cass.

I took Tim's reaction to be more than a pinch of "You don't know what she's been through. Her childhood, her struggles as Batgirl, her ONLY friend getting supposedly tortured to death, and then all of her new friends and her possible lover getting murdered by Deathstroke, only to get brainwashed by him into murdering people for nearly two years without anyone thinking of coming to her rescue. She suffered through all of that and came out the other side smelling of roses. So shut up, you ignorant ass."

[q99]

I like how Cassandra's body language reading is used here to find stuff Dick might've missed.

In both this and Red Robin, it's pretty clear she doesn't have near the technical skills of the others, but she makes up for it in her own way. That sort of lopsidedness is part of her charm.

[whitesycamore]

Lol at the suggestion that Tim trusts people "too easily."

[midnightvoyager]

*waves a little Tim flag*

Damien just never has managed to cross from "Annoying snot" for me. I get all the "He's just a kid" stuff, but he certainly doesn't want to be thought of as one. So! Give him what he wants. You don't wanna be thought of as a kid, grow up, shut up, and develop a friendly, teasing manner of quipping instead of scathing insults.

CASSANDRA'S USELESS AND SPINELESS AND WEEEEEAK, TIM YOU TRUST TOO EASILY, STEPH IS FAT

Ugh. This is not how you become accepted, kid. This is how you make everyone around you develop a deep desire to set you on fire. Unless it's the DCU!

Mind, I have been ROYALLY irked by all the "HE'S JUST LIKE HIS DADDY" whatevers that Alfred and such said. Maybe he's just a tiny black hole of characterization failure? That might make sense. Every writer I've actually read seems to develop a little characterization seizure in their brain when it comes to him.

...Ah well, too much typing effort for something that'll possibly be gone in retcon retcon retcon time.

[zechs80]

Obviously, Tim took deep offensive to Damian knocking Cass down and still hasn't forgiven him for this:

[darkknightjrk]

See, this scene with Tim and Damian--this exemplifies exactly why I'm kinda glad that Dick/Damian is ending. They were fun interacting with each other, sure, but Bruce really needs to step up and start raising Damian himself. I expect to see a lot of interesting, dramatic daddy issues to come in Batman & Robin, and I'm eager to see it.

Also, I hope the next issue of Gates has Tim teaming with Cass, with him telling her what he said to Damian and Cass punching him for it.

[big_daddy_d]

I'm sorry, I'm a Tim fan and also made it no secret that I like Damian and want the kid to grow into someone more humble and mature but whereas Damian has no filter and says such inappropriate things as well as treat others in a crappy manner...

What Tim said wasn't cool. There is no defending that. I would've thought he'd be more mature than that. Stooping to that level doesn't make him any better, it really doesn't. If you want to shut Damian down, there are better ways of handling it, to which said ways doesn't make you seem like such a dick.

I'm still a Tim fan, but that just wasn't cool.

[magus_69]

Tim's crack was out of line, no question, but Damien has been allowed to get away with so much worse that I can hardly find it in myself to care.

[glprime]

Oh, so we're doing the "Bat Shoulder Pads" again? Alright...

[minyandu]

The rivalry drama here makes me feel like both Tim and Damian have been pushed back to two years ago and their character development seems never exist.