Batman Day Posts! - Batman: The Neurotic Knight

[zapbiffpow]

For my first post (hopefully), here's a delightful scene from the Batman: Reborn era!

I'll post a decent Bruce one later, promise - I just miss Dick!Bats a lot.





The Story:

It's Dick Grayson's first week as the post-Final Crisis Batman. He encounters his first operational woe:





Somehow, Mark Bagley's artstyle fits Dick's Batman. He's lean and not overly buff as Bruce, but he can still pull off some unintentionally intimidating poses, like that one above.





I thought this was an underrated story - mainly because it was overshadowed by the Reborn Trinity that was Batman and Robin, Batgirl and Red Robin.

With Lobdell back on Teen Titans (and apparently trying to improve on his last run), wouldn't it be too much of a stretch to have Winick go to RHATO and Jason Todd?

Anyway, this Dick!Bats story was a nice re-read for me.

Food for Thought: Jason Todd is in Arkham Knight! A story DLC, though, but I'll take it. Sad Rocksteady won't be overstaying their welcome - I'd have loved to see their versions of the rest of the Bat-Famiy.

Comments

[kd_the_movie]

that panel with Dick being frustrated with the cape will never stop being funny. I can see and hear the scene being played out perfectly in my head

[zapbiffpow]

I know, right? Why they haven't done an animated Dick!Bats-centric series, I dunno.

Well, I kind of know, but that can't stop my wishful thinking. :)

[drtechnobabel]

I would love to see that scene animated just so I could see the dramatic cape-whoosh in motion, complete with sound effects and musical cue.

[althechi]

The only odd thing about this scene is that Dick *did* wear the full Batman regalia in Prodigal, and wore it without much difficulty.

[zapbiffpow]

Oh, yeah! The Fabio-haired, drinking-milk-from-the-carton Dick Grayson Batman, right?

I guess they did this for the largely un-tapped humor value of Dick as Batman. Which, for the record, I have no problem with.

[icon_uk]

Agreed, this story ignoring Prodigal just doesn't quite gel, the best I can manage is that Bruce had made several alterations to his costume since then, including a heavier cape and more sight restricting cowl... WHY Bruce would do that is "Just one of those things"

[zapbiffpow]

Well, given how brutal and monstrous and bloodthirsty Gotham's criminals have grown over the years, I wouldn't put it past Bruce to upgrade his hardware.

Escalation, said Nolan!Gordon. Preparation, says Comic!Batman.

[althechi]

Well, one issue featuring the Troika (and the return of the KGBeast) explicitly mentions Batman making modifications to the suit (specifically to radiation-proof it), and Robin mocking him, saying the place should be called "the Cave of Style", so it could have happened there or at any other point Batman felt like jazzing the suit up.

[zapbiffpow]

"The Cave of Style"

FUCKING YES

[althechi]

I'll try to track down that issue, just for you. ;)

[icon_uk]

And I believe the first fanart of Dick in a kevlar ballgown appeared approximately 1.27 microseconds after this issue hit the stands...

[zapbiffpow]

Closest I know is Princess Batman, but it's a pretty sweet closest.

[lucean]

I always liked Winick's run on Batman, even with all the criticism he got. I also felt he was really the only one of the writers who tried to deal with what it meant that Dick was Batman instead of Bruce and how he was different. Daniels was just odd in his approach and Morrison seemed to be more enamored with Damien with Dick almost becoming a side character for him.

[starwolf_oakley]

Morrison loved Damien and hated Jason Todd. Which didn't make much sense to me, as both of them had a tendency to decapitate criminals. Was the idea that Damien didn't know any better?

[zapbiffpow]

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with his Catwoman run, which is a shame since he built all this goodwill hype during the last issue of Justice League: Generation Lost. I think he should have stuck with JLI when the New 52 hit.

But I agree, he does write a decent Dick Grayson and Jason Todd! He can do Dick's warm, showman-like persona and Jason's brash, casual-danger-y, combative point of view.

I'd really like him to return to those two someday, and leave the rest of the Bat-family to those who can handle them better.

[lego_joker]

I've read little of his run during the Batman: Reborn era (did he write anything besides "Long Shadows"?), but I'll always have a soft spot for his first run on the Bat-books, which tried the best it could to salvage the mess that was War Games.

"So, Black Mask, you think you're the big man in Gotham now, huh? Enjoy having Batman, Nightwing, and the Red Hood rip apart your empire piece by piece!"

[starwolf_oakley]

There's at least one BLACK AND WHITE statue of Dick as Batman. Although I'm not sure anyone would know it was Dick unless it was on the box.

[zapbiffpow]

You're right - I checked out his Black and White statue based on his Batman and Robin #1 cover appearance, and his face looks like a lumpy, lumpy, man.

The rest of him is tops, though.

[starwolf_oakley]

That's not the only one. There was another one by Jock.
But you wouldn't know it is Dick Grayson unless the box said so.

[q99]

DickBats will never not be awesome :)

[drtechnobabel]

Hee hee... 'DickBats'.

[q99]

He is so DickBats!