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scans_dailyI pondered long and hard about whether to post this and I'm still not quite sure I made the right choice.
I genuinely don't like posting scans from comics I vehemently disagree with, it's a lot less fun than I normally aim for, and yet sometimes, something seems just SO off that I feel it needs to be looked at.
Case in point, this scene from "Robin and Batman #2" by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
Now Robin has, for most of his existence, been a difficult character to justify. He's a kid, regularly fighting murderous criminals, and only really works in the fantastical realm of comics. If you look too closely at the concept the seams show, and they are problematic.
If a grown man comes across a traumatised, vengeful child with anger issues, then the correct course of action is to give them a (mutually consented upon) hug, a safe environment to live in, and lots of therapy. You don't put them in a costume and let them to fight killer clowns and mobsters whilst armed with some boomerangs. But that's what Batman does with Dick Grayson.
Now in the original situation it was just ignored. Bruce took in Dick Grayson and let him become Robin to catch the criminals who killed his parents. He cares about Dick (and later Jason, and Tim and so on and so on) and wants what's best for them even WHEN they're being beaten up by killers with ice cannons, a villain with a duality fetish, murderous shapeshifters or a puzzle based guy who plays hangman with real rope!
Bruce loves his kids, would do aything for them and, like any good parent/guardian, wants them to have a better life than he did, and that doesn't clash with the concept of child endangerment because the laws of comics say it doesn't.
With more recent iterations, which take Batman more/too seriously, this becomes a serious issue because how can you admire your realistic, grim "Dark Knight" seriously when he has a pre-teenage kid fighting superpowered psychopaths by his side? Because that's clearly the only improbable aspect of a grown non-superpowered man in a furry cosplay with a 12 foot long cape fighting supercriminals.
The ultimate extension of this is probably Frank Miller's "All Star Batman and Robin", which has Bruce leaving Dick in the Batcave and expecting him to eat rats to survive if necessary. And that's about as low as it is possible to imagine the bar being set. And yet....
In #2 of "Robin and Batman", for his 12th birthday, Batman takes Robin up to the Justce League satellite, where he meets his idols, and also gets to meet and hang out with the other sidekicks for the first time. The kids even manage to sneak off together without the heroes knowing and have some fun stopping bad guyd as a nascent team, then sneaking back before anyone notices.
and when they return....
So far, so adorably wholesome, right?
I don't know about anyone else, but I have rarely agreed with Alfred more than in that moment.
See, this isn't even Batman as a bad parent, because I have no issue with him having to learn on the job when it comes to raising a kid, every parent does. This is Batman being a completely horrible person who misses the point of being a parent.entirely.
"I had a crap childhood, so my kids should too" is possibly the WORST possible take on Batman and Robin I can think of.
Compare and contrast with his from Detective Comics 574
or this from Young Justice:
Even if this ends with Batman learning "a valuable lesson" and having a realisation that Dick needs more of a life than cynical paranoia, it still feels wrong, because how could someone with that lack of regard, that lack of basic human emotion, ever have felt the emotional connection required for Bruce Wayne to take in Dick Grayson in the first place?
I genuinely don't like posting scans from comics I vehemently disagree with, it's a lot less fun than I normally aim for, and yet sometimes, something seems just SO off that I feel it needs to be looked at.
Case in point, this scene from "Robin and Batman #2" by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
Now Robin has, for most of his existence, been a difficult character to justify. He's a kid, regularly fighting murderous criminals, and only really works in the fantastical realm of comics. If you look too closely at the concept the seams show, and they are problematic.
If a grown man comes across a traumatised, vengeful child with anger issues, then the correct course of action is to give them a (mutually consented upon) hug, a safe environment to live in, and lots of therapy. You don't put them in a costume and let them to fight killer clowns and mobsters whilst armed with some boomerangs. But that's what Batman does with Dick Grayson.
Now in the original situation it was just ignored. Bruce took in Dick Grayson and let him become Robin to catch the criminals who killed his parents. He cares about Dick (and later Jason, and Tim and so on and so on) and wants what's best for them even WHEN they're being beaten up by killers with ice cannons, a villain with a duality fetish, murderous shapeshifters or a puzzle based guy who plays hangman with real rope!
Bruce loves his kids, would do aything for them and, like any good parent/guardian, wants them to have a better life than he did, and that doesn't clash with the concept of child endangerment because the laws of comics say it doesn't.
With more recent iterations, which take Batman more/too seriously, this becomes a serious issue because how can you admire your realistic, grim "Dark Knight" seriously when he has a pre-teenage kid fighting superpowered psychopaths by his side? Because that's clearly the only improbable aspect of a grown non-superpowered man in a furry cosplay with a 12 foot long cape fighting supercriminals.
The ultimate extension of this is probably Frank Miller's "All Star Batman and Robin", which has Bruce leaving Dick in the Batcave and expecting him to eat rats to survive if necessary. And that's about as low as it is possible to imagine the bar being set. And yet....
In #2 of "Robin and Batman", for his 12th birthday, Batman takes Robin up to the Justce League satellite, where he meets his idols, and also gets to meet and hang out with the other sidekicks for the first time. The kids even manage to sneak off together without the heroes knowing and have some fun stopping bad guyd as a nascent team, then sneaking back before anyone notices.
and when they return....
So far, so adorably wholesome, right?
I don't know about anyone else, but I have rarely agreed with Alfred more than in that moment.
See, this isn't even Batman as a bad parent, because I have no issue with him having to learn on the job when it comes to raising a kid, every parent does. This is Batman being a completely horrible person who misses the point of being a parent.entirely.
"I had a crap childhood, so my kids should too" is possibly the WORST possible take on Batman and Robin I can think of.
Compare and contrast with his from Detective Comics 574
or this from Young Justice:
Even if this ends with Batman learning "a valuable lesson" and having a realisation that Dick needs more of a life than cynical paranoia, it still feels wrong, because how could someone with that lack of regard, that lack of basic human emotion, ever have felt the emotional connection required for Bruce Wayne to take in Dick Grayson in the first place?
no subject
Date: 2021-12-17 07:26 pm (UTC)His anger was how far Bruce went and "me, I understand but Kyle? Wally?" and the realization of how deep Bruce's paranoia went.
Injustice played on it too when Batman hits Cyborg with a virus, he checks his system and sees the date...
Cyborg: "You son of a....you put this in me a WEEK after we met?!"
Killer Croc; "That's cold."
no subject
Date: 2021-12-19 08:29 pm (UTC)But really if Batman had been smart he would have labelled as many of his anti-League plans as possible as being meant for the Leaguer's villains with identical powers. That's not an anti-Green Lantern plan, that's an anti-Sinestro plan! What do you mean Wally, that's not a plan to stop you it's a contingency to stop Reverse Flash if I ever have to do it alone.