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Art by Alexey Gorboot

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house mice & deer mice

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Les Filles de Soleil

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I just remembered that DC made Tim's stepmom have a mental breakdown after his dad died (in service of making it so he could be adopted by Bruce of course :/) and just threw her in a psych ward and we NEVER SAW HER AGAIN. I think a writer said she didn't die when Bludhaven blew up at least, but she might as well have, because we never saw her again!

Tim didn't even ever mention her again afaik, which makes no sense because they were actually close and had a cute relationship too. (granted DC was currently in the middle of killing most of his loved ones so. he had a lot going on) She was actually his sole parent that was bothering to take care of him that time Tim's dad had a mental breakdown over their tragic fall to middle class.

One time she taught him how to make soup for Steph when she had a cold!!!

Man I actually made myself sad looking at this. Jon Lewis was so good at character writing. Honestly the default characterization I still go with for Tim and Steph. But yeah, they were close.

Has she been bought back at all post reboot? Probably not, I'm probably one of the only five people who care about her. She has the misfortune of being a civilian woman who was supporting cast AND a mom figure for a superhero. DC was always gonna screw her over. But that doesn't mean I can't be salty about it a decade later.

Justice for Dana Drake.

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so I’m not a fan of Talia (this is important to my ask) but i see a lot of Talia fans. and i really want to ask, without anyone getting angry, why people are fans of her with her history?

the main things i know about her are how she drugged Bruce to make Damian in Batman and Son, and her relationship with Nyssa in Death and The Maidens.

is there more to it? i don’t want to explore on my own if its just that it’s never explained, is there an arc to reference or anything?

That arc is actually retconned because Grant Morrison admitted that it was racist characterization.

Talia had 30 years of characterization before Damian needed a sad backstory. She WASN'T raised as an assassin, she was studying to be a doctor when her and Bruce met. Because she was invented in the 70's she was modeled more after your typical bond girl, and leaned more towards spy than assassin. She hated killing and felt immense guilt the few times she had to.

Her and Bruce loved each other deeply, but Talia also loved her father. Ra's tends to get sanded down to "insane, cruel, and needlessly violent", but the whole point of the league is preserving the environment and endangered species. Talia agrees with his goal, but not his methods and this conflict is what allows Bruce to come between them.

For a lot of her history her main conflict is between the man she loves and the man who raised her, which changes in Damian's ORIGINAL origin, Son of the Demon. Bruce enthusiastically consents and is excited to have a baby with Talia, but Talia realizes that Bruce will never give up Batman and that whether she raises the child herself or gives him to Bruce he'll never get to have a normal life. So she tells Bruce she lost the baby and gives up Damian for adoption in secret.

The next big change in her character happens in JLA: Tower of Babel, explicitly said to be the FIRST time she's ever helped her father with one of his big schemes and she hates it. This marks her breaking point as she ditches Ra's entirely. This leads into President Luthor Secret Files where she takes over Lex Corp and GUTS it. Naturally Clark is suspicious of her, but she continues to help Bruce.

Then, Death and The Maidens happens. Talia is tortured and brainwashed. Batman, supposedly the world's greatest detective, explicitly said to LOVE Talia, sees this extreme shift in loyalties and behaviour, and leaves. Either not noticing or not caring. There is no resolution to this plotline.

Damian's nonconsensual origin follows this up on the basis that Talia's character after she's been brainwashed is just, who she is and who she's always been. Unfortunately it became her most popular story, and even though it's no longer canon it's done UNTOLD damage to her character.

Talia is so deeply compassionate and she cares so much for everyone and everything. She's endearing and she's insanely competent and her moments with Bruce are some of the most genuinely heart wrenching I've ever read. Batman Chronicles #8 continues to be one of my favorite comics EVER. I highly recommend you read her 70's-90's comics.

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donna expert i require your insight... when it comes to hers and roy's relationship what do you think it is about him that draws her to him? too often discussion of relationships in comics is about what HE likes about HER but thats pretty easy to figure out when it comes to donnaroy so im curious what you think donna likes about him. this isnt anti donnaroy btw theyre my sweeties forever i just want your insight

omg i LOVE this question (and i also outsourced this to the gc so shoutout liz cam and del for helping workshop this): so i think there is that obvious underlying Familiarity first of all. just the comfort of knowing that the other person has known you + loved you since you were baby teenagers and has seen you at your worst and Knows you deeply. but even transcending their history there is a lot of security with roy, he’s just a stable person who she can count on absolutely and even if the relationship goes bad she knows that love will never go away. i rlly think that roy is a safe person donna can be imperfect in front of.. like roy is so easygoing and chill and nawt one to judge on most things and he just.. takes things in stride yknow. if she’s having a weird identity freakout he’s going to be Calm and there for whatever she needs and he’s not going to freak out on HER or get any of his own baggage mixed into it. and also roy is just so Warm like.. he loves with his whole chest and so does donna. they’re very similar in that way, they both have a lot of faith in others & see so much good in the world and i think donna loves that about him. roy is intensely loyal, he’s stable, he has no trouble ceding control in the relationship to donna which she really needed esp during titans 99 when she felt like she had no control over her own life.

plus the donnaroy thesis courtesy of cam:

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Nightwing by Jorge Fornés

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This is such an interesting pannel to me because Cassie is projecting on Tim hardcore right now. Because Tim is having a heart to heart with his dad at about that time. Jack doesn't even know who tim is and yet tim seeks him out for advice. And tim drake never doubting himself? Never worrying? that's like his favorite hobby, the man is endlessly paranoid.

It seems like Cassie is picking out the traits that she wants for herself and is projecting them onto her ideal hero. Or at least one she thinks she can compare to, this is still pretty early in Cassie's where she has a hard time believing she could live up to Diana's and Donna's legacies. So she picked Tim who is the ideal sidekick (or at least seems like it) and someone she admires but still can reliably compare herself to (because she knows he's a little freak.).

She's using this idealized version of Robin to explain to her mother that's who she wants be. She wants to be more independent and worry less and really show that's she starting to grow into herself. And it comes across here so well as she was literally seeing what she would look like as a grownup (this is from sins of youth) and really stepping in to wear Donna's costume for one of the first times with confidence.

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☹️☹️☹️

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Happy birthday to Kevin Nowlan!

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Dick asks to take the remains so that they can bring Bruce’s body home. He asks for a small and private funeral so that everyone isn’t made aware Batman is dead. Clark gets ready for the funeral and refuses to wear his glasses. No uniforms. (Superman/batman #76)

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dick thinking about quitting the titans to go solo and wording it as "even a convicted felon gets time off for good behavior" honey... you really can't stop thinking of yourself as innately guilty of Something can you <3

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Dick dreams of fake memories that never happened centered around The Prodigy, an accompanying act to the flying Grayson’s. When he wakes up there’s a bat shaped bruise on his chest surrounding the entry and exit wound of the sword of sin (Batman #708)

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fairy glen, isle of skye, scotland

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sometimes i randomly remember how insane maggie stiefvater was for making ronan lynch—a man that can create reality—a man of god, when he himself is a god of a man. then to take this man and have him be not only in love with, but a literal soulmate of a man named adam. parrish. adam parrish. who, mind you, lives above ronan's very own place of worship. and is the namesake of the first of mankind that the bible says god made from the literal dust of the ground (adam parrish: comes from nothing, hair "dusty" in color) and appoints him to care for the garden of eden (adam parrish: sacrifices himself to ronan's sentient forest). then has adam viewing ronan as a god and ronan saying "maybe he dreamt (created)" adam???? like who just fucking writes that and goes about their life?

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bruce’s relationship with vicki falling apart because he was Too Sleepy is the most important part of the batman lore to this day.