#And then two more is the batgirl half of fresh blood.

[anthyies]

You actually aren’t allowed to use the Tim Drake Has Issues or Tim Drake Needs A Hug or Tim Drake Is Not Okay or the Bad Parents Jack & Janet Drake tags until you read my 270 issue reading list. Sorry

[stxleslyds]

you know how dc keeps forcing this sudden "we're a family" narrative out of nowhere? I'd love batfam content but years of hurt among them make the recent content seem unearned.

bc you know more about dick and jason than the others, how do you think they would realistically become family to each other, or would it even be in character for them to be the "bros" they're written as now?

Oh anon, this question is amazing, I love it! I saw it when I woke up and since then my brain has been brewing this answer, I was thinking about it as I brushed my teeth and as I was making breakfast, and now I am ready to give you the answer, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed thinking/writing about it!

DC keeps forcing the wrong relationships, and they keep forcing the wrong centre of this supposed family, they make it out to be the Bat-Family when in reality the Bat (Bruce) should have never been invited to this party.

This is why I give you the… Dick-Family!

Oh yeah baby, I am going there. Dick is the centre of this “family”, he is the guy who is actually connected with everyone, he has been around for so long and he has been present when almost all of the remaining characters were introduced! Bruce might have come first but that guy has nothing on Dick Grayson.

Dick has cared and loved for everyone in this family in a true and beautiful way, no matter how much fanon and DC try to tell us otherwise. This man was an amazing son to Bruce and Alfred (my love for Alfred and Dick is brought to you by @hood-ex), a fantastic brother to Jason, Tim and Cass as well as a phenomenal father/older brother to Damian.

Dick Grayson is the centre of this whole thing, and thanks to DC now being an Omniverse I will be able to explain my line of thoughts. But first let me clear some ideas up.

The way I see it Jason would only get along good enough with Dick. I am not here for Jason and Tim having brunch together (honestly, Lobdell, what were you thinking), Jason never cared for Tim, and then writers that didn’t know how the Red Hood worked made him try to kill Tim so, to me, that relationship is non-existent, Jason doesn’t really perceive Tim (yet).

Jason and Damian, listen, I know that there is this fanon theory that Jason knew and cared for Damian while he was in the League, but that is just fanon talk and it doesn’t really fit in canon either. Jason wasn’t really capable of doing much other than fight, and after he was put in the Lazarus Pit he either had to leave because Ra’s wanted to kill him or Talia took him to the All-Castle. So, Jason’s only real interactions with Damian would be when Jason was written as a crazy, blood thirsty dude that actually tried to harm a child. So, him and Damian wouldn’t really have a good relationship (yet).

Jason and Cass… that’s just a no. Jason and Barbara, I mean Barbara was older than Dick when she first met Jason, so they wouldn’t have much of a relationship.

Now, lets move on to how I will make the Dick-Family work.

Dick (bless him) actually talks and listens to people, unlike Bruce, so the change would start there. Let’s set the timeline, I will stand right after the events of Under the Red Hood. Bruce just chose saving Joker over letting Jason kill the Joker and the building they were in exploded.

Batman keeps on being himself (trash) and Jason, having survived the explosion, moves on to keep on building his empire. He really wants to control the drug trade in Gotham, so he works on that, he slowly but surely takes his place as a drug lord again and is a constant pain in Black Mask’s ass.

While Jason is doing that, Dick is trying to put together his life after Bludhaven was attacked with Chemo. Let’s say that Bludhaven isn’t completely erased from the map but he does have to leave so the city can be re-built. He goes to Gotham, where the Red Hood works.

Let’s say that Alfred told Dick who was under the Red Hood, so Dick being a good brother goes looking for Jason. Their first interaction out of the mask wouldn’t be nice, Jason barely remembers his life before the pit and he really is convinced that Dick is the absolute worst.

But then Jason being a nosy man would make an appearance, for some reason, let’s say that he hacks into the Batcave and when he does that he finds some footage… The footage in question would be the one which shows Bruce punching Dick and sort of blaming him for Jason’s death. (Oh yeah, I am going there). The footage will make a memory come to mind, Dick taking Jason on a skying trip.

So, the next time that Dick and Jason see each other is because Jason went looking for Dick and here is where these two actually talk. The way I see it, Dick is more flexible with the no killing rule, he has worked many times with people that are villains or that just have different ways of doing things. So, I think that he would understand where Jason’s coming from with his ideas. As they begin to understand one another Jason begins to recover more and more memories from before the Pit.

They get together once a week and they chat about life as well as vigilante stuff. They become friends.

At the same time Dick is also very good friends with Tim and also acts like the amazing big brother he is with him. They chat, they sometimes work together and one day they come across a very complicated situation involving a new drug being introduced in Gotham.

Dick would call Jason and now both of them and Tim are reunited in a safe house working together so this new drug doesn’t fall in the wrong hands. Jason and Tim wouldn’t really like each other. Both of them are there for Dick and because they have to get the job done.

That’s how I see Dick forming the Dick-Family unconsciously. Hell, I will introduce Barbara now. Do you guys remember that in UtRH Barbara was mad with Bruce and didn’t want to work with him but she was still in contact with Dick? Well, I am using that so it can fit my narrative.

Dick, Jason and Tim need more intel so Dick calls Oracle (real Oracle) and because Barbara trusts Dick she works with them.

Here is where it gets interesting, through Barbara, Dick meets Cass, through Tim he meets Stephanie. You see that Dick’s connections are leading him to form a group of people. Cass and Stephanie are trained by Babs and Dick and they become the new Batgirls.

As all of that keeps developing Jason and Dick become “partners in crime” they help each other, they start building a brotherly relationship again. Although Jason refuses to say that out loud.

Then comes in Damian, a difficult child if there has ever been one but he has Bruce so Dick doesn’t have to jump in that fast… right?

Oh brother! Bruce is dead (omg what would we do? Battle for the cowl maybe? No!). with Bruce gone there is only one person who can take his place and everyone knows it has to be Dick.

Dick would feel a lot of things as he is taking Bruce’s place as Batman but he has a group of people ready to back him up (Alfred, Jason, Tim, Babs, Cass, Steph), and he also has to take care of Damian, he is a child and with his father gone then maybe his mother would want to take him back to the League of Assassins, Dick obviously doesn’t want that so he talks to Tim and tells him that he sees him as his equal and that he has a plan to make Damian stay and it involves making Damian his new Robin.

Tim would obviously be sad and a little hurt, but he understands Dick’s decision because they talked about it and Dick actually took the time to explain why he was doing what he was doing (really DC half of the problems you guys come up could be fixed in seconds if people would only take some time to just TALK!).

Dick and Damian work as Batman and Robin and Dick starts assuming the position of his father. They would live with Alfred in the penthouse and maybe Tim will join them from time to time (when he wasn’t busy with Young Justice/Teen Titans stuff). Slowly Dick and Damian will become the Dynamic Duo that we love today.

So, Dick would have his own Robin, Oracle (who is also managing her own team with Black Canary and (why not) the Batgirls), Red Robin and Red Hood working with him if he needs them. They are always a call away. Jason is the most difficult to reach and he will only involve himself in that kind of drama if its about controlling the drug trade or scaring the living shit out of some very shady people.

So, Red Hood wouldn’t be working with the new (and improved) Batman but Jason would hang out with Dick sometimes.

From there they build up. Dick renovates Arkham Asylum and makes it work they way that it is supposed to work. He might also recruit Catwoman when he needs someone really sneaky, they have known each other for so long, I bet Selina loves Dick, she would certainly help him out.

But as all things do, this happy and well-connected Dick-Family is disrupted when Bruce comes back, he inserts himself slowly back into his role as Batman and as he does that Dick starts to move away from it.

But Dick’s connections are strong and well cared for, so, even when he goes back to Bludhaven and starts fresh (again) as Nightwing those connections remain. Oracle still gives him intel, Robin and Red Robin come over to Bludhaven to patrol, maybe they even have their own rooms at Dick’s place.

With Bludhaven functioning again, all of the terrible people that were working there also come back, maybe some of them never left and they have been corrupting the city from its very core. So, when Jason tells Dick that he would like to expand his operations to Bludhaven, Dick says yes, as long as Jason keeps him updated on his work and also lets him know what is going on.

I think it works! What do you guys think so far?

From then on with the whole Dick-Family being connected and strong I think they can actually act and solve their problems as a family. All those arcs that didn’t work very well because Bruce was in the middle of it being a jerk, I think they will work if Dick is at the centre of it. Let’s say that Bruce hid the fact that Joker knows their identities and all that, with such a strong family the second that the Joker tries to manipulate Jason into believing that he created him, Dick will come out of the shadows and shut that bullshit down. If Joker tries to do something to the Circus, then the Birds of Prey and the Robins will be there in seconds helping Dick.

The Court of Owls, those little shits wouldn’t stand a chance against this team, this force of nature! Jason would be the one working from afar because you know my boy wouldn’t be subjected to the “no-killing” rule but if he does it, he has to do it away from the children (Damian) and away from Cass, if he doesn’t want to know real trouble. (He probably arranged those things with Dick a long time ago and he is happy with it).

Now, please forgive me but for angst reasons I will actually let the events of, Batman Incorporated #8, Forever Evil, Nightwing #30 and Spyral run its course.

Let me explain, after Damian’s death Dick holds the Dick-Family together, as well as Bruce because he is amazing like that, but then after Dick supposedly dies, things change just a little bit. Jason would retreat back to his own corner because the only thing attaching him to the Dick-Family was Dick but he would also keep his eyes open and he might also have a direct line with Oracle if things go south.

Aside from Jason, I do see the others working on keeping their connections intact. When Damian eventually returns the land of the living, I can see all of them coming together even more because that’s what Dick would have wanted.

And then Dick will come back from Spyral and here is where the Dick-Family will show the “Bat-Family” why its superior to it in every aspect possible.

The Dick-Family will notice that something must have happened, Dick would never play dead and leave them like that, but Dick loves Bruce and he doesn’t want to tell them the truth, Bruce has no memories now and his family doesn’t deserve that kind of drama BUT Jason and Tim are suspicious, they know Dick at this point and they trust him so they firmly believe that he is hiding something to protect someone. And here is where life repeats itself. Let’s review the Batcave’s footage, yes, I did it again, I just love the fact that Bruce has footage of himself being the absolute worst to his kids, how does DC not use it! Anyway, Tim and Jason find the footage from the events of Nightwing #30 and suddenly the Dick-Family have their “Dick defence squad” jackets on and they are ready to party.

After all that Bruce eventually gets his memories back and he is held accountable for his actions. Also, around this time the events of Robin War would have already happened so Duke is also introduced. Dick lets him join and all that, and then Duke and Cass become besties and they work together.

And yeah, as Rebirth comes closer the Dick-Family would be more united than ever.

The end.

That is how I would have done it. But this way is slow, and DC wouldn’t be able to monetize it as much as they would want.

Jason wouldn’t be giving hugs and calling everyone their brother or sister, he will only get along with Dick and he would be professional with everyone else.

Tim and Damian would get along but they wouldn’t go for ice cream together on a sunny day. Steph and Damian would and so would Cass and Tim or Cass and Duke.

Oracle would work with Dick and the others as a side thing because her main thing would be the Birds of Prey, this time with Helena too.

Alfred would spend his time with Bruce but he would also be very aware of Dick and his influence on everyone around them. Bruce eventually would be integrated to the Dick-Family because Dick is a sweetheart but Dick would also make Bruce follow his rules, Dick is a little bean but he is also the most badass person in the room (whichever room) so you better listen to what he has to say.

The Dick-Family would be something that grows silently and doesn’t need a “Joker War” in order for them to be there for each other, they would try their best each step of the way and they will talk things out when mistakes are made.

This is the way that I see this family dynamic working.

I would even go as far as to say that Talia can be part of the Dick-Family because she is connected to three people, Dick, Damian and Jason.

Dick is the person with most connections in the DC Universe, the Titans, the Justice League, Deathstroke, they all have connections to this treasure of a man. If he needs help in Gotham or Bludhaven then he can call people from the “first circle”, if things are beyond a “street level” threat them he can call the Titans and if shit really hits the fan, Clark and the others are a call away.

Anyway, this was unnecessarily long, I am sorry about it but I am also not because I really don’t know how to answer your question without going on a long rant.

In conclusion the Bat-Family doesn’t work and sadly it wouldn’t work no matter how much they force it. These people don’t have connections, Bruce is not able to make connections between people. And DC has erased entire relationships that Dick used to have. I mean, they got rid of Dick and Tim being close brothers just so they could give us a shitty brunch between Tim and Jason? Only yesterday we saw a true and beautiful interaction between Dick and Damian.

DC is handling the “Bat-Family” in all the worst possible ways. It just doesn’t work.

They should have used Dick all those years ago and they shouldn’t have destroyed Jason’s characterization with Lobdell’s ideas.

So, sadly, my dear anon, I don’t see the Bat-Family as a in character thing for any of these people as they are written currently, but I hope that you enjoyed my version of it. May the Dick-Family bring everyone who reads about it a little joy!

[cringelordlikesplaz]

Strange to be an Eel

Turning into silly putty wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to him, honestly. It’s everything that happened after that which was weird.

"Please! I'm begging you, Jake bailed last minute and we don't have any replacements! This musical is our last chance. If this flops, we'll never be able to keep this place open!" She cried. 'She' being a short woman with desperate tears in her eyes and too many freckles. 

Eel pulled his wrist out of her surprisingly strong grip. He shook his hand off and observed the woman in front of him. She looked stressed, tired, and a general mess. Her name tag read ‘Penny’.

"Well, Penny." He said curtly, "I got things to do. Better things to do than-"

"But you're the perfect fit! You're the right size, you already know all the lines-"

"Seeing a musical five times doesn't mean I've memorized-"

Penny snapped to attention and pointed her finger into the air dramatically. The imaginary audience located in the storeroom fell silent. 

"And if I'm not here to save the day- Then as God as my witness, I'll be here to save the night!"

"-It's 'then as the gods as my witnesses'." Eel pointed out. Penny smiled smugly and Eel shook himself off.

"That doesn't prove anything. And it doesn't change the fact I can't go onstage!" Eel said.

"You'll be wearing makeup and goggles! A hat too! No one will be able to recognize you in costume!" Penny said, suddenly desperate again.

"No! I won't do it!" Eel said in response to her puppy eyes.

"Please! Please, Bruce Wayne's out there and if this goes well the PR will be fantastic!" She said, tears beginning to fall.

Eel looked up at the cracked ceiling and let out a long, long groan.

"I want 100 bucks." Eel said.

"Deal!" Penny said, the tears instantly evaporating. 

Damn actors.

~~~

So, the musical rendition of the hit show 'The Grey Ghost' went pretty damn well, in Eel's opinion. He was skeptical at first, as anyone should be, but he had to admit it, Penny was right. He was an amazing Grey Ghost. 

It helped that Eel had been a fan of the Grey Ghost since he was a boy, and it also maybe helped that he had snuck into the theater to see the practice runs of the play five times. He had thought he was being sneaky, but apparently theater kids could like, smell intruders. Fresh blood, if you would.

He hadn't known what would happen when he was cornered by a very manic little blond lady, but it ended up surprisingly well. He even got paid. 

After he and the other actors had taken their bows or whatever, Eel snuck back to the storeroom. He pried off the grey suit- it was kinda itchy honestly- and began to dig around for his usual clothes. 

He put his suit on. The nice one, that didn't pinch his shoulders and had all his crap in the pockets. He buttoned up the coat and pulled out his glasses. They were black and pretty slick, if he was honest with himself. Which he was. Occasionally.

The temples were wide and helped hide his eyes from the side. They hid his scar even better. They were sunglasses, unfortunately, not the best eyewear to have in Gotham, but he liked them. And that was enough for now. 

They were also expensive as all hell. Some sort of designer brand. He would wear them till they broke for how much they cost him. 

There was a knock on the door.

"I'm decent," Eel said. 

Penny opened the door and held her clipboard to her chest excitedly. Her eyes sparkled. 

"So." She said.

"So?" He asked.

"So! Y'know how Bruce Wayne was in the crowd tonight?" She asked.

"Yup," He said. 

"He liked it! He liked it so much he wants to fund us!" She said, "And he wants to meet you."

Eel blinked. "He what?" 

"He said your performance was incredible! He wants to meet you!"

"No." 

"No?" She asked, her head cocked, "But you've got so much talent! He could get you a job, y'know." 

"No. Just- no." Eel shook his head. He could just hear the sirens now. "I can't, Penny."

She seemed like she wanted to press him- like she did with getting him into the costume. But something on his face made her reconsider, apparently.

"Alright." She said, sighing, "I'll tell him you're not available."

"Thanks, pal." Eel said.

They stood awkwardly.

"I need to go." He said, pointing behind her to the door.

"I- okay." She said. Penny stepped aside and Eel left the storage room, Penny following behind. She led him to the backdoor.

"Um, thank you...?" She said as he stepped out into the alley.

"It's best if you don't know my name." Eel said.

"Will you be back?" 

"Probably not." Eel said, "What with your success here tonight- I think there's going to be too much foot traffic around for a crook like me to be hidden."

She smiled softly, "You weren't very hidden in the first place."

"I'll have you know I've hidden from cops in more obvious spots."

"I think that says more about the GCPD than it does your skill," Penny said.

Eel huffed, mockingly offended.

"Later, miss." He said, turning to leave.

"Goodbye." She said.

Penny waved to his back and waited for him to slink into the shadows before she shut the door.

~~~

"Eel O'brian." A gruff voice called.

Eel grinned and craned his head around to look at a familiar face.

"Matches! Ol' pal, where've you been? It's been ages." Eel said.

Matches Malone slid into the seat next to him at the bar. The bartender wordlessly handed Matches a drink and Matches wordlessly slid a few bills over the counter.

Eel took a sip of his own drink- a cocktail.

"I've heard there's work around." Matches said, taking his match out of his mouth to take a sip of his drink. Whiskey probably.

"I mean, yeah-" Eel said, rolling the cherry around his glass for the hell of it, "But there's always work around."

"Hmm." 

"Yeah yeah, I know what ya mean." Eel said, nodding. "You want the work that won't have you dressed up as a daisy and punched by a furry. I gotcha."

"Hmm."

"I miss the good 'ol days, Matches. Before all these folks in spandex came along and started going nuts all over town-" Eel paused, taking a sip of his cocktail, "-But I do got to admit it; the spandex is pretty hot."

"I need cash." Matches said, ever eloquent. 

"Cheers to that!" Eel laughed. He downed the rest of his drink, swallowing the cherry. 

"Where's the work?" Matches finally asked, and Eel's grin faltered. Always work and no play with this guy.

But Matches seemed to like him well enough, so Eel wouldn't hold it against him.

"So, new boss in the West part of town looking to hire some folks. I think they're hiding something pretty big, but we won't know that 'till we get there, won't we, Matches?" Eel said.

"Hmm."

"Yeah, me too buddy."

~~~

Things at the new job were getting crazy. Like, really really crazy. Like the type of crazy he spent a great amount of his time trying in vain to avoid. Super crazy.

Pun intended.

It started off fairly normal. By Gotham standards anyway. Looting places. Stealing. Scarin' the living daylights out of folks. Keeping out of the limelight. 

But the boss turned out to be working for an even bigger boss- who had a penchant for monologuing- and Eel couldn't help the sinking feeling he had in his gut.

And then the boss- the small boss and not the bigger, monologuing boss- somehow kidnapped Batgirl of all people and decided to drown her. And he did it in this big glass chamber with a valve on the side. 

He stood in front of it, glaring at each of his men accusingly.

He had each of them turn the valve, adding a few inches of water to the chamber, and taking few inches of air away from Batgirl. He was trying to root out a snitch. Or, as he put it, a bat.

Matches didn't even hesitate. Eel wished he had that guy's confidence.

But Eel? He wasn't a big fan of murder. It made him feel icky. It kept him awake at night. He already had enough insomnia, thank you very much.

And Batgirl- She was just a kid. A baby-faced teenager. Up close, she was no longer a force of nature fighting alongside a cryptid. She was a teenager up to her nose in water, her clothes torn and bloody.

Eel went last.

He put his hands on the valve and-

He couldn't do it.

He wouldn't.

A lot of things happened after that.

The boss (the small one) told the rest to shoot him down, and Eel had a half a second to view his terrible life before Matches tackled him to the floor.

The glass of the chamber broke and the room was suddenly flooded with a lot of water and one very mad vigilante. Then a window got busted in, even more glass flying, and then two Robins showed up- There was the young Robin who was grumpy and the other older Robin that wasn't Robin anymore but Eel couldn't really be bothered to remember his name at the moment.

There was fighting, gunfire, blood, and then there was glass in his hands-

And then Matches had somehow manifested them both outside and set Eel on his feet.

"You-" Eel spluttered, "You saved me!" 

Matches looked at Eel. Eel looked at Matches. The street was quiet. Inside the building, it was not.

"Thank you." Eel said softly.

"...You cost me my payment." Matches said at last.

Eel's face fell.

"I just- She's just a kid, Matches. I ain't a monster." Eel said.

Matches shook his head and walked away, leaving Eel on the sidewalk with glass in his hands.

Guess he was wrong about Matches.

~~~

That day wasn't too bad, though. In the middle of the night he was woken up to a knock at his window. His fourth story window in his crappy apartment.

He opened his window and suddenly a basket was shoved into his arms. He fumbled with it for a second, his hands still raw. There was a blur of movement and Eel was left standing half-naked holding a- a gift basket?

He sorted through it- it had cash and cookies and bandages. It also had a plain white card. He opened it and raised a brow in surprise.

"Thanks for not drowning me!" 

It was signed with a little bat drawn in the corner. 

The cookies were delicious.

~~~

The safe was built into the wall. The safe itself wasn't too big, and the wall was only made of plaster. It would be a pain to lug the safe back to base though. And it would cost precious seconds to hack away at the wall to get the safe out-

There was really only one option. The bomb he had was small and wouldn't do much in terms of excavation- but it would absolutely open up that pesky Wayne-Tech lock.

"Alright guys, we need to get back-" Eel didn't hear anyone. He turned- "Guys?"

"It's been a while, O'brian." Batman said, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of his crime buddies. Well, not really buddies- you get the point.

"Batman! Hello! I don't think we've met," Eel said, swinging on his heel and turning to face his doom.

"No, we haven't. But when I didn't hear word from the police of any of your activity for a few months- well." Batman took a silent step closer. "One tends to worry."

"Oh? Me? Lil 'ol me? You shouldn't have." Eel batted his eyelashes, though the effect was diminished as he was wearing his shades.

"You plan these heists well." Batman said slowly, "You waited until the Riddler attacked to go for this safe. You got past the cameras without setting off the alarm. You tipped off the police of where you'd be- on the other side of town."

Eel tried to reach for the detonator on the bomb. If he could just- "You flatter me, Batman really, but I-"

"We could use a man like that on our side, O'brian." Batman said. "A smart man like you could do some real good in the world."

Eel laughed. That was the most wrong thing he'd ever heard. He laughed but it wasn't funny.

He pressed the button and the bomb started counting down from 10.

"I don't think so, Bats. I'm not the hero type." Eel said, and then tried to make a run for it. Batman caught him by the collar.

"It's not about types. There's good in you."

"I really wish I could stay and chat, but I gotta split." Eel said, slipping his arms out of his coat and breaking into a mad sprint.

The bomb let out a single shrieking beep before it detonated. 

Eel didn't turn back to see what happened to Batman.

~~~

A deal went wrong. Unsurprising. They broke his leg. Unsurprising. He was alive. Surprising! Unfortunately, he was still very much crippled and bleeding out from somewhere. 

He limped along the sidewalk at night, always a dumb thing to do. His vision was either going or the lighting in this city was getting worse by the moment. Given that he lived in Gotham, it was likely both.

He limped into a grassy part of the city- a park of some sort. He'd get caught soon. Or maybe he'd bleed out and die. He couldn't manifest the energy to care either way.

He flopped down onto the grass, for lack of any other bright ideas. He couldn't see the stars through the cloud cover. Tragic. 

"Hey." A commanding voice called. He looked around until he spotted a scantily-clad woman. She was green and wearing leaves and had bright red hair and was looking at him like he was a pile of dead slugs.

Oh. Oh crap. Oh crap that's Poison Ivy.

Eel tried to shrink into the ground.

"Hiiiii Poison Ivy, how's the weather?" He asked. He tried to smile charmingly but it was most likely very strained and bloody.

"Why are you bleeding on my flowers?" She asked, a single brow raised.

"Haa, would you believe that blood makes a great fertilizer?" Eel said.

"It does." She said.

"Uh," Eel had lost too much blood for him to come up with a witty remark.

"Please don't kill me." He said.

"Greater men than you have begged for mercy. What makes you better?" She asked, head cocked.

"I can, uh," Eel panicked, "I can give you my grandma's recipe for caramel coffee." 

Poison Ivy's other eyebrow raised. 

They looked at each other for a moment.

Then, a shrill voice called from across the park.

"Ivy! Come on!! What are you even doing?!" 

Eel was fairly certain he was hallucinating now. Blood loss and all that. Because Harley Quinn, wearing a football jersey and sweatpants, came running up to stand besides Poison Ivy.

"We're going to miss the game," Harley pouted, then took notice of Eel, "Who's that mess?"

"Someone who can make caramel coffee, apparently." Poison Ivy said, bemused.

"I like caramel." Harley said.

Poison Ivy shrugged, "We can keep him if you want."

"I also like coffee..." Harley tapped her chin in consideration, "Yeah we'll take him. Come on, Ivy!"

~~~

That was how he ended up getting high with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. His leg was propped up on a table, a bong was being passed around, the apparent football game played on the TV in front of them. They were in a greenhouse and the city’s lights shone through the glass almost magically. This was probably not what someone suffering from blood loss should be doing. Eel almost considered making a break for it. 

But Poison Ivy was the Weed Queen of Gotham, and getting this stuff free? Too good to pass up.

Harely had seemingly forgotten about the promised coffee, but since they hadn’t killed him yet and gave him weed, Eel decided he'd write the recipe down for them before he left.

"I don't get why capes dress the way they do," Harely said, "I mean, rogues have the same problem but like, it's more noticeable with the heroes, y'know?"

"Like, the boob windows?" Ivy asked. Harley nodded enthusiastically. 

"Yeah, yeah! The boob windows." Harely said, "Why do all the guys wear kevlar and body armor and the girls got to show off their tits?"

"Maybe the dudes should show off their tits too." Eel said. 

Poison Ivy laughed and Harely nodded even more enthusiastically.

"Yeah! This guy gets it!" 

"See, if I were to go running around in spandex-" Eel gestured to his very much not spandex coated body, "I'd show off my cleavage all the time." 

"Men don't have cleavage," Ivy pointed out.

"Not with that attitude they don't." Harley said, "Say, Eel, if you ever get tits, come over so we can prove Ivy wrong."

Eel cackled, "Sure thing! And if I ever start wearing spandex as a hobby I'll make sure the V-neck plunges all the way down."

"You'd better!" 

Ivy laughed and Eel was handed the bong again.

~~~

Eel wasn't even doing anything. He was in his apartment, minding his own business. Well actually he was trying to sleep but that wasn't going so well.

Then there was a tapping on his window. Feeling a sudden wash of deja-vu, Eel turned around. There was an otherworldly, haunting green glow coming from his window. 

Pausing, and exercising a healthy amount of caution, walked over to the window.

A UFO hovered outside his window. A tiny one.

Eel rubbed his eyes.

The UFO bonked against the glass, seemingly wanting inside.

"uh," Eel said. Against every ounce of common sense, he opened the window. 

The UFO flew inside his room, casting its light oddly through his home. There was a mechanical whir, and suddenly a robotic arm sprung out from the bottom of the ship.

"Uh," Eel said, regretting everything immediately.

The UFO then grabbed Eel by his good ankle, his other leg still in a cast for a few more weeks. He lost balance and hit his head on the floor. The small ship lifted him off the floor by his ankle, and then dragged him out the window. He tried to claw at the windowsill but the ship was too fast.

"UH,"

He dangled dangerously over what was at least a thirty foot drop. The UFO paid no mind to his panicked flailing, and instead began to go higher.

"OH GOD."

~~~

The small UFO took him to a bigger UFO, of course.

A small hole opened in the underside of the ship, and Eel was brought inside. The inside of an alien spaceship looked nearly identical to its outside, apparently. Weird and green.

The smaller ship finally dropped him off in a large circular room. He was set down gently on his back, but he still hissed in surprise. The metal floor was freezing and he was only in his shorts.

"Uh oh uh oh uh oh..." He muttered.

"Hello, human!" A cheery, buzzing voice greeted. 

Eel looked around frantically and finally spotted a small, glowing blue light.

"Uh, hi?" He said to the light. The blue light bobbed up and down- excitedly?

"Human!" It said, "We are the-"

It said something that sounded eldritch to his human ears.

"-and we saw your performance!"

He blinked.

"...my what."

"On February 7th, approximately 11 months ago, you performed in the musical "The Grey Ghost Strikes Back!"." The light said. Several other colorful lights manifested around him.

"...uh huh."

"If you are wondering why you did not see us, the-" [REDACTED] "-in the crowd on the date of your performance, it is because we were not there."

"Ooohh kayyyy...."

"Batman recorded it and sent us a copy!"

Eel blinked. They were speaking alienese, he was certain of it.

"He also sent along with it 307 other forms of human entertainment as a welcome package to Earth!" It said, "And we must say, we really enjoyed your performance."

A red light, hovering just a little lower than the blue one, perked up.

"We especially enjoyed your performance in the third act, and would like to compliment your singing skills." The red light said.

"Thank you?" Eel said.

"If it is not too much trouble, human, we would like what is most commonly known to you as an 'autograph'." The blue light said.

"...alright." 

~~~

The night started off odd, he'd admit it. But it wasn't bad. He signed some stuff. He didn't know what the things he signed were or what exactly he wrote with, but it hardly mattered. They asked him to sing a song from the musical- he did- and they somehow applauded him.

They gave him alien food, and he'd be damned if he didn't accept free food. Even if it was probably radioactive. It tasted like cotton candy. Again, not bad.

They told him a bit about their situation. Their home- somewhere on a different plane of existence- exploded. They were the last of their kind. Batman approached them, because he could do that apparently, and offered them a place on Earth.

"Our culture is based on entertainment. Each piece of what you call 'media' is like a fine work of art to us." They said. 

"Oh, cool. So do you kidnap actors you like in other stuff?" Eel asked, trying to figure out the best way to consume the slime on a stick he'd been given. He decided there was no proper way to do that so he just decided to slurp it off.

"We would like to meet the actors and actresses in other media, but they usually just scream the whole time they are here. We gain the impression that they do not appreciate our hospitality." They said.

Eel shrugged, "I can't imagine why. You guys are great."

"You have taken this whole experience very well, comparatively."

"I mean- I'm a bit desensitized to weirdness." Eel said.

"Is this experience considered 'weird' to other humans?" They asked.

"Nah." Eel said, waving off their concern, and set his slime stick down, "Hey, I'd like to get home now. This has been fun and all, but it's kinda cold in here."

"Of course, human. We wish you fame and fortune for your future."

"Uh, you too?"

They dropped him off on the roof of his apartment building. The sun was beginning to rise. He made his way down the stairs, nearly naked and his leg still in a cast. He slept okay.

~~~

Eel was known for many things. He knew most, if not all, of those things were bad. Hell, all of the things he was known for would be bad to the common man. But to the common crook? Only most of those things would be considered bad.

Some of the things he was known for made him desirable. 

He was a safecracker, he never got caught, he could make a good plan and stick to it. He was good at his job.

But Eel was not... valuable, per-say. He was a tool in most people's eyes. Something to be discarded when the job was done.

Eel knew this. Made his peace with it. He knew when he took this job that the guys he was working with didn't give two shits about him. But he needed their muscle for the security guards, and they needed his skill to crack the safe. They all needed the cash.

They walked into this big facility during a storm. Mr. Freeze was causing havoc in city hall again. The outer parts of the city didn't get the blizzard- they got the freezing rain.

The security guard appeared- he had a gun and he was willing to use it. If the folks he was working with were smart, which they weren't, they would have ran. Don't shoot back, don't have murder put onto your sentence along with theft and arson and everything else. 

But they were stupid, and they shot blindly, and the guard shot Eel in the shoulder. And the bullet tore through his shoulder and into a container of something-

Another shot rang out, the guard fell.

There was a crack and suddenly Eel was soaked in something- it was bright and hot and it burned like the embers of Hell. He screamed, of course.

The people he was working with, his 'pals', stared at him for just a second.

"Eel-!"

"Eel doesn't have the cash, now run!"

Eel got up, and gave chase. His steps faltered and his vision swam.

He made it outside just in time to see them get into the car and book it.

"Adios, Eel!" 

"You putrid punks!" He yelled, his hand clutching his shoulder. Everything burned. Everything throbbed. His pulse beat in his ears, the rain came down like knives, and the bullet hole poured blood like a faucet. But it was oddly thick- was it? The world kept wanting to wobble and spin.

The- the police. They'd be here soon. Maybe. Eventually. He needed to go.

He walked. 

Down the street, down an alley, then another, then another, until the buildings began to spread out and trees and grass began to coat the land.

The rain was softer here. Warmer too. He climbed a shallow hill. Like climbing a mountain. His heart slammed the inside of his skull like a drum. There was a tree on the hill, its branches bare.

He collapsed beneath it.

He didn't have time to see if he could spot any stars before it all went black.

~~~

Eel's life had always, always been strange.

But it apparently that was just the beginning.

[sagxbi]

Babybird Part Two (Batmom Reader)

Momma is home and she is angry. Reader’s superhero name in Whitehawk. Enjoy. I love feedback.

There was a drastic change in the winds from the desert to Gotham city- the most notable being that Gotham’s wind was bitter and tasted of salt, and the winds of the desert were hot and dusty. You found that you didn’t particularly care for either as you hid your face in the high collar of the thick winter coat you had slipped on. Unfortunately, there were many places you would rather be than the city or the desert for that matter, but Gotham was where duty called- where your emotions told you to go, and with the loss of your son so fresh, you couldn’t bear to ignore how you felt.

Despite it being well past midnight, there were still handfuls of people pushing their way between others, weaving in between cars and buildings, and hailing taxis. Though the sheer amount of people walking far too slow was insufferable, you were grateful that the crowds of people gave you something to blend into. Something to hide in. As you shuffled amongst the groups of Gothamites, you were simply a citizen, not someone who was supposed to protect the masses.

You slipped into the bar you had been searching for, immediately bright neon green and blue lights leaked into your vision, giving you pause. When the interior of the bar became visible to you, the search for the man that brought you there in the first place began. Pushing past the drunks, half-naked women and men, and waiters, there was suddenly a pull on your hips, to which you quickly glanced down, ready to slap a hand away, but it was merely a red velvet rope. You had reached the back of the bar. A shout came from the left of you, capturing your attention rather rudely- but what else could you expect from a place like the one you found yourself in.

The man who had yelled stood well over six foot, and his suit hugged tightly to his broad shoulders, the sleek pistol in his pocket glistened in the dim lights of the room. Surely, most would be intimidated by a man such as that, but you found his presences merely an annoyance. A dog sent to retrieve you? You scoffed but had no choice but to trail after the man, heels stomping on the ground loudly.

The guard came to a stop in front of dark green curtains that concealed the meeting room, refusing to enter, much to your satisfaction. Shoving aside the material, your nose scrunched up at the smell of cigars. A burning sensation that left your eyes watering slightly, and throat covered in a dissatisfying taste. The man, short and pale, sat slouched in his extravagant chair, embroidered with lavish looking jewels, and lace. It was a shame that such a lovely piece of furniture was in the hands of such a vile man.

“Such a rarity,” the Penguin squeaked, “that a Bird comes willingly into my cage.” Indeed it was, you supposed, but you were desperate. “It is bold, my girl,” he said in a groan. You weren’t fond of being mocked, but there was no time, and this was no place, to mouth off with the indignant man. You took a seat in a much more dull chair beside him, elbows placed on the table with your chin in your palm.

“I will transfer the money, and you give me the information, that was the deal, correct?” you said, wanting to get out of the wretched bar as soon as you could, even if that meant skipping over the details. Cobblepot hummed, inhaling through the cigar he held between his red-stained fingers.

Before you had thought of entering the bar in the first place, you had sent a letter, proposing the money for the information you desired. Weeks later, you received a letter in return- he had accepted if you agreed to meet with him. And there you sat, a frown gracing your lips.

“To the point? Well, do you not know any better?” he said, leaning back. You did, but you had to move fast before the information went stale.

“Actually I do, so if I were you, I’d be careful,” you said hotly. You were in a hurry, not stupid. Smarter than the man you sat next to, but not to underestimate him either- he was anything but an idiot. The man laughed bitterly.

“The money?” he inquired, an eyebrow raised. You rolled your eyes, rummaging through the coat pocket for your phone, where you then confirmed the transfer. You showed the old man the information quickly, before shoving the phone back into its previous place. Penguin nodded quietly.

You waited for him to speak, a hand clenching the wooden side of the table. More smoke poured from his mouth, the smell harsh.

“The Blackbrick factory filled to the brim with his...goons. Maybe the blonde was there with him, I don’t frankly care. He looked mad as ever, stupid as well. No idea what the fool was up to, but it seems to me that you don’t care about that. What do you care so much about?” Penguin said, a dark eyebrow raised. He was crossing a line, and beyond that line were things you didn’t wish to discuss- especially with Oswald. When no further words were exchanged, he continued. “Who knows when he will move again if he even will. But the man is erratic, and the Big Bat seems- lazy. As of late. Good for me, not for you. And whatever you are planning on doing tonight, I sincerely hope it ends with the Joker disappearing for good.” And with that, you began the trek to Blackbrick factory.

It was hard to see from your vantage point in the rafters of the factory, but it would have to make due. There was a surprising lack of hiding places to take cover in the building and an absurd amount of thugs that wore masks similar to the clown himself. Cocky, you thought, he had done no such thing before you had left the city. Apparently Batman’s lack of attention as of late upset Joker.

The man, face painted white, marched across his makeshift stage, above the mass of thugs. He was wailing about something hysterically, none of which you could hear, and you didn’t particularly want to. His voice brought a growl out from the back of your throat. Harley stood behind him, her finger twirling in a blonde curl, a laugh of her own echoing off the stone walls. You stared intently at the two, like an animal hunting its prey. But your attention was quickly brought upward, to the opposite end of the room from where you were, on a separate vantage point.

Yellow, green, and red. Those were the colors that you saw that were so incredibly familiar, and painful. For what felt like an unreasonable amount of time, you couldn’t breathe. The air refusing to come out of your lungs, distracting you from the burning at your eyes. A pounding feeling at your chest and weak muscles came over you and weren’t sure if it was from the lack of oxygen or the feeling of utter despair. It couldn’t be. He was gone.

The colors moved in flashes as the small figure swung about the room. Closer and closer to you until he rammed directly into you, distracted by the thugs that were becoming rowdy, and excited by the words of the Joker. Before you could think about what you were doing, you grabbed the person roughly and proceeded to grapple back out of the factory- forgetting about what you had gone there to do. The child, you guessed from the sound of his voice, struggled against you, and eventually wiggled out of your hold, but you were already on the roof, away from the thugs.

You stared at him, eyes scanning over his suit- his Robin suit. He was small, but not as small as Dick and your son had been. It wasn’t hard to be larger than Jason, anyway, the boy had been malnourished his whole life.  He was older, maybe thirteen. Fourteen. The usual Robin age. As you stared at him, and he stared back wordlessly, your blood began to boil all over again. Not at the boy, but at the man you knew was responsible for him. Another one? Another child brought into the fight? Had he learned absolutely nothing? You wanted to scream but that would have brought unwanted attention. You had been so involved in your own thoughts you barely heard the words Robin spoke to you.

“A-are you, Whitehawk?” he said, voice unsteady. You relaxed the stare when you realized he was scared. You nodded. You wore your old suit that had been used back in the days of fighting alongside Batman. It had long since been retired, as you gave up crimefighting a year before you met Jason. The occasion called for a proper suit, however. But now you figured you weren’t going to get to use it. The boy's eyes visibly widened under his mask.

“Wait, you’re back? When did you get home?” he spoke to you as if he knew you. Naive. Bold. Young. You decided to humor the boy.

“A few hours ago, but I am not staying,” you said, and he frowned. He sat on the corner of the roof, peering through a broken window as to not lose track of the Joker.

“That sucks. We could use help here, with Batgirl and all,” he said, trailing off. You cocked your head to the side.

“What about Batgirl?” You inquired.

“Can’t be Batgirl in a wheelchair. She is Oracle though, and that’s cool.” Robin said. For the second time that night, the air got caught in your throat.

“What?” You choked out, hands balled into fists. Things only get worse in Gotham, you thought grimly. Robin glanced up at you, now his confusion mirroring yours.

“You don’t know? Nobody told you?” he questioned, sounding perplexed.

“Know what, Robin?” you said, voice cracking. He paused, rubbing at his nose with the back of his hand.

“Joker shot her,” he spoke quietly, and you felt tears slip down your cheeks, under your mask. “He paralyzed her.” For a moment you felt guilty, but for what? Leaving Gotham without taking the kids with you? They would never willingly leave, they have a fascination with the city that you don’t share. A connection. You only harbor hatred for the grim place. The anger which you had felt all night somehow managed to get hotter. You knew coming back was a mistake, but it was too late to leave. Another child as Robin, Barbara paralyzed, and the Joker still breathing. You were stuck in Gotham now.

You had previously had second thoughts about offing the Joker, but you felt clear certainty now. You would choke the life out of him with your bare hands if you had to, and if anyone tried to stop you, they would regret it.

“Go home, Robin. I’ll take care of the factory.” You demanded, picking yourself up off of the cold roofing. Robin stood up as well.

“I don’t know, Boss said I need to be here,” he said, his voice unsure. You moved to where he stood, shoving him back slightly, away from the edge.

“Go, now. If it was so important he would be here.” You growled, readying your grapple again, finger on the trigger. But before you could pull it back, your shoulder was roughly yanked back, pulling you away from the edge roughly. You angerly steadied yourself, hurriedly pulling a throwing knife out of your utility belt. The black mass that stood in front of you, leering over, frowned at you. Robin stood behind him, cowering down slightly.

“I am here, (Y/N),” Batman spoke harshly. He was using his intimidation voice, which annoyed you to no end. You tightened your grip on the knife.

“Not the fight I was expecting,” you spoke slyly, “but I’ll take it.”

[cptaincarswell]

HPHM character profile

Tagged by my fave buddy @batgirl-87 (also both our MCs are Aquarius’ AND they’re a few days apart — I’m shook) and I tag @tsikuri

Also I’m def doing this for Jacob and Ivy for my own pleasure lolol!!! This also helped me better characterize Donna so thanks for the tag!!!!

Belladonna Skye Walker

Age: 16 (as of end of year 5)

Nickname(s): Donna, Don, Donnie

Bella (only Jacob can get away with call her Bella)

Bells (Jacob and Ivy)

Skywalker (Penny, Ben, any half-blood/muggle born who knows her well enough, the nickname eventually spreads through the quidditch team and quite a lot of people call her it)

Deadly Nightshade (quidditch nickname)

Nightshade (Merula)

Cursebreaker (Andre and like all of the school)

Date of birth: February 6, 1973

Zodiac sign: Aquarius

Ethnicity: Irish, Greek/Dorian

Nationality: Irish and Dorian

Species: witch, part Dryad

Blood type: O+ (I know nothing about blood type so I used mine)

Blood status: pure (by chance)

Family

Father: Bradley Walker

* Irish (born and raised in Adare, Ireland)

* Hufflepuff

* Youngest of his line

* Paranoid as heck

* A walking mess

* Carries the Dryad curse

Mother: Merida Walker (née Economos)

* from Crete, Greece

* Was homeschooled

* uses wandless magic - has never touched a wand

* Went to Ireland when she was 20 to broaden her horizons where she met Bradley

* The two married when she was 23 and he was 25, giving birth to Ivy a year later

* Legilimens

Godfather: Camphor Walker

* paternal uncle

* deceased as of 1980

* eldest of the two Walker boys

* cursed as part dryad

* Committed suicide

Godmother: Aretha Economos

* maternal Aunt

* Still lives in Crete

* The three children use to spend summers with her (Donna still does)

* She’s an aggressive woman (the children get their temper from their mothers side)

* Legilimens

Other:

Reed Jacob Walker

Ivy Gaia Walker

Affiliations/organizations:

Walker house

Economos House

Order of the Phoenix

Hogwarts

Hufflepuff house

Occupations:

Author

Private detective/bounty hunter

DADA Professor (just for a year)

Magical characteristics

Boggart:

* her brother turning evil (before finding him)

* Uncertainty (after finding him)

Patronus: just ganna say Fennec Fox, same as her animagus

Riddikulus: literally I never know what to do for this one, I guess the first one would be Jacob tripping into pie Bc lol and then she would just make the boggart decide on a small fear of hers and then turn it into something different each time Idek tbh

Mirror of erised: she first finds the mirror in her 5th year and she sees Jacob, Ivy, her uncle and her parents all together

Wand: 8 3/4", maple wood, Phoenix feather (I hc that Rakepick doesn’t break Donna’s wand)

Animagus: Fennec Fox

Amortentia:

* Fresh assorted flowers — reminds her of home

* Cigarettes — reminds her of Jacob

* Rosemary and mint— the way Ben smells

Appearance

Height: 5’2

Weight: 110-125 (after training for bounty hunting she gains a shit ton of muscle)

Complexion:

* tan as heck (the Greek in her shines through) (much tanner than her siblings who get more of the Irish)

* Light freckles on the cheeks

* Dark freckles on her arms, legs and back

* Eventually gets some scars from bounty hunting - nothing too severe but pretty noticeable

Hair color/style:

Auburn brownish red, just below the chest. It’s naturally wavy-curly but does it’s own thing so she’ll style it to be beach wavy or straighten it

Eyes: green/brown hazel

Hogwarts info

Worst class(es):

Potions (def Bc Of Snape)

History (she sleeps through it)

(Tbh she’s not very good in school, she only does well in the three classes below but these two are exceptionally bad for her)

Best class(es):

Herbology

DADA

Charms

Least fave teacher(s):

Snape... duh

Fave teacher(s):

Flitwick

McGonagall

Rakepick (I hc that Donna is actually very trusting with rakepick and they don’t have any tension or mistrust... it’ll make that moment so much more angsty)

Quidditch: played as the puff keeper for a short few months in year 4 before she became too involved with the vaults and finding her siblings

Fave spell(s): literally have no idea anything that creates fire should do it

Trivia

Random facts:

* hat stall between gryffindor and hufflepuff

* Knew she was legilimens before Dumbledore told her (it runs in her family, her mom taught her and Jacob how to control it, Ivy didn’t have it)

* Doesn’t need her wand to use magic but still uses it, not wanting to “show off”

* Speaks some Greek but can’t read or write it

* Usually curses in Greek

* Can, however, read and write Latin

* ESTP (extrovert, sensing, thinking, perceiving)

* Love language is physical touch and quality time

* Was forced to take the violin by her mother

* Is actually really talented at it but hates it Bc she had no choice

* Is really really good with little kids

* chaotic dysfunctional pansexual

* a cinnamon roll who actually would kill you

* Seems distrusting but actually trusts very easily and very intensely

* Has a supperrrr thick Irish accent that you can barely understand when she’s passionate or mad

* Started seeing a therapist at age 6 after she found her uncle dead

* Somewhere between chaotic good and chaotic neutral but more towards chaotic good

* Loves to dance alone to loud music

* Writes a book about her hogwarts cursed vault expedition and it quickly gets very popular

* She becomes a Professor for DADA during Harry’s second year but only for 5th years and up (some insurance so 5th and 7th year’s could pass the OWLs and NEWTs)

Future job:

Private investigator/bounty hunter (not super legal but when did Donna ever care about laws, she’s chaotic good for a reason)

Face claim:

11-13 Mackenzie Foy

Main FC - Danielle Rose Russel

[rayewriting]

Rescue and Repair/ IRY(INFY) Pt. 2

Fandom: Batman

Sequel to “I Remember You (I Never Forgot You)”

Shout out to @nxxttime for the help!

WARNING: SOME GRAPHIC INJURY DETAILS (blood, whipping, and undetailed abuse)

Qalbi means “my heart” and Ekhwah means "older brother" in Arabic and Chikno means "son" in Romany (at least that’s what I found online!)  If I am wrong about the translations- PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!! I am not meaning to offend anyone, just trying to tie in Damian's and Dick heritage!

Dear Damian,

I have missed you so much, it’s been so long since I have last seen you. We have been planning quietly since Richard received your letter two days ago, and I can’t thank you enough for saving our family’s lives. Just imagining Mar’i going through all the pain of the nanobot could inflict, makes my heart drop and my mind fuzzy. But the price of being saved, of saving Richard and Mar’i, was so high and I am so sorry that you were the one who had to pay it.

Richard and I taught Mar’i how to say your title the other day (Ekhwah, correct?).

Forever Grateful and Missing You,

Kor’iander Grayson

 “Baba!”

Damian shouts as he startles out of a dream, one where Damian and his Baba were playing video games, till Kor’iander walks in with his Qalbi- and suddenly all three of them are on the floor convulsing, crying out in pain, and Damian doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t— Damian wakes up in his dark cell, tears running down his cheeks until he has no more left to cry, and feels empty- hollowed out.

A few hours later the door opens and Damian sees a servant with a tray- most likely his breakfast or spares medical supplies- and begins to talk to him, “Your mother wanted to know if you had changed your mind?” Damian just rolls his eyes and shakes his head at the servant, not having spoken to anyone here since the time he arrived all those weeks ago. Or has it been a year? After his bath in the Lazarus Pit he lost track of time.

But every morning, every single morning, with his breakfast the servant asks the same question, and every time Damian shakes his head, refusing to accept this position- or any position- within the League.  The servant drops the tray inside his cells, a slice of bread, few pieces of fruit, and a small container of water, then leaves him alone. Damian knows he has very few minutes to eat his breakfast, so he quickly wolfs down his meager meal and prepares himself for more torture. He hears the door slam open again, but instead of a servant; it is a few guards.

He sighs, familiar with the abuse; the abuse Talia and Ras call training.

Soon he is led out to the training arena and is tied to a wooden post that is surrounded by dry blood, and he can’t remember—remember if it was his blood or some other poor soul’s. Once securely fasten to the post, he is told to count his strikes. Soon the accustomed sharp pain of the whip was brought down upon his back and shoulders were opening new wounds or reopening old ones, but Damian counted every single one. He felt the sting and burning sensations with every crack that seem to echo through the open space; every so often when one strike would be on or a little too close to a healing wound, Damian would hiss slightly, making the striker chuckle out a laugh.

After the mind-numbing painful session Damian is being untied from the post; feels and smells his fresh and old wounds seep the scarlet blood and sees it dripping off of him and land on the dirt below him. The sight, smell, and feelings make his breakfast churn in his stomach, wanting to make a reappearance. He shakes off the nausea, and is led to the apprentice healers. They wrap his back loosely for his day was not finished and do not know how tight to tie the bandages. After deemed finished, Damian is being pushed to his feet and shoved back to the training grounds to begin his sparing of the day. He was given a double edge sword, not his favorite but he knew his way around a blade, and his sparring partner moved to their side of the arena.

Then he heard the sounds of an aircraft.

One that was too close for a League craft.

Damian knew that because he was waiting for this sound for months.

 Dear Chikno,

We are on our way, as I’m writing this. But I just need to get it all out now, so I don’t do anything stupid when I see you later. Everyone was—is so worried, Kor’i cried a lot since your letter, Mar’i is confused and sad why you weren’t at her birthday party, Bruce and Tim hasn’t slept and refuse to till you are home, Alfred is stock piling all your favorite foods till you can eat them, Jason refuses to leave the Manor till he sees you (not that anyone told him to leave), Cass began her late night dancing because she was worried for you, Stephanie was up all night trying half-heartedly to pull Tim away from the computer but was bringing him coffee when he was empty, Barbara was booted off the computer when she faceplanted against the keyboard. And Duke—Duke was furious when we told him after setting up a plan of action and stated he would be coming along, no matter what anyone said. Your friends wanted to know where you were being held, and Bruce didn’t want to tell them, he—he didn’t want Ras to have a reason to go after them, I guess.

But we are Ras’ biggest menace, so we have nothing to lose, right?

I got your letter, through your waitress from that night. I don’t think my heart has slowed since that day. I’m trying to stay calm, but its so hard when we are so close to finding you. You saved her son, Xaiver Hayes from his kidnapper all those months ago, remember? That was probably why you passed on the message through her, right? Because you knew you could trust her, for some reason that I don’t understand.

I hope you weren’t hurt too much; I don’t think I could forgive myself if you are in pain. Every time I think about you making the choice to save Kor’i, Mar’i, and I, there is a pain so sharp in my chest and it becomes hard to breath. I never wanted you to make the choice between you and your family, because I have had to make that choice before and it was the hardest decision in my life.

Hold on just a little longer, my chikno. Just a little longer.

Love,

Baba

 Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, Black Bat, Signal, and Starfire were in charge of extraction. Batman and Black Bat were to deal with Ras and Talia, Batgirl and Starfire dealt with the assassins. Nightwing and Signal had the most important part: extract Damian. They were to take the Batplane and launch a surprise attack and rescue Damian.

Dick was so close; he could feel Damian’s presence before he saw it. And when he did lay eyes upon his chikno, he was so joyful and so pissed. Because Damian was standing in the middle of an arena with a sword in his hand and looked so hopeful before disguising it with a look of indifference, but not is why Dick is infuriated.

It’s because Damian isn’t wearing a shirt, his pants are in tatters with holes in the knees and long strips are brushing Damian’s feet, his feet are bare and has untreated sores on them. It’s because Dick can see that Damian is bleeding from is back from what is obviously whipping strikes and that is so horrifying.

It’s because Damian is hurt, and Dick is so close. Dick wants to crush his chikno to his chest and not let him go for a week—no a month, but he needs to take Damian out of danger first, medical treatment, second. Then­ he can hold his son for as long as he wants.

So, Dick jumps out of the plane with no hesitation once he knows he can stick the landing without breaking anything, his only thought is to get to his son and destroy anyone who gets in his way.

“Nightwing!” Starfire, Batman, and Batgirl scream when they see him jump with no parachute. Kor’i is not used to seeing people do that, because usually people don’t do that. Bruce and Barbara worrying that Dick will die on the way down.

But this is not a normal situation and Dick is not a normal person.

So, he jumps, shoots his grapple to the tallest building and does a series of twists and flips till he is in the training arena. He hears Duke do the same path with slight adjustment to keep the assassins on their toes, and land behind Dick and say, “A little warning next time, dude?” Then the two vigilantes begin to run to Damian taking out anyone that stood in their way with a sweep of the feet, well placed punch, and a couple of times- throwing one into another. They hear the familiar sounds of breaking walls, explosions, and screams as the others handle their mission objectives.

Finally—finally— they reach Damian as he deflects one blade and ducks below another, his injuries slightly slowing him down, but ignored in favor of freedom. Dick immediately covers his right and Duke his left, and the three of them are a whirlwind of punches, kicks, and a blade- each covering someone’s weaknesses flawlessly. They move their way towards the plane as Dick calls over his comm, “Signal and I have Damian. We are leaving in a minute, either get on the plane or call for back up now.”

“Batgirl and I are finished here and can be back up if needed,” Starfire responds as an explosion goes off in the background.

Batman grunts an affirmative, and Cass reports, “Talia is down, headed to plane.”

Thirty seconds later the plane is nearly lifting off, Batgirl, Black Bat, Signal, Nightwing, and Damian are on the plane, waiting for Batman, when they hear, “Take off! Ras is about to set off an EMP! Go!” in Batman’s gruff voice over the comm, then a grunt and a sound of blades rings out over them.

Dick doesn’t ask for more information before he is in the cockpit, takes the controls, and calls over his shoulder, “Starfire, get Batman and fly him here!” Starfire nods and flies towards Batman’s location, and Dick continues, “Everyone, I’m leaving the bay doors open for takeoff so strap yourselves in, put on oxygen masks, and prepare for a rough ascent!” Dick flips a few more switches and roughly pulls back on the steering controls, causing everyone to jerk in their seats. A few minutes later and the force trying to pull everything and everyone from their various seats, the plane is in the air, a safe distance from any EMP range.

The various Bat family members in the seating area look at eachother and the bay doors, waiting for Starfire and Batman to return, the adrenalin still pumping through their veins. Then in the distance Cass sees a blob in the air, points excitedly at it, prompting everyone to do the same. Slowly making out red hair and black Kevlar, Duke fist pumps in the air and shouts into the oxygen mask, Cass and Barbara share a smile around the masks, and Damian slumps with relief in his chair. Soon after Kor’i lands in the plane with a slightly pale Batman then she calls out, “Richard you can close the aircraft doors, now!” and in response Dick does what his wife tells him, and shuts the bay doors, then flips on the autopilot to the cave and gets out of the cockpit, ripping off his mask as he goes.

It takes a few minutes before it everything settles in.

They did it, there was no one left behind. Everyone is coming home.

Damian is the first one to act, unbuckles himself with trembling hands, throws himself at Dick yelling, “Baba—Father!” and lands in Dick’s awaiting arms and sobs, his chin resting on Dick’s shoulder, and hand grasping Bruce’s shoulder. Damian screams and cries for the months of pent up pain, horrors, and sorrow that he endured for so long. Dick just holds the young man, holds him as tightly he can without causing more pain, and gently shushes him with endearments and promises of security, of safety, of home, and of love. Bruce quickly takes off his cowl and stands behind Dick with his hands wiping Damian’s cheeks free of his tears that are streaming from his emerald green eyes that are locked with his own blue ones. Damian’s eyes tell Bruce all he needs to know right now and wraps both his sons in his own arms, refusing to let go for a few minutes, giving his youngest the feeling of being protected he hasn’t felt in months. Soon, Damian’s screams turn to whimpers, and snuggles a little deeper into Dick’s arms, transfers his hold of Bruce’s shoulder to his back and clutch onto Bruce’s cape. Thoughtfully, Kor’i slowly makes her way over to the trio and begins to brush his hair out of his face and gently begins to untangle it with her fingers.

When Damian stops screaming and his whimpers taper off, Bruce slowly leads him to a gurney near the back of the bay and begins to treat his wounds while Dick holds onto his hands and Kor’i hums a little tune into Damian’s hair, ignoring the blood, sweat, and dirt. During this time is when Tim’s voice is emits over the speaker, “I am picking up co-ordinates, did you guys get him? Please tell me you guys got him.” This prompts Barbara, Duke, and Cass to hop into the cockpit and take the call to explain to the best of their ability the sequence of events that led up to Damian’s rescue, leaving Damian, Bruce, Dick, and Kor’i their own devices.

 Dear Dick Grayson’s Brother (or Son),

I don’t really know why I’m writing you, besides to say I hope you are well, and to offer my gratitude that night seven months ago.

That night, it changed my world. You see, I have a son, Xavier, and he wasn’t born from a proper relationship- in fact I never knew the guy’s name when he did what he did- but I wouldn’t give up my son for the world, because my son is my world. A week before that night my babysitter called and said Xavier had fallen when he was in his bouncer and she was cooking dinner. He knocked his head pretty hard when the bouncer broke and he lost conciseness till she found him on the floor couple of minutes later, so the sitter took him to the hospital and they did their thing. Well, the problem was, I don’t have insurance, because I’m a full-time waitress at a restaurant with a crappy boss, and I’m a full-time student at BC for communications, that doesn’t leave me with money to spare, in fact, that usually means I don’t have money at all. So, when I got the medical bill for an infant overnight stay, I did what any mother would have done, I took all the money from my college fund and payed the bills, leaving me so broke, I hadn’t eaten much in several days.

But then you came in, and saved me and my son. You gave me enough money for my college fees and my rent for the month. And I can’t say, write, or communicate thank you enough. So thank you for saving us from being kicked out, thank you for putting food on my table, thank you for providing me the money to finish my schooling.

Just thank you.

Forever Grateful,

Blyss Hayes

 It was a few months after the rescue of Damian Grayson-Wayne. A few, nightmare-filled, therapy-packed months; but Damian had finally did return to where it all started.

The a five-star, high end, black tie only restaurant.

But this time he is with his family, Father, Alfred, Tim, Jason, Barbara, Duke, Cassandra, Stephanie, Kor’iander, Baba, and his Qalbi. This time Damian chose to come on his own accord and made the reservation himself, making sure to be seated in Blyss’ section, but asks for the hostess not to tell her. Damian wants to see if she recognized him after eight months of no contact, and only two months of meeting Dick, Kor’iander, Mar’i, and Tim one time.

Damian walks into the establishment first, head held high, and Qalbi on his hip, refusing to let any of his nerves show. He feels Dick’s hand on his shoulder as he tells the hostess his name and time of his reservation, and is slightly calmer. When the hostess walks them over to their big table, Damian makes sure he is at the corner chair with Mar’i in a high-chair at the head of the table, Father sitting next to him, and Baba sitting across of him. He looks at all the exits and entrances, takes note of all the windows- how many there are and what type of glass they are made out of, and notices the vents- how big they are and how many there are. When the hostess leaves, Damian looks at his menu, picks the vegetarian, white-sauce pasta with a glass of water, and puts his menu down.

After a few minutes of playing with Qalbi’s hands and drawing a giggle from her, he sees Blyss coming over but doesn’t catch her eye; at least, not until she is at the table as she starts to say her introduction, “Hello, welcome to The Starlight Palace. My name is Blyss—" Damian can see when she recognizes him and his family, her eyes grow wide and she begins to shake, and Damian begins to wonder if she is going to pass out, but she doesn’t; she reigns herself in a continues what she was saying, albeit a little shaken, “—and I will be taking care of you all today. Do you all know what you want to drink and appetizers?”

Her eyes still rove over everyone there as she takes in the drinks, five waters, two red wines, two white wines, and three various soft drinks and two orders of stuffed mushrooms and one order of bruschetta, then she leaves to drop the orders off at the kitchen and get their drinks. When she returns with the various beverages and places them in front of the right person, she turns towards Damian and says quietly, “I’m glad you are back. Seems like you were missed by a lot of people.”

Dinner turns out much of the same, Blyss being a professional waitress and his family not causing a big scene, but being a little rowdy. At the end of the meal, Bruce asks for the ticket Blyss retorts that she has it handled and they don’t need to worry about it, throwing a pointed look at Dick, and Kor’i. That throws Damian and everyone else for a loop, and Dick explains up, “I am not cashing in your offer right now. There are twelve of us here, and this man,” he points at Bruce, “is the wealthiest man in the state, if not the country. This was more for Damian’s piece of mind than your generous offer.”

Kor’i speaks up, “Perhaps, we will come back on my birthday or our anniversary, but Richard is right. You have a child to pay for and I cannot in good moral ground have you pay for this. Especially since I know how expensive little ones are.”

Bruce seems to understand the gist of the conversation and nods his head, takes out his card, asks for the receipt again. This time she hands it to Bruce and walks away to take care of another customer, before returning to their table. Bruce slides the small black book over to her, prompting her to take it to the till. Damian watches as she opens the book, her jaw drops sharply in shock, eyes darting over to their table. Her behavior catches the owner’s attention and he quickly makes his way over to her, the owner glances at the booklet and begins to talk angrily at Blyss and she turns pale and tries to calmly talk him down. After a heated moment the owner nods, and Blyss quickly returns as if on fire, begins to whisper into Bruce’s ear. Damian and the rest of the table can see the moment when Bruce gets angry; but he hides it well with a fake laugh, as he stands and begins to make his way over to the owner, jaw set in determination.

When Bruce returns ten minutes later with a slightly red face, Damian is wondering what was happening, but doesn’t ask, yet. Everyone calmly picks up their various jackets and Dick picks up Mar’i, who had fallen asleep twenty minutes ago, then exits the restaurant. But before they can get two feet out the door the Wayne family hears a, “Wait!” and everyone turns around. It’s Blyss with an envelope that reads “Damian” in her hands and she looks nervous as she shoves it into Damian’s hands, “I j-just needed to give you this, t-to thank you for everything you have done for me and my son,” she says before high-tailing it back inside. Damian, looking at where the woman was then at the letter in his hands, begins to place the letter in a pocket on the inside of his jacket, determining that it can wait till he gets home.

As everyone reaches their vehicles and Kor’i straps in Mar’i, Damian pulls his father to the side and asks, “Father, what happened back at the restaurant? With the owner and Blyss.”

Bruce’s jaw clenches a small bit before spitting out, “The owner thought I was paying her under the table, like this meal was some type of way for me to pay her for illicit activities. When the owner was talking to her at the cash register, he accused her of sleeping with me and this was how I could pay her without it looking weird on my bank account. When she was talking to me at the table, she was asking if I could explain my reasoning of paying her so much to her boss—”

“How much did you tip her?”

“I gave her an extra grand. Because when she delivered that note to Dick, she saved your life,” Bruce went on, looking Damian in the eyes, “Because when she decided not to just take the money you gave her, but also did something that seemed weird and could be dangerous, she showed her true colors. Because—,” Bruce continues to look Damian in the eyes and hold Damian’s head in his hands, “Because she saved you by delivering that letter. She saved you, because if we didn’t have that letter you would still be with the League and I—I don’t want to imagine this life without you in it.” Bruce places his forehead against Damian’s with tears welling up in both of their eyes, “I never want to lose you again, son.”

Damian wraps his arms around his father and response, “I don’t want to lose you either, Father.”

Later that night, after patrol, Damian takes out the letter from Blyss and reads it. Once, twice, then again, and thinks “I wonder what would happen…” then he sleeps, with no nightmares for the first time in months.

Some feedback would be appreciated!!!

[totesmccoats]

  Batman and the Signal #1

After years of teasing and buildup, Duke Thomas finally has a suit and a codename. As the Signal, he protects Gotham during the day, when the Bats are all sleeping. Besides being the only non-nocturnal member of the Bat-family, he’s also the first with powers, albeit, powers he doesn’t quite understand. He can “read” light, and is able to reconstruct images of where it’s been and where it’s going. Essentially, he has the ability to rewind and fast-forward his perception.

His first assignment, given to him by Batman, is to investigate the recent spree of metahuman teenagers – like Duke – popping up in Gotham. But even with his training under Batman, there’s no guarantee he’ll even survive his first day.

Duke Thomas has always been a breath of fresh air to the recent Batman mythos. For one, he’s not a dark haired white guy. (I know Todd was blond at one point; and also wish that Damian was more often depicted as half-Asian, but he’s not.) He’s also been a bit of a perpetual outsider; someone a distance removed from the Bats and Robins. So it makes sense to give him an entire 12 hours to himself, to become his own type of hero. He’s also got his own crew, the former members of We Are Robin, whom he’s let into his superhero life. In one issue, he’s already showing how he’s doing things his own way.

On the art side of things, Hammer and Martin are showing us a side of Gotham we don’t often see; what it looks like during the day. But also, Duke takes them into the streets more than the rooftops. Being a daytime hero means more groundwork, and also running into more people as they go through their daily routines. Despite what we usually see of the city, during the day, Gotham can be surprisingly bright and spacious. And the modern style of the new Wayne-funded developments even give the city a few shades of Metropolis. The brightness continues through Duke’s costume, which takes the yellow highlights found in Batman and the Robin’s costumes, and makes it the primary color. Eventually, even his black chestpiece is replaced with a more reflective material, bouncing the light back rather than absorbing it.

Between the half dozen Batman books DC has running at any given time, it’s easy to feel overexposed by Gotham city. Turns out all you need to make it feel new again is let the sunshine in.

  Batman: White Knight #4

Jack continues with his plan to take over Gotham – nicely – announcing his run for city councilman; and turning his campaign launch into a PR stunt when he gets Batman and Gordon to interrupt and arrest him for no reason. Blackport is already overwhelmingly in favor of Jack, and the rest of Gotham is slowly turning. Even Gordon is convinced by Jack’s plan to use the Batman fund to instead fund a new team of super-cops; and Jack hopes that Gordon can convince Batgirl and Nightwing to turn as well.

Meanwhile, Neo-Joker leads the mind-controlled villains on a raid of Gotham PD headquarters to steal files and find a way for her to reawaken Joker. She also tells Mad Hatter how she came to meet, and fall for, the supervillain.

But, for my money, the most interesting development is that Harley senses that somewhere along the line, Jack legitimately turned his plan to get revenge on Batman and the GCPD into a way to save and improve Gotham. And if anyone would know, it would be her, the person who knows him best, and a professional psychologist. Maybe the Joker really is dead.

And, of course, Batman keeps playing right into Jack’s hands – almost causing a riot at his campaign launch, and pushing Gordon away by refusing to listen to a plan that could help them both. If Bruce still has a chance at saving his own hind, he’s letting it slip past him awfully quickly.

SGM is really out-doing himself with the art in this series too, and can switch things from the sweetness of Jack and Harley spending a night out together, to the brutality of this Batman’s ways of taking out criminals, and the pathos of Neo-Joker’s backstory. Plus, there’s a garage full of the GCPD’s idea of what their Batmobiles should be like, and if there’s one thing he goes all out on – it’s cars.

  Batman #38

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, although, I can assure you you haven’t. One rich kid, two murdered parents, a butler, a desire for vengeance. But this isn’t Bruce Wayne. It’s Matthew, the son of a couple who worked on Wayne’s board. As Bruce, he assures Matthew that the person behind the murders will be caught, and that he’ll be taken care of. As Batman, he investigates. The first suspect is Zsasz. Shortly after this discovery, Zsasz’s parents are found dead in their home. But Zsasz didn’t do it. Then, another couple is killed.

Coming off the perfectly delightful Superfriends two-parter, King reminds us he can also write twisted noir Batman with this one-shot story that’s a twist, not just of the Batman origin story, but of all the twists on the Batman origin to come before it. It also plays into King’s larger arc of Bruce Wayne trying to heal past the trauma that’s defined him. Just because Matthew is very much like Bruce Wayne, and looks up to Bruce Wayne, does not make him Bruce Wayne, nor any of the Robins or other heroes with similar backstories. Sometimes, tragedy doesn’t result in heroes.

And, despite the darkness of this issue in particular, King still finds places to inject humor. The clues Batman ends up following to solve the mystery, down to his final deduction, could’ve come straight from the Adam West show – just add blood.

  Justice League #36

Following the opening of a congressional investigation into the Justice League, the chairwoman leading the investigation is assassinated by a Batman doppelganger. The next day, the public pressure from the investigation and assassination, as well as personal agendas not lining up with the team’s charter, further increases fissures in team cohesion as they try to prevent another international incident involving a nuclear sub in Chinese waters.

I can’t remember the last comic book to make me so stressed. If Priest succeeds in one thing this issue, it’s selling how stressed everyone in the League is at the moment. Aquaman’s balancing being part of the League with being the King of his people; Wonder Woman is starting to think that Batman’s rules are interfering with her mission of peace; Superman’s being called to testify at congressional hearings; Simon feels that the League’s charter is preventing him from saving lives; and Batman’s gotta somehow heard all these cats while also dealing with a doppleganger using his example to kill people. It’s a lot to deal with, and adding to all of it, the public ain’t the biggest fan of vigilantism right now.

I’m also really enjoying Wood’s art on this series. It’s bold and colorful, unabashedly heroic, almost to prove by aesthetics alone how necessary the League is in spite of the public’s doubts. On the other hand, he perfectly captures the stress in every heroes face as they deal with each-other and other mounting stressors. They’re larger than life, but also relatably human – a very fine line that he nonetheless walks.

  Green Arrow #38

Another Ferreyra illustrated issue, hell yeah! I don’t think I get this excited over any other artist. He kills it every issue he’s on. This one included. From Dinah kneeing Ollie in the balls, to a sunset on the beach, to an underground fight; he does it all with style and personality.

After Dinah and Henry rescue Ollie from the trench in the Pacific ocean Moira abandoned him in, Ollie has to make things up to Dinah for almost getting himself killed in the pursuit of money. Meanwhile, Moira resurfaces and reconnects with Malcolm Merlyn, and together, hope to pay back her debt to the Ninth Circle. Unfortunately for them, they’ve decided they’re already settled.

How else could this issue end but a three way fight between team Arrow, Moira and Malcolm, and the assassin the Ninth Circle sent to collect their debt? Well, many ways; but none as satisfying.

  Black Bolt #9

Black Bolt and Blinky visit Titania to tell her that her husband is dead. And then the three of them hold a funeral for Crusher Creel. It starts with a toast at his local watering hole, and ends with a visit from Captain America and Odinson, who come to pay their respects to a worthy adversary who died a hero’s death.

This issue got to me. I’m no bastion of emotional fortitude or nothing, but, because of everything leading up to this, this death meant something, and Crusher’s funeral means something too. Within the pages of this story, Crusher found love and redemption. That his funeral drew heroes and villains alike says that his life mattered because in the end, he chose to give his own for someone else’s. It’s a simple story, but a powerful one. We’re all loved. We all matter. No matter where we come from, we can all choose to be heroic. And that will matter too.

  Hawkeye #14

Kate remains captured by Eden, who gives her a moment with her mother to convince her to turn her back on Clint.

Meanwhile, Clint and Kate’s friends make a plan to find where Eden took Kate, and save her. The plan Clint comes up with after finding out where Eden and Kate are? Kidnap Madame Masque, who’s still in a Kate clone body, and pull the ol’ switcharoo on Eden. Like most of Clint’s plans, he hasn’t thought this one entirely through.

This is mainly a Clint issue, and it’s great how Thompson continues the tradition of writing Clint as an almost utter fuckup, but importantly, a likable fuckup who always tries his best.

  Rise of the Black Panther #1

This series, which serves as a retelling of T’Challa’s origins and early years as Black Panther, has two Black Panther’s in it, neither of whom are T’Challa. The book begins with his grandfather Azzuri meeting Captain America and the two working together to defend Wakanda from Hydra; then follows the reign of T’Chaka, as told by his first wife, and T’Challa’s mother, N’Yami. Together, the story tells of two kings who broke tradition for the betterment of Wakanda. Azzuri gave vibranium to an outsider so that he could use it to save the world; and T’Chaka made a common woman his Queen, and gave her the resources she needed to study vibranium and develop new technologies from it. But, it is also a story of Wakanda being pulled onto the world stage as it is attacked by outsiders for the first time. Wakanda is able to repel them, but always at a cost.

This first issue does a great job at establishing the legacy that T’Challa inherits from his forefathers; a legacy of a recently unified country just beginning to expand past its history of secrecy. It presents T’Challa inheriting a country at the height of its power, but also, at its most vulnerable. It also establishes that whatever T’Challa does, he’s following in the footsteps of imperfect men. This issue ends with the stakes being that T’Challa has to be a Black Panther unlike any Wakanda has ever known. The next ones will have to tell us how he begins to become that.

  Paper Girls #19

The Girls, and Chris, decide to find old!Tiff before she gets smushed by the giant robots, and when we meet old!Tiff, she has a run in of her own with some future-folk. And through the whole issue, including the Girls and Chris finding old!Tiff and going to a church for safety, Mac doth protest KJ’s lesbianism way too much, to the point where her edginess begins irking the other characters.

Like pretty much every issue this arc, this one moves quickly, ending almost before you know it. And, a lot of this issue is characters playing catch-up with one another as they go over that Tiff is married to Chris, Tiff can see the fighting robots, and time-war. Like, it makes sense in-universe that the characters have to re-explain everything to the people who weren’t there for the initial exposition, but being that we the audience presumably know most of this, it stalls the issue and the overall story a bit too much.

Crosswind #6

Cason and Juniper finally meet in Seattle and prepare to defend themselves and each-other’s friends and families from the gang coming to kill them all.

Like all great finales, this is an issue full of self-actualization and beautiful bloody coups de grace, mostly from June, who finally stands up to her whimpering douchebag husband. Cason also actualizes, deciding what he wants to do with the rest of his life, being that he can’t go back after today. By the end of the issue, Simone manages to bring all of her characters to satisfying places, while still giving them some room for inferred growth.

Staggs, meanwhile, gets to finally deliver on the action and blood front, and even draws a poignant send off for her recently departed dog.

The final panel of this issue promises more Crosswind, but with such a satisfying ending, I have to hope the series continues as an anthology, showing us another incredibly freaky-friday.

Comic Reviews 1/3/18 Batman and the Signal #1 After years of teasing and buildup, Duke Thomas finally has a suit and a codename.

[onehaleofanadventure]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandoms: DCU, Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics) Relationship: Tim Drake/Jason Todd

Summary: 

Rather than trying to pull Jason back into the BatFold, Tim decides to meet him halfway, accidentally at first.

When Jason came back, to life, to Gotham, even to Bruce in a way, he wasn’t right. The Joker broke something and the pit couldn’t fix it. He came back angry, he came back afraid, and haunted, but mostly, he came back even more of uncertain of his place.  

Catherine and his dad were long since dead, his biological mother was dead, too—not that he’d want to revisit that relationship—Bruce had already moved on with his new Robin, and Nightwing and Batgirl—well Oracle now—didn’t really care about him the first time he was alive that didn’t change now.  

The first time Tim met the infamous Red Hood, Jason post-resurrection, he cried. He cried, and it had nothing to do with being beaten mostly to death. No, Tim cried for Jason, and for himself, but mostly for Jason. Tim cried for the pain Jason must have gone through dying and being gone and coming back. Tim cried for this first impression, for Jason never getting to know how much and how long Tim has been in love with him. Mostly though, Tim cried because he could see the pain and hurt Jason carried, he could see the loneliness and the abandonment he felt; and Tim knows, a least a little bit of that is his fault. Batman needed a Robin, but Jason needs someone who loves him.  

After that, Bruce does his best to protect his Robin, to keep Tim in California and far away from Jason. However, once Tim catches wind of the big showdown and the fall out that nearly cost Jason his life—because Bruce chose to save that wretched clown over his lost son—Tim is on the first flight back.  

Tim spends his every available hour searching for Jason. Digging through rumors and sightings of the Red Hood, determined to find him at all cost.  

Nearly a month later, Tim finds Jason largely unconscious in an alley, the bandages covering the wound Bruce left dyed a vibrant red. This long after the incident, he should have mostly healed unless the wounded was deeper than Bruce claimed—unlikely, but possible—proper stitching never occurred—unlikely, given Jason’s background—or, the wound has been reopened several time.

“Get lost, kid.”

The croaked words surprise a small flinch out of Tim. “Sorry, Hood. No can do. There’s a lost bird, he’s injured, and someone needs to get take care of him until he’s back on his feet.”

“You’re reaching pretty far with that metaphor, replacement.” Jason huffs, and it is Jason, the Hood is nowhere in sight. “Didn’t Big Bird ever tell you, Robins are known for their puns not metaphors.”

Tim starts to respond, but the sound of heavy footfalls on the fire escape above him stop the words from coming.  

The first time Jason kills someone for Tim, Tim blames himself. He let himself get too distracted, too caught up in the relief of Jason surviving everything and let someone get too close. Jason, of course, brushes it off as his own self preservation, but Tim knows he wouldn’t have killed the guy so quickly if Tim’s life hadn’t been on the line.  

Tim appreciated the save, he really does. The blood and bits of flesh splattered across him face and uniform, not so much. This marks the fifth time Jason has killed someone for Tim. It’s a little weird, Tim thinks, but he’s broken so many bones, hit too hard on a few too many occasions not to realize the protecting this is so very mutual.  

The first time Tim kills someone is completely on accident.  

There’s a new drug in Gotham. It’s rumored to give people super strength, really though, it’s an overdose of adrenaline and practically eliminates the connect between nerves and the pain center of the brain. So far, the drugs has ended up killing nearly six out of every seven users, mostly due to overdose, as a tolerance is easily built up with the deterioration of adrenal glands.  

Jason and Tim bad both been working the case and Tim managed to convince Jason to share intel, he’d let Jason go in guns blazing and blowing everything up, if they worked together.

Just because the users don’t actually have super strength doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous.  

The last warehouse with a viable supply is the where things go to shit. Inside are almost two dozen men, all hyped on the poison they peddle. The first fifteen or so go down easy. But, it’s been a long and grueling night of fighting doped up, unfeeling junkies, and they’re both slowing down.  

One of Jason’s guns goes flying of the docks, smacking a man in the head and causing him to stumble. The second goes skittering across the floor—not far from Tim—after one of the thugs lands a poorly aimed but very lucky kick to Jason’s wrist.  

Tim sees it in slow motion, the rusted metal pipe shattering Jason’s helmet and dazing the man within. Tim doesn’t think, doesn’t have the time, he hits—far too hard for the bat-code of ethics—the man in front of him and grabs the gun in a roll. He aims and fires and the man standing over Jason goes down in a heap.  

The ends quickly after that. Jason thanks him—a small part of Tim’s brain, the part that will probably always respond to praise from Jason—and hold him as he calms him through the anxiety attack that grips him once his actions register.  

The next time Robin—Red Robin, Bruce took his suit when he refused to show remorse for his actions—it isn’t an accident. It was a choice: a severely injured Jason, or a dead serial killer. Turns out, it wasn’t really that much of a choice in the end.  

After that, it begins to happen more and more, but it’s okay, because Jason is always there to help him through the aftermath. Though, Tim needs it less and less these days.  

When Jason asks Tim to be his Robin, Tim doesn’t hesitate; Batman has Robin, maybe it’s time Red Hood get a Red Robin.  

They’ve become the most feared thing in Gotham. There are stories that mothers tell their children, warning them to never do evil deeds or the Reds will come to add fresh blood to their insignias.

Batman is no longer a source of fear, no, he is a has-been with methods that never worked. The people loathed him while the cops desperately try help him stop the Reds.  

The innocents of the city sleep peacefully, knowing that any blood shed will come from the Reds. And any blood shed is in the name of love.  

Love for the people.

Love for Gotham.  

And love notes written to their other half.  

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1145

Monday, January 2, 2017

 I'm a day late and a dollar short but Happy New Year everybody. I am hoping and wishing for the best to one and all. So far so good. We started off the year with friends and some lovely surprises that made the evening special. No big resolutions except to try to be a better person than I was last year. Do more things that I'm proud of rather than the opposite.

 Archie #15 - Mark Waid (writer) Joe Eisma (art) Andre Szymanowicz (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). I have one question: where did they get the money to pay for all the stuff for Archie's parents' anniversary party? The feud in Switzerland between Veronica and Cheryl will now move to Riverdale. There's a lot more nastiness in these new Archie comics then there used to be.

 Briggs Land #5 - Brian Wood (writer) Mack Chater (art) Lee Loughridge (colours) Nate Piekos (letters). One look at this issue's cover and you can see that this book doesn't shy away from controversy. Yes those are skinhead brown shirts with Nazi armbands. The menace and violence is not explicitly shown but it's palpable. It's sad to see that some readers have dropped this title, because I think it's a very gripping story.

 Doctor Strange #15 - Jason Aaron (writer) Chris Bachalo & Jorge Fornes (pencils) John Livesay, Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Victor Olazaba & Jorge Fornes (inks) Antonio Fabela (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Chapter 4 of "Blood in the Aether" finds Stephen being driven around in a cab by the Orb. It's really quite a trip. This all boils down to a bunch of super villains wanting to kill Doctor Strange. I hope Wong and Zelma can come to the rescue in time. I thought that the changing art styles between Chris and Jorge's pages would be annoying but they meshed very well.

 Avengers #2.1 - Mark Waid (writer) Barry Kitson (pencils) Mark Farmer (inks) Jordan Boyd (colours) Ferran Delgado (letters). One of the oddest super villains from the old days appears this issue.  I never really got what the Stranger wanted way back when but he sure was powerful. Having this foursome of Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch making up the Avengers is quite humbling. I loved the scene on public transit.

 Amazing Spider-Man #22 - Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils) Cam Smith (inks) Jason Keith (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Now that the identity of the person behind the jackal mask has been revealed it's time to lay out that person's plans for all us fans. Will Peter succumb for his loved ones? The answer may be in Dead No More #4.

 Invincible Iron Man #2 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Stefano Caselli (art) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Half of this issue is Riri fighting a bunch of Iron Mans while AI Tony tries to train her and the other half are flashbacks to expand on her past so we get a better understanding of why she wants to be a super hero. This is the reason Bendis books do it for me. He takes time to show us the human side of super humans.

 Thanos #2 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Mike Deodato (art) Frank Martin (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Thanos's son Thane is assembling a team to kill his dad, who has a terminal disease. The Titan is dying anyways and according to his father the scientist, Thanos doesn't have long to live. There is no cure. Thanos even destroyed another whole civilisation to find one. I love Jeff's writing and Mike's art but here's what I see happening. Thanos will be cured by fighting Thane. Villains like Doc Ock, Victor Von Doom, Wilson Fisk and Thanos will never die.

 Occupy Avengers #2 - David F. Walker (writer) Carlos Pacheco (pencils) Rafael Fonteriz (inks) Sonia Oback (colours) Travis Lanham (letters). The two do gooders, Hawkeye and Red Wolf, team up to do some good. I think this book is going to be light reading even though they may tackle lofty ideals like trying to save a fresh water supply from greedy corporations. Remember the old Hulk TV show that had Bill Bixby wandering around the country as Bruce Banner and then Lou Ferrigno helping people as the Hulk? This might be just like that but with Clint Barton making things right as Hawkeye. I do like Hawkeye and David may not be Matt Fraction but his writing is acceptable so I will check out subsequent issues to see if I might read them.

 Moonshine #3 - Brian Azzarello (writer) Eduardo Risso (art) Eduardo Risso & Cristian Rossi (colours) Jared H. Fletcher (letters). This was a bloody fine issue from the cover to the last page. This story has more fluids flowing than just the homebrew hooch.

 Action Comics #970 - Dan Jurgens (writer) Patrick Zircher (art) Ulises Arreola (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). It's the Trial of Lex Luthor. Yes it's for crimes he's yet to commit and the only one defending him is Superman. The verdict is no surprise to anyone. Now we see if the sentence will be administered.

 Saga #41 - Brian K. Vaughn (writer) Fiona Staples (art) Fonografiks (letters). Many lives are on the line and someone does die. You have to read this issue to find out who.

 Hulk #1 - Mariko Tamaki (writer) Nico Leon (art) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). They dropped the She prefix so I wouldn't blame She-Hulk fans for passing this by. Please don't do that because this is a really good reintroduction of Jennifer Walters to the rack. Jen may have recovered physically from her near death while fighting Thanos in Civil War II but she is still suffering psychological damage. Doc Samson hasn't shown up yet but somebody needs to help the lady lawyer cope with what happened to her. I like the way Nico draws Jen but there were some panels where she looked part Asian. That's a whole different take on the character than previously depicted. Jen doesn't Hulk out this issue but she is on the verge. I will be interested to see how much control Mariko gives Jen when she's green.

 Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #11 - Robert Venditti (writer) Rafa Sandoval (pencils) Jordi Tarragona (inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). Larfleeze is my least favourite character in this whole colour scheme. He's just a hoarder and the colour is a mix of red and yellow. He's not even a good villain because his avarice makes him stupid. I find the orange corps to be a bore.

 Mighty Thor #14 - Jason Aaron (writer) Steve Epting (art) Frank Martin (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Yumpin yimminy that was another great issue. The League of Realms fights bravely against overwhelming odds as Malekith continues his campaign against the Ten Realms. He's just laid waste to Niffleheim so which one is next? If you like Steve's art in this book you should check out Velvet.

 Batgirl #6 - Hope Larson (writer) Rafael Albuquerque (art) Dave McCaig (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). Batgirl flies home after her Asian adventures and meets up with a surprise passenger. The guy being picked up at the airport was a surprise to me too. I'm sure he's going to make life interesting for Barbara Gordon.

 Uncanny Avengers #18 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Kevin Libranda (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Avengers Mansion is now a Marvel super hero theme hotel? Get outta town. Well, aside from that bit of hoohaw I really liked this issue even though Gerry stonged me with a Rick Astley song brought on by the title to this issue. The Red Skull with Charles Xavier's powers is playing a lot of head games and I am looking forward to seeing how the good guys beat him. Kevin Libranda is a fine fill in for Pepe Larraz.

 Detective Comics #947 - James Tynion IV (writer) Alvaro Martinez (pencils) Raul Fernandez (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Marilyn Patrizio (letters). The finale to the Victim Syndicate story ends with a back stabbing betrayal by one of the good guys. They couldn't be more obvious with one of the covers. It's understandable given the grief that character was going through. Speaking of Red Robin, who's the hooded guy in the last panel? This Batfan wants to know.

 Spider-Man/Deadpool #12 - Nick Giovannetti & Paul Scheer (writers) Todd Nauck (art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This would be a great way for kids to learn how Christmas evolved from the ancient Roman celebration of Saturnalia honouring the god Saturn but it's got way too much adult content for them to be casting their beady little eyes on. For us more mature readers it was a fun time.

 Wonder Woman #13 - Greg Rucka (writer) Renato Guedes (art) Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colours) Jodi Wynne (letters). This issue spotlights Steve Trevor, looking a lot like Oliver Queen, as he tries to keep a mind altered Diana from being captured by bad guys. I'm not a fan of Steve calling Diana Angel. It's too saccharine. Whatever happened to make Diana mentally handicapped still needs to be determined and a way to get her back to normal still needs to be found. Those mysteries will keep me reading.

 Civil War II #8 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) David Marquez (art) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). It's over at last but not really. This story is merely a launching pad for changes in the Marvel U. Some have already hit the racks like the new Incredible Iron Man starring Riri Williams. Many are poised to start off 2017 with a plethora of new exciting (we hope) stories. There are a bunch of full page possible futures featured and I got to play my favourite game of "who's drew that?". Well, these folks did: Adam Kubert, Leinil Francis Yu, Daniel Acuna, Alan Davis & Mark Farmer, Marco Rudy, Mark Bagley & John Dell, and Esad Ribic. It was fun guessing.

 Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #2 - Joshua Williamson (writer) Tony S. Daniel (pencils) Sandu Florea (inks) Alex Sinclair (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). This answers the question of which team would win in a fight. The answer will surprise you. Meanwhile, the third team is about to embark on a mission in preparation for taking over the world. Once this super villain team is discovered I'm sure the Justice League and the Suicide Squad will team up to stop them.

 Black Widow #9 - Chris Samnee & Mark Waid (writers) Chris Samnee (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Natasha teams up with Bucky to fight her mysterious stalker. I finally saw Captain America: Winter Soldier recently. That was a pretty good movie. Meanwhile back on the racks, we have the Weeping Lion plotting something nasty against the Black Widow to look forward to.

 Infamous Iron Man #3 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Alex Maleev (art) Matt Hollingsworth (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). I know this book isn't going to last but I am thoroughly enjoying it while it's on the stands. This issue explains what changed Victor Von Doom from being the super villain Doctor Doom to the super hero Iron Man. It's tied into Secret Wars where Doctor Doom was the god of all those universes smooshed together. I figger Victor will suffer another disfiguring accident and he'll revert to being a bad guy again. In the meantime, meet Mrs. Von Doom.

 Spider-Woman #14 - Dennis Hopeless (writer) Veronica Fish (art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). My favourite thing about this book are the friendships that Jessica has. She is going to need a lot of help to get through this grieving period after the death of the Porcupine. But wait, who's this in the back of the book?

 Spider-Man #11 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Sara Pichelli (art) Gaetano Carlucci (ink assist) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This issue is all about Jefferson Davis, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't mind that Miles is barely in this because it's so well written and I get to see Sara draw the Black Cat, even though I hate chunky soles on pumps. Just ignore the impractical footwear folks. The cover shows Spider-Man disintegrating but that just means that he's not going to be the major focus of this new story, his dad is.

 Star Wars #26 - Jason Aaron (writer) Salvador Larroca (art) Edgar Delgado (colours) Chris Eliopoulos (letters). He's Penny's favourite Star Wars hero. Luke may be prominently featured on the cover but the real star of this issue is Master Yoda. Still can't stand his inverted speech pattern though.

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