#battle for the cowl

[littlefankingdom]

I was reading Battle for the Cowl again, and I caught something: Alfred is the one who gave Damian the Robin's mantle, not Dick.

(Alfred giving Damian the Robin's suit, telling him he must prove he deserves it, and the next time Damian is shown in the story, he is in the Robin's color)

Everyone and their mothers in this fandom, especially Tim's fans, blame Dick for that, but it was Alfred! This is already the second time I caught a batfam's member being blamed for something Alfred did. You cannot keep getting away with this, old man!

[shyjusticewarrior]

"Nothing Jason says can be taken for truth."

"I believe you."

[gffa]

Just so you're aware, when everyone thinks Batman is dead they absolutely do know that Nightwing is the head of the Bats in Gotham.

[stratfordsympathizer]

These panels from Battle for the Cowl always make me lose my mind because Dick and Jason are having this incredibly intense, brutally violent confrontation in Jason's new Batcave and airing out years of resentment and pain while snapping each other's bones:

And then this is Tim like twenty feet down the hallway:

[malfiora]

my read of Battle for the Cowl is two siblings fighting over a toy that neither wants but they just don't want the other to have it

[notmoreflippingelves]

Actually going insane over the implications of Jason asking Dick to be the Robin to his Batman in Battle for the Cowl.

Like I initially took it at the purely surface-level of Jason wanting a partner in the general sense. Which made sense, it's a huge responsibility and a lonely one so an assistant/sidekick/partner seems a no-brainer if you can get one.

But then I really thought about it, because Jason is not asking Dick to be his partner in the general sense; he's not even asking Dick to be his Nightwing. He's asking Dick to be his Robin.

And they both know exactly what Jason means: "Be the light to my darkness. Be the smile to my scowl. Be the hope to my fear. "

He's saying "Be 'Robin'; be the embodiment of Love and Justice and Goodness. Be the exceptional person that you have always been. Be the slightly-less exceptional person that I was when I wore your colors. Be the person that I was in the process of becoming and might have been (or might still be), if only Joker hadn't clipped my wings."

He's saying "I am prepared to become vengeance, become the Night. And I will go further than Bruce ever dared to, because it is what is needed. I will be the necessary evil. But you don't have to be. If Batman is Gotham's curse, Robin has always been its blessing. I will be the brutal punishment to our world, and I am asking you to be its incandescent gift."

He's saying, "Be for me, what we were for Him. Be my anchor, my comfort, my hope. Remind me what it's all for, why it's all worth it. And remind yourself as well."

He's saying "Be 'Robin' again--for both of our sakes."

[livingdeadvoid]

Battle for the cowl but none of them wants to be Batman

Jason: Dick is the oldest, he should have to be Batman. I'm too violent-

Dick: Hell no, Damian is Bruce's son, he should be Batman.

Tim: it shouldn't be me

Damian: It shouldn't be Tim

They pass the mask around like hot coals

[everwalldigan]

It is actually HILARIOUS to me how different Dick and Jason’s coping mechanisms are😭 like I’m reading battle for the cowl and the sheer polarising reactions to Bruce’s death are giving me whiplash.

Dick, just lost his second father figure, youngest brother almost got killed by his crazed brother, his third brother going out dressed like 80s Batman, Gotham city falling apart at the seams, literally burning to the ground: this is fine

Jason: IM GONNA FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU

[lizardpersonyknow]

Credit to theactorbat on tiktok

[fishfission-dc]

Battle For The Cowl is so funny as an arc because everyone is fighting to not be like Batman so hard while dressed as Batman and pretending to be Batman

Even though they’re not blood related somehow every Wayne kid copes with loss through absolute delusion

[fancyfade]

You missed by Fade31415

First panel is by Tony Daniel and from battle for the cowl, the rest is my art.

There is nothing that can convince me this wouldn't have happened if Damian held onto consciousness a little bit longer, he loves antagonizing people.

The image appears as if it's posted twice because I had no clue which would be more convenient for reading, one row by one row, or all at once. probably depends if you're on desktop or mobile

[couldeatthatgirlforlunch]

Jason Todd is so relatable to me, this is literally what I tell my friends and family when they try to convince me to have a more positive attitude because "things will get better"

Also love this moment where they draw him like a blob while he's dressed as Batman

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

[shyjusticewarrior]

Ngl if Tim asked me nicely to behave then broke me out of prison I'd listen. RIP Jason but I'm different.

[gffa]

There's something so fascinating about how earlier Jason thought to himself that Bruce only took Dick on as Robin to save himself from madness, now here he is, in a really bad place, asking Dick to be his Robin this time. The original, the one he thinks saved Bruce from madness. Jason is dressing it up as winning this fight and being the victor here, but you wouldn't have to take that huge of a leap to see it as some part of Jason wanting to be drawn back into the light, because he thinks Dick Grayson can do that for him, too.

[glitter-stained]

When I say knowledge of the context is useful to analyse comics, what I mean is that the lazarus pit being a potential factor for Jason's worst behaviour was introduced in Lost Days: we see the classic temporary outburst at the beginning, and then I think the comic is pretty clear on condemning Talia's initial diagnosis of "the pit made him a psychopathic monster", both to us seeing him save all these people and doing his own vigilantism, and to Talia when she's like "you're learning". I've mentioned before how lost days introduces its own explanation for UTH!Jason (as much as I dislike it), so we know that Pit Madness isn't the preferred explanation for his behaviour in UTH and Winick's Jason in general. But then, we also see Ra's condemning Talia's actions by going "perhaps not today perhaps not now but eventually he's going to go crazy." Seems like we're getting a lot of leeway here isn't it? (Even more than we had in bop with Dixon's cautiously vague explanation of the pit). Seems like an awfully convenient way to explain any moment of Jason behaving horribly in away that doesn't fit the parameters of Winick's characterization. Note also that Lost Days is imo the best (so far) pre-n52 story at creating empathy towards Jason since we see him look his actual age, we see how deeply hurt he was and for how long we see him have a traumatic flashback we see him cry we see him sit on a chair and not touch the ground we see him try his best and save people and show empathy and discernment and see that he has a moral conduct other than "anarchic killing"...

Anyway, check that out:

Now this is what I call damage control. You absolutely insist in maintaining some of the worst runs in the history of the characters into your version of canon (which you claim is the real valid canon that everyone should accept) despite its apparent erasure from mainline? Okay sure understandable we all have different tastes in comics and what we think is important for a character's identity. Fine. Why then did Jason make any of the choices he made in those terrible stories? (Including that terrible clothing choice)?

He was pit mad. That's the canon explanation. He literally wasn't himself. He wasn't fundamentally inherently and absolutely evil, he wasn't crazy evil, he was high on magic gatorade.

I'd expect Winick to have done that more to preserve and mitigate the character assassination of the complex/nuanced villain he created than out of a sudden shift in stance on psychophobia, but I'm still grateful for it. Anyway, pit madness is real, and cptsd doesn't make you shoot children.

[robinsleeping]

Red eyes peaking through