#hasn't actually been resolved even though they're both sorry and hugging
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i have a special place in my heart for "show don't tell" storytelling, especially in comic books. comics are a visual medium!
#tim drake#jack drake#comic ref in description#this is the last panel of the comic#and something i really like about it is that i feel like... it has a certain amount of respect for the reader?#you might not notice/get the irony of the batsignal showing up behind them#and the way the batsignal foreshadows that actually this /isn't/ a resolved happy ending#because the conflict between bruce and jack - and more directly between tim's values/priorities vs. his dad's -#hasn't actually been resolved even though they're both sorry and hugging#which means the conflict will inevitably occur again and again and again#which is a very clever grace note here#but if you don't notice that's okay! the comic isn't panicking trying to spell it out for you#if you catch it it's fine and if you don't catch it that's also fine#it has something that i really like about a lot of older comics and sometimes find missing in new ones (at least the ones abt the blorbos)#which is that it assumes that the /readers/ can realize things abt the situation that the /characters/ don't#i read both tim and his dad as both perfectly sincere in this reconciliation - they're caught up in the moment#and physically neither of them can see the batsignal#but we-the-readers can see both the batsignal and the looming future conflicts it implies even though they don't#the narrative isn't telling you what to think! no character emerged to announce 'But In Fact Tim You Still Have A Problem!'#instead the artist has just left the batsignal there and let you make the obvious inferences ON YOUR OWN#similarly in nightwing 110 (another one of my favorites) there's a conversation between dick and tim where they're both lying#if you're only a nightwing reader you know dick is lying but you probably won't figure out that tim is lying (or at least not the extent)#but if you /do/ read tim's comics then you understand what's going on in a way that neither of the characters do#there's just a general understanding that the characters are not fully self-aware nor do they perfectly understand each other#plus the gradual / slow-build / layered conflict#tim's mixed loyalties between bruce and his dad are a constant background slow burn tension#dick's complicated feelings about loving tim but also feeling a little threatened by him are also a low-key thread in the nightwing comics#the writers don't need to have a surprise! sudden! fight! nor do they need all-fluff-all-the-time#instead these tensions are mostly dormant except when they get exacerbated by extreme situations#there are plenty of things that 90s comics do *not* handle well but the character voices and longform style always draw me back <3
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