#i love you tim drake you are the only thing i can draw these days

[milkshakeworm]

more robin ig, im trying out these wax coloured pencil things ive got laying around home and so far i only like the green

[snakeredbirdbatkatana]

Damian has learned many things since joining the family. He's found joy in Gotham even fighting Rouges and stopping crime he's made more happy memories here than he did while in the league.

Although he will always love his mother and be grateful for everything she has taught him many of those skills have been retired and he can't say he's partically angry about it.

What he's truly enjoyed most is his family Father and Richard, even Todd when he cooks and lets him sketch the alley cats that frequent his terrace.

'So Baby Bat guessing you weren't invited to the brother meeting tonight".

-

The pencil rolls hitting the floor. Jason was half paying attention more focused on the pasta he's stirring.

"I don't understand, what do you mean by that Todd"

Now Jason knows he's not exactly kept up to date on all the family's lovely adventures. But he can't place why Damian's voice is shaking.

Or why his little brother seems so hurt a part of him wants to scoop him up and wrestle his problems back to wherever hell they came from. But something stops him.

"I figured you were here cause of Dickbird and Timmy aren't you" he says carefully.

" Why would Drake and Richard have anything to do with my presence here." He spits, pausing.

"Are they together, Richard said he had something important to do and why would that be with Drake."

"Shit Dami sorry I must have made a mistake on the day it's the 16th not the 23rd my bad. The thing with Timmy is next week photography or something."

"Idiotic as ever Todd I will go back to my drawing now."

Jason would feel more offended at the blatant dismissal if he hasn't just lied.

Because Baby Brothers shouldn't be told that they aren't Dickie birds little Robin always.

That Dick is taking Tim on their weekly getaway to gone only knows where. That always seems to end with blood and death.

That their eldest brother is more fucked up then all of them combined and that only one is trusted enough to see what that means.

That as kind as Dick and even Tim can be they aren't always like that. There angry, vengeful, sadistic little shits that burn as much as they warm.

How's do you explain to the kid who's thinks the sun shines out of someone's ass that they are off galivanting with the favorite brother.

That the kid got off lucky for trying to kill the golden apple.

You don't.

You make food and watch him sketch the cat who's seen almost as many fights at Jason himself.

Ingnore your own twisted jealousy and pretend you wouldn't cut off your own arm if replacement asked.

Because only one Bat is unaware of who's the deadlist of who is lurking in the shadows weaving.

It's not Jason's place and more importantly he can't destroy the very pedestal that Jason still worships.

"Come on Dami, stop bugging the fucking cat and come eat."

Who's he to explain about the brothers who would put each other above all others even their own.

How do you explain that if you weren't practically the son of the last flying Grayson you would be another hidden name on a list more guarded than Bruce's emotions and that you would be rotting six feet under dead at the hands of your beloved Richard.

[imbadatwrighting]

ARTISTS ARE ATTRACTIVE

SUMMARY: Tim Drake was never know for being the most attractive brother, but you always found a way to make him think he was…even if you did it in a unusual way with your weird staring problem.

WARNINGS: Artists are attractive troupe, hinted that reader can be mean to others, hinted autistic reader, Tim Drake in love, gn!reader, masc! Reader, reader being called “boyfriend”, blunt!reader, crappy writing bc I wrote this half asleep, reader wearing a tie, ooc Tim, short

PAIRINGS: Tim Drake/Reader

Tim Drake had a lot of things: brothers, computers, coffee. But he only had one boyfriend. A mean yet sweet boyfriend who apparently was having a major staring problem.

It wasn’t hard for Tim to realize you were staring him down from across the couch while he was trying to finish long past due work.

Your eyes seemed to be roaming all over his body as if you were trying to memorize his figure’s pose.

Tim let out an almost inaudible sigh, turning his body to face you. "Can I help you?"

"No,” you breathed out, not removing your gaze from your boyfriend.

"Ok then," Tim whispered, moving his body to fully face his Mac book once again. Sure, he was used to you staring at him almost all day while he talked to his brother or was working, but you never made it this obvious. He was used to you looking away when you suspected that he would turn to look at you. He always found it a cute little quirk of yours, but it just felt different this time. In a good way of course, but still.

Tim took in a deep breath, looking at you from the corner of his eye. He could see the way your finger tapped along the table next to you in a rhythm only known to you and how your hair was slowly falling into your eyes. It didn’t falter your staring problem however.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

You hummed, “looking at you.”

Tim let out another sigh, closing his Mac knowing that he won’t be able to concentrate on it for much longer. He would get back to it later when your asleep or fixating on something else. “I get that.”

“Then why’d you ask?” you questioned.

Your boyfriend made a sound unfamiliar to you. “I meant why are you staring at me?”

“Because I want to remember you.” A look of confusion washed over Tim’s face.

“I have a feeling you won’t be forgetting me soon, unless you know something I don’t.”

“No.”

“No?” he repeated. Usually by now you’d be getting to your point, leaving nothing in the dark. It was like your T.M.I button was disabled. Not like Tim cared, he loved to hear you ramble on about something while he’s doing work, it brings him a peace of mind.

“You look good.”

There it was.

Blush started to form on Tim’s checks along with a small grin. “Do I?” Tim smiled. He noticed the look of pure adoration on your face, it always made him feel good about himself.

“Yes, you look very attractive. I'm trying to enshrine this into my mind to draw later,” you stated like it was nothing. To you isn’t wasn’t, you were just being honest, but to Tim it made him feel butterflies all over again.

He wasn’t used to it. His family never said things like that to him, barely praising anything he did. You didn’t either, not in a bad way, you showed your love in a different way.

“What got you thinking on that?” He assumed it had something to do with his brothers that you talked to earlier this day.

“Your brothers,” you told. Of course it was his brothers. “Damian said that you were a bad muse but I don’t think so. You’re plenty attractive, making you a perfect muse.”

Tim felt like his face was turning into a tomato because of you. Trying his best to ignore it, he looked down at his dirty shoes. They were covered in coffee stains at least a couple weeks old.

“Do you think that the artists are attractive too? Because I think the artist right next to me is very attractive.”

Tim noticed that your fingers stopped tapping on his stained coffee table and you turned yourself to be facing Tim.

His face moved in your direction, blush even more distinguishable.

Your eyes looked almost doe-like when looking at your boyfriend and your lips were pursed in a straight line.

“What? You have anything to say?” Tim asked. His nerves were getting to him. He knew perfectly well he had no reason to feel this but his brain was fighting against it.

“I wouldn’t say all artists are attractive, like Van Gogh! He was labeled as ugly, ungracious, impolite—” you rambled getting cut off by your boyfriend pulling you into a quiet kiss, his warm lips on yours.

Slowly pulling apart, Tim stared at your glistening eyes. “I wasn’t talking about him, I was talking about you.”

“Oh.” Not wanting to mess with whether you get another kiss, you ignored the confused thoughts in your head, leaning back into Tim.

He smiled at the expression on your face. Anyone else would be dead before they saw it, but he wasn’t anyone else. He was the one that could break down your walls like you did to him.

Tim inched away, his hand still gripping onto your tie. It seemed like every time you leaned in, he leaned further away.

“Let me kiss you,” you whined. A bigger grin appeared on your lover’s face.

“I have work to do,” he hummed, fully pulling away from you. You grabbed onto his arm dragging yourself closer to him.

“I’ll make you coffee. The good kind too,” you grinned. Tim faked thinking it through, pushing you gently off the couch.

“Fine, but be quick.”

You laughed, dragging Tim up and to the kitchen while he let out complaints about how he shouldn’t be the one getting up to go to the kitchen.

You pushed him into the counter, lips chasing after his. “You know, the deal was meant for you to make me coffee then we kiss,” he said in between breaks for air.

“That’s stupid. I have stuff to do.”

“Oh yeah that drawing is super important,” he laughed, his tone lost in your ears.

“Exactly,” you huffed, continuing to pepper kisses along Tim’s face and neck. His hands trailed down you arms, enjoying the break your giving him from work.

His artist always knew how to make him feel good.

[whizradio]

I saw your art where you mentioned absolutely adoring stories where Tim Drake gets in deep shit and goes "I can handle this absolutely 100% no need to call anyone else for anything" but he is so very, very wrong. I have a recommendation for you. Into The Deep dark Night by Siren_of_the_ocean on Ao3. It's incredibly well written and without any spoilers: Tim Drake goes underwater. Tim Drake comes out of the water. Tim Drake goes on patrol like nothing happened. No one noticedTim Drake was underwater for 3 days, except of course for Tim Drake himself.

Omg, you’re so riiiight, I know it’s been a little while since I got this ask but I’ve been kinda busy and was only able to read the fic this week but gdhsgsjd, my boy really had the worst happen to him and went “Yeah, but bad things are normal for vigilantes, no biggie, I can handle it :)))”

Thank you for the recommendation, I really enjoyed it!!! I wanted to make a drawing for it because the beginning it’s kinda spooky and I love that stuff, fun stuff! 💛

[mad-hatter5709]

Prompt and first part (1)

Masterlist

“Looks like you’re a natural. We can do a trial where you take him home for three days, and see if you bond. If you don’t, or you aren’t proven to be a suitable parent, he’ll come back here. If you decide to keep him, and you’re a suitable parent, we’ll come back and have some forms to fill out so you can adopt him.” Dan is smiling fondly as he talks, already knowing this short man is going to be a wonderful father.

“And I can keep him if I am proven to be a worthy father?” Damian doesn’t even look up, his eyes fixed on the baby, cradling him close as he rocks gently.

“Yes. You’ll just have to come back here in three days to fill out some forms. Then he’ll be yours.” Dan says. He’s mentally going over a list of which forms he has to have.

“I will prove to be the best father. You will see that in three days.” Damian looks up as he speaks, his eyes filled with determination. He then looks back at the baby and coos softly, his tiny liminal core emanating love-protect-safe as he does.

“Right. If you ever have any problems, call us.” Dan holds out a business card, on the front the words ‘Supernatural Clone Adoptions’ being the only things on there, and on the back there was two small circles with inscriptions and runes in them, the names DAN and DANI printed under the two different circles.

Damian takes the card unthinkingly and tucks it into his pocket, focused on the baby as he walks out of the building, and feels a pulse go through his chest as the baby gurgles. He turns around, where the pulse originated from, and the building is back to how it was the day before, a neon sign turned off, and a ‘CLOSED DOWN’ sign in the window. He looks at the building, feeling shocked but not showing it outwardly. He takes out the card from his pocket, looking at it carefully, seeing the circles are similar to the circle his grandfather always used to draw before soaking in the Lazarus Pits. He narrows his eyes at it, and tucks the card back into his pocket, walking home.

As he walks in the door, he’s spotted by Tim.

“Damian, where did that baby come from?” Tim looks worried, as if he had stolen the baby.

“Tt. Don’t worry about it. Help me keep them from Father. He will inevitably try to adopt the child, but they are mine.” There’s a possessive edge to Damian’s voice, somehow fond in his curt, formal way of speaking.

“Okaaayy, why do you have a baby? Whose baby is that? Dames, we haven’t given you the talk yet, is that your baby? Like.. biologically?” Tim looks even more worried, and he starts pacing, muttering about tests and results and what they’re going to do.

“Drake. I adopted him. You’re of no use if you are going to be wearing a hole into the floor with your pacing. You are not going to do any tests on him, or you will be stabbed.” The venom in Damian’s voice was more pronounced as he thought about anyone trying to harm his this baby, even if it were as simple as a blood test. Blood could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, and he wouldn’t want to subject his baby to needles if not completely necessary.

Speaking of needles, had his baby had all the necessary shots and vaccines? Dan had said he was three months old, which means he should have had some shots already. He would have to find out if his baby needed to get the shots when Dan and/or Dani came for the visit to see if his baby was settling in alright. His thoughts were interrupted by Tim.

“Damian. Who would let a fourteen year old adopt a baby? Also, if you’re going to keep him we can’t just keep referring to him ‘the baby’. What’s his name?” Tim had his head in his hands and was sitting on the floor at this point, no longer muttering.

“I.. do not know. I was not told if he had a name, or what it was. If he doesn’t already have a name, I shall call him Danyal. Now are you going to help me keep him from Father or are you going to tell Father that I have acquired a child, and I intend on keeping him? Make your choice now, Drake.” Damian said the words fiercely, but his words were almost.. soft as he said the name Danyal. Tim looked up in surprise.

“Well, of course I’m going to help you, Dames. I don’t trust B not to try to put the kid in a robin suit as soon as he gets word of him.” Tim’s tone is joking, but his body language said he was being serious about helping.

[the-coffeeaddict-tim-drake]

Just a Kid Next Door - Chapter 1

Bruce is finally back from being stuck in the time stream. Tim managed to save Batman and his loved ones. Now it is time for Tim to go home and rest. But the problem is that, Tim has no home. Or that's what he thinks so.

This will be a multichapter fic on how did Tim reconcile with his family. It will be full of angst, family feels and family shenanigans.

Masterlist

Here is the link to read the story in ao3.

-------------------------------CHAPTER 1---------------------------------

He figured it out. Holy shit, he actually managed to figure out the way to bring back Bruce from being stuck in the time stream. And the Justice league used his plan to save Batman.

 Sure, the last six months had been hard on him – Death of his father and not-so death of Kon, Bart, Steph and Bruce – has definitely taken a toll on him. But on the bright side, he managed to save Bruce and all of his loved ones, right?

He figured it out, right? Then why does Tim still feel empty. Why does he still have the urge to cry until he has no more tears left, shout until his throat burns and pull his hair out until he has no more left. Why does he still feel the needles pricking his skin which makes him want to puke even though he hasn’t eaten anything in a while? Well, three days isn’t just ‘a while’, but he knows for a fact that it’s not a lot too.

These six months had not only been painful but had helped him draw a lot of conclusions. See, Tim is a detective and hence he rely on logic and proofs to believe almost everything. Even though he don’t like what he has to believe sometimes, but truth is the ultimatum.

His string of thoughts is interrupted by Superman who shakes the teen.

“Uh?”

“I was saying that J’onn and Diana managed to put Bruce in the med bay. We ran all of the tests and now are waiting for him to gain consciousness.” Clark says tiredly with an expression of relief on his face.

“Oh”

“Rest, kiddo. You look like you could really use some. I’ll let you know when he wakes up.”

“I don’t wa-“

“I’m afraid Superman is right, Red Robin. We will alert you once Batman gains Consciousness” Wonder Woman interrupted him.

“I’m fine” Tim hissed.

Why did suddenly everyone care about him. Didn’t they consider him crazy a while ago? They didn’t care about him when he repeatedly tried to prove Bruce was alive, and now they want him rest when he finally proved them all wrong.

The Kryptonian and the Amazonian shared a worried look.

“Look child, you have worked tirelessly these few months to bring back Batman. You are just a human. Your body needs rest.” Diana said, her voice laced with concern.

‘They’re faking it, they don’t really care about you’ Tim’s brain chimed. He shuts it down. He doesn’t really have the energy to argue back, so he lies.

“Okay, but I want to see Bruce before I go to take some rest.”

“Of course Kiddo.” Superman added.

Tim dragged himself to the med bay. He didn’t realise until now how much his body ached. He really want to take a long shower to wipe off the grim and dirt from his body and drink at least two cups of coffee to feel better.

‘Later’ he reminded himself. ‘Maybe Alfred would have made something delicious for dinn-‘

‘Oh’

He doesn’t live in manor anymore. All the bitter memories from six months before floods his brain. How can he forget any of those? He’s alone.

Wait

He is lonely. He’s been lonely his entire life. He had no one even when he was in the Drake manor, not even his own fucking parents cared about him. Then what’s so new about this.

Maybe, he is just unlovable. Well, that would explain why his parents left him in that cold Manor every time they chose work over their son. And the reason why Dick chose Damian over him and took from him the only thing he had and valued more than his life and gave it to Damian. And why Alfred did nothing when he moved out of the manor. And why no one did anything when he legally emancipated himself from the family.

And would explain why he and Bruce never shared the bond he had with the previous robins. ‘It’s because they were his sons, and you were just the kid next door who forced himself into the mantle of Robin’ his brain chimed again.

A tiny part of him don’t want to believe any of this. But it’s the truth. And truth is the Ultimatum.

He let out a long sigh. He doubts the bats even noticed he went missing these few months. Well, he can’t really blame them. It is the fate of Tim Drake to be unlovable. The least good he can do is leave the family. It wasn’t really like they considered him one anyways in the first place, but they mean everything to him.

They were the very few people who cared if he ate or slept, treated his injuries, listened to his opinion and made him feel like he was important too. Maybe that’s what Tim thought they did. Maybe he read all the signs wrong. Maybe they were just being nice to him. Maybe they were Pretending.

Gosh, Tim feels like slapping himself. Why hadn’t he realised this soon enough.

Tim took too much advantage and space. Forcing himself into the mantle of Robin is one thing but forcing himself into the family is entirely another. He became Robin to save Batman from destroying himself and people around him.

Then why did he crave for his love and attention. Why did he think that he at least  meant something to them. It’s all his fault. He was digging his own grave all this time. He had too much fucking expectations even though he knew the truth all along. Yelp, now he has to face the consequences.

But no matter what, he loves them. Loves them so fucking much that it hurts. He still remember what he had said to Ra’s before the old man pushed him from the WE building.

“Bruce might not consider me his son, but he is still a father to me.”

His spiralling thoughts came to an end when he reached the door to the med bay.

Gosh he missed Bruce. Missed him so much. All he wanted to do was hug him and never leave. But he knows he cannot do so. Bruce might want to meet his family first. Six months of being stuck in the time stream would make him want to spend a lot of quality time with his family first, not some random kid.

A quiet sob escaped from his mouth. He touched his tear stained cheeks and realised he was crying.

‘Stop crying, stop being so weak. Accept the reality and move on’ he told himself.

 ‘It’s not the time or the place to have a fucking panic attack’ he told himself again.

Wiping his tear stained cheeks, he opened the door to the Med bay to be greeted by the sight of his sleeping mentor/not-so father figure.

He let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding until then.

He smiled for the first time in many many days. Bruce is safe. He is no longer stuck in the time stream. Tim felt a wave of relief wash over him.

He might not mean anything to them, but they are everything to him.

[breadandblankets]

Pls pls pls hate on the Tim Cass twins thing more, it's so weird.

oh my goooooodness nonny you are enabling me so bad lmao, gd i love hating

putting this under a cut cause it got a lil long and i don't want people to see hate that don't want to! ^.^

Cass can really Never be given a break from DC and DC fans making her whole life and personhood be about white men huh, and in the Rare cases that the whole "twin" thing has Any substance outside of just calling them twins or drawing them with their faces smushed together it is never as interesting (to me) as the almost brush we had with Jason and Cass Actually Being Siblings

i know that last bit isn't canon but it has More canon basis than the tim cass twin thing, but regardless

it abuts the "tim is east asian" headcanon that as we are aware, is racist lmao, so you run the gamut of white washing cass or uncomfortably race bending tim to make this work and it is, at the end of the day deeply uncomfortable and weird, i have No idea why or how people have latched onto this but Okay

even if you don't do all of that and are just like "oh they just look similar" they All Look Similar, why do you think we keep joking about identical looking robins, you could do this with Any of them why is it Only Ever Tim

Cass is, to me, a character deeply Deeply defined by her relationship to other women, yes she has male characters that are extremely important to her and her story but to me they pale in comparison with the women in her life. You can't bring up a single batboy that will ever Ever hold a candle to the impact of Babs, Shiva, Steph, the BOP, etc

(its almost refreshing seeing as how steph is in many ways the opposite, she is defined by the men in her life, and she's jerked around by them, they make the big impacts etc)

Cass is not a toy to prop up white bat boys. You are manufacturing a false connection and then making her nothing but that connection. There are more characters there are Better characters to make Cass friends with, i am very glad to be a Duke fan whenever i try to dip my toe into the Harper tag for instance.

I think at this point that Tim is a Better character when he's not with the bats outside of like Dick and Bruce lmao. But thats just going to make the superfam fans mad at me for foisting tim fans on them XD.

Please, genuinely engage with the characters as they are, as they exist, theyre better than fanon gives them credit for, Tim is a better character than fanon would lead you to believe and this is Me saying this, No 9 Tim Drake Hater. Cass is more than this and deserves better from fandom that what some have done to her.

ugh im such an optimist i cant even hate properly fuck

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Ocean View

Fandom: Superfam, Batfam, DC Comics

Summary: A pair of shoes, a fragmented memory, and a collection of newspaper clippings.

An empty box of cigarettes, a second phone, and a beach house with locked rooms.

Chapters: 10/?

Characters: Laney Kent, Jason Todd, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Chris Kent, Tim Drake

Relationship(s): JayLaney, Clois

Additional Tags: No Powers AU, No Capes AU, Secret Identity, Social Media, Romance, Angst

Chapter Ten: Hooked

Uncle Jimmy stopped by my desk as soon as I got in and planted his hands on my desk. I looked up from my notepad and pushed it aside. "Who is he?" he asked. "Huh?" I whispered. He sat down across from me. "I go out of town for a few weeks, and you come home and get a boyfriend? You're dating, you've got a new place, you're drawing little hearts on sticky notes... Who are you?" Uncle Jimmy teased. I smiled and shook my head. Uncle Jimmy always knew how to make me laugh. Even when things got bad, he was the only one who could joke with me and make me feel like a normal person. He was the perfect person to confess my big secret to. "Okay. So, this is completely confidential until Kit's party, but... Remember the guy I hooked up with last year that left his shoes in my apartment?" I asked. "You said you couldn't remember his name," Uncle Jimmy replied. "I couldn't... But I ran into him again two months ago, and we've been dating ever since," I replied, "This is the confidential part... He's—." I lowered my voice. "He's Jason Todd-Wayne." "Your mom is gonna kill you, you know that?" Uncle Jimmy whispered. "How did you two even connect?"

"My mom's not gonna be mad at me... And well, I don't remember. You don't think she's gonna be upset, though?" I whispered.

"Upset about what?" Mom asked, and I jumped. "Did you do something?" "No, um... We were talking about Kit's party," Uncle Jimmy half-lied before leaving me to fend for myself. Mom took his seat and looked me in the eyes. "You seem different today, and it's not just because I haven't seen you in over a week. You look happy," Mom noted. I nodded. "Good. But you definitely have something on your mind." "Mom, if you didn't approve of the guy I'm with, would you hate me for it?" I asked. She shook her head. "Laney, I could never hate you... Besides, you're an adult. As long as you're not hurting yourself and he's not hurting you, I'm happy for you," Mom whispered. She messed up my hair. "Why do you ask?" "Because I'm in love with him, Mom," I whispered. She lit up, and my phone vibrated. "Sorry, this is-. One second, Mom... Hi." "Hey, I was thinking... maybe we shouldn't drop this on your family at Chris's party. I don't know if you'd be more comfortable-. Sorry, are you busy?" "No, I'm not busy. I just got in... Are you asking to meet me here for lunch?" I questioned. "Yeah, if that's okay. I just-. I don't want to mess up your brother's day, just in case they have a bad reaction to the two of us together," Jason explained. He was right. I wasn't thinking. "Laney?" "Sure. Sorry if I sound weird, I just-. I can't wait to see you," I replied. I didn't want to say too much in front of Mom. "Okay, cool. I love you. Bye," Jason whispered. "I love you too. Buh bye," I replied before hanging up. "Mom, try not to get upset today?" "I'm not going to be upset," Mom replied, "Are we meeting him finally?" "Yeah, actually... Well, no. You've met him already. This is more of a boyfriend reveal," I replied, "And no matter what, can you please try to remember that I've never been in love with anyone before? This is important to me." Mom nodded and patted my cheek. "Okay, okay. I'm just glad you're with someone that makes you happy," Mom reassured me. Dad stopped by our desks and set down three coffees. "Did I interrupt something?" Dad asked gently. Mom took a sip of her coffee and grabbed Dad's hand. "My boyfriend's coming to have lunch with us later. And he's someone you guys have met. I don't want anyone to get upset because I've never been in love, and he means a lot to me," I explained. Dad gestured for me to breathe, and I obeyed. "I'm excited that you're finally going to reveal this mystery man to us. Don't worry, Laney. Anyone that you feel this strongly about has to be a wonderful person... And it's nice to see you back on your feet," Dad brushed his knuckle against my chin. Thank fuck. I hoped that my parents would remember that when lunch rolled around. "Beach!" Snapper yelled. I grabbed my camera and gave Dad a kiss on the cheek. Mom went down to the beach with me, and I got my rainboots out of the trunk. "You still wear rain boots to the beach," Mom giggled. "You laugh now until it rains all over your feet in those little high heels," I teased, and she bumped into me playfully. I loved going on assignments with my mom. We always made fun of each other when we worked together. It was refreshing. Sometimes Dad and I were too serious with each other, but Mom got me. She always did. I wondered if she would understand why I loved Jason so much.

[littlemonstert-blog]

I like Batgirl (Barabra Gordon) more as Oracle.

Even though I made the post about her batgirl movie. I still love her more as Oracle because of how she overall developed

As her start as Batgirl: She's not driven by a tragic backstory and she wasn't raised by a coven of Ninjas who passed on their Ninja fighting skills to her. She wants to do good so she just does. I think she's the only member of the Batfamily who isn't driven by a dark past. ( In some iterations)

More than I realized alot of people have a problem with Barabra aka batgirl about her being a victim of assualt & how female charcters, love intrests & family alike( to be fair my oppion the 1930s & way back then were doing a lot of weird shit on both sides of the spectrum, hell really depends on what writer you got back then.) being hurt, assualted or killed.

Add to the fact that Batman got his back blown out by Bane but somehow he recovered.

  Also there are people who have magic ablitlies that can heal people. Also have the Lazura's Pit though it not the best choice I'd say. So yeah they pick & choose what characters get to have back.

Some writers did want her to be able to use her legs again but during the Oracle run this was said

The real reason is Denny O'Neil. Alex Ross and Paul Dini had this idea. Here's what he (Ross) has said:

"Paul Dini had this idea of putting Barbara Gordon in the Lazarus Pit to revive her. . . . I thought it was a great idea, and we pitched then-Batman editor Denny O'Neil with these drawings of that costume design. The idea of using the red instead of the traditional yellow was meant to invoke the idea that coming from the Lazarus Pit, she was in a way, more compromised as a character...And...that went nowhere. Denny shot it down, because, according to him, everybody loves Barbara Gordon as Oracle and as a handicapped character. The theory was that DC didn't have enough handicapped characters, so they weren't going to do anything with Barbara as she was. And the design went into the drawer."

Then there's the other side as to people having a problem with comics taking away disabillity characters.

(This mostly New Earth contunity, I'll label if its some other Earth)

Why was Babs chosen?. Well, Joker wanted to hurt Jim Gordon drive him insane and prove his point by extension. Joker didn't even know she was Batgirl. To him she's the Commisoner's daughter

"One bad day can make anyone crazy."

Killing Joke:

( Do not watch the animated movie bc that...let's just say it a contiuation of batman the animated series.) After this this is were Oracle is born.

Side note: I feel bad because man earlier before killing Joke, Robin/ Jason (one time even Robin Tim Drake the animated series) Joker really have it out for those two.

Gotta give credit to writers John Ostrander & Kim Yale, who were upset at Barbara Gordon’s treatment in The Killing Joke, successfully revamped her into the computer hacker & information broker Oracle in the pages of Suicide Squad

Oracle soon became a key member of Batman’s supporting cast.  In the Birds of Prey series first Chuck Dixon and then Gail Simone herself did great work with Barbara / Oracle.

 I would’ve probably hated this scene far more if Babs never got the chance to be what I love about her. A survivor, someone who manages to overcome even that: (Birds of Prey issue 124)

Trust me she got her lick back

I am happy that after a Brainiac arc she's able to at least move her toes

Throughout 1986-2011 this version of her has developed so much into a great character.

She spent most of the early 2000s somewhat running the JLA, JSA and Teen Titans all at once. She built her own superteam. Outsmarted Lex Luthor time and again. Faced down and defeated Brainiac repeatedly. Helping/Lifted up countless battered, traumatized superheroines. Successfully rehabilitated Ivy and Harley Quinn when Batman couldn't. She was one of the most influential mover and shaker in the DC multiverse for years.

Then New52 & Rebirth

things seem to fall from grace for me

Now I'm glad she's walking again due to a device on in her neck that helps her walk.

But,her New 52 and Rebirth series are a real set back for her. Oracle at her best was far more capable then this version. As soon as she put the cowl back on, Alot of the stories she was involved in were not all that great.

I don't like it. Oracle was a major force to be reckoned with when I first started seriously reading comics.

Infinite Frontier

The stories have gotten a bit better, still batgirl sometimes but more of Oracle too.

Comics:

Batgirls

Urban Legends

Little issues with Nightwing

Batman family webtoons ( which suprisingly is good little light hearted comic)

I just hope they are able to build her character up with this version I want to see if they can push her to the limit & rise up.

[dumpster-dive-reading]

In a Yandere-verse, though? Reader gets to have no such luck.

I think it would be fun if reader opening themself up to Batman was the start of something terrible.

Specifically, it triggered his Yandere reaction.

Of course, you don’t know this, not until it’s too late.

/-\-/-\

Batman proceeds to interview you on every little moment of your life. He excuses it under wanting to make sure such an appocalypse never happens in his world. Apparently, you don’t exist in this new universe. Fascinating.

You let slip you know Batman’s identity. Batman smiles, invites you over to his house to stay. It’s not like you’re from this dimension. You don’t have any money with you. You don’t have any sort of ID cards. You don’t know anyone to contact here.

You’re completely vulnerable. Dependent on him.

He loves that. He knows he shouldn’t, but he loves that. He loves the way that you back yourself into him without thinking when you’re scared- because you think he’s safe. He loves the way you glance at him for reassurance every so often. He loves the way you let him comfort you, and how he gets to hold you close.

He’s grateful to the other Superman, because he makes it so easy to hold you closer and closer under the guise of safety.

He’s able to convince you to have a subdermal tracker put in your body. With a bit of ‘what if your Superman comes in to this dimension’ he’s able to get your consent to track your movements. To always know where you are. Batman’s technology is buried underneath your skin. You can’t easily separate yourself from him anymore, not without surgical precision that you could never complete alone.

Not that the tracker is needed, really. He keeps you in the manor all day. He provides everything you could possibly need. After you confess to him your fears of being left alone, he makes sure that there’s always someone at the manor with you. One of his kids, or Alfred at the very least. It’s beneficial for him in multiple ways. You get to grow closer to his family. They get to know where you are at all times. They get to protect you.

His kids object at first. Of course it would be easier to give you an ID and be done with it. But that’s all before they meet you, the shy and sweet and wonderful you, and they understand.

They help him draw you closer. They talk to you about crime rates and fatal accidents. Kidnappings that make your time with Superman pale in comparison. All of it to reinforce a simple idea: you’re safest here, with them.

And when you wrap your arms around Bruce that night, you thank him again and again for how he’s protecting you.

You never notice that despite how he comforts you regarding your time with the other Superman, he’s trying to do the same thing. Of course you don’t notice. He never locks you up like that. He doesn’t need to, not when you’ll lock the doors yourself to keep out Gothams criminals. Not when you lean into them for comfort and love and protection.

And you don’t think it’s a problem with how quickly they’ve grown closer to you. How Damian had gone from using your last name to using your first, even though Tim is still ‘Drake’ to Damian. You don’t know that when you’re not around, Damian refers to you as his parent. With much more familiarity and love than he’s ever shown anyone before.

Tim opens his vulnerabilities to you. Explains how his birth parents never were there for him. How he never had anyone close to him before the bats. You comfort him. More importantly, he gets to refer to you as his parent, and you don’t have any complaints. Of course you don’t, not when he’s finally trusting others and building connections he never got to have before.

With Tim calling you his mom or dad, it’s easy for Dick to do the same. After all, it’s only fair. Dick can use Tim’s tactic if you resist, of course.

Before you know it, they’re all wrapped around you. You could never leave them, they’re your kids, your family. You’ve grown to love them.

So it’s only logical that you say yes when Bruce puts a ring around your finger.

ANOTHER MULTIVERSE FIC because I can't stop myself, apparently. An injustice!Superman one, this time. I imagine you were a small-time hero/vigilante in this one, so Superman knew (and liked) you before he turned bad, but you weren't super close, before.

-You wake up in an unfamiliar room, tied to a chair, not knowing how you got there. Kal doesn't ever let you leave the fortress. But you don't know how anyone else could have gotten in to take you here, wherever here is. Maybe it was Kal? But why would he do that?

-You spot a woman tied up in another chair next to you, it seems like she also just woke up. She reminds you of someone, but you can't remember who exactly... You want to ask her if she knows more about what's going on, when you realize you're both gagged. Shit. You can't even communicate with her!

-A man comes in, rambling something about how he's glad you're finally awake and about his plan finally taking shape. You feel like you should know this guy, but can't quite put a finger on it...

-Being unsure if you know who he is, as you're "not from here", he introduces himself. He's Lex Luthor.

-Wait. Lex Luthor? The Lex Luthor? The dead one, who was killed by Superman? Is this a prank? Because if so, it isn't funny at all. And quite dangerous for everyone involved.

-Luthor (if that is his real name) then focuses on the woman next to you. He addresses her as "Mrs. Lane".

-Lane as in Lois Lane? Like, Lois Lane from the Daily Planet? Clark Kent's, Superman's wife? Now you know something is extremely wrong. She's dead, too, and everyone knows not to mention her name unless they want to face Superman's wrath... You make a few muffled sounds beneath your gag, itching to ask about just what is going on here.

-Luthor says he's going to explain everything, don't be so impatient! He has a machine that can open portals to parallel universes, which is how he got you here. His plan includes kidnapping the person that is most important to Superman in his own universe (Lois Lane), the person most important to Superman in a second universe (You!) and then making the Supermen fight each other by threatening your lives. The only way to save you is if one Superman dies. This room is Superman proof, he can't hear or see anything that's happening in here, so they can't just swoop in and save you. After the fight, he's going to let the winning Superman enter this room, promising him that he can rescue Lois or you. Except not really, because he's going to try to kill the winner too, because that should be easier after he just fought another Superman, right? He hasn't opened a portal to let the Superman from your universe know about how he can save you, yet. He closed the portal he got you through immediately after kidnapping you, so he had more time to prepare everything. How he found you? Something about being able to detect kryptonian dna residue on you. And you were in Superman's fortress. Easy to combine that you must be important to him.

-That's... actually not a terrible plan! Sure, it might not work out exactly the way that Luthor is planning, but beating Superman with Superman is a great idea! Actually it'd be great if Luthor got a third one here. Two Supermen should definitely be able to defeat one Superman, right? Unfortunately you can't communicate any of this through your gag. Damn, you'd love to help him improve his plan...

-You wonder if he chose your universe completely randomly, or if he chose an evil Superman on purpose. You don't think he did, he didn't mention the regime with one word, and if it existed in this universe he wouldn't be working on this stupid plan. And Lois wouldn't be alive, probably.

-Before you can let your thoughts spiral even more, Luthor falls over. Huh? Is he unconscious? You spot Batman coming towards you. Ah. That explains that, then. Man, you haven't seen Batman in such a long time...

-"Are you two alright?" He quickly cuts through the ropes tying you to the chairs, freeing you. "Good thing you used your bat emergency-signal, Lois. I was able to get to you before Superman could fall for Luthor's trap." Wait, why would Lois contact Batman? Oh, right, sometimes you forget that he and Superman used to be friends, so obviously his wife would trust him too.

-He takes off both of your gags and then turns to you. "We figured out you're from a parallel universe, but don't worry, Nightwing is currently working on a way to get in contact with the Superman from your dimension, so-"

-"NO!", you scream, making Batman look at you in confusion. You quickly tell him to contact Nightwing, to make him stop trying to open a portal or god forbid, contact Kal!! Noticing the urgency in your voice, Batman quickly complies and lets Nightwing know to stop what he's doing, before asking you to elaborate. Phew! The last thing you need is an angry Superman wreaking havoc in a second universe.

-You start explaining to Batman about how your Superman started changing for the worse after Lois died (sparing the details, as she's kind of sitting right next to you), started to get darker, kill villains, everyone who did something bad, people who disagreed with him. Other heroes, even. People he used to be friends with. How everyone who didn't agree with him and join his regime, including you and Batman, had to go into hiding, trying to find a way to stop him. Clark, no KAL-EL found you at some point, but instead of killing you, he unexpectedly took you, basically imprisoned you. Kept you like a pet who's not smart enough to make their own decisions. (You never even knew he liked you like that at all, before that. Sure, he was always nice to you, but he had Lois!)

-Lois seems visibly shocked, whereas Batman just listens to you stoically. "All this to say, it's good to see you alive, Lois!" You smile weakly. She tries to smile back, but before she can respond, Batman cuts her off. "We should leave this place. I doubt it's very safe here. We should return to the Batcave, think of a plan." You spare one last glance at Luthor, who's still lying on the floor (Are we just going to leave him here? Huh. Ok.), then follow Batman outside.

-As soon as you're out of the building, something rushes past you. "Lois! Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" Not something. Someone. You try not to flinch as he fusses over her, while she reassures him that she's fine multiple times.

-After he's convinced she's not hurt, he turns to you with a gentle smile. "Hello! So you're close to the Superman in another dimension, then?" As he takes a step towards you, you instinctively take a step back towards Batman. Clark frowns at him quizzically. It's funny, he almost looks like a confused puppy. You would smile if you didn't know that this is all a facade to distract from his god-like, destructive powers.

-"Turns out the other version of you is some kind of evil dictator." Well, leave it to Batman to get straight to the point. Clark opens and closes his mouth a few times, thinking about what to say. "Well, I can assure you that I'm not like the Superman you know. I promise you, I'm a good person! At least I try my best to be one. You don't have to be scared." His voice is getting increasingly gentle, trying to reassure you.

-"Oh yeah? That's exactly what the Superman from my dimension would have said, before..." You don't mention his wife's death, not wanting to anger him. "The same thing could happen to you. You might be nice now, but who knows what the future holds?" As you're saying this, you slowly move slightly behind Batman. Just in case. He should have some kryptonite on him, right?

-Superman just frowns harder, then turns to Lois. "We should go home." He picks her up and turns to Batman. "Contact me as soon as you have plans for... handling the other me." With that, he takes off.

-Batman ushers you into the Batmobile, where Nightwing (another ghost, to you) is already waiting. You keep turning to look at him during the drive to the Batcave, while Bruce explains the situation to him. If they notice your weird looks, they don't mention it.

-You allow yourself to feel some hope. Maybe you can contact your Bruce? Help him out! Send a few still good Supermen! Your head is spinning with ideas, and you're sure Batman can come up with even better ones. You can't help but smile, your nightmare might finally be over...

[androxys]

Do other authors also see a sort of “ship effect” regarding engagement with their fics?

I’ve been releasing Birdseye for two months now, but since I posted Chapter 5 three days ago I’ve seen a marked increase in engagement with the fic. I’m getting kudos emails every day now, rather than once a week, and I can see the hits are rising.

I’m not (or at least I try not to be) an author who writes for hits and kudos. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great! I love when people like my stories, and nothing can touch the rush of a comment. But I try not to be concerned with the stats and metrics that purport to reflect my fics’ success. And yet it does still catch my eye when a fic does start to gain speed, and my curiosity wins out.

In general, my fics tend to be plot driven and dialogue heavy. I read too many Batman comics in the early to mid 2000s, and as such my works tend to follow in tone and pace. My fics also don’t tend to be relationship heavy, or they don’t tend to have a relationship as the main focus. This bump that I think I’m observing, however, seems to indicate that to a reader, the relationship aspect (or, perhaps, merely the relationship tag) is the draw.

I came to this theory because up until Chapter 5, the only relationship tag I had on Birdseye was “Cassandra Cain & Stephanie Brown.” Post- Chapter 5, I now have added “Damian Wayne & Jon Kent” and “Tim Drake/Bernard Dowd.” I suspect that this last one, the slash tag, is the one that started driving clicks onto my fic, even though the relationship is still not actually a main focus! I know that historically, femslash and WLW pairings are less trafficked. I also know that the & is different than the /, but I wonder if perhaps there is carryover.

My most popular fic, I feel safe in saying, is Can’t Prove It. It’s sole relationship tag is “Dick Grayson & Jason Todd.” I don’t know if the relationship tag is bolstering it, or if it’s just a better work. It could be either or both. It could be a million things, which I fully accept. But is it because people are more interested in this relationship dynamic than the plot? Or is it because the relationship is front and center? Or is it just a happy merge or the two, or something else? I’m musing out loud at this point.

I suppose this also can start getting into the can of worms that is “when do you tag something, and why?” I say it’s a can of worms because I don’t even really think there’s a baseline to be agreed upon, save perhaps “there is a tagging system on AO3 that can be used to describe your fics and make them more searchable.” But that’s a statement of function rather than any comment on practice. Should an author tag every character and relationship (and so on) that appears in the fic? Just the important one(s)? If the tag is for the reader, is it incumbent on the author to tag anything at all, if they don’t want to?

I have thought, and continue to think, that tagging is an important and culturally significant aspect of fandom that has a long historical precedent that should be respected and upheld. I also think that the author should tag their fic however they want, up to not including any tags at all. I think these two things are not mutually exclusive. But after so much disproportionate time in writer mode, rather than reader mode, I still find myself curious as to how tags and tagging effect the life of a fic, both in how its information is represented and made searchable.

[forestlingincorporated]

I wanna talk about Janet Drake

I’m not against exaggeratedly evil versions of Tim’s parents, tbh. It’s fanfiction, if we can depict an Exaggeratedly Good version of Bruce (which we can, and I do, and I love) then we can depict the Drakes as Exaggeratedly Bad. As someone who personally identifies with Tim, and his brand of complicated parental abuse in particular, I find it cathartic to uncomplicate that abuse and rescue him from the Obviously Evil Bad People. 

That said, since much of comics lore is passed down word of mouth, the oral tradition surrounding Tim has developed this idea of Janet as The Worse Parent between her and Jack that was never really present in the comics. We see much LESS of Janet, and we have 20 years worth of comics depicting Jack as a neglectful hotheaded idiot who ultimate does love his son. More importantly, Jack isn’t very much LIKE Tim, so there is a habit to attribute Tim’s traits to his mother... and, as someone who really really identifies with Tim, Tim has... some negative traits. Tim can be a bitch sometimes. He’s fiercely intelligent and sweet and kind, with a strong sense of justice, but he can be cold and judgmental and unthinking - he fights those traits, but he does have them. 

And it is perfectly fine to depict Janet that way. I’ve enjoyed depictions of Cold Calculating Janet Drake, but it’s not the ONLY option, and I want to challenge fans to consider different avenues. Tim could pick up these traits from anywhere: a nanny, Mrs. Mc Ilvaine (”Mrs. Mac”), a teacher, tv, Sherlock Holmes novels, Bruce Wayne himself. Tim is capable of not being like EITHER parent. 

So, what do we KNOW about Janet? (I’ll also touch on Jack, but only in scenes he appears with Janet.) 

When Janet was first introduced she was depicted as a gentle but “modern” woman. This was written in 1989, told by a 13 year old Tim, so this theoretically was meant to take place in 1979. I’m not here to give a lecture on the history of sex discrimination in the united states, but much of the legislation protecting women in the workforce or surrounding women’s bodily autonomy would have been very very new in this initial depiction. 

Here, Janet is shown to be encouraging, emotional, maternal, and projects her own feelings onto Tim. Jack is shown to be slightly sexist, possibly discouraging, but not overbearing. And the artist is shown not to know how to draw children. 

To insert some speculation, I think it’s important to note all the Drakes witnessed a terrible murder/accident that day. I point this out, because this is the last time Jack and Janet are depicted this way. It’s possible they changed as a result of this event specifically. 

However, this is also a story being told by Tim. It’s also possible these events aren’t really “real” at all, and Tim is misremembering what his parents were like as a three-year-old, possibly projecting a more palatable version of his parents into the narrative. This is entirely up to personal interpretation. 

In fact, the Drakes are shown in Legend of the Dark Knight attending Haly’s Circus, and the artist knows what a toddler looks like and they’re depicted as already having a slightly strained relationship. Jack is clearly on the defensive, and Janet seems to be passive-aggressive, though she could just be attempting to explain the situation to her toddler honestly. The intended tone isn’t especially clear. 

I do want to point out, in this depiction, Tim isn’t being carried like he was in the previous one. He’s walking ahead of his parents, which isn’t a terrible horrible crime, but could be dangerous in a crowded place like the circus. Might be a subtle hint to his parents overall neglect. 

Back to A Lonely Place of Dying, in Tim’s memories of the night he discovered Robin and Dick Grayson were the same person at nine-years-old, his parents are home, and watching TV together while Tim played... trucks, idk, in the living room with them. (This is semi-interesting, because you could say “oh, Tim liked vehicle toys as a kid” or you could extrapolate that this is another subtle indication of Jack’s sexism, providing Tim with appropriately “boy toys.” Either interpretation is valid. If Tim was assigned female at birth, would they have been given “girl toys,” or allowed to play with whatever they wanted?) 

This is, to my knowledge, the only panel of the Drakes when Tim is between ages 3 and 13. They’re all together, which might indicate that the Drakes were home more often when Tim was 9, only later going on business trips when Tim was “old enough” but... 

This is Tim’s boarding school when he’s 13. While most boarding schools in the US are for grades 9-12, Tim is clearly not a freshman at age 13; look how much younger the other kids in this panel are. In the US, the youngest you can attend most boarding schools is 7. 

That means Tim could have begun going to boarding school anytime between 7 and 13. He most likely spent all of middle school in boarding school, at least. There are an almost infinite number of possible ways the Drakes handled having a business that required lots of international travel, an archeology hobby, AND a very young child. Janet staying home until Tim was 7, 11, 13, is equally possible as the Drakes having a nanny until 7, 11, 13. Tim just doesn’t talk about that period of his life very much.

(”What about Mrs. Mac?” - it is unclear when Mrs. Mac begins working for the Drakes. We only see her when Jack comes out of his coma. She could either be a long standing staff member, or a recent hire.) 

Note: I’ve seen it said that it’s canon that “According to Tim, when his parents were home, they made a point to try and include him in their activities, bringing him along to events that were normally adults only.” I have never seen this panel, or I don’t remember it, so I cannot confirm, but I also cannot debunk this because... comics. 

By the time Tim is 13, Jack and Janet are away on business trips a lot, with limited communication, and no firm return date. If I’m feeling generous, I’d say it was harder to communicate internationally in 1990 than it is today. If I’m not feeling generous, I’d say the Drakes are extremely wealthy, and international communication was easier than ever before in the 80s and 90s. They’re not even going home to see Tim in a week or two, they’re going home and calling Tim at boarding school in a week or two. 

Even Bruce thinks its weird, though he doesn’t say so to Tim’s face. It’s written almost as if Tim’s parents’ neglect was meant to be a plot point that just got forgotten about. 

Tim’s parents are fighting at this point (their poor assistant), but Janet still goes with Jack on these business trips. And she’s clearly involved in the business, somehow, but the comics never SAY what Janet’s JOB is. We’re told Jack is the exec, but Janet is ONLY ever referred to as Jack’s wife, though they’re later described as the “heads” of the company, plural. 

Just to be clear, this is Jack’s business. There’s a perception that Jack is a bad business man because he and Janet fight over company decisions, and Jack looses the business after Janet dies, but Jack looses the company YEARS after Janet dies, and maintains it for about a year after No Man’s Land at that. We’re not told how Jack looses the business, but he’s got to be doing something right. Janet isn’t necessarily the “real brains” of Drake Industries. 

And I’m not... gonna... touch the... exploitation and racism because... I’m not qualified to do that. But, here’s the panel. The Drakes sure seem exploitative and racist in their business decisions. Someone else can... analyze that with more nuance. 

Regardless how how long they’ve been fighting, when their lives are in danger, the Drakes fall back into a loving husband and wife. Their marriage may be falling apart, but they do care about each other. 

I want to show these panels because it shows that Tim and Jack do have things in common. They’re both level headed in a crisis and can be somewhat cold in their practicality. Janet meanwhile and silent. Jack is later willing rant and rave at their captors, but Janet remains silent. 

That is, until they’re alone, and she finally lets herself fall apart. 

God, Jack can be obnoxious. Janet just looks miserable and resigned. I actually think Tim takes after his parents in this respect in equal measure. Tim can have a temper, but he can also be fairly melancholy and defeatist. 

Jack keeps reminding Janet to be strong and in control, which could be period typical sexism? But Jack seems so practiced and ready with the words of encouragement, and with Tim’s history with depression, I wonder if Janet has an inclination towards it as well. 

As the end approaches, when Jack brings up Tim, Janet seems to have a lot of regret. She talks about “wasting” the good things, and I don’t think it’s too big of a stretch to assume she’s talking about time spent with her only child. 

From this point on, Janet is at times spoken of, but not seen. Like here, when Jack says Janet wouldn’t approve of him and Tim being so “far apart.” He says this after he tells him he takes back his threat to send him back to boarding school, which might imply Janet was against the idea of boarding school? Though she obviously lost that argument when she was alive. 

Jack will of course renege on this later, but that’s Jack Drake for you. 

Or here in Tim’s illness induced dream, where he gets everything he wants. Though, since this is a fantasy of Tim’s, where his father and girlfriend are both more accepting and understanding than they are in real life, I would take this depiction of Janet with a grain of salt. 

After loosing Drake Industries, Jack thinks about Janet (though, they call her Catherine/Cathy for some fucking reason) during his depressive episode. And... uh... 

Hallucinates a Valkyrie???? Is this symbolic of suicidal thoughts, or is she... real? Or is he seriously hallucinating? 

Anyway, we’re not here to discuss Jack’s mental state, the fact that he forgot Tim’s birthday, or that concerning “I was going to knock some sense into you but you’re still bigger than me” statement from Tim, we’re here to talk about Janet. And even though this entire arc is about Jack mourning his first wife, they don’t SAY anything about Janet herself at all. I mean, they don’t even get her name right, so I guess what was I expecting. 

Then there’s Origins and Omens, which also doesn’t say anything about Janet, except that Tim’s memory of her is faulty - Janet was poisoned, her assistant Jeremy’s throat was slit on television, but Tim seems to have conflated the death he did see with the death he didn’t. 

The only piece of canon to suggest that Janet might be cold, is Tim compares her to Thalia. And even then, he’s really just saying Janet was protective of him. It’s kind of a scary look to make at your kid, but Bruce does the same thing, so. 

I do want to say... it’s not 100% clear if Tim is even talking about Janet. He could be talking about Dana. Dana was observably protective of Tim, though I don’t think he’s ever called her mom. He PROBABLY means Janet. 

And finally we have Tim visiting his mother’s grave (in a duel Christian/Jewish cemetery, make of that what you will), where Tim says she was “a little religious.”

And that’s it! That is all we know about Janet Drake in New Earth. Hardly the Mom From Hell, but she isn’t perfect. I’d be interested in seeing some alternate depictions of her within the fandom. 

I’m still gonna eat up Terrible Parents From Hell like a starving puppy dog, though. Just some food for creative thought. 

[0tumble-r-weed0]

I was going to go to sleep but then someone dared me to elaborate on why Batman is inherently queer and now I must serve my duty.

Now back when Batman first started hanging out with Dick (the person) people accused him of liking dick (the sexual organ)/j

Obviously the issue was that Batman slept in the same bed as Robin, they’d have spa days together etc.

Nowadays I look at that and I’m like

Hell yeah, what a cool dad.

Buuuut! Back then, it meant that Batman was attributed a role of homosexuality. I’ve heard my dad make the “Batman is gay” joke plenty enough.

A newspaper literally said his adventures with his “young friend” Robin naturally aroused homosexual tendencies in the youth, which helped with the gay scare back in the 50s.

This kind of worked against the workings of the author of that little excerpt since after that people kind of have sung Batman’s praises about being the first hero to overcome and blaze through an attack on his potential homosexuality.

Now couple this with some of his villains, for example... The Joker!

He, like a lot of villains, is so so SOOOO inherently queer, and was always meant to be. The bright colours, the flamboyance of playing an over the top character. It all added to him being a caricature to scare the hetero readers from the scary gay man with the clown makeup.

(It did not work, I love him. But also I’m not at all heterosexual.)

(This is my bbg)

Anyway, once DC kind of stopped with the whole Batman and Robin being super close thing, the joker and other villains never needed to dial it back, they had to be immoral and scary, and accidentally very very cool.

This, however, popped up an even more popular belief! The belief of Batman and the Joker’s love for one another. Their toxic need for the counterbalance to their respective lives. It’s easy to say that without one the other would be broken, and if you said that, you’d be right. Many Batman writers call their relationship something of a love, and label them as kind of hero villain lovers in a way only people that fight against each other can be.

This “aura of gay” has never really left Batman, as nowadays, he’s surrounded by queer characters!

First was batwoman, a lesbian character that has been out since 2006

Jason Todd has been SO IMPLIED to be a bisexual man and one of his writers practically communicated it over morse code because DC refuses to confirm stuff like that until it’s out of the door.

A version of Batman that was lex luthor dated a Martian man hunter superman (So close but so far to Batman and Clark just straight up dating)

Tim Drake is very bisexual (openly, unlike Jason Todd)

THE RIDDLER IS BISEXUAL (FULLY CANON) (I love the riddler, literally second favourite dc villain)

Telltale joker, no further questions

Catwoman? Also bisexual.

Gotham’s (tv show) penguin? No further questions.

There was also a graphic novel where Alfred Pennyworth got his name from his jusband John Pennyworth.

Barbara’s roommate was a bisexual trans girl

So yeah. Batman is literally swimming in queer. If he was gay or bisexual or any queer identity he’d be in the right comic line for it! He’s very implicitly in that world, and a bastion in the representation and imaging for what lgbtq characters looked like in comics, from the very beginning! Effortlessly swapped between accidental and very on purpose ally for ages until we got him now. Him and his entourage of lgbtq adopted kids!

Yeah I almost forgot this is me arguing why Batman and superman should kiss

Draws them smooching gay style

Yeah anyway Batman comics are so so gay.

It’s so so late but I’m harassed by the injustice there has been no DC universe where Batman and Superman are boyfriends.

What are you DOING DC.

I WANT MY RIVAL SUPERHERO YAOI.

[marauderundercover]

Maribat Halloween: Decorating

Marinette Dupain Cheng groans, dropping herself across her friend’s lap, hiding her face in her hands. 

“What’s up Pixie Pop?” Jason asks, his attention immediately on her. She just groans, trying not to think of the ways she had failed today. “Pix?” Jason prompts. She huffs and sits up, pouting. 

“I met a boy today.” She says, and Jason grins. 

“Didya say something embarrassing?” He teases, and she huffs. 

“Kind of.” She says vaguely, not willing to go into it. 

“Ya know you’re gonna tell me eventually. Might as well just tell me now.” Jason points out, and Marinette sighs, rubbing her hand over her face. 

“So he was super cute and instead of doing something normal like tell him he’s cute or ask him out or anything else, I volunteered to be his secretary for the month while his is on vacation.” She rambles out, groaning. Jason snorts, laughing loudly until he stops abruptly. Marinette glances at him, frowning at his sudden change. “What-” 

“Your meeting today, it was at Wayne Enterprises, wasn’t it.” He says, his frustration clear. 

“Yeah?” She draws out, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

“Goddamnit Replacement.” Jason swears, shaking his head. 

“What?” Marinette raises an eyebrow, completely lost. Jason sighs. 

“Let me tell you a little about Tim Drake.”

---

Tim Drake was confused, as he walked into Wayne Enterprises on October 1st. And he didn't like to be confused. But all things considered, he felt that his confusion was valid. After all, when he left the building at eleven o'clock last night (long after everyone else, even his secretary, had left), the building looked like a normal office building. Now, though, there were spiderwebs and tiny pumpkins everywhere. Tiny plastic spiders and cloth ghosts hung from the ceilings. It was cute, but he had no idea how it could've happened. Or when. Deciding to check the security tapes, he walks swiftly over to the elevator, blinking in surprise at the change in music. Instead of the usual (boring) elevator music, an instrumental version of "This is Halloween" was playing softly. Honestly, it was impressive. Whoever had managed to do it had done so without Tim seeing them as he left, and without tripping any of the alarms. He'd just have to hope that whoever did it wasn't willing to use their powers for evil.

As the elevator stops at his floor, he mentally makes a note to ask Marinette, his temporary secretary, if she'd seen anyone strange when she left the night before. She’d only been his secretary for two weeks, and was only scheduled to do the job for one more. She had come in for a meeting with Lucius Fox, something to do with a fabric Lucius had developed, Tim was unsure on the details. But when she came in, she’d seen the absolute mess that the top floor had become since Tim’s secretary had left on vacation. She’d nearly insisted on helping out, and Tim honestly loved having her around. Marinette was funny, and cute and smart and- He frowns, shaking his head to clear it. Sure, he had a crush on her. But nothing could come of it. He’d seen Jason picking her up a couple times, and as much as he disliked his brother at times, he wouldn’t try to date the girl his brother was dating. Sighing, he watches as the numbers finally approach his floor.

The second he walks onto his floor, he's bombarded with even more decorations. More of the same from downstairs, but there were also skeletons (dressed in tiny costumes), plastic bags, and Marinette- for some reason- had a witch's hat on. Tim's eyebrow raises. 

"Feeling festive?" He asks, confused. It's not that Marinette was always serious. In fact, he'd seen her leap over a counter for a cup of coffee. But he'd never seen her in a hat. Especially not a witch hat. 

"Is it too much? We don't really do Halloween in France, not like this anyway." She says nervously, touching the hat.

"Well, er, it's definitely more than I'm used to." He says, before the pieces click together. "Wait a minute, did you decorate the entire building?" Tim asks, completely shocked. Though, he probably shouldn't be. The woman was a force of nature. Marinette blushes. 

"Yeah, I just thought- sorry, Jason mentioned something about it the other day.” She says and Tim sighs. Of course his asshole brother had something to do with this. Tim drops into the seat in front of Marinette’s desk and smiles at her gently. 

“What exactly did he say?” Tim asks, and Tim’s surprised to see that Marinette’s face can get even more red. She mumbles something, and Tim frowns. “Couldn’t hear you, Mari.” He says. She sighs, pushing a stray piece of hair out of her face. 

“He said that you love Halloween.” She says again, and Tim blinks in surprise. 

“Wait, what?” 

“You, he said that you like Halloween. And I wasn’t exactly sure how much would be too much and I’ve never been great at subtlety and so I decided that it wouldn’t be the end of the world to do the whole tower instead of just this floor but then I had to call Jason to help me change the music in the elevator because I didn’t have the clearance for that and-” She rambles, and Tim frowns, reaching forward to grab her hands to try and get her to slow down, to help her calm down. She takes in a deep breath and grins at him, making his heart skip a beat. 

“Sorry, I just, you were rambling.” Tim says, quickly releasing her hands. 

“I really like you.” She blurts out, her eyes widening. Tim’s eyebrows shoot upwards. 

“I-you-Jason?” He says and she frowns. 

“What about Jason?” She asks. 

“You, you and Jason. I can’t- you’re dating Jason, aren’t you?” He asks, and she laughs, which confuses him even more. Was she laughing at him? Or at the suggestion? 

“Jason is one of my best friends. And, like my friends Adrien and Nino, he’s also practically my brother.” She explains, her amused smile shifting into something else. Something softer. 

“So you aren’t dating my brother?” Tim asks, and Marinette shakes her head, giggling softly. 

“If I was dating Jason, I definitely wouldn’t have decorated the entirety of Wayne Enterprises to try and ask you out.” She says. Tim grins as her words register. 

“You want to ask me out?” He clarifies, and she nods.

“Coffee after work? I’ll buy.” She offers, and he smiles. 

“As long as I can buy next time.” He says with a grin. Who knew a couple of decorations could lead to something so great.

Permanent tag list (open): @stainedglassm @kittenmywaythrulife @laydeekrayzee @doll246 @maribat-october-rarepairs

[takaraphoenix]

I’ve been holding back on making this post because I wanted to finish Batman Beyond Vol 6 before writing it to see if things change. And since I spent last night not really being able to sleep and instead finished that run, here I am.

Damn did this iteration do Dana dirty.

Dana Tan deserves just a million times better than the post-New 52 timeline gives her, I mean holy shit.

Pre-New 52 inclusion and Brother Eye cyborg-zombie apocalypse Dana had learned about Terry’s secret while the two were still in high school. She’d put two and two together herself, actually. When she confronted him, he confessed and confided in her. And she was supportive of it.

And I was hyped for it. For them to move forward as a couple, Dana in the know about Batman and Terry no longer having to lie to her.

For some reason I can’t fathom, they were broken up in the next iteration of Batman Beyond. Just, not really explained. Dana barely in it at all. Terry hooking up with Melanie.

And, I confess, I do like Terry and Mel together. I love Melanie as a character. I am 100% pro Melanie Walker joining the Bat Fam, but not at the cost of Dana.

Then the cyborg-zombie apocalypse hit and the timeline got rewritten. And it’s never exactly explained how it effected what - Tim Drake was the one to save Gotham City in the very storyline where Dana learned the truth, but Tim Drake didn’t exist anymore in that form, since a younger Tim was misplaced in time and Tim thus never grew up to be the old guy who saves the day. So no clue if the storyline even happened at all.

Genuinely, the thing that drives me the most nuts about timeline resets and reboots and rebirths and whatever is that they never give you a comprehensive list of shit that changed.

So, for some reason that isn’t elaborated upon, Dana no longer knows Terry’s secret. Instead, they are - in this new timeline - broken up because all the secrets and ditched dates became too much for Dana. And that’s fair.

But then she does learn the secret (again), in this new timeline.

And the writers do Dana Tan just incredibly dirty by having her basically throw a fit. She’s okay with it for like an issue before drawing the line that no nope she can totally not put up with Terry being Batman actually. That’s... not Dana though. Dana was canonically okay with it, supportive and understanding of it. Okay, sure, maybe it makes a difference that she now learns many years later than she did originally. But it still doesn’t ring true to me that Dana would give up on Terry that easily and would actually be full stop not supportive of Terry being Batman.

Not... that it actually matters because aside from doing her characterization dirty, they also fuck her over by having her walk in on Terry kissing Melanie while Terry and Dana are still a couple.

And then she’s just kind of written out. I mean, understandable on her part for not wanting to have anything to do with Terry after that.

But for near 20 years, Dana Tan was the female lead, the romantic lead. Also one of the two only characters of color in the main cast. (Damn, Beyond!Damian is one of the whitest Damians I have ever seen.)

They didn’t just do a character dirty. They did one of the five original main characters, one of only two women and also only two characters of color, dirty. And that’s just... that’s just really not a good look.

Sure, they bring Dana back for the final arc of Vol 6, but not to really do anything. Just to... be there, for no real reason given, in the hospital when Bruce gets his heart transplant. Like a supportive girlfriend type of character, with zero own motivation, and also she’s not the girlfriend. But her and Terry are “okay” now... again, for no reason.

They couldn’t even dedicate some time to Terry and Dana actually talking. Terry actually apologizing to her.

Vol 6 really fucked Dana Tan over severely. She used to have her own story, but this reduced her to Girlfriend Throwing A Fit and then just Supportive Friend after not being in the majority of the run.

And even if they switch love interests to Mel, which isn’t out of nowhere, the two have a years long set up and they had a consensual relationship while Terry was single before he got back together with Dana, they didn’t have to throw Dana under the bus to do so.

Man, I really hope that the Neo Year run treats her better.

[incoherentbabblings]

What are some TimSteph comics you would recommend to check out their relationship and have some nice moments between them?

Oh! Of course. A rec list. I can totally do one of those. Poorly.

So, this is heavily biased towards the good times, arcs and runs I like and such, and is focused around issues where they are together in one fashion or another. This isn't an overview of their whole relationship and is biased and sometimes missing contextual arc issues either side. The thing is... I can't... face... re-reading 30 years worth of comics right now...

So, fast track TimSteph - here's the issues that make Abbie go brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Early Days

Detective Comics Vol 1 #648: The Great Bricking

Robin Vol 4 #5: First Kiss (of dubious consent good job Tim you're as bad as each other)

Robin Vol 4 #16: Banter and more kisses - "Do I have to remind you that a warehouse full of killers is looking for us right now?" "Isn't it romantic?" "Not exactly." - but also Steph holding Tim's cheek, the first of many cradlings these two get up to, and the delightfully messy line "I see that your girlfriend must be a real jerk if she's running on you," pick me pick me pick me /j

Robin Vol 4 #44: By far their most romantically framed kiss pre actually getting together. Tim keeps trying to draw a distinction between Spoiler and Steph and Tim and Robin and Steph just doesn't get it. They're the same person? This will... crop up a lot. It's a thing. That I'm too invested in.

Robin Vol 4 #54: "Bad case of the Stephs" and the kissing on the cheek and "Big brave superhero." UwU

Robin Vol 4 #56: Tim's disease is declared terminal, and they get together. "This is what I've wanted. Even if I didn't know for sure until right now."

Pre-War Games

Robin Vo 4 #57: Date night and uh-oh someone's preggers. #57-#65 is the pregnancy arc in full, and contains a lot of very sincere and quiet conversations between the two on rooftops and kitchen tables. Includes Steph's first use of the 'L' word.

Robin Vol 4 #74 and #75: The start of the Brentwood Arc. Steph is beginning to become anxious about Tim's secrets.

Robin Vol 4 #92: Bruce, having been a tattle-tale let Stephanie know Tim Drake's secret identity. More importantly, it's the first time Tim uses the 'L' word.

Robin Vol 4 #100: The start of Lewis' run. I'd say read the entire 20 issue run but it is really lacking in the plot department, so for TimSteph specific moments, look to #100, #101, #103, #104 (the first time he says 'I love you' to just Steph), #107, #109, #111 (the piano issue), #116, #119, #120. The last issue of Lewis' run reiterates the 'Steph can't tell the difference between Tim and Robin' theme.

Robin Vol 4 #124: Banter alone puts this on the list. 'My dearest dove'

War Games

...No

But if you really really want to. Batman Vol 1 633 and 634. Steph asks after Tim on her deathbed, being reassured by Bruce that he adores her, and Tim being told that she is dead.

Return to Flashpoint

Robin Vol 4 #174: 'I'm not dead smooches babyyyyyyy'

Robin/Spoiler Special: Stephanie compares Tim to Dexter (the serial killer????) and says 'we have our kind of fun' and I spend inordinate numbers of hours thinking about it.

Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead and Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive?: Time for that juicy angst whilst still touching each other far too intimatelyyyyyy. Yes I skipped all of FabNic's Robin run whataboutit?

Red Robin Vol 1 #2: ANGST

Batgirl Vol 3 #8 and Red Robin Vol 1 #10-12: Angst, but with hope that things will improve. The almost kiss. The apology. The waiting by the bedside only to yell at him about the engagement. Oh yes. That's the stuff right there.

Red Robin Vol 1 #15: Legitimately only for Tim letting his hormones get the better of him for a moment.

Convergence: Batgirl #1 and #2: The technical end of the Pre-Flashpoint versions of these characters, though this has been undone with recent Crisis events. They get back together in time for the world to maybe end, chosing each other as who they want to go out with. Wooft.

New 52 and Rebirth

It's my jam

Batman Eternal #52: A new first meeting. Siginificantly less violent than the first time around.

Detective Comics #935: Oh wait they're together again? Oh wait they live together? Oh wait they're having sex? Oh my. Okay on a more serious note you know my brand you know I'm blooming obsessed with their relationship during this run, but specific issues to point out just for moments of them will be #939, #940, #963, #969, #970, #979, #981. Oh what's that? Steph doesn't care about what Tim calls himself? Where have I heard that before?

Detective Comics Vol 1 #1000: Can we make out just a little?

Young Justice #5: Pink kisses and dear Bendis I am sorry if ever doubted you. Wish you'd have more of a plot but hey. Other issues worth reading are #8-10, #14 and 15, and finally #18.

Detective Comics Vol 1 #1027: Real true love is when you investigate gruesome murders with your partner for date night. Thanks Bendis.

Eh voilà! C'est fini.

For now...

Argh, I'l include Robin Eternal #1 and #2 as well. They're very soft on each other in that book, despite being broken up. Steph's a giant weak point for Tim, which his drugged up brain hallucinatory Batman takes advantage of.

Yeah, that's definitely it. These issues don't cover everything, but they are the ones that have impacted my viewing and understanding of their relationship the most.