***SPOLIER
ALERT***
If
you haven’t read Batman
Incorporated #8
(and plan to) and have managed to avoid the internet since… a month
or so ago… DO NOT READ THIS!
I
hate that. I mean, if it’s actually real
I hate it. This is comic books, after all, and nothing lasts forever.
But apparently Grant Morrison has had this planned since the
beginning – a fact I was not aware of because I am not the heaviest
internet user in the world. Which usually works to my benefit, but
I’ll get to what a massive source of evil I think the internet is
at the end of this thing.
I
didn’t like Damian at first. Nobody did. My initial problem was
that at the same time Damian was introduced in the Batman books,
Superman had some kind of son introduced in his books and I thought
it was some kind of stupid gimmick. I don’t read Superman books, so
I don’t know exactly what happened with Junior El. But Damian has
grown to become one of my (and many people’s) favorite characters
over the past several years.
Even
after “Son of the Demon” got started and we learned that Damian
was a legitimate son to Bruce Wayne I didn’t like him. He was an
asshole. How could this kid be disrespecting Batman? And Tim Drake?
It was irritating and if the next however many years of Batman comics
were going to be like this I wasn’t happy about it. As a matter of
fact, I stopped getting Batman for a while. Which led to me missing
out on Grant Morrison’s epic storyline.
I
heard about this “death of Batman” thing that had supposedly
happened, but I wasn’t interested because deaths of major
characters in comic books are typically meaningless. And I had also
sworn off of crossovers at the time, so “Final Crisis” was not
something I was interested in. But when Grant Morrison launched –
amid MUCH hype – a new book called Batman
and Robin with Dick Grayson
as Batman I had to check it out. And to prepare for that I had to
find out what had happened to lead up to it because that’s the kind
of comic book nerd I am.
Side
Note: When I heard about “Blackest Night” I went back and read
Geoff Johns’ entire run of Green Lantern books, as well as Green
Lantern Corps.
It’s what I do. I’m reading all of the Starman
omnibuses right now because of that Shade
one-shot during “Blackest Night”.
“Batman
R.I.P.” and “The Black Glove” and all of that were amazing. I
still don’t know how I feel about “Final Crisis”. I’ve read
it three times and it’s something else. What I found funny was that
anybody doubted Bruce Wayne would be returning. Oh, and “Battle for
the Cowl” was very interesting. There was a lot of weirdness about
it, but overall I thought Tony Daniel did an amazing job of putting
it together given his lack of experience. At the very least it’s a
fun read. But there was never really any doubt as to who was going to
end up donning the mantle of the Bat.
So
with my foundation built, I picked up Batman
and Robin #1. And it was
amazing. Dick and Damian had a dynamic – no pun intended – unlike
any other pairing of Batman and Robin. Damian bristled under Dick’s
command, but Dick’s natural good nature and faith in people made
the team work. Over the course of however many issues the two spent
together, Damian started to lose his rough edges and Dick became
Batman. Like, legit
Batman. Between Grant Morrison’s amazing storytelling and an
ongoing parade of excellent artists, Batman
and Robin was easily the
best comic book DC was publishing every single month (well, almost
every single month). It was a book about two people who had lost
somebody dear having to not only move on, but also to be better
people and to step into roles that their mentor had left for them.
Damian
is one of the few comic book characters I have read who truly grew in
a significant way. He went from being a resentful, arrogant, entitled
little shit to being… well, a slightly less resentful but still
arrogant and entitled little shit. But he developed a respect for
Bruce and his ways, as well as Dick and the way he did things.
Despite Damian’s constant pointing out of Dick’s inferiority, he
eventually came to see that there are different ways to do things and
that cutting people apart with a sword is not always the best way. He
strove to honor his father’s memory and to help Dick become the
best Batman he could be. He worked with Dick throughout “Blackest
Night”, he teamed up with Stephanie in Batgirl
(one of my favorite pairings in recent memory and I think a ripe
candidate for an original animated special), and even showed up to
harass Tim Drake and the Teen Titans. Damian spent a few months where
he was in almost as many books as Wolverine. And it was because
people couldn’t get enough of him. Much like Wolverine, Damian was
arrogant and brutal and backed up everything he said. In the DC
universe, he was the best he was at what he did. And what he did was
be annoyingly right so much of the time.
And
that’s the thing that makes Damian so interesting. He’s not some
kid trailing along behind Batman. He was raised and trained by Ras al
Ghul’s League of Assassins. Damian Wayne is literally one of the
deadliest people on the planet. Tim Drake may have figured out
Batman’s secret identity, but Damian knows
that he is the rightful heir of the Bat. That’s why he was so
abrasive when he came on the scene and only over the course of Batman
and Robin came to
understand humanity.
And
then they said Bruce Wayne was coming back.
Here’s
how effective Grant Morrison’s writing and characterization of Dick
and Damian was:
Bruce
Wayne is my favorite character in comics ever. If the name “Bruce”
weren’t just a tad too ticklish, our son would be named Bruce. I am
not kidding. We discussed it. The first toy I ever clung to like a
lunatic was a Mego Batman. The first TV show I was ever addicted to
was Batman
’66 in syndication. The only show I set my VCR to record from 1992
until I graduated high school was Batman:
The Animated Series. I have
more figures of Batman than any other single character from anything.
And I’m not a guy who obsessively buys any one specific thing. And
I was furious
when they replaced Bruce with Dick.
But
guess what?
I
was furious
when I found out Bruce was coming back. Dick and Damian were
fantastic and I would have been just fine with them remaining the
status quo.
But
Bruce came back and it was handled quite well. Dick returned to being
Nightwing and Kyle Higgins managed to make it not seem like a step
down. Meanwhile, Bruce and Damian had to start over again. But
Morrison handled it like a champ. Things were going to be okay and
Damian was even more firmly entrenched as a Great Robin.
Then
the New 52 happened and Damian seemingly lost every bit of character
development he had gained over the past five years. Patrick Gleason
and Peter Tomasi were the new team on Batman
and Robin and for some
reason they seemed to want to rehash the initial bickering
awkwardness of Bruce and Damian’s relationship. I hated it. Until
the end of the first story arc where we found out it was all part of
a plan. They totally surprised me and it revealed a new facet of
Damian’s character – the ability to play along. For the first
time he and Bruce were truly working together in a relationship
reminiscent of the Bruce and Dick dynamic.
And
ever since then things have been a blast, aside from the occasional
slip-up on Damian’s part. But only when he’s backed into a corner
and has nothing but League of Assassins training to rely on.
I
first read the whisperings about Damian’s upcoming death a few
weeks ago. Apparently people have been speculating about it for a
while, but I had no idea. I was a little upset when I read about it,
but wasn’t too
worried because it seemed too cheap and theatrical. Also, there was
this whole other comic called Batman
and Robin. Surely they
weren’t going to fuck that up? And even if Damian did die, this is
comics. People come back all the time. Heck, Damian’s dad just did
a couple of years ago.
So
I sat and waited for Batman
Incorporated #8 to come
out. And then Batman and
Robin #17 came out and
it made me realize that Damian was probably going to die. It was
almost a fairy tale issue, where Damian tricked Bruce into leaving
the country so that he could be Batman for a few nights. It was a
sweet and poignant tale that in retrospect almost makes me a little
misty.
I
picked Batman Incorporated
#8 up on my way into work because I didn’t want it spoiled. It kind
of already was, but I didn’t know for sure. And however it happened
I wanted to see it with my own eyes rather than have some website or
poorly-timed text message ruin it for me. I got to work and once I
had the time I read it. And Damian Wayne was killed.
If
it weren’t for the next three months’ worth of solicitations in
Previews I wouldn’t believe it. Nobody ever dies when the last
panel is somebody else holding their body. There’s follow-up. A
funeral. Something. But all of the Bat titles reference it. It seems
to be a fact. Scott Snyder even set up a potential replacement Robin
in the excellent Batman
#12.
It’s
not to say that Damian won’t somehow return. But for now I am sad.
Damian Wayne is the best new character DC has introduced since Tim
Drake. He was an excellent partner for everybody he teamed up with,
creating a new dynamic and making even the most together and
collected hero a bit unsure of themselves.
Plus,
Damian is a kid and Lil’ Troublemaker liked him because of that.
Obviously he’s never read any of the comics Damian has been in
because, sadly, comic books are not for kids. But he knows Damian is
Bruce’s son and really likes “Robin with a hood”. I’m not
telling him Damian died because there’s no point and it will just
bum him out. And plus, we can always hope he’ll be back.
Okay
– about the internet. I think the internet has killed storytelling.
But just a little bit. Because nothing is a surprise anymore. Even
though I had managed to avoid the ultimate spoiler for the book, I
had such a good idea of what was going to happen thanks to DC’s
need to generate media interest that it wasn’t any kind of shock.
Luckily, he got a grand death and a logical and touching story
leading up to it, but we all knew it was coming. And that’s how so
much media – comic books in particular – is now. It’s difficult
to receive a story in the organic, sequential manner it was intended
because of how easy it is to access information and how critical it
is for these publishers to always
have some big piece of information to reveal or some upcoming event
that “WILL CHANGE THE ____ UNIVERSE FOREVER!”,
which is the biggest line of bullshit in the world.
I’ve
said it before, but I am not on the internet much other than when I
am posting stuff here or on Facebook. I try to remain as spoiler-free
as I can. But being a podcaster who is more immersed in the Nerdverse
with each passing week, it’s hard to avoid this stuff.
Damian
Wayne will be sorely missed. He is one of Grant Morrison’s finest
creations, and unlike many other comic book characters who were
handled by numerous talents, he grew and developed in a natural way
into a memorable character. Out of all the characters in the DC
Universe, Damian is the last one I would have chosen to kill off. I’m
not mad about it and I’m not swearing off of DC, Bat titles, or
even Grant Morrison. It’s his story and I wouldn’t change his
ability to tell it. But it bums me out that that’s what had to
happen. I hope whatever it accomplishes is truly worth it. It’s
interesting that Grant Morrison is the one that turned Batman back
into the fun character he was in the Silver Age, only to end his
story by (presumably) making him the grim, miserable misanthrope he
was when Morrison took over.
Now
that I think about it, though, I believe Morrison once said something
about giving toys back in the condition he first received them.
-Phantom
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