Damian Wayne: Robin Appreciation 2018

[adrikito]

I always like to imagine that it's was Damian's 13th birthday, technically, but as he was dead and resurrected, in years actually lived he is much less. That's also one of the reasons why he is still so short.

Recently I was thinking in that... Damian is tall as adult.

[BenThousan]

Can someone explain to me the Batman666 issue? Why Damian did not die? And who is the person who appears behind Damian and tells him to kill his grandfather?

[Arctic Cyclist]

Can someone explain to me the Batman666 issue? Why Damian did not die? And who is the person who appears behind Damian and tells him to kill his grandfather?

Okay, so if you haven't read Batman 666 and 700, and Batman Inc 5-6, as a Damian fan you are missing out. I highly recommend reading them. The gist of those universe endings is Damian didn't die as a ten year old. Because of that, he never goes on the redemption quest of Robin: SOB, never develops socially outside of Bruce, Dick, and Tim's shadows to become the weird tween/teen with a network of friends we all know and love. Instead he's increasingly isolated as a teenager, and depending on if it's 666 or 700's splinter universe (700 is the Damian SOB universe, and what we get several glimpses of in Superman/Batman where he saves and mentors Terry) he's responsible for Bruce's death, or feels responsible for Dick's death. Either way, Simon Hurt, who fulfills the DC version of the Book of Job devil, shows up on Damian's fourteenth birthday and offers to make Damian immortal in exchange for his soul.

That's who appears behind him. Hurt was the Thomas Wayne stricken from the family record, his children adopted by Darius Wayne, and disinherited due to his being part of a sect of devil worshippers that included several signers of the Declaration of Independence. His obsession with several generations of Waynes –Alan, Thomas, Bruce, Damian– stems from his anger at losing his place as a Wayne patriarchy and acknowledgement as their ancestor. He is an avowed foe of al Ghuls, and having Damian murder Ra's will finish his efforts to destroy all light, hope, love, and possibilities of redemption and recovery.

This little story explores that Damian, by choosing one side over the other as a teenager, and choosing Batman instead of Ra's, chooses the wrong side and the world dies. This is a contrast with the current Batman Beyond, where most of the world dies, but it's because of Bruce; and Kingdom Come, where his alternate self walks the line between Bruce and Ra's and becomes neither therefore leads the world out of war and into a golden age. It also ties into something that the 2009 Azrael series, Ra's al Ghul Year One, Birth of the Demon, and other Ra's al Ghul stories have hinted at if not outright expressed: Ra's is actually on the side of angels in his cause which is right and just. In the second Azrael which led into the Judgement on Gotham storyline, Michael Lane is told as he returns from death that God's messenger will be the first person he sees and then wakes up to both Bruce!Batman and Ra's. We assume that the choice not to destroy Gotham was right, but this story implies that had Ra's succeeded in destroying Gotham, the world would have lived.

Regardless, this is an alternative universe where Damian didn't die as a child. Warren McGiniss is a peer of Damian's over in Gotham Academy and we're seeing an increasing number signs that Damian has Wolverine levels of accelerated healing and regeneration along with slowed aging. He's already broken with Batman, his relationship with Dick was causally destroyed, and by now he's speaking to Ra's more than Bruce. Despite his fourteenth birthday being part of the plot of Doomsday and the choices he makes, it's unlikely he'll sell his soul for something he already has.

Anyhow. 666 and 700 are incredibly well done, and you can find them online. I don't remember if deconstructingdamian on tumblr got to them before they abandoned their blog, but other ancient Damian blogs did, and there are YouTube videos with and without commentary that go through them panel by panel.

[Armor of God]

The writers have pitched a mini series with 666 Batman
https://mobile.twitter.com/JacksonLa...61416869122048

Fingers crossed

And they also neatly connected Morrison with King
https://mobile.twitter.com/JacksonLa...74339029082112

Its cool

[Fergus]

The writers have pitched a mini series with 666 Batman
https://mobile.twitter.com/JacksonLa...61416869122048

Fingers crossed

And they also neatly connected Morrison with King
https://mobile.twitter.com/JacksonLa...74339029082112

Its cool

That is cool. I'm yet to read the issue. Will share thoughts here once I do but it's looking like this was a neat story.

[Fergus]

Okay, so if you haven't read Batman 666 and 700, and Batman Inc 5-6, as a Damian fan you are missing out. I highly recommend reading them. The gist of those universe endings is Damian didn't die as a ten year old. Because of that, he never goes on the redemption quest of Robin: SOB, never develops socially outside of Bruce, Dick, and Tim's shadows to become the weird tween/teen with a network of friends we all know and love. Instead he's increasingly isolated as a teenager, and depending on if it's 666 or 700's splinter universe (700 is the Damian SOB universe, and what we get several glimpses of in Superman/Batman where he saves and mentors Terry) he's responsible for Bruce's death, or feels responsible for Dick's death. Either way, Simon Hurt, who fulfills the DC version of the Book of Job devil, shows up on Damian's fourteenth birthday and offers to make Damian immortal in exchange for his soul.

That's who appears behind him. Hurt was the Thomas Wayne stricken from the family record, his children adopted by Darius Wayne, and disinherited due to his being part of a sect of devil worshippers that included several signers of the Declaration of Independence. His obsession with several generations of Waynes –Alan, Thomas, Bruce, Damian– stems from his anger at losing his place as a Wayne patriarchy and acknowledgement as their ancestor. He is an avowed foe of al Ghuls, and having Damian murder Ra's will finish his efforts to destroy all light, hope, love, and possibilities of redemption and recovery.

This little story explores that Damian, by choosing one side over the other as a teenager, and choosing Batman instead of Ra's, chooses the wrong side and the world dies. This is a contrast with the current Batman Beyond, where most of the world dies, but it's because of Bruce; and Kingdom Come, where his alternate self walks the line between Bruce and Ra's and becomes neither therefore leads the world out of war and into a golden age. It also ties into something that the 2009 Azrael series, Ra's al Ghul Year One, Birth of the Demon, and other Ra's al Ghul stories have hinted at if not outright expressed: Ra's is actually on the side of angels in his cause which is right and just. In the second Azrael which led into the Judgement on Gotham storyline, Michael Lane is told as he returns from death that God's messenger will be the first person he sees and then wakes up to both Bruce!Batman and Ra's. We assume that the choice not to destroy Gotham was right, but this story implies that had Ra's succeeded in destroying Gotham, the world would have lived.

Regardless, this is an alternative universe where Damian didn't die as a child. Warren McGiniss is a peer of Damian's over in Gotham Academy and we're seeing an increasing number signs that Damian has Wolverine levels of accelerated healing and regeneration along with slowed aging. He's already broken with Batman, his relationship with Dick was causally destroyed, and by now he's speaking to Ra's more than Bruce. Despite his fourteenth birthday being part of the plot of Doomsday and the choices he makes, it's unlikely he'll sell his soul for something he already has.

Anyhow. 666 and 700 are incredibly well done, and you can find them online. I don't remember if deconstructingdamian on tumblr got to them before they abandoned their blog, but other ancient Damian blogs did, and there are YouTube videos with and without commentary that go through them panel by panel.

Impressive write up explaining a story that splinters off into version titles and issues. Looks like I was missing a big chunk of the story. I have pick up a couple of the titles you mentioned to get the full story so far.

[Jackalope89]

Man, would really like to see more of this kind of team-up;



And Powergirl meets Jon with a similar team-up.

[fanfan13]

Okay, so if you haven't read Batman 666 and 700, and Batman Inc 5-6, as a Damian fan you are missing out. I highly recommend reading them. The gist of those universe endings is Damian didn't die as a ten year old. Because of that, he never goes on the redemption quest of Robin: SOB, never develops socially outside of Bruce, Dick, and Tim's shadows to become the weird tween/teen with a network of friends we all know and love. Instead he's increasingly isolated as a teenager, and depending on if it's 666 or 700's splinter universe (700 is the Damian SOB universe, and what we get several glimpses of in Superman/Batman where he saves and mentors Terry) he's responsible for Bruce's death, or feels responsible for Dick's death. Either way, Simon Hurt, who fulfills the DC version of the Book of Job devil, shows up on Damian's fourteenth birthday and offers to make Damian immortal in exchange for his soul.

That's who appears behind him. Hurt was the Thomas Wayne stricken from the family record, his children adopted by Darius Wayne, and disinherited due to his being part of a sect of devil worshippers that included several signers of the Declaration of Independence. His obsession with several generations of Waynes –Alan, Thomas, Bruce, Damian– stems from his anger at losing his place as a Wayne patriarchy and acknowledgement as their ancestor. He is an avowed foe of al Ghuls, and having Damian murder Ra's will finish his efforts to destroy all light, hope, love, and possibilities of redemption and recovery.

This little story explores that Damian, by choosing one side over the other as a teenager, and choosing Batman instead of Ra's, chooses the wrong side and the world dies. This is a contrast with the current Batman Beyond, where most of the world dies, but it's because of Bruce; and Kingdom Come, where his alternate self walks the line between Bruce and Ra's and becomes neither therefore leads the world out of war and into a golden age. It also ties into something that the 2009 Azrael series, Ra's al Ghul Year One, Birth of the Demon, and other Ra's al Ghul stories have hinted at if not outright expressed: Ra's is actually on the side of angels in his cause which is right and just. In the second Azrael which led into the Judgement on Gotham storyline, Michael Lane is told as he returns from death that God's messenger will be the first person he sees and then wakes up to both Bruce!Batman and Ra's. We assume that the choice not to destroy Gotham was right, but this story implies that had Ra's succeeded in destroying Gotham, the world would have lived.

Regardless, this is an alternative universe where Damian didn't die as a child. Warren McGiniss is a peer of Damian's over in Gotham Academy and we're seeing an increasing number signs that Damian has Wolverine levels of accelerated healing and regeneration along with slowed aging. He's already broken with Batman, his relationship with Dick was causally destroyed, and by now he's speaking to Ra's more than Bruce. Despite his fourteenth birthday being part of the plot of Doomsday and the choices he makes, it's unlikely he'll sell his soul for something he already has.

Anyhow. 666 and 700 are incredibly well done, and you can find them online. I don't remember if deconstructingdamian on tumblr got to them before they abandoned their blog, but other ancient Damian blogs did, and there are YouTube videos with and without commentary that go through them panel by panel.

Thank you so much for this. As a Damian fan I feel like I’m missing a lot in regards to Batman 666.
So in other words, “death” was also part of character development then, as without it happening, Damian grew walking the path of apocalypse.
It’s also interesting to know that Damian choosing Batman aka his father’s side is a wrong choice that will led to destruction, does it also mean if he chooses his maternal grandfather’s side and becomes the Demon’s Head mean that he’s choosing the right side for the world?
But then you also mentioned that as what happened in Kingdom Come when chose neither, the world came into a golden age.
If you try to connect it to the current Damian (who has had a proper character development and has made many friends) which side do you think is better for him to choose? Especially because it is kind of still implied if he becomes Batman, it will also lead to doom (according to BatTim), but will it really?

[fanfan13]

The writers have pitched a mini series with 666 Batman
https://mobile.twitter.com/JacksonLa...61416869122048

Fingers crossed

And they also neatly connected Morrison with King
https://mobile.twitter.com/JacksonLa...74339029082112

Its cool

I hope they actually will! I want to see more of Batman 666 universe explored.

Man, would really like to see more of this kind of team-up;



And Powergirl meets Jon with a similar team-up.

I also certainly miss this brother-sister interaction between them.

[adrikito]

The writers have pitched a mini series with 666 Batman
https://mobile.twitter.com/JacksonLa...61416869122048

Fingers crossed

And they also neatly connected Morrison with King
https://mobile.twitter.com/JacksonLa...74339029082112

Its cool

INTERESTING..

I hope that THIS IS THE LAST TIME THAT I HEARD BATMAN 666 AND KING in the same comment..

Batman 666 doesn´t need him.. Batman suffered enough in King hands.

[Armor of God]

Adventures of the Super Sons 5 preview
https://www.newsarama.com/42899-old-...review.html#s6

[HsssH]

Recently I have read Damina: Son of Batman and I have seen that it doesn't have very good reviews in most places. Can anyone explain what was so bad about it?

I saw lots of complaints about talking cat, but like page before that plot point is introduced Alfred says that Damian might have damaged his brain in the last adventure. So to me it looks like he simply was operating under concussion for later half of the mini and eventually recovered as we see same cat in 666 and he still talks with "Alfred", but he doesn't hear him responding any more.

[Armor of God]

It was just a badly written series all over and boring to boot with bad characterizations and non sensical plot points.
More importanly unlike the recent short story it doesn't even align with the Morrison 666 canon.
For me its
Batman 666, 700
Batman Incorporated 5
Super Sons 9
DC Nuclear Winter special
Superman/Batman 75
Batman: Prelude to the wedding:Robin vs Ra's al Ghul

Super Sons of Tomorrow and Damian:Son of Batman dont even fit with those.

[Rac7d*]

Recently I have read Damina: Son of Batman and I have seen that it doesn't have very good reviews in most places. Can anyone explain what was so bad about it?

I saw lots of complaints about talking cat, but like page before that plot point is introduced Alfred says that Damian might have damaged his brain in the last adventure. So to me it looks like he simply was operating under concussion for later half of the mini and eventually recovered as we see same cat in 666 and he still talks with "Alfred", but he doesn't hear him responding any more.

Dont know what you mean it was selling relativeley well and was received well too



So we got what another 30 days until the time drake and damian wayne showdown

[HsssH]

It was just a badly written series all over and boring to boot with bad characterizations and non sensical plot points.
More importanly unlike the recent short story it doesn't even align with the Morrison 666 canon.
For me its
Batman 666, 700
Batman Incorporated 5
Super Sons 9
DC Nuclear Winter special
Superman/Batman 75
Batman: Prelude to the wedding:Robin vs Ra's al Ghul

Super Sons of Tomorrow and Damian:Son of Batman dont even fit with those.

I don't remember anything about it in Super Sons 9?