Damian Wayne: Robin Appreciation 2020

[CPSparkles]

The images aren't the same.


Like father like son indeed.

"Talking about No Powers Damian...."

Also how are we not talking about how great it is to have Jakeem on here? Last I saw him was in Multiversity.

Stopping hearts
Secret Jails
etc
Damian operates under the assumption that he has Powers. Batman Bruce Powers. He doesn't which is why when he tries to Bruce Wayne he doesn't always work

[CPSparkles]

Roundhouse not making it back certainly could be possible. I have a feeling he will somehow meet his dead sister in purgatory. Or Elias will somehow use her to try manipulate him.

Though he does appear on all the future covers. I guess covers can lie though!

His hesitation feels like foreshadowing or setup for something happening. RH has risked his life many times in this run without hesitation so he's reaction here feels a little off.

Maybe I'm used to experienced heroes who this kind of thing is just their normal.
The Batkids joke about how many times they've died at Bat Burger. Damian has died twice.

Heck he once said that Death is a grey area So i can see why newbies like RH wouldn't be so casual about trips to Hell

RH in my opinion is better for team dynamics and banter than say Emi so I hope he doesn't get left behind.

[Jackalope89]

His hesitation feels like foreshadowing or setup for something happening. RH has risked his life many times in this run without hesitation so he's reaction here feels a little off.

Maybe I'm used to experienced heroes who this kind of thing is just their normal.
The Batkids joke about how many times they've died at Bat Burger. Damian has died twice.

Heck he once said that Death is a grey area So i can see why newbies like RH wouldn't be so casual about trips to Hell

I also wonder how much of Crush's biology is at play too. Well, the Czarnian half at least, considering what it takes for Lobo to go down (for awhile) and all.

[CPSparkles]

April's annual cover lied to us. He's keeping the R.


TEEN TITANS #43
written by ROBBIE THOMPSON
art by EDUARDO PANSICA
cover by BERNARD CHANG
variant cover by KHARY RANDOLPH
Robin begins a hunt that leads him to the KGBeast, the same assassin who wounded and nearly killed the first Robin, Dick Grayson. Will Damian Wayne cross the line to enact brutal revenge on the Russian villain—or can the Teen Titans temper the current Robin’s rage?
ON SALE 06.17.20
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | DC

Didn't notice this Cover. Yep he's here. They are all here so I'm guessing this is set in the past?

[CPSparkles]

I also wonder how much of Crush's biology is at play too. Well, the Czarnian half at least, considering what it takes for Lobo to go down (for awhile) and all.

Yeah you are right. Crush shouldn't have gone down at the same time as the others should she? I'm not sure about KF but Crush shouldn't be passing out as quick as Damian

[Katana500]

Yeah you are right. Crush shouldn't have gone down at the same time as the others should she? I'm not sure about KF but Crush shouldn't be passing out as quick as Damian

Crush's poison might be even stronger to account for her biology. I doubt Damian would give her a human dosage.

[adrikito]

april's annual cover lied to us. He's keeping the r.


teen titans #43
written by robbie thompson
art by eduardo pansica
cover by bernard chang
variant cover by khary randolph
robin begins a hunt that leads him to the kgbeast, the same assassin who wounded and nearly killed the first robin, dick grayson. Will damian wayne cross the line to enact brutal revenge on the russian villain—or can the teen titans temper the current robin’s rage?
On sale 06.17.20
$3.99 us | 32 pages
fc | dc

watching how he ruined nightwing I am not surprised that damian is angry with him.

Batman Beyond Damian looks cool as hell.

ATMAN BEYOND #45
written by DAN JURGENS
art by SEAN CHEN
cover by DAN MORA
variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
Batman Beyond and Damian Wayne are going to have to join forces in order to stop Mr. Zero and his radical faction from turning Gotham City into an ice-covered hellscape. Damian will have to put his disrespect for the “pretender” that is Batman Beyond aside if they’re going to stop this mutual foe—and even then Mr. Zero’s power and influence might prove too much for this pair!

Happy to see Damian Beyong again in this arc

[Ansa]

April's annual cover lied to us. He's keeping the R.


TEEN TITANS #43
written by ROBBIE THOMPSON
art by EDUARDO PANSICA
cover by BERNARD CHANG
variant cover by KHARY RANDOLPH
Robin begins a hunt that leads him to the KGBeast, the same assassin who wounded and nearly killed the first Robin, Dick Grayson. Will Damian Wayne cross the line to enact brutal revenge on the Russian villain—or can the Teen Titans temper the current Robin’s rage?
ON SALE 06.17.20
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | DC

I don't mind Damian finally having a reaction to the Ric situation in his own book, but I think the timing is weird. Dick got shot in September 2018 and this issue comes out in June 2020. It's a bit late for this story.

Bruce already went after Kgbeast right after it happened, broke his neck and left him on his own in the cold:
20200315_111726.jpg

20200315_111756.jpg

Damian had this conversation with Bruce in the last Nightwing Annual:

20200315_113055.jpg

Which means this took place after Bruce broke his neck. I didn't read Damian's question as a serious one.

Barbara is going after Kgbeast in April:
After a catfight with Catwoman last issue, Batgirl thinks Selina is right about these statues…Could they be made from…actual living Gothamites? But when her investigation leads her to the KGBeast and he tells how he was involved in Nightwing being shot, all bets are off, and Batgirl is faced with doing the right thing or doing what is right for someone she loves.

Sounds a bit like Barbara didn't know that Kgbeast shot Dick...which doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe he just taunts her and that's why she suddenly reacts? It mentions Catwoman and she was gone when Dick got shot so it should be after City of Bane, so it's not set in the past right after the shot.

And now Damian is going after Kgbeast in June...
If it's set in the past right after the shot that would mean that a) Kgbeast's neck should be broken (what an epic fight: Damian vs guy in a hospital bed) and b) we know 100% that Damian won't kill him because he's alive in Barbara's book after City of Bane, which kinda destroys the hook of the story (also: I am so damn tired of the "will Damian kill his foe" story. Didn't we just have that with the Deathstroke arc, why are we doing this again?)
If this issue takes place in the present it means that Damian didn't leave the Robin mantle and got angry enough about Kgbeast shooting Dick that he had to go hunt for him long after the whole thing was over...which is also weird.

Maybe I'm missing something, but the solicitation for this issue confuses me.

[Restingvoice]

I don't mind Damian finally having a reaction to the Ric situation in his own book, but I think the timing is weird. Dick got shot in September 2018 and this issue comes out in June 2020. It's a bit late for this story.

Bruce already went after Kgbeast right after it happened, broke his neck and left him on his own in the cold:
20200315_111726.jpg

20200315_111756.jpg

Damian had this conversation with Bruce in the last Nightwing Annual:

20200315_113055.jpg

Which means this took place after Bruce broke his neck. I didn't read Damian's question as a serious one.

Barbara is going after Kgbeast in April:
After a catfight with Catwoman last issue, Batgirl thinks Selina is right about these statues…Could they be made from…actual living Gothamites? But when her investigation leads her to the KGBeast and he tells how he was involved in Nightwing being shot, all bets are off, and Batgirl is faced with doing the right thing or doing what is right for someone she loves.

Sounds a bit like Barbara didn't know that Kgbeast shot Dick...which doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe he just taunts her and that's why she suddenly reacts? It mentions Catwoman and she was gone when Dick got shot so it should be after City of Bane, so it's not set in the past right after the shot.

And now Damian is going after Kgbeast in June...
If it's set in the past right after the shot that would mean that a) Kgbeast's neck should be broken (what an epic fight: Damian vs guy in a hospital bed) and b) we know 100% that Damian won't kill him because he's alive in Barbara's book after City of Bane, which kinda destroys the hook of the story (also: I am so damn tired of the "will Damian kill his foe" story. Didn't we just have that with the Deathstroke arc, why are we doing this again?)
If this issue takes place in the present it means that Damian didn't leave the Robin mantle and got angry enough about Kgbeast shooting Dick that he had to go hunt for him long after the whole thing was over...which is also weird.

Maybe I'm missing something, but the solicitation for this issue confuses me.

Solicitations can be wrong, and authors can be wrong, but Damian may heard he recovered and decided to go after him after having a fight with Bruce. Did Babs know?

[CPSparkles]

RSob was basically replaced by Super Sons, and the second incarnation of that book had iirc also not pretty low sales numbers in the end.

Comparison with RHatO is also a little tricky since Damian never really had a long lasting ongoing.

If I recall RSOB had good enough sales for a character that many disliked and replaced as sidekick. He was missing from the Batbooks after he returned and in the main title b4 he was killed.
It managed to do similar to the RR solo which was fronted by a well established and beloved character. That's not bad. DC could have given it a bit more time. The sales dropped when Gleason went off sick but who knows what might have happened once he returned as writer.

The 1st super sons series was cancelled while it was still out performing more than 70% of DC's titles [even if that was still less than 30k] The second one I can't speak for others but personally as soon as Jon was aged up and the stories were set in the past my excitement was gone. There were no stakes. That might have affected sales but don't know. Aging Jon, breaking them up and setting adventures in the past killed the relationship which I was invested in following.

Damian son of Batman also did alright somehow.

You are correct that we can't compare only speculate since Damian hasn't had a long running series which is a shame cos I think he'd benefit from one and he's shown he can deliver enough numbers to a least justify DC investing resources in a Robin solo.

Much better than cancellation due to back office and Robin being everywhere but you never know what what you gonna get or how he's going to plot deviced.

I'm just done with Damian does extreme stuff because .. none given.

My point is consistency [a single title where fans know they can find him regularly and development under a dedicated writer] would have made a world of difference to RSOB and Supersons title sales.
Especially for a character that was still establishing a base and his position. If Gleason had been allowed to finish his series [we only got chapter 1 b4 it was cancelled for supersons] up to now I believe the sales would be very healthy . A bunch of fans really disliked Percy's TT's and the current run.

[Ansa]

Solicitations can be wrong, and authors can be wrong, but Damian may heard he recovered and decided to go after him after having a fight with Bruce. Did Babs know?

Barbara was in the hospital when Dick woke up and Bruce didn't keep it a secret from Damian, I don't see why Bruce should have kept it from her.

Yeah I know, covers and solicitations can be wrong. That's why I said the solicitation confuses me.

I also had the thought that Damian might want to go after Kgbeast after having his fight with Bruce, but I still think this story would be redundant if that's the case. We already got "I had a falling out with Batman and now I'm not going to follow his rules anymore and do what I want" when Glass took over mid 2018, I don't want to read this again in the same book.

[Ansa]

I'm also not a fan of the "Damian always needs other people to stop him from killing" take, can he please grow past that, it's getting old.

[CPSparkles]

You might be right, Damian had his screen time in titles. And technically you could argue that his presence in batbooks is on the level as the rest of batfamily. So, as you said, their professional relationship as Batman and Robin is there.

Put personally, I take the issue not that it’s lacking B&R action, but interaction between characters. He is Bruce’s 13 years old son with issues, and most people here argue for negligence from Bruce as a parent, not as hero mentor. All genuine interactions between them that I could remember came from supersons after rebirth. After that, it’s kinda empty. Maybe you could scratch something after supersons were canceled, from other books that I’m unaware of, but it very little in comparison to Clark and Jon.

I’m not saying that sole focus of batbooks now should be on Bruce and Damian. But his existence should have larger impact on Bruce’s life and should be at least referenced, but it seems people in charge of batbooks like to pretend that Bruce is still in his “eligible bachelor” status quo. That’s where argument of negligence comes from. And that’s the problem with comics now - it’s going in circles, where even major changes are reverted back with time.

But again, that’s my perception of the situation.

Since the Tomasi's New 52 B&R ended at the start of the new52 Damian has had less time in Bat books than most of the family outside of Jason, Harper and Maybe Duke.

He was gone most of Synder's Run
Most of King's
Was in 5 Rebirth Tec/post Tec story arc's
Was in the last few issues of BRE
Alfred Rip
the wedding preludes.

I think that's the Main in continuity Bat books since new 52 [didn't count All Star because that was different]

[CPSparkles]

I'm also not a fan of the "Damian always needs other people to stop him from killing" take, can he please grow past that, it's getting old.

He already. Years ago. TT's just seems hell bent on giving us this Hey did you know I'm Gives no F**ks Robin? Look at me doings things that Robins don't usually do. I'm a renegade and I play by my own rules not Batman's.

Then processed to do the exact same things we just read Batman do a few weeks ago [tries to at least]. Only he isn't Batman so he just ends up beaten to pulp, grounded and yelled at.

Lol Glass likes edge.

[Digifiend]

You need to reread that solicit. Glass leaves Teen Titans next month, Thompson is writing it now.