Damian Wayne Robin Appreciation 2021

[Astralabius]

Williamson said it’ll be a slow redemption after what happened in teen Titans, I don’t see anything wrong here.

Maybe that is fine by you, I'm out of patience. And my idea of redemption doesn't include adding more crimes to the list.

[Blue22]

I was initially a little put off by him going straight into kill mode the minute Rose said it was okay. But...Then I remembered this is exactly what I asked for when I complained about his actions in Teen Titans being swept under the rug. He's still hot off of that period in his life where he decided killing was okay again. As horrible as it was, it happened. It's why he's where he is right now. Sure he's made some progress in the right direction, to the point where he's only doing it on the condition that these people will be brought back. But clearly he's still that same kid from Glass' run. And I see this series as something that will hopefully fix that over time. You know...like Williamson said he would. With that in mind, issue #2 is a little too soon to jump ship. He'll probably be fine. Especially since he's got Rose there, who's already doing more to help him through his dark period than any of his family has.

Connor managed to show more concern for human life than Damian did, even Ravager cared more than our protagonist who acted like this was a fun warm-up.

People told me the same about Teen Titans. I waited two years for that book to become good. Didn't happen.
Damian has been through this kind of arc how many times now? I'm tired of waiting. I want a good, fun hero story to enjoy. I don't want to wait for several months just hoping that Williamson will eventually deliver something good. This was DC's last chance.

I think the difference here is that Teen Titans was kinda always set up to lead Damian down that ill-thought out path. That book's premise was built on breaking the character down, not building him up. Williamson has said, multiple times, that this book is about getting him back on track. So of course he's gonna start out at the bottom. Because that's where he was before this story even began.

[Astralabius]

Good for you people. I'm done wasting my time with this ****.

[Blue22]

Well if your mind's made up, that's fair, I guess. Can't say I haven't made any knee-jerk decisions when it comes to giving books a chance since I'm still back and forth on whether or not I even wanna read the first issue of Taylor's Superman lol

But I still hope you keep in mind that him being at this point at the start honestly should have been expected. Williamson doesn't seem to wanna run from Damian's issues like Tomasi did. He'll hopefully be facing them, head on. Sure this song and dance has gotten old and we've definitely been here before with the character. But that's more Teen Titans' fault than this book. This book has always advertised itself as wanting to fix him. They can't do that (at least not in a satisfying way) if they ignore the problem.

[Shen]

I was initially a little put off by him going straight into kill mode the minute Rose said it was okay. But...Then I remembered this is exactly what I asked for when I complained about his actions in Teen Titans being swept under the rug. He's still hot off of that period in his life where he decided killing was okay again. As horrible as it was, it happened. It's why he's where he is right now. Sure he's made some progress in the right direction, to the point where he's only doing it on the condition that these people will be brought back. But clearly he's still that same kid from Glass' run. And I see this series as something that will hopefully fix that over time. You know...like Williamson said he would. With that in mind, issue #2 is a little too soon to jump ship. He'll probably be fine. Especially since he's got Rose there, who's already doing more to help him through his dark period than any of his family has.

OOF! Plot Armor Piercing Rounds, looks like the Bats are down!

I agree. Like I said before with the backups, we didn't get to see him come to the decision of not killing his foes - and that is what I personally want to see.

DC's put this character through some terrible situations, and the one thing I want to see is Damian wear those scars and grow from the experiences. I'd rather not see them get swept away with the latest universal reset.

The fact that he's smiling and seems like a happy homicidal hero is possibly due to the after effects of resurrection. That doesn't change how he has to progress in the tournament - he needs to kill to survive now.

[Eckri]

I was initially a little put off by him going straight into kill mode the minute Rose said it was okay. But...Then I remembered this is exactly what I asked for when I complained about his actions in Teen Titans being swept under the rug. He's still hot off of that period in his life where he decided killing was okay again. As horrible as it was, it happened. It's why he's where he is right now. Sure he's made some progress in the right direction, to the point where he's only doing it on the condition that these people will be brought back. But clearly he's still that same kid from Glass' run. And I see this series as something that will hopefully fix that over time. You know...like Williamson said he would. With that in mind, issue #2 is a little too soon to jump ship. He'll probably be fine. Especially since he's got Rose there, who's already doing more to help him through his dark period than any of his family has.



I think the difference here is that Teen Titans was kinda always set up to lead Damian down that ill-thought out path. That book's premise was built on breaking the character down, not building him up. Williamson has said, multiple times, that this book is about getting him back on track. So of course he's gonna start out at the bottom. Because that's where he was before this story even began.

It is a little to early to judge, and this is just after coming from his Teen Titans run.
Granted, it's a shame that Damian started to go killing, his circumstance doesn't help it but hey let's just go along with it, and hopefully see it have some sort of good outcome.

Then there's him killing despite a revive catch to it, which will cause some drama between him and Bruce. Oh, let's see that panel.

But issue 1 shows us that he's just a kid looking for something, he gave his prize money to a family what not and showed his hobbies more, so he's not entirely going all bad. Think it's a bit of slippery slope that Damian started killing again, but we'll just have to wait and see. Doesn't help the fact that Damian's regression and progression is always fluctuating, bit tiring too, really want a compromise where Damian could be a douche and likeable as well for his status quo.

I mean, not trying to jinx it, but what's the worst possible thing that could happen to Damian's character in Robin? his Teen Titans run already brought him low.

[Blue22]

OOF! Plot Armor Piercing Rounds, looks like the Bats are down!

And I hope they stay down. Seriously, every last one of them failed this kid. I'm counting Babs too since she was so enraged by Bruce ignoring him during Alfred's memorial and yet she also didn't lift a damn finger to try and help. Like....girl, you're talking a lot of **** for someone who's also not doing anything for this emotionally damaged child. It's not your responsibility like it is Bruce's but...you could have still done something, Ms. Superhero.

[sifighter]

So how we feeling about Flatline? I like her but not as a romance subplot or anything just as someone fun who seems to be an equal match for Damian in a fight.

[Blue22]

Yeah I've been saying from the start that I like her as an ally/rival....but just as that.

[Fergus]

It is a little to early to judge, and this is just after coming from his Teen Titans run.
Granted, it's a shame that Damian started to go killing, his circumstance doesn't help it but hey let's just go along with it, and hopefully see it have some sort of good outcome.

Then there's him killing despite a revive catch to it, which will cause some drama between him and Bruce. Oh, let's see that panel.

But issue 1 shows us that he's just a kid looking for something, he gave his prize money to a family what not and showed his hobbies more, so he's not entirely going all bad. Think it's a bit of slippery slope that Damian started killing again, but we'll just have to wait and see. Doesn't help the fact that Damian's regression and progression is always fluctuating, bit tiring too, really want a compromise where Damian could be a douche and likeable as well for his status quo.

I mean, not trying to jinx it, but what's the worst possible thing that could happen to Damian's character in Robin? his Teen Titans run already brought him low.

It always puzzles me when I see people repeat this. This is not true at all. Glass regressed him and Tomasi did too at the start of B&R but that's it.

Two titles out of 100's that the character has been in since his introduction. 2 regressed him but Damian's character has been consistently progressing.

Some writers have written him out of character [Bendis], watered him down [Supersons], maxed up his abrasive snotiness [Priest] but mostly he's static [in character] or progressed in line with his growth so far.

I don't understand why Damian often gets the 'writers regress always regress him' label tossed at him even though that's objectively false.

DC and the Batfam has lots of character that suffer from this yet fans seldom have this complaint for most of them [aside from Bruce and Jason]
I wonder where this comes from.

[SanityOrMadness]

I was initially a little put off by him going straight into kill mode the minute Rose said it was okay. But...Then I remembered this is exactly what I asked for when I complained about his actions in Teen Titans being swept under the rug. He's still hot off of that period in his life where he decided killing was okay again. As horrible as it was, it happened. It's why he's where he is right now. Sure he's made some progress in the right direction, to the point where he's only doing it on the condition that these people will be brought back. But clearly he's still that same kid from Glass' run. And I see this series as something that will hopefully fix that over time. You know...like Williamson said he would. With that in mind, issue #2 is a little too soon to jump ship. He'll probably be fine. Especially since he's got Rose there, who's already doing more to help him through his dark period than any of his family has.

Meanwhile, Rose is getting messed up. She finally moved past the whole stupid Geoff Johns "Ravager" thing in Priest's Deathstroke, and yet...

[Katana500]

Who else loved the second issue!

The book is a lot of fun and im already enjoying the dynamic forming between Damian and Rose. I feel like they will end up being friends who deliberately get on each others nerves.

[garazza]

I was actually quite enjoyed the issue. This is the comic I've been asking for.

As for the killing again thing, I don't know what y'all are on about, but between this book and TT, it's night and day. Damian's behavior in TT was given a completely unsatisfactory explanation that changed from when the run started to when it ended. Here, he just got killed and brought back to life, so he knows through experience there are no consequences for his actions (re:beating every competitor before him and winning the tournament), at least insofar as it concerns combat in the tournament, because I'm sure there are going to be consequences for Damian sneaking into somewhere he's not supposed to see.

Also, I loved Rose keeping an eye on Damian and watching out for him. He now has two big sisters.

But hey, if this comic is not doing it for you, that's perfectly acceptable. You are under no obligation to read something you're not enjoying.

[Fergus]

So how we feeling about Flatline? I like her but not as a romance subplot or anything just as someone fun who seems to be an equal match for Damian in a fight.

I want the series to focus on Damian building relationships that are not romantic [Damian and Conner and Rose and Flatline bonding and becoming friends]. Damian never strokes me as a character that would do romance. Tom Taylor and the DCAMU surprised me with how well they made the character in a relationship work but deep down I want him to end up old and living with his cat.

But a lot of comic fans enjoy ships so won't be surprised if he does have a thing with Flatline.

[Katana500]

Kid XXL I think will be a whole lot of fun!

I look forward to Damian facing a character even more cocky and arrogant than himself!