Damian Wayne/Robin Appreciation 2023.

[Astralabius]

I'm not suprised that this sold well, it's Mark Waid writing Batman and teasing that Alfred might be back.
If you mostly care about Batman BvsR is probably a great book.
If you are a fan of Damian or the magic users of DC however...meh. They are very obviously only there to give Bruce opportunities to do cool things.

[Astralabius]

Spoilers for Lazarus Planet Alpha

spoilers:

The preview already showed everything Damian does this issue aside from King Fire Bull suddenly showing up next to him at the end of the main story. The team at the Tower of Fate manage to break in and free the magic users and magic items. The other team finds Nezha basically already captured by Swamp Thing and Poison Ivy. Supergirl blasts him unconscious, but Nezha takes over Bruce's body. At least I think that's what happened. Bruce looks like a demon now. Waid makes Black Alice and Monkey Prince talk badly about Damian for no real reason other than to push Monkey Prince I guess. The backup story reveals how the Monkey King asked Nezha, turned good by a red sash heaven made him wear, for help to imprison King Fire Bull's father. After they capture him he manages to take the sash away from Nezha, turning him back to his evil form. But Monkey King somehow got him to put it back on with Nezha being unsure if he chose to do it or was forced by Monkey King. Because King Fire Bull's father was now in prison Nezha promised to take care of the child, giving him a staff that leads him to Nezha if he needs him. Pigsy tells all of this to Monkey Prince. I assume the sash and the staff will become important in defeating Nezha.

end of spoilers

[CPSparkles]

Yeah. I supposed Top 5 were pretty good for sales.

I wasn't sure if this was good because many people in this thread didn't like the story and the way Damian was treated.

Not surprised it had good sales. Waid and Batman are fan favs.
This thread also isn't representative of Damian Wayne fandom.

[CPSparkles]

Spoilers for Lazarus Planet Alpha

spoilers:

The preview already showed everything Damian does this issue aside from King Fire Bull suddenly showing up next to him at the end of the main story. The team at the Tower of Fate manage to break in and free the magic users and magic items. The other team finds Nezha basically already captured by Swamp Thing and Poison Ivy. Supergirl blasts him unconscious, but Nezha takes over Bruce's body. At least I think that's what happened. Bruce looks like a demon now. Waid makes Black Alice and Monkey Prince talk badly about Damian for no real reason other than to push Monkey Prince I guess. The backup story reveals how the Monkey King asked Nezha, turned good by a red sash heaven made him wear, for help to imprison King Fire Bull's father. After they capture him he manages to take the sash away from Nezha, turning him back to his evil form. But Monkey King somehow got him to put it back on with Nezha being unsure if he chose to do it or was forced by Monkey King. Because King Fire Bull's father was now in prison Nezha promised to take care of the child, giving him a staff that leads him to Nezha if he needs him. Pigsy tells all of this to Monkey Prince. I assume the sash and the staff will become important in defeating Nezha.

end of spoilers

In the MP series Damian did tick him off.

[CPSparkles]

https://crowkip.tumblr.com

[Morgoth]

To be honest, I now have big doubts that Waid will write Damian after Lazarus Planet. Before that, I thought that he might treat him differently than other legacy characters (besides Dick's generation), because in fact, technically he is one of his creators, but I do not see much interest in him from Waid's side.
I guess if Damian gets something, Yang will be the one to write it.

[CPSparkles]

To be honest, I now have big doubts that Waid will write Damian after Lazarus Planet. Before that, I thought that he might treat him differently than other legacy characters (besides Dick's generation), because in fact, technically he is one of his creators, but I do not see much interest in him from Waid's side.
I guess if Damian gets something, Yang will be the one to write it.

Yang on Damian could be good. Waid is old school and has been open with his thoughts on modern legacy characters.

You can feel his passion, love and excitement for Dick's generation jumping off the pages of World's Finest.

It was said that DC is currently taking pitches for Damian's title. I never had Waid as a possibility for a Damian solo. Nothing about his attitude towards the character indicated he had strong feelings for the character or was that interested in writing him.

Also notable that in Kingdom Come and BVR, he has Damian as allied but almost reluctantly so.

I get the vibe that he is more interested in Damian Al Ghul than Damian Wayne. Which worked more in Kingdom Come than in current continuity.

[CPSparkles]

HouseOfListery with seven wintery reads available now on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE



wonder which Super sons story will be featured

[Astralabius]

To be honest, I now have big doubts that Waid will write Damian after Lazarus Planet. Before that, I thought that he might treat him differently than other legacy characters (besides Dick's generation), because in fact, technically he is one of his creators, but I do not see much interest in him from Waid's side.
I guess if Damian gets something, Yang will be the one to write it.

I don't even want him to write Damian after this. He has nothing interesting to say about him.

[Astralabius]

Phillip Kennedy Johnson said this in a QA today:
I ALSO love the Al Ghuls! Thanks for the kind words! I wish I could talk in greater detail about my plans for this year, but know that I have a TON of affection for the Al Ghul dynasty, and they're never far from my mind anytime I'm writing a DC book. I can't spoil what's coming, but I can promise you'll see them again in my DC work very soon in a way [that] I think will leave you extremely satisfied. In case you missed it: check out the Batman Superman & the Authority one-shot that came out between Action Comics #1034 and #1035. That issue is super Al Ghul-heavy and was mad fun to write.

He also responded to someone on twitter fearing that there would be no Damian content after Lazarus Planet because there was nothing mentioning him in the March solicitations by saying that this wasn't the case.

So maybe PKJ will do something with Damian after Lazarus Planet.

[Fergus]

Yeah, that's all I could find too. It's so weird that DC never bothered to write that story.
Both Damian starting to live at Wayne Manor and also how exactly he became Robin is kept so vague.
It's Alfred who gives him the costume to wear in all versions I know of, but I don't think they ever showed Alfred and Dick truly talking about making Damian Robin before it happens.

I suspect it was because the character was supposed to die after Batman and Son arc.

He was introduced to

-be a device to lay the foundations for later conflict between Batman and The Al Ghul's.

- create buzz/fuel discuss about Morrison's run within fandom by having him attack a beloved character. Giving them a cad they would enjoy hating.

Then killed off after Batman and Son therefore Morrison had no reason to plot him joining the Bats or becoming Robin.

After DC changed plans, insisting that the character shouldn't be killed off after 2 issues. Morrison had to find a way to slot him into his Batman Saga. The thing was that while Morrison was doing this BFTC happened so Damian finding his way back to Gotham ended being written by another writer [likely the writer was mandated by DC editorial to include Damian in the event]

The sudden change of plans and different writers on different titles is probably the reason why we never got a more detailed story of how he joined the family.

Poor communication between writers within the Bat office [the fact that the Red Robin title, B&R and even the Return at times contradicted each other is another indication of the lack of communication]

Morrison's focus being their greater Batman saga and Morrison being more interested in Bruce and Dick. The characters he grew up with and wanted to focus on. Damian for Grant was a way to spotlight and explore the Batman's Greatest Success Dick Grayson [Those are Morrison's own words from Fatman on Batman]. The original Robin.

These are all contributing factors to why we didn't get that story.

Alfred was the one who 1st gave Damian the costume. He also forged a letter from Bruce to Dick.

How he came to be living at the manor is sketchy but we saw how he became Robin. Alfred gave him the suit, he gets sent to save Tim, Alfred and Dick agree that he needs looking after.

He needs guidance like Bruce offered to a young Dick. He's proved they can trust him. he's proved his dedication and willingness to help save others regardless of the risk to his person.

We saw how the decision was made but we never got the panel of Dick officially making him Robin and giving him the suit which is sad. We did get [some] Dick and Alfred talking about it panels in B&R and in Red Robin we saw Damian suited up as Robin and Dicks talks some more about making him Robin.

Occurs to me that quite a bit of Damian becoming Robin was written as negative. The intention was for readers not to get attached since he was going to be killed off anyways so pile on the usurper vibe. DC should have worked to resolve that once he became a mainstay

Again i think at the time it wasn't a big deal since he was going to die anyways. Damian was a one run Robin like Jarro.
DC already had an official Robin who was going to return after Morrison's run ended so I can see why it wasn't better executed. At the time.


However the fact that it's been 15 years and we still haven't had that seen is very telling about how much those behind the scene care about Damian as Robin.

[Fergus]

Some good Damian content in the latest UL.

spoilers:

The scene where he introduces the pets to the Wayne's was cute. The panel where he says to Thomas that he expected him to be taller made me groan

end of spoilers

[dietrich]

I suspect it was because the character was supposed to die after Batman and Son arc.

He was introduced to

-be a device to lay the foundations for later conflict between Batman and The Al Ghul's.

- create buzz/fuel discuss about Morrison's run within fandom by having him attack a beloved character. Giving them a cad they would enjoy hating.

Then killed off after Batman and Son therefore Morrison had no reason to plot him joining the Bats or becoming Robin.

After DC changed plans, insisting that the character shouldn't be killed off after 2 issues. Morrison had to find a way to slot him into his Batman Saga. The thing was that while Morrison was doing this BFTC happened so Damian finding his way back to Gotham ended being written by another writer [likely the writer was mandated by DC editorial to include Damian in the event]

The sudden change of plans and different writers on different titles is probably the reason why we never got a more detailed story of how he joined the family.

Poor communication between writers within the Bat office [the fact that the Red Robin title, B&R and even the Return at times contradicted each other is another indication of the lack of communication]

Morrison's focus being their greater Batman saga and Morrison being more interested in Bruce and Dick. The characters he grew up with and wanted to focus on. Damian for Grant was a way to spotlight and explore the Batman's Greatest Success Dick Grayson [Those are Morrison's own words from Fatman on Batman]. The original Robin.

These are all contributing factors to why we didn't get that story.

Alfred was the one who 1st gave Damian the costume. He also forged a letter from Bruce to Dick.

How he came to be living at the manor is sketchy but we saw how he became Robin. Alfred gave him the suit, he gets sent to save Tim, Alfred and Dick agree that he needs looking after.

He needs guidance like Bruce offered to a young Dick. He's proved they can trust him. he's proved his dedication and willingness to help save others regardless of the risk to his person.

We saw how the decision was made but we never got the panel of Dick officially making him Robin and giving him the suit which is sad. We did get [some] Dick and Alfred talking about it panels in B&R and in Red Robin we saw Damian suited up as Robin and Dicks talks some more about making him Robin.

Occurs to me that quite a bit of Damian becoming Robin was written as negative. The intention was for readers not to get attached since he was going to be killed off anyways so pile on the usurper vibe. DC should have worked to resolve that once he became a mainstay

Again i think at the time it wasn't a big deal since he was going to die anyways. Damian was a one run Robin like Jarro.
DC already had an official Robin who was going to return after Morrison's run ended so I can see why it wasn't better executed. At the time.


However the fact that it's been 15 years and we still haven't had that seen is very telling about how much those behind the scene care about Damian as Robin.

Yep.

Dick, Jason and Tim were all conceptualised and created to be permanent characters. Everyone involved in their creation and intro knew from the jump that the task was to introduce the new Robin from the jump so their debuts were well planned in advance.

Damian wasn't. Which is his intro and setup smacks of 'rush job' It was a last minute change in plans.

[dietrich]

Some good Damian content in the latest UL.

spoilers:

The scene where he introduces the pets to the Wayne's was cute. The panel where he says to Thomas that he expected him to be taller made me groan

end of spoilers

Really enjoyable issue. I've really missed Dd interacting and this issue gave me just that.

Loved it.

DC needs to give Esposito more work.

[Astralabius]

Yep.

Dick, Jason and Tim were all conceptualised and created to be permanent characters. Everyone involved in their creation and intro knew from the jump that the task was to introduce the new Robin from the jump so their debuts were well planned in advance.

Damian wasn't. Which is his intro and setup smacks of 'rush job' It was a last minute change in plans.

It's even weirder because in Batman #701, so about over ten issues since Dick became Batman, Grant Morrison did bother to dedicate two issues to explaining how Bruce came back to the manor after Batman RIP, what he did when he arrived and how he got called away to Final Crisis.
It would have been fairly easy to have Alfred tell Bruce that Talia left Damian with them and Bruce agreeing to it because, well, the kid is already there and Bruce was too high on drugs to do much about it anyway.
But there is no mention of Damian anywhere in those two issues.