Is DC trying to cover up the Damian problem?

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

You should not have asked him like that,being critical and harsh is one thing...this is different.
Snyder has the right to use whatever character he wants to tell his stories. I personally dont care about his lack of Damian acknowledgement because Damian does have his own book but Snyder actively trying to sideline him from the Batman line altogether is what troubles me the most.

However with that said it's clear he doesn't like the Batman family,Damain may be the most blatant example but he's not the only one neglected by Snyder. He actively tried to break them apart in an over hyped,lacklustre story that only Tynion ever bothered to acknowledge and the excuse for them breaking apart was flimsy and contradictory.

He's trying to replace the ENTIRE family:Julia,Harper,Duke might as well be the new Alfred,Batgirl and Robin. DC needs to rein him in because Robin and Batgirl actually have ongoing books and they cannot afford a clash between their properties and Alfred has worked for decades,dont fix what aint broken. The side properties should be strengthened not weakened,I find it baffling that DC actively promotes what doesn't work or what is struggling to work and has no precedence of ever working(We are Robin) but leaves properties that did work high and dry. It's like they WANT to be an Indie company.

Snyder should realize that he's single handedly trying to be every Batman writer to have ever lived which is just absurd. He should actually commit to his own characters and concepts first before expecting others to commit to them. He created and dumped Lincoln and Harper after doing almost nothing with them,stop with stupid and unnecessary changes like cutting off Alfreds hand(WTF? what's the point? who actually thinks this will last an issue the moment Snyder leaves?). The characters he brings to the table are just hybrids of other characters and essentially bring nothing new either in terms of personality,power and role. Flavouring it with race or in Harpers case her gay brother and his sob story isn't going to cut it. If I want to read about a gay character then I'm gonna read Midnighter who makes gay look sexy,not some bullied kid who makes it look pitiful.

The next Eternal should do away with Snyder & Tynion. Give Tynion his own ongoing or something,the other writers deserve to tell their own stories instead of writing filler to pad out SS and JT scripts. Snyder and Tynion have a limited and myopic vision of the Batman franchise,they can be the best writers ever but vision is something else entirely. Steering should be left to someone who doesn't think that the entire universe revolves around the Joker.

DC should I repeat avoid conflict between their own properties.

Quoted for truth.

Snyder isn't the only one who doesn't use Damian, he had also hardly any appreance in Detective Comics and Batman the Dark Knight.

I think the big Problem with Daiman is that, while hie is a very popular character, he doesn't really work as Character in the typical Batman storie lines. You can use him for the light-hearted (Gotham Academy) or the completely over the top (Morrison) stuff but in Eternal he would feel somehow out of place.

Just watch the latest animated Batman movies, their biggest problem is that they are centred around Damian.

Damian did showed on Batman: the Dark Knight but see, Damian just shows how weirdly handled is the Batman office. You guys say "Damian has his own book so is fine for him to not show on Snyder's Epics or another Batoffice related books" and yet, they always drag Jason and Tim into the crossovers and maxiseries. Why is the treatment different with Damian then?

Also, saying that Damian doesn't work as character on typical Batman storylines is a very poor argument. Is the writer who is limited, not the character.

This is why I think is unprofesional Snyder attitude. As the writer of the best selling book he should be challenging himself by going beyond his comfort zone.

[LoneNecromancer]

For the most part I could care less if Snyder writes about him, lots of other places to get my Damian fix. But not telling a man with amnesia he has a son is f'ed up.

Yeah, I don't really want to see him write Damian that much. His exclusion is just made bizarre thanks to Snyder's storylines.

Damian did showed on Batman: the Dark Knight but see, Damian just shows how weirdly handled is the Batman office. You guys say "Damian has his own book so is fine for him to not show on Snyder's Epics or another Batoffice related books" and yet, they always drag Jason and Tim into the crossovers and maxiseries. Why is the treatment different with Damian then?

That too.

[Claude]

This is why I think is unprofesional Snyder attitude. As the writer of the best selling book he should be challenging himself by going beyond his comfort zone.

....why?


As the writer of the best-selling book, surely he has the autonomy to tell the stories he wants to tell?


I'm not convinced he "hates" the Bat Family either, for that matter. Nightwing was in almost every issue of his first year on the title, for one thing. But that seems to have been a bit of a problem - Death Of The Family seems to have been a (cack-handed, really) attempt to get all the other Bat Characters out of Bruce's pocket - and each and every one of them is benefitting from their solo series, if they have them, not being tied up with Snyder's run in the way that early "Nightwing" and "Batgirl" was. Sure, we might not be reading about Julia and Duke in ten years time - but we aren't reading about Onyx and Obsidian now, that's no reason for them not to have been created.

[Nite-Wing]

He's writing the best selling title at DC so clearly he knows what he is doing
If people want more Damian the blame shouldn't fall solely on Snyder since other writers who write Detective Comics don't feature Damian either.
Fan entitlement is annoying sometimes but with a character like Damian who is prime fodder to be killed off or shelved you would think people would be happy with the current situation.

Is it not enough to have a solo?
Do they have to take up space in Bruce's solo as well?
Seems like the reverse of people wanting all the bat family to have their own space away from Gotham/Batman but in this case Batman shouldn't have his own space away from the family.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

....why?


As the writer of the best-selling book, surely he has the autonomy to tell the stories he wants to tell?

Because he's the one setting both the example and the direction for all the remaining books in the line. By limiting his scope he's also limiting the potential stories other writers can tell (other writers can't use the Joker or the Riddler as antagonists now for example) This is more evident with the whole amnesiac Bruce plotline where he completely ignored Bruce's actual sons in the aftermath. Lobdell and King/Seeley did what they could on their own books about it but they still needed to skirt around the issue so they wouldn't step into Snyder's toes, leading to some underwhelming reunions. Damian is by far the most affected character and while it would be "fine" if he would be out of gotham all the time until Bruce's recovery (that by itself is a weak plotline) he's being dragged into Gotham by the Robin War crossover, once again forcing to the writers to skirt around the issue.

I'm not convinced he "hates" the Bat Family either, for that matter. Nightwing was in almost every issue of his first year on the title, for one thing. But that seems to have been a bit of a problem - Death Of The Family seems to have been a (cack-handed, really) attempt to get all the other Bat Characters out of Bruce's pocket - and each and every one of them is benefitting from their solo series, if they have them, not being tied up with Snyder's run in the way that early "Nightwing" and "Batgirl" was. Sure, we might not be reading about Julia and Duke in ten years time - but we aren't reading about Onyx and Obsidian now, that's no reason for them not to have been created.

This argument runs a little hollow when the book meant for the batfamily has one of Snyder's pet characters as lead for no good reason.

[joybeans]

Because he's the one setting both the example and the direction for all the remaining books in the line. By limiting his scope he's also limiting the potential stories other writers can tell (other writers can't use the Joker or the Riddler as antagonists now for example)

That's false. The Riddler has already showed up in Secret Six.

This is more evident with the whole amnesiac Bruce plotline where he completely ignored Bruce's actual sons in the aftermath. Lobdell and King/Seeley did what they could on their own books about it but they still needed to skirt around the issue so they wouldn't step into Snyder's toes, leading to some underwhelming reunions.

Seeley/King effectively used the amnesiac Bruce as a plot point to further their own narrative. Whatever flaws that happened with Jason's reunion can be blamed on Lobdell's storytelling choices and execution.

This argument runs a little hollow when the book meant for the batfamily has one of Snyder's pet characters as lead for no good reason.

"No good reason". Are writers not allowed to write stories about their characters now? Damian has his own book with his own writer, and thankfully, it's a writer who has a handle on storytelling, which is a lot more than what you can say for several other characters.

This type of mentality that writers should be creatively hamstrung by the need to service certain corporately owned fictional characters is cancerous to comics. This is why every Green Lantern topic on the DC forum here turns into a mudslinging contest between fans of Hal, John, and Kyle. Yes, these are all great characters (under good writers) with years of history, but creators need to be given a bit of leeway as well. This is why DC is allowing for a looser continuity, so that creators to tell stories without worrying about contradicting others.

[Godlike13]

Snyder can keep him out of Batman, thats whatever, but it make no sense to keep him out of BRE. Thats the one that bugs me. Thats the one i find alarming.

[Aioros22]

Thing of the matter is, nothing was flawed in the Jason and Bruce reunion and certainly not because of some mandate regarding Damian. It was brief and bittersweet, absolutely in vogue with other moments already written in the run about these two.

They bust heads but deep down they care. Simple and effective.

[darkseidpwns]

Snyder can keep him out of Batman, thats whatever, but it make no sense to keep him out of BRE. Thats the one that bugs me. Thats the one i find truly alarming.

Exactly, and to make it even more worse we are continuously subjected to Harper Row in the Eternal series. Why are we supposed to pretend this character matters? why the hell is she the main character alongside frigging Dick and Cass? I would be bugged with this Harper non sense even if Damian never existed. Using sales as an excuse is BS because Eternal sure as hell does not sell because of Harper.

[Godlike13]

Not gonna lie man, i don't have a problem with Harper. I get the pov and creative freedom she offers there. I just don't get why Damian is not also in it, and doesn't have a role in it as he is the current Robin. That doesn't make sense to me, and i find it alarming even.

[Maxpower00044]

I think you've gotten Damian SOB mixed up with Robin SOB.

Yeah, I did.

Seriously, some ppl just need to write fan-fiction for themselves because they obviously want to dictate the direction for the stories they read.

[joybeans]

Not gonna lie man, i don't have a problem with Harper. I get the pov and creative freedom she offers there. I just don't get why Damian is not also in it, and doesn't have a role in it as the current Robin. That doesn't make sense to me, and i find it alarming even.

It comes down to Snyder and Tynion having a certain story they want to tell, and Damian just doesn't fit into it. Whether or not that story they're telling is any good depends ultimately on the execution of its ideas. It should stand or fall based on what it is, instead of what it's not.

[Hilden B. Lade]

Damian probably set his alarm clock late and that's why he's not in BRE.

[darkseidpwns]

He's writing the best selling title at DC so clearly he knows what he is doing
If people want more Damian the blame shouldn't fall solely on Snyder since other writers who write Detective Comics don't feature Damian either.
Fan entitlement is annoying sometimes but with a character like Damian who is prime fodder to be killed off or shelved you would think people would be happy with the current situation.

Is it not enough to have a solo?
Do they have to take up space in Bruce's solo as well?
Seems like the reverse of people wanting all the bat family to have their own space away from Gotham/Batman but in this case Batman shouldn't have his own space away from the family.

No one here is clamouring for Damian to star in Snyder's Batman,the sentiment here actually goes otherwise.
People are blaming Snyder because on one hand he claims he cant write Robin as he makes him uncomfortable but on the other hand his 2 pet characters are both kids and both are getting events. He must've grown up watching the Schumacher movies because all Robins have the same features,they all look the same,they all started at 10 years or so.
Damian is prime fodder? fodder gets killed off by successive when their creators leave them,in Damians case it is literally the opposite. Duke and Harper are the real fodder,cant wait to see them go the way of Onyx and Orpheus.

Why is Duke showing up in 2 books? why is he starring in Robin War? isn't he taking space from the other characters?
Why is Harper starring in comics meant to celebrate Batman and Robin? isnt she taking space from far more interesting characters?
Why do Jason Todd and Tim Drake get dragged in to these events especially against the wishes of Jason Todd's own fan base? and even more importantly when the Bat editorial doesn't even have full control over them?
See I can play that card too.

I could care less about Damian in Snyder's Batman, however I wanna see him with Dick and Stephanie, isn't that the purpose of team comics? instead I'm subjected to watching Dick and Steph stuck with a bland,uninteresting character whose just a sum of various traits taken from other characters.

[Godlike13]

It comes down to Snyder and Tynion having a certain story they want to tell, and Damian just doesn't fit into it. Whether or not that story they're telling is any good depends ultimately on the execution of its ideas. It should stand or fall based on what it is, instead of what it's not.

Yes but why is Damian, the current Robin, the only one who doesn't fit in this celebration of Robin story of theirs. That doesn't make sense to me. The only sense i can make out of it that they don't want him there, and thats what i find alarming about it.