Controversial Batfamily Opinions

[Atlanta96]

Dc has never celebrated or spotlighted Damian's Arabian side aside from the name Al ghul nothing indicates that he is half-Arabian. They purposefully depict him as a white kid yet when they introduce his evil twin Heretic they dress him up in traditional Arabian gear. Classy move. They could make him more tan, hightlight his culture more, occasional show him lounging in his traditional gear. Anything to make him visually a bit different but no they go for the matching set.

So yeah they are all white kids who look the same even if one of them is half-Arabian they still all look white and similar. The one error in that sentence was the teenage part. At that point Damian wasn't a teenager.

Bermejo isn't the only one who has made that distinction or had such criticism. Plenty on this site have made reference to Bruce and his clones.

Many people with Middle Easterm heritage don't look or act like they have it. I am half Middle Easterm and no one knows unless I tell them. They're not purposefully portraying him as a white kid, it just comes naturally. They choose not to go out of their way to remind us of his heritage but that doesn't mean the heritage isn't there.

[Assam]

I hope with that Duke solo book we will see the we are robin kids from time to time and what they are up to now a days.

I can really only see two outcomes from the release of a Duke solo.

1) The book tanks. They can call him a "fan-favorite" all they want, but the general attitude toward the character is pure indifference. And I'm also pretty sure that plenty of fans would simply be pissed at him getting a solo book, and not any of the characters from the 'Tec team. The book would be cancelled, and much like what happened to Harper following BR:E's negative reaction, his role would be minimized for some time, pissing off Duke's fanbase.

2) The book is somehow a success. (The only way I could honestly see this happening would be if Sndyer was writing it and his loyalists all read it). Duke, with his new major role in the Batfamily and possibly the DCU as a whole if Snyder has his way, grows a larger fanbase, but at the same time, earning a whole legion of fans who resent him. Right now, people who actually "Hate" Duke are just a vocal minority. But if this happened, you can bet fans of all the older Batfamily members who don't care about Duke would be up in arms about this, resulting in non-stop arguments until, like all books, "Lark" runs its course.

[Assam]

It's a good thing they're giving Duke another shot at a solo instead of stupid Cass Cain, Steph Brown, or Tim Drake who nobody likes or cares about and have never had successful solo series in the past. DC always looks out for their fans.

Hold on...was this bullcrap actually CONFIRMED?!

[Caivu]

Hold on...was this bullcrap actually CONFIRMED?!

Not that I know of. I haven't seen anything about a solo for him.

[Assam]

Not that I know of. I haven't seen anything about a solo for him.

Yeah, a quick search just now and I didn't see anything either.

[Katana500]

Was a Harper book not mentioned too some point next year! I doubt she will have a solo so maybe its another bat family team book (maybe batgirls or something)


I think a Duke book was mentioned by Scott Sydner on Twitter... I think I remember seeing it their atleast!

I'm not complaining though I like both Harper and Duke I dont really care about which bat family characters get a book aslong as the story is good!

[Aahz]

Dc has never celebrated or spotlighted Damian's Arabian side aside from the name Al ghul nothing indicates that he is half-Arabian. They purposefully depict him as a white kid yet when they introduce his evil twin Heretic they dress him up in traditional Arabian gear. Classy move. They could make him more tan, hightlight his culture more, occasional show him lounging in his traditional gear. Anything to make him visually a bit different but no they go for the matching set.

And the league of Assassins is not really an Arabian orgainisation, they have members from all over the world and Bases all over the world (I think has in his base more comics in the Himalayas or in Switzerland than in the middle east). And they sem usually more oriented on Ninjas than on Arabians.

And Damian was rased on some tropical island, is cultural background is not really middle eastern.

[Assam]

Was a Harper book not mentioned too some point next year! I doubt she will have a solo so maybe its another bat family team book (maybe batgirls or something)


I think a Duke book was mentioned by Scott Sydner on Twitter... I think I remember seeing it their atleast!

I'm not complaining though I like both Harper and Duke I dont really care about which bat family characters get a book aslong as the story is good!

Yeah, Snyder said Harper will be in a book in the next year during a podcast. I didn't listen to it myself, but according to Caivu, it sounds like a team book. (And as I've said before, I want that team to consist of Harper, Cass, Steph, and Clayface)

I'm glad you can like all characters like that, it'd be nice if we all could, but no, most of us, myself included, have our biases.

[Katana500]

Yeah, Snyder said Harper will be in a book in the next year during a podcast. I didn't listen to it myself, but according to Caivu, it sounds like a team book. (And as I've said before, I want that team to consist of Harper, Cass, Steph, and Clayface)

that would be an awesome team! I hope myself that its a 'batgirls team' with Steph, Cass, Harper and Bette. You could have other characters like Clayface,Bruce, Babs and Tim appear regularly

[Caivu]

Was a Harper book not mentioned too some point next year! I doubt she will have a solo so maybe its another bat family team book (maybe batgirls or something)

This is literally the first I've heard of this.

I think a Duke book was mentioned by Scott Sydner on Twitter... I think I remember seeing it their atleast!

The only thing I can find about this is a CBR article, and even then it was a maybe:

Screenshot_20170430-112536.jpg

[Assam]

This is literslly the first I've heard of this.

Really? Could have sworn it was you that told me...

[Caivu]

Yeah, Snyder said Harper will be in a book in the next year during a podcast. I didn't listen to it myself, but according to Caivu, it sounds like a team book. (And as I've said before, I want that team to consist of Harper, Cass, Steph, and Clayface)

I don't remember mentioning that at all...

[dietrich]

Many people with Middle Easterm heritage don't look or act like they have it. I am half Middle Easterm and no one knows unless I tell them. They're not purposefully portraying him as a white kid, it just comes naturally. They choose not to go out of their way to remind us of his heritage but that doesn't mean the heritage isn't there.

And yet someone choose to and went out of their way to remind us of that heritage with the Heretic.

I believe that you are correct. They're not purposefully doing it they just default to whatever shade they use on the others. Though in both Teen Titans and Robin Son of Batman, he is darker to reflect his Arabian heritage.

And yes you are right that most people of Arab decent are simply white but that brings us back to the fact the Robins consist of 4 white teenagers who look the same.

[ZuLuLu]

Dc has never celebrated or spotlighted Damian's Arabian side aside from the name Al ghul nothing indicates that he is half-Arabian. They purposefully depict him as a white kid yet when they introduce his evil twin Heretic they dress him up in traditional Arabian gear. Classy move. They could make him more tan, hightlight his culture more, occasional show him lounging in his traditional gear. Anything to make him visually a bit different but no they go for the matching set.

So yeah they are all white kids who look the same even if one of them is half-Arabian they still all look white and similar. The one error in that sentence was the teenage part. At that point Damian wasn't a teenager.

Bermejo isn't the only one who has made that distinction or had such criticism. Plenty on this site have made reference to Bruce and his clones.

I don't agree with a writer criticising other characters. If he said it with disdain then that was wrong and unprofessional but the statement in itself is descriptive of the Robins. Visually

He said it "jokingly" more as a descriptive and historical fact than any thing else. That Robin has always looked a particular way and he was simply pointing of that WAR was messing with that notion, that Robin didn't have to look like a Bruce clone. No where did he state that he hate the Robins.

WAR also contained white kids that had distinct looks so it not like Lee was saying that diversity only means non white, I think as an artist he see the fact that there are four Robins but they look so alike as a bit lazy.

Also on the census, people from an Arab background are classified as White. Both Damian and Dick backgrounds add cultural differences to the characters but based on how America classify race (which is complicated) they are for intent and purpose white. There is nothing wrong with that, but weird that people use them as examples as non white Robins.

[Katana500]

Listening to a podcast that Scott Snyder was on this week and he mentioned Harper's shortcomings and he said afterwards that there is plans for Harper coming in Detective and she will be in a new series next year(sounded like a team book).

I checked it was DragonPiece in the Harper Thread