Bruce has always masked his worry as anger, especially back in the 90s/early 2000s. I saw that moment as both him giving Dick some tough love but also him being extremely concerned about Dick and didn’t know how to express or even process it really. I suppose it’s easier to be pissed then to think “Oh shit, I’ve watched my son go through a depressive spiral for months and I haven’t done anything and now he almost got himself killed”
If only Bruce knew how to healthily process emotions 😔
Dick Grayson really gets the OC treatment in Nightwing (1996) and what I mean by the OC treatment is: “Just how much trauma can I put this character through”
Let’s go through the list
- First he decides to become a cop to take down the corruption of the police force; he basically swears off of sleep. He’s fighting crime during the day, he’s fighting crime at night. There is no time for this man to sleep.
- He actually ends up loving this job and even though he planned on quitting once the BPD got fixed, he stays. Just when he’s happy BAM! He gets fired after his boss and former partner learns about his identity
- Barbara breaks up with him
- Blockbuster learns his secret identity and decides to make his life a living hell
- He burns down Haly’s circus
- He blows up Dick’s apartment building, killing a good chunk of the supporting cast
- He’s pretty much homeless after this and sleeps on a fire escape using newspapers as a blanket and pillow
- Blockbuster threatens to kill everyone he knows. Literally. He says that if Dick so much as shakes someone’s hand, he’ll kill them
- He’s so severely fucked up about this he lets Tarantula kill Blockbuster
- She then SAs him (and it’s literally NEVER addressed??)
- Dick can’t handle the guilt and pretty much becomes passively suicidal.
- He has so much trauma and PTSD from this entire thing that Tim, Alfred and Barbara all mention something about him losing his spark
- He turns himself in but his former boss/partner gets himself out by saying he’s undercover
- Then he joins the mob???
- He pretty much pushes everyone away
- Then Death Stroke drops a chemo bomb on Blüdhaven
- Despite knowing that it’ll kill him, Nightwing continues to go into the wreckage to save as many ppl as he can.
- He passes out and is saved by Batman who takes him back to the Cave. He then gives him some tough love and talks to him about his suicidal tendencies
And that’s all I got because I haven’t finished the run yet but JESUS they put this poor guy through the wringer.
Woah, there’s no reason to get so heated. I never said he’s perfect, he does some bad things but terrible is a stretch. Like yeah, taking Robin away from Tim? He went about that completely wrong, even if he had his reasons. I will say that making mistakes doesn’t mean he’s a terrible sibling. And because I love exploring the dynamics between the Bat Family, I’m going to go through some moments where Dick was a good sibling to each of them, or at least some cute moments between them!
Tim
This is probably my favorite Batfam dynamic (with Steph and Damian being a close second) In many ways Tim helped Dick become a big brother. He felt like he failed Jason by not being there and made an effort to be more available to Tim!
Here’s some moments between the two!
When Dick trusted Tim not to use the Lazarus pit?
Or when he and Babs threw Tim a surprise Christmas party so he wouldn’t be alone on Christmas
After Tim quits being Robin, he’s nervous that Dick and Bruce won’t talk to him again. Tim’s school gets shot up and Bruce is adamant that he’s okay but Dick goes to check up on him.
Even when they’re fighting, they’re there for each other! This takes place after Dick gives Robin to Damian!
Also! I want to add that in Bruce Wayne murderer, Dick and Tim do argue because Dick is angry that Tim is doubting Bruce’s innocence, it’s a very emotional time for the two and siblings fight all the time. Hell my sister has snapped at me tons of times and I’ve snapped at her.
Jason
The biggest thing with Dick and Jason, is Dick wasn’t there a lot when Jason was Robin, because he was mostly with the Titans at the time, but when he was there, he did his best. Here’s some moments of Dick being a good brother to Jason!
Dick gives Jason his number as well as his Robin suit (this panel is quite old but DC continuity is really confusing)
Or when Jason is grounded and Dick takes him out on an adventure to help him out
And he even apologizes to Jason because Bruce compared the two
And when Jason is accused of murder, Dick trusts him when he says he didn’t do it
I will say that out of all of Dick’s siblings, he probably made the most mistakes with Jason, which kinda makes sense because that was his first time being a big brother figure. But even then, you have this little moment:
Damian
This is a major one! Dick and Damian are probably the sibling relationship that gets the most focus in current comic (which I have my own opinions on, because I hate that they put his relationship with the others on the back burner) But Dick is very essential to Damian’s character growth. And yeah they get off to a rocky start, Dick was grieving Bruce’s death and all of the sudden he’s in charge of a murderous 2nd grader. He wasn’t the most emotionally available, I’d honestly say their relationship is in the middle of parent/child and siblings. I’ve maxed out the amount of photos I can use in a post so I’ll leave you with this!
God I love them so much.
Cass
Don’t worry! I didn’t forget Cass! But they don’t have as many moments compared to the others! Like I said, I ran out of photos, but I can list some!
- If I recall correctly, Dick wasn’t the most welcoming to Cass because! He’s NOT perfect! He makes mistakes and he can be a real Dick (pun intended) but a huge thing is, he acknowledges this, apologizes to her and they agree to put it behind them! This happens in Batman and the outsiders (2007) #14
- This is more a moment of her helping him out, but in Nightwing (1996) #81, Dick gets shot, Cass visits him in the hospital and he enlists her help in defeating Deathstroke. This is an important moment because a big theme in Nightwing 1996 was Dick stretching himself thin and trying to do everything on his own, which caused him to start getting sloppy.
- In Nightwing #106 Dick teaches Cass how to make his world famous pancakes, which is adorable!
(but I mean so does almost every member of the batfamily)
And as for Duke, I’m not sure if they have any moments together?
And I can totally get your frustration that people act like he’s perfect and honestly that’s probably why I’m not the biggest fan of Tom Taylor’s Nightwing run because he made him almost into a Mary-Sue and I think a flawed Nightwing is the best Nightwing, like I mentioned how in Nightwing 1996, he insists on doing everything alone, which leads to him getting overworked, which leads to him getting shot on duty, which leads to Blockbuster realizing that Nightwing is Dick Grayson which leads to basically his whole life falling apart.
I hate the “bad sibling Dick Grayson” tag, like Dick Grayson would never. Especially in Tim centric fics. They have such a close bond in canon, Tim Drake is Dick Grayson’s #1 fan and Dick raves about Tim like every other issue in Nightwing (1996)
Going to the Jason Todd tag is like. He wouldn't say that. He wouldn't do that. Bruce wouldn't do that. They would not be friends with Jason. He does not have that many scars. Dick never did that. Tim would not be caught dead saying that. That didn't happen.
Tim: Can you imagine the food they eat in jail? Bleh!
Dick: Don't need to imagine, it's disgusting.
Jason: When did you try prison food?!
Dick: When I was 8.
Tim, scoffing: If you commited a crime I'm pretty sure there'd be hundreds of articles about it, I didn't see any when I was researching you.
Dick: Oh! I didn't commit a crime.
Jason: Why the fuck would you be in Juvie if you didn't commit a crime?
Dick: Orphanages were full.
Everyone:
Jason: The hell?
Tim: I'm calling a lawyer, that has to be illegal.
Damian, in the vent: I can't believe this city's incompetence.
Dick: I can. Now get down here.
Damian: Fine.
Begging someone either make an animatic or edit of Bruce and Dick to Slipping Through My Fingers by ABBA.
NONE OF YOU ARE EXEMPT FROM THIS 🫵
I like to imagine that in the villain world it’s considered suicidal to injure Nightwing.
Random villain #1: Yeah and then I shot Nightwing
Random villain #2: You shot Nightwing???
Random villain #1: Yeah, I got him pretty bad, might’ve killed him
Random Villain #2 *eyeing Batman, the Batfamily, Superman, half the Justice League and the Titans as they appear behind Random Villain #1 *: Uhh I had nothing to do with this
funniest indicator of neil’s exy progression (& his development into his bitch self) is him going from ”nicky and aaron are sooo good! i can’t believe I get to play exy with them!” in tfc to being like ”nicky fucking sucks at exy and if i ever have to see aaron again it will be too soon” in tkm
idk if this is a boomer take but I think ppl should make more of an effort to go see movies in theaters bc I couldn’t bear it if the movie theater industry went down and the only way to watch movies was through streaming I’m not strong enough