Curate, connect, and discover
Like I love an AU right so if you wanna write about if war games never happened and Gotham didn’t try to ruin itself once a week cool fine slay (keep Dick self destructing for years it’s good content idm)
But for the whole tarantula thing to HAVE an impact I feel like you have to acknowledge that he it never would have happed to a character as weathered as Dick (even at the time when a solo nightwing was supposedly more new to the scene)
But like no it only works when you see how many people died bc of blockbuster and how that weighed down on him as a person.
Blockbuster didn’t just ‘discover his identity’ Maxine Micheal’s was a big reason it happened and when Nightwing confronted her she got shot in the head in front of him
Dick figures out that they know his identity Like 4 issues before the blockbuster confrontation
When Firefly makes his first reappearance since no mans land to burn his circus down
This was after Babs, Tim and Cass had all been targeted
And then 1 issue later
Dick leaves earlier (and makes a bad daywing pun no im serious i love him) for patrol and then watches his apartment blow up. Which would be angsty by itself if you ignore the fact that
1) the dude (yoska- and they have like a weird relationship bc of ras al ghul and like he firmly believed he was dicks grandfather biologically and even when that was proven false he moved to bludhaven and admits he still considered them family) teaching dick his own language was in there
2) dick found his dead body in the rubble
3) dick actually bought the apartment building to keep it from being demolished and indirectly kept all those people in the building
Anyway you don’t NEED to read the comics imo as long as you engage with the other content like yeah you’re a dc fan if you like any of the animated properties but like why write about a plot point without knowing the surrounding moments doesn’t that take away from the premium angst content?
+ I didn’t really like or finish war games or his whole like let’s join the mob thing featuring the unironic name “crutches” after but come on the deathstroke and rose shit was so interesting!
Today in challenges for Nightwing fanfic writers - writing fic that makes it obvious the person has:
Actually read Nightwing #92-95 (1996)
Knows the context in which this story happens (what events precede this and which immediately follows it?)
Is aware what Batman characters have met Tarantula
Can outline the occasions when Dick and Catalina are in contact AFTER Nightwing #95
Heck can name literally any appearance for Tarantula after Nightwing #93 (1996)
Can explain the discussion Bruce and Dick have in Nightwing #117 (1996) and how that discussion relates to everything above, and what is not mentioned in that discussion
It shouldn’t be this hard.