Before Infinite Crisis and Identity Crisis before it, the Bat-Books had a variety of His and controversial Lows. Tim Drake is robbed of his loving father and the girl who, IMO, is the love of his life to worthless editoral mandate. Dick Grayson going from the Nightwing we know and loved into a Matt Murdock pisstake in Born Again rip off so awful even Frank Miller wouldn't bother to relive that part of his career (for he's too brain-deep in Sin City to a point that he's fallen from favor in the eyes of fandom) offing a potential character in Gavin King/Orpheus (up yours, Bill Willingham!) and the Dark Knight himself progress in love (Selina Kyle) and the shocking return of the wayward "son" that is Jason Todd. This could be viewed as the calm before the event storm, but it's beyond that now.
He may have a nice personality, but has a face I'd like to punch
As Infinite Crisis rolled on, no hero nor villian was safe by the gruesome man-child avatar that was/is Superboy-Prime. Not even Dick Grayson, at first. It still burns me to this day that Dan Didio wanted offing the first (and most recognizable) Robin for shock value but for logic so asinine it makes me wonder why DC hired a man who only good deed in the entertainment world was the television series ReBoot yet dismantle the Transformer-verse by declaring Beast Wars was "too continuity heavy". Here's the quote that pissed off a lot of readers and long-time fans.
We were looking for the big death in Infinite Crisis – the big moment. We were looking for something that would have equal import and merit and weight in this story. One of the things I’ve been proven wrong about is that I had felt that Dick Grayson was a redundant character – Tim Drake had filled his role as Robin, he would never be Batman, so where could he go?
...My big fear was that Nightwing would get older than Batman. The thought was that if we removed Dick form the equation that would allow Bruce Wayne to stand alone as Batman, and to firmly establish Tim Drake as Robin...
Fool, please! How is Dick redundant?! It almost sounds like he resents Marv Wolfman and George Perez (with Gerry Conway and Len Wein) for take the former boy wonder out of the famous red, green and yellow.
Before anyone trys to point out the Chuck Dixon era of Nightwing to back-up this quote and claim he was Batman-Lite, let me make it known that I've read all of Dixon's run on the title (plus Nightwing: Year One) and I see no evidence of the claim in question whatsoever! If anything Tim Drake is far more "Batman-Lite" even in the dreadful Red Robin phase (I'll vent my spleen on that later on). Bruce stood alone as Batman before Dick and after and Tim was firmly established well before the oaf ever got hired.
I don't see how the idea would benefit Batman other than to turn readers away and make DC look awful. Just because Marvel offed Buckey (long before the Winter Soldier identity came about) doesn't DC has to do the same to Nightwing. Thankfully, Geoff Johns (before he turned rogue with Barry Allen's return) and Phil Jimenez disuaded the man from going through with it. But it doesn't excuse the many decisions that makes me wonder DC would've been better off not hiring and Didio still doing television projects (like those soaps he once worked on in the early 80s).
Once the bloodfest that was IC ended, then came the massive headache that was One Year Later where things would go from bad to just god awful. Most notable the character assasination of Cassandra Cain at the pen of Adam Beechan throughout his run on Robin by turning her into something very unrecognizable. Its still a very sore subject to the many readers who adored the character as Batgirl while a pleasent one to the others who've long desire Barbara Gordon to walk again (as it happened this September) to take back the mantle and to give the finger to all who prefered her as Oracle. Mind you, it's a neverending civil war on many message boards on the subject as well as the many threads that debate the new 52 title Babs is headlining (Comic Book Resources forums being the worst offender in readers with bad tastes). Adding insult to injury, it would take until late '08-'09 for the Cass I, like others, fell head over heels over, to come back in the form of Batman & the Outsiders (albeit briefly).
Another change that would severe as the most embarassing of OYL is the paternity of Selina Kyle's daughter Helena. Just as many assumed the child was Batman's (coincide with the Earth-2 Helena ) in #62 saw a huge WTF in the form of the child's father turning out to be the son of DC's legendary detective Slam Bradley. The idea would break Will Pfiefer's run to a point where the Catwoman series lost readers. It seem clear head on that the Didio regime didn't want Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle together so what better way to insult the shippers by bringing back Talia and a unwelcomed offspring.
As you're reading this you can tell I have no love for Damian Al Ghul (I refuse to call him a Wayne). NO. LOVE. AT. ALL. I can't stand the character's presence anymore than I can't stand the character of River Song from the recent seasons of Doctor Who (even comparing her to Bernice Summerfield pisses me off to no end). He degrades everyone around him, tried to kill poor Tim Drake (who suffers the most from Damien's ongoing existance especially losing not only his father and Stephanie Brown but also his step-mom and his best friend, Superboy/Connor Kent) even was made Robin and still insult and harms other around him. If I wanted to see a child that throw insults and gets away with it, I'll watch The Simpsons, Family Guy, or the new Fox animated comedy Allen Gregory; not in the pages of Batman! Plus, it tarnishes Talia. She's been far too psycho mom under Morrison and others to a point where i welcome the bitch to the nearest refrigerator. Even her appearance in Gotham City Sirens was just as damaging.
It baffles me that some folk like him as Robin yet still hate on Jason Todd. 24 years ago, a dark Robin didn't gel well in a decade that wasn't a good time to be a young new character like Jason (or Adric in the John Nathan-Turner era of Who for that matter) yet its ok now especially when it Grant Morrison at the helm. Regarding Damian, its three decades too late. As for paternity, for all the times Talia became batshit nuts after being killed and resurrected multiple time by Nyssa, for all I know the kid's REAL father could be one of the dudes from the League of Assassins or....Jason's?...
That's right! I went there
NEXT: R.I.P, "Reborn", and the BS included
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