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There was another Dick/Tim intense discussion in the Batbooks last week, and I continue to like the way they're dealing with Bruce's death in the Bat-family, with Tim being the one member not coping. But it got me thinking about how the writers now seem to really be ready to focus the family around mourning--and understand that death is not just death itself but all loss and change and how it’s dealt with.
In some ways it starts with Robin, though somewhat by accident. Robin was introduced for a lot of straightforward, maybe even superficial reasons. He's a pov character for young readers, someone for Batman to talk to. He's a contrast of bright colors and humor to the darker, grimmer Batman. But as the comics changed and dealt with the characters more deeply, they started to explore the origin story and how it's shaped Bruce's life. A lot of people nowadays like to dismiss Bruce as just needing therapy. Being Batman might be cool, but it's also extreme and therefore not normal, so bad.
Because Robin is a kid who has grown over the years (even while they try to desperately keep Bruce under 40), he brings the passing of time to the series as soon as he begins to age. Death isn't just about no longer breathing, it's the "nothing gold can stay,Ponyboy" principle. The little boy Bruce brought home no longer exists. He became a teenager, graduated high school, went to college etc. (In the 60s he also even became a representative of the changing times and generation gap.)
As that's happened the writers have come to see that Dick doesn't just represent light-heartedness in the Bat-family. He's the character unafraid of death. Not in terms of being a daredevil--that can sometimes be a way of dealing with a fear of death. It's that Dick's the one who accepts that life is change and everyone grows old and dies. Where Bruce learned from his parents' death that death exists and must be fought as best it can, Dick learned that death doesn't mean the end of life or love. What with all the dead people currently coming back as black lanterns, the writers have had a lot of opportunities to remind us that Dick feels that way. He's the pov that the dead live in our memories-and they shouldn't live anywhere else.
Tim, otoh, has always been a lot like Bruce, and he’s become more likely to rail and fight against Death. Bruce does it with ritual and freezing moments of death in amber, or wiping out crime to keep more people from dying. Tim attempts cloning and resurrection and proving Bruce isn't really dead he's just lost. Tim is correct in thinking Bruce is alive, but I like the way the writers have made clear that this isn't just about thinking Bruce is alive. It's about making things go back to the way they were and keeping them from changing. He will find Bruce, and then he will be Robin again. So even if he finds him, he'll probably still be wrong, because even if he proves Bruce isn't dead now, he hasn't stopped everyone's progression towards death. He’s outgrown Robin whether he wants that or not.
Which brings me to one of my least favorite Batman lines ever. Least favorite because it's always quoted as proof that Tim is the best Robin, or Bruce thinks (and Bruce should know!) that Tim is the best Robin. But here's the line:
Bruce: "Dick was in it for the thrills; I suspect that's why he outgrew it. Jason saw it as a game - that's what probably got him killed. But Tim...the boy actually wants to become the world's greatest detective."
Okay, what's he saying there? He's focusing on the moments Dick and Jason stopped being Robin. Really, there's only two possible outcomes for a successful Robin: they either grow up or they die. Bruce's line here is like a festival of magical thinking and a desperate need to believe that death can be avoided with the right attitude. Jason didn't die because he thought of Robin as a game, he died because he got beaten to death with a crowbar and blown up. That's a hazard of the job he was in, and Bruce had a lot of responsibility for that death. Here he's making it Jason's fault--a fault of character. As if he could have survived it. As if there's a way around it.
Dick didn't outgrow Robin because he was in it for the thrills, he outgrew it because he grew up. Even in versions where Bruce fired him, he did it to try to stop losing him. It didn't work, of course. Dick reacted by leaving, establishing himself as an adult even more and demanding Bruce recognize him as such. Which just really clarifies the role of Dick in the family. As a child he forced Bruce to build a new family and focus on it instead of the one that was gone even though a new family meant a new risk for loss. As an adult he's continued to keep trying to yank Bruce's attention onto his relationships with them when he retreats for protection. When his parents return to life as zombies and announce the Flying Graysons are together again, Dick doesn't miss a beat: Not for long! No conflict there. His parents are dead and they're going to stay that way.
So what is Bruce's hope for Tim in that quote? It's a bit sad. Maybe this one won't grow up and die! He'll take it serious enough that he'll never leave me! I’ll find a third option! The real potential is that Tim is about 14 there, so he hasn't grown up yet.
In recent years Tim has become an equally strong voice for the anti-death pov. His argument isn't completely the same as Bruce's, but those differences shed some light on things motivating Bruce too. It was to Tim that Dick made this argument to at the Lazarus Pit--accept that everybody dies. That's why I think it's actually pretty fascinating that one of Dick's first acts as Batman was to kick Tim out of the nest. He didn't fire him like Bruce fired Dick. He promoted him against his will, said he was now one of the grownups, no longer the boy wonder. And Tim freaked out. People often point out that he's the most independent of the Robins, and he was, but he still counted on Bruce as his guardian, still saw himself as under Bruce's wing. Tim’s secret is out when you see how, independent as he allegedly was, he needs to be Robin. Bruce might have continued to try to hang on to him, but Dick went in there and made him fly. At his first chance he did what Bruce might have been unable to do.
I don't think the story's taking Dick's side here, exactly. It’s not saying that Bruce and Tim are neurotic and everyone should just move forward. It's not taking that "Batman just needs to get over it" position imo. It's going for the balance. Dick's pov keeps Bruce from being completely stuck in the past and so basically dead himself, but Bruce's pov gives that life purpose and context. If Bruce was Batman to honor the memory of his father, Dick is Batman to honor the memory of his father. And it's not like Dick's pov is without its own neediness. He wants people focused on him, not on the dead people. And he wants a live family.
But if Dick didn't also look back and hold on to his parents, he wouldn't be healthy either. It would be a denial of death instead of an acceptance. By having the two things together, you get a healthy balance.
Or in other words, you get Alfred.
In some ways it starts with Robin, though somewhat by accident. Robin was introduced for a lot of straightforward, maybe even superficial reasons. He's a pov character for young readers, someone for Batman to talk to. He's a contrast of bright colors and humor to the darker, grimmer Batman. But as the comics changed and dealt with the characters more deeply, they started to explore the origin story and how it's shaped Bruce's life. A lot of people nowadays like to dismiss Bruce as just needing therapy. Being Batman might be cool, but it's also extreme and therefore not normal, so bad.
Because Robin is a kid who has grown over the years (even while they try to desperately keep Bruce under 40), he brings the passing of time to the series as soon as he begins to age. Death isn't just about no longer breathing, it's the "nothing gold can stay,
As that's happened the writers have come to see that Dick doesn't just represent light-heartedness in the Bat-family. He's the character unafraid of death. Not in terms of being a daredevil--that can sometimes be a way of dealing with a fear of death. It's that Dick's the one who accepts that life is change and everyone grows old and dies. Where Bruce learned from his parents' death that death exists and must be fought as best it can, Dick learned that death doesn't mean the end of life or love. What with all the dead people currently coming back as black lanterns, the writers have had a lot of opportunities to remind us that Dick feels that way. He's the pov that the dead live in our memories-and they shouldn't live anywhere else.
Tim, otoh, has always been a lot like Bruce, and he’s become more likely to rail and fight against Death. Bruce does it with ritual and freezing moments of death in amber, or wiping out crime to keep more people from dying. Tim attempts cloning and resurrection and proving Bruce isn't really dead he's just lost. Tim is correct in thinking Bruce is alive, but I like the way the writers have made clear that this isn't just about thinking Bruce is alive. It's about making things go back to the way they were and keeping them from changing. He will find Bruce, and then he will be Robin again. So even if he finds him, he'll probably still be wrong, because even if he proves Bruce isn't dead now, he hasn't stopped everyone's progression towards death. He’s outgrown Robin whether he wants that or not.
Which brings me to one of my least favorite Batman lines ever. Least favorite because it's always quoted as proof that Tim is the best Robin, or Bruce thinks (and Bruce should know!) that Tim is the best Robin. But here's the line:
Bruce: "Dick was in it for the thrills; I suspect that's why he outgrew it. Jason saw it as a game - that's what probably got him killed. But Tim...the boy actually wants to become the world's greatest detective."
Okay, what's he saying there? He's focusing on the moments Dick and Jason stopped being Robin. Really, there's only two possible outcomes for a successful Robin: they either grow up or they die. Bruce's line here is like a festival of magical thinking and a desperate need to believe that death can be avoided with the right attitude. Jason didn't die because he thought of Robin as a game, he died because he got beaten to death with a crowbar and blown up. That's a hazard of the job he was in, and Bruce had a lot of responsibility for that death. Here he's making it Jason's fault--a fault of character. As if he could have survived it. As if there's a way around it.
Dick didn't outgrow Robin because he was in it for the thrills, he outgrew it because he grew up. Even in versions where Bruce fired him, he did it to try to stop losing him. It didn't work, of course. Dick reacted by leaving, establishing himself as an adult even more and demanding Bruce recognize him as such. Which just really clarifies the role of Dick in the family. As a child he forced Bruce to build a new family and focus on it instead of the one that was gone even though a new family meant a new risk for loss. As an adult he's continued to keep trying to yank Bruce's attention onto his relationships with them when he retreats for protection. When his parents return to life as zombies and announce the Flying Graysons are together again, Dick doesn't miss a beat: Not for long! No conflict there. His parents are dead and they're going to stay that way.
So what is Bruce's hope for Tim in that quote? It's a bit sad. Maybe this one won't grow up and die! He'll take it serious enough that he'll never leave me! I’ll find a third option! The real potential is that Tim is about 14 there, so he hasn't grown up yet.
In recent years Tim has become an equally strong voice for the anti-death pov. His argument isn't completely the same as Bruce's, but those differences shed some light on things motivating Bruce too. It was to Tim that Dick made this argument to at the Lazarus Pit--accept that everybody dies. That's why I think it's actually pretty fascinating that one of Dick's first acts as Batman was to kick Tim out of the nest. He didn't fire him like Bruce fired Dick. He promoted him against his will, said he was now one of the grownups, no longer the boy wonder. And Tim freaked out. People often point out that he's the most independent of the Robins, and he was, but he still counted on Bruce as his guardian, still saw himself as under Bruce's wing. Tim’s secret is out when you see how, independent as he allegedly was, he needs to be Robin. Bruce might have continued to try to hang on to him, but Dick went in there and made him fly. At his first chance he did what Bruce might have been unable to do.
I don't think the story's taking Dick's side here, exactly. It’s not saying that Bruce and Tim are neurotic and everyone should just move forward. It's not taking that "Batman just needs to get over it" position imo. It's going for the balance. Dick's pov keeps Bruce from being completely stuck in the past and so basically dead himself, but Bruce's pov gives that life purpose and context. If Bruce was Batman to honor the memory of his father, Dick is Batman to honor the memory of his father. And it's not like Dick's pov is without its own neediness. He wants people focused on him, not on the dead people. And he wants a live family.
But if Dick didn't also look back and hold on to his parents, he wouldn't be healthy either. It would be a denial of death instead of an acceptance. By having the two things together, you get a healthy balance.
Or in other words, you get Alfred.
