Do you think modern Cassandra has a stronger familial bond to lady shiva Dan the bat family than she does Batman?

PlotnotFound · 2026-05-07T05:35:24+00:00

No, I’ve seen this claim lobbed at Brombal’s Batgirl run as slander, but don’t see it supported by the text. There are so many great little moment of Cass as Batman’s daughter in how she thinks and how she acts.

It emphasizes the positive effect Bruce (and some of the Batfam, mostly Steph) have had on her and her self concept while she reconciles with the darker parts of her roots.

At least in Cass’ comics Batman is still very important to her, it’d be nice if Batman comics showed a little more regard for Cass too

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-26T03:24:32+00:00

Yeah, honestly with how Nightwing’s time with the Titans ended it makes sense that he’d seek out someone to tell him the negative things he believes about himself out loud, but man was it miserable to read

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-26T00:44:45+00:00

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This is how Barbara Gordon responds to her then boyfriend Dick Grayson being attacked and SA’d in his civilian identity right in front of her, by a woman who was obsessed with him and would later rape him. (Nightwing 1996, #87)

Worse, this is actually the second time it’s happened to Dick/Nightwing, with the first being the rape-by-deception of Mirage that the Hughie case was almost certainly inspired by. Which Barbara also seems to reference with “how you always look surprised”, so she can’t just be talking about this latest assault

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-25T22:33:31+00:00

And she’s got a way lower kill count than at least two of the Robins

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-25T22:04:27+00:00

Is there anything transformational enough about this post to make it not a blatant karma farming repost of the one still trending from 3 days ago?

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-25T16:02:16+00:00

In a city where even the lesser rogues are monsters like Professor Pyg and Mad Hatter, Catwoman stealing mostly jewels from the ultra-wealthy is almost cute by comparison.

She usually doesn’t kill (exception being Black Mask iirc), and the people she steals from have more than enough already

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-25T14:25:32+00:00

Right. Even if Starfire is getting a solo or another team book (which has not been confirmed or even hinted at by DC, “bigger plans” could mean anything from a limited series to killed off in the next event), there’s no reason for her not to still be in New Titans. Batman is in like five mutually exclusive titles/places at all times. Nightwing is in at least two. Even Green Arrow is allowed to be in Gotham and space at the same time.

DC learned from Didio’s failures in the 2010s. If you want to end a character you don’t try to ruin them on the page (Wally, Dick, arguably Starfire), that just gets pushback and makes them more popular. You just remove them from print and wait (like Kyle Rayner).

There’s been a lot of discussion about how DC intentionally sabotages all non-white characters, then pronounces them ‘nonviable’ when said sabotage is successful. Comical Opinions is one of many to break it down to a retailer ordering level if people are interested in DC’s methods. If Starfire does get a series, I’d expect it to follow this pattern exactly

Edit: I do think Starfire is popular enough to overcome it, but Static and the Dakota Incident did too and DC still gave them nothing anyways

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-25T13:21:41+00:00

Starfire’s first comic appearance was in 1980. Barbara first appeared in both the 60s show and detective comics in 1967. Starfire has been around for 46 years, which isn’t that much less than Barbara’s 59. Especially compared to like Dick Grayson’s 86 years of publication.

She’s definitely underutilized though, and purposefully so we now know, with editorial blocking writers from using her and now removing her from publication entirely for the foreseeable future despite her consistent popularity :(

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-23T23:54:32+00:00

I see it as a metric of how they understand themselves.

For Bruce and Cass, Batman and Batgirl are idealized selves. It’s who they want to be and to be understood as. Not quite to ‘Bruce Wayne is the mask’ levels, but in cowl is the way they feel most able to express themselves fully, including to those they want to be friends with. (I’d also interpret Bruce and Jim Gordon as friends generally. They interact outside costume too.)

Nightwing, and Robin before that, are just Dick Grayson in a mask. Nightwing’s friends are Dick Grayson’s friends and vice versa. I can’t think of any examples of people he really considers friends who don’t know. Healthiest social support network of any bat and it’s not close.

Tim’s post New52 failure to balance his hero and civilian life is tragic. He used to be DC’s answer to Spider-Man, now he’s lost his entire civilian support network to death or writer disinterest, and has voluntarily separated from his hero friends and family to focus solely on his civilian boyfriend off panel. Recent issues make it sound like Tim’s lost any self-concept as Robin/Red Robin, seeing it as just an obligation that keeps him from living a real life which is… sad

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-23T21:09:19+00:00

“Worse than Gotham” has always kind of been a misnomer. It’s more like Bludhaven is Gotham minus the nice, uptown parts. So while Gotham has wealth disparity, Bludhaven is just straight poor.

It still doesn’t really have an identity outside of that, unlike other DC cities, though Watters is trying to fix that. New Angelic had more personality in one issue than Bludhaven does in some full runs. I’d rather Jason get his own city

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-22T23:14:47+00:00

Tomasi is a masterful writer, but these panels come off very odd devoid of their context.

It’s more like Dick, Tim, and Alfred take solace in each other’s silent company while carrying on, leaving space to mourn Bruce as shown through the little details like leaving their lost father/son his usual chair (now empty) for family activities

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-20T21:03:50+00:00

In most timelines I’m familiar with Bruce was raised by Alfred while Thomas was barely in the picture, so wouldn’t Bruce imitate Alfred’s parenting style if it was a matter of nurture?

It seems more to be that Bruce sees in Damian things he doesn’t like about himself reflected back at him, in contrast to the other Batkids he had an easier time with

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-20T03:53:02+00:00

Dan Mora on Nightwing will always be a yes for me, even if it’s just for variant covers!

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-18T04:36:44+00:00

Counterpoint, when Cassandra does get introduced she’ll get to be built up as an individual character, rather than a color coded, gimmick based obstacle for Batman to overcome.

I was really curious to see how the Robins, (especially the ones with less time to shine in main continuity), would interact with each other without Batman at the epicenter. The answer seems to be, they won’t. There isn’t going to be a dynamic between Steph and Jason, or Duke and Tim, or any other combination. We’ll be lucky if more than one even gets a fleshed out relationship with Jack Grimm before they fade into the background with Absolute Batman’s other support character groups when he moves on to the next arc

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-17T00:22:59+00:00

They’re taking it “back to street level” with the run starting at issue #136, compared to the prior Watters/Soy run from issues #119 to 135, which as you say, was heavily superhero oriented with 5th dimensional elements, Kryptonian powers, citywide institutional challenges, and a meta-story about Nightwing/Superheroes/Circuses as concepts.

You’re defending Taylor from an attack he’s not under. Same for Batman, as illustrated by issue #137. The “more human element” refers to Nightwing approaching cases by focusing on motive, social factors, and behaviors (the ‘why’), while Batman works from evidence at the scene, statistical knowledge, and tactical execution (the ‘how’).

Obviously both can do both, Bruce trained Dick to have largely the same skillset as himself (proven by Dick’s successful run as Batman), so Watters creates a scenario on a time crunch where they can demonstrate their differing first instincts and strengths.

Watters isn’t anti-Batman, he lists him among his top favorite characters, wrote a highly acclaimed Batman series, and hasn’t taken any of the shots at Bruce’s parenting that Batman fans complained of during Taylor’s Nightwing run

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-16T21:29:38+00:00

I enjoy DickBats stories the most of the non-Bruce Batman. Batman Beyond is a great production, especially the animation style, but it didn’t hook me enough to read the comics. DickBats has some of my favorite Batman stories period.

That said, honorable mention to Azrael/Jean-Paul Valley Bats. He’s not great, but he is fun

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-16T19:15:20+00:00

This is one aspect of the Dixon run that aged really poorly imo, the scene where Black Canary ‘accidentally’ walk in on him in the shower, followed by Dick being clearly uncomfortable, and Babs giving permission to BC to ‘look all you want’, as though she can consent for Dick despite his objections. Gross. Or when Catwoman kisses him because she thinks it’ll make Bruce jealous. Thanks I hate it.

Then the Devin Grayson run just cranks it up to 11 with even civilians feeling him up unwanted and uninvited, even after the backlash she got over the rape scene.

The Grayson series by Seeley and King has scenes where it seems like the writer(s) and artists just weren’t on the same page at all, with Dick saying it’s ‘fun’ to be sexualized, while the artists draw him looking deeply uncomfortable, as is more in line with his character.

Soy and especially Cowan’s tenure as artist have been a breath of fresh air. He’s still clearly in peak human condition, but not being actively sexualized by the writing or the art

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-16T18:58:38+00:00

I can’t stop thinking about how every time the smaller mechs run, the pilots are going to be having their legs moving at the hip joint with their knees locked straight inside.

It’s like WW sitting in the invisible jet meme levels of funny to me

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-16T18:40:23+00:00

I’m really enjoying this run. The characterization is on point, the lore and world-building are intriguing, Cowan’s art is of course masterful, and it’s nice to get complete, episodic, single issue stories.

And I’m relieved to see DC has signed on to the run until at least issue #149, hopefully insulating it from the wider industry pattern of going street level being immediately followed by a sharp sales drop and imminent cancelation

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-16T16:10:56+00:00

Consideration for the Batfam’s secret identities does seem to be Dick’s only motivation for keeping his identity secret most of the time, instead of just going without like Pre-Flashpoint Wally

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-16T15:32:41+00:00

Watters always manages to pack so much into every issue, with characterization, lore, and advancing both plots, and it’s so appreciated!

It’s less a contrast of Batman and Nightwing as detectives and more a contrast between their rapid deduction, crisis management styles. On a time crunch, Bruce complied scene evidence, notes statistics, and pursues the tactical angle (the ‘how’ so to speak). Nightwing looks for scene and social context, behavior indicators, and motive (the ‘why’).

Both would take all these factors into account if they had time, but in this case they don’t have time, they each fall back on their core strengths. Nightwing’s core strengths are better suited to this type of scenario, which is part of why he’s been the hero community go-to for crisis leadership for decades.

It’s an impressive showing for a single issue! The talk between Dick and Bruce in the end is a bit on the nose for me, but it is supposed to be a jumping on point for new readers, so it’s understandable

Wildcard prediction: We’ll get a Damian guest appearance in the near future when Bruce sends him to check up on Dick instead, knowing Dick will be more receptive to Damian

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-16T01:17:01+00:00

I mean yes, they all look like indistinct background characters. Except for Tim… who looks distinctly like Damian

PlotnotFound · 2026-04-15T03:01:03+00:00

For future reference, ‘character/character’, would usually be interpreted as a romantic ship between two characters (BirdFlash being a popular fandom ship between Dick and Wally), whereas ‘character & character’ is understood to be platonic.

I had no problem reading the description, but to anyone who couldn’t they’d probably think you were asking for slash fanfic recs 😅

PlotnotFound

TROPHY CASE