"Batman #689" Reviewed!

"@G-Man said:

" @Babs said:

" @G-Man said:

" I don't understand why everyone gives Dick a hard time.  Bruce basically was Dick's father.  He's dealing with the fact that his father/best friend is dead.  

Actually, I'm pretty sure Damien is the one crying about his Dad being dead. Dick has been pretty passive about his father's death since Battle For The Cowl. He's too busy laughing. 
 
@G-Man said:

 So wait, he's damaged but he's happy about being Batman? Okay, that's a serious case of crazy if I ever saw one. "

Exactly.  He's having a blast but feels like crap because of it.  He grew up admiring Batman.  Batman was the ultimate badass.  Now he gets to be him.  It's a dream come true in some ways but it comes with the fact that his 'father' had to die in order for it to happen.  I think it's great writing of the human psyche.  Again, if he just accepted it, he'd literally be a Dick because of that. "

Wait, what? Nightwing spent all of his run under Chuck Dixon (Nightwing year one) (and later during Devyn Grayson's Nightwing run, following Infinite Crisis) going to SUPERMAN for GUIDANCE because he couldn't STAND BRUCE. He never wanted to be like Bruce, and hated being compared to his mentor which is why he went to Bludhaven; to get away from Bruce and to get out of Batman's shadow. They rarely saw eye to eye; particularly around the time of R.I.P. I don't know where Dick has said he wanted to be like Bruce, but I can name countless occasions when the character has tried to get as far away from his father as possible.  He may have looked up to him, but he never wanted to be him.  Dan Didio should have killed him off when he had the chance. "

@Decept-O: 
 
What’s wrong with Damien???? He's such a great creepy character like if Bruce would have gone down the wrong road. I think that’s ultimately his purpose to show Bruce what he could have turned into. I really hope Damien and Jason team up, can you imagine that bloodbath?

I'm sorry but no matter how much  Dick Grayson tries, he just isn't Batman.  But that's the point, I guess.

I hope, at the end of this series, Dick Grayson dies a slow and painful death and then Two-Face takes up the mantle.  That's the only ending that could possibly make me like Batman again.  I'm so sick of Dick I just want to throw my comics at the wall after I'm done reading them. 
 
Even Penguin would be a better Batman.

   I really like Dick Grayson, but I agree that he just isn’t Batman. In 689 in endangered innocent lives by putting on a show and he let Two Face see his true self. He's just not Batman    

" I hope, at the end of this series, Dick Grayson dies a slow and painful death and then Two-Face takes up the mantle.  That's the only ending that could possibly make me like Batman again.  I'm so sick of Dick I just want to throw my comics at the wall after I'm done reading them.  Even Penguin would be a better Batman. "

What’s with all the Dick Grayson Hatred? Please explain  
 
Bruce Wayne loves Dick Grayson why can't you?

" @Lissbirds said:

" I hope, at the end of this series, Dick Grayson dies a slow and painful death and then Two-Face takes up the mantle.  That's the only ending that could possibly make me like Batman again.  I'm so sick of Dick I just want to throw my comics at the wall after I'm done reading them.  Even Penguin would be a better Batman. "

That would ruin Batman for a lot of people. "

" @Mutant X said:

" @Lissbirds said:

" I hope, at the end of this series, Dick Grayson dies a slow and painful death and then Two-Face takes up the mantle.  That's the only ending that could possibly make me like Batman again.  I'm so sick of Dick I just want to throw my comics at the wall after I'm done reading them.  Even Penguin would be a better Batman. "

That would ruin Batman for a lot of people. "

At least it would be more interesting than the current offering. "

   The creepy thing is, that photo was ridiculously easy to find I just typed in batman and robin    

" @Lissbirds said:

" @Mutant X said:

" @Lissbirds said:

" I hope, at the end of this series, Dick Grayson dies a slow and painful death and then Two-Face takes up the mantle.  That's the only ending that could possibly make me like Batman again.  I'm so sick of Dick I just want to throw my comics at the wall after I'm done reading them.  Even Penguin would be a better Batman. "

That would ruin Batman for a lot of people. "

At least it would be more interesting than the current offering. "

It wouldn't be Batman then. It'd just be Two-Face in a Batman costume. It's different when Dick's in the costume because he knows what it symbolizes. Two-Face becoming Batman might be a little more interesting, but it'd be stupid in the long run. Maybe for an issue would be a cool twist, but I think that people should try to understand why Dick is feeling the way he is, and maybe they'd be a bit more interested. "

"    The creepy thing is, that photo was ridiculously easy to find I just typed in batman and robin     "

"

   
 

What’s with all the Dick Grayson Hatred? Please explain  
 
Bruce Wayne loves Dick Grayson why can't you?

"

Dick smiling and parading around as Batman best exemplify why he will never be Batman because his mindset is not dark enough to instinctively illustrate the power of fear. It's not the cape and cowl that creates Batman, it's the psychological prowess that conveys that cape and cowl as a symbol of fear. My point consist of the fact that it's imperative that fear resonates the knight in order for there to be a dark knight. The problem is, Dick is inherently not a dark character. Dick was the kid that counterbalanced Bruce's darkness by being radiant and extravagant in the way he approached crime, essentially he was created to be the polar opposite of Batman. So how can the kid who was meant to be the polar opposite of Batman be Batman? He can't. That's why Dick hasn't been able to make the transition from Nightwing to Batman smoothly because the role of Nightwing goes hand in hand with his persona, he never had to play the role of Nightwing, he was Nightwing. 
 
Dick never had to worry about what someone else would do as Nightwing because everything fit him like a glove.  I think Dick was better off being Nightwing because that's what he is being when he is wearing the cape and cowl of Batman. In comics, some superheroes can be replaced with others but not with Batman. Very few superheroes are as connected to their masks as Bruce Wayne was as Batman, the man made it his life's work to be the achilles heel to every criminal known to man and he did by taking the greatest weapon ever utilized by villains to do it and that was fear.

" @Dr. ? man: Man,you speak with total wisdom. "

"
I really hope Damien and Jason team up, can you imagine that bloodbath?"

@spectaculous:
Multiple people writing Batman can make him consistently a  badass and ONE character, but when multiple people are writing Dick Grayson it seem he's torn into like three different people. It really was a mistake not having Morrrison on the Batman title he basically is doing the superior story in Batman and Robin which is sooooo good

" It seems like they're turning Dick-Batman into a spider-man like character where he fights crime as a game "

 I don't agree with a lot of people here. I think that it's a great idea that he's smiling in the cowl because they are using it for the story. This is about Dick transitioning into the role, if they would have just made him dark and scary all of a sudden then it would have been predictable and would have just been like Bruce never left. He's still getting used to the role and so for the time being he is still Nightwing just in a different costume. If you read Blackest Night: Batman, then you see how Dick has transitioned into his role but is still being himself. Yet if you read Streets of Gotham you will see how they completely take all of the uniqueness and change in Dick as Batman and push it away. The reason for that is that he is exactly like Bruce in every way. The same with Damian, other than the chess match with Hush, Damian acts exactly like Drake.  
Speaking of Drake, he is not ready to be Batman nor should he be. He is way too much like Bruce but all the whinier . Dick was right in giving Damian the R, Tim was not his protege he was his equal but Tim totally spazzed out and left to search for Bruce, who is still alive apparently. I say apparently because even Tim doesn't really know that he's alive. He just came to that conclusion after his tantrum and went with it. People are complaining that Dick keeps comparing himself to Bruce and smiling yet Tim is just traveling to Europe's top vacation spots with no proof nor explanation as to why Bruce could be there. Would he make a great Batman, Yes but Dick will be even better and proof of that is in Blackest Night: Batman. In that he is Batman and doesn't compare himself to Bruce at all and instead takes control without turning his back on his morals or his character. To create something great, you have to build up to it and that is what's going on with Dick becoming Batman.
 

@Babs

" @Tmul501 said:
I'm not buying that. Red Robin is SO much better than "Batman" right now. "

• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• Tim whines
  
• Flashback to Tim shunning his friends and anyone that wants to help him
• An assassin dies
• The three stooges show up
  

• Three stooges show up
• Tim shuns friends and family
• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• an assassin dies
• Tim shuns friends and family (again)
• Tim whines

• Tim whines
  
• Tim talks about not being a hero and fights thugs, oh I'm sorry he fights some hairy guy
• Tim whines and starts to shun his friend....
• The three stooges show up
• an assassin dies
• .....more whining and wait, wait.......
• he finishes fighting the hairy guy
• ....There we go, Tim shuns his friend
• The three stooges show up
  

• Read plot synopsis 1-3

" I don't agree with a lot of people here. I think that it's a great idea that he's smiling in the cowl because they are using it for the story. This is about Dick transitioning into the role, if they would have just made him dark and scary all of a sudden then it would have been predictable and would have just been like Bruce never left. He's still getting used to the role and so for the time being he is still Nightwing just in a different costume. If you read Blackest Night: Batman, then you see how Dick has transitioned into his role but is still being himself. Yet if you read Streets of Gotham you will see how they completely take all of the uniqueness and change in Dick as Batman and push it away. The reason for that is that he is exactly like Bruce in every way. The same with Damian, other than the chess match with Hush, Damian acts exactly like Drake.  
Speaking of Drake, he is not ready to be Batman nor should he be. He is way too much like Bruce but all the whinier . Dick was right in giving Damian the R, Tim was not his protege he was his equal but Tim totally spazzed out and left to search for Bruce, who is still alive apparently. I say apparently because even Tim doesn't really know that he's alive. He just came to that conclusion after his tantrum and went with it. People are complaining that Dick keeps comparing himself to Bruce and smiling yet Tim is just traveling to Europe's top vacation spots with no proof nor explanation as to why Bruce could be there. Would he make a great Batman, Yes but Dick will be even better and proof of that is in Blackest Night: Batman. In that he is Batman and doesn't compare himself to Bruce at all and instead takes control without turning his back on his morals or his character. To create something great, you have to build up to it and that is what's going on with Dick becoming Batman.
 

@Babs

said:

" @Tmul501 said:
I'm not buying that. Red Robin is SO much better than "Batman" right now. "

How is it SO much better? Tell me what has been going on that makes it SO great. All that happens every issue is: 
Red Robin #1, plot synopsis

• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• Tim whines
  
• Flashback to Tim shunning his friends and anyone that wants to help him
• An assassin dies
• The three stooges show up
  

 
Red Robin #2, plot synopsis

• Three stooges show up
• Tim shuns friends and family
• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• an assassin dies
• Tim shuns friends and family (again)
• Tim whines

 
Red Robin #3, plot synopsis

• Tim whines
  
• Tim talks about not being a hero and fights thugs, oh I'm sorry he fights some hairy guy
• Tim whines and starts to shun his friend....
• The three stooges show up
• an assassin dies
• .....more whining and wait, wait.......
• he finishes fighting the hairy guy
• ....There we go, Tim shuns his friend
• The three stooges show up
  

  
Red Robin #4, preview

• Read plot synopsis 1-3

  That's basically it minus Tim's perceived feelings of self importance. You are being way too critical on the new Batman, he hasn't even finished one story arc yet and you're acting like it he's been in the cowl for a year. "

@burr787:

I think red Robin is better because something is actually happening Tim is actively searching for Bruce. What’s been happening in the last three issues of Batman...................nothing .More things happen in one issue blackest night batman than in all three issues of the regular Batman series. There isn’t even a plot just Dick trying to be batman which was one issues worth of material. I just wish I was just Morrison writing Batman

@spectaculous:
I totally agree. With Batman the writing has to be consistent . I love Winick's first run on batman, I loved every issue so I know I’ll probably like it more as it progresses. I hope Jason Todd makes a move pretty soon

@burr787:

My thing is that the Dick dealing with Bruce’s death has been very repetitive. Don’t get me wrong Dick is one of my favorite characters in the DCU. I just feel that little aspect is being shown too much. Red Robin is all about Tim finding Bruce where as Batman has nothing to do with finding or dealing with Bruce’s death it’s supposed to be dealing with the aftermath of Batman’s Disappearance which I don’t feel it’s doing .I want Dick to be beating criminals senselessly and to be hunting down Black mask, Two face and the rest of the scum not laughing and cracking jokes  

"  I don't agree with a lot of people here. I think that it's a great idea that he's smiling in the cowl because they are using it for the story. This is about Dick transitioning into the role, if they would have just made him dark and scary all of a sudden then it would have been predictable and would have just been like Bruce never left. He's still getting used to the role and so for the time being he is still Nightwing just in a different costume. If you read Blackest Night: Batman, then you see how Dick has transitioned into his role but is still being himself. Yet if you read Streets of Gotham you will see how they completely take all of the uniqueness and change in Dick as Batman and push it away. The reason for that is that he is exactly like Bruce in every way. The same with Damian, other than the chess match with Hush, Damian acts exactly like Drake.  
Speaking of Drake, he is not ready to be Batman nor should he be. He is way too much like Bruce but all the whinier . Dick was right in giving Damian the R, Tim was not his protege he was his equal but Tim totally spazzed out and left to search for Bruce, who is still alive apparently. I say apparently because even Tim doesn't really know that he's alive. He just came to that conclusion after his tantrum and went with it. People are complaining that Dick keeps comparing himself to Bruce and smiling yet Tim is just traveling to Europe's top vacation spots with no proof nor explanation as to why Bruce could be there. Would he make a great Batman, Yes but Dick will be even better and proof of that is in Blackest Night: Batman. In that he is Batman and doesn't compare himself to Bruce at all and instead takes control without turning his back on his morals or his character. To create something great, you have to build up to it and that is what's going on with Dick becoming Batman.
 

@Babs

said:

" @Tmul501 said:
I'm not buying that. Red Robin is SO much better than "Batman" right now. "

How is it SO much better? Tell me what has been going on that makes it SO great. All that happens every issue is: 
Red Robin #1, plot synopsis

• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• Tim whines
  
• Flashback to Tim shunning his friends and anyone that wants to help him
• An assassin dies
• The three stooges show up
  

 
Red Robin #2, plot synopsis

• Three stooges show up
• Tim shuns friends and family
• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• an assassin dies
• Tim shuns friends and family (again)
• Tim whines

 
Red Robin #3, plot synopsis

• Tim whines
  
• Tim talks about not being a hero and fights thugs, oh I'm sorry he fights some hairy guy
• Tim whines and starts to shun his friend....
• The three stooges show up
• an assassin dies
• .....more whining and wait, wait.......
• he finishes fighting the hairy guy
• ....There we go, Tim shuns his friend
• The three stooges show up
  

  
Red Robin #4, preview

• Read plot synopsis 1-3

  That's basically it minus Tim's perceived feelings of self importance. You are being way too critical on the new Batman, he hasn't even finished one story arc yet and you're acting like it he's been in the cowl for a year. "

" Dick smiling and parading around as Batman best exemplify why he will never be Batman because his mindset is not dark enough to instinctively illustrate the power of fear. It's not the cape and cowl that creates Batman, it's the psychological prowess that conveys that cape and cowl as a symbol of fear. My point consist of the fact that it's imperative that fear resonates the knight in order for there to be a dark knight. The problem is, Dick is inherently not a dark character. Dick was the kid that counterbalanced Bruce's darkness by being radiant and extravagant in the way he approached crime, essentially he was created to be the polar opposite of Batman. So how can the kid who was meant to be the polar opposite of Batman be Batman? He can't. That's why Dick hasn't been able to make the transition from Nightwing to Batman smoothly because the role of Nightwing goes hand in hand with his persona, he never had to play the role of Nightwing, he was Nightwing.   Dick never had to worry about what someone else would do as Nightwing because everything fit him like a glove.  I think Dick was better off being Nightwing because that's what he is being when he is wearing the cape and cowl of Batman. In comics, some superheroes can be replaced with others but not with Batman. Very few superheroes are as connected to their masks as Bruce Wayne was as Batman, the man made it his life's work to be the achilles heel to every criminal known to man and he did by taking the greatest weapon ever utilized by villains to do it and that was fear. "

" @burr787 said:

"  I don't agree with a lot of people here. I think that it's a great idea that he's smiling in the cowl because they are using it for the story. This is about Dick transitioning into the role, if they would have just made him dark and scary all of a sudden then it would have been predictable and would have just been like Bruce never left. He's still getting used to the role and so for the time being he is still Nightwing just in a different costume. If you read Blackest Night: Batman, then you see how Dick has transitioned into his role but is still being himself. Yet if you read Streets of Gotham you will see how they completely take all of the uniqueness and change in Dick as Batman and push it away. The reason for that is that he is exactly like Bruce in every way. The same with Damian, other than the chess match with Hush, Damian acts exactly like Drake.  
Speaking of Drake, he is not ready to be Batman nor should he be. He is way too much like Bruce but all the whinier . Dick was right in giving Damian the R, Tim was not his protege he was his equal but Tim totally spazzed out and left to search for Bruce, who is still alive apparently. I say apparently because even Tim doesn't really know that he's alive. He just came to that conclusion after his tantrum and went with it. People are complaining that Dick keeps comparing himself to Bruce and smiling yet Tim is just traveling to Europe's top vacation spots with no proof nor explanation as to why Bruce could be there. Would he make a great Batman, Yes but Dick will be even better and proof of that is in Blackest Night: Batman. In that he is Batman and doesn't compare himself to Bruce at all and instead takes control without turning his back on his morals or his character. To create something great, you have to build up to it and that is what's going on with Dick becoming Batman.
 

@Babs

said:

" @Tmul501 said:
I'm not buying that. Red Robin is SO much better than "Batman" right now. "

How is it SO much better? Tell me what has been going on that makes it SO great. All that happens every issue is: 
Red Robin #1, plot synopsis

• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• Tim whines
  
• Flashback to Tim shunning his friends and anyone that wants to help him
• An assassin dies
• The three stooges show up
  

 
Red Robin #2, plot synopsis

• Three stooges show up
• Tim shuns friends and family
• Tim fights thugs and talks about how he's not a hero anymore
• an assassin dies
• Tim shuns friends and family (again)
• Tim whines

 
Red Robin #3, plot synopsis

• Tim whines
  
• Tim talks about not being a hero and fights thugs, oh I'm sorry he fights some hairy guy
• Tim whines and starts to shun his friend....
• The three stooges show up
• an assassin dies
• .....more whining and wait, wait.......
• he finishes fighting the hairy guy
• ....There we go, Tim shuns his friend
• The three stooges show up
  

  
Red Robin #4, preview

• Read plot synopsis 1-3

  That's basically it minus Tim's perceived feelings of self importance. You are being way too critical on the new Batman, he hasn't even finished one story arc yet and you're acting like it he's been in the cowl for a year. "

I like how you are trying to pass off your opinion as fact....in bullet points.  lol. "h

So you guys all liked the art? I didn't really like it that much. Granted, it's way better than the art in Red Robin, but still, I didn't like it too much. The other Bat-books (Batman and Robin, Detective Comics...) have waaay better artwork than this and frankly, it's kind of a let down, especially consitering that this is consitered the "backbone" of the Batman Reborn event. I think that DC should give their prize "backbone" book a more solid foundation in terms of artwork. I'll agree that the writing is pretty solid so that's not much of a problem. But l'm not crazy about the art here.

C-c-c-choppy editing...  ;)

I’ve really been considering picking up Batman, but I hate the thought of reading about a Batman that’s not Bruce. I mean, I know that no one stays dead in comics, but I’m really hoping it won’t be much longer. If I know it’s not a permanent thing, then I could sit back and enjoy it as sort of a case study. “How would Dick Grayson play as the Dark Knight?”   Plus...well...I don't like Nightwing. Yah...I said it. So is this worth picking up for a very stubborn "Bats has to be Bruce" Batman fan?
 
That Penguin is awesome though. I never cared much for the Penguin years back, but once that started writing him as basically DC's version of the Kingpin...he because epically cool. The criminal entrepreneur fits him so much better than the solo fighting villain he used to be.    

Great review, Babs.

dick dont need to be worried about the fightin and stuff bein like bruce. he just needs to stop smilin to me it seems like his enemies think he's goin soft. the whole point fo batman is for criminals to be afraid of him when dick start clownin like that they dont see him as somebody they should be afraid will go overboard one day and kill em they just see him as somebody they need to learn how to deal with. so dick should keep his smiles to himself and all the clownin.

" WOW, a lot of assemble editing on this one. "

" C-c-c-choppy editing...  ;) "

I SIGNED UP JUST TO TELL BABS HOW GORGEOUS SHE IS. MY HEART WAS PACING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE VIDEO. YOU CAN READ MY COMIC BOOKS ANYTIME. =]

" Dick needs to man up a lot more...i want to see him stop F*&king smiling in the suit. it pisses me off! "