superbatprime

Just did a quick bit of half assed research on Dick's name in RL.

Fathers name was John Grayson

http://www.houseofnames.com/grayson-family-crest

Scottish origin.

Mothers maiden name was Mary Elizabeth Loyd.

http://www.houseofnames.com/loyd-family-crest

Welsh origin.

:)

So there was a change of family name maybe (not uncommon when immigrants moved to America and circus folk to boot, so it's a distinct possibility)?

Or his grandmother on his mothers side was a gypsy?

Or... Well, anyway... I'm sure we could shoehorn a gypsy in there somewhere lol.

He may have gypsy blood, but unless his father or mother changed their family name it's a little diluted I suspect.

This is how my pitch goes...

I walk into the WB board room, I throw a copy of Kingdom Come on the table and I say "read it".

Ok, I'll have a crack at it.

For question one, why doesn't Bruce Wayne give away tons of money?

Uh.. he does, this is basic Bruce Wayne character trait 101, Bruce Wayne is an internationally renowned philanthropist and the sheer scale of his charitable work requires that both him and his company are worth billions, economics man, it's technical.

I don't see any reason he should beggar himself for charity and considering the amount of times the man has literally saved the entire planet... I'd say the money used to finance Batman is money well spent.

Also his own (refreshingly realist) answer to that question can be found in a conversation he has with Jezebel Jet at an art exhibition, I'll leave it to you to find it (you know the one, it's about 5 minutes before a bunch of ninja Manbats attack, "alarming twist").

Powered armour?

Dude... He's already wearing it.

Kevlar/nomex reinforced suit, plating underneath, cooling systems, the cowl contains AR HUD, communications suite and some nifty gas vents, the cape as we all know is flame-proof, weighted tips, ribbed and capable of gliding and slowing descent.

The gauntlets contain a wrist top computer (ref: TAS), sap knuckles, probably more but I'm not going through every book on the shelf here just what I can remember.

The entire suit contains enough of an electrical charge to knock a person out cold and obviously therefore can be used to power external devices.

And all that is before we even mention the belt, which I'm sure we all know is not just a bunch of pouches with gadgets in them.

All of the above is supported by many many Batman stories over the years, details may change but I assure you the message is clear...

Do not be so naive as to think this man is running around in just a spandex suit with a tool-belt around his waist.

But if you do think that, Bruce would be satisfied because that's exactly what he wants you to think.

As for why he trains youngsters instead of adults... Bruce never asked for nor sought out any of the Robins (with the debatable exception of Jason).

They all came to him through circumstances of fate (and writing) and after Jason died he vehemently resisted the idea of ever taking on another Robin, I'm sure you can remember the hell Tim went through to get accepted.

Dick wouldn't have become Robin if Bruce Wayne had not gone to the circus that night, just dumb luck or fate that Bruce Wayne witnesses a boy go through exactly what he did... It's not a great stretch of psychological reasoning to see how that kid ended up as his sidekick.

Jason... Well as I said, debatable and not exactly well written (more like "we want a new Robin, write any old crappy reason for them meeting, just do it fast").

Damian is his son and became Robin in his absence.

Steph... well let's not even go there. >.> But those were exceptional circumstances and had a lot more to do with Tim leaving than Steph joining (or Bruce wanting her to) at the time.

Anyway I don't really count Steph as a Robin, she was just a rebound (sorry Spoiler fans!).

Anyway, that's all just my opinion, agree or disagree it's always fun to think about these things.

@DeathpooltheT1000: Lawl, yeah you nailed it.

Moore and Miller... We could call it MnMs Syndrome.

Morrison seems to have escaped the curse but he walks a fine line sometimes I think, and his name also begins with an M!

Is only a matter of time before Grant falls?

O.o

The man once pushed, yes, pushed his way out of a filled in grave by bench pressing the coffin lid... This ^^^ is nothing for such a man.

I think in these modern times all of us hip comic book fans call nearly all characters by their "real" names.

"Then Bruce punched Clark and broke his hand!"

"Morrison writes Dick really well but I never liked his Jason."

We all do it because the characters do it, it also tends to show who is a genuine comic book reader and who is a casual superhero movie viewer.

You read characters calling each other by their "real" names for so long it's inevitable that you'll pick it up yourself.

It's pretty much habit for me now and I'll often switch back and forth in the same discussion without even realizing it.

"Bruce disarms the guy, then Joker shows up and shoots but of course Batman is all over him."

We don't call him Jason because of some deep psychological yearning on our part to see him redeem himself and shed the transitional identity of the Red Hood finally acquiring a sense of self worth in his own eyes and validating himself in the eyes of Bruce Wayne (from Jason's perspective at least).

No we call him Jason... because his name is Jason.

Sometimes my friend, a cigar is just a cigar. ;)

Besides OP, you do it yourself in one of your other threads: "Jason and Bruce might get some face time."

WHY did you call him Bruce and not Batman?

Do you secretly suspect this "Bat-Man" identity won't last forever?

On the bright side, these days I seem to get a lot more attention from girls when I wear my Green Lantern hoodie.

So I guess every cloud does have a silver lining.

You destroyed one of my most beloved heroes, but slightly increased my chances of getting laid...

THANK YOU RYAN REYNOLDS!

This is what I think happened...

DC decided to do this All Star thing right?

They had big hopes for it.

So they say to themselves "ok, we better hand off our 2 most legendary characters to 2 of comics most legendary writers and make this EPIC."

So Morrison gets All Star Superman and Miller gets All Star Batman.

Morrison does his thang on Supes and we get a tale that will go down in history as being l'sauce d'awesome.

But!

Unbeknownst to DC, Frank Miller had gone quietly crazy in his old age (was DKSA not warning enough?), now unable to write men who are anything except caricatures of Sin City characters and women who are... well... just look at his Vicki Vale... Look at his Black Canary... Now look at every woman he's ever written.

And in his burgeoning insanity he somehow invents a new genre for All Star Batman... Hardboiled Camp Noir! (Also see the Spirit movie for all new HCN Lite!)

The book (predictably) tanks, the characterization of Batman becomes an internet joke, the much promised final issues never materialize and probably never will (although I'd still like to see that happen for the sake of completeness).

The End.

The old saying you win some, you lose some has never been more perfectly defined than by All Star Superman and Batman lol.

Verrrry nice job sir.

I'm happy to say the Bat-books I own are pretty much in that order on my shelf.

I've never read Snow or Prey (which I heard is actually out of print now) and I never got around to putting No Mans Land together (gonna wait for the new editions now tho').

On a side note, Arkham Asylum: a Serious House on Serious Earth... I tend to believe that the events in that book were actually a dream (or nightmare as the case may be).

There are clues scattered throughout the book which lead me to believe this is the case... or could be the case if the reader is so inclined.

I seem to recall Morrison himself alluding to this when describing the purposeful malformation of Batman's character (and the villains) as neurotic, sexually repressed and ultimately quite weak... a typical scenario in the nightmare of a strong willed person no?

As such it could really come anywhere in the list for me.

Anyway I'm rambling... Nice list bro!

@Slaze: Nah man, don't let us put you off, it's a part of comic book history, Jim Lee's art is fantastic, there's an awesome multipage spread of the batcave and you'll get to see the much lauded moment when Bruce says "I'm the goddamn Batman."

Plus it's interesting to see what all the fuss is about.

I own the vol 1 trade myself and am glad I bought it, like I said... part of comic book history. ;)