How is Damian supposed to be portrayed? There's been a lot of OOC complaints lately.

[MajorHoy]

. . . He also had the quote of the week: “Because this kid read Clausewitz and Jomini at the age of six while you were still trying to figure out the buttons on a Q-Box, you imbecile”.
I don't know what a Q-Box is but it's certainly not Clausewitz and Jomini

I suspect it's the DC universe version of an XBox.

Agree with LoneNecromancer; the "Q" is probably for Oliver Queen / Green Arrow's company.

[JasonTodd428]

I think that's been the selling point of the character. That we have this little 90ies grimdark batman kid, who doesnt know how to be a kid, who acts all tought and sophisticated when in reality all he wants is his father's acceptance and love. (And with Morrison making Inc a battle between Bruce and Talia with Damian caught in the middle, this is probably going to be a metaphoric story for real parents that fight over their kids.)

But the thing is that all this was actually funny. Damian in all his seriousness felt like kid Batman in the JL episode "Kid Stuff" (it's on youtube if you havent seen it). While Damian had issues, they were addressed in a subtle way, while as part of the dynamic duo he and Dick were having adventures fighting Pyg, Toad and Flamingo. Dini and Miller did the same thing in Streets and Batgirl respectively.

Tomasi is disregarding all that and focusing only on Damian's issues like people want to read a comic book version of "Kids out of controoool!" "OMG Damian is so screwed up you guys, how do we give therapy to this kid?" It's like i'm watching Oprah or something.

So now Damian actually becomes Jason 2.0. The troubled Robin that is no fun and is irritating the hell out of us. And it's even worse because he's even lost his elitist speaking pattern and he's parterned with his father who he cant afford to mock or make fun of like he did with Dick.


To clarify this doesnt have to do with whether Tomasi writes Damian ooc. I'm just explaining how the current B&R book misses out on the best parts of the character. Like using your Porsche to carry bricks.

I wish they could find a way to have Damian frequently pop up in Nightwing. I'm also hoping that he'll end up being friends with Stephanie and Kara somewhere down the line. When Kara settles down and Steph comes out of limbo.

+1

Nice post and I completely agree with all your points.

[Dr. Hurt]

Thanks Jason!

[JasonTodd428]

You're welcome! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been annoyed by how Tomasi has left out the best parts of Damian's character in order to concentrate primarily on this "out of control kid" scenario. I happen to think that while it is probably necessary that Damian gets a chance to deal with this issue it didn't need to be done at the expense of the other character developement he had gone through previously.

[ArnoldoAAD]

I dont think that he lost any real character development
just cause the story is focusing on some threads of his personality it doesnt mean that thats all there is

I dont think he is OCC at all in B&R, it just depends of the scenario that he put at

i mean you can like him when Dick was batman but that relationship that Batman is completely different from the one with Bruce

now if Dick was still batman on this book and he still acted the same as he is now towards him then that would be something else
but what i see here is just a slow fragmentation of the character

[Kiryu]

Yes, but wouldn't this be something he'd try to change now given his present company? He's not with those types of people anymore, so don't you think he'd want to try to be a little more normal now?

Damian should never act normal. How would he even have an idea of what normal is? He doesn't go to school. He doesn't have normal life friends. Prior to nu52 his civilian identity was standing at the head of the Wayne Industries board.

If anything he should be even stranger, he went from - Raised by assassins to kill and inherit the world - to being the boy sidekick of his father's adopted surrogate son whose been a superhero his entire life - to now working with his father, being a superhero with his father. What is normal about his life? Why would he try to act normal when he's surrounded by the most eccentric human beings on earth? All the kid knows is strange.

[ArnoldoAAD]

I will like to add that i Think the best portray that the character has ever had next to Morrison was on Red Robin by Fabian Nizieza
then Tomasi, then on Miller's Batgirl, then Dini on SoG

[JasonTodd428]

I dont think that he lost any real character development
just cause the story is focusing on some threads of his personality it doesnt mean that thats all there is

From my point of view it does seem to be all there is to the character now though because Tomasi is concentrating so heavily on those aspects that it's, in my opinion, overshadowing everything else and really dragging the book down as well. I'm not saying he shouldn't have done so just that he could have let more of the rest of the parts of Damian's personality shine through while he was doing so.

[Froggy]

You're welcome! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been annoyed by how Tomasi has left out the best parts of Damian's character in order to concentrate primarily on this "out of control kid" scenario. I happen to think that while it is probably necessary that Damian gets a chance to deal with this issue it didn't need to be done at the expense of the other character developement he had gone through previously.

I for one, think it's great Jason Todd is vouching for this new Robin

-Bruce Wayne

in all seriousness you guys are right

[JasonTodd428]

I for one, think it's great Jason Todd is vouching for this new Robin

-Bruce Wayne

This made me laugh.

[SeventhTrump]

If he is alive in the Nu52, a *ahem* conversation between Damian and Jean-Paul Valley regarding the implications of being trained assassins from birth would be worth a page or two in my opinion.

Damian: "Shurikens, sword, flame cannon?"
JPV: "They will pay before the will of the righteous."
Damian: "And you were only defeated by being blinded by sunlight while your night vision was active?"
JPV: "Truly, but your father was very gracious to me afterwards."
Damian: "Perhaps I should look closer at who I choose to emulate then."

[Froggy]

This made me laugh.

glad to be of service

but I'm going to find it interesting to see how he acts with Tim and Jason in the whole Nu52

and as for SeventhTrump talking about JPV/Damian

I would love that conversation to see how it goes

[maximiliani]

Miller was one of the few writers that gave Damian obvious little tidbits in his language that hinted of a European upbringing and the implied British schoolboy accent and while brutal, the immaturity to go with it. I really appreciated that. Hope he gets to write him again.

[bdk91939]

I am trying to remember. But Damian went to Titans Tower with Batman (Dick Grayson) assuming he would be the Titans leader. And I forgot who was the writer, but the writer showcased a great Damian in his brief appearance there. And I liked Damian's interaction with Ravager in the book.

[ArnoldoAAD]

I am trying to remember. But Damian went to Titans Tower with Batman (Dick Grayson) assuming he would be the Titans leader. And I forgot who was the writer, but the writer showcased a great Damian in his brief appearance there. And I liked Damian's interaction with Ravager in the book.

It was J.T. Krull and personally i thought that was Damian's worst portray to the moment
I will agree that the interaction with Ravager was good but it never really goes anywhere with her or any of the other characters