Here Is A Thing I’ve Been Writing If Anyone Is Interested:

Why do people make Tim being “sent” to train under Lady Shiva a bad thing in fanfics?

UM… ACTUALLY! Everything about that sentence is wrong.

Bruce doesn’t send Tim to train abroad after “only a few weeks.”

Bruce doesn’t send Tim to Lady Shiva. Tim finds that trouble all on his own.

Point 1: Bruce doesn't send Tim to train abroad until after he's been trained by Bruce for months and has "earned" the robin suit by saving Bruce from The Scarecrow. Tim meets Bruce during Spring — as seen in the art during Tim’s time tracking Dick to Halley’s Circus during his intro comic — and is being trained by him until Christmas Eve where Tim defeats Scarecrow. That is a at least 7-8 months of training.

After receiving the Robin suit, Tim expresses doubt in his ability to be Robin to which Bruce says “You just need to gain physical prowess” and suggests a training trip in Paris.

Point 2: Bruce then sends Tim to Paris to train under one of Batman’s old teacher: a Tibetan monk who’s taken refuge in Paris and is a specialist in both healing and hand to hand combat. The monk is referred to **cringe** as “Lama.” Tim then gets caught up in a gang fight which spirals into a conspiracy and catches the attention of Lady Shiva all on his own!

(Total side note and I know it was like 1991 BUT SO MANY early Tim stories have awkward racism you can’t even squint past. You gotta just grit your teeth and keep reading. His parents are killed by an evil voodoo guy. He trains under a mystical Tibetan monk. He has some awkward run ins with a Chinese mob. He had to manage a couple of “angry black guy” characters. Like I’m sure lots of other DC properties were just as bad at this time. But then you remember that Tim’s Robin is one of THE MOST successful comic lines during the 90s and early 00s and it’s just awkward. And DC still won’t hire enough non-white male writers and artists when you have beautiful stories like The Boy Wonder written by brilliant POC artists. Like why?!??)

Look I'm not saying Bruce is a perfect mentor to Tim. His reactions to Janet Drake's death is not ideal. Bruce also tries to hide information from Tim when his parents are kidnapped and lets Tim think his parents are dead because "what if Bruce can't fix it". Bruce's control issues are on fine display for several issues.

But sending Tim to Lady Shiva is not a neglectful act on Bruce's part. Tim ditched Bruce’s safe training plan and gets involved with a DEA agent and Lady Shiva.

It turns out — as you find out at the end of the comic set about Tim’s training — Bruce has been lurking around watching and waiting to step in if things get out of control for a while sfter Tim ditches Paris but otherwise lets Tim think he’s alone until Tim has succeeded in his mission and defeated King Snake. Bruce does this is to help Tim gain confidence in the field, something he was lacking during the moment Bruce hands him the Robin suit.

It’s a really sweet arc actually and helps set up what kind of Robin Tim Drake is going to be! Plus it’s a fun read (ignoring the racism)!

There is no reason to treat it as one of Bruce’s failings. He makes plenty of those all on his own.

Hey so actually I might be a little obsessed with how Tim is Dick’s only real brother.

Like hear me out. HEAR ME OUT!

Dick’s relationship with Jason is full of regret and guilt. They might be building something now but their past is full of inflicting rotting wounds (metaphorical and often literal) on each other. Dick started the pattern first when he rejected Jason as Robin. And later Jason raging against Dick after his return. Jason’s semi-valid villain crash out ending with Dick putting him in Arkham because Jason was a straight villain pre-rebirth. And even then it takes rebirth remixed canon to allow Jason some family bonding time. I say they have a handful of months — and even then how often did Dick visit! He didn’t start reconnecting with the BatFam until after the Killing Joke and Death in the Family — they got along before shit got worse.

Damian is Dick’s BABY! That is his firstborn! Dick might have had some adoption tendencies pre-crisis with Jason but they realized that shit with Dick’s (Second? Third?) time in the cowl. Dick saw this small murderous child and was like “I can do it better than Bruce” and did. And yes they might be settling into a brotherly role with Bruce stepping the fuck up.* But I promise you having witnessed siblings with a 10 year age gap — even when the parents are perfect and emotionally available — that older sibling quickly becomes a third parent. With Dick, he was the first second and third parent. No way Damian and Dick could ever just be brothers and I love that for them.

So that leaves Tim! The little baby brother he started calling little brother YEARS before Bruce ever adopted Tim.** Timmy, the freak who broke into his apartment to track him down and drag him back to Gotham. Timmy who Dick follows back to Gotham and — through his growing relationship with Tim — reconnects with his second family.

He spent his early 20s with Tim! He comes into his own as Nightwing with Tim as Robin. He literally grows into his adult self with Tim as his witness.

How many lows has Tim helped him pick up after? How many falls has Dick caught Tim after (metaphorically and literally)?

But that’s the sweet sappy shit.

Tim is the one brother Dick doesn’t have to be responsible with. He eats shitty pizza with Tim. He has movie nights and hang outs and poor-tasting inside jokes with Tim. They race each other across rooftops! They play fight in the streets. Dick booby traps his apartment so Tim can have fun breaking in.*** Dick complains about his messy love life to Tim while Tim mocks him!

THEY ARE BROTHERS YOUR HONOR!

With Jason there is too much pain. With Damian there is too much responsibility. With Tim, Dick gets to be his age and just hangout with his brother!

There is a reason Dick calls Tim his equal. Dick loves his brothers, he’ll always be there for them. But Tim is the one Dick doesn’t have to watch or monitor or hover over. Tim is his brother, not his regret or his child.

20 years in real time and 4 years of comic time put Tim and Dick through the ringer. No Man’s Land. Knightfall. The nuking of Bloodhaven. Contagion. Try to name a tragedy Tim and Dick haven’t witnessed and weathers side by side! But no matter how they fight or have to disappear for the mission, they always find each other and trust each other and believe in each other. Because they are truly brothers!

(So context… I’m very much reading the 90s and 2000s run. I’m like chronologically in 98. I’ve heard modern comics have dropped this FOR SOME FUCKING REASON (they forget Tim exists, I guess). But I refuse to believe that rebirth got rid of their brotherly bond. Just as Tim’s “friendship” with Kon-El transcends timelines so does Dick and Tim’s brotherly bond! They are family bonded through the fires of time and comic book bullshit!)

* How much this is true take with a grain of salt. I’m not reading modern yet. I’ve read some cause Damian just slaps and I love him. But there’s so much!

** Tim was adopted for like a year before being emancipated. WILD! What fatherless behavior!

*** What feral menaces! I love them!!! I just need to scream. Not important. Carry on. ^>^

“and the universe said…”

Idk if anyone will read this post but I've been trying to learn a bunch about different characters. And I've so far been learning about Tim. He's got so much content to sort through. I think only Dick (in terms of the Robins) has more content than him. So here are my thoughts while reading through some of Tim Drake's Robin run.

Part One:

Next

Batman 468-469:

Tim has really been set up to be the "Robin who Saves Batman." Because Tim is a Robin who does not have an internal desire to run around as a caped crusader, "why is Time Drake a hero" seems to be an essential question to his existance from the beginning:

This is after Tim has lost his mother and his father is paralyzed and unable to care for him. As such, Tim is staying at Bruce's manor (though no offical adoption has taken place. In fact his living situation is not explained beyond him just living with Bruce. So i assume a fostering situation?) Already, we see Tim stepping in to care for Bruce and remind him he's not invunerable.

I'm really enjoying the 90s action vibe they give Tim. His first nemesis is King Snake who'd feel right at home in a Jackie Chan movie! The fact that this 14 year old boy has the "second greatest figher in the world" (right after Lady Shiva) shaking in his boots is WILD even though its King Snake confusing Robin & Lady Shiva haha

This is after Tim has lost his mother and his father is paralyzed and unable to care for him. As such, Tim is staying at Bruce's manor (though no offical adoption has taken place. In fact his living situation is not explained beyond him just living with Bruce. So i assume a fostering situation?) Already, we see Tim stepping in to care for Bruce and remind him he's not invunerable.

I'm really enjoying the 90s action vibe they give Tim. His first nemesis is King Snake who'd feel right at home in a Jackie Chan movie! The fact that this 14 year old boy has the "second greatest figher in the world" (right after Lady Shiva) shaking in his boots is WILD even though its King Snake confusing Robin & Lady Shiva haha

I get why he had the longest running Robin solo act.

Bruce is very very protective of Tim in this arc. Makes sense since he just lost his old Robin and was spiraling because of it. We're -- time wise -- about a year and a few months since Jason's death. It makes sense that Bruce is having a hard time since another boy in danger, especially in a situation where that boy is being targetted by the big bad of the run. I guess they have to get Bruce to a point where he'll let Tim run around without as much helicoptering (and eventually found the Young Justice!). Its a really fun emotional core.

Batman 470

Just fun romps. I know I should switch to Robin II (Robin I covered his training with lady shiva & meeting king snake which i wrote about here) to keep learning about Tim. But I do like the Batman comics. I do not understand the difference between the Batman & Detective Comics. Like I get the Detective Comics are the original Batman comics but they're both about Batman so like.... why have two batman runs about the same guy and characters in the same universe? Just put out more detective comic runs? Makes no sense (plus having dual Batman v Detective Comic runs really fucked over Jason's time as Robin. I'm excited they're putting out the Batman & Robin: Jason Todd comics soon so we can finally have a definitive Jason Todd Robin characterization.)

Batmna 471:

WTF! Killer Croc oh my god! You poor thing!!! He just wanted to hang out with his family and watch cable tv!

Okay. Switching to Robin II series to continue to learn about Tim Drake!

(Side Note: Thoughts about the Batman comics though. I dislike that they stopped in 2011. I mean this comic series has been running since the 1940s! Its cool for a character to have that much history. Honestly, they shouldn't have rebooted the OG lines like Batman/Detective Comics/Superman/Action Comics. They're such long running series its more fun to let them just keep going. Especially since they ended up rolling it all back anyway. Its just a weird choice to decide the shit that kept your company alive from the 1940s doesn't matter anymore?)

You know… intellectual, I understand Batman, Superman, Ironman and Spiderman… all of the superheroes, really, are not improving the Earth.

Superheroes don’t fix wealth inequality or solve the reasons people commit crime in the first place. They don’t clean up the cops or stop the politicians from lying. They are a leaking dirty bandages on an open festering wound, who are designed to fight the rogues their very presence encourages to act out.

This is especially true for Batman.

So any medium — fan post or comic — that attempts to engage earnestly with the question “Is Batman helping Gotham?” instantly fails to capture my intrigue because the answer is no.

Bruce Wayne can save Gotham. Batman cannot. Batman can keep Gotham alive long enough for Bruce Wayne to save Gotham, maybe.

Depends on the writer.

Depends on the medium.

Depends on the social political awareness level DC wants to engage with to sell the most comics.

Partially this is because the premise of these heroes were created for another time, another era of America. Partially because these heroes continue to be written by older white men. Mostly because superheroes are made to sell and the popular opinion in America is not to dismantle that systems of late stage capitalism that encourage corporate greed, the concept of billionaires, and the desperation that makes people commit crimes.

I’m not really going anywhere with this. It’s just an opinion, a brainworm I wanted to type up before bed. I can engage with the concept of Superheroes and not need to worry if Batman is really saving Gotham beyond the villain of the week.

My face!

Sexy HC that kryptonians get stupid horny during the full moon (lots of good sunlight @ night, something something moon dust idk) and go into ruts/heats where they’re extra fertile.

The rest of society is not ABO. Just Kryptonians during the full moon.

Having read a bunch of comics now (though lets be honest, not nearly enough and I'm still working through a lot of the young justice and red robin comics when it comes to Tim content) its really funny how Batman acts like Tim doesn't lies to him. Or that he can somehow tell when Tim is lying.

Tim lies all the time during his run as Robin. He lies to his friends, his parents, Bruce! He loves lying to Bruce! Hell, are we forgetting the fake uncle scheme! And yet in various stories, when Bruce needs one of the Robins to tell him something, he asks for Tim's word because the other's "lie." It doesn't make sense?

And then I got to thinking and I realize, when Bruce says Tim doesn't lie, what he really means is "Tim doesn't break his promises."

Even in the context of the panel above, Bruce isn't trying to extract information. He's trying to get his kids to stay out of the fight.

Tim is loyal to Bruce in a way no other Robin is. Dick and Jason left (Dick to find himself and less said about Jason the easier). Steph and Bruce have a sort-of relationship that never felt really close to me. Damian is a child with a burning desire to prove himself and no real understanding of his own limits. Plus -- for a good chunk of his run and really depending on his writer -- warring priorities. He wants to do right by both of his birthrights.

Tim found Bruce when he was sucidal. Tim found him when he was at his lowest and stayed. Tim found him in the timestream when everyone else thought Bruce was dead. Even now, with a new mantle as Red Robin, Tim has stayed! He’s not in another city. Yes he has his teams. But Tim is in Gotham. Tim works with Bruce. Tim is, first and foremost, an idealist boarding on a romantic with a deep belief in the power/symbolism of Batman & Robin. And that idealism means Tim is loyal to Batman.

So when Bruce says "Tim don't lie to me." What Tim hears is, "Give me your word and promise me." And I think that says a lot about their relationship.

A little Spoiler of something I’m working on:

Title: Will of Fire

Summary: Madara knows his sins and his faults. He knows, no matter what Hashirama thinks, there is no positive afterlife waiting for him. Maybe that’s why he’s returned to the past after bleeding out on that battlefield.

Still, there is nothing to do but get up and try again.

For Izuna.

For Hashirama.

For Obito and all those, he’s wronged.

He will take this chance and try again.

Ship: Hashirama/Madara

Tags: Politics, Slow Burn, Uchiha Family Dynamics

…

Madara wakes up to Izuna beside him.

He shouldn’t have. He should have died, should have walked forward into the pure lands all Shinobi knew awaited them: an eternal feast of friends and foes alike finally setting down their swords and kunai to eat and drink and laugh.

Hashirama had promised me a drink, Madara thinks mournfully as he takes in the rising sun creeping its way into the room, growing in strength. Hashirama promised him peace.

He lets himself mourn his death during the time it takes the late winter sun to drench the room in light. Fifteen whole minutes to regret and contemplate to consider what-ifs and almost. Fifteen minutes before Izuna wakes next to him, eyes narrowing at the sunlight and with such an amusing scrunched face that Madara cannot help but be reminded of the ornery cat he’d kept secretly within the cave.

(Obito had brought the cat because for all Madara and Zetsu had tried to break him, he’d still clung stubbornly to a love of life.

And god Obito… Madara has many regrets. More than any man should bear. Too many sins to atone for. But for Obito…. He will need more than fifteen minutes to mourn Obito.

He will need a lifetime.)

And then Izuna wakes up.

“Aniki ,” Izuna yawns, morning breath stinking up the space between them. With drool running down his chin and crust in his eyes, he looks a far cry from the Uchiha Beauty he is renowned for. “Why are you awake?”

Madara had lost count of the years between Izuna’s death and his own. Time makes things hazy, alters memories… alters reality. It isn’t until that moment that Madara realizes he’d forgotten the sound of Izuna’s voice. In his memories it is scratchy, broken by pain and suffering as he lay on his death bed while healers and medic-nin alike did their best to give him another day, hour, minute. Until there had been nothing left to save but a pair of eyes.

In his nightmares, Izuna’s voice is rough and booming, full of hatred, as he calls Madara for what he is: a failure, a betrayer, a liar, and--in his worst dreams--a murderer.

In reality, Izuna’s voice is soft and sweet, content to wake up next to his older brother and pitched at a low volume to avoid waking the household. Clinging to childhood, there is an almost squeaky quality to it. (As young as Obito had been)

A long-forgotten protective instinct flowers within Madara’s chest.

Madar looks away, tears burning in the corner of his eyes. But he cannot cry. The dead cannot do anything with his tears. He has no right to self-pity. Zetsu had led him to his grave but Madara had been eager to climb in and lie down.

He cannot be forgiven for his sins. There is no peaceful afterlife waiting for him. No drink. No Hashirama. He does not deserve it.

This is my penance, Madara thinks as he watches Izuna wipe the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand, already scarred from a lifetime of struggle. I must make things right.

Madara stands up.

For Obito, for Hashirama, for the Uchiha he’d sworn himself to and then killed, for the village and Naruto and Itachi (and that strange, powerful boy who’d reminded him of himself and Izuna and all the best and worst of the Uchiha).

It’s time to get to work.

He will cry when it is all done.

.

COMING SOON TO AN AO3 NEAR YOU!

One day I’ll sell my crafts. But for now I’m glad I finished these!