THE #1 Nightwing Fan

“Must have been a sadist”, Jason says.

<Checks notes>

Yeah. Uh huh. Yup. Right on the money there. Immaculate.

And in fact one of the most important panels regarding Dick period.

It looks mundane. It’s not common to see in the wild at all. Barely circulated. So: Why is it important, you ask?

Well, there’s this classic conception of Dick during New Teen Titans as, well, an asshole. And he was. Point to how he handled the marriage in Tamaran, or other relationship conflicts. Point to the decrease in his quippy humor and personability. Point to his uncharacteristic struggles to empathize.

All of these things were out of character for the Dick Grayson that had been established nearly a half century prior, up to and including the early issues of NTT itself. But these changes are some of the most common examples used to paint Dick as a cold, sometimes mean, dickish (no pun intended) guy.

So, isn’t it very very funny that he was partially mind controlled this entire time, SINCE HE WAS CAPTURED BY BROTHER BLOOD LIKE 40+ ISSUES AGO, OR MULTIPLE YEARS WORTH OF COMICS IRL, with the DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF MAKING HIM LASH OUT.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND???

DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS? HOW MUCH THIS CHANGES THE CONTEXT OF EVERYTHING??? DO YOU????? I DON’T THINK YOU DO. THINK ABOUT IT AGAIN.

The “pretty boy” usage feels excessive but livable. You would, as a public hero, probably face this kind of treatment.

It’s moments like this:

I know it’s supposed to be funny. Whoop-de-do. But the scene being referenced was CPR because Dick was drowning. It wasn’t even an instance of CPR that, by some fictional trope, turned into a kiss or a romantic moment. Dick was unconscious, then he wasn’t, then he jumped away and got back to what he was doing.

Or this, which was more clearly supposed to be humorous but still fell flat:

Note that Jim and Juan are the names the girls gave to Dick’s individual ass cheeks, which kind of exemplifies the point

I don’t even know how to describe what bothers me. It feels uncomfortable to have characters automatically default into thinking of Dick as a sex object first and everything else second. It’s a thing that is casually accepted as true. And to have the narrative implicitly support this as well, because we see no negative consequences or challenges to this behavior from Dick or the world at large. That is what bothers me.

Not just cyberbully, but actually go to the trouble of making a fake account and pretending to be that person in order to slander them. And for what? A fucking comic book?

And what’s more, why? DickBabs is canon. You’ve won. Why aren’t you enjoying your ship? If you love DickBabs so much, why aren’t you posting about that? Why are you wasting time bullying Starfire fans? It just speaks to how fucking insecure you are, especially considering how much Starfire has been sidelined over the years. Kory poses no danger to your precious ship whatsoever. Batgirl fans could not be in a better position, and yet you still perceive Starfire and her fans as a threat. It’s pathetic. You’re pathetic.

And you know this isn’t even isolated to DickBabs shippers. I still remember getting death threats back in the day when I dared to suggest that David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was not in fact a good movie. I’ve interacted with some problematic fanbases in my time, but DC fans by far have got to be some of the weirdest, most thin-skinned, maladjusted motherfuckers I’ve ever met.

Yeah! That sounds horrible with zero context. And I’ve been seeing an influx of posts recently acting like Dick is a terrible person because he did this…but I just wanted to clarify what happened in canon, because honestly he wasn’t being cruel or horrible. 

First thing to keep in mind is the characterization of the Jason that Dick was dealing with. He didn’t throw Rebirth anti-hero Jason Todd into Arkham…he was dealing with a Jason that had beaten Tim nearly to death twice, one who had nearly killed Bruce on several different occasions. 

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2 Jason attempts to kill Tim, and believes he has with no remorse. It is only luck that allows Tim to survive. 

In fact, Jason had nearly killed Tim very recently before Dick put Jason into Arkham. After Bruce’s death, Jason was written as really unstable. He wasn’t depicted as an anti-hero, he was pretty much a villain. He even describes himself as such: 

Batman and Robin (2009) #23 Jason talks to Bruce about transferring to another prison facility. 

“I am simply homicidal. Will I kill again? Sure. Am I a bad person? Oh yeah.” I would not say that this the characterization for Jason I prefer (not at all), but a psychotic, unhinged Jason Todd was the one that Dick was dealing with at the time all this went down. 

A group of aggressive DickBabs shippers on TikTok has apparently decided they're going to try to "cancel" anyone who doesn't like their ship. One of the tactics they're using is creating fake accounts that pretend to be DickKory fans. Those accounts then shamelessly post ableist comments about Barbara Gordon and disabled people, along with other offensive or inflammatory content, to try to make the DickKory fandom look ableist and hateful.

There's a chance they could try pulling the same stunt here on Tumblr to spark another ship war between both sides.

If you come across an account claiming to be a DickKory fan that's posting intentionally ableist or outrageously offensive content, I'd ask everyone to be cautious before assuming it's legitimate. Don't be so quick to believe it. There's a chance it's a fake account created by DickBabs fans to spark drama and damage the DickKory fandom's reputation.

I'm also sharing posts from the two people they targeted, mybe24 and furious.lycky, so people can see what they've been dealing with.

From mybe24.

From furious.lycky.

She also addressed it on her Tumblr accout

https://www.tumblr.com/lyckyf/822854954428612608/very-important-please-read-it?source=share

If you take a closer look, you'll see that the same accusers show up in both mybe24's and furious.lycky's cases.

He was little before, when he used to hang on Clark’s neck.

He’s bigger now.

But not too big. He’ll never be too big.