things that spark joy

no, but actually look at his heart eyes. look how he's slumping back against that wall. when I tell you I am WEAK.

Lando being all happy and bubbly and grinning and Oscar is just watching, all smiley and content with that sparkle in his eyes. I literally can’t with them.

Bruce has subtle empath powers that he subconsciously uses to make people Fear the Batman, Not Question his secret identity, and Be Charmed by Brucie Wayne. He thinks he’s just a good actor.

Dick has a Spidey-sense for danger and inhuman reflexes to go with it but everyone just chalks it up to him being an Olympic-level gymnast with great intuition honed from being one of the most experienced vigilantes. He thinks he’s just lucky.

Jason has augmented strength but doesn’t realize because 1. He uses long-range weapons and knives mostly and 2. He has no frame of reference for what his strength should be after the Lazarus Pit fixed his childhood malnutrition. Of course he’s stronger now, he was only 4′6″ and 87lbs when he died. Most men his new size could lift a car over their head if they wanted to, right? That sounds right. He’s been working out.

Tim can turn invisible. The first time it happens is in the middle of a recon mission so he just assumes somebody updated the uniform’s stealth mode and everyone else can do it now too. Out of costume he’s used to fading into the background and his family being rude, it’s not that weird if they act like he isn’t there until he speaks up sometimes.

Cass’ body language reading becomes full-blown mind reading but she doesn’t notice the difference because it’s all filtered through her own abstract style of thinking instead of her literally hearing words. She’s been working on her detective skills, so no one questions it when she makes an “intuitive leap” based on a criminal’s guilty thoughts and works backwards to find evidence.

Duke can see ghosts. He can’t hear them, though, and they’re not very self aware so it’s easy for him to assume his retrocognition powers are just on the fritz and his range is growing. He must be looking back pretty far in time if he’s seeing figures in period clothing now! It’s annoying that it seems to be activating a lot without his control, but he’s just thankful he’s not stuck in x-ray or microscopic vision mode instead.

Damian can control animals to do his bidding. Because of his superior skills in animal handling and knowledge of their species’ behavior, obviously. You mean you can’t teach your dog to input the 16-digit security code to your door and open it? Pathetic.

Steph has the power to nullify others’ superpowers by touching them, but it’s never happened in a fight yet because her costume has full body coverage. The batfam of course don’t notice when she nullifies theirs.

Barbara has hypercognition powers that allow her to process many thoughts at once and learn information faster than a normal human. This is how she’s able to effectively run comms for everybody at once while monitoring hundreds of surveillance camera feeds and simultaneously hacking brand new tech on the fly. Her powers developed around the same time she became Oracle so she assumes she just didn’t have the right focus before and that anyone with her intelligence level can do this.

First of all: stalking. He’s stalking Bruce, he’s taking incriminating pictures (this is where the photographer Tim thing comes from), he’s stalking the Teen Titans, he knows where Starfire lives. Good golly he’s stalking everyone. Like a little mini Bruce, stalking away. Kori: “How did you know where I live?” Tim: “No time for questions, I’ve got to find Nightwing.” Kori: “???”

I love that Kori’s kind of creeped out. I would be too! A kid just knocked on my door and basically said “Yo, Starfire, do you know where Dick Grayson, known to some as Nightwing, is? No? See ya.” Kori’s right to be creeped out.

(God god god I want I need I yearn please tell me the first time Starfire sees Robin III she says something like “I feel like I’ve met you before…” I need Starfire to realize that Tim is the creepy stalker kid. I need Starfire to be like “Dick, not to judge you or your family, but what?” I neeeed iiiiittttt)

Tim 1.) knows about Dick living with Kori, 2.) knows that Dick kept another apartment, 3.) broke into the safe in Dick’s apartment then replaced the wall that was in front of it, and 4.) it’s heavily implied that he has been doing all of this on his bike with a backpack. Tim has been biking across the country with his dumb little coat and his not very big backpack or, at the very least, he biked all the way to where Haly’s Circus was set up. Maybe he did both! This kid is an absolute maniac and I adore him.

I love that Tim makes every single thing he says as ominous as possible! He’s just: “Dick. You need to return to Batman. He needs your help.” No wonder Dick is confused and a bit concerned and kind of creeped out!

Also, I really like the Haly Circus bit, if only because Tim spends most of his parts of the comic internally fanboying over how cool Dick is, and it’s super cute. Tim at one point is just like “Wow, Dick Grayson really is the very best!” and he’s so happy to spend time with Dick, why is he so cute???

Tim saving Batman and Nightwing from the rubble of a building is a very good visual representation of Tim’s ongoing thematic struggle to keep Bruce and Dick from collapsing under the weight of Jason’s death. It’s hanging over both of them, everything is different, Bruce keeps trying to lock Dick out and pretend everything is find and Dick is trying to help him but can’t do anything because Bruce never gives him the opportunity to. Bruce is on the second floor and Dick is in the basement and Two-Face blows up the building and they’re nearly crushed under the rubble.

Tim coming in at this point is great, because he uses a mixture of what Bruce and Dick both did to enter the house. Dick comments, in the comic directly before this one, that he’s too big to fit in the coal shaft, a narrative mirroring of Dick being too old to be Robin anymore. He doesn’t fit in the costume, but more than that, he doesn’t fit in the role anymore, and nothing can force him to fit. He goes in through a window instead.

Bruce breaks through the front, through a window, as subtly as a bull in a china shop (thank you, Dick Grayson, for your incredibly on the nose comments in times of great crisis). Bruce is trying to hurt himself, he’s been trying to hurt himself for the past issues since Jason’s death, and this is just compounded by the way he’s chasing the feeling of being happy again, the feeling he gets when he swings through the air, the feeling that isn’t the same without Jason by him. This is furthered by him mistakenly calling a young boy “Jason,” and him almost calling Nightwing “Robin” multiple times. He’s stuck in the present while the past haunts him and the future looms in front of him, and he wants to be happy again but can only see making himself happy as hurting himself.

Tim doesn’t take out Two-Face, but Tim does sneak into the rubbled building through the coal shoot that Dick couldn’t fit in (and he’s in the Robin costume! He’s so cute!!). Then, when he finds Batman and Nightwing stuck under the rubble, he’s forced to brute force his way out and move the rubble off of them. It’s a mixture of how Bruce and Dick handled things, but more than that. Bruce went in through the window, a distraction, in a Robin-like move. Dick snuck in through the window, in the shadows, in a Batman-like move. Tim manages to take both roles and mix them together, coming in sneakily but brute-forcing when there’s no other option. Tim has always been the Robin the most similar to Batman, but it all begins here, with Tim being the most prepared character in the comic. More than just the most prepared character, he’s doing the opposite of what Bruce and Dick are doing. While Bruce and Dick keep disappearing without another word, Tim keeps appearing right when the narrative has forgotten him. Instead of being an outright distraction like Dick and Jason were in the past, Tim plays a diversion.

Tim’s whole character in this storyline is someone desperate for things to be balanced again. He’s scared for Bruce because Batman is his hero. He’s scared for Dick because he doesn’t want Dick to hate him. Tim doesn’t want anyone to hate him, which is why, earlier, he’s very polite even as Dick is like “Alfred, this is Tim, he showed up after stalking me for a while and he knows our secret identities.” Tim wants Bruce to keep living. Tim is the one who says the hard truth to Bruce, that he isn’t acting normal and that everyone’s noticed. Tim says it because Alfred and Dick both tried and failed.

And the panel of Tim, in the Robin outfit, standing shadowed by Bruce as Batman is just a brilliant piece of visual storytelling. Even without the captions, you can see that Tim is standing up to Bruce, is out-stubborning Bruce by being simultaneously brutally honest and clever. Tim is supposed to be the ray of light at the end of the tunnel, the light in the darkness, the Robin to Batman, and it’s so good.

Anyway, I really liked this storyline and I really liked Raven appearing to just be like “btw Nightwing, we all love and support you, but we’ll back off if that’s what you really want.” Also the throw-away line in front of Commissioner Gordon: “he found it out while he was inside of your body.” What was Gordon thinking right then? I love it.

I also love Tim, but that much is obvious, let me explain. He took a bunch of pictures of Batman being beat up by Ravager just to show them to Dick to get Dick to realize there’s a problem. Tim does not actually interact with Batman or Bruce Wayne in any way until he rescues Batman and Nightwing. Tim doesn’t set out with the intention of becoming Robin, he sets out with the intention of making Dick Robin again because he believes that Robin is what Batman needs. Batman needs something that makes him stop and hesitate. Something that reminds him that he’s more than just Bruce Wayne.

It also has the unintended side effect of Tim saying the funniest fucking line in the whole storyline: “This was the best day of my life.” Like, excuse me??? You almost died! Multiple times! You drove from Haly’s Circus to Bruce Wayne’s house in the morning, presumably in awkward silence because you told Dick you’d tell him everything on the way to Gotham, but only actually tell him anything when he’s with Alfred. When Dick shows up with Tim, Dick tells Alfred that he barely knows any more than Alfred does! Alfred just met the kid, he only knows his first name! Tim did not tell Dick one single thing on the entire ride to Wayne Manor, he didn’t even tell them his name was Tim Drake! Every single bit of information they get out of Tim is pushed and prodded and pulled out, Tim is the least forthcoming character of all fucking time.

Dick shows Tim the Batcave. For what purpose did he do this? Just to storm out dramatically? I have no idea, why did Dick show the child this, I’m lost. Tim has been sitting with Alfred for hours by the time he finally convinces Alfred to drive him out! Alfred gets a single phone call from the Teen Titans and Tim is still there, so we know he didn’t leave or anything. What were they doing? Did they talk at all? Or was it another Nightwing situation where Tim just sat there in awkward silence?

Not the point, Tim almost gets beaten up by Two-Face, gets yelled at by his hero, has to berate his hero, and he’s still like “What a chamring time this has all been, thank you for the experience, hope Dick has fun being Robin again.” Tim is a maniac, he’s nuts, he’s absolutely buckwild, I love him more than oxygen.

Side note: I love when Alfred (while Tim is berating Batman, like you do) says “The kid would make a good politician.” And Dick says “He’d do more good by Batman’s side.” It made me laugh. I also love Dick: “I couldn’t let a twelve-year-old wander around a circus all by himself!” Tim: “I am NOT twelve! I am thirteen.” Tim also introduces himself to Alfred like “Hello, Mr. Pennyworth, what an honour to meet the man who Batman confides with, the stories you could tell!” and then walks in like that won’t raise any questions. Alfred is confused, Dick is confused, Bruce is confused, Kori is confused, the circus people are confused, the only one not confused is Tim himself because he’s a wild child and he probably had ten contingency plans up his sleeve, just in case.

Jon: Dad! That’s so mean, why would you call him that?!

Clark: because that’s his name?

Jon: his name is Grayson!

Clark: uh

Dick: that’s my last name, kiddo

Jon:

Jon:

Jon: What about Todd—

Dick: Jason

Jon: and drake—

Dick: Tim

Jon: where does the wayne fit in to all of this?

Dick: Bruce adopted us

Jon: you’re ADOPTED!? But you all look exactly the same

Dick: umm

Jon: your parents are dead?

Dick: yes

Jon: *visibly tearing up* that’s so sad

Dick: it’s okay! Don’t cry. Honestly, when I was little, finding out your dad was adopted really helped me—

Jon: MY DAD IS ADOPTED?!

Clark: *facepalms* honey, I’m an alien. You know this.

The plot:

Like Jason goes on a full ass monologue about how Tim stole Robin and his place in the family as Dick’s brother and Bruce’s son and Tim is like??? chill I’m an employee dude. Damian tries to kill him to prove that he is the superior son and Tim is super confused because shouldn’t he go after one of Bruce’s sons instead of an unpaid intern?

Bruce has a whole heart attack when Tim tries to ask if he has a retirement plan or benefits lmfao 

What he did not expect was for Bruce to tweet ‘ostriches arn’t real’.

The office becomes alive with activity. Perry marches over and tells Clark to write an article about how one of the richest men in the world does not believe a bird exists.

The interview?

Clark Kent: “Would you care to elaborate on what you meant about not believing ostriches exist?”

Bruce Wayne: “No.”

Others then ask Bruce what his thoughts on other birds are. Penguins? Real. Flamingos? Not real. Pigeons? Some are, some arn’t. It depends.