Authour: @havendance

Subfandom: Batfamily

Media: Comics (specifically Post-Crisis)

Relationships: Gen (Dick Grayson & Tim Drake, Ensemble)

Year: 2023

Rating: Gen

Warnings: Implied/Referenced Death

Summary:

Ask the GCPD about the Joker’s death, and they’ll tell you he died of natural causes. Ask the Justice League, and they’ll tell you that it’s a matter that’s been resolved internally. Ask Batman and he won’t give you an answer, because he’s Batman. The truth of the matter, however, is this: Dick Grayson beat the Joker to death. [Or: A few months after the death of the Joker, Tim Drake comes to Haly’s Circus, looking for Dick Grayson.]

Submitted by @sasheneskywalker

Submitter's comment:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43637100/chapters/109724838

Summary:

In the aftermath of the quake that shook Gotham, Helena Bertinelli takes on the mantle of the Bat. (It isn’t like Batman’s using it.) If she’d known the cowl came with a certain moralizing little bird following her around — well, she probably still would’ve done it, but it would’ve been nice to know in advance. (Or: Tim and Helena team up 2: electric boogaloo. Now with more bats!)

My piece for @womenincomicsminibang! I had so much fun participating in this event, and there are so many talented artists and writers involved so definitely check out some of the other works!

I did night here and no red, but I do have a few with bat!!

Okeydokey! So in my recent Aquaman read-through, I just read thru all of the Aquaman solo titles (Well I'm still on Rebirth), but :P I recognize that's not what everyone likes so :P My favorite Aquaman comics based on Mera Content:

Death of a Prince: This TPB has both some diving into Garth and Mera lore. after the infamous [spoilers if you've somehow missed hearing them] Mera goes to her home dimension (at this time called Dimension Aqua) in the back-ups of some Aquaman comics, and Garth explores where he came from in some back-ups.

After that Mera doesn't really get any good content until Aquaman #47, 48, 49 (Abnett's 3 issues right after David's run, Mera's Oceanid plotline).

Brightest day is good for Mera content, and Mera is fun characterization but doesn't do much in Geoff Johns new 52 run, and IIRC I enjoyed some of Mera's feats in Parker's run (right after Geoff John's, new 52 run), and then Abnett does some nice stuff in his Rebirth run.

Atlantean lore I prefer the 90s lore associated with the David run, so that does make it complicated... favorite character stuff does not coincide with favorite lore stuff XD David also just flops on pretty much every female character he writes in Aquaman 1994. However it also does introduce some cool character additions to Aquafam (some of whom are sadly forgotten about immediately). Koryak is great but David quickly runs out of ideas on what to do with him.

Lorena Marquez as Aquagirl starts in Sub Diego.

For focus on Atlantean lore I'd suggest The Atlantis Chronicles it kicks ass and dives deep into worldbuilding.

OK condense-ified notes:

Mera: Death of a Prince, Aquaman 1994 #47, 48, 49, Brightest day, Parker's run in New 52 (Can also do Geoff Johns run if you want), Abnett's in Rebirth.

Garth: Death of a Prince, Tempest 4 issue mini

Atlantean lore: The Atlantis Chronicles, David's 1994 Aquaman run (+ Time and TIde) if you can tolerate the way he does female characters here.

Other potentially interesting characters: Koryak (introduced in Aquaman 1994) and Lorena Marquez (introduced in the sub diego plotline of Aquaman 2003)

I'm just going to rank by comics that I've read that have Huntress in the title because I haven't read a Huntress series that's had multiple writers as far as I know!

5. Chuck Dixon - I haven't read The Huntress (1994) and I've only read the first issue of Robin III: Cry of the Huntress (she didn't appear much but I wasn't especially impressed by her characterization) so I'm basing this off of his writing in Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma. I just don't think he really gets her. In it, I think he wrote her as overly bloodthirsty and without the nuance I think she deserves. It definitely reads more as a Spoiler comic and I think it's pretty good if you read it as that.

4. Devin Grayson - Her Nightwing/Huntress mini was pretty good. It had a good balance I think between the two characters and the focus each was given. It was a nice story to see and explore Nightwing and Huntress's relationship and their different perspectives and how those perspectives shape their approaches to dealing with crime. It ranks very closely to Huntress: Year One for me.

3. Ivory Madison - She wrote Huntress: Year One which was solid. I liked how it explored that version of her backstory in Italy and in Gotham in a lot of detail. To be honest I haven't read this in a while (it was one of the earlier Huntress comics I read) but I recall the writing being a bit more overt with the themes than I liked if that makes sense.

2. Greg Rucka - Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood!!!!! I really like this one and I think Rucka really was able to make a story that really showed understanding and appreciation for Helena as a character. It is very near and dear to my heart and it was really hard to put this in second place because it's one of my favorite comics.

OKAY I spent a very long time digging on this and finally have most of an answer. tl;dr: circa 2001, between Officer Down and Our Worlds at War.

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Babs isn't told Tim's identity through Knightfall, Contagion/Legacy, Cataclysm, and No Man's Land. This is last confirmed in Birds of Prey #19 (part of Hunt for Oracle, Jul-Sept 2000), where she complains about it:

"Oh. It's Robin's little secret, huh? I know the secret identity of every member of the Justice League, but I can't be Trusted with yours?"

There's a short period between that and Officer Down (Mar 2001), then another short period before Robin #89 (June 2001), where it's first revealed she knows, to Tim's surprise. (Fun fact: this is right when Steph has just learned Tim's identity too.)

"...So watch your back, Tim. Oracle out." "Tim? She called me 'Tim.' Jeez...Did Bruce tell her too?"

Publication-wise, Babs actually was shown knowing earlier, in Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood (June-Nov 2000), where she and Tim work together out of costume and she casually uses his name, with Tim unsurprised. Cry for Blood doesn't have super clear continuity with the main batbooks, though, so it's simple to just say it should be chronologically sorted after the above issue for obvious reasons.

All that happens before Our Worlds at War (2001) and Joker: Last Laugh (2001-2002), but it isn't until Bruce Wayne: Fugitive (2002) that her knowing is shown on-panel again. In BWF, she says Tim's name and others casually say it in front of her, so the memo has clearly gotten out.

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Additional Facts since I skimmed so many comics for this: Robin and Oracle talk for the first time in Prodigal, Detective Comics #680, 1994, by which point Tim already knows who Barbara is. And they meet in person for the first time in Cataclysm, Nightwing #20, 1998 (not counting a time-displaced Batgirl in Zero Hour).