A-Z Challenge - 'W' Is For Wayne, Damian Wayne

 

 

Thanks for Mike DeStasio who created this image for me while I was in the depths of my depression over the death of Damian Wayne. I have said it many times but my followers are the best.

 

 

Damian’s run in DC Comics can technically be traced back to the 1987 book Son of the Demon, but the canonicity of it is kinda tricky, so let’s instead look to his début à la Grant Morrison‘s run on Batman. Damian is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul, he was grown in an artificial womb and raised by the League of Assassins. One day, Talia just drops Damian in on Bruce and tells him he needs to take care of him for a time, though really it was just to mess with him. Immediately, he was a problem, trying to beat Tim to death so he could replace him as Robin and even murdering one of Batman’s enemies, but it becomes clear that he DOES mean to do well and wants to be accepted by Bruce, however misguided his efforts are.

During an event where Batman was believed to have been killed by Darkseid, Dick Grayson was eventually convinced that he needed to become Batman. Believing that Damian needed guidance and seeing Tim Drake more as an equal than a sidekick, Dick took Damian on as his Robin. The two formed a unique version of the Dynamic Duo, with Dick being a more light-hearted Batman while Damian, to be blunt, was dark and brooding like his father. When Bruce returned, they continued to serve in such capacity within the newborn Batman Incorporated, but eventually Dick stepped down to become Nightwing again.

 



 

For awhile, Damian acted like an out of control brat (he was only ten) but soon found his way back to his father and 'brothers'. Just in time to be massacred in the bloodiest and bone snapping way possible - something no child reading this comic needed to see.

 

I am angered at Grant Morrison. He always seemed like he hated comic book readers and the characters that we have followed for years and, frankly, we love. Damian was the freshest character to enter the Bat Universe in decades and to just snuff out his life (something that has happened to another Robin - Jason Todd) adds nothing new to Batman's life experience. I loved watching Damian be a pain in the ass to all the other Robins until he finally grew up a little and started to see them as not only allies, but brothers.

 

 

The death of a Robin and it's affect on the Dark Knight is a story arc that has been done do death. Since Jason Todd (the first Robin to die) was himself brought back from the dead, people assume that the same thing will happen to Damian.

 

Many people tell me not to worry because DC will find a stupid reason to bring Damian back. After all, his Grandfather, Ras Al Ghul, came back to life many times through the use of the life giving properties of his Lazarus Pits.

 

I have seen this trick before and this time it just won't be the same. Now that Bruce has got his act together and found a new direction for his crime fighting vision (The world-wide scope of Batman Incorporated)  he is suddenly thrust back into despair, something that has dominated Batman comics since the early 90s. Everything that was fresh in the Bat Universe is now flushed down the toilet and that is a crime.

 

 

In an alternate history (one in which is was Batman who died and not Damian) we got a glimpse of the hero that Damian could eventually grow into. Now all those great stories are lost.

 

 

(click to enlarge)