I LOVE TIM DRAKE SO MUCH, HELP HE’S SUCH AN AWFUL GREMLIN, “Starfire’s Right, We Haven’t Faced

Things I need more of:

The lanterns being a family

Cass sketch from a few months ago :P

I have literally paused reading the comic to admire the little smile on B's face while Tim is an adorable nerd next to him

Sick Cass who only agrees to stay in bc she gets to man comms

Bruce: *fighting*

Cass with the sorest throat: I wouldn't have done that

It's her favourite sick activity. Just reviewing his fights in real time and going "You missed an opening. Too slow. He's going to attack you get ready. Wow your reaction time has gotten worse. Move or you'll get stabbed. Oh the kids are safe by the way they ran away while you were failing to win against this scrub."

Bruce, through gritted teeth while seething with rage: This is good. This is important. I need to know my weaknesses so I can squash them.

Cass: Took you two minutes. I would have done it in ten seconds with that leg sweep you missed the chance to do.

Bruce: Thank you Batgirl.

Cass: I think your joint pain is slowing you down. Can you bend your knees properly or do they crack with age?

Bruce:... I think I need radio silence to concentrate for a minute.

Cass: Brain is slowing down too if you can't multitask anymore. Sad.

Bruce: You know what let's see if there's anyone else for me to punch. I need that right now.

i think nate and guy have a lot in common tbh. i wish JLI had more of them interacting one on one. guys kind of a distaff counterpart to nate

Hope you don't mind me putting my two cents in but I don't think that torture is really something that cass would do. Because of her ability to physically read people she's pretty in tune with what kind of pain they are in (and why killing Faizul hit her so hard) I don't think that emotionally or morally she would be able to torture someone.

What do you think are Cass' views on torture?

Hmmm honestly I think she doesn’t like it. She more subscribed to the terrify the shit out of the criminal to get an answer but she’s endlessly compassionate I really don’t think she approves of torture in any circumstance. Also given her abusive childhood, she stays away from that kind of unnecessary violence.

i love talking about the fistfight in outsiders #16 but the aftermath of it in #17 is equally delicious:

something about how dick and roy are standing noticeably further apart from the rest of the team (and yes, it's mostly because they just finished beating the shit out of each other) but it's the focus on dick's eyes glittering... how we know roy was bloodied and hurt too but winick focuses so extensively dick and the blood on his face.

like... here's his wound, here's how he's bleeding, here's how he's managed to force roy to cut himself on all of dick's edges... and still... the injury is all dick's. he's managed to push away the one person who has irrevocably supported him, built him a life raft so he doesn't drown in his grief and he did it intentionally. he knew exactly what to say to get roy to throw the first punch.

and then we get this interaction with kory & roy on the rooftop... starting off with roy looking up at the sky with a very conscious decision to not show us the stars or the sky. i can't help but think this is a reference to roy & lian's conversation in secret files '03:

because throughout the fight in #16, dick and roy throw punches and words carelessly, while also cognizant of exactly what to say to make it hurt... but neither of them say donna's name. neither of them give voice to the spectre that haunts the entirety of this arc in outsiders. they can't... it's all just so unbearable.

so for winick to bring kory into this role— another person who loved donna just as much but who's also been called in solely to get a handle on dick & roy— and for her to say that the team is concerned about roy as he's brooding on a rooftop all feels so intentional. once upon a time, donna would've been the one to check up on roy but she's the reason why roy is so hurt... she's gone and nothing will make it okay... not even cutting himself on dick's edges. so here he stands, so obviously defensive, unable to look at kory, unable to handle her concern, all while the foreground is gritty and dark. no stars, no sky

and then you have this heartbreaking panel... roy literally and metaphorically avoiding kory's concern, the team's concern... both physically and emotionally grappling away from the dick of it all. sure, he tells her that dick will give his all— because having faith in dick grayson is such an innate part of being roy harper that there's really no other way to answer kory.

but that added jibe of "particularly to prove you all wrong" is such a wonderful insight into how fucked up he is right now. he has faith in dick's abilities but he doesn't have that same faith in dick's intentions with him. at this point, roy has tried everything— giving space, not giving space, setting up a whole team & HQ, providing dick with an outlet for his grief, trying to talk to dick, trying not to... and yet. dick brought up the worst moments of his life casually... like a weapon that was always in his arsenal:

and so roy walks away from it. but then we have the punchline— dick hidden in the shadows, eavesdropping on it all:

which is such a direct parallel to the panels in secret files that there's really no doubt in my mind that winick is asking us to think about all of this in conjunction:

the two instances are markedly different too. in secret files, dick's hidden in the shadows, yes, but we see him visibly crying whereas in #17, we see him shadowed entirely... only the white of his domino visible. because while dick blames himself for donna's death, what he did and said to roy in #17 is different in terms of his self-blame because he did the latter intentionally. he knew exactly what to say to get roy to hit him, and he hit back... almost like he wanted to hit first. he didn't walk away from any of it till kory and jade pulled them apart.

can you imagine how deep his self-loathing must be at this point? first, he gets ousted as leader by his own team... remember, this is a guy notoriously hyperaware of criticism from others because for dick, it's fulfilment of his own self-criticism and failures. and then he flung poison at roy with both his face and fists... a guy who has only been trying to help him, a guy who's grieving for donna just like him... his teammate, his childhood friend. and he was ready to burn it all down. nothing will be bearable again so what does it matter if he burns another bridge?

and the most heartbreaking part is... there's no resolution. dick doesn't apologize, roy doesn't ask him to.

the panels directly after pick up three weeks later where they're noticeably separated... working on separate tasks and sub-teams:

it's so deeply important to me for people to realize how high dick's self-loathing and self-hatred are at this point in canon... how much that level of vitriol directed towards himself (and others) hurts roy... a guy who has been through that kind of hatred directed inwards where it just cuts and cuts and cuts... and how dick chose to weaponize roy's lowest moment yet again (like new titans #101). and still, roy won't stop reaching out... he doesn't know how not to. donna would kill them both if she could see them now.

dickroy in this era are just "tell me what to do so you'll stop hurting me" over and over and over except it's moot because they both know the answer... and she's been dead for months.

Love the idea that the rest of the batfam never knows what to expect with Cass and Dick. Monday they're a united eldest sibling front against Bruce's nonsense. Tuesday Cass walks into the cave and decks Dick in the face for reasons unknown to everyone else. Wednesday she's crying and he's comforting her. Thursday he's grumbling to Tim, Duke and Damian about how he can't be the only good older sibling example and it's not fucking fair that she gets away with all the bullshit she does. Friday they're back to being a united front against Bruce, who they've decided is the root of all their issues. Saturday they're sparring but it's so intense half the family wonder if they're fighting for real again. Sunday they work like a well oiled machine and solve 23 cases in one night. Monday the cycle repeats.

As a Green Lantern enjoyer I feel like the batlantern dynamic would be better if fics acknowledged that Alan Scott is there in Gotham and he WOULD be causing problems. Alan interrupts a date by pulling a chair up and then saying "that's not what you said about Parallax five years ago" every 2 seconds. Alan does not leave. Bruce has to call in the JSA but he gets someone else who likes to cause chaos and refuses to send help on the phone (Henry, Ted, etc).

90s Arrowbrothers have such a unique relationship and I will literally never stop thinking about it because. This man is not your brother but he is your dad's son and sometimes he speaks and you swear it's your dad's voice. This man is not your brother but he got the parts of being your dad's son you craved so desperately your whole life and if you could combine yourselves together you'd make either the perfect son or a total stranger. This man is not your brother but there is nobody else in the world who could understand the experience of being Oliver Queen's son. This man is not your brother but you're haunted by the same ghost. Maybe this man is your brother. Fuck.