These panels encapsulate everything I hate about Damian Wayne.
- Introduced and instantly put on a pedestal as a prodigy. Trained by “the best” and given leeway for years. Can do “un-Batman-like” things with little consequence. Comics creators deny that this may turn readers off to him.
- Shoves the established and well-liked Robin off to the side, saying that he’s superior to him. Given page-time equivalent to a decades-old character, and can generally act like an ass without getting the snot kicked out of him for being one.
- If put in any vulnerable positions, there is, again, little consequence. Seeing Damian getting the crap kicked out of him bears little repercussions: there is never a “Oh, maybe I’d better get my head out of my ass and stop being pompous” moment. Little character development in the time that we’ve known him.
- Seems to get a one-liner/page an issue (“Bat-cow”, etc) that readers can say “Oh, that Damian! Such a hilarious bad-ass! He’s like Dex-tarr! I love cat jokes on the Internet!” While this is really treading the nitpicky Comic Book Guy line, I find these are getting harder to slog through every month.
To be frank, I hate Damian. I hate Dex-Starr. I hate characters that serve only to hobble and take proper page-time away from others who have more to offer the narrative besides one-liners, violence and what boils down to a formula.
I don’t think there needs to be any more of that in comics.
This reads like you have not read Batman and Robin 1-16 (Beyond that, even his Batgirl appearances). Because three of those points have basically been addressed in-text.
Also: Peter Tomasi’s Batman and Robin is not a good book.
Also also: nothing wrong with new characters given the spotlight. Especially when that character STILL got more than double the page time for years after, considering he was starring in a team book and his own solo series.
There’s nothing wrong with not liking a character because you think he’s an ass or you liked Tim Drake better, but a lot of your justification seems invented. Especially point three.
