batmanexaminer (![]() ![]() @ 2009-05-21 22:03:00 |
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Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon mega post
I made this mega post over at the Spider-Man Crawlspace message boards and figured it would be appreciated here as well.
Thank you everyone who was clicked on my articles at EXAMINER ( http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6
Now some Dick/Babs fun through the ages...
(text here is the same from the message board in case there is a reference someone doesn't get..)
Babs first outing in Detective Comics 359. She was introduced as Dr. Barbara Gordon PhD holder...and later became a Congresswoman....yet DC keeps on trying to de-age her and taking away the awesomeness stuff like a Doctorate and former Congress status...
Dick shows some affection but we don't really see too many hints as the age different was thought to be much bigger at the time.
Moving into the 70's Babs went to Washington, became a Congresswoman and she and Dick had a starring feature in the "Batman Family" title. Here is a gag from the end of the first issue...
Fans loved it....right?
DC came out and said a few times that it was meant as a joke and way to shut Robin up, but lots of fans hated it....then they got some letters from fans who loved it....and Batman Family continued with the slight flirtations over time...
We got the mutual identity reveal between them in issue 3...
By Batman Family issue 10, Babs was starting to think about him a bit as well...
This is also the age difference between them and I still see many people ask about how big it is. Bearing any retcons...there it is.
NOW WEDDING TIME!!!
One of the oddest covers and splash pages ever....
The costumes aren't actually worn in the story...and the plot is odd...the criminals want to kill Batgirl and Robin so they brainwash them into a fake wedding so they can shoot them...but Batgirl and Robin merely pretend to be hypnotized.
Dick does get to carry her down the aisle...
Later on we finally see something come of these romantic hints in a later issue of Batman Family
Later that issue...
It's worth noting that at the time Dick was in an on again off again relationship with Lori Eton.
Hmmm maybe all his adultry isn't out of character after all...
Many fans suspected Babs was faking and it took them Nightwing Annual 2 (shudder) to be proved right.
After the Batman Family title ended the Dick/Babs romantic stuff cooled it somewhat. We didn't really see much hints of it and Babs was busy with her on again off again Jason Bard and Dick had Dala the vampire to contend with.
In Detective Comics 489, DC saw fit to erase Babs knowledge of Bruce and Dick's identities. This was actually an editorial mandate as some admitted later....
Um...the problem with Dick's logic there is that in the Batman Family issues she was actually communicating with him in his civilian id and calling him at his dorm....
Babs gets amnesia cause of a villain and has to hear tape recordings of her life to get memories back.....we end with this...
Well it's not Mephisto...
Here is Babs with date Jason Bard at a reception Dick is holding in Detective Comics issue 524
By this point the Dick/Babs coupling was far from everyones mind. If this story was being retold now it would have Dick having jealous first person narration that Babs is with another date.
And yes that is Jason Todd pre-crisis. He was a circus acrobat who was orphaned...fun fact..Dick Grayson offered to adopt him first but Bruce stopped him.
It was decided that the "Babs windwipe" was stupid so we got this scene in Detective Comics 526
Dick went off and left the Bat-titles for a while. Now he's around every other issue and every crossover but there was a time when Dick was BARELY making appearances in Batman and Detective.
In New Teen Titans issue 26 he and Starfire finally got together...he told her of a girl he thought he loved but he was wrong. Some suspected that was Babs but it was actually Dala the vampire as that storyline was just wrapping up in the other titles.
Babs gave up her Batgirl identity in "Batgirl Special 1" and Dick Grayson makes a BRIEF cameo.
Again if that was being retold now we would've had some interaction or some thoughts of their epic love...but that story simply didn't exist in the 80's.
Now onto the 90's when it all came together...
Dick and Babs were shown as a couple in "Subzero" and the Batman Animated series.
The comics then followed suit...
The Dixon/Mcdaniel run on Nightwing is classic and a half.
We first see Dick go to Babs for help (something that becomes a regular part of those early issues) in Nightwing issue 7
Then Nightwing 16...the playful banter turned into full on flirting....
The real love interest when the series starting out was his landlady Clancy...but the Babs scenes were what people were responding to and Clancy EVENTUALLY took a back seat as the lead love interest in favor of Babs.
The flirty banter scenes continued in issue 18..
In issue 19 he has a very emotional response to the revelation that Barbara is stuck in Gotham's Earthquake...
Then we had this scene in issue 20 (first time Dick and Babs appeared in the same room in his solo title)..
This is also the first time Tim Drake and Babs meet face to face.
More flirting in issue 24...
and in issue 25 Tim asked Dick about Babs...and we get a funny history of Dick's love interests...
and Tim tries to push things at the end of the issue..
Finally the arc where they get together...
Dick shows up at Babs doorstep at the end of issue 37
Mcdaniel drew a good Babs! She wasn't too comic book hot...but a right kind of cuteness.
Issue 38 we finally get the kiss...
This time Huntress does the cock blocking instead of Tim Drake...
issue 39 the kiss is discussed...
Unfortunately there was a BIG editorial screwup so Dick wound up kissing someone else on New Year's Eve (editorial later called their mistake)
(by the way you may remember me from Scans Daily as the Lyja/Gwen guy)