The Four Color Media Monitor

The New York Post has revealed that Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul who's currently in the Robin role, is going to be bumped off in one of Grant Morrison's last stories for DC:

The shocking demise of the Dark Knight’s sidekick will first appear in issue No. 8 of the offshoot title “Batman Incorporated,” but the aftermath of his death will ripple throughout the DC Comics universe, the publisher confirmed exclusively to The Post.

Why is it shocking? We've heard that announcement before. And haven't all of these oh-so "important" deaths rippled before, only to see the waters become still again soon after?

Robin — a k a Damian Wayne, the 10-year-old son of Bruce Wayne — is slain fighting a hulking assassin who happens to be, in true comic-book form, a “brother” cloned from his genetic material.

And — SPOILER ALERT ! — unlike all the times he has swooped in at the last minute, Batman arrives too late to save his protégé.

I'm not sure that's true. He didn't arrive in time to save Jason Todd back in January 1989 (yet Todd's been resurrected since). I assume this was done in part because Grant Morrison is leaving, and also because they never really made Damian likable, so they decided to take the easy way out.

Morrison, who brought Damian to the forefront in 2006, said he had created a full arc for the character, who grew from a violent, fledgling assassin to a selfless leader.

“What we did was turn this little monster into a superhero,” he said. “He’s a little brat, but he’s a super-brat.”

He actually admits, in a way, that he never set out to characterize Damian much better than Todd was when he was first sent to the great reward back in the late 80s. That's no real excuse for killing Damian, obviously, but Morrison clearly decided that for now, he wouldn't make it easy for anybody else to use Damian. But if the youngster really had to die, why couldn't it be through natural causes or an auto accident? Again, a much better alternative was completely missed.

And the fate of Damian Wayne might have an impact within the DCU proper, but in the real world, few are going to care for long. Again, what I find dismaying is how a paper sees fit to report about comics selectively, and acting as though this were really a big deal, when it stopped being one centuries ago.

Labels: Batman, dc comics, dreadful writers, golden calf of death, msm propaganda