It kinda undercut the Blockbuster angst for me, though.

It doesn't for me, because killing in a rage is something he learned he had in him with the Joker thing, and worked through (by, of course, sulking and being an emotional wreck, bless him), but standing aside and coldly allowing someone to be killed--thinking about it and making the decision--was not something he'd thought himself capable of. The premeditation (short premeditation, but premeditation none the less) makes all the difference.

How did he kill the Joker? Were guns involved?

He just seemed so ... flip about it. I can't work out if I need to keep collecting Nightwing. #100 will tell.

Daddy knows and doesn't seem too bothered by it.

I'm trying to find words to separate this from Daddy's reaction to Cass's two kills (we can count Shiva, right?). Can't clarify correctly.

I can't think of terribly many tools a writer can use in an internal monologue to show someone who is still struggling with language, communication, and verbalization.

Exactly. I'm going to miss her ellipses, I fear.

No shit -- I have a great and ongoing issue with the Blockbuster angst as something that could drive 6 months worth of plot. The Joker angst was "what have I done?!" whereas this is more "what if Daddy finds out?" -- not quite as convincing, as big existential traumas go.

Okay, THAT part of the Blockbuster angst I have an issue with, but I'm working hard on blanking most of War Games from my mind. (Oh, and any storyline that takes place over a span of days should NOT be stretched out over MONTHS in our real time, damn it.)

However, it started off well enough. The angst. Not War Games.

I'm trying to find words to separate this from Daddy's reaction to Cass's two kills

Particularly the first one, when she was a wee young'un and, thanks to Cain's training, didn't understand that what she was doing was wrong. And yet Bruce was appalled that she would have done such a thing. "Appalled" isn't exactly the right word, actually. Kind of a combination of "appalled" and "crushed."

I file that under Cass = Bruce's blind spot = he wants to see her as perfect, even if he doesn't think that consciously.

Oooh -- I posted this in my LJ, but I love it so much that I'm re-posting it here: In TT #18, remember the gravestones? How one said "Carrie Kelly"? I have this theory that Carrie Kelly was Robin to Tim's Batman.

Was Carrie Kelly only in DKR? I don't seem to find reference to her in the canonical Robin hierarchy.

Was Carrie Kelly only in DKR? I don't seem to find reference to her in the canonical Robin hierarchy.

AFAIK, only DKR.

Which is why I like my theory. Pulling her from AU-ish-ness into my theoretical canon. Well, not canon; future-canon, which is more or less AU as well.

Layers upon layers of AU! The possibilities are dizzying!

Also, I like Plei's defense of Blockbuster angst vs. Joker angst.

but I'm working hard on blanking most of War Games from my mind.

And we all thought it was going to be woo. I still haven't read it. It's languishing on my hard drive.

OK, I found this:

"Kent was not Superman's true identity... Clark Kent was the fiction... the put-on... The truth may be that Kent existed not for the purposes of the story but for the reader. He is Superman's opinion of the rest of us, a pointed caricature of what we... were really like. His fake identity was our real one. That's why we loved him so."

- Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes, 1965