Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Batman, Comics, dc, jonah hex, red robin, teen titans, tim drake

The Parents Of The New 52 – Warning, Major Tim Drake Spoilers

Today, we get fourteen New 52 Zero issues and, even given that they are a story about origins and beginning, there are an awful lot of parental issues going on.

By the way, Fury Of Firestorm – telling a story set in the present and then calling it a "New Beginning" as a way out of doing a proper zero issue is a real cheat. All the others are set before issue 1, even if they then flashforward to the present. Any mummy and daddy are clearly big figures.

Also, warning, there will be a major spoiler for Teen Titans #0, published today. Consider yourself warned.

Firstly, there's the dead parents. With Bruce Wayne looking for their killer, and exposing the conspiracy behind it, in Dark Knight #0. Pretty standard stuff, but there's a rather entertaining Ditko-esque twist on it all, and a great innuendo I'm going to run later…

Aquaman is there at the death of his father in Aquaman #0 and then later discovers the fate of his mother… possibly.

The Flash sees the death of his mother and the arrest of his father for her murder in Flash #0. Along with some really excellent use of panels, smaller extra views dotting the main narrative, showing the past and the future for every scene. Quite spectacular.

While Superman #0 gives us a brand new look at Jor El and Lara, as a pair of kick ass fighters! Also introdcuing "Scratch" as Kryptonian slang for "bitch". See how fast that gets popularised on Twitter today.

While Jonah Hex gets a drunk abusive father in All Star Western #0, which shows a number of key scenes from his life that gave him his scars, physical and mental, and repeated issues with parental figures…

While Red Lanterns #0 flips this whole dead/disappointing parent schtick going through all the books by having the kids die as a motivating force for the parent. Parents always love their children more than their children love them, this feels a little more relatable…

But with all this death and despondency going on, Teen Titans #0 does something very different. You get a new origin for Tim Drake, that's based on his original one but with key differences. I may list them later, but there's one that sticks out. After an attack by Gotham criminals, Tim Drake's mother and father…

… live. And go into witness protection, leaving Tim Drake behind with Batman (like all good parents do).

Batman has a lot of parental death built into its DNA. Today, one of those was walked right back…

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London.

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