brucedick – Page 5

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thoughtsaboutdickgrayson:

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Not my father. Not my son.

These two sometimes. I like to think of it this way:

(Green Arrow/Black Canary #5)

“He’s not my son. He’s more than that.”

Aside from Bruce being afraid of getting close to people, I wonder if he is so cautious about “replacing” Dick’s dad because Bruce so reveres his own father. Bruce often doesn’t acknowledge that Alfred is a father to him, perhaps because Bruce, out of loyalty and sentiment, can’t give the name father to anyone else. Bruce seems to treat his father, and the memory of his father, as sacred. Sometimes I feel as though Thomas Wayne has reached demi-god proportions. Maybe Bruce believes Dick thinks the same way and is afraid of usurping the hallowed name of “father.”

Oh well. It can be difficult to put a label on love. Maybe Dick said it best back in 1970 (World’s Finest #195):

“I love him as I loved my own father.”

These two, indeed.

The interpretation of not wanting to replace John Grayson is definitely there, and is explicitly brought up in Year Three. (Though I suppose it’s slightly different than what you’re saying in that it’s Dick expressing the sentiment rather than Bruce. But I think it can be extrapolated out to a certain extent as well.)

But yeah, we’re talking about Mr. Bruce “I nearly bled to death on that nice chair in the study waiting for an omen and yes, father I shall become a bat” Wayne, here. So yes, I think saying that he views his father in this almost godlike manner is pretty accurate. I also agree about how this factors into why he distances Alfred in the way he does.

And I’ll raise you a Batman #20 from Bruce’s side of things. 😉