It happened during Batman and Robin (When Dick took on the Batman mantle because Bruce was believed to be dead, and Damian was his Robin) when they were fighting Flamingo, a ridiculously flamboyant villain that I’ve never really seen mentioned outside of this one incident honestly. He downs Damian by shooting him in the side, and then proceeds to shoot him four more times in the back point blank.
(Batman and Robin Issue #6)
When Dick is able to get to him, he’s (somehow) still alive and conscious but he’s paralyzed from the waist down.
(Batman and Robin Issue #6)
Talia’s medics show up and take him back to her, where she essentially replaces his spine with some super-expensive high-tech one in a really painful looking procedure, which is how he would have gotten that scar.
(Batman and Robin Issue #7)
She then tries to convince Damian that Dick and Alfred and everybody are just using him as a tool for their own means, and are trying to tame and control him. Damian argues against it (especially her comments about Dick), and returns back to Gotham saying that he’s not going to be her weapon against them,
As it turns out, Talia had already put her own plans into place long before that, and what she had actually implanted in her son’s back was a way to literally control him. It isn’t until he’s been back in Gotham for a while that this is discovered, when she tries to get him to kill Dick while they’re out hunting for Bruce.
(Batman and Robin Issue #10)
Jesus Talia you are super messed up.
Then she hands the controls over to Slade Wilson who is super creepy about it and ever-fixated on Dick Grayson.
And then there’s a long battle of Damian trying not to kill Dick while Dick tries not to hurt Damain (too much anyway, he slams him face-first into a tree but I’m sure he’s fine) and Slade spouts his usual “You ruined my life and I’m going to kill you” speech until Dick basically electricutes him through Damain.
(Batman and Robin Issue #12)
Again, I’m sure he’s fine, thanks for asking Dick.
They go and pay Talia a little visit and smash the machine (and hit Slade with his own IV stand) and ummmm that’s the very very long answer to your question and a whole bunch of extra crap that you didn’t ask for.
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. 😉
…Damian “Don’t Patronize Me or I’ll Break Your Face” Wayne in teeny tiny shorts and his friend’s shirt that is too big may be the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
(from Superman #21 preview by Tomasi, Gleason, Gray, and Kalisz)
Daintyfire 