That fat red blob of a logo on his chest needs to GO! Either streamline it [and give him fingerstripes] or make it blue. One or the others, because right now, Dick looks like Wonder Man.
Yeah... that's why I said for ME it didn't feel like a retcon. And I never denied it was one, I just said that like any other retcon it should (and has) be considered as fact like any other retcon there ever has been in DC. The way I see it, DC is turning into a giant retcon as a whole; look at Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, and now the upcoming reboot. These writers are constanty changing any and everything about every aspect of the comics in order to pull in more readers. Half the things that are changed are either welcomed or overlooked by fans. So if you're against Dick and Barbara's relationship because it happened via retcon, you might as well be against everything pertaining to DC comics at all.
That's asinine logic. 'If we're against the Babs & Dick relationship via retcons, we're against all of the DCU'? No. The two are not even comparable. Post Crisis and Zero-Hour were planned out events that solidified what DC was changing and rebooting all across the board. Dick and Koriand'r's relationship was still in existance post Zero-hour. It was never erased or altered. Not until years later when Bat editorial wanted to pump up Bab's presence in Dick's past.
And unlike some changes that are made long after IC & ZH, it wasn't a minor thing or singular storyline being retconned. You're talking nearly 14 years of storyline that become tainted because the Bat crew wants to write the 'wholesome, human looking' Barbara on top of the 'evil, slutty alien' Kory who is now just a barrier to destined 'true love'... which wasn't a thing with Dick and Bab's until, what, 1995? Nice.
Also, I get the impression that our age differeneces are not that great, as I grew up with the animated series as well. The difference is I actually LIKE the character of Dick Grayson in the comic books and don't need over a decade's worth of character development destroyed to service the idea of him and Babs as a couple.
Bottom line is that while Dick and Barbara had some cute scenes and good chemistry when written in present-day, unfortunately much of their relationship is written in flashback or through retconned history--usually at the cost of Dick's personal canon. No relationship should rely on that much cosmetic surgery to make this coupling feel true or iconic. If that's your cup of tea, more power to you, but I don't have to accept it because 'its comics and things change all the time'. I just look at the lineage of that relationship against how other prominant couples have unfolded over shifting eras, and assume one has low standards.
Don't feel you have to like Dick/Kory on anyone else's behalf, but I think it needs to be understood that its not the relationship running its course and the two moving on that sits egregiously with fans--its that Barbara Gordon's romance with Dick was WRITTEN ON TOP of his very serious, very canonical relationship with Kory. It was a series of damaging retcons that began to marginalize Dick's years with the Titans, as well as treat Kory as if she was this 'promiscuous, other woman' in Dick's' life.
It was wrong and felt far too sexist in its delivery since Babs is the good/golden girl of the DCU and visually accepted by Bruce and his universe, and they were juxtapositioning her girl-next-door image against a sexualized depiction of Kory.
Honestly, I don't want Kory back with Dick, but I do feel DC got greedy and treated the idea of the Babs/Dick coupling as more important than the two's individual histories. Barbara slowly got de-aged and Dick's own continuity got altered to suit a past romance that DID NOT happen. The relationship literally became an editorial edict at the cost of treating Koriand'r like dirt.
I believe this is what is being referred to when posters comment that a return to this pairing would "only hold each other back".
Which is why my vote is for romances with new people. I'm all for Dick/Powergirl or Dick/Kate Spencer(Manhunter) and Babs is more than welcome to explore the playing field.
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