One Of The Many Tragedies Of Jack Drake Is That Not Only Was He Bad At Being A Parent, But That He Had

One of the many tragedies of Jack Drake is that not only was he bad at being a parent, but that he had the perfect person to discuss how hard the experience was for him right there and yet the only conversation they ever have about parenting Tim is conducted at gunpoint.

Because look at Jack Drake. As far as he was concerned, he had everything under control until Janet died and his world fell apart.

Tim was a Good Kid™ as a kid. He was well behaved and polite and not a difficult child and that's obvious from the fact that many of his memories of his parents together are of being taken out in public. Jack and Janet had one kid and they clearly wanted that kid to enjoy the same things they did, so they took him with them to restaurants and museums and art galleries and the opera. And he enjoyed it and enjoyed that time with them.

Jack however clearly saw his role as a father and a husband in the very traditional position as the main provider. It was his job to work and bring in the income that supported their lifestyle (his depressive episode after losing the company and their having to move makes it very clear how much of his self-worth was tied up in that role). He had a son, but his time with Tim was pretty clearly about taking Tim out with him on a Saturday afternoon to watch sport, or play tennis with his friends, or go to the monster trucks, or go fishing: being able to spend a few hours with Tim and show him off to his friends and then return home and someone else took over looking after Tim. And in his mind, he clearly thought he was a good parent! He spent time with his son! His son was a credit who was worth showing off! He could take Tim with him when he and Janet went out for the evening, and Tim could be relied upon to behave. He was winning at being a father!

The part Jack never realised, of course, was that like many men in his position, he'd handed the day to day logistics of raising a kid over to his wife (Janet) and to people he paid to do it for him (Tim's boarding school). He wasn't the disciplinarian parent. He was the 'fun' parent, who got to have the good times with his child.

If Jack was ever actually involved in decisions about discipline and consequences of actions, it was probably at the ultimate stage: the 'wait til your father gets home' sort of threat. The nuclear option. He didn't handle the everyday stuff - he probably never SAW the everyday stuff.

So, Jack thinks he's a great parent. He can brag to his friends about how well behaved HIS child is, unlike those little ruffians you see screaming in public or whose parents can't take them anywhere because they're disruptive.

Then his world falls apart. He's injured and disabled and grieving. He's a single dad. And the kid he's got is suddenly not the child he remembers. Tim frequently acts out, lies, runs away and comes home with bruises and notes from school saying they’re worried something is going on. He also starts dating and possibly trying to have sex ‘too young’ (being caught with Ariana sleeping over and the couch situation, Steph being pregnant even if Tim insisted it wasn't his).

Jack Drake has to suddenly step up to be the main parent of a 14 year old who he's probably never had that dynamic with. He doesn't have the years of experience in how Tim reacts to various forms of boundaries and punishments, because he's never been the one who set them or enforced them. He's probably never sat down and talked to Tim about his feelings in his life. And Tim, I repeat, is fourteen years old, possibly one of the most difficult ages for a kid. Everyone's 14 year olds are suddenly more difficult than usual and pushing boundaries.

On top of that, he's got to learn this all on the fly, in circumstances where he basically has no support. "Help, I'm a new single father to a teenager' isn't really a genre of self help book or parenting group that gets a lot of love - most people who are single parents aren't men, and most people looking for advice on dealing with problems with raising their kids are talking about under-5s, because by the time kids are out of the toddler stage most parents have a reasonable idea of what works and what doesn't, have networks set up, and are usually reaching out for a bit of advice or support about a specific situation, not Dealing With It All.

What Jack really needs is a buddy or two who are also single fathers to teenage boys, who have experience navigating this, maybe who also acquired responsibility for their son in his teen years. Wow. I mean that's a big ask, but funnily enough, there's someone who lives right next door who exactly fits that description...

(The tragedy that Bruce and Jack only ever have the one discussion about parenting Tim, the kid they've been effectively co-parenting since Tim was 13 years old, and that that discussion took place with Jack holding a gun on Bruce).

So of course Jack is terrible at being a parent to Tim. He's inexperienced, he doesn't have any support, he doesn't SEEK support outside of marrying Dana (and Dana clearly while lovely is both ineffective and reluctant to interfere in Jack and Tim's relationship). Now, he fails on very specific axes, in ways that are both understandable and also signs that Jack has a bad handle on his temper.

His go-to threat is sending Tim back to boarding school, because: when Tim was at boarding school, Jack didn't have any discipline issues with Tim! It clearly worked!; Tim doesn't want to go back to boarding school, making it a threat to hold over him; again, Jack's seeing a kid who is sneaking around, lying, running away and he's at his wits end - there's a narrative in the circles he lives in that such kids DO need to be taught to behave and sending them to boarding school is a way to do that.

He runs hot and cold on paying attention to Tim because up until Tim was 14 that was...what he did! And it wasn't such an issue then, as he wasn't a single parent. And when he pays attention, he does tend to be focused (laser focused, in fact), in getting Tim out of No Man's Land, of the dramas at school during Cry of the Huntress when Jack's getting outraged over Tim's bruises and getting into fights, when he's arguing with Ariana's uncle over whether Tim and Ariana's relationship was going too far.

It's just that he never developed the day to day, in between level of parenting and boundary setting and discipline. He's got a temper, and he swings between "it'll be fine, Tim's a smart kid, I trust him" laid back permissiveness, and getting mad and going immediately to the nuclear option: "You are going back to boarding school!" and so on.

He doesn't know how to walk away and calm himself down when he's worked up. He's not particularly good at redirecting his aggression. And he gets easily frustrated, because in his mind everything went smoothly for years...until it was all his responsibility.

And the thing is, there are so many ways Jack could have tried harder to be a good parent, that were available to him. But because of his background and the culture he lived in and the demands of storytelling he never reached out for any of them.

(And Bruce was right there! They knew each other socially! Everyone knew Bruce had worked through having two teenage sons on his own! He could have asked for advice, and he even knew Bruce knew Tim, given Bruce had officially fostered Tim while Jack was in a coma and in hospital. If you were putting together a specific support group you'd kick yourself over how perfect this was)

It's just such a part of the tragedy of Jack Drake.

Best way to start off the bingo is with:

Helena Bertinelli

Of course!

My blorogirl <3

I recently mentioned I liked some of the Alt covers for the Batgirls series. I thought I'd share some of my other favourites.

Batgirls #1

I just think it's kinda fun. A nice homage cover and I really like the simple highlights in Steph's hair.

Batgirls #3

The lines feel like a sketch. It's giving a bit of a Spiderverse feel to it if that makes sense. I love the yellow outlines on the foreground compared to the background. The overstuffed utility belts make a lot of sense.

Batgirls #6

I love the vibrant colours on this cover. Pink Yellow and Blue. Reminds me of printer ink. The yellow being a highlight, and the pink almost becoming a shadow or lowlight on Cass's suit.

Batgirls #7

Love how Cass's cap feels a bit like a wing. The ombre background reminds me of the ombre background sky from Huntress (1994 run). I like how a light blue is used as a highlight and a mid tone blue is used as Steph's undercape compared to the warm tones.

Batgirls #9

The outlines bring pink on Cass where the light hits compared to the solid Spoiler suit lines. Steph's hair is softly outlined compared to the harsh lines.

Batgirls #11

Cass's making up the left ear, and the way both capes make the logo go in different ways. Cass's makes the logo wings go down, and Steph's makes the logo wings go up. The grainy feel to the art reminds me of old comics. Feels a bit nestolgic

Batgirls #12

I own this one. Old Cass Batgirl logo! The art reminds me of a specific era of advertisements and the colors of older TV color. 80s or early 90s anime? IDK I don't remember the right name.

Batgirls #15

Pink sky, blur bag round, and green in the bottom left corner. Cass, who stands out against it, and Steph, who seems to make it her own. I like the idea of some more color to Cass's outfit. A bot of a mix between the Bat suit and the orphan suit. The blue building reminds me of building plans..

Batgirls #16

Paint splatter background. The bit of a white outline. The detailed drawing. It reminds me of the aesthetic background people put behind cut-out pictures. Like a mix of quick art and slow art if that makes sense? The blending of two styles together.

Batgirls #19

Gold outlines?! Yes! Steph has rays of sun behind her. Reminds me of the dead Steph carrying Cass panel from Batgirl 2000. Again, with the paint splatter. Love to see it. The white highlights on Cass's suit.

Cassandra Cain for the bingo 🖤

1: I don't want to be mean but. to the people talking about her who haven't read or started reading batgirl (2000), please read batgirl (2000).

Bingo!! ^_^

I made my own character opinion bingo so please send me some Sonic characters!

(Also you can use/repost the bingo if you want)

EDIT: Just so you know if you are doing this bingo and are accepting Sonic characters you are legally required to do Zavok. Thank you and have a good day :)

You have been assigned a four issue mini comic [<100 pages]. It can be about whatever you want. The only restriction is that it has to be about a minor support character [IE character friends, character parents, reoccuring minor villains, reoccuring civilians]. Which character do you choose, and what story would you want to tell in a four issue mini?

For transparency, I'm asking this question to a bunch of people because I want to see all the ideas everyone has. See what everyone would do.

cast of impulse!! most specifically Preston Lindsay. it's SO unbelievably annoying to me that he never found out bart is impulse, so essentially the mini would centre on him in film school making a documentary on Impulse's time in Manchester (I'm aware he made a film about him in the actual run, this would probably come from him finding that in an old box or something and then deciding to make an actual investigative documentary into the guy). Most of the mini would be him going around Manchester getting interviews from old characters (here we get Carol involved), but for the last part I'm thinking he goes to Central City (<- pretty sure that's where bart is based atm? haven't been keeping up) to try and get an interview with impulse. Either he finds out bart is impulse or doesn't, the point of this would be more to build up to a new impulse run (maybe Preston finds out bart is impulse in that) and to reintroduce the old cast. Because I miss them.