I’m trying to run down the original source of a quote for a little writing project (non-fictional in nature, more on the order of an essay than a fanfic, hence the need for a source) I’m putting together. I may have found it, but my source reads like it’s quoting something else, so I’m trying to figure out if it’s a reference to another story.
In Nightwing #127, Dick’s narration quotes Batman as saying “Your mind is your greatest weapon. Don’t ever forget that.” This comes up several times, but with no associated flashback, and the first time it appears he doesn’t specifically say that it comes from Batman. So, it sounds like it’s something from an earlier story, presumably one involving Bruce training Dick as Robin. I figured Batman: Year Three was the most likely candidate since both it and Nightwing #127 are written by Marv Wolfman, but I just skimmed through and found some similar quotes, but neither the exact one nor anything quite so pithy that I could use as a substitute.
Anybody recognize this? I could just quote the Nightwing issue, but I’m trying to use the quote to make a point about Batman, so it would be odd to quote a different character’s series on the subject.
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Sorry I can’t help with the source, but in case you can’t find one, I wanted to say that in my opinion it wouldn’t be odd to cite the Nightwing series as the source. I’d think, this guy’s really well-read!
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I can’t source an earlier quote either. However, since you have multiple quotes from Bats within the same psychological construct. I’d make the argument, citing the earlier Batman quotes thatnthe Nightwing quote is a distillation of, at least in part, Batman’s philosophy.
It the same argument used for the generally miss attributed Volatire . “I may disagree with everything you say but will defend your right to say it.” That is actually Evelyn Beatrice Hall on Voltaire from the book Friends of Voltaire and it is a distillation of a portion of Voltaire’s philosophy, which is often why it is misattirbuted to Voltaire himself.
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Did you consider it might not be from another comic? It might just be this author suggesting inventing a previous conversation between Bruce and Dick?
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@BatWatch: It is certainly possible. The way the issue is written made me think it was from a previous story, but given that nobody else has seen it either, it’s looking more likely that it was original to the Nightwing issue.
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No telling. Considering all Dick’s time as Robin, I’d be astonished if there weren’t multiple instances of Bruce saying something like that to Dick.