Does that mean way back when someone had to ask permission to give Dick Grayson his mullet and Discowing?

The way these questions are phrased is sort of missing the point, I’m afraid.

When you change the look of a character, you involve editorial, we’re not off on an island somewhere. It’s collaborative fiction on a massive scale, other books are involved, solicitations, licensing, it’s a considerable deal to change a bat-family member’s look.

Honestly, if we didn’t work together on this, it would be a gargantuan mess in about a week. Part of the job of working in a shared universe is not screwing things up for other people.