#I feel like Charlie Day in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

[your-mums-nuts]

Charlie😭wanted😭Mac😭to😭put😭his😭teeth😭in😭his😭family😭teeth😭jar

[23meteorstreet]

[emiliemaria]

Just a little sketch

[flying-ham]

spot the difference😔

[ricketycr1cks]

Thinking about Charlie’s “I’ve been sewing my clothes back together pretty much my whole life” in The Aluminum Monster vs. Fatty Magoo

[thetrolltolls]

😌🫶💖

[eyeseechan]

you watch 2 seasons of its always sunny and suddenly charlie kelly is appearing in your dreams

[thedesertpenguin]

Mac Day/The Gang Broke Dee/Charlie’s Home Alone. I still watch them on all rewatched because I hate skipping ANY episodes on a rewatch regardless of the show.

I literally will scroll my phone while either is on so I can complete it without investing my time into it

whats your discomfort episode of sunny. not even necessarily your least favourite. just the episode that you feel deeply inconvenienced by regardless of how objectively good it may or may not be

[future-crab]

The thing about mcr5 is that it’s not a super crazy conspiracy theory to think that a band might release an album soon, but I cannot talk about it without feeling like this:

[ID: the Always Sunny “Pepe Silvia” meme - a screenshot of Charlie Day in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia standing in front of a conspiracy board covered in papers and red string, looking unhinged. End ID.]

[theunknownpoetandrewfoster]

what about a highschool fic where mac & charlie are their normal selves, and dennis finds them and starts off with just buying weed from them. and he’s a little cagey because (here comes a personal headcanon 😞) mac & charlie are close physically too (platonically), like holding hands if they’re high just for the feel of it or sitting pressed side-to-side/arm-around-shoulder on some colder days (im imagining them under the outside field bleachers). just super casual close contact and it’s not long before dennis decides that he wants that too, and soon starts to stay to smoke with them. i imagine him just fully inserting himself/shoving his way into mac & charlie’s little dynamic and then that could fizzle into mac&/dennis physical touch too. i’ve read every single one of your sunny works at least once and anything you write is always an easy re-read and bookmark!

I hope you like it, anon! Thank you for the prompt! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

[agentnico]

Top 10 WORST Movies of 2023

For every good movie there’s always a dozen stinkers, and 2023 brought out a lot of turkeys, and I’m not referring to all the poor birds that ended up in our bellies this Christmas season. It’s become a tradition for me every year to do a top 10 best and worst movies of the year list, and I tend to leave the top 10 best list till later as I catch up will the awards potentials, however with the bad list I get right on into it. There are of course many bad movies this year I didn’t see, as I don’t actively seek out to watch the bad ones, but I have heard that these following haven’t been the best: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Marvels, Indiana Jones 5, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Expend4bles, Children of the Corn, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey…… damn, a lot of films got a bad rep this year. Yet I have 10 other ones that I’ve seen that I thought were crap. Don’t worry if a film you loved ends up on this list, it will simply mean your opinion is wrong and your have to live with that. With that in mind, here’s my humble list of the shit-fest Hollywood had to offer in 2023…

10) ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA - Everything that is wrong with the current state of Marvel is exhibited on full display here. Lacking a sense of direction and exploiting the idea of the multiverse just for the sake of it, the movie is a dud. It feels like whilst trying to focus on going bigger and bolder, the movie lost the sense of fun that elevated the earlier instalments in the tiny hero’s franchise. Paul Rudd is still as charming and likeable as ever, however the introduction of Kang as the next MCU Big Bad is pointless seeing as this big baddie can be defeated by a bunch of ants. Don’t make no difference now anyway with Jonathan Majors losing the court case, but who in the first place thought “oh yeah, Kang is a badass who killed many Avengers, but a giant head of Corey Stoll should weaken him no problem”. Look, there’s no sugarcoating it - this movie is bad. Also, Bill Murray appears in this because…?

9) THE BEANIE BUBBLE - Zack Galifianakis without any facial hair is truly a sight to behold, but that’s not enough to make this fluffy yet bland behind-the-scenes look at the famous Beanie Babies toys even remotely interesting. It’s as if this film can’t bear (thank you) to show the creepier side of these toys, as this should have been a more darker and messed up tale, especially with the lightly implied institutional sexism. Oh well, that’s that then.

8) WE HAVE A GHOST - If ever there was a movie that fit more to the phrase “Netflix & Chill” then this is it, as you will be too busy banging your partner or your sock than caring about a silent speechless David Harbour creeping about Casper-like and being all quiet and mysterious. To be fair he’s the only redeemable quality as the rest of the movie is a mishmash hodgepodge of genres that is neither funny, nor effective in its family drama dynamic. At least seeing Jennifer Coolidge jump out a window was mildly amusing. Mildly. Anyway, where’s that sock?

7) THE OLD WAY - It is truly fascinating that after starring in over 100 films, this is Nicolas Cage’s first ever western. Aside from that mind boggling revelation, this movie comes out with less than a bang. I don’t know, I was hoping for something a bit more mad, especially with Cage’s involvement. Heck, in the movie’s opening sequence Nicolas Cage is introduced with a sprawling Poirot-like moustache, and immediately I assumed that I am in for something ridiculous. However following that scene the movie cuts to 20 years later, and with that both the moustache and the hope for something exciting or weird is diminished to singular unseen atoms.

6) FOOL’S PARADISE - The directorial debut from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Charlie Day (who also writes and stars), misfiring Hollywood satire Fool’s Paradise wastes a strong ensemble cast that also includes Adrien Brody, Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Kate Beckinsale, Ken Jeong, Common, John Malkovich and the late Ray Liotta. Look, in a way I feel bad about including this film on this list, as you can tell this is a true passion project for Day and one that has good intentions by attempting to go back to the old-school slapstick Charlie Chaplin-era of comedy, with a lighthearted satire on the way the film industry works. In this case the result is neither sweet nor funny enough, and as such it’s an unfortunate misfire, but easily the most disappointing inclusion on this list.

5) GHOSTED - Adrien Brody’s crappy French accent in this movie I could have forgiven, if only I have not seen John Wick: Chapter 4 a couple of weeks prior where I experienced the most delightful Parisian mouthing of Bill Skarsgard’s villain, so now Brody’s French-ish slur sticks out like a sore thumb. What else sticks out is that Ghosted feels like a film from the early 2000s, featuring every cliche of the genre and with a romantic pairing of Chris Evans and Ana de Armas whom share zero chemistry. Their kissing scenes reminded me of that Andrew Garfield/Emma Stone SNL sketch where they don’t know how to kiss on camera, only in this case it’s unintentional. Also featuring a slew of pointless cameos, and I do mean pointless, this is a throwaway campy spy-action flick that is destined to be forgotten.

4) THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER - Billed as the true sequel to William Friedkin’s original horror masterpiece, it really shouldn’t have strived for that. Ellen Burstyn’s return is a waste. For those excited to see her, she’s only in 3 or 4 scenes total, and the creative choices made with her character are such a disservice to the original movie. Without spoiling, it’s a choice that seems to be inspired by the modern woke culture, with Burstyn’s Chris having being studying the art of exorcism ever since the events that transpired with her daughter, and then when questioned about why she herself did not partake in her daughter’s exorcism she blames the patriarchy. The choice of bringing her into this narrative and then what happens to her…it’s basically taking a classic character and making them dumb. I must say though that the only actual shocking moment in the movie comes in a scene involving her character, and though that moment itself is memorable, the build up towards it is so stupid. Also, with the return of Burstyn it comes as no surprise within the movie when a certain other character pops in for a cameo. Does it add anything to the movie’s story? No, it’s just there for cheap fan service. As for the movie itself, the horror hardly works. It’s not scary at all and you really shouldn’t believe in this one.

3) THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE - Yeah, I know, my inclusion of this film on the list will rattle some feathers, but I don’t care, as for any of you pricks out there thinking that stupid “Peaches” song deserves an Academy Award nomination, you guys are stupid and must be high on some very powerful shrooms. If so, I hope you’re having a great trip, but the fact stands that this movie is bad. Simply doing fan service for the sake of fan service don’t make for a good narrative. Me and my friend were bored throughout, as this movie is 100% for kids. There are nostalgic elements to it all, but I do believe that Illumination and Nintendo should have followed more in The Lego Movie’s footsteps and targeted the film for audiences of all ages, due to the fact that many who grew up with Mario are now adults themselves.

2) LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND - So much wasted potential. A long drawn-out slow shuffle to Nowheresville. A movie that offers so many ideas, plot points, and thread lines that are never answered or go anywhere. In Leave the World Behind things are truly happening under the motto “just because” and “why the hell not” and it makes the viewing experience immensely frustrating. Especially when the movie is nearly 2 and a half hours long and the anticlimactic abrupt ending is a slap to your face for wasting your time. Oh, and if I weren’t a fan of the Friends show before, now more so than ever.

1) 65 - Right ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to ask you all so kindly to rise up from your seats and give a humongous round of applause to 65 - the 2023 film to exhibit qualities of a top contender of the worst movie of this year. Look, I’m disappointed as you are. Adam Driver fighting dino-dinos’?! You’d be a madman to not want to see that! However here’s 65′s first mistake: there actually aren’t that many dinosaurs, let alone fights with them. I know right, I can sense the resounding aura of you, my kind audience, in unison thinking “what the f***?”. Exactly, what the fudge indeed. No, instead what we get is a couple of somewhat thrilling dinosaurs interactions, but overall the movie is just Adam Driver and this little girl walking. Just walking. Walking and whistling. Bunch of jackasses.

That’s it - we did it! Now I can happily forget I ever watched any of these and mentally prepare for what wonders of stupidity 2024 will bring to the big screen. As for my Best Movies of 2023 list, don’t worry, it’s a-coming. Still need to watch The Boy and the Heron and Poor Things and then all will be revealed…

[thebigskoot]

shitty little essay i wrote about the always sunny cookbook

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, also known as It’s Always Sunny or just Sunny, is a show that sometimes makes you lose your appetite. This is intentional; it is a show about disgusting people doing disgusting, cruel things to each other. Equally disgusting is the food that the characters discuss and consume: a couple examples of dishes featured on the show are rum ham, meat cube, milk steak (with jelly beans on the side (“raw”)), and riot punch. After hearing these names, a watcher likely does not want to take a bite of whatever a milk steak might be (we never do find out what Charlie means by this). Despite this, FX, the television channel that hosts Sunny, recently decided to make a cookbook based on the foods featured in this show. I believe that this book is nothing but a gag gift for fans, as it is neither funny nor educational enough to be a good read or a good cookbook.

The cookbook, titled Paddy's Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia: An It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Cookbook, is split up into sections based on characters from the show, each featuring an introduction written in the voice of a character followed by several recipes from said character. The first red flag of this cookbook is that it is not written by the creators of the show. Glenn Howerton, Rob MacElhenny, and Charlie Day are the creators of It’s Always Sunny and have been writing, producing, and playing the characters Dennis, Mac and Charlie since the show’s conception in 2005. Their respective characters were originally based on them - Dennis’s vanity, Mac’s hard-headedness and Charlie’s stupidity mirror the worst parts of the actors’ real-life personalities. Because of this, writing from these characters’ point of view has to be thoughtful and well-crafted in order to feel genuine and authentic to these deeply personal characters.

Unlike in the series’ official self help book, The 7 Secrets of Awakening the Highly Effective Four-Hour Giant, Today, which is written by the writers in their characters’ voices, this cookbook is written by a third-party writer. This makes the first-person introductions to each section of the cookbook full of cheap references to popular gags in the show, as opposed to any new information about the character. For instance, in Charlie’s introduction, he rambles about his iconic sleeping outfit of a black horse t-shirt and white long johns. This is something that never comes up verbally in the show, and is told only through wardrobe. However, the writer decided to bring this up to remind the reader that, yes, this is your favorite character Charlie speaking. Instead of references to the character’s wardrobe, something that may have been more relevant to a cookbook is something about Charlie’s relationship with food. For example, I would have appreciated it if the writer had given us Charlie’s take on his strange diet, which often consists of things not meant for human consumption, such as paint and cat food. How did he start eating these foods? How does he feel about his health as a result of his diet? If Charlie Day had written this from his character’s point of view, I think he would have expanded on what we already know about the character’s relationship with food as opposed to reminding us of what we already do know about his character’s pajamas.

Cat food, which Charlie eats every night along with a beer and a huff of glue, is a recipe in this cookbook. The writers could have gone the comedic route for this book and given this recipe one ingredient: One Can of Cat Food. This could have been done with many recipes in this book; as I mentioned, most of the food in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is nearly inedible. However, instead of keeping the recipes accurate to the show (and thus inedible), the writers opted to feature basic, easy-to-make recipes that only resemble the foods from the show. This takes the reader out of the illusion that the recipes were provided by the characters; if Charlie knew how to make tuna salad, he wouldn’t be eating Fancy Feast. Unfortunately, these character-breaking choices were made in the name of interactivation.

The simplicity of these recipes, I think, is an attempt at reaching the target audience of Sunny: college-aged adults. However, I think that two other options would have worked better as opposed to this approach: the aforementioned inedible approach, and, on the other side of the spectrum, the way-too-fancy-for-this-show approach. The inedible approach would render the book useless as an interactive cookbook, but make it a purely comedic gag book: something completely different and more consistent with the show’s brand. On the other hand, the writers could have chosen the way-too-fancy approach, in which the recipes are not described as being written by the characters but instead interpreted by professional chefs. This would give the book more of a purpose, of which it currently does not have: college kids can look up these basic recipes without buying a book based on their favorite sitcom.

A couple of summers ago, when I was in the depths of my It’s Always Sunny hyperfixation, I was living in a subletted apartment with my friend, Isaac. Almost every free moment we had, we were watching Sunny: before work, after work, while we were eating, and even during the one time we each picked up one dumbbell from my set of two and pretended to exercise. Sometime before the summer, I saw a two-part series from the YouTube channel Babish Culinary Universe in which Babish recreates the foods from It’s Always Sunny in two ways: one exactly the show describes (or how he thought the characters would make it), and one in a fancy, over-the-top way. For example, he makes a Grilled Charlie exactly how Charlie instructs Frank to make one on his hot plate: “Peanut butter outside, chocolate inside, butter inside, cheese outside.” Of course, this was an inedible mess, so he proposed a new and improved Grilled Charlie consisting of brie cheese, dark, high-quality chocolate, brioche, and chunky peanut butter. Although still a strange flavor combination, when Isaac and I had nothing to eat for dinner, we cooked and ate these fancy Grilled Charlies while watching our favorite show at the dinner table. Babish’s recipe was much more thoughtful and authentic than Grilled Charlie in the cookbook, which trades cheese for cream cheese frosting, which, like the tuna salad “cat food,” makes it a completely different (and boring) dish from the one featured in the show.

In conclusion, Paddy's Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia: An It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Cookbook is a bad attempt at an It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia cookbook in that it is not funny, authentic-feeling, or good enough as a cookbook to be worth buying even for a die-hard fan like me or Isaac.

References

Rea, A. (2017, February 20). Binging with babish: It’s Always sunny in Philadelphia special. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2ezpExQ_k0&t=46s

FX. (2006, June 29). The Gang Goes Jihad. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Episode.

Randolph, L., & Fecks, N. (2023). Paddy’s Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia: An it’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Cookbook. Hyperion Avenue. February 12, 2024, https://dayton.overdrive.com/media/10136164?cid=28073

Note: I was only able to access a sample of the book, hence why I focus so heavily on Charlie's introduction and recipes in this essay.

Wolf, M. J. P. (2014). Building imaginary worlds the theory and history of subcreation. Taylor and Francis.

[23meteorstreet]

charlie kelly - season 16

[juniperhillpatient]

no one asked but I will talk more anyway - the comedy of sunny derives from the characters & their tragedy mixed with their own awful choices. it’s not an overtly political show like South Park although early sunny has some decent political episodes like “gun fever” & Charlie wants an abortion.”

ultimately, this is a comedy about the worst people you know. the loudest, most obnoxious, nasty people you can imagine who are still people with trauma & baggage & feelings - “big feelings” even 😉 - & it works great when it’s this shitbag bunch of losers agains some clearly innocent or neutral outsider. it’s villains as protagonists & tragedy as comedy & character driven humor about wacky situations that these idiots get themselves into. that’s why episodes like “the gang inflates” & “Frank Vs Russia” work. it’s the gang in a stupid ass situation they’ve gotten themselves into being absolutely idiotic or freakish about it & working together as a dysfunctional team. these episodes reminded me of episodes like “the gang solved the gas crisis” & “paddy’s pub the worst bar in philadelphia.” not in terms of specifics, just in terms of the gang being an evil team scheming away.

It’s not that the gang can’t fight. If they’re not arguing they’re not the gang. It’s not even that they can’t have more significant conflict between them - “the gang misses the boat” is one of my favorite episodes & it involves the gang breaking up! but the comedy of that episode - the heart of episodes like that or “mac & Dennis break up” - is that these stupid assholes couldn’t escape one another if their lives depended on it! the other time conflict within the gang is funny is when they’re operating by their own insane internal rules & we get to see that at play such as the Chardee macdennis games or their many bizarre trials. those are great & only serve to strengthen the group dynamic by showing their bizarre & toxic rules that nevertheless work for them.

the show stops working when we the audience stop giving a shit about the gang or stop understanding the complexities of these relationships & why they always go back to each other in the end no matter what. imo season 15 at least tried to solve some of that (because the show absolutely lost sight of that in later seasons & I think the creators know it, & seem to want to remedy it) but the execution left a lot to be desired & the characters still didn’t always feel like themselves & and we still got a lot of crappy & unnecessary ham fisted jokes & forced plot lines & I have extremely mixed feelings on the drama because I do like some of it & I acknowledge Charlie Day’s incredible talent but it just did not feel like the sunny I know & love.

but all this to say I actually really feel that season 16 felt more like sunny than it has in years! & that’s because they leaned less than ever into misogynist jokes against dee & homophobic jokes against Mac & just the gang hating each other & instead let them be the wacky friends we know & love getting into hijinks! that’s what the show should be! in conclusion season 16 was mostly good & it’s because it let the gang be friends again

[psychosomaticsystem]

• about us! • dni included •

basic info:

• we are a system; we use the term ‘vessel’ to refer to our host body.

• our vessel is 18+; we’d prefer if minors dni, as there is potential for there to be nsfw content on our blog. this is to keep you safe! you have plenty of time to see nsfw stuff when you turn 18!

• items highlighted in red for ‘vessel info’ is true for all of our alters as well!

• we don’t list ages for our alters… the ones allowed on tumblr are over 18!

vessel info: [ zerø ] [tag: vessel zerø] {23 y/o}

(plural) they/it, aceflux/aroflux, in a relationship/not seeking (interactions ignoring this will be blocked), stargender/fluid. therian. kinnie. do not use honorifics/titles (sir, ma’am, mx, etc). autistic, paranoid schizophrenic, obviously a system… special interests include: transformers, danganronpa, warrior cats, cookie run kingdom, and others!

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

vessel’s kin list: morty smith (r&m), optimus prime (transformers), ibuki mioda & junko enoshima (danganronpa) , charlie kelly (iasip) greystripe & ravenpaw (wc), fig cookie & matcha cookie (crk). to be continued…

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

alters info:

• [spirit] [tag: ghostly activities ]

he/they, sex&romance repulsed aroace, transmasc demiboy. interests include horror/gore & scary movies (especially saw 2004). madk (horror/bl manga).

꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

• [socks] [tag: kitten mittons ]

they/cat/soft/she, grayace/cupiosexualflux sapphic demi-enbygirl. interests: ‘it’s always sunny in philadelphia’, rick & morty, and succession (tv show).

————————/ᐠ - ˕ -マ♪ ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ————————

• [star] [tag: galaxies away ]

it/shine/dust/✨, apogender, aromantic/quoisexual, interested in space, the deep sea, unexplored places, etc.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

• [beau] [tag: beau loves objects] second warning for minors — DNI AT ALL. NSFW CONTENT.

he/pup/it (also sometimes: cold/corpse/xey/ix/fire … basically any neopronoun that sounds dark or weird). hypersexualflux omnigay, ficto/objecto/auto-sexual. ambigender (— aesthetigender/affectugender). aegoromantic. junko enoshima kinnie. hyperfixation— kinks! not interested in sexual content involving me and non-fictional characters/people.

• [tuesday] [tag: days of the week ]

it/its ONLY. xenogender/virgender/staticgender vociboy. pomosexual & polarsexual. placioromantic. interests: animals, plants, nature, all that jazz. occasionally wicca/witchy stuff. i’m a baby witch so i don’t know much about it. I probably fall into the ‘plant witch’ category.

⛧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ·☽◯☾· ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───⛧

• [knives ] [tag: from the silverware drawer ]

they/void/he/she. limnoromantic fraysexual lesbian. i don’t know what i’m into honestly i just rb stuff i think is funny. sometimes i’m unabashedly political or horny on main. 👍

𓃶 🜏 𖤐 𐕣 ⁶⁶⁶ 𓃶 🜏 𖤐 𐕣 ⁶⁶⁶ 𓃶 🜏 𖤐 𐕣 ⁶⁶⁶ 𓃶 🜏 𖤐 𐕣

• [beetle] [tag: bugs galore ]

star/plant/bug/it/they/🐛 ! cosmic/swampgender boyflux… thing. lol. a lot of my gender feels like space and also bugs. really really interested in pokemon, stim boards, candy, and science!

☆.𓋼𓍊 𓆏 𓍊𓋼𓍊.☆ 𓋼𓍊 𓆏 𓍊𓋼𓍊.☆ 𓋼𓍊 𓆏 𓍊𓋼𓍊.☆ 𓋼𓍊

[distort-opia]

You said you didn’t enjoy Tom King’s writing, especially his take on the Joker. Most Batjokes fans avoided it because of BatCat, and personally I find his dialogue abysmal. But, what are some of your valid criticisms?

Hi! I've criticized aspects of King's writing before, when I was asked about his portrayal of Selina. You can read those discussions here, and here. As you will find though... I'm pointing out flaws but also admitting that I find his writing compelling. Because it's not quite accurate to say I don't enjoy King's writing at all. It's because I'm a masochist, and some of his stories turn me into Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the conspiracy meme. (Here's me writing a whole-ass essay on just one issue he wrote.)

The thing is, King has stuff to say. The concepts he wants to convey can be deeply compelling. When it comes to his Batman run, I Am Suicide, Cold Days and Knightmares are some of my favorite arcs when it comes to Bruce characterization... but I will also admit there's much to be desired in execution. King often falls into the trap that in my head is named after Moffat-- trying to seem deep, without actually delivering on the foreshadowing and ideas introduced. (Can you tell I'm a Doctor Who and Sherlock BBC survivor.) Also a lot like Moffat, King can be great at telling short self-contained stories, rather than long ones that spawn multiple narrative threads and a large cast. Most of the time secondary characters suffer dearly under King's pen. They become an extension of the protagonist and lose individuality; speech patterns bleed into each other, behaviors become interchangeable. King could benefit so much from an editor who actually ensured that the dialogue doesn't feel so repetitive and choppy, and that the voices of the characters feel distinct. It'd help a lot with making it less grating.

But leaving that aside (and other more story-specific criticisms I have)... at the end of the day, to me it feels like King cares-- something that sadly doesn't apply to a lot of writers at DC. He's got many flaws as a writer, but at least to me, it's clear that Bruce Wayne means something to him. He demonstrates a deep understanding of the character on more than one occasion, which redeems him in my eyes at least partially. Even when it comes to Joker, I dislike some of the writing, not all of it. Joker in Batman (2016) #48-49 is very interesting, and the "I need him to stop me" speech is beautiful. To be honest, I think I dislike the way Mikel Janin draws Joker more, and sadly I've come to associate his art with King's Batman stuff.