#also i love dick i’m reading nightwing like i’m interacting with his source materials

[jeromiah]

i saw another take about how sexualizing dick grayson and ignoring his character is bad or whatever, and the argument includes the fact that he’s been SA’d and that if he was a female character people would be up in arms about it.

first of all this man is sexy as fuck. i know it. you know it. DC knows it bc they keep selling me sexy comic variants and i keep buying them. it’s okay to sexualize him because he’s a fictional character who will never know. and if we used the “oh but what if he was a woman” claim that means we shouldn’t sexualize anyone, leaving the only historically sexualized characters to be women. also, his sexualization by DC leads me to believe that his comics are more often read by women and queer men—and they’re catering to it. not a “win” per se but an interesting observation.

his sexy persona doesn’t negate his experiences nor his character as a whole. (if we really wanted to get into the nitty gritty of it, i could argue that dick’s sexualization and objectification are a self-imposed unhealthy coping mechanism for his trauma but that’s too meta for DC to have thought of) he can do both. part of his character is brushing off his trauma in front of others, so can we mistake fans for falling for his misdirects? also…people who have been SA’d can still be sexy and be sexualized (with consent if they’re real people) and like being SA’d doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever see them in a sexual context again. if that were true i’d be miserable and a virgin lol

also, we’re literally talking about batman here, one of the most widely-loved franchises in the world where most people haven’t actually read a single batman comic let alone all of them, it’s impossible. same goes for nightwing, who has a more reasonable solo series to finish, but still isn’t for the faint of heart. you don’t have to be an expert on dick grayson to like him and think he’s hot. he is a kind, light-hearted person who’s just too hard on himself and struggles to find a sense of identity.

“and here we slap the ‘sexy’ identity on him.” well…yeah. we’re allowed to do it. turning to fanfiction of all things and expecting it to portray dick honestly is just a dumb expectation because a large chunk of fanfiction is sexual and even if you aren’t reading sexual fics, you’re still reading the works of amateur writers who don’t write for DC. the fun thing about fanfiction is that you can do whatever you want and some writers choose to ignore things and you’re reading their work for free.

dick grayson as an objectifiable character is so fascinating. like i think asking questions about why dick became the sexiest character in DC, why DC embraces it, why his current writer is all over it despite being a straight man could be fun. what does this say about comics culture and the state of sex in popular sequential art? what happens if he does become a sex icon, and is that even truly possible? how does it interact with DC’s growing cast of queer characters? what does it say about the relationship between DC and queer audiences?

i think coming to the conclusion that sexualizing dick grayson is bad and it shouldn’t happen leaves out so many interesting nuances and factors at play that have created this unique situation. and like…he’s sexy as fuck. i love owning a dick grayson swimsuit cover.

[bigskydreaming]

That last reblog is very informative and useful in figuring out where to find certain storylines. Purely on a personal recommendation note, for anyone looking for good reads and who tends to like my take on things, my recs from that list (and not saying that others I don’t rec aren’t good, just what immediately popped into my head) would be:

Batman: The Long Halloween (yes. its a good)

Batman: Birth of the Demon (if you want to set canon on fire, as many people are wont to do, a good place to start is aggressively ignoring Morrison’s take on Damian’s birth and origin and instead treating this story as his origin and just building off the idea that Talia lied at the end which is waaaaaaaaay better and just like...go from there)

Batman: The Killing Joke (kill it with the fire. we’ve had enough of the killing joke. it can die. even alan moore hates it and he wrote it and alan moore usually loves everything he writes and hates everyone ELSE for like, liking it the wrong way, so I mean, that should tell you a lot)

Batman: The Cult (holy shit I totally forgot about this story and now am off to go reread it again myself)

I have Issues with how ADITF AND A Lonely Place of Dying play out and most popular takes on them, so like, I’m not like, recommending RECOMMENDING them, but I mean like, they are pivotal.

Batman: Knightfall, Legacy, Cataclysm and all things No Man’s Land related have some good stuff throughout all of them. Like, things I don’t like, sure, but overall, there’s a lot of good material in them. Also, a good way to get a strong sense of actual canon Tim, who is not fanon Tim, and who would probably take one look at fanon Tim and go LOL nerd, and kickflip away on his skateboard to go tell Nightwing about this AU version of himself he just met, as like, he actually likes and respects Nightwing, among other differences.

JLA Tower of Babel (its a yawn from me, lads. the source of pretty much all “Batman can beat all of the JLA because he has the greatest superpower of all: PREP TIME!!!” hot takes and I mean, yeah that’s pretty core to Batman and who he is at this point, but the story itself its just like. Eh. Could you not. Idk. Basically I just mean this is all part of an era of JLA that for the most part I actually tend to LIKE Bruce’s interactions with the rest of the team, but then there was this and it was just like. Eh. Could you not).

Bruce Wayne: Murderer? and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive (Quality reads IMO that emphasize the Detective part of the Batfranchise and contain good moments for the whole currently present Batfam, lots of great Cass and Dick stuff in particular. Idk. I havent read them in awhile but I have fond memories)

Batman: Hush (this gets a bad rep and not entirely deserved IMO. Like, its not the greatest story in the world but I like how it portrays Bruce as having flawed dynamics with a lot of his loved ones but not shying away from his role in that but also without overly vilifying him....he’s an appropriately complex character in this, is what I mean, and I also like that this is another story that emphasizes the often lost-and-forgotten Detective part of his core concept. Also, it utilizes some of my fave villains in ways that bring home how much potential certain combinations/team-ups of villains could have if they were utilized more instead of overlooked in favor of ITS TIME FOR THE JOKER AGAIN WHEEEEEEEE!)

Batman: Under the Red Hood (hahahhahaha no. like could you imagine me reccing this? LOL its not realistic. Nah, stick with the animated movie retelling. At least Bruce doesn’t slit his son’s throat in that one to save the damn clown again)

Batman: R.I.P (I reluctantly rec this not because I like it, cuz I don’t, its Morrison back on his bullshit in a most I AM THE MOST GALAXY BRAINED OF ALL THE GALAXY BRAINED AND ALSO IM A CHAOS MAGICIAN DID U KNOW THAT HUH DID YA DID YA, like, fashion. Its. A lot. The story is A Lot. I don’t say that in a complimentary way. BUT I recommend it anyway out of pure stubbornness and Dick Grayson fanboy spite, as its set like, directly before Bruce is believed dead and gets lost in time, and like, A LOT happens to Dick in that story that SHOULD BE extremely relevant and crucial to examinations of his mental and emotional state at the time of him assuming Bruce’s role in the family and as Batman, but that just like....ISN’T, and that annoys me. Also, the primary villain of this, Dr. Hurt, like.....

his grand endgame involved torturing the fuck out of Dick to hurt Bruce specifically, and pretty much the first thing that happens when Bruce DOES come back from being lost in time is Dr. Hurt pops up out of nowhere and shoots Dick in the head, like FIRST THING, like this is the absolute first thing Bruce has to deal with when coming back, and this is just like....NONEXISTENT in most fics about that era. Because lolol how can we blame Dick for everything that went wrong and make Bruce be mad at him for how Dick wronged Tim and Jason and all of Gotham probably, if we’re going by actual canon and thus dealing with the fact that Bruce is preoccupied with hovering over his just-shot-in-the-head-specifically-to-fuck-with-Bruce son’s bedside and WORRYING about him. LOLOL hashtag Fandom Willfully Erases The Majority of Dick’s Canon Traumas Not Because They Want To Set Canon On Fire - they’re usually fine with sticking to every instance of canon in which Dick does something even in the ZIP CODE of wrong - but rather because if we acknowledge Dick’s traumas then eww, he might come across as....sympathetic? No, we can’t have that. ERGO HE WAS NEVER SHOT IN THE HEAD HAHAHAH WE FIXED IT, WE FIXED CANON).

But I digress.

Battle for the Cowl (another reluctant rec because like, its dumb and its bad, but its one of those things that I’d still rather more people read than didn’t, because like it is pivotal and relevant, and it contains key plot points like oh Idk, Arkham literally blowing up as all the currently locked up inmates escape, which led to Dick having Wayne Enterprises rebuild it himself, and like, the only villains present in it when he was Batman being the villains he and Damian CAUGHT while he was Batman, which did NOT include the Joker, and thus all the hot takes about how Dick locked up Jason two doors down from his murderer like the uncaring bastard that he is, like.....instead of the reality that Dick pulled strings to have Jason put in Arkham instead of Blackgate when the POLICE ARRIVED ON SCENE AND LOCKED UP THE ANONYMOUS RED HOOD BECAUSE HE WAS CLEARLY DEFEATED AND CLEARLY A WANTED CRIMINAL AND THUS LIKE, HIS IMPRISONMENT LITERALLY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH DICK OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT DICK DEFEATED JASON RATHER THAN LETTING HIM KILL HIM AND DAMIAN.....

like, its literal canon that Dick explains himself for having Jason put in Arkham instead of Blackgate because it allowed him to keep Jason OUT of gen pop where he had literal dozens of enemies that he, Jason, WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR PUTTING THEM IN THERE HIMSELF, and it was to keep Jason SAFE, and it WORKED as Jason’s only actual canon complaint at that time was that he was BORED. So in conclusion, AS ALWAYS, you can do what you want, but when you literally manufacture the fake fanon - and completely fail to make any effort to establish that this is NOT actual canon and that you’re not actually riffing off of an actual canon moment - that Dick callously locked his brother up a few doors down from his own murderer (the dude that Dick himself literally once beat to death because he killed Jason).....like, inquiring minds would like to know, why are you trying so hard to make Dick look like THIS MUCH of an asshole, hmm?)

Batman: The Gates of Gotham (a weird, but fun little read IMO, that delves deep into the backstory of Gotham, the Waynes, and also Dick’s ancestors the Crownes, and establishes a lot of the history revolving around all of the above, and like, it actually has Dick as Batman and being competent and respected by the rest of the family in that role, and its also one of the only times Cass and Damian interacted one on one, stuff like that)

Batman and Robin Eternal (eww no, kill it also with the fire, burn it, I hate it, uggggggh why is this series so praised, its so baaaaaaaaaaaad, its like what if literally every character involved in it is an asshole to Dick for no valid reason whatsoever.....huh, weird thought, wonder if the fact that its so praised as being so good and Dick’s so hated for weird reasons by a lot of fandom are connected....almost like.....the fiction influenced how people viewed his character....and thus....critical commentary of how the fiction was bad is....relevant....HMM I MUST PONDER THIS STRANGE AND NOVEL THOUGHT).

[pinkrae]

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract [review]

So, me and my boyfriend watched the latest DC animated movie Teen Titans: The Judas Contract and I’d like to give my opinion on it. For those, who want to avoid spoilers, I’ll give a quick general opinion of the movie itself and will go in further detail under a read more.

VVV SPOILER FREE [aka, short version] VVV

In general, I liked the movie. It was fun to watch and had good fight scenes that left you at the edge of the seat at times. Add a bit of dirty humor and character development in it and the movie is more than enjoyable, with a few minor Nope moments. But even those didn’t ruin the movie for me, as I am a big huge fan of Teen Titans and I just love seeing them finally getting proper treatment in contrast to that hellspawn of a crap show that is TTGO. Plus, we got to see some pretty awesome characters that need more screentime! 

Overall, I’d say that plot-wise DC stayed as true as possible to the source material, and any fan that loved the original Teen Titans series and the comic that the movie was based on would really like it. And not just that, I’m sure new fans that aren’t familiar with the Judas Contract would be into it as well, even if just to see the amazing assortment of characters they’ve put in. I know I loved it. A lot. But again, I just really love seeing my bbies on the screens again and I’d watch and love anything DC’s giving me. xD 

So, all in all, I recommend the movie, absolutely. But for a more in-depth comment, click below. BEWARE though, it’s super long. ;D

VVV SPOILERS AHEAD [aka, SUPER LONGASS version] VVV

First of all, a flashback of the sorta original team meeting Starfire at the very beginning of the movie. Even for a fan, who would kill to see every single one of the Teen Titans characters on screen, I sort of felt that this scene was just a tad unnecessary, as it had no real relation to the movie itself, other than to just show Starfire’s origin (as well as a shot of Kory’s butt and a DickKory kiss that they obviously couldn’t live without). On the other hand, however, I get what DC’s doing. If you’ve seen previous animated movies, such as Son of Batman and Justice League vs. Teen Titans, you already know the origin of Damian and Raven, which is a really cool sneak peek for those, who don’t read comics or are not familiar with these particular characters. And now in this movie we received a glimpse of Starfire’s origin, plus, as we later on see - flashes of Terra’s past as well. And Jaime’s family gets an appearance, too, so all we really need now is to look a bit into Gar’s past and we’re good. So for me, the first scene was a 50/50. On one hand, it felt rushed and non-relevant to the story, but on the other hand it’s cool to see DC providing a bit of character background to those, who may be new to this fandom.

Next up - Dick and Kory. Not my favorite ship in the world, but hey, it’s canon, what can you do. And DC finally revealed more than just throwing not-so-subtle hints as they did in the previous movie. Also, all the dirty jokes - priceless. Really good for a laugh, definitely. It was nice seeing them working as a team and building their relationship at the same time. And, well, it was nice to see Dick in general. I’m always excited to see him around.

Then the team itself. Damian. Always refreshing to see his butt kicked. xD Don’t get me wrong, I adore Damian and his snarky attitude, but I’m glad that the movie didn’t focus on him as much as in other movies featuring this batkid. He got beaten and removed from quite a big part of the movie, which was both kinda disappointing because it’s Damian, but at the same time I can’t entirely say I minded it.  Raven. We didn’t get to see a whole lot of her, which is kinda understandable since the movie was expected to focus on other characters, but hey, there’s no such thing for me as too much Raven screentime. c: What we did get to see, however, was sorta of an aftermath of the previous movie about how she gets along with her trapped father that she’s always carrying with her in the form of the gem on her forehead. That was a neat little nuance that I enjoyed a lot. Also, although it doesn’t seem so at first, it looks like her friendship with Damian is still going pretty strong, so the bond that they created in TT vs. JL wasn’t forgotten, which I have a lot of respect for.  Blue Beetle. As my boyfriend would say: “He’s not the jerk they made him out to be in the last movie”. xD And yeah, it was super cool to see a lot of character development specifically for Jaime (which is a tiny bit weird, since, again, the movie’s expected to focus on other characters). We get to meet his family (and, spoiler alert, at the end of the movie he gets to see them too~), his struggles and how he tries to deal with them. It was absolutely amazing. Beast Boy. As always, we got to see a lot of sides of this lil’ green bean. As the social butterfly that he is, it made a lot of sense that he’d be on social media, post pictures and count followers etc. Although I would’ve liked to have seen it in the previous movie as well (since, as we see in the flashback at the beginning, he’s been on social media for quite a while), it was a nice addition to his character here. And while he’s forever with a smile on his face, his interactions with Terra changed from humorous ‘trying-to-impress’ sort of style to a deep understanding of each other (even if Terra didn’t want to admit it and never would), creating a great character development for Gar, especially after her death. Terra. A part of me didn’t entirely like her.. behavior in the movie. Probably because of the influence of the Teen Titans series’ Terra, who was always bubbly and cheerful among the teen titans. This Terra was suspicious from the very beginning and she had already been on the team for a whole year. You’d think that a person would be able to show more genuine happiness over such a long course of time. But no. Not Terra. So that bothered me a little. But other than that - her design was closer to her comic counterpart and I loved that the most about her. 

NOPE moments:

Slade and Terra. Man. I know and I understand that it’s kinda a canon thing, but oh boy was it cringy to watch. I wish they hadn’t shown that, but I get it that it was her entire motivation to be on this mission in the first place. As creepy as it may be.  Terra’s look in the last parts of the movie?? Dafuq happened with her? Like, why the sudden change? I get that it was the end of her mission and she could return to Slade (*gags*) and everything, but why the fuck did she have to cut her short hair even shorter and pierce her ears?? Also the dark lipstick. Was that supposed to be like a rebel kind of thing? If so, it was really misplaced and out of the blue. So unnecessary. Just no. 

CONFUSION moments:

AKA - DC, are you sure you have your timelines in check??

So. The thing that me and my boyfriend spend too much time talking about is, first of all, the actual age of the teen titans. Because that has never ever been mentioned anywhere. At all. I’ve checked so many sources and come up with nothing. No information or whatsoever. That’s why a lot of things confused us. For example, if Gar was a Teen Titan 5 years ago already, how old is he really? How old is anyone, for that matter? Well, the eldest ones there are obviously Starfire and Dick, so technically Gar should be around that age as well, unless he was suuuper young when he started out in the TT.  But the biggest issue was the timeline itself, as pointed out by my boyfriend. Five years ago they met Starfire. And in the movie Terra celebrated her 1 year anniversary since joining the team, aka, it’s been 1 year since the previous movie. So that makes it that Starfire came to Earth 4 years before Justice League vs. Teen Titans. SO. What the fuck? xD This means that from then on out, in the span of only 4 years, Dick, first of all, went from Robin to Nightwing (which, we all know didin’t happen right after Star came to Earth), then they had to have gone through the Jason!Robin time and Tim!Robin time before they even got to Damian!Robin. And even if Jason and Tim weren’t part of the Teen Titans in this universe, they’re still there. They exist. And they didn’t come to be in just 4 years, that’s crazy. So it just makes me wonder - what the hell did DC do to Jason and Tim? Well, we have seen Jason in the 2010 Batman: Under the Red Hood, but they seem to have thrown Tim out of the equation all together and it just makes me really sad. And it’s confusing asf, too.

Well, to end this review on a positive note: YAY FOR DONNA AND JERICHO.

In the last scenes of the movie we see Donna Troy getting the hang of her flight ability and in the after credits scene we clearly see Jericho and that earned quite a few squeals from the both of us. :D I’m a little confused about Jericho’s age here, though, but hey, it’s all confusing when it comes to ages here >.> All I can hope for some RaeJeri bonding in the future~ C: This ending definitely left me wanting more. And I just can’t wait to see what comes next. I WANT MORE. Even despite all the confusion, I really love this DC animated universe. It needs to be more thought-through in terms of time, sure, but I still love it. I genuinely enjoy it and can’t get enough of it. And I wish we get many more Teen Titans movies because they deserve it! The Teen Titans deserve all the love and they definitely need more of it. Go watch the movies. All of them. Seriously.

[bigskydreaming]

Okay, last random post for the day, then I gotta work. But something else I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, is that kinda weird feeling when you don’t like a writer or how they handled stuff and would have preferred someone else write it, BUT at the same time, you also really like something that came out of their writing and probably wouldn’t have happened if not for that writer making it happen.

And I think this also traces back to that post the other day about not settling for substandard representation and holding creators accountable for not doing more, and when its not the creators’ fault but the higher-ups, holding them accountable, etc.

Like, Scott McCall and Jeff Davis is a great example of this, I think. Obviously, he’s one of my favorite characters of all time. And as much as I hate how Davis and co. wrote him a lot of the time, obviously they also wrote him in ways that established all the core reasons I love that character so much, and there’s no guarantee that if another writer had launched a TW reboot, their version of Scott would be remotely like the one that I latched onto. 

And obviously we’ve all talked a lot about how Davis could have done more with Scott’s Mexican heritage and identity as biracial and latino, even though there’s a large chance he would have just been white if another creator had been in charge. I raise that just as another example of what I’m talking about, not one that I myself am looking to weigh in on, I leave that to latine fans. For myself, I’ve obviously talked a lot about how I project onto Scott and identify with him so much as a survivor and see a lot of parallels between his story and my own experiences and the identity they’ve shaped for me. And on that front at least, I’ve ranted just as much about how I personally don’t give Davis any credit for this stuff, because I think it happened in spite of him not because of him, that he was oblivious to the undertones of his own material, or at least the ones that could easily be read into it.

And then there’s Devin Grayson, the Nightwing writer I rant about a lot. The one who wrote him being raped, which obviously is also a large part of why I identify with Dick, and just like Jeff Davis, something I think is in spite of her writing, not because of it, as she too was irresponsible and oblivious in a lot of her handling of her own material. And at the same time, she’s also the one who introduced Dick’s Romani heritage and made that canon, while being very heavy-handed and stereotypical with the way she wrote things herself, and a lot of Rom readers being very critical of her choices there, while at the same time celebrating Dick’s Rom heritage and happy to have him as representation now. And given how few writers have even referenced Dick’s rape since it happened or how few actually acknowledge that he’s Rom, an argument can bemade that neither of these things would have happened if not for her.

And then we’ve got Bobby Drake, who I identified with long before he came out in the comics, and even moreso now that he’s actual gay rep I can point to. But obviously I rant a tooooon about Bendis and his handling of all this, probably even more than I ever have about Davis or Grayson specifically, and I think the difference here is that making Bobby gay WASN’T something that only he would’ve written. Given that multiple writers going back over twenty years have wanted to and even tried to write Bobby as gay or bi, but Marvel told them no, this is a definite area where the higher-ups are as much to blame for my issues with the comics as Bendis himself. Because Bendis is responsible for the writing choices I dislike so intensely in this matter, but Marvel’s higher ups are responsible for Bendis being the one who got to make the writing choices in this matter, even though other writers were willing and able.

I’m honestly not sure where I’m going with this, lmao, and don’t really have a point, sorry if you thought I did. I’m more kinda just thinking out loud. Except...in text. Whatever.

Anyway. All of this I think goes to show one of the best things about storytelling IMO....which is that stories grow with the telling. Always. Storytelling is like one giant, never-ending game of telephone. Where every time a story is retold, or adapted, or even just passed along from one person to another via a summary of the events - something gets added to it. The last person to pass it on in some fashion added a little bit of themselves to it, their own personal experiences and perspectives and priorities helping to further shape or flesh out the story even further. 

Sometimes by adding little details or context that maybe weren’t even in the original source material, but that we unthinkingly add in, maybe because those details are things that came to mind when reading or watching the story since they go hand in hand with why the story appealed to us in the first place. Like we add them in without realizing it because it seems so obvious that there are little holes and gaps in the story and these are the things that SHOULD go there, should’ve been there from the start. 

And other times, we add to and grow stories in the telling, somewhat counter-intuitively, but by ERASING little details about the stories or elements that feel like they don’t belong. Like filing away the rough edges to leave a more finished, polished piece before we hand it off to the next person, our audience for our retelling or recounting of it. Again, often not something we’re even consciously thinking about, our minds automatically leaving out the parts that we take for granted don’t fit or shouldn’t have been there in the first place. 

So any time we interact with a story, have some kind of personal relationship with it or connection to it, its like that story exists on two levels, in two separate ways. There’s the story as it was originally told, initially laid down, the story a creator constructed based on their own personal experiences, lens, and priorities, the story both as they intended to write it and as they actually wrote it, what ended up on the page. And then there’s the story as it exists once distributed to a wider audience, the story as its retold and recounted and transformed and shaped and honed and added to.

And you can’t divorce that second, larger version of the story from the initial ‘baby’ story it grew from. Not to get too precious here, but as with anything that grows, either physically or metaphorically, there is a sense in which its alive, and can be compared to other living things. Like take any person you meet. That person grew from a baby. The baby they were is fundamental to the person they are now. Who they are wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for who they were.

But how much does the baby they were actually matter, when interacting with the person they are now? No, you can’t separate the two, the one wouldn’t exist without the other, but in every way that actually matters, its only the larger, more grown version of that person that you’re actually interacting with, engaging with, INTERESTED in engaging with in the first place. How much credit do you actually owe whatever they were like as a baby or young child, for them growing up to become someone you like and value as a person now, someone who adds something to your life?

I think its something similar, with the way we interact with stories, and I think that’s part of why I have such a problem with the way we’re...encouraged to give proper credit and even show gratitude to storytellers for giving us certain stories in the first place. And I say that as a writer myself, and one who LOVES feedback, and loves interaction, and collaboration, and for whom a large part of the appeal of writing is seeing what someone makes of something I’ve written, or what they go on to do with it.

But I mean.....there’s no doubt that however these things originated, Dick Grayson’s existence as a male rape survivor means a ton to me, as one myself. Just like him being Romani means a ton to a lot of Rom fans, and the way Scott McCall being Latino means a ton to a lot of latine fans and how he means a lot to survivors in other respects and how Bobby Drake being gay means a ton to a lot of LGBTQ+ fans.

But in a lot of those cases, these characters mean so much to us more as a result of what other people have done with them SINCE those initial stories laid out these aspects of identity. It’s not Devin Grayson’s fumbling attempts at writing Dick as Romani that most Rom readers I know celebrate and enjoy his character, its for what others have done with that heritage on their own. Adding to it with their own personal experience, or at least researching attentively and with proper credit and deference paid to people whose experiences they listen to and learn from, etc. Just like, its not her issue with Nightwing and Tarantula I would actually cite as the reason I identify so strongly with Dick Grayson, but all of the fics and meta and headcanons written about that issue by other survivors who added to it and fleshed it out and made it real and lived with their own experiences and takes, while filing away the parts that just didn’t work for them.

Then again, we could argue that at least we still owe something for having that opportunity in the first place, right? That there was even that seed planted, that other people cultivated and grew into the story we actually like and engage with.

Except, idk. Like, intent doesn’t matter in terms of harm done, we say that a lot and its true. The fact that you didn’t intend to hurt someone with something doesn’t mean that they weren’t hurt. But that doesn’t mean that intent doesn’t matter, that it doesn’t make a difference in how something comes across. That sometimes it isn’t THE difference, in and of itself.

I rant about non/con fic and hurt/comfort fics all the time, fics that are really just an excuse for torture porn, even as I write stories that deal heavily with rape and abuse. And I don’t find this remotely hypocritical, because for me, this part traces back to intent. I’ve got zero interest in people using trauma such as rape or abuse for a narrative REASON. Like when writers talk about using rape as a tool to reveal something about a character, to change them in some way or develop them, to show what they’re capable of surviving or toughen them up, anything like any of that, I have an immediate and visceral reaction of FUCK NO. That train of thought is basically a dealbreaker right there, because I’ve got a deep-seated hostility to the idea that rape or any kind of trauma can be a tool. Even in fiction. Because no matter how you frame it, that tacitly perpetuates the idea that rape or abuse can have a purpose, a reason for existing, for happening to a character or a real person, and from there it’s only a few small steps to justification of it happening. The idea that being raped or abused can make a person better, can change them into a better or stronger or person in ways no other experiences or circumstances can manage - that’s deeply abhorrent to me, and I’ve got no respect for stories that go this route.

But at the same time, I do write stories about rape and abuse and read and engage with stories about this stuff, like various stories about Dick or Scott. And for me, the difference in these stories, the reasons why I’m interested in these but not those others, is because of the intent behind their writing, or at least what I perceive that intent to be, based on the writing. I’m interested in the stories that aren’t about writing rape/abuse to tell a story about a character, but stories about characters who have been raped/abused. Stories that are about the PEOPLE affected rather than the events that affect them. That treat rape/abuse not as a narrative or plot device or a thing that happens with purpose or for a reason, but rather just as things that happened to the people the story is about. Treating these things as lived experiences rather than part of an author’s grand design, or the real-life version of these things as part of God’s grand design. I don’t read/write stories about rape or abuse, I read/write stories about survivors. The difference is in the intent. Writers who are trying to make something horrible into something useful versus writers who are trying to make something out of the aftermath of something horrible. The latter value the survivor’s pain; the former don’t value their pain enough not to subject them to it in the first place.

And this of course relates to writing identity as well as experiences. With writers like Davis and a Latino character like Scott or writers like Bendis and a gay character like Bobby. It comes down to intent. Why are they making these choices, giving these characters these identities. Are they doing so for a purpose, because they think it says something about that character or will result in something? Or are they doing it to tell stories about a character with this identity? Because just like with certain lived experiences, I’ve got no respect for writers who treat real life identities as a tool, as something that can be chosen with purpose, to achieve specific goals. 

Most latine fans who are dissatisfied with Davis’ handling of Scott as a biracial or Latino character specifically, IME they cite the problem being how little interest Davis showed in actually expanding on that or doing anything with that aspect of his identity, even while happily taking credit for casting a Latino actor in his lead role. The vast majority of my complaints with Bendis and his writing of Bobby’s sexuality go back to how little interest he ever showed in writing Bobby as a character, having him explore his sexuality rather than just treating his coming out as a character benchmark or milestone that would forever have Bendis’ name on it, and that’s all he needed or wanted out of that. Why would anyone owe a writer credit or praise or gratitude for using someone elses’ identities for personal achievements? 

The flipside though is what about writers who write outside their lane in an honest and sincere attempt to tell stories about people who have these identities, stories about the experiences that come with them, stories about these people as people. Okay sure, that’s different, that’s great. But I mean, its not THAT great. As a white dude, I don’t ever think, gee I sure am grateful that this writer sat down and decided I’m gonna make this character a white guy because I think white guys have stories worth telling. LOL. Nah. So why should I be like, well gee, I sure am grateful that this writer sat down and decided I’m gonna make this character gay or bi because I think gay or bi guys have stories worth telling? I wouldn’t. I shouldn’t. Congrats on seeing me as a person whose identity and experience has value, same as I am and do because of my whiteness or my maleness? I’m....grateful? Nah. I mean, yes, this is better than writers like Davis or Bendis who are only writing outside their lane to get credit and praise for doing so, but just because its not ACTIVELY bad, doesn’t mean its like....ACTIVELY good or worthy of gratitude instead of just....hey, here’s a thing a writer did, they wrote a story with someone who’s like me in these specific ways. I’m a person to them.

Again, I have noooooooo idea where I’m going with any of this or what I was trying to say in any kind of cohesive fashion. This was just....stream of consciousness musing that I will now wrap up because I’ve run out of steam and/also I gotta get back to work. Make of it what you will, like, if you can find something useful in this, hooray and also, impressive, lmao, and if not....let your eyes glaze over and scroll past, lololol.