#are you sure about that btas comic writers????

[casscainmainly]

I know your not really much of a Jason Todd fan but I kinda wanna hear your opinion on this. Is the Bruce Wayne Brainwshing Jason Todd still canon? If so so you think it’s out of character for Bruce to do this.

Also how do you feel about Bruce’s characterization in modern comics in general actually?

Honestly it’s one of the reasons I’m kinda hesitant to read the comics, because while I’m super interested in all the lore- both Batman himself and his family (especially Cassandra she sounds awesome I love characters that show unwavering, intense dedication to compassion)I DONT want to read comics where Bruce is like, a completely awful paranoid asshole with none ofhis redeemable qualities (I got interested in Batman via clips of the JLU/BTAS)And according to a lot of Batman fans his characterization in this respect has been on a downward spiral for years now.

Like I’m not even a “god dad Bruce Wayne” person, I think his actions regarding Stephane Brown make a lot of sense for him actually and play into the effect that Jason Todd’s death has on him well and kinda wanna read me about that outside of fanfiction.

PS.Sorry if this ask is long and kinda random, I know this is mostly a Cassandra Cain blog.

Interesting question!! I'm not an expert on Bruce or Jason, so I'll answer to the best of my knowledge. I'm assuming Bruce brainwashing Jason is a reference to Gotham War, when he injects fear toxin into Jason's brain to make him afraid anytime he experiences adrenaline. I haven't read this so I can't comment too much, but this breakdown is useful if you want context for what led Bruce to this moment; it did happen in an in-continuity comic, so yes, it is (unfortunately) canon.

Some things to note for the context of Gotham War is that Bruce is grappling with Zur-En-Arrh, a sort of second personality. While this doesn't make it good writing, Bruce is not 100% in-character when he injects Jason. Whether or not that absolves him of wrongdoing is questionable, but it's a little unfair to Bruce as a character, and even to Chip Zdarsky as a writer, to think the thing with Jason was meant to be an in-character moment. So while I do think injecting Jason is out of character, that's kind of the point of the arc.

That's not to say the run is well-written. I can't judge myself, but many people dislike this run for numerous reasons. But this is just one of Bruce's modern runs - there are many more amazing Bruce comics out there. Ram V's Detective Comics and Scott Snyder's Absolute Batman are two fantastic takes on Bruce (though the latter is an alternate universe and ongoing, it's so far extremely entertaining!).

There will always be better and worse times for a character's characterisation, and you will encounter some horrible stuff in canon, but you'll find some life-changing stories too. You sound like you genuinely want to delve into comics, so please do! Don't let the risk of reading something bad stop you - there is so much good in here, stories that will make you laugh and cry and stick in your mind forever.

Since you're specifically looking for dad Bruce Wayne stuff, here are some recommendations!

Batgirl (2000): a very nuanced portrayal of Bruce as a dad to Cass. Definitely not a Good Dad Bruce at all, but he genuinely loves her and tries his hardest. 5/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale.

Tynion's Detective Comics (2016): very good starter comic in general for the Batfam, and Bruce has numerous sweet moments with Tim and Cass (Steph too, if you count her as a kid). 8/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale.

Robin & Batman (2021): not 100% sure if this is in continuity, but it's 3 issues and a lovely depiction of early Dick and Bruce. Features very realistic mishaps on Bruce's part, but sets up the foundation for a strong, beautiful relationship. 6.5/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale. (This is also getting a sequel featuring Jason!)

World's Finest: Batman/Superman (2022-): an ongoing series that is pure comic book fun. Robin!Dick features heavily here, and there's some wonderful Batdad moments. 8.5/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale.

Tom Taylor's Nightwing: probably the best dad Bruce in modern comics, and has very sweet moments with Dick throughout. One big caveat is the characterisation can be off, so I recommend this only in the context of Bruce being a good dad to Dick. 10/10 on the Good Dad Bruce scale.

You also can't go wrong with either Batman and Robin (2011) or (2023), which focus on Damian and Bruce (haven't read either but 2023 in particular seems to have good dad Bruce). Batman & The Signal and Batman & The Outsiders (2019) have great Duke-Bruce moments, while Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl is the best Steph-Bruce stuff we'll ever get that isn't wildly out of character. Batman and Robin: Year One is currently coming out for more Robin!Dick and Bruce relationship cuteness and drama.

I hope that answered your ask! I am mostly a Cass blog but I do love to talk about other characters so no need to apologise :)).

[lych33dragoncookie]

ok last Shadow Milk post today i promise promise.

Someone left a comment on an earlier post wondering about how Shadow Milk could have ended up the way he did, someone this deeply messed up, so infatuated with suffering, and...

Yeah. Honestly, I have to wonder too. He was made to be an Ancient Hero or whatever, he was made with the intent to do good, to protect the world. There's no way he was evil day 1, specially because no one is ever born evil, it's all a matter of how their environment shapes them. What could possibly have happened to make him like this? So much worse than Dark Enchantress, Longan, any other villain, absolutely reveling in the suffering around him, and seeking to create as much of it as possible, all for fun. How in the name of god does a guy end up like that???

And yet... Honestly? I see a lot of people asking for Shadow Milk lore, but i kinda hope we never get an answer. There's something about characters like these where the less you know about how they came to be the way they are, the more mind-boggling and terrifying they are. In fact, it'd be better if he fabricated his own backstory, and it became abundantly clear that he's completely full of shit, just saying things to manipulate his opposition, but making sure to convey that maybe, just maybe, some of what he says could be true.

And if this rings familiar to anyone...

Yeah, I'm not a huge comic book fan or anything, hell I haven't watched all the way through any of the BTAS stuff, but from what I've seen, generally, the best Joker interpretations tend to be the ones that leave his backstory up to reader interpretation, maybe have him give a few details, but make it so that you can't tell what's true and what's false.

The less you know about the monster, the scarier it is, after all.

So, honestly... I'd be happy if Shadow Milk never gets a backstory. I know some would be disappointed, but hey, if you want one so bad, then you could come up with one of your own. More freedom to you! In fact, maybe you could come up with something better than what the writers of the source material could have come up with.

Maybe, just maybe, the less we know, the more of an impression his horrible little show will leave on us. God i love this little bastard.

[bluespiritshonour]

Idea for a Batman vs Superman story: surprise! Batman is actually wrong for once this time. Not that he always isn't, but narrative always makes exceptions for him.

Lois and Clark pursue Batman for both child abuse and idk—everything else, how about that? I think it'd make for a very interesting plot: it goes into how you see things clearly when you're the third party. That it's very easy to say what's right or wrong when you're not the one involved.

But when it's one of your colleagues/friends who has a habit of taking orphans/abusing them or basically being a one man fascist deep state—then what do you do? He works with you. You're supposed to be a hero. When Lex Luthor does it, it's not okay? But if Bruce Wayne does it, it is? Think Clark, think. You saw he kicked Dick out, Clark. You've seen the way he treats the kids, you've seen the way he treats the League. You've seen his attitude towards the poor and marginalised. You're someone who understands him deeply and knows what makes him tick and you know why he is the way he is. But if you let him roam free and abuse everyone around you, what kind of hero do you call yourself? Do you make excuses for him because it's “not that simple?”

So, yeah. Batman vs Superman that actually makes sense.

P.S. the child abuse I'm talking about isn't the “Robin is child endangerment” argument. It's [waves hand] everything else.

P.P.S: I hate that panel of Wally tearing Bruce a new one concerning “children superheroes”. I mean, it makes sense. Wally grew up with Dick, he knows what kind of parent Bruce was. And they have the entire Justice League hissing through their teeth and going all “he did not say that. Lol.” and they think they're revolutionary or cool or any of these things.

But they're not.

What is the Justice League if it condones abuse within its circles. What is the Justice League when it sees a hero mistreating their sidekick and does nothing about it? Because they know him?

Either don't bring it up at all and I'll somehow suspend my disbelief (the way I do with really good comics like Grimm and BtAS) or if you're bringing it up make sure the narrative doesn't condone it but NOPE! DC and dudebro writers of the medium only know how to half arse things.

[argentumcor]

The Price of a Bullet

You can find the whole fic posted here, covering Jason's experiences during Arkham Knight.

Notes and thoughts if they interest you:

-I do think Jason was written consistently between AK Genesis, AK, and the Red Hood DLC. There's a complaint that he wasn't, and an accompanying complaint that the Knight is whiny, but that's assuming a level of emotional stability that he doesn't have. Reading AK Genesis, it's clear that Jason's narration regarding Bruce is cope, a product of his time in captivity and the Joker's mental conditioning. Bruce does care- he's just bad at showing it. That's clear in his interactions with the rest of the family, even Dick who would have known him before the haunting loss of Jason. On top of this, Jason spent most of his life from the day he was born being told he was worthless verbally and via physical abuse. Trust comes hard to him. The Joker in the Arkham games is very good at spotting things he can exploit about people, and when Jason was talking to buy time for Batman to come save him, he probably heard Jason's low sense of self-worth (self-esteem doesn't cover it), the perfect thing to use to break Jason to harness.

-Jason's snark is present as the Knight here and there on comms. He's not stable, though, unlike his depictions in other media. The "whiny" tone people complain about is more mania coming through as he gets close to his goal and his programming comes undone. This, I think, was an interesting way to split the baby- in the comics Jason being unstable is a concern of Bruce's to rather...extreme...extent (and unfounded, he isn't unstable except for inconsistent characterization like the rest of the DC cast). What is happening in AK is someone grindingly finding himself dragged back to reality after living in madness for a long time (no way in hell did he "escape" as late as Asylum; let's say it's been five years minimum and it happened during some other breakout).

-A quiet theme in the Arkham games, and in a lot of the better Batman media, is "truth beats lies." Batman beats out fear toxin, beats out Hatter's hypnosis, overcomes the Joker's mental infection because they're all founded on things that are not true. As such, Jason- as his student and his son- is able to overcome the lies the Joker and Harley put into his head in the end.

-It's beyond clear in game he has no respect for Scarecrow qua Scarecrow or any of the other villains he's pulled into this plan. People are mad about that, but he's hyperfocused and obsessive. It's a video game (sillier, yes, I said it) version of his plan, if for different motives, from Under the Red Hood.

-Dini might not have written AK but I'm pretty sure his notes were used or something. It has a lot of the elements I associate with his Batman writing- Bruce as deeply fallible, for one, the Joker as an unsympathetic and very real threat and charismatic. I think Dini found Jason's story a well of potential, based on how BTAS Tim is actually mostly Jason, how Return of the Joker's Tim plot is AK Jason's plot, and how Terry has a lot of Jason's attitude. Dini, for all his oddities as a writer in some respects, has a real gift for spotting things to punch up a character and situation.

-It's funny to me how Tim is the 'generic Robin' of the group so his characterization just gets kind of tossed around wherever the winds are blowing. I like Arkham Tim as the grounded reliable one, but he's Basically Jason in BTAS and in the comics his characterization seems particularly up in the air.

-The Arkham games are very silly, objectively- the whole thing with Titan, the entire idea of Arkham City, the Joker disease and how Bruce beats it, and so much more- but not to themselves. It's a story about a guy wearing a bat-inspired costume and being a vigilante. It is silly. The platonic ideal of a Batman story is silly with a violent dark aspect, cynical about human nature but hopeful about the power of love (brotherly, familial, romantic, agape, etc.), and it takes itself seriously within itself. From these can flow many things, profound, funny, and entertaining alike, and they coexist smoothly. I think the important thing with fiction is to meet it where it's at, especially as a writer, and this is especially true of these IP (modern myth, that's what they are) stories.

-Going through the game for Jason's timeline has been revealing about things I think were trimmed/changed. I'm pretty sure there's a missing Knight boss fight when Batman takes down the air defenses, because Jason just bolts for no reason (I rolled with this in the fic), to let Batman do as he pleases. I also think the vehicle boss fight vs. Jason in the grinder was supposed to be more complex instead of doing the same thing the whole time, but that's generally true of the vehicle combat: mechanically, it needed another pass across the board to make it a less repetitive experience.

-The Red Hood DLC should have been Jason fighting his way to the Asylum where he saves Bruce's life at the climax, potentially with contact with Oracle or even Nightwing which would have been interesting as hell. I really wish all the DLCs would have given us something at the scale of A Death in the Family; I really like these versions of the characters.

-I recommend this sort of fic, where you follow a plot through an alternate POV character, as a writing exercise. It has the merit of having known constraints you don't have to come up with but some creative give to figure out how the POV character got from point A to point B or figured out something or why he did something.

[drpumpkins]

Okay hmmm Mad Hatter for the Character Ask! :3

AUGH THANK U ok lets see!!!!

First impression: I think I saw him first in The Long Halloween (comic). LOVED how he argued with the Scarecrow :] After the Long Halloween and Dark Victory, I went to Haunted Knight and got really happy to see an entire chapter dedicated to this lil guy

Impression now: *Excited yelling whenever he appears on scream, pointing at my pc, shouting THAT'S MY GUY when that bigass hat makes an appearance. Kicking my legs and flipping my desk*

Favourite moment: His snippet of appearance in Arkham City, absolutely. It hit me absolutely out of nowhere. I was freaking out /pos and when I saw that familiar, haunting silhouette I just completely lost my shit. Great visuals, great voice, impeccable cut inbetween my quests. Definitely solidified his place as my second favourite rogue, for sure

Idea for a story: OOOH this is a hard one. I'm an visual artist moreso than a writer, but if I had to write something, I'd make something in the style of "Perchance to dream" from BTAS, that is just as unnerving, and just as unbidden as his sidequest in Arkham City. Something where you don't realize what's going on and have to piece together the clues long before you realize that Tetch is behind all of this. It just fits him so damn well.

Unpopular opinion: UH ok so i dont know a lot about what Are the popular opinions LMAO so let me try and have a jab at this. Jervis is genuinely dangerous. From what I've seen so far there's not a lot of emphasis that this little guy can pose a serious threat, and while his goals are barely focused on Big Murder Plans like most rogues, I feel like he's more of a punching bag, or treated a lot like flavouring. Don't underestimate this little guy!

Favourite relationship: Honestly this could be interpreted as either romantic or not romantic, and I like both of them, but I found it hilarious/fun how he and Scarecrow are so close in both the Long Halloween comic and movies. Scarecrow actually responding to his mad ramblings with nursery rhymes of his own. It's a very fun detail that I think about a lot :)

Favourite headcanon: Because he has his tea set in the greenhouse in Arkham Asylum, I like to think he is allowed to have tea there, under supervision, if good behaviour permits :) It's a cute little detail that is mostly there only for riddler trophy reasons, but.. imagine!

[soullessjack]

How'd it go!!!!

It was amazing!!!!!!!! Alex was so lovely and funny to meet and such a sweetheart. I was also at Mark Sheppard’s panel and he is fucking hilarious, I almost got a headache from laughing so hard. He should seriously consider standup.

I sat through Rob and DJ’s panels as well before my meet and greet with Alex, they are both just so absolutely amazing and wonderful. And the meet & greet!!!! So much fun!!!! We were all really nervous, even Alex, so the conversations kept bouncing around but it was very much enjoyable! He started it with a whole bit about being a corporate bringing us in to fire us and give us a compensatory pizza party (also a funny bonus, we got on the topic of worst jobs and one of the people seated said “corporate hell,” and Alex said “but isn’t that all corporate?” love it so much).

I ended up missing the photo ops for lunch of all things lmfaooo, but we did a group photo with the meet and greet and airdropped the photos from other phones. If I ever get the chance to meet him again at another con I’m completely committed to getting a selfie with the stupidest angle possible tho.

I wish I could relay what he thought of the gifts and the written messages note but I could only be there for the day, so it’s possible we’ll never know unless he brings it up today or at another con. But I think he seemed to like it! He seemed most interested in the books I gave him, The Westing Game and an essay collection about identity psychology called Who Am I.

I also gave him ice wine teabags because that’s one of my most favorite teas ever and it’s actually ironically a Canadian brand! And he told me that ice wine is like a Canadian dessert drink but he didn’t know about the tea. And at his panel I grew enough balls to take the mic and actually ask him something! I can’t remember the full wording just from sheer excitement and exhaustion but it was something to the effect of, “Firstly I wanna say I really appreciate how much passion you have about what you do, and it really means a lot to me as an artist that you still care, so from one artist to another thank you for caring about your work, and what are some other things that inspire you to keep caring.” Sadly I don’t remember what he’d answered, but I’m sure once the panel goes up on YT I’ll find it again and be able to absorb it in the quiet peace of my cave

(It’s honestly a little embarrassing how much of this I actually don’t fully remember, but supposedly that’s a natural experience for people going to such exciting events like concerts or cons. Too much excitement and joy it all just blots out in your brain or something).

I truly enjoyed every bit of it, but for me the absolute highlight of the day was just being given his bracelet in exchange for what I’d given him. Not even kidding, I sobbed over it in my brother’s car almost six hours later after we’d left. And towards the end of the M&G (which was sort of rushed to make time for Osric’s panel but that’s ok) I asked if I could hug him and let me tell you. Hugging is one of my favorite forms of love language ever, and I’ve been told that I give very good ones, and I’ve wanted to give him a hug (I’ve wanted everything in this day practically) for nearly six years, so it was just amazing.

I never once doubted anyone who’s said he’s a sweetheart, but really being there and seeing him and talking to him and seeing that in the flesh. . It’s something else. I also had some very lovely and interesting conversations with some stand runners, like this one guy who has a comic series about the first werewolf and we got into a convo about Superman and BTAS vs STAS and actually met the first black writer/editor/artist/everything for Superman in DC, Christopher Priest, and a wonderful old lady and her (presumably) daughter who sold exclusive-yet-expensive figurines and made their own sterling silver SPN jewelry for JIBCONs. Artists meeting artists. Loved every minute of it!!!

I also talked to this sweet attendee lady who’s been to eight conventions beforehand and got some wonderful con advice from her. And one woman in the meet and greet circle who makes kandi bracelets and gifted me one of the many SPN themed ones she’d made! Right after the M&G finished I met my brother on the balcony and he’d been talking to another attendee from Canada who told me about her meeting alex yesterday and how sweet he was with her! She hugged us both and wished us a safe travel and yeah.

Overall it was such a wonderful experience and I can really see why it’s considered its own family and such a staple of the fandom. If I could ever go to any more in my life or even have my own stand set up someday I would honestly be set for life!! I hope you and anyone else who’s never gotten to go to one before has the same chance, because it really is so life changing and amazing. I talked to maybe like, 12—20 people of the entire attending population but I still felt so…connected with everybody there.

♾️/ 10 would absolutely no hesitation impulsive decision reckless spending do it again, especially to meet Alex again!!!!!!!

[wesavegotham]

The only thing fanon Tim gets right these days is the inferiority complex. Nothing else. I mean Tim was retconned to meet fanon Tim in the New 52 reboot. Tim as an asshole Jock who only cares about himself was never his character until some fans decided BTAS (which Only used Tim in name, the character was clearly Jason Todd, the writers later admitted it was supposed to be Jason but Warner Brothers said no). Sadly somehow it seems the comic writers decided that was the way to go with reboot Tim and it got worse from there. I wish they did something like that with actual good takes on Damian, but DC is too racist for something like that.

Tldr: Fanon ruins canon is a very true statement in comics.

Tim sure is in a difficult spot these days. I mean, I do believe Tynion when he says he's a huge Tim Drake fanboy, but if I remember correctly a lot of people weren't that happy with his Tim being such a super genius and making him Bruce's sidekick again.

Actually, a lot of DC's current writers say Tim is their favorite Robin. Yet still none of them seem to have a solid plan for what to do with him. From what I hear on social media Tim's fans aren't sure either what they really want Tim's direction to be. There is probably at least one reddit threat about that question once a week.

Reminds me a bit of the Young Justice show, where I saw countless posts demanding that Tim should be given a bigger role, but I don't recall anyone ever specifying what exactly they wanted this role to be.

It's similar in comics right now. He had a solo that ran for about 200 issues, right? Is there nothing in those 200 issues you could use to give him a exciting new storyline? A new hero identity build from what he experienced in those adventures? There has to be something there, right? And if not, what was he doing that whole time?

Tim's inferiority complex is actually one of the reasons I have a hard time enjoying his stories. For me it's hard to like a character who constantly talks or thinks about how bad he feels about himself while seemingly everyone around him keeps tripping over their feet to praise him and talk about how he's the greatest and he's often proven right and shown as succeeding. Especially when characters who actually have it bad don't get the same treatment.

I mean, if I had to call one of the batkids a mary sue it would be Tim. Tim fans writing Tim have made him into one. Which is of course also very limiting, since good stories usually start with a serious problem and character developement is hard when you barely have any serious character flaws to begin with. No, "I don't like myself, even if everyone tells me I'm great" is not an actual character flaw.

[riddle-me-ri]

Hello!! :D Hope your day has gone well!!

What are your thoughts on various Mad Hatters? Which one is your current favorite??

(Also could you recommend a Jervis comic mayhaps?? Been wanting to try read Batman Rogue comics ^^)

💤

Asdfghh where how where how...where do I begin with the mad lads asdfghh I'll give a tiny explanation as to why I love the versions I write for, that's a decent place to start lol. So, sorry not sorry you've opened the floodgates lmao, because of that there's a read more tab, sorry if you weren't quite expecting this lengthy response.

Arkhamverse Jervis: Definitely one of my favorite voices for him by far (Roddy for BTAS/TNBA is still a huge favorite). Also, his voice tapes with Strange in City absolutely twist my heart every time (not to mention the end of his mission when you go back to see him. He only wanted a friend hng), I think they could've done a lot with him, his short mission in City left much to be desired. The Wonderland hallucination in Origins and the storybook from Knight where amazing. While the writing is a wee topsy turvy, I do adore how they showed progression to his unyielding mental state (via, rhyming, literally Batman or anyone being Alice, and any word associated with Wonderland must be a part of it in Knight). And in City hinted at just how unnerved Jervis can be about himself and how he feels when he's lucid. I definitely get inspired by a lot of his character beats and traumas for sure (in my writing btw lmao)

BTAS Jervis: Ahaha the golden mad lad, my first Hatter encounter! I've always been a fan of Alice in Wonderland when I was watching BTAS (wanting to know what the hype was about as an animation student) so when I saw an episode called Mad as a Hatter I was intrigued lmao. I had no idea Jervis even existed and what a super strong intro episode too. Again Roddy is probably my favorite voice for him. Just...it's so warm and pleasant to listen to. I also appreciate that they didn't make this Hatter a one-trick pony? Nowadays a lot of DC writers sorta stick to the kidnapping/murdering women thing but BTAS Jervis literally tried to stop Batman before Batman could even do anything, so he can get Batman out of the way, he stole from Gotham's elite so he can run away on an island of his own? Also probably one of the more mentally stable of the Hatters and definitely the most romantic.

TNBA Jervis: Aww Ratter, sweet mad lad. I love rodents so the fact that the fandom has dubbed this version ratter and for the right reasons makes me so incredibly giddy. He's supposed to technically be BTAS just a different design, and as jarring as the changes may be, I think it still works, and again we see different motivations of Jervis other than him finding an Alice.

Secret Six (2006) Jervis: Hehehehe definitely one of my favorite Jervi. I absolutely love this mad, brilliant, druggy, powerful, silly nudist. This version is a prime example of just how powerful Jervis can be and why he should be depicted more as a threat (I have a thought that most of the time, Jervis leans more into his whimsy/playful attributes as a way to catch enemies off-guard, that's not to say he isn't that way in general, but I can see him using it to his utmost advantage). Also just wanna point out that this version was written by a woman, Gail Simone, who has canonically pinned Jervis to having amazing rizz and not to mention fangirls/fanboys that wanna marry him (and has an incredible "head" game) and I will forever love her for that.

Joker's Asylum Jervis: Aww, ohh, dear sweet mad lad, gotta grab tissues for this guy. One of the stronger of the Mad Hatter-centric comics. This comic delves into Jervis' psyche which a lot of DC writers almost refuse to even look at or consider (like...guys, I can do it...if I can do it I KNOW you can too). This comic shows what the Arkham games hint at, and that's that Jervis has/feels REMORSE. Probably one of the few rogues that do, he genuinely can't help it. He wants to get better, he wants to not be a threat. He wants companionship but fails miserably every time and the cycle continues. When I read this comic, it wouldn't leave my head for days. It is definitely what inspired my fic Love and Suds because my story is somewhat of an "what if" scenario like what if he did have someone there when he was spiraling and trying to fight off the delusions and madness.

Gotham Jervis: asdfgjkjj it...it took some time for me to like this one lmao. I have grievances across the board with Gotham as a whole. What they did to Jervis is no exception to that, he's interesting that he's a pure hypnotist and how apparently there are rules to that. It's one of the first (if not the only time?) Jervis isn't a scientist, but purely a hypnotist (before becoming a hypnotist criminal, it happens). I won't go too deep into him, esp. if you haven't seen this version but yeah just...he has potential he really does, he's just another example of a Jervis done dirty (and not the fun way)

Harley Quinn The Animated Series Jervis: red-head jervis, red-head jervis, red-head jervis my beloved. I love Jervis with red hair almost as much as blonde (and that's just personal preference cause I'm blonde lmao) From an artist stand point, his design is just really, really appealing to me. The bright complimenting colors, the wild spiky hair, the teeth, and the coke fingernail was a neat added detail (a buddy for S6 for sure). He was so criminally underused I will never forgive the show for what they did (him and other rogues as well). He's also very giddy, fun, but also still demented and violent.

To say the least...I can't choose just one current solidary favorite, I have grown to love them all in various ways, from their design to their personalities and voices. But my top three will definitely have to be; BTAS, Arkhamverse, and Secret Six. Joker's Asylum is also a super super close fourth. When I write for my "general" Hatter, I usually borrow traits, traumas, and mannerisms from these four.

As for comics I would recommend, here's a couple Jervis-centric ones to get you started. Also be weary and make sure you have an ad-blocker just in case. You shouldn't have to know too much backstory from other comics to understand them.

Secret Six (2006) Issue #1

Joker's Asylum: Mad Hatter

Sorry this got so long lmao, but thank you for letting me infodump and fixate on the Mad Lads, I've been having a rough time lately, and this has definitely lifted my spirits thinking about these guys lol.

[sunayyyy]

oh of course, no worries!

I dislike tim for many reasons, such as that his rise to being robin was in the form of blackmailing a grieving father into taking over the role of his murdered son. I get that batman was more dangerous and passively suicidal but the last thing he would need is another. this is a failure on behalf of alfred and all of bruce's friends on the justice league, and you can't tell me that tim ONLY had bruce's best interest in mind. Sure, he doesn't want him to die, but there were other simpler more effective ways to get there, but he chose to take on the role of his idol, this 100% played into his decision.

Then there's him taking every opportunity possible to slander jason or to prove that he's better than him. i get having issues, but that doesn't excuse victim blaming a 15 year old who was tortured to death.

He was also shitty to steph during their relationship. steph was shittier after the fact, with the whole birthday thing, but during their relationship robin knew her real name while she didn't know who he was, he talked her into giving up her daughter by saying she couldn't be a vigilante and a mother, and he's generally classist and from old money so it wouldn't mesh well dating someone who he considers less than him.

There's also him antagonising damian during their first meeting, even insinuating that he wasn't civilised and wouldn't know what a handshake is.

There's him kissing cassie sandsmark after her superboy, her boyfriend, just died, and in front of his memorial

I also don't really find him all that interesting. he's a rich kid who went to a private school and then became robin. he's only interesting when he's with his team in yj or when other characters, namely the al ghuls, are butchered so heavily that it makes you doubt if any of the writers ever picked up any of their comics. They had ra's al ghul be creepy towards a child and order his daughter to rape him that's not in character for ra's or nyssa and is a cheap way to get shock value that was heavily attributed to the al ghuls (see talia sleeping with jason when he's supposedly a minor and her having damian by raping bruce. both of these were reconned but it doesn't change the fact that they set the tone for how al ghuls are in general, and were written in purely because "all arabs are evil" which is a disgusting narrative and i could go on and on about how post 9/11 nationalism has affected media both explicitly and subconsciously, but that's for another day).

You also see him take so many traits from other characters. his most common fanon characterisation, for example, is literally just barbara (coffee addicted sleep deprived genius who could hack anywhere), he had duke thomas' whole backstory during the titans show (i feel like making tim poor is literally stripping him of everything he is. a poor child wouldn't have been able to afford the equipment tim used to stalk batman), he was literally just jason todd, complete with stealing the tires off the batmobile in BtAS( I love BtAS and i get why they called jason tim, but this has made it so tim fans have another form of angst in the form of joker junior tim, who was literally created to be jason's death but for kids. joker junior is what jason would've been had joker not wanted to kill him)

His fans also annoy me so much, especially with them upping his angst. There's so much you can do with him, like explore how he feels guilty about his parents' death, maybe he blames himself for steph, maybe he mourns the life he could've had, his missing spleen, the aforementioned birthfday thing, etc. Instead, people take in events that are, while still shitty, aren't nearly as angsty as how they're made out to be.For example, the attack on titans tower: it wasn't an adult beating a teenager, they were 2 years apart. even less so considering jason was braindead for 2 years. Tim also fought back and was sassing jason until he passed out. Jason didn't even slit his throat here. It happened in hush, and it was way less impactful than the batarang scar he got, but people don't tend to talk about it in tim centric discussions. He wasn't a helpless little baby who got beaten half to death by his idol. Also dick never threatened to put him in arkham, and didn't even want to take robin away from him, but fans would have you believe that robin was ripped out from tim's hands by dick because he preferred damian (another example of alfred getting away with bullshit).

Also the condom cowl is the worst suit in the batfam, second only to jason's pillhead suit.

there could be more shitty things that he's done, but i just flat out don't like him. i find him boring, and his announcement as being bi was really half assed, no? they could've explored how following batman and Robin could've affected him and awakened his sexuality, or had something go on with him and lonnie, or kon, which is his most popular non batcest ship, or any of hie friends at all. instead they made a whole new character who is arguably more interesting, shoved him in a few panels and called it a day.

One trope that i find weird is that during batfam reconciliation fics, the batfam members use alfred as like the big red button to bring jason back, but i feel like that wouldn't actually work. at all.

Jason would HATE alfred after everything he did after he died. Canonically, it was alfred that made the "a good soldier" memorial case, bruce wanted it down but alfred insisted he keep it up, he was the one that gave tim the Robin suit THAT JASON DIED IN, and drove him to save batman and nightwing with NO training at all. He also helped keep up all the "jason was always doomed for a life of crime, and he was an angry child that got himself killed" narrative that was spun after DitF. Alfred pennyworth is batman's biggest enabler, and has stood by while bruce did all his bullshit, such as the whole UtRH arc, and RHatO #25, where he said that it was inevitable that jason would go back on the whole no killing agreement.

Alfred may care for all of Bruce's children, but his only grandchild is damian, as shown when he made him robin behind tim's back( the whole "dick made damian robin" thing is just to add to tim angst. Dick was infact against that whole shitshow). If it doesn't benefit bruce, his pseudo son/employer and landlord, he wouldn't give a fuck.

It's basically impossible to write a reconciliation fic at all without completely rewriting characters, especially jason and alfred. Jason believes that batman's mission is flawed and useless since he doesn't permanently stop crime, so he'd never fully give up killing, the whole reason there's a rift between him and bruce, and alfred isn't this doting grandfather that always sides with his grandchildren and bakes cookies and makes tea.

Also, one major thing the fandom forgets is that alfred is canonically a shitty father to julia, his bio daughter. He abandoned his own daughter for the waynes, he'd never prioritise bruce's children over him.

[red-bat-arse]

i love batman the animated series and jason todd but the two do not intersect. the only thing i liked about jason appearing in the animated series' comic universe was his design and i think that says a lot

[incoherentbabblings]

What do you think of Bruce as a father? I understand that he’s not perfect, but I’m incredibly uncomfortable with the way he’s written as a parent. A lot of reproachful, unkind behavior gets brushed aside as “that’s just the way he is” or “he was under a lot of stress”. I don’t know, I wish the writers would take a lot more care in writing this part of him because it honestly makes me somewhat dislike his character as a whole 😔

Abuse discussion content warning below.

I have a lot of contradictory feelings towards Bruce. I think he loves his kids more than anything. I think he loves Dick more than anything. I think he has moments where he goes above and beyond the duty of any parent for their child. I think his reasoning for helping his kids is genuinely alturistic.

I also think Bruce is abusive, and I don't think it's one off tone deaf writers 'getting it wrong'. It's a consistent part of his character and goes back decades. And just as in real life, it's hard to reconcile the idea of a parent loving their child whilst also being abusive. It's not an easy thing to write about, so if I'm crass here, or get things wrong, I am sorry.

But I think the best example I can give is that Lemire's Robin and Batman is my favourite depiction of Bruce and Dick's relationship in years. It unequivocally writes that Bruce: A) Loves Dick very much. B) Is abusive. I'm very grateful for the fact that the book never side steps this fact.

I don't know. There's a lot of uncomfortable and difficult to explain things regarding Bruce's behaviour. It's all well and good to say the abuse stems from ptsd and trauma but then, is that just stigmatising mental illness, which is something that Bat comics (or superhero comics in general) do all the time? Do we really want to perpetuate that? And I'm not sure about the answers to any of that! I think the writers intent matters in these cases, and the thing that kills me is that there is no intent. Most of his writers genuinely have no clue what they've done, creating such a realistic cyclical depiction of an abusive parent. And a lot of the time, I really don't know how to feel about it all.

And yeah sure there's a lot of contradictions in his approach to his kids, but things that crop up again and again is denying them agency, unrealistic expecations, and a resulting coldness for when they fail to match them. I have seen, and I agree I think, that the very concept of Robin is abuse, and no not in the vigilante dodging bullets way, but in the Fear needs Hope Batman needs a Robin way. Placing the emotional stability of an adult as a responsibility of a child.

It's not just the hitting - of which there is plenty over the last fifty years to see - its the lack of communication, the financial control he exerts, the rejection and withdrawl of affection based on the kids having to hit impossible targets, the lying and manipulation... it goes on and on. Bruce ticks every box when it comes to parenting his kids. I don't blame people for wanting to scrub it, and they will have very sympathetic reasons for doing so. I get a little antsy however as that doesn't mean the actions and words are actually gone. Bruce smacking Tim was awful. I've seen arguments about its ooc nature and how it should be ignored and forgotten etc... but Bruce still hit Tim. I can open a book and look at it right now. Ignoring it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I don't mind reading or writing fics where Bruce is decidedly not abusive, I do it all the time certainly, but in canon, I think the whole #NotMyBruce is well intentioned but also a bit dangerous. People seeing their own abuse reflected back at them, and how in many ways that can actually be quite affirming, only to have someone come along and be like 'that's not the real him' or whatever long essays they write about BtAS (which... he's still abusive in that I'm sorry but he is) being the 'their' Batman doesn't really help.

Abuse survivors don't want to read an iteration of such things versus those who in one way or another take comfort from it. The needs of one don't cancel out the needs of the other? I hope that makes sense. It's a very complicated thing to try and put into words. Many blogs have written about it much better than I.

I just think, the abuse is still there on the page, saying it 'doesn't count' because it was ooc (it's not) doesn't make it go away, and I think its dangerous to ignore it. I think it's important to draw a distinction between looking at what is shown on the page, and how that fits into a pattern of other instances, versus what you want Bruce to be, and how there may be contradictions about the abuse portrayed in other pages.

[forevercloudnine]

Hello! You mentioned in a tag that you think Pamela is Bruce's favorite, and it made me wonder. I'd definitely be interested to hear more on that, if you feel like talking about it! Love hearing your thoughts.

💗💗 So a few years ago I was reading the "Gothtopia" arc and was incredibly amused by Bruce casually letting Ivy escape from Arkham to return a favor she'd done him.

Notably, Ivy was the only inmate imprisoned in Arkham at the time, because Scarecrow locked her up for interfering. So Bruce literally helped her escape and then lied to Jim's face about it. I know you recently read Run, Riddler, Run, so here's an amusing comparison: in this story, Ivy is pointedly not reformed, she punches Bruce in the face before helping him, and Bruce still sets her free. Meanwhile, Bruce rewards the assistance of a reformed Edward by punching him in the face and making sure Edward is re-imprisoned.

And then ever since reading Gothtopia, I’ve just been noting how much more tolerant Bruce seems of Ivy than his other villains. Obviously a large element of that is the metatextual factor of Ivy being a female character-- it would clearly Look Really Bad for artists to depict Batman brutalizing a woman with the same sadistic detail with which they depict him assaulting his male villains. (Though ironically the metahuman plant goddess could probably brush off a punch much easier than his variety of entirely human gimmick villains).

There’s also the factor of writers continuously flip-flopping back and forth on whether or not they’re attracted to each other. I kind of thought Pamela’s current commitment to Harley meant this was over, but then Tynion’s run depicted Ivy as holding the same spot in Bruce’s subconscious as Selina and Talia, so I guess it isn’t (though maybe that just means the attraction is one-sided on Bruce’s part now, which would be an amusing twist on Ivy having an unreciprocated crush on him in the 90′s).

But over time I think Bruce’s faith in Ivy has become less about her being a woman (who he may or may not be attracted to), and more sympathy for her motivations. Especially now that she’s transformed from a femme fatale who wants to be the queen of crime to a zealous ecoterrorist who wants to save the planet.

For as much as their interests are entirely alien to each other (Ivy wants to protect nature, often at the cost of human life; Bruce wants to protect human life, often at the cost of... well, human life, actually), their obsessive dedication to doing what they think of as “good” is very similar. Which means Ivy is easier to negotiate with than other villains, since she has goals beyond greed or sadism that Bruce is able to compromise on. Which means it’s easier for Bruce to believe in her capacity for good, in a way that he normally doesn’t bother to believe in his villains, because it’s inevitable that they’ll disappoint him. Which also means that he GIVES Ivy opportunities to disappoint him...

Detective Comics #823 is a huge point of frustration to me because the concept is so fascinating and the execution is just ENDLESS objectification to the point that it almost erases the plot (story of my life trying to read Paul Dini’s writing). But I love the bones of it as a comic where Bruce sympathizes with Pamela, to the point of letting her stay in the Batcave to protect her from an attacker (I can’t even think of another example of Bruce doing this for a villain, outside of Joker in the BTAS comics, and doesn’t that say a lot on its own). But then he discovers evidence of Ivy having recently gruesomely murdered several people, and he is so illogically hurt and betrayed by this-- a woman he knows is a murderer having murdered people-- that he threatens to kill her.

It’s not uncommon for Bruce to threaten his villains with death (I have a whole subfolder on my computer dedicated just to times where he does so with Mr. Freeze), but it’s fascinating to me that Bruce frames the threat here as a question. He wants her to give him a reason to believe in her, even though he has just been faced with undeniable evidence that her view of human life is fundamentally incompatible with his. But Ivy doesn’t give him a reason-- she just calls him on his bluff, which I love.

In the current continuity, Ivy is honestly less Bruce’s supporting character so much as she is Harley’s, but Bruce IS still the main character of DC Detective Comics, so they still interact on occasion. Although ironically, I think the most recent example of my point is actually Ivy’s ex-girlfriend Bella comparing the two of them in Batman Secret Files: The Gardener.

Bella believes that Bruce will ignore her and simply try to imprison Ivy more effectively, which is probably what he would have done normally: Bruce is extremely set in his ways, and his way is to drag any villains he defeats back to Arkham even though he knows Arkham helps no one. The 2021 Detective Comics Annual was all about how Bruce still has to be dragged kicking and screaming into investing in the idea of any criminal being reformed, and resolutely does not consider it his responsibility to help them do so.

Ironically, however, we know that Bruce DID listen to Bella. The issue with their conversation is set in the timeline right before Everybody Loves Ivy, which ends with Bruce deciding to bring Pamela to “Sanctuary,” the therapy center he helped build for superheroes, rather than bringing her back to Arkham. His dialogue with Ivy even uses a lot of Bella’s points here, which is very fun retrospective writing from Tynion. But then Heroes in Crisis happened and... well, Bruce’s attempt to help her instead of hurt her ultimately made everything worse, and has now domino effect led to her current solo series where she is trying to kill off a significant portion of the planet’s human population. (In his defense, Bella’s attempts to fix Ivy also failed and backfired just as spectacularly.) But the fact that Bruce was willing to try is notable and so fascinating to me, since as a character he’s so resistant to setting himself up for disappointment.

[heraldofzaun]

✌ ✔ ✘ for the mun memes?

Roleplay related mun memes!

✌ : Fondest role-play memory, between muses?

Hmm... I generally have a really hard time picking a “favorite” of anything, because I find it difficult to concretely rank things like that. So I’ll just give a few.

I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the writing between myself and a friend who played Orianna and Corin. This was mostly offsite, though, so I can’t show you it. But we had this modern AU where Viktor was a newer employee at Corin’s prosthesis lab, and it was really nice to write a more settled-down/normal Viktor with a supportive group of coworkers.

We also wrote a good deal of Creator AU content, which I still think of fondly even though I think I’ve tired myself out on Creator for a while. It was great fun to write just a real shithead of a Viktor... I think my favorite scene from there is him and my friend’s OC having some real good villain-hero banter, although Viktor - even as a power-hungry militaristic megalomaniac - still is not great at banter.

I’ve also greatly enjoyed writing with @sheriff-caitlyn over the past year! Again, mostly offsite, but bits of it creep onto tumblr upon occasion. (Ever wonder why Viktor’s been exchanging the occasional gift with her?) I think my favorite here is Caitlyn giving Viktor a small lavender plant (their backstory is long and complicated, but all you have to know is that they care for each other very much even though neither of them can be seen in the other’s city-state) to take care of, because he appreciated that she brought him dried lavender on one of the times she snuck over to visit him. She has a matching plant and it’s just very... It gets me in my heart, y��know. Viktor does his best to keep it healthy.

✔ : What drew you to the character you currently play? What types of characters are you generally drawn to?

I’ve been an unrepentant Viktor fan since about 2014, which means that yes, I did play him when Augment: Death was a thing. (I stopped playing before they removed his Hex Core from the game and gave him that VFX update that I find horrid, so I can’t say that I’ve played all iterations of Viktor... But I played the ones that I liked, so.)

I think I liked him at the outset for a couple of reasons, although it’s been a while... I’m not sure if I have him to thank for my love of sci-fi, or if I liked it before and it’s just increased ever since. But a lot of the stuff in his 2014 lore resonated with me, for better or for worse, and I also just thought his design was fascinating. I didn’t write him at the time - well, I briefly wrote his Full Machine counterpart about a year down the line - and I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I think it’s only in these past few years that I’ve been able to write him with the complexity and gravity he deserves.

I think I tend to like a variety of characters, although the ones I write are a subset of that? I’m not too great at self-analysis in this case, but I think I tend to like characters with a lot of internal conflict and struggle or characters who are perceived in vastly different ways by the various people around them. Sci-fi and fantasy elements are also a big win. (Maybe “tortured/flawed/struggling idealist” would be a good descriptor for some of the characters?) Also villains, sometimes. Also autistic-coded/relatable characters. I’ll include a non-comprehensive of characters I like below, and bold the ones I’m currently trying to write.

Viktor, Jayce, Caitlyn, Orianna, Blitzcrank, Annie, Janna (these last two are a case of I Can Fix Them Disease so they’re pretty AU), I have a few other League characters I like but this list is long already, Anarky from DC Comics, I have mixed feelings about the Riddler’s recent portrayals but I like Hush-era, Reformed PI, and BTAS Riddler, Clara from Pathologic (the first one, haven’t played 2) but also Daniil and Artemy to a lesser extent, Doctor Doom but when in a competent writer’s hands (I like Triumph and Torment), R. Daneel Olivaw (and Lije Baley) from Asimov’s Robots series, Erik from Phantom of the Opera (the original book), Sherlock Holmes (original stories and Jeremy Brett’s performances, Elementary is growing on me quite rapidly as well), Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin from the original Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV show not the reboot, Spock, Data, Odo, Garak, and Julian Bashir from various flavors of Star Trek.

There’s more but I feel like this probably gives you a nice and clear insight into my psyche, so I’m going to stop now.

✘ : Any head canons you’d like to imply on your character but know they wouldn’t fit?

I don't think so? Whether this is because I try to limit myself to realistic speculations about Viktor or because I just apply anything to him, I don't know.

I guess I have a few edge-case headcanons that don't really show up often, like Viktor being a competent artist but solely for technology or repetitive patterns. He can sketch prosthesis concepts and draw blueprints just fine, but can't really draw anything... alive. (Without it looking more like an anatomical text drawing than anything else, that is.)

[canadian-riddler]

Hi Indy! I know Arkhamverse Riddler is definitely your specialty. Do you happen to have a rough ranking of Riddlers that you like from most to least? And which do you think is the most definitive version of the character?

I THINK that’s what my blog description says, anyway

Yes, at all times I have a rough ranking floating around in the back of my mind.  It is going to be very long so I will answer the last question first.

For most definitive version of Riddler I’m going to have to go with BTAS.  No recurring villain really had a distinct personality from their original (1940s) version, and while I am not knocking Frank Gorshin the 1966 Riddler absolutely was a bit Joker-y.  Most importantly (if I am not mistaken, which I could be), BTAS gave Riddler what became his most important trait: his intelligence.  Before that he was mostly an average weirdo who wore a green suit (sometimes) and liked riddles and sometimes built puzzle traps.  After BTAS, though, the Riddler’s intelligence became the driving force of his character.  Batman ‘66 saved Riddler from obscurity, but BTAS made him both relevant and future-proof.  Will we ever see a Riddler of average intelligence who doesn’t specialise in computer programming/engineering ever again?  I doubt it, and that’s because of BTAS. 

Onto the list.  It does not include EVERY Riddler ever because I have not read every Riddler story ever, but it should cover most of them (or at least the ones you’ve probably heard of).

1. Anything Paul Dini wrote.  This actually covers a few different Riddlers, which would be the first two Arkhamverse games, the most notable PI Riddler stuff, and of course the Riddler from BTAS.  Paul Dini can write the Riddler as both being a bad person and sympathetic at the same time, which is actually harder to pull off than it sounds.  AND he does it without using backstory as a crutch, which really is hard.

2.  Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee’s Riddler from Hush.  He only actually appears for two issues, but it’s one of the best Riddler stories merely because it allows him to do all the things Riddler SHOULD be able to do, but can’t because then there would be no Batman comics because he would have ended them.  619C is also, in my opinion, the best Riddler cover of all time.

3. Jim Carrey’s Riddler from Batman Forever.  Why would I put him this high on the list, you ask?  Because some writers forget that the Riddler is half just in it to have a good time and he doesn’t really care about how other people perceive him.  This man is living his best life and he’s doing it in glittery spandex and a light-up jacket.  Is he over the top?  At the time, no, not really.  At the time Riddler kinda just acted like that.  And he should be able to do so, in my opinion. 

4. Current Riddler (James Tynion IV).  While this Riddler has some issues with consistency (though this probably has to do with being shuffled from a main comic story into a Catwoman story), he returns to being almost self-cripplingly paranoid and absolutely losing it when he’s bested, which I think are important traits for Riddler to have.  I’m also actually really amused that they gave him the Batman Forever hair.

5. Batman ‘66.  While it did likely rescue Riddler from pending obscurity - he actually never appeared in a Batman comic before 1965, and before that was featured in only two issues of Detective Comics - and he definitely checks the ‘charming’ and ‘having fun’ boxes, there isn’t a whole lot differentiating him from the Joker he’s playing alongside.  If you watch the Batman ‘66 movie they’re almost the exact same character, just one likes jokes and the other likes riddles. 

6. Hush Returns and its aftermath.  This stuff is weird and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense because it mostly involves Riddler running away from Hush and retcons certain things from Hush, most importantly the part where Riddler got everyone to work together because he gave them what they wanted.  Hush Returns (which also contradicts itself during the story) for some reason has everyone angry at Riddler for tricking them and it ends with him getting the shit beat out of him and puts him into a coma for a year, which leads into him getting total amnesia and becoming a PI.  That’s the reason it’s so high on the list.  The story is weird and makes no sense at all for any of the other characters in it either but it gave us a reason for PI Riddler and that makes it matter.  Sort of.

7. Brave and the Bold/The Batman Riddler.  I’m putting them both together mostly because BatB Riddler features in I think only one episode and he deserves a mention because he’s adorable.  TB Riddler was an interesting experiment into a Riddler that, for whatever reason, never really came into himself as a person and instead sort of enacts revenge for his existence on life.  If I remember correctly he’s also pretty low-key about his intelligence, which is another interesting character choice.  I respect the things they went for but this Riddler overall gives me the impression of a person who always says no when invited to something but gets upset when people stop asking which, while definitely something the Riddler would do, isn’t really my preferred take.

8. Snyder Riddler (New 52).  The problem I have with this Riddler is that I have no idea what his motivation even is.  I was told a long time ago that a backstory for him WAS written but didn’t make it into Zero Year because the story was already too long, which is... not a great look for a professional storyteller.  And because we don’t know anything about this Riddler, this story consists of a dude who wears green to impress women (which he never shows any interest in), gets the mob to work for him... somehow... and decides to spend a YEAR watching the people in Gotham die because... I’m not sure?  If it amused him, sure, I could understand that.  But he just seems super bored during the entirety of the story.  He doesn’t even seem particularly excited when Batman actually shows up in front of him.  Beyond Zero Year his appearances are, to my knowledge, limited mostly to two issues in Batman Eternal, where he’s hiding, three issues of The Flash, where he speedruns Zero Year and is undone by the Flash villains teaming up against him (which I don’t know enough about Flash villains to comment on), and Scarecrow 23.2, where he for some unexplained reason seems to look up to Scarecrow.  And then there’s Detective Comics: Future’s End, which is just the worst thing ever.  Snyder didn’t write all of these stories, but they are based on his Riddler.

9. Gotham Riddler.  I didn’t watch past season 3 so I can’t comment on too much after that, but the arc with Mad Grey Dawn and ‘I knew that you knew that I knew’ was some of the greatest Riddler stuff we had gotten in years and if they had just kept on with that they would have had one of the greatest Riddlers of all time. 

10. Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Riddler.  Full disclaimer I haven’t read Catwoman: When in Rome, but I have read The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.  The reason I don’t like this Riddler is because he actually bears no resemblance to him.  He’s a literal moron who just stumbles around incompetently for the duration of his relevance to the plot.  It’s like they decided to make an ironic Riddler who is actually stupid and also for the first time in his life does not have the ability to locate a tailor.  I don’t actually understand the point of this Riddler’s existence.  He isn’t even really Riddler, he’s just some sort of vaguely Riddler-coloured person.

[jp-todd]

Watched the Snyder cut and here are my main criticisms (I did watch the Whedon one way back in 2017 and pretty sure I blocked it out from absolute rage):

1) THATS NOT HOW MOTHER BOXES WORK. They don't combine together to destroy worlds??? They're basically just sentient supercomputers that can combine with matter and teleport. The only "Unity" I can think of is that alien species in that one episode of BTAS.

2) I have a lot of issues with the characterization of Batman and how Gotham citizens in general act.

a. Several comments are made like "I didn't think [Batman was] real," an officer gives a sketch of a parademon that looks like Batman and insinuates it might be Batman attacking these citizens. And it would make sense for a new batman but they comment that Batman has been fighting crime for 20 years so it doesn't make sense? Especially for people who live in Gotham during the years Batman has been fighting crime to make these comments.

b. I generally don't like a lot of live action batman's because they always try to make him dark and grim and depressed and completely ignore the whole part of his personality where he cares so fucking much. This point is more a criticism of DCEU batman as a whole not just Snyder Batman

c. BATMAN WOULD NEVER JUST INFORM SEVERAL PEOPLE HES NEVER MET HIS SECRET IDENTITY. Like his man, who according to the writers and directors lost a Robin (they differ between whether it's Jason or Dick) would know secret identities are important! That you or someone you love could die if someone got a hold of that information and used it for evil. He doesn't know who the fuck Barry, Arthur, and Victor are and doesn't know whether to trust them with that info. Also he doesn't even let half the Justice League know who he unless he has to in most comics!

d. Honestly I could scream to high heaven about the characterization of Batman, Alfred, Robin, and the Gotham Rogues in the DCEU for a looooonnnnnggg time. Let me know if you are interested in my thoughts and maybe I'll do that.

3) Barry Allen has Wally West's personality and it generally annoys me that so many studios are doing this. They take the original superhero (ie. Peter Parker/Barry Allen) and replace their personality with the next version (Miles Morales/Wally West). I also feel like they depowered him a lot. Like his healing factor is soooooo slow, much slower than it should be.

4) They name dropped the Lanterns and the proceeded to do NOTHING with them. I'm sorry, the Lantern corps aren't going to come help when Darksied (who they 100% know about) is trying to take over Earth? Not even the Lantern who's sector that is??????

5) Martian Manhunter randomly shows up disguised as Martha Kent for like no reason????? Please explain???? No??? Okay I guess..... Is he gonna come help save the world? No? Okay????

6) Okay I absolutely love the Death of Superman/Reign of Supermen storyline and I'm generally so annoyed we didn't get a glimpse of Kon/Lex trying to clone Supes.

7) If the farm is foreclosed upon, why is all their shit still there??? Like they showed her leaving and moving away at the beginning????? I'm confused.

8) I generally feel if there were more movies made before this movie, several parts would make more sense/be more impactful such as when Superman comes back. That would have been a heart wretching to see Superman not remember any of his friends and colleagues and fight them. But the scene you end up with is just kinda a well what did you expect? And the characters would have been way more fleshed out if there were more movies giving us their origins/personality/goals/events in their life. Like Barry says as he's going back in time "Got to break the rules" which means he has been told by someone (Speed force god?) or there has been some event which he understands this is wrong (Like Flashpoint!)

9) I did not like Darksied coming to the planet to conquer it 5000 years ago and just leaving and accepting defeat??? Also where is Granny Goodness, Barda, the Furies, all the other Apokolipsians and New Gods??? They would help try to conquer Earth!!! (Also Darksied, bruh, put a shirt on, it's making me uncomfortable. I DONT LIKE IT)

10) I fucking hate Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and Lex would have never been caught and thrown in a psych hospital but like why the fuck is he in Arkham????? Is there no mental hospitals in Metropolis??? And why is he hiring Deathstroke to kill Bruce Wayne? And Deathstroke doesn't know who Bruce is??? Is there no League of Assassin's in this universe????

In conclusions, it's so much better than Whedon's shit show and I think it's great we get to see what could have been. I do honestly think with more movies leading up to this movie would have fixed most of my criticisms but all in all, it was decent.

(but like watch Justice League: War, it's better)

[popculturebuffet]

Paul Dini’s Jingle Belle: “Sanity Clauses” review or Santa’s Court Ordered Family Therapy Holiday Special

Merry Christmas everyone! I”m finally back on the reviewing reindeer after a week out with a cold, aside from the usual ducktales review, and it’s once again a comission from friend of the blog and the only guy who pays me for reviews weirdkev27. If you have your own holliday hyjinks you’d like me to review I do reviews of television and comics for 5 dollars an episode/issue, wtih variable prices for trades in comics case depending on length. Hit me up via my dm’s here on tumblr or send me an ask for my discord if you want to know more. WIth that plug out of the way away we go.  This one was a bit unusual... in that when Kev bought it up I assumed he was going to buy a few issues of Jingle Belle, Paul Dini’s creator owned character we’re talking about today, and just have me review those. What I didn’t realize is he was buying me the full package, a collection of pretty much every jingle belle tale, as well as the released after it “Handmade’s Tale”. one shot. So yeah, while I had’nt really thought of rules for this kind of thing before from now on your free to buy a work for me to review... just keep in mind i’ts both not required for me to review something, and will not wave the commission fee as I use those fees to pay bills, buy things I need like charger cables, and just generally keep my bank account afloat while I look for a day job. 

But... since I hadn’t firmly established any of this yet, and since Kev’s gift means a bunch more commissions from a guy who not only made sure I could afford Christmas, but who has provided me steady work while i’m out of work... this one’s on the house.  So with all the jargon settled, who is Jingle Belle? Jingle Belle is an indie comics character created and owned by Paul Dini in 1998. Paul Dini is an animation god, who thanks to this review I know more about his career than I did before and as much as I always should have. Dini got his start in the 80′s, writing for everything from He Man to Gary Coleman Adventures, before getting called up to the big leagues for Tiny Tune Adventures around the time of the animation renaissance. To my shock, as  I wasn’t aware he wrote for that fine program, he wrote 35 episodes including my personal favorite Prom-ise her Anything.  But while a talented comedy writer, his main talent would show when he moved on to Batman the Animated Series as a writer and story editor. He was one of the main creative forces along with Bruce Timm, with the two going on to make the DCAU, aka some of the best superhero shows ever made, after already making easily one of if not THE best with BTAS. And Timm’s influence showed, Co-Creating Harley Quinn with Timm, and writing the series best episode Heart of Ice, which reworked Mr Freeze from a hoaky silver age villian into the tragic and thoroughly sympathetic character he’s been since that episode. Seriously that’s another one to add to the review pile.. which is giant and sentient at this point. And seriously EVERY episode on his imdb page credits is an utter classic and one I remember fondly. The guy is one of the most talented and seemingly nicest guys in the business and both the world of batman and the world of animation owe him a LOT.  So to my surprise, I found out in the 2000′s he had a comic, Jingle Belle.. then for whatever reason just never dug into it till now. But now post digging Jingle Belle is Paul Dini’s long running series of one shots and series at various companies following the adventures of Santa’s rebellious teenage-ish daughter.. techincally she’s in the 200′s but still looks and acts like a teenager. The idea came about when he got a christmas card from Stephen Speilberg, and wondered how the kids of famous folks dealt with that and if they resented their famous fathers. And whose more famous than santa?. The series spins both out of that brilliant idea and out of Dini’s love for sunday comic strips, back when the panels were larger and creators were given more freedom to go nuts, though even today i’ve seen plenty of great stuff so it’s not all lost pauly.  So in that spirit rather than one long ongoing Jingle Belle is instead a series of one shots, stories in anthologies and what have you, one and done stories more focused on the comedy. The comic has bounced around from various publishers, starting as something pitched to Oni Press, home of Scott Pilgrim and not much else, and has bounced around various publishers since, most recently ending up at IDW, where the trade i’m reading from comes from. So how does a great concept from one of the world’s most creative minds shake out? Let’s unwrap this present and find out. 

We open with an appropriately christmasy rhymey opening as we get the story of Jingle Belle: She’s the daughter of santa claus and mrs. claus, in this case the Queen of the Elves. Which isn’t established until the next story but whatever. And as you’d expect she grew up a cheery, rosey little girl who loved helpiing dad in the workshop.. then everything changed when puberty attacked. 

As you can see Jingle is now your standard Bratty Teenage Daughter sterotype. At least in this story. See this initial story feels much like a pilot: It’s clear things aren’t ironed out 100% for the idea, and i’ts more a self contained way to get across the general idea, that being Santa has a rebellious teen daughter, via what comes off as an snl skit in comic book form. THat’s not an insult, it’s a GOOD snl skit, and I am genuinely surprised only one movie company’s attempted adapting this comic: the concept is great. I’m just letting you know what i’m working with is all. 

So naturally as a high concept comedy skit, Jing soon, after sharing some cigarettes with the local eskmo boys and accidently lighting her Reindeer’s butt on fire and wrecking her sleigh and some surrounding property, Santa is at his witt’s end and we end up in family therapy. And honestly.. Santa in a family therapists office is a great concept. IT’s why I compare it to a sketch: It’s just a simple one line proposal that’s really damn funny and really damn eye catching. It’s often REALLY hard to get a good santa parody going, so I admire how well he pulled it off here.  But what really centers it is Jing giving her side, making her a bit more than the mostly one dimensional bratty rebellious daughter she’s been pegged as. Oh sure tha’ts still mostly what she is here, I’ll leave it to later stories to flesh her out hopefully, but she gives vallid reasons WHY she acts out: She points out no one even knew Santa had a daughter, and she has no songs or specials or any of that about her. The most Santa can offer up is “Jingle Bells” because the boys say “jingle all the way”... which really, especially in 2020, just makes HIM come off worse for not only slut shaming his daughter, but that the best defense he can offer is “Well some local boys talk about how you boned them that counts right?”. 

That.. poorly aged joke aside Jingle brings up another good point on how sh’es on his shit list.. errr.. naughty list. Still a good gag. And yeah the therapist is understandably surprised Santa dosen’t give his own daughter presents, though his wife does give a valid counter to that: He has to hold a higher standard than anybody. 

And that’s why I’m really intrigued by this concept and want to read more: WE have plenty of stories about Santa’s kids, i’ll grant, from him adopting a kid like in elf, to him passing on the legacy with films like Arthur Christmas and Fred Claus, or even just films about his legacy, like the Santa Claus, aka that time Santa died and his clothes forced Tim Allen into a job he dosen’t want with weight and beard gain he didn’t ask for via yuletide mummy’s curse to become the new santa and nearly loose custody of his child. What i’m saying is the concept is inherently fascinating and The Santa Clause is deeply terrifying if you stop to think about it for two seconds.. as is the sequel what with it’s Nazi Robot Santa Claus Tim Allen. Yes really. 

But this one’s unique in that it’s not about the legacy. Oh sure Santa tries to get Jing interested, and his last attempte wound up with them having to take the bus, another great gag and i’m glossing over most because this is a very funny little comic, but the main focus is more on what kind of pressure that puts on a kid: wouldn’t you rebel too if your parents wanted you to be perfect and to follow in the family business of being basically a perfect human being? Jing herself sums it up perfectly towards the end of the story. 

Granted after a tearful hug, Jing internally says “that new snowboard is mine.. but i’ts hard not to feel that a godo chunk of this is genuine. Sure she’s playing her parents a bit but.. you’d crack too if your dad was freaking Santa. I’m really intrigued to see where this goes both comedically and character stuff wise. 

So we end on another christmasy narration bit as Belle plays good for a while, snapping only when it docent seem like she gets her snowboard. A comedy ending and an eh one. Not the best honeslty, I feel the comci would’ve been better ended just at the snowboard is mine bit, but i’ve seen worse. 

Final Thoughts: A really good story. WHile it’s rough around the edges, clearly Dini and others have buffed them out over two decades, and i’m really intrigued to see more of this this holiday season and others. Again some parts, mostly playing Jing being sexually liberated for “OH HAW HAW SHE’S A SLUT” laughs is cringe inducing, but most of the jokes have aged well and for a pilot it’s not bad. I really look forward to reading more of the character and diving into her this season and beyond. 

Until then be good to one another, have a happy holidays and always remember: There's  always another rainbow.