#comic book discussion

[ballinandcantgetup452]

What does "No Kents" in Absolute Superman even MEAN?

I’m worried that Absolute Superman’s gonna be booty cheeks and too edgy. The writer has a mixed track record. Jason Aaron is known for writing the best parts of recent Thor and he created The Mighty Thor (Jane Foster). So I think he can handle the action that comes with writing god-tier characters quite well. I’m just really concerned that Aaron’s not gonna get the spirit.

I’m hoping that this does what Henry Cavill’s Superman was SUPPOSED to be: a cynic who’s still trying his best to smile despite all the pain he’s been through because he STILL believes in doing the right thing simply because it’s good. I hope that Absolute Superman is a story about letting people in, and how Clark doesn’t need the Kent’s to be fundamentally compassionate. I suspect that if you take away the Kents, then you still have a good person, but one that’s slow to trust anybody

I just don’t know what they mean by “no Kent’s”

All we really have is the artist showing us an action scene, and the knowledge that Superman’s cape is all Misty because it’s the “ashes of Krypton” which means that his suit is purely Kryptonian in origin

Did he LIVE on Krypton? Was he in the foster system? Was he raised by a different, shitty family? The phrase “no Kents” is just really vague. “No money” is relatively easy to work around. Granted, Bruce has an inciting incident that creates The Batman, so it's not too much of a stretch to put him in any circumstance. “No Amazons” probably means you just switch pantheons (I'm partial to the idea that she's raised by the pantheon of the New Gods). But “no Kents” has borderline infinite unrelated possibilities that I don’t know what the ACTUAL premise is of the book. Perhaps you could say the same about Diana, but I'm worried for Clark because edgy Supermans are just now fading in popularity, and I don't want to see them make a comeback over a POORLY written edgy Superman.

Shot in the dark, I think each Absolute line is going to be a commentary on the misconceptions of the traditional line. Absolute Batman was about debunking the “Batman beats up poor and mentally ill people” bullshit. If that’s actually a pattern and not malarky, I don’t know what Absolute Superman would address. Thoughts?

[littlefankingdom]

Bruce died(?) again

Jason: Well, it's my turn.

Dick: What are you talking about?

Jason: Everytime Bruce is gone, one of you starts to act just like him, pushing everyone away, acting as only you can be right, and fighting anyone that gets in your way. Dick did it, Tim did it, even Cass kind of did it. So, this time, I will do it.

Tim: Isn't that how you act all the time?

Jason: Whoa, fuck you. You are so banned from historical drama movie nights.

[knockknockwhosthereartistism]

Bills attempt of manipulating Stan via Alex Hirsch

Alex talking about scrapped idea of Bill attempting to make a deal with Stan^^^

[2isted-chocol8-art]

You will get to it, eventually. But there's no rush.

-> More Outer Wilds Art!

[clovreat3r]

[shyjusticewarrior]

"Jason and Cass would argue about justice-"

That man does not care that some people do vigilantism different than him, he is not arguing with her.

[welcometogrouchland]

It's mostly the fault of poor editorial practices that B&R is so heavily misaligned continuity-wise w/ the main batman book. But walk with me for a minute:

You are Damian Wayne. You are 14 years old and have had one of the worst years of your life last year. Which is saying a lot.

Your brother, one of the people you were closest to, got shot in the head and forgot who you were. Your best friend went to space for a week and came back 3/4 years older than you, taking away your previously established dynamic and leaving you to have to bond all over again w/ a new one. You may or may not have gone wayyy too far with your new superhero team, who now all hate you, because you fucked up big time*

And worst of all, when you do try to do the right thing, you end up forced to watch Alfred, a father figure to you, the only one at your birthday that year, the person who has been so patient, loving and trusting with you, even when you probably didnt deserve it...die. you watch him die, and feel it's all your fault.

And your dad never corrects you on that last point. So you run away.

First to your mom who can tell something's up with you, she knows you don't give up that easy, you decide not to stay with her because you remembered how actually, neither of your parents are good at communicating with you despite their best efforts, so now you're 14 and flying solo.

And you do fly solo. For a while. Make new friends, new enemies. You think you're better off for it. You've got your best friend and your brother back. They're not around as much. It's fine.

And eventually your dad tells you that it's not your fault that Alfred died. Bit late but it's appreciated. Really. There's a bit of a hiccup where you get possessed by a demon and wage war against your father but after that, all in all, you two are...together again.

You start to think maybe you want to give him another chance, for the two of you to be father and son.

And in a change of pace, it works out! It's going good, mostly. He insists you go to highschool, you resist, feel like he wants you to be something that you're not (wants you to be normal), but eventually you acquiesce for your own reasons. He cheers you on at soccer and nosies around at your fundraising events with the other parents and gives you a stern talking to about your choice of girlfriend. Because he cares.

Except all the while this is going on, your dad is currently having his brain slowly taken over by an evil version of himself that he created and every time you look away he's slowly tearing your family apart (your brothers are just barely keeping it together. The ones who didn't get lobotmized that is Jesus Christ). You keep taking his side in these conflicts, for whatever reason. Maybe because he promised it would be different this time, and it isn't** and you're going to stick with him until he keeps his word for once.

But at the end of the day?

It's like your brother says. You're not the one who saves him. Broadly speaking, you've made things worse and needed others to come save you. And what else is Robin really for? You thought it was about redemption and teamwork but guess you're wrong. It's about saving your self destructive, apparently two-faced and erratic father. And you can't even do that right.

* TT (2016) by Adam Glass is a racist ooc mess, but unfortunately it's still canon so I'm referencing here, though like a lot of works authors clearly wish weren't canon but are, it's been subsequently glossed over. Win? Maybe? Or not?

** again Zdarky's characterization of Damian is so outdated as to be ooc, and considering the way he constantly and explicitly uses it to illustrate Tim's strengths as robin, I'd argue there's. Also implications there. But the batshit insanity of the main batbook compared to B&R rn is crucial for this post, so I'm attempting to justify it. This time..

[lucabyte]

This is a perfect description because when I saw the AU for the first time I had a mini-breakdown of "Why would you DO this?? Why would you make it REAL????!"

And to this day every time I think for a moment I've found/come up with the most painful ISAT concept I immediately go "Nope NoHats still exists"

Its rlly funny to me that everyone sends Me the nohats asks (bc i drew most of the stuff for it) because needs be remarked i was not the one who came up with it. i had this shit said at me in call just after @samhainian finished the game as like, a discussion point and just had to be like ??!?!??!??!!?!?! because it was NOT thought up as an AU it was literally just how sam thought the game was gonna fucking end.

and then because neither of us were really *fan*artists before this i pushed for us to concoct a plan to get the idea out there because

[writing-nothing-but-spilled-ink]

Well now we know why Bruce is so emotionally constipated

Via batman the new 52 detective comics issue #0

[incorrectbatfam]

Thoughts on the mint acting like comic art is “uniquely American” and then talking about Superman who literally was first drawn by a non-American

Comics as an art form in general is weird because what exactly constitutes a comic? Like technically you can call cave paintings the first comics. And the different elements, like sequential images and text boxes, were developed across Europe and India over the course of centuries.

The modern superhero comics we're talking about did originate in America though. The first was technically Hugo Hercules, who first appeared in the Chicago Tribune in 1902. But what we all know is the 1938 Action Comics that brought Superman and superheroes to the mainstream.

Superman's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, were both American. Siegel was born in Cleveland and Shuster immigrated to the US from Canada when he was 9. That's pretty cut-and-dry.

And we can talk all day about their Jewish heritage and immigrant background since those are the themes of Superman's origin, but I feel like that's a different conversation which others are better equipped to lead than me. Hell, it took forever to find the words for this and I know I probably fumbled it somewhere.

But the original post is not wrong. A call for a poll just isn't the greatest place for nuance.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Outdrawn

f/f contemporary romance

two cartoonist who’ve been rivals since uni, and now have competing webcomics online, have to work together on the relaunch of a cult classic at the comic press they both work at

they both struggle with art-related physical and mental health issues, and complicated families

[wanderingmind867]

An old batman character I never see anyone talk about: Jason Bard. And why don't we talk about him!? Seriously, Jason Bard is the coolest. I've only read one or two things with him, but I like him. He's a detective, a former vietnam veteran who busted up his leg and now works as a PI. He walks with a cane, he solves mysteries, he's really cool! For people in the Vietnam era, I imagine it was great to see a character who reflected the PTSD and trauma of war. But why don't we still talk about Jason Bard!? Batgirl's first boyfriend (he helped her on many cases), and a remarkable character in his own right.

And if you want to get into some weird, coincidental irony...Barbara Gordon eventually loses the use of her legs. And Jason Bard (her first boyfriend) was a man with an injured leg from combat in vietnam. So both of them end up disabled. And that's such an odd coincidence. It feels like fate was laughing at these two, by playing an ironic twist like that.

[azure-clockwork]

How Does it Feel to Read Classic Sci-Fi?

Orson Scott Card: Two of the most interesting books you’ll ever read if you’re willing to look past a handful of things. And then you find the planet of Chinese people who worship having debilitating OCD. And the Mormonism. And the fact that the author is wildly homophobic and ought to read his own books.

Robert Heinlein (or at least the Wikipedia Summaries): I guess that’s a neat concept—oh, it’s a sex thing. Um. Gotcha.

Ray Bradbury: Man, I gotta read this thing for class huh. Well here’s hoping it’s good! *three hours later* oh. that’s why he’s famous. this will stick with me forever and I will never look at the phrase ‘soft rain’ the same again. christ. And then repeat 3x.

Isaac Asimov: Wow, this is such an interesting concept! I wonder how the exploration of it will influence the plot! Wait, hey, are you going to add any characters? Any of em? No like, with character traits other than ‘robot psychologist’ and ‘autistic’ and ‘woman’? None of em? No, ‘detective’ isn’t a character trait. Those are all just facts. Aaaand now I’m bored.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Hah, get a load of this guy! He’s never heard of nonbinary people before. Lol, what a riot; how dumb do you have to be to comprehend that these people aren’t men *or* women actually? Oh, wait, what’s happening. Oh shit, it was about society and love and learning to understand each other? And now I’m crying? And perhaps a better human being for it??

Andy Weir: Alright, this guy’s a really good writer. Funny, creative, knows so much engineering stuff…ooh, a new book! …I guess he can’t write women. Well, he wouldn’t be the first sci-fi writer…ooh another new book! And it’s more engineering problem solving and—wow. It’s not just women he can’t write. Please stop letting your characters talk to each other.

Lois Lowry: Oh, I remember this being fun when I was a kid! Wouldn’t it be fucked up to not see color? …upon reread, it would be fucked up to have your humanity stripped away, replaced with a tepid, beige ‘happiness’ for all time. Yeah.

Tamsyn Muir (let me have this ok): Haha, “lesbian necromancers in space” sounds fun. Lemme read this. Oh wow, yeah, this is right up my alley. OH GOD WHAT. NO. FUCK. OH SHIT WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING AND WHY IS IT REFERENCING THE BOOK OF RUTH AND HOMESTUCK BACK TO BACK!!! AHHHHHHHHH!! Now give me more please.

[fandom-blahs]

Despite my profile pic my comic book knowledge isn’t the strongest but what is up with people (at least on tiktok) performing mental gymnastics to defend Deathstroke?

I don’t care if you like problematic characters, I myself am an enjoyer of problematic cancel worthy characters. But what I don’t understand is the weird “Oh Deathstroke if only I were your writer!” “They ruined Slade!!” “Why couldn’t he be just a cool mercenary :(“ do you even like the character???

“Slade had potential but DC ruined it, that’s how we got deadpool” I’m tweaking wHAT ARE YOU SAYING!!

I always assumed it was throwing shade at at some unsatisfactory run or him getting characterised as a jobber

But no

The “bad writing” is him being a pedophile and using Tera Like That and overall being pathetic because he was created to be a villain for a team of sidekicks and teenagers.

It always leaves me so stumped and I’ve been seeing it more and more on tiktok…again do you even like the character or just his design?

This isn’t a case of a writer that didn’t do their research and freestyling or something that kind of stuck because the character doesn’t have much going on for them (*ahm Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne) no this is the character’s creator writing him Like That.

AGAIN I don’t care if you like Deathstroke or other problematic characters that’s not the point! But this sentiment that he was done “dirty” because of the Judas Contract is absurd and why is it so widespread?

[madame-irys]

LUKEWARM TAKE: Cenematic Universes are cool and all, but Comic book adaptations work WAY better in a serialized format. Shows like 90s Marvel cartoons were all just effortlessly connected. The X-Men showed up in am episode and Spider-Man, and it just made sense that these two shows were in the same universe. Then there's the CW Arrowverse, which had grandious crossovers, yes, but it also had highlights like Green Arrow calling the Fkash for like 3 seconds of assisstance. Not in some big "hey, remember these shows are connected" moment either, it was literally just a second of screen time, smach-dab in the middle of Season 5, and it just made sense. That's how comics generally are too. When you see the Human Torch in a Spider-Man comic, you don't tend to think twice, or worry about a missed issue of Fantastic Four; you just remember "Oh yeah, Peter & Johnny are bros" and continue reading. Now compare that to things like the MCU. Wanna watch Shang-Chi? Oh, well you've gotta watch all 3 Iron Man movies, all three prior Avengers films, AND Captain Marvel for the post credits scene. WHY?! It's a stand alone about a martial artists! Why is it connected to Iron Man AND space?!?! Then there's atrocities like the 2023 Flash movie which (ignoring Ezra Miller) had Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman. Cool and all, but those movies are 40 years old! I doubt too many people who watched that movie even new why Michael Keaton was playing Batman at all!

TL;DR, I have an intense love for comics, and comic movies are awesome, but TV is FFAARR better suited for interconnected universes, imo.

And if you disagree, that's okay. Remember that this is just my personal opinion, it doesn't infringe on yours, and I'm human too.