#i think the new 52 just ruined characters in general

[constantineshots]

okay so this is just a rant ( long. i am sorry if it is jumbled ) on justice leagu dark but specifically the new 52 run. because i don't have an issue with the rebirth run. but seeing as milligan started off the new 52 run, can anyone be surprised i don't like it.

never really understood how in justice league dark and whenever john is on a team in general. when people know he's a bit selfish when things look like they are not going to work in his favor/look hopeless in general and he gets the fuck out of there or does something to benefit himself. and everyone knows he consistently does this. yet they are like "what the fuck john. we trusted you." after giving him shit because they didn't trust him or didn't want him on the team. like guys.

for example, zatanna. she knows firsthand he's a dipshit from her last experiences and prior to new 52, she's kinda kept away from him. and honestly? you go, girl. get that toxicity out of your life if you find him to be toxic to you. but i don't like the way she's written in the initial jld because it's always "where's john" ( and, vice versa to shove the john/zatanna concept in our faces, john being all up zatanna's ass, which i personally feel does not do their characters justice. if you want to ship them, let them be them. show me why they work. not shove the "they're in love with one another" in my face and give me... dried out, squeezed sponges of their characters with absolutely zero substance. though maybe i just didn't like the writers for new 52 jld ( though the newer run is more enjoyable! zatanna feels more like herself ) because i don't think they wrote anyone well. sorry for the random tangent here ). zatanna is supposed to be intelligent. people look to her. so why would she consistently place her trust in a man she knows is going to hurt her and the team? then get angry with him for acting human even though he keeps saying he's not a hero and he will do anything to save his skin then people keep REPEATING IT AND THEN EVERYONE JUST GETS MAD AT HIM WHEN HE DOES EXACTLY THAT.

no, this is not just about zatanna. this can extend to deadman and everyone else as well, and the others, but i had the image in my mind if her quite literally yanking him from the bathtub and throwing him out of the bathroom and into a wall when she eventually took the house of mystery again because john left them all.... as he typically does.

overall, i think the initial justice league dark run was written terribly. like. astronomically bad. i don't even know why john led that team. i don't know why john was involved. i don't know why it had anything to do with argus. the newer run? with upside down man and stuff? okay, that i'm alright with. but i can quite honestly say that the writing in justice league dark new 52 was absolutely terrible AND OF COURSE IT WAS BECAUSE MILLIGAN WAS FIRST. i think it set the tone for the series and honestly it may be my own personal biases against him that clouds my judgement, but i hated the initial run. i think everything happened too fast, then shit started making absolutely no sense, and honestly, the most interesting thing that happened was whatever was going on with nightmare nurse.

okay, so. necro. unneeded. what was the point of nick necro. genuinely. to get john and zee together when they already have history but instead of allowing them to keep that history, it gets shit on for the sake of john seeing zee on stage and being like "wowza" and then having some weird competition with necro initially, just to lead to necro being? what, upset? at one point? i am so confused. like john and zee are kissing and zee apologizes to necro, and then he's like "eugh. i knew about you two. blah blah blah" like? he's not important to me. i don't care about him. why couldn't john and zee have just been together this guy literally solves very little plot purpose. even when he shows up later on. like dude. who ARE you.

anyways. anyways! that's my rant. just on random things. LIKE I DON'T KNOW WHY PETER MILLIGAN WAS ALLOWED TO PUT HIS GRUBBY FUCKING HANDS NEAR JOHN AGAIN BUT WHATEVER.

is any of this even canon anymore? i hope not.

[damianbugs]

You need to tell us what you think of your favorite Bruce ships. Pls

i should preface by saying i usually prefer bruce (in my own works and others, including comics) to not be in a relationship at all because i can't think of a time he's like ever emotionally stable enough for that. like ever. THAT BEING SAID isn't that all the more reason to throw him into a ship? doomed tragic romance you will always be famous to me

and because i am insane, here are some comic recs to go with my fav bruce ships!!

>batcat

a classic favourite, batcat!!! i will admit i am not the biggest fan of their rebirth stories, and the whole wedding fiasco and most of what tom king wrote about them (and in general) was. not enjoyable. but pre crisis/golden age batcat? MY PARENTS. just. silver and bronze age batcat too. what a refreshing and entertaining couple. the thing that really makes them compelling is at the end of the day they have the same goal; protect the people of gotham. the ways they go about it can be different, and selina especially faces some serious mischaracterisation in order to make bruce look like the "hero" in the relationship, but at their core and simplest expression of love, they share the same dream, and they both know that. it's this selflessness that connects them deeply.

> "The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne" (Batman the Brave and the Bold #197) is, in my opinion, essential batcat reading. a very bittersweet story!

> for a more modern read, "Only Takes a Night" (Catwoman #32) is a delightful read about how hopelessly in love they are. bruce is such a devoted loser.

> ghostbat

every character needs that one irreparably damaging young adult tragic romance that changed their life forever and that is what ghostbat is. khoa is the perfect foil to bruce, in that ultimately, they are two ends of the same spectrum. fiercely stubborn and confident in their own moral code but in the opposite way. this ship is particularly fascinating because even now, the respect and love they have for each other years later is so deeply consuming that it is prevalent in how they interact now. i don't think bruce would have been the person he is without his relationship with khoa pre-batman, in both a good and bad ways. i also really love the hc that khoa is bruce's first heartbreak (refer to: the Snow and Gun incident).

> "Batman The Knight" is like ghostbat religious text. this is all you need. let it destroy you.

> batlantern

no long paragraph about this one because its my silly guilty pleasure. sometimes u need a ship in which they just don't get along except for the times they do. hal brings out such an irritating (said fondly) side to bruce and its even funnier because it works mutually. i think another really wonderful thing about this pairing is that they are really not so different from each other (nothing says romance than being consumed by your guilt and stubbornness), but they both think otherwise, so they knock heads while also begrudgingly respecting about one another in a colleague-friend-crush way. they want to make out so bad it makes them look stupid.

> "Batman: Universe" is a great and short silly story that shows their dynamic really well. amused me greatly. not ship focused though hal is there for like. a single issue unfortunately. but fun!!

> i usually never recommend any new 52 books to get INTO a character, but if you're interested in this pairing and its most 'popular' fanon interation, then "Jutice League (2011)" is the best place to start. you can get to their better stuff afterwards! (there's also an animated movie about it!)

> brutalia

AND BEST TILL LAST. THE BRUCE SHIP OF ALL TIME. ruined my life. CHANGED my life. i wish i could explain how insanely important this relationship is in words. i love my pairings tragic and there is quite literally no other ship quiet as dramatic or poetic than brutalia. talia is often seen as bruce's "one true love" with great reason, and him hers, and despite that they will probably never actually get back together. in a wider lense, the al ghuls and bruce have an insanely complicated dynamic, and this inherent conflict about missions bigger than themselves makes brutalia's forbidden love drama all the more compelling. talia brings out the best in bruce, and bruce respects and loves talia in a way i don't think he does anyone else in his life.

to complain for a moment, it's no wonder that because their relationship (since it's very first introduction) was so irrevocably pure and consensual (they were both so ridiculously obsessed with each other), that Certain Writers had to pull out the most out of character and disgusting stories to make it clear the tone of batman was changing. talia is always a victim to racism, misogyny and just unbelievable ooc writing — most evidently in her stories with bruce, unfortunately.

AND YET. recent comics have realised how truly ridiculous it is to write her as anything but kind and strong, and bruce being anything but hopelessly infatuated. i think my favourite thing about brutalia is that bruce and talia is a relationship that has been separated for actual Decades and so both their characters have been developed to have their own tragic stories and growth. then when we get small moments that bring them back together and letting that past show through the cracks in their carefully constructed walls, it's all the more romantic.

beautiful heartbreaking ship. the kind of relationship historians would cry over. would have the romantic period publishing fifteen books over.

> "Batman: Son of the Demon" is ESSENTIAL brutalia reading. also, if you are insane and delusional enough, it can be the true origin of damian.

> the comic moment that inspired all romance the moment of forever the blueprint even is in the famous "Batman (1940) #244"

> for a more modern take, very recently in fact, is her appearances in Ram V's run of detective comics, starting from #1062. its not brutalia focused, but a great take on how natural and yearning their relationship is now.

[sahaias]

Soy Luna Season 2 Episodes 31-52 Thoughts

Okay, it took me forever to progress through these episodes because I am a workaholic who was playing Mass Effect or talking to friends during my only free hours lol. Most of these thoughts are about the last few episodes because those are the ones I watched recently

Juliana annoys me, but it seems after the competition, they are going back on her character to make her less overtly rude and demeaning and more just strict and wanting the best for people. She kinda reminds me of my boss who made me cry on his second day on our team by yelling at me, but now I'm the most competent person he has and the most trusted one. I miss Tamara (and I kind of had a crush on her lol, Pedro was so valid for that lmao)

Thank god the stupid twins storyline is over, it was such a waste of time and ruined Pedro and Nico's friendship.

Luna x Matteo is giving me the ick, and it's because Matteo looks like someone who's old enough to have graduated college while Luna looks like an actual high schooler. Despite being around the same age as Karol, Tini didn't look that young while playing Violetta. It probably has to do with her being taller, having a less high-pitched voice, and a more angular face. That and Jorge doesn't give me weird vibes like Ruggero does

I still stand by Ramiro's overconfident attitude trying to compensate for his insecurity being a more interesting and better quality for the "cocky leading man" role than the way Matteo is written. He's pathetic you could say, but in a charming and likable way, which makes you root for him. I cannot say I find Matteo likable at all

Gaston and Nina not communicating and having their relationship suffer because of that is realistic but hard to see

Yam and especially Jim give out so many positive vibes these season, it makes me happy whenever they have lines lol

It's funny that the show wants us to root for Matteo in general when Simon is the one encouraging Luna to support Matteo more while he's jealous. He also has way more people supporting him during the competition with the only ones supporting Matteo outside of Luna being Gaston and Ramiro.

The biggest example of Matteo sucking though is he's salty both Simon and him won and is visibly annoyed by this news, while Simon is just ecstatic that he gets the opportunity at all

The Simbar sparks are forming, and I can already see why people love them

Xavi is not someone I really care about or like, but I do appreciate the end of his story being that he understands Nina isn't into him and not getting remotely mad. It's a positive example, and something I think more shows could stand to depict.

Luna being concerned about Simon getting hurt when getting close to Ambar gives more romantic energy than anything between Matteo and Luna lmao

[zahri-melitor]

I've been thinking about War of the Robins, aka 'Damian challenges the other Robins to prove he's the Best Robin' storyline from Batman and Robin 2011, and what I think worked about it in terms of characterisation. (look I'm reading New 52, you get to hear lots of my ten plus years out of date thoughts about New 52, enjoy)

Because look, I think it was successful in presenting how desperate for approval and validation Damian is, but it also feeds into the narrative you can see percolating during this time that Damian can't cope with just being one of the family, he has to be the best, have the most love and approval, have physical demonstrations of his superiority, because he's grown up understanding being one of the group to be a death sentence. (Dick has to be his Batman, and Damian Dick's Robin, he needs the writers giving him reassurance that they were 'the best' right before he dies, the new timeline cuts off any other occasions Dick was Batman, Damian gets given extra pets right before he dies as a sop for his death, etc etc)

Which is believable characterisation for Damian! It is understandable given the background they're building for him! But also sharply aggravating because nobody has ever accused fans of being reasonable and this just digs people into being more deeply opposed to the character their favourite is in conflict with.

So he 'challenges' Tim and Jason 'at something you feel unbeatable at' in a way that sharply exploits emotions they're sensitive about.

Damian...shows Tim a video of Tim considering killing and pulling back, and implies that that makes Tim a killer just like Damian and "they're the same". Now I think this one is actually pretty weak - while yes it's exploiting a point Tim's sensitive over (and in our world has dealt with twice in the calendar year prior to this story), it's also something Tim's pretty solid on; Tim knows he's not a killer and will pull back, while he's seen Damian kill. I also think that a Damian who's working to be a better person would not refer to the Spook situation as "a bit rambunctious", rather than it being something he regrets and tries to grow from. It does amuse me that Tim gets to smash Damian into Jason's trophy case however this time for the parallel, though being the one who breaks the case generally is framed to make you the one 'in the wrong' in the confrontation. Also as far as I can tell Damian never takes a physical trophy from this fight, which sort of ruins your whole premise, Damian. NB: I see Damian has Tim's bo in his room later, but Tim clearly ended the fight holding it and then left. There's definitely an art issue here.

Jason's fight is even more exploitation of a known weakness. Jason's got every right to be touchy about someone threatening him with a crowbar. Also I really really dislike that Damian's just freely admitting to the time he locked himself in with the Joker to beat him up at GCPD, because honestly that bit of story and its timing has always seemed to contradict the 'he's getting better' narrative that Dick maintains during Reborn. And again the whole conversation is "we're so alike but nobody loves you". At least this time Damian clearly takes his trophy (which is a helmet, which is still displayed in Damian's room during scenes there in the B&R Requiem issue).

Dick showing up at the end to explain to Damian that he doesn't need to try so hard prove his worth and just handing over an escrima stick - look it's sweet and it does impart the moral that Damian needed to learn over this whole situation. But also it does not really help, as it's just deepened the family fault-lines between Dick & Damian as a pair and *sigh* Jason & Tim.

The other thing I get out of it is whether it's just bravado or not, Damian's a lot more comfortable with his childhood violence continuing to come out rather than working to fit the rules of what makes a Robin and a superhero than people want to say he is. Yes, he needs unconditional love and support to grow and learn, and Dick's being used to provide that. But it's also occasion 3000 when I'm sitting here going "is anyone ever going to give Damian actual boundaries and enforce them when he tests them?" because he's once again well outside what is expected. Bruce tries at the start to defuse the argument, and Dick tries at the end to explain why Damian didn't need to do this, he's already won, but I do wonder how much of it sunk in.

[kevlarninja]

Batgirls is Good, Actually

I haven't just posted thoughts about a comic I've been reading in literal years. And I wanted to post a bit about the recent Batgirls series.

I first heard of it when I heard that Cassandra Caine was Batgirl again along with Stephine Brown. But I also heard that the book was "cringe" and "poorly written."

Now, of course, I have learned over the years that when something is called "cringe," especially if the leads are on the younger side of things, especially if those leads are female, it's often people being performatively mad at something they didn't even read half the time. That and, frankly, I have just had enough of social media discourse around "X piece of media is TERRIBLE" because half the time it's overblown and people just join in on a bandwagon or have the worst takes. Just exhausting. Anyway, I just saw "Cass Caine is in a book with really cool art. I have to see this.

I did not regret it.

Now, I will say, unlike a lot of recent comics I've seen a lot of people online get mad at, I can't really say it's for overtly bigoted reasons. Which is surprising (and kinda sad really) to say about a book where the three main leads are female and one is non-white.

I don't even think the criticisms are invalid, really. But I think to call the book "terrible" is too strong. I thought it was a fun time and thought I'd bring up some of the issues people bring up and my thoughts.

The Narration

Now this is something I generally agree with folks on. The narration was too much at times. In the above page, you can see the narration captions describing what's plainly obvious like this is a comic from decades earlier.

Now, this is a more comedic book, and while comedy is subjective, there are also rules of thumb for understanding it. And I feel these captions either try way too hard at times to shove in jokes, or ruin the joke they are trying to make by not just stopping and adding another line that ruins what could have been a nice sly line.

That said, this one panel was great and actually what made me want to track down a trade of this.

2. The Characterization

I've seen people talk about the characterization of the characters being wrong here. And, listen, I get it. Babs is kind of dumber than usual in this book.

But I see people talk about Cass being out of character and....

...well, I feel conflicted..

Cards on the table, I follow Marvel more closely than DC (or used to anyway, before the pandemic caused me to fall off comics for a few years). And I'm more familiar with Cass's character pre-New 52/Rebirth. So I don't know how her characterization differs in that sense.

But generally? For a book with a more comedic slant, so everyone's characterization is more broad? I think it works. It feels right (especially with my head canon of reading Cass as Autistic) that Cass is kind of blunt and socially awkward.

*Nodding intensifies*

But yeah, I think Batgirls is enjoyable for what it is and frankly a little over-hated online.

That said, one thing I did roll my eyes at, dirty pinko that I am, was the villain of the first arc, Tutor. It's basically the whole MCU Flag-Smashers "what if all the people rebelling against the status quo are actually evil terrorists?" kind of plot. This isn't a great look when you already are setting up a team of villains who are part of the police state. But it's not enough to kill the book for me either.

[electricprincess96]

I have seen the fucking Muzzle Jason Design in the wild again and the angry eye twitching happened and the only thing that stopped it was reminding myself it could be worse he could be Pill Helmeted Ginger Jason.... its the fact that design is in fact only a tiny bit worse in my overall Jason Todd designs.... think about that, that's how much I despise that Muzzle design on conceptual and SPIRITUAL level.

Because I know actually visually it's significantly better... for anyone not called Jason Todd/Red Hood. Give that design to a brand new character and I'd say its great. It's the fact we had PERFECTION and they ruined it and stripped Jason of all his unique characteristics and made him look so Generic Video Game Character like.

Just please DC give my boy his helmet back (and I do mean his Under the Red Hood/New 52/OG Rebirth Helmet, none of this Used Tampon looking shit) and his leather jackets. I can live with some of the rest (I will never like the crowbar but honestly I can argue against that one later, the helmet and jacket are more important to me).

It does actually shock even me how angry that design makes me because it is just proof to me that DC and to a lesser extent some of Jason's own fans fundamentally do not understand him at all.

For anyone who sees this and wants to argue with me on that design, don't bother I will ignore you.

[adalance]

I have had this thought,nothing ruined the general perception of Wonder Woman like DCAU!Wonder Woman. The way she was portrayed in that show is why people see her as this warrior first type character, it's why the amazons have such a terrible reputation. That show did it before the new 52, before she killed Maxwell Lord.

That show made them man haters without the full context of their isolation and the reasons behind it. They did not go over the victimization the amazons experienced at the hands of men, it did not delve into that due to that victimization the amazons opted for isolation, and that isolation was due to fear not hate (and themyscira was a punishment). They had hippolyta fucking BANISH Diana for some fucking bullshit. Why not do the "sending a champion" route?

Let me not get started on Diana herself. The key aspect of Diana was that she was not supposed to have the same fear and distrust of Man's World as her sisters, which is why she was so fit to be champion (beyond the fact she won the tournament). She did not face the same oppression and victimization that her sisters experienced, so how they portrayed her in this weird ass misandrist way was fucking dumb.

I know it's an early 2000s show but they handled the feminist aspects of Wonder Woman so terribly. They totally missed the mark on her pacifist nature. Where was her general kindness? She was this strawman misandrist character that dudes would point to and say "see? Feminism is terrible".

I swear they were trying to make it into this "both sides" bullshit with Diana and the amazons. This is something that occurs ALOT in adaptations of the amazons, they are so afraid of delving into the violence, trauma, and victimization women experience at the hands of men and just make the amazons something they are not supposed to be. They are agents of love and peace, Diana is supposed to be the biggest symbol of that.

But the creators of that show did not care about that, they did not care about Wonder Woman. All they cared about was having her have the hots for Batman. They did make her quite the powerhouse in that show, so I will give them that I guess but personality wise, what a total miss on the mark.

P.S.

The mischaracterization of Diana in that show is why I hate wonderbats I think.

[cluescorner]

Keeping Tim as 'robin' or in a similar type of role hurts both his and Damian's characters. Just let Damian be Robin and let Tim do his own thing so that both of them can develop from this point. I get the whole 'forever story' thing but Tim hasn't substantially changed in over a decade (the only time he even got close was when he 'died' and even that was a retread of Titans of Tomorrow, which I'm fine with because I like evil-future-self plots and my favorite version of Tim is the one where he's tap-dancing on the line between 'not doing well but doing his best' and 'on the verge of ruining his own life/becoming the worst version of himself' but I wish there was more of it instead of just...the problem is over) and Damian keeps having the same character arc in an endless loop (if Damian learns that killing=bad, friends=good, and relying on others is okay one more time I'm gonna yell, yes some authors have done it well but I want something new for him thanks (Juni Ba series please be good I am on my knees and begging)). They need to change or they are going to get boring.

Making Damian worse to prop up Tim or making Tim the 'perfect robin' to demean Damian are both such annoying ways of handling characters in general, let alone characters who can and should both be portrayed as competent and complicated people. And the thing that sucks is that their relationship could be so fucking interesting if any author actually cared about both of them at the same time. Not just the 'I want good things to happen to my characters' type of caring, but the 'I want to explore both of these characters and make them develop as people while showing off their strengths and weaknesses'. Unfortunately, I don't think Zdarsky is that writer and I don't think Batman has had a writer like that in a very long time (that I can remember, I did not pay attention during the New 52 or from the years of like 2018-2021 so I could have missed something).

...please tell me Damian is simply super undercover and not just truly that braindead...

Was the last thing Zdarsky read with Damian in it Teen Titans (2016)? Otherwise I can't explain myself where Zdarsky would get the expression from that modern Damian still thinks like this. And even in that comic Damian knew that his father would be extremely against his methods, that was pretty much the point of the book.

I've talked about this...I think it was during Gotham War, but it really sucks how when it's about Tim Zdarsky (and other writers) portray being loyal to Batman as a positive thing, but when Damian is being used it's often portrayed as him being dumb and a terrible Robin. Like, fuck off Zdarksky, Damian knows his father. Only a few months ago he didn't hesitate to stab Insomnia in Bruce's form the second he noticed something was off:

And now Damian falls for Zur that easily? Usually this would be an undercover plot, but with how terrible and dumb everyone was in Gotham War I'm really not sure Zdarsky deserves that much trust.

His Damian might just be that dumb/bad and oh, wonderful, the solicitations for June make it sound like Bruce will have to give up on being Batman to get Damian out of Zur's clutches! How exciting! Of course for something negative like that we can't use Tim even though he was the Robin Zdarsky focused on pre-Gotham War, no, Tim can only be used when it's about something positive like saving Bruce😑

Do these writers think we readers don't pick up on their blatant favoritism?

[fantastic-nonsense]

Do you have any post about didio's hatred of legacy characters? I forget if that was an actual stated thing or if it was just assumed. I vaugely recall him hating Dick Grayson specifically.

I don't have any posts, but here's the shorter version of a better-sourced post I might make about it some day:

Dan Didio notoriously disdains legacy characters, particularly ones which have eclipsed their earlier gen mentor figures in popularity (see: Wally West). He USUALLY will not say this outright in interviews; you have to read between the lines between what he's saying and not saying. But the sentiment is obvious for anyone who does read between those lines, and people around him have talked about his general dislike of legacies on multiple occasions.

The long-and-short of it is that he feels that legacies, particularly ones who were allowed to grow up and become their own independent heroes like the Fab 5, make the "originals" look old and outdated. He doesn't like that legacies inherently age older heroes and make them more mature, and he doesn't like that the story of a legacy is inherently about growing up and either accepting or rejecting what your mentor has taught you. A fully grown, independent, and successful Nightwing makes Batman look old, which he can't stand. Likewise, a Wally West who has taken Barry's place as Flash and eclipsed him in pop culture popularity makes Barry irrelevant in his mind.

He also has very weird and frankly wrong conceptual issues with legacies taking over their mentor's mantles; he thinks it makes them "too similar" to their mentors and unable to stand on their own as characters (this is his core issue with Wally, for some reason). He has a special dislike of Dick Grayson and is notorious for wanting him killed off in Infinite Crisis, which writers like Mark Waid and Geoff Johns have talked about before and Didio himself has commented on:

His dislike of Dick in particular exists for a lot of reasons, but there are two main issues that pop up again and again during interviews: he thinks Nightwing ages Batman too much (which he hates)...and he thinks a "happy Batman is the end of Batman."

Dick tends to be the focus of his ire because he was the first legacy hero, the first of Bruce's children, and has been the second most successful breakout legacy character at DC Comics (with the first being Wally), but there's a part of me that thinks he hates the concept of the Batfamily more than he dislikes any singular legacy Bat hero given his various editorial edicts (not letting Batcat get married, not letting Kate and Maggie get married, erasing most of the Batfam during the New 52, ordering Lobdell to write the Ric arc, etc). He doesn't think heroes should have happy personal lives (Batman least of all) and to Didio, having grown and successful children who have succeeded beyond Bruce's wildest dreams counts.

Ultimately, he's a 62-year-old fanboy who does not want to move beyond the Silver Age. He wants his heroes and favorite teams to remain just as they were in the 70s, when he was a kid. He doesnt like characters to mature and grow as adults, he wants teen characters to stay teenagers forever, and he wants his heroes to have sucky personal lives and ruined relationships because he thinks it makes them more relatable. Happy hero families with successful legacy characters undermines those desires. I'm glad he's no longer in charge of DC Comics.

[personasintro]

Mimi ch 53 was a rollercoaster ride like my mind can’t absorb what was happening. But first let me thank you for working so hard on this and every other one of your story and sharing this with us 🫶🏼🫶🏼 Anyway some of my thoughts…

1. Its good that jk told his family about what happened. Sometimes we do need time on our own to process and accept what happened and him feeling like it is okay to share the burden now, somehow feels like he is finally ready, really ready to let go and move forward with his life. 💝

2. Ohhh them finally doing it raw is like the sexiest smut I have ever read. The teasing, anticipation then finally going at it is like okay. Yn riding his face and her squirting omg she’s so hot like dude give her to meeee 🫠

3. Yn moving out and Jimin calling them out on their situationship.. I kinda feel like there’s something more out this and it will affect how the rest of the story will pan out which leads me to my next one

4. Jk inviting Ester and missing on the communication like he suddenly brought this up a few days before the trip itself. I dunno but when yn was still living with him from ch 46-52, they never really argued. They communicated the best and now that they did the deed, and yn out of his apartment, it kinda feels like jk doesn’t care anymore and he can do whatever he wants. That is just me though. Yn might have overreacted a bit, but jk calling her selfish and childish and saying ester is his friend too like her and yn are on the same level is.. uncalled for I guess. Can we just go and inhale the Busan air back?? 🥲

5. When they were in Busan, jk acted so clingy and so boyfriend to yn. Which makes me think like finally, things are looking up and these two might fall in love with eo. But after this chapter it seems to me that jk only ever sees her as a bestfriend and that all it is is just fun and casual sex with him as what they tell their friends that they are JUST hooking up- for him it might be what it is. I cant say the same for yn because it seems like she’s falling for him even if she’s not yet aware about it.

Anyway sorry for this long ask. I thoroughly enjoyed the story even its giving me a a bit of anxiety hahaha excited to see what Yoongs will bring to the table. If his and ester character will bring the positive - yn and jk realising they like eo more than friends. Or not so positive as in yn and jk starting a relationship with other people. Either way I just hope they don’t actually ruin their friendship. You did such a good job of portraying the characters like readers genuinely love them or hate them, that’s how great you are as a writer!! Also, you keeping us on our toes all the freakin time is genius! I swear I don’t know where the story is leading us for sure but we’re here for the sweet long ride 🫶🏼

Thank you for reading this chapter and sending this in!! 💗

1. It does feel oddly freeing, doesn’t it? It would be completely fine if he decided not to tell them. Partly, he did tell them because he saw they see a few changes in him. But he told them when he was ready and that’s the most important thing 🫶

2. 🔥🔥🔥 that’s all I’m saying hehe glad you enjoyed those moments!!

3. Jimin definitely thinks this is not a good idea!

4. I mean… he can still do whatever he wants 🫢 in jk’s defense he did tell them as soon as he saw them, maybe he didn’t even consider it as big news or something that should cause an argument. If you look at it generally, it’s not a big deal at all. Only y/n made it a big deal. But yes, you’re right he definitely shouldn’t compare them but jk is still a man, there are a few things he doesn’t see like we do haha 🤭 Busan air is well needed in this situation!

5. Well, firstly they’re friends than anything else. From their point of view, they’re having fun. They have an amazing chemistry 🌪️

Thank you so much for this feedback! There are a lot of exciting things about to happen, I can’t wait to read them!! 💗🫶

[ectonurites]

Why are people mad about YJA? Don’t some people hate the Joker/Killing Joke connection to Barbara’s disability and Oracle origin? It’s not like Cass did it on purpose either. I don’t understand how this ruins her character. Why are some comic book purists so annoying?

1. coming onto a blog as focused on the comics universe as mine is and trying to complain about 'comic book purists' is just.... read the room

2. I don't think it necessarily ruins Cass's character (like, I never said that and honestly I haven't really even seen anyone specifically say that about this) but it's a change I actively dislike.

3. The relationship between TKJ and Babs as Oracle is very complicated, and seeing a story have a different take on how she becomes disabled isn't an unwelcomed thing (Shadow of the Batgirl just said there was 'an accident' and didn't elaborate further, which I think worked fine) but this specific way of changing it I dislike.

After spending some more time mulling this over (past my initial reaction, so this has a different take than what I had said earlier because I don't even think what I said there would really have been what I wanted either), here are my general thoughts:

I think the problem with all of this is less about the specific actions that happened and more the implications of them/what they mean for the characters, because this situation as a whole centers Cass's motivation around another separate person entirely.

As it was originally presented before The New 52, Cass had killed one person as a child not understanding what she was doing until the moment it was too late, and she ran off on her own, horrified by her actions. Eventually she wound up in Gotham during No Man's Land, and saved Jim Gordon, which is why Babs gave her blessing for Cass to become the new Batgirl. While Babs plays a big role here and their bond becomes a focus, the narrative of Cass becoming a hero isn't entirely centered around Babs (the aspect that is is Cass taking on the legacy role from Babs, not her choosing to save someone). She's first defined to the Bats (and us as an audience) by her desire to be a hero that she already had when she met them. We learn about her past, and how that plays into her worldview, and it's important, but she came to her conclusion to save people rather than kill anyone again of her own volition.

In the New 52, she was given an assassination assignment to kill Harper Row's parents so that Harper could be used by Mother to become a new Robin for Bruce. After killing Harper's mom, the death causes Cass to have her realization and she lets Harper's dad escape and she runs like before, so she still very actively makes this realization about killing being bad entirely on her own before crossing paths with the Bats. She then makes the choice to go to Bruce and help on her own, too ("You are a hero. Because that's the path you chose yourself." in Batman & Robin Eternal #13). This version of her origin is very often criticized for re-centering Cass' narrative around Harper, rather than putting the focus on Cass herself. But an aspect of it that I do think connects back to her original story is that Cass' action that gets her involved with the Bats is still her making the choice to help, and she came to her realizations that killing was bad on her own first.

This Young Justice cartoon version is far more like the New 52 in terms of 'she was given an assassination assignment, and ends up hurting someone who would become close to her because of it.' Except this isn't something we find out happened in the past before she met the Bats, this is her introduction to them. I personally think it's very important for Cass' realization about 'killing is bad, I will never kill again, I want to help' to happen from her own experience before she's involved with the Bats. It gives her more agency in the situation, because she came to these conclusions herself. Because ultimately... someone else making a choice for her is what happened here. Obviously the Bats have their extreme no-killing rule, obviously they would intervene if they were present. But having Babs 'save' Cass by not allowing the kill to happen... it didn't let Cass learn things on her own.

Even though her two previous origins are pretty drastically different from one another, that was still consistent between them. She killed someone, realized that is something she is going to be guilty about for the rest of her life, and made the active choice to never do it again and help people instead. Here, she attempted to kill someone, someone else stopped her and was injured in the process, and Cass is seemingly now learning from that person ("I wasn't trying to save Joker, I was trying to save you,") that killing is something she should not do. It takes Cass' choice and her realizations coming from herself out of the equation. I think at core that's what I really, really hate about this situation even more than necessarily the specific action of Cass being the one to paralyze Babs instead of the Joker.

Then to focus on Babs for a second, what I loathe the most here is the concept of her injury happening while she's Batgirl. As bad as The Killing Joke is, I've always thought the fact that Babs had already quit being Batgirl before it happened, and was shot while in her civilian identity was an important aspect to the situation. Because having whatever happens to Babs to cause her paralysis occur while she's actively out as Batgirl... It's taking the choice about moving on from the Batgirl role away, having circumstance force the situation. That just changes a lot, imo. That was one of the few bits of agency she actually had in that original situation until other writers came along and reinvented her as Oracle. Joker may have done this bad thing to her, but she had already chosen to stop being Batgirl herself, it wasn't 'taken' from her.

In The Killing Joke, Babs was used as a prop in the conflict between Joker, Bruce, and Jim, she's barely a character there and much more a means to torture her dad. While it's nice to see that route not get re-enacted again, having Babs end up as a sacrifice for Cass' learning moment instead... that still just doesn't sit right with me. It gives Babs more choice in one aspect of the situation, because she put herself in the line of danger rather than being uninvolved in the situation and only brought in to hurt her father, but it's still... taking her choice about being Batgirl away.

Also, this happening while she's actively Batgirl plays into the idea of 'her time as Batgirl being cut short' which I really dislike, (bc again, she had originally given up the role before TKJ!) because that sort of reasoning is often used as justification by people for the New 52 making her become Batgirl again.

IDK I just think there absolutely could have been a better way to connect events/create something unique for the world without altering character motivations and agency this much. That's what bugs me.

But also these are my opinions, not something objectively correct, we still have another episode in this 'arc' that could throw some new pieces into the puzzle, but as it stands right now I really just... do not like this direction and not just because its not 'comic accurate' but because of the changes it means in who these characters are

[pluckyredhead]

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Oh friend, there are SO MANY. Here is a short list of absolutely garbage stories:

Literally anything from the Silver Age with fucking Comet

For the Man Who Has Everything

The Killing Joke

All of the gross stuff with Carol Ferris and the Predator (no, not that Predator)

Power Girl's magical baby

JLA: Created Equal, I just read this last week and it is AWFUL

The Archer's Quest

Graduation Day

Like every single Supergirl storyline from her reintroduction in the 2000s up until the Gates/Igle run

Identity Crisis

Countdown to Infinite Crisis

Cry for Justice/Rise of Arsenal (and to the anon who asked me to talk about why this is so bad, I still have your ask and will answer it when I am strong enough, I promise!)

Justice League: Generation Lost

Superman/Wonder Woman

Anything that incorporates the Watchmen characters into the DC universe - way to have ethics, guys

Heroes in Crisis

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

The Human Target

Actually, just put anything by Tom King on here

...and probably others I'm not thinking of at the moment!

But the ultimate, for me, is Flashpoint. I've never even read it, I just loathe it for creating the New 52, which came very close to ruining comics for me for years. "Let's throw out decades of history for confusing, micromanaged, aggressively same-y grim 'n' gritty stories! And while we're at it, let's fire most of the women working for us and alienate a large chunk of the men!" What an awful idea. I will truly never be over it.

[blufox234isadumbname]

Las Nevadas and Poker Cards theory

/rp /dsmp (all of the mentioned people are characters of the Dream SMP. not the actual content creators)

---

So this began with a random thought floating in my head about the new characters introduced to the Las Nevadas lore in Episode 3. This sparked the reawakening of my obsession with cartomancy and the meanings behind playing cards. So subsequently, I decided to associate the new four characters to the four symbols of the playing card deck

For a brief intro to playing cards, the standard 52-card deck uses the French suit - which include the diamonds, hearts, clubs and spades. Each suit/symbol includes three face cards (King, Queen and Knave) and ten numbered cards (Ace of ... to Ten of ...) The suit of cards varied throughout history before the French suit became popularised. Most of the derived meanings of the card suits themselves have mostly been very much after the creation of the suits, but I still think their symbolism is still interesting to look back into. The changes to each suit along with each varying meaning will be highlighted in individual sections. So, let’s start with:

Foolish

For the first chapter, Quackity mocks Foolish of being inferior to the tempered god he used to be. Foolish in his current state is a pacifist, a normally non-violent character who doesn’t take the offence. To Quackity, that achieves nothing, backed up by how Foolish was killed off in a selfless act and could not fight back. Quackity mocks the temple Foolish built, saying it is merely an empty shell only made to look pretty. Like Foolish, it is only impressive on the outset, but when it comes to its use it does not serve a function. The magnificent temple is merely for show, like how Foolish appears as a god of undying yet still was able to lose a life. Quackity actively tries to paint a picture of that perception to Foolish, trying to convince Foolish that such a lifestyle has not been beneficial. What Quackity offers to Foolish is a chance to make a name for himself, by doing the opposite. Quackity wants Foolish to cause destruction instead of creation. He wants Foolish to be a cannon, to take the brunt of

Clubs in the French suit have been thought to represent peasants. They are the weaker members of the society, the ones without a legacy to leave behind unlike those higher above them. This is what Quackity view Foolish as, a mere peasant who does not leave his own mark even despite being a god. When it comes to tarot readings, the clubs are seen as the wands. This particular suit tends to refer to calls to action, associated with the element of fire. They represent both aspects of creation to build and cook, and of destruction. It is symbolic of passion, where one’s motivations lie within. Meanings behind the wands deal with one’s own consciousness, what one’s own ambitions, what makes a person create action. It’s also interesting to see that Foolish in the past, brought destruction to a town with lava. So with this suit, Foolish is seen to need to take more offensive action. He needs to take the chance with Las Nevadas to create that action, to create destruction as he did before. To become more than the lowly being he is now.

Charlie

This one is trickier to pinpoint what suit he is since this is the first and currently only time we’ve seen him in the lore. In the time he was introduced, we can still deduce something about his story in the Las Nevadas arc. For instance, his role in Las Nevadas is being a mole for Quackity. Like a more goopy Hercules Mulligan, he can acquire intel and slink out with ease. He is a shapeshifter technically, able to mimic anything. The only seen problem he has is his unawareness of the world around him, basically akin to a child experiencing the world for the first time.

So I associate Charlie with the Spades, the commonly associated symbol for nobility. To Quackity, Charlie is not someone too hard to influence while at the same time may seem to have influence with the knowledge he holds. In past iterations of the spade, it was a sword. Even in Italian, the swords suit was referred to as a spade before it became the symbol. Charlie is the secret weapon with the intel he holds. Charlie is the most important to Quackity, the one who holds the most value above all the other candidates. Unlike the others, Quackity doesn’t berate or deliberately ruin what Charlie has, mostly because he has nothing to begin with. Instead, he is praised and gifted a home, like how nobility, when they are born, are simply gifted their titles. As the swords suit in tarot, spades represents aspects of thinking and communication. From his spy job, Charlie might open his eyes to a complicated world in a childlike manner. He’ll learn slowly but surely, whilst slowly having his perceptions being altered by Quackity. He already has shown doing this by lying to Charlie about snow. It is Q’s goal to coerce the easily swayable Charlie to blindly follow him akin to a child following a parent

Purpled

A mercenary after wealth, Purpled is being offered to join Las Nevadas in exchange for money. It is shown he is competent at sticking to what he believes in, but he does still follow the money mostly. However, Purpled is after more than just simple jobs to accrue wealth, which is what Quackity baits him with. He blows up the only thing that gave Purpled a name in the Dream SMP and offers him much more than the original incentive from the Red Banquet job. With the UFO gone, Purpled is given a choice to go big or go home, the final decision still unknown by the end of Purpled’s chapter. It’s interesting to see Quackity’s approach with Purpled, he’s much more confrontational with him than the others. Where Foolish was just insulted and Charlie merely being strung along, here Q deliberately makes a statement with TNT and a weapon. This might have to do with how Purpled is to be hired as a mercenary again, the man to depend on to take out a target. The only difference is the massive gain and utmost loyalty to Las Nevadas

Purpled is the suits of Diamonds. This suit has been thought to be associated with the merchants, the ones who gain most from sales of goods and services. To Quackity, he just has to convince Purpled with money beyond his wildest dreams. It’s quite important to note that Diamonds used to be bells in German suits, more specifically hawk-bells. These bells were used for falconry in medieval Europe, to denote a bird’s location and status. This is like what Quackity wants to do with Purpled, to keep the hunter under his guidance and not have his loyalties lie elsewhere. Diamonds in the tarot is seen as the suit of pentacles, concerning everything material and worldly. Pentacles often do not just concern financial matters but anything of security and practicality. It is all about what is realistic, for Purpled that is what he can own. Quackity knows that, he knows to bait the mercenary with money and to gamble with it.

Fundy

This one is a fun one to cover since this chapter is solely from Fundy’s point of view. Not once does it shift to Quackity and what he sees. Only Fundy and his nightmare. In the dream, Fundy wakes up in the middle of a red desert. It’s been said before, but being in a desert represents loneliness and disconnect. He is isolated and alone at first, except for Quackity. When he brought to the memories of L’manburg and its iterations, he views it all in awe. This contrasts with how he reacted before to the caravan, with anger and panic. In the dream with Quackity, he happily remembers the times of the past with Quackity, even if they were the most tragic times of L’Manburg’s history. The most notable thing about Quackity in the dream is the fact that he constantly makes Fundy feel noticed, make Fundy feel known and present. Fundy is not invalidated for his involvement in L’Manburg’s history. For once, Fundy feels happy. So when it twists around in Eret’s tower, a reminder of countless wars, the scene shifts to have Quackity in control. Fundy is told he does not matter all over again, told he will be as forgotten as L’Manburg’s history.

Fundy is the suit of Hearts, the suit associated with the clergy. This refers to someone with religious duties or more generally concerning what a person holds within their heart. This person is only important due to the group they associate with, similar to Quackity saying Fundy does nto matter until eh chooses to join with him. Besides just solely the card suits, the Heart tends to represent feelings and relationships. The latter part is an integral part of Fundy’s story, how his relationships with others always tend to fall apart. Feelings are important to Fundy too since he’s only attached to many things because of those feelings. He almost gains nothing but emotional support. And really, that’s is just always been something Fundy has been after – someone to depend on. And so, Fundy is swayed by the promise of a stable relationship with others, something that his dream pre-empted to be used by Quackity. Hearts in the tarot is seen as the Cups or Chalice, which represents everything of emotions as well. More interestingly, the suit of Cups deals with the unconscious too, even dreams. Pretty matching.

 So what does it exactly mean for these connections with the poker cards? Well, to use the cards is to play the game of gambling, the game of poker. And that is what Quackity sees these people as, tools to use to win the game. He’s collecting these cards to gain a winning hand. It’s also evident that he’s pushing these cards to gamble as well. He cuts off all attachments they have and force their hand to take a risk. Foolish has to risk being destructive again. Charlie risks confiding with an untrustworthy friend. Purpled risks losing actual money. Fundy risks losing mental stability all over again. It’s all about taking a risk, something that Quackity is taking advantage of to win. The perception of the cards all come down to how Quackity sees what to string all of these people along to join his cause. In the end, Quackity only cares about what benefit it will bring to Las Nevadas, instead of giving sure promises of such high rewards for tagging along. With the parallels between how Quackity views the members to how Dream views others, it’s fun to see how Quackity sees more and more of this project as a game of chance he’s willing to take. So how will the game play out for all these cards? Only fates can tell.

[anastasiaskywalker4]

MisterLuu

That is actually the best pairing DC can make out of Trinity aside Lois and Clark. Or Bruce

and Clark for that matter. They both fit Bruce well, though Diana is even more matched with

him. In fact she's the best match romantically for him out there. At least so far. Though

number of fanfiction and arts on the net would suggest that that spot is reserved for

Superman not Wonder Woman :D

Except maybe for Silver and Julie - all Batman's love interest are abusive and downright

toxic. Selina, Talia, Adrea, Jet. Because in terms of comics and not relationships it fits

Gotham mold. People just tend to forget it after rebirth run. Yeah the one that made Batman

impotent and unable to do anything without the Cat around. Exactly that one. And tend to

forget how terrible as human beings his lovers really are.

Going back to the point. Both Talia and Selina tried to kill him multiple times in the past, or

those close to him. Whatever right? Who wouldn't like a lover that tried to end you few times

over. Both assaulted him physically and emotionally. Repeatedly. Both scared his body and

his mind. Repeatedly. Both tried to seduce his wards (adopted sons if u like), just to get to

him. In Talia's case that was basically pedophilia. That's just sick and makes you want to

puke. Both are possessive bitches, Cat threatening his flings while they are in bed while

Talia, well Talia can even go as far as beheading (to her credit she was right with this one).

Both makes him a goddamn hypocrite. Both face no repercussions after a cold blooded

murder while at the same time he berates Diana like a dick when she came to look for his

friendship and support after Max incident. Difference is she had no choice while Selina or

Talia most certainly had. Great move Bats, hypocrite much? And most importantly they both

lie and betray him, and leave him. Over and over again. Again, that's a constant with Cat

and miss Al Ghul. Diana never showed any of those traits with any of her lovers.

Get any counselor or psychiatrist to read actual Bat love history throughout the decades

and they would be writing books on how disfuncional they are. For a love-hate dynamics

they work fine. Or for some adrenaline fueled sex, but that's it. Hell, he even banged Dinah

when they were on adrenaline high. It all has a clinical term. Trauma bonding. As opposed

to authentic bonding. Which he could have with WW, had even one of them tried.

They did not though. Out of fear of ruining their mutual respect and deep bond. In

pre-flashpoint it may have been a thing if Diana acted on it. Again, Diana, not Bruce, so cut

the crap on how he was deflecting her. He was in doubt, yeah, but clearly was ready to give

it a go. She was the one that got scared even though she was clearly had over bat hills in

love with him. Even Martian stated this to Supes. Pre Crisis ? Not really. Some flirting and

kissing, nothing more. Post-flashpoint, New 52 and Rebirth ? Also not, though DC like to

tease those two. Forever Evil gets a hint that Bruce feels more than friendship towards her,

much to Selina's dismay. And that goddamn tension when they got to spends decades

together in another realm. Mostly from Diana side again. But no. The real canon love that Diana had for Bruce was during pre-flashpoint, not counting alternative universes. And it

was so strong that it showed her loving him more than her mother and sisters. And her

lasso forced her to admit it when facing Mera. But Bruce was "dead" at that point. So yeah,

never acted upon this. Pity. You could see she regretted it.

Aside their comics history in canon universe, realistically speaking Diana is way more

similar to Bruce than Selina will ever be (or Talia for that matter). Even though at a the first

glance they are nothing alike. She's the light , he's the darkness. She believes in love and

trust, tries to see the good in everyone. He's cunning, distrustful and downright realistic to

her idealistic approach. She's honest and straight while he will not hesitate to lie or to use

violence to get results. And you know what? It makes for great couple chemistry and

tension. It may be a cliche, yeah, but Yin and Yang dynamics work. That's why Clark ends

up with Lois all the freaking time. Even on elseworlds he and Diana are a thing only after

Lois is out of the picture. But that's not the most important thing. Yin and Yang provides for

a tension yes, but it would never last in the long run. For a relationship you need also

something in common. And Bruce has that in spades with Diana.

They might be on opposite side of the spectrum but than you realize how much alike they

really are. They are both kindred spirits. Both born fighters, warriors at heart. Arguably two

of the best in the world. At least Diana is according to Batman. And judging by Wonder

Woman's choices in man that is a highly important trait to her. Both endlessly fighting for

others. Both have utmost respect and admiration for each other. Both tirelessly train to

make themselves physically and spiritually better. Constantly. And to make the other better.

Their sparring sessions are legendary. And heated. Both with a great heart and

compassion. I would argue that Bruce's compassion is even bigger than Diana's. Even

though their methods might differ they share the same goal, which he has with no other

woman. Both have the heart of a warrior and are pushed by the circumstances of their

upbringing to reach for impossible dreams. They are also two of the most stubborn and

obstinate people in DC universe. Both perfectly capable of operating solo, and yet both

performing the best in a team. And yes, Bats is a great team player. Both natural leaders

that other heroes follow without hesitation. Both selfless and able to sacrifice for those they

value, trust and love. None of the other Bat trollups have any of those traits. Not to mention

they emotionally and physically find the other highly attractive. One being a literal goddess

and the other perfect male specimen. As for Batman, his relationships tend to collapse due

to a lack of trust. He's either unwilling to bring his romantic partner fully into his world or he

can't bring himself to trust completely. While Selina got his trust now, it's recent

development. And a mistake judging by latest issues. Again. One would think he's smarter.

When it comes to Diana, he trusts her. Fully. She's not privy like BatClan is to his world, but

they aren't that close in mainstream DC. She's not a psycho with daddy issues or a violent

narcissist. List can go on. Selina on the other hand doesn't have that much in common with

Bruce than she has. Not even close. He loves her, yes. But I don't see Di leaving him

countless times over the choices he makes. Or lying, or betraying, or trying to sleep with

Dick to spite him or... you get the point. Though there is one thing that gives Kyle an edge.

Immortality. Diana won't die unless killed. It doesn't make for a great long term relationship

prospect. But then again, those are comics, and he's a goddamn Batman. He would find a

way :)

The thing is - there is no other woman that fits his world as much as Diana does. And Bat is

capable to loving deeply and going to great commitments with a special woman. He showed

it with Andrea, he showed it with Silver. Problem is he always got burned. Every time he let

his guard down and opened himself. And he would have to do it when it comes to Wonder

Woman. She deserves that. It's hard to imagine with current Bruce, but it is most definitely

possible. It would be harder than with an ex criminal or an assassin though. Because there

would be much more on the line. The other two would crawl back anyway if he messed it

up, Di wouldn't.

There is also another aspect to this outside comic universe. His partners tend to be minor

characters compared to WW. She has her own series, JL, JL dark and every major

crossover/event happening in DC. They don't. And so does Batman. Both are one of the

most popular DC characters.

Besides changes to Bruce writing that are needed to make this work (cough.. pre flashpoint

Bats... cough), it would require fitting it to their distinctive titles. And frankly Diana can easily

function without any love interest and generate money. It's even easier that way. It fits her

as an independent, strong female character. Arguably most iconic of them all. And It's most

certainly easier for DC with a tease here and there than an actual WonderBat in mainstream.

Maisterluu wrote this is a comment on a YouTube video which is dow in the comments. They make really good points for ww and bats. No hate to other DC ships with ww and bats.

[thevindicativevordan]

Any thoughts on Grant Morrison's Action Comics run? Beyond T shirt-and-jeans Superman being great.

That whole run reinvigorated my love of the character.

There have been numerous thoughtpieces about New 52 Superman, how he worked and how he didn't but these two entries really do a great job of summing up why Morrison's take on Superman was great. Morrison laid the foundation for a new generational Superman that DC completely fucked up and ran into the ground. I'll always be bitter about that, even if I had tapped out of reading the New 52 Superman books by the end due to how bad they got. Editorial and their idiotic mandates were what screwed over the potential of this take in my eyes.

Now I get that it wasn't to everyone's taste, but I cannot fathom how anyone could ever claim that Pre-Flashpoint Superman was better. If you liked Byrne's reboot better, your guy already got rebooted after Infinite Crisis. For someone like me who really enjoyed the Johns/Busiek era, that era's potential got spoiled after Johns & Busiek left, with New Krypton imploding and the awful Grounded taking it's place. When you get to the point where the best Superman book is the one starring Lex Luthor, it's time to reassess the franchise and figure out where the hell it went wrong.

Which is exactly what Morrison did. For this new Superman, Morrison mined all the best ideas of every Superman era to really give what I consider the ideal "base" for Superman. They also took pains to address common criticisms about Superman, working to correct his pop culture image. People have been complaining that Superman is "too perfect", "too unrelatable" for a long time, so Morrison addressed that. They gave Superman his balls back, and let him reacquire that Golden Age edge he had originally.

There are a lot of complaints you can make about Morrison's Superman, but I don't see how you could accuse this guy of being "flawless" or "bland". He definitely had a personality that you could describe, love him or hate him. Compassionate, but not a pushover. Clearly holding himself back, but unafraid to occasionally let loose. Flaws that were patently obvious, Clark had a temper here that could get him into trouble. There was a real showcase of anger here, of Superman being furious at the way people were treated by the rich and powerful, then doing something about it that I ate up.

I read this run just as I was coming into my teens and it hit perfectly for where I was in life. Did not want a Superman who would smile and tell me it gets better, I wanted a Superman who looked you in the eye and told you he felt that same anger, and then encouraged you to go out and do something about how you felt. That was what this run delivered in spades, and it expanded what I believed could be done with Superman.

While it totally blew my mind to see Superman acting this way the first time I read Morrison's Action Comics run, in retrospect it really isn't that different from how Superman has acted even under Byrne. One of the few traits I've seen carry across Superman incarnations in the comics is that he has a temper underneath that affable nature. "Don't tug on Superman's cape" as the old song goes. This run simply elevated that to the forefront of the character again, for the better in my eyes given I believe "Wrath" is Superman's Deadly Sin.

In fact, one of the strongest features of this run is that Superman gets actual character development over the course of the run, analogous to what Batman underwent in Morrison's Bat-Epic. While the Bat-Epic was merely Morrison re-canonizing Batman's entire history, and applying a retroactive character development storyline that culminated in Morrison's current Batman work, their Action Comics run had them attempt to craft something similar for Superman from scratch. What that meant was Morrison attempting to draw on the most important traits of every Superman era and incorporate those into this new take. So Superman had the Golden Age temper, compassion for the oppressed, and cockiness. The Silver Age supergenuis, proud scion of Krypton who cherished his Kryptonian nature, member of the Legion of Superheroes, and participant in stories that weren't afraid to get weird. Superman's wrestling with his place in the world, the importance of Clark Kent, and making journalism a key part of the character strike me as all being hallmarks of the Bronze Age. From Post-Crisis we got that Clark views himself as human and loves his adopted parents, considering them as equal to his birth ones.

One of the big frustrations for me with the endless origin stories for Superman, is that so many of them follow a predictable and stale formula where Clark puts on the suit and is essentially ready to go. Doesn't interfere with human affairs, is modest and humble, restrained in usage of his powers, it's like Clark has meta knowledge of what he "should" be, despite that he shouldn't have any foreknowledge of what a "superhero" should look like. He operates the same way at the start as he does in the modern day, and that's really boring to me. This Superman, because of the difference in powers and attitude, operated extremely different from his "present day" incarnation. Dangling Glenmorgan over the edge of a building isn't something a fully powered and mature Superman should do, but it works great to make his early days different and exciting to read about, it makes returning to that era something you can do different storytelling with. This run is the only time where I really cared that Superman is "supposed" to be the first superhero, because figuring out what that means here is a big part of how he develops.

We all know the common complaint that Superman is "too powerful" and that "nothing can hurt him" (funny how Thor never gets hit with those accusations), so Morrison made sure to show that this take on Superman could be beaten even if he could never be defeated. Events conspired to force Clark to use his brains as well as his powers to overcome the challenges in front of him.

Examples include him using his heat vision to fry Lex's equipment and escape the military, using his rocket ship to defeat Brainiac, and rallying the population of Metropolis to banish Vyndktvx. Not to say that Clark never used his brains before to win, but this run was very upfront and in your face about how important Clark's intellect is to triumphing over his foes. Can't take seriously the complaint that Superman is too overpowered when Morrison constantly showcased how even a very powerful Superman could get his shit wrecked by his Rogues.

Another example of Morrison addressing criticisms is Kryptonite. A lot of people poke fun at how convenient it is that pieces of Superman's homeworld follow him all the way to Earth. Isn't that a bit of an asspull? So Morrison made Kryptonite the power source of Superman's rocket, giving it a perfectly natural and believable reason both for it to end up on Earth, and for Lex & the military to get a hold of it since Pa Kent gave the military the rocket. That's still my preferred explanation for how Kryptonite ended up on Earth.

It also provides a better explanation for all the different Kryptonite variants. DC can handwave away the different types as a result of Lex experimenting or the different "forces" on Earth such as magic or the Speed Force or whatever creating the different variants. That to me is much more believable than Kryptonite travelling all across the galaxy yet still ending up on Earth somehow.

There have also been a lot of complaints about Superman's villains, and Morrison diligently set about reworking them. By far one of my favorite aspects of the run, was the villain revamps. Nimrod felt like a clean revamp of Terra-Man, making him into Superman's Kraven the Hunter struck me as a patently obvious route to go, wild no one has followed up on that or used him since. Metallo felt like a good synthesis of Johns take of him as an Anti-Superman weapon, and the sympathetic aspects of Corben's origin that are always there, I liked that Morrison didn't make him a total bastard before his transformation like Johns did. Brainiac got some sympathy added to him in that the collected worlds that were already marked for damnation, thus he was "saving" them in a fashion. Clay Ramses embodied toxicity as a wife-beater even before becoming Kryptonite Man, and I thought his backstory was a great way for Clark to still deal with "real" issues via a manner he could punch. Ramses is still the best take on Kryptonite Man. Vyndktvx felt like the greatest realization of the threat Mr. Mxyzptlk could pose should he decide to get serious since Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, plus I'm a sucker for stories where superheroes fight the Devil. Drekken and Superdoom took the only interesting aspects of Doomsday (his ability to evolve and that he can kill Superman respectively), and were much more interesting characters.

And oh my God, speaking of Superdoom, that part of Morrison's Action run has aged like fine wine. I don't know if they caught wind of DC's plans for the character, or if they were just prescient, but everything that Superdoom is playing on is still sadly all too present. What Superdoom is as a character is a condemnation of what DC keeps doing with Superman: killing him off or making him evil.

When you realize what Superdoom (demand for a more violent and "realistic" Superman) and Vyn (WB/DC) stand in for, it makes the frustration Morrison is channeling much more palpable. Those two plotlines are all DC can think of to do with the character, returning to those again and again. Endlessly attempting to recapture the high of Batman and Doomsday beating the shit out of Supes in The Dark Knight Returns and Death of Superman. Overcoming these two obstacles is Superman's greatest challenge as conceived by Morrison, because both are out to corrupt and ruin the very idea of him. It's not just a physical death he faces, but a metaphysical one as well. Sadly it's a threat Superman just can't seem to lick in the real world, with more and more takes on "Evil Superman" coming.

Lois and Jimmy are great here, because Morrison actually made the investigative journalism aspect of Superman important. Lois is an active participant in the story, trying to break in to the base where Clark is being held by her father, competing with Clark for stories (I love how Morrison writes the banter between the two of them), and generally being classic Lois. Jimmy though benefitted from being positioned as a peer rather than as a kid in comparison to the two, something I wish the comics had carried forward. It looks like My Adventures With Superman is going with that interpretation at least, so I hope others do as well. Jimmy being Clark's roommate really adds to their bond, and I wish we had gotten more stories with that status quo.

Investigative reporter Clark Kent was so actively used here that it feels jarring reading other Superman runs where they tend to downplay and ignore it. Following Clark as he travels to different areas of Metropolis and actually interacts with people, instead of hovering above them as Superman, makes him feel human. Watching Clark actively pursue stories aimed at bettering peoples livelihoods, and seeing how those stories crossed with the superheroics, was one of my favorite aspects of the run. It's one unfortunately few other writers seem all that interested in, especially the New 52 writers who followed Morrison (I know editorial probably bears a lot of blame for that though).

Besides all that, this run was a lot of fun! The Legion of Superheroes showed up, their connection to Clark restored, and they got to play a big role in Clark's adventures! Krypto the Superdog! Martian colonies! Memorizing all of medicine, Superman performs a lifesaving operation! Lex using a "bullet train" to knock Clark out! 5-D imps! Rampaging robots from beyond! A Phantom Zone Halloween story! John Henry Irons suits up as Steel and kicks ass alongside Clark! Every Superman Rogue teams up to try to kill him, but Lex Luthor saves his life because that's a privilege he reserves for himself! Showcasing their trademark love for the Supermythos, Morrison took us on a tour of Superlore that demonstrated the depth and width of what could be done with Superman. Meanwhile the backups by Sholly Fisch excelled at giving us smaller, more human stories about Superman (the one where Clark meets Pa again via time travel "after" Pa has died always gives me a lump in my throat to read).

Ultimately this didn't get to be the foundation for the next generation of Superman stories as it deserved. Johns made New 52 Superman the scapegoat in Doomsday Clock for a lot of storytelling choices he did over in Justice League, something that pisses me off to no end. You want to tell me that this guy "didn't relate" to people, didn't inspire "hope"?

Like hell he didn't. This guy was Superman in every way that mattered and he deserved better than to be framed as the scapegoat for all the stupid decisions DC made about what to do with him. Greg Pak was able to do some great work with this version after Morrison, and just like how Gene Yang got a redemption work starring Superman, I hope to one day see Pak return to the character. Would love to read a Black Label Superman story by Pak that follows his take on young Superman.

All wasn't lost however. Against all odds, and Rebirth trying it's damndest to sweep everything under the rug, it looks like parts of this era have actually survived to the current Infinite Frontier era. With Morrison being heavily involved no less, both as an ideas guy and as an actual writer.

Superman & the Authority is explicitly Superman coming full circle back to the attitude displayed by his young counterpart under Morrison. Janin has outright said that the costume Clark wears here is reminiscent of the t-shirt and jeans era of Superman, and this book so far feels saturated with an energy level from Morrison I haven't seen in their work for hire since they left Action. Reaching old age and realizing he never really delivered on the high ideals of his beginnings, it's Superman putting together a team to hopefully succeed where he couldn't alone. Scathing in how it criticizes the superhero status quo, this has been extremely entertaining to read. Wish Morrison was writing 12 issues with this team, and that ultimately it will be up to PKJ to deliver on the potential is a drawback (although I've loved PKJ's Action run so far), but I'm glad to see DC finally treating Morrison and their ideas with more respect than was shown during Rebirth.

Jon meanwhile feels like an even more explicit attempt at redoing New 52 Superman. There's the updated new suit, designed to appeal to a new generation with it's streamlined look. Positioning Jon as a Superman who wants to tackle the "real" issues, with Taylor explicitly comparing him to Golden Age Superman which as I mentioned was an era Morrison tried to reincorporate into their reboot. There's the Legion of Superheroes connection which played an important role in Morrison's reboot. The rumors about Jon's sexuality are interesting, hinting that DC is willing to go outside the box with him in a way they never would with Clark. I'm excited to see what kind of Superman Jon ends up becoming, if he can deliver on the promise of the New 52 Superman all the better.

This run deserves to be remembered and to have the lessons it tried to teach respected. Probably my favorite mainline run on Superman, I hope more people come around to liking it as time goes on.

[bi4bihankking]

okay so uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Kara

I am assuming Supergirl not Power Girl for this one

Sexuality Headcanon: Bisexual Gender Headcanon: ...trans girl supergirl A ship I have with said character: Please I don't know where the discourse traps are, I don't really ship her A BROTP I have with said character: Batgirl! A NOTP I have with said character: Her horse A random headcanon: She still talks to Linda Danvers on the phone every single weekend. General Opinion over said character: I feel like she is interesting in her own comics and I think I read a few (New 52 unfortunately) but she might have been ruined by the show making her just fem Clark