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silverwhittlingknife · 3 years ago

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Red Robin 1-12: a love letter to continuity

a.k.a. I could footnote this entire run and that's so much of what I love about it

This is an incredibly minor one-off moment with intense awareness of what’s going on in other comics, done with a thoroughness that is 1) totally unnecessary because 99% of readers will never notice, and therefore 2) SO GREAT

References!!! So many references!!!

(This is a really long post because there are just SO MANY references; I’m so sorry; I’m just very enthusiastic; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!)

Okay! So I like a lot of things about Red Robin 1-12 (such as DICK and TIM), but one of the things I like most about it is pretty low-key: it’s very grounded in continuity, and it really rewards people who’ve read a lot of comics. Chris Yost - who wrote the 12-issue arc that culminates in a fight with Ra’s - is really careful about keeping track of recent events and crossovers and who-knows-what and who’s-friends-with-who, and he brings in characters from Tim’s solo and his team books and past Batman crossovers.

Among other things, Yost explicitly references a ton of characters and events from the final issues of Robin, including:

Tim’s high school friends Zo and Ives, and his contacts Harper and Bard

Tim’s final battle with Shiva in R 183

the new Anarchy killing his siblings in R 182

Dick and Tim’s final encounter in R 183

Tim's go-to fake name "Alvin Draper" (a deep dive going all the way back to the 90s, when Tim uses the alias in Robin, Young Justice, and issues like Detective Comics 697)

Tim telling Steph to stop wearing the Spoiler costume in R 182 after he finds out she hired someone to attack him in R 177 (...it’s complicated, but look, none of this is Yost’s fault)

Tim worrying that Batman was going crazy in R 176

Tim breaking Jason out of prison in R 182

Yost's also careful to keep track of and reference events from other comic books around this time, including:

Jason’s murder spree in Battle for the Cowl (and we even get Tim having the logical emotional response of blaming himself for freeing Jason),

Hush replacing Bruce in Batman: Streets of Gotham (and Ra’s tries to figure out what’s going on!),

Superman being the one who (apparently) brings back Bruce’s body in Final Crisis,

the attack of the Justifiers with the Anti-Life Equation in Final Crisis,

Tim and Cassie grieving Conner in Teen Titans,

Tim and Cassie’s goodbye in Teen Titans,

Tim’s meeting with Conner in Adventure Comics (and Tim muses on what Conner deduced about his costume),

Tim’s meetup with Dick in Batman: Blackest Night (and Tim second-guesses not telling Dick about his evidence),

Dick and Damian moving to the Penthouse in Batman, and Steph and Babs moving to the Batcave in Batgirl (when Tim heads to the Batcave, he's startled to run into Steph instead of Dick, and when Babs calls Dick later, she also calls from there)

But that's not all! Yost's also really interested in older comics!

The entire plot of RR is a follow-up on Ra’s’ interest in recruiting Tim from all the way back in the Resurrection of Ra’s al-Ghul crossover!!

plus Yost creates a League character who specifically remembers and references Resurrection,

plus Tim notices that the current White Ghost is different from the old White Ghost,

plus Tim talks to Bruce’s gravestone, much like he talks to his parents’ gravestones in Robin,

plus Cassie mentions Tim’s Batman needs a Robin catchphrase from all the way back in Lonely Place of Dying,

plus in one of Dick and Tim’s fights, Dick says Tim should get therapy in Metropolis, which is a very in-character thing for Dick to think of because Dick himself seeks therapy from a Dr. Parker in New Teen Titans and kinda low-key tries to get informal therapy from Clancy in Brothers in Blood, plus I’m 90% sure that this refers specifically to Dr. Claire Foster, a Metropolis psychologist and minor Superman character (who Yost has Donna suggest that Kory see in the Titans issue he wrote),

plus Dick and Tim have a fight when Tim’s heading to the airport, and the fight starts when Dick tries to grab Tim and hold him back, and Tim throws him off, which is exactly how their fight over the Lazarus Pit in Resurrection starts too,

plus Tim only wins his physical fight with Dick because Dick has second thoughts and backs off and lets him win, rather than actually losing, which—again—is basically how their fight went in Resurrection,

plus Dick’s "Tim’s my equal, Damian’s my responsibility” line is a nice shorthand that’s very in-character and true to how Dick thinks of them in other comics (Dick has a high opinion of Tim and generally thinks of him as an equal or even better than Dick at things in New Titans and Nightwing; Alfred just told Dick that Damian is his “responsibility” in Batman and their relationship will continue to be ‘guardian and child’ in Batman and Robin),

plus RR 1 has some clever visual and verbal parallels to Batman 416, and just generally I love the idea of low-key replaying the Bruce-Dick-Jason / Bruce-Dick-Azrael dustups with a new Dick-Tim-Damian dustup which is both completely different and extremely similar,

plus, Yost adds some fun original characters (Tam and the assassin trio), but without introducing them at the expense of Tim’s previous relationships - Tam and the assassins aren’t the focus in the big finale, and Tim’s traditional friends and allies are,

and Yost neatly introduces the new characters by fitting them into existing mythology (you already know Lucius’s daughter Tiffany, now meet her younger sister; you already know Ra’s has assassins, now learn some of their names).

Non-Batfamily Characters

But wait! I’m not done! There are even more continuity references! Consider how RR keeps track of—and references—what’s going on with non-Batfamily characters:

The Wild Huntsman, an incredibly minor character from Justice League: Europe, shows up to try to stop Tim from stealing from a museum in Germany.

Tim runs into a new Killer Moth and mentions that he’s hard to identify because “the costume and the man” change regularly, and Killer Moth panics and asks if Tim’s with the Atom, which is a reference to the Atom fighting Killer Moth and torturing people in Cry for Justice (and Tim has “no idea” what Killer Moth’s talking about, as indeed he wouldn’t!)

In order to kidnap Hush, Ra’s and his group of assassins have to knock out Katana, because she’s one of the former Outsiders that Dick asked to start guarding Hush in Batman: Streets of Gotham,

The montage of Ra’s’ targets and Tim’s allies spotlights a bunch of lesser-known Batfamily allies and Bruce Wayne love interests from Batman/Batfamily comics through the years!! Man-Bat!! Huntress!!

I’M STILL NOT DONE. Consider how careful Red Robin is about names:

When one of the assassins says, “Flash,” Tim guesses that they probably don’t mean “Wally” or “Mister Allen,” which is a short-and-sweet way of clearly distinguishing between Tim’s relationship to Wally (part of Dick’s generation, someone he’s worked with before) and Barry Allen (older, Tim never met him).

Ra’s al-Ghul calls Tim “Timothy,” just like he does in Resurrection, and Tim remembers that Ra’s usually calls Bruce “Detective,” which nicely sets up the coming-of-age moment when Tim does something clever and Ra’s calls him “Detective”

When Tim says the name “Hush,” Steph misunderstands and thinks he’s telling her to be quiet, because Steph was presumed dead during Batman: Hush so—unlike a lot of the other characters—she has no reason to recognize the name.

Tim’s inner monologue refers to himself as Robin and then he has to course-correct as he tries to figure out what he should call himself (and just in general Tim’s identity-crisis inner monologues where he distinguishes between himself as “Tim Drake” or “Tim Wayne” or “Robin” or someone else are straight from similar musings throughout Robin)

Harvey Bullock thinks Tim is Dr. Mid-Nite because their costumes look similar.

Relatedly, Red Robin is careful about keeping track of who-knows-what and which characters have relationships to which other characters. Thus for example:

Alfred doesn’t know that Tim’s taken off until he goes upstairs and finds that his bedroom is empty,

Dick finds out about Tim’s theory that Bruce is alive because Tim tells Cassie and she calls Dick,

Nobody knows Tim’s new codename unless they ask him and he tells them,

Tim doesn’t know that Dick and Damian are now in the Penthouse instead of the Cave (and that Babs and Steph are now in the Cave), because that move happened while he was gone,

Dick finds out that Tim’s in Gotham because Babs calls him to let him know, and Babs knows because Steph got in touch with her when she ran into Tim,

Damian and Prudence recognize each other from Damian’s days in the League.

Also, I am a connoisseur of character flaws and weaknesses and insecurities and mayyyybe less-than-ideal coping mechanisms, and Red Robin is ON POINT. Among other things:

The specific Brucequest plan of “run away from home on an impulsive quest without telling anyone where I’m going” is SUCH a classic Tim Drake response to personal problems I CANNOT TELL YOU. There was the time he ran away to Paris without leaving a note in Robin (while in a guilt-spiral), or the time he ran away from Central City, or the time he snuck into NML, or the time he quit Robin and didn’t tell his teammates, I COULD GO ON,

plus Tim’s insecurities about his place in the family (and the ways he ties that place and his identity to the Robin costume) are straight out of Robin and Nightwing and Damian’s first appearance in Batman and Resurrection, and ditto feeling threatened by Damian and being super-hostile toward him as a result, plus Tim’s idea of Robin both as something you earn and as a symbol of love (and as something that’s Dick’s to give and take) goes all the way back to his origin story,

plus the “I’m fine” line, and lying, and not confiding anything in anyone, and just generally responding to a personal crisis by getting super-involved in crimefighting and pretending he’s totally fine are all Peak Tim Drake, and very reminiscent of how Tim responds to the aftermath of Darla’s death in War Games and the aftermath of his dad’s death in Teen Titans and the aftermath of Dodge’s death in Robin (in Tim’s defense, his role models are Bruce and Dick, so...yeah),

plus in RR 12 Tim’s—not trying to die, he’s trying to win, but he’s also extremely willing to risk or sacrifice his life in ways that the people who love him might be understandably unnerved by, and that feels very true to some moments in Teen Titans,

And this is kind of fuzzier, but one thing that I really, really love about RR is that even though it’s very much a Tim story, it’s got a lot of love for the supporting cast.

Lucius Fox is the one who realizes Hush needs to be stopped and that he can use a legal trick involving Tim to do it, and the reason why he has the authority to pull it off is because that’s how much Bruce trusts him, which is a very nice way of honoring how important Lucius is to Wayne Enterprises and the Batfamily

Bruce is the one who trusted Lucius and trusted Tim in return and that’s why they’re able to pull it off;

Tim only saves the day in the end because he calls on a bunch of Batfamily and Titans allies;

In the finale, Tim loses his physical fight with Ra’s!!! I will never be over how great this is. Tim wins the protect-everyone battle that matters to him, via cleverness and trickery and allies and friends and figuring out what Ra’s is up to and asking the right people for help, but he loses the physical fight, because Ra’s is a fantastic fighter and there’s no possible way for Tim to beat him. How many superhero comics end in a triumph where the character knows he’s gonna lose the physical fight and then does indeed lose it and you’re still cheering for him and understand why it’s a victory? Not a lot.

Ra’s doesn’t lose the battle of wits because he’s an idiot—he loses because he doesn’t anticipate Tim calling on allies, which is a very reasonable assumption because Tim hasn’t been doing that;

plus an after-fight scene tells us that Ra’s wasn’t trying his hardest because this was mostly a test for Tim;

We end not with Tim saving someone but with Dick saving him.

Like. It’s a great Tim showcase that still saves some key BAMF moments for other characters, and it lets Tim have conflict with other people while still keeping the other people understandable and sympathetic, and it does all this while still giving Tim his own genuinely satisfying victories: his hunch that Bruce is alive is right, and his evidence will save Bruce; the final confrontation with Ra’s is enormously fun.

There are also just a bunch of ways the story feels right on a thematic level!

The whole storyline starts with a fight with Dick and ends with a reconciliation with Dick AS IT SHOULD because Tim’s relationship with Dick is at the CORE OF HIS CHARACTER okay i might be a little biased here but I am also RIGHT

Tim figures out that Bruce is alive via a split-second instinctive visual recognition, followed by a bunch of actual detective work to confirm the split-second insight, which is a PERFECT way for Tim in particular to make the deduction because that’s exactly how Tim figures out Dick’s secret identity in Lonely Place of Dying,

Tim’s big issue 12 finale involves him declaring, “I’m not Batman—I have friends,” which is a version of things that Tim says repeatedly in Young Justice and Teen Titans, but more broadly, the importance of “nobody works alone, we have to lean on each other and ask for help” is, like, the Ur-Tim-Drake-thematic thing, the core insight at the heart of Batman needs a Robin,

plus it’s an insight that Tim consistently struggles to apply to himself in Robin and Teen Titans, so Tim forgetting this and relearning it again is a great thematic arc for the whole twelve-issue story

And of course, the big finale ends with Dick CATCHING Tim while he’s FALLING, which is the most thematically appropriate thing you could possibly have happen for those two characters IN PARTICULAR.

And Red Robin works with the other comics and the history of the DC universe and relies on them, as opposed to being its own self-contained solo act that warps everything around it, so on a meta level it’s enacting the same in-universe moral that Tim uses to defeat Ra’s.

IT’S JUST SO GOOD YOU GUYS

#why red robin delights me as a comic nerd: the post which no one asked for but i felt compelled to write anyway #there are things i'd change but almost all of them have to do with ''if this was a much longer story i'd...''#there's a whole lot packed into just 12 issues #i'd have preferred more time setting up both the dick-and-tim fight and the dick-and-tim reconciliation #mostly because i have (1) hyperfixation #but at the same time... i mean this is basically just a limitation of the comic book genre #red robin devotes about half the story to soap opera and the other half to tim punching things #unlike many comics which devote 90% of the story to punching things #in my ideal world 90% of the story would be soap opera but that's kind of a Me Problem bc that's just not what superhero comics are about #that's what fanfic is for <33 #anyway it's a little hard to articulate this but one thing i really like about rr #is those attempts to treat the supporting cast sympathetically #it becomes really obvious if you contrast with other comics #so e.g. consider the way that the last arc of Robin turns Steph into an antagonist (by making her choices dumb and kinda villainous)#as opposed to how Red Robin uses Dick as an antagonist (and writes him sympathetically)#you can come away from the comic disagreeing w/Dick or sympathetic to him: the comic doesn't put its thumb on the scale too hard #whereas if you want to justify Steph's choices in Robin in-universe it's possible but the comic doesn't give you a lot of help #(and that's even though Robin actually *has* Steph's POV whereas RR is close-Tim-POV and we *never* see what's going on with Dick)#or consider the way that B&R handles a financial problem at WE (Lucius is clueless and wants Dick to solve the problem #even though Dick keeps insisting he was raised in a circus and is therefore too dumb to do math (???RRRRGH))#as opposed to how RR handles a financial problem at WE (Lucius identifies the problem + gets the idea + solves the problem #+ Tim’s contribution is signing something)#most comics nerf secondary characters for obvious Doylist reasons & i'm fine with that but i do appreciate the comics that try to avoid it #RR is IMO a bit jarring if you're coming from nu52/Rebirth era bc it's very very based in the conflicts and drama of post-Crisis #(ergo e.g. Jason's a villain / things btw Tim & Steph are really tense / Damian hasn't gotten most of his character development yet / etc.)#but if you've read a lot of post-Crisis Red Robin is like this beautiful port in a storm as Yost tries to combine all the continuities #PLUS it's got CONFLICT & MELODRAMA & SOAP OPERA & FLAWED CHARACTERS & i know not everybody likes that but i love it so much you guys <333 #tim drake #dick & tim

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toomanysurveys9 · 5 years ago

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If you could be a film character, who would you be?

Hermione.

If you were a pirate, what would your name be?

I have no idea. I’m not sure how they got their names.

Pen or Pencil?

Usually pens these days.

•Crunchy Peanut Butter or Smooth?

Only smooth. I do not like crunchy.

What is one thing about you people would be surprised to learn?

I tried out for American Idol. I didn’t make it past the producers or whatever.

If you could be any kitchen appliance, what would it be and why?

A blender. I like milkshakes and smoothies. Lol.

Would you rather go the short way slow, or take the long way fast if you got there in the same amount of time?

I mean. If you get there in the same amount of time, I’m not sure it really matters.

Where did you live at age five?

Here. Not this house, but this city. Or one close to it.

What kind of car did you have?

I don’t know what my parents drove when I was five.

How was your home heated?

I don’t know... Furnace I think?

2%, 1% or skim milk?

We buy 2%, but I’ve been drinking almond milk.

Would you live in space if you could never come back to earth?

Probably not.

Would you rather always be in a crowd, or be the only person on earth?

Crowd if it means keeping my family.

What was your favorite decade? (50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, etc.)

90s were the best, duh.

Would you rather be rich, or famous? Why?

Rich, of course. I wouldn’t like everyone knowing who I am probably.

•If you were God: _______________

I would get rid of all illnesses.

•Do you squeeze the toothpaste from the top or the bottom?

Top until it’s only in the bottom.

•If you could only have one thing on a deserted island what would it be?

At this point, my kids and husband. I would love to get away from this house and everyone else in it for a bit. Lol.

•Who was your first love? What age, grade, etc. First love?

I was in middle school and had a huuuge crush on Chris for YEARS.

•Helmann’s or Miracle Whip?

I don’t care. Depends what I’m eating too.

Describe your past week as a type of landscape or a weather forecast.

Stormy. But it’s about to get worse because Monday I go back to work full time. D’:

•If you had the choice between an RV, a sports car, an SUV, or a bicycle, which would you choose and why?

SUV. I have kids so it makes the most sense.

•What kind of hat describes your personality?

Beanies.

•When you were in elementary school, what was your favorite activity at recess?

Tetherball. Lol.

•If you had to move out of this country, what country would you move to? Why?

Canada makes the most sense to me. It seems like a decent country with good people.

•Coffee or Tea?

Coffee. In general, tea hurts my stomach.

•What is your favorite color?

Black. I also like blue.

•How many children do you want? Girls or boys?

We have two - a boy and a girl. And I am content. :) I would love to be a foster parent though someday when we get our house to ourselves!

•Describe your ideal romantic date?

Lately, I’ve really wanted to go on a picnic.

•Who is your best friend? Tell us about him/her.

I don’t know. I don’t talk to anyone these days. I guess Jade would be the closest. I tell her everything. She’s engaged to my brother and she is super fun and sweet most of the time.

•Have you ever been in love? For how long? How many times?

For real, once. Been together over 11 years.

and If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Greece.

•If you had to lose one of your five senses, which one of them would you prefer to lose and why?

Taste.

•Is there a story behind your name? What is it?

My first name is after a soap opera character, and my middle name is after one of my mom’s foster mom’s.

•What was one of the most fun things you and your college roommate did together?

I didn’t have a college roommate in the typical sense. Jacob and I lived together though and shared a room.

•If you could live anywhere for one year, all expenses paid, where would you live?

Tennessee.

•What’s your favorite song to karaoke to?

Goodbye Earl by Dixie Chicks. It reminds me of my grandma because she loved when I did that one.

•When you were 6 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A country singer. Lol.

•If you had to paint the whole world only one color what would it be and why?

Blue. I like blue.

What was the worst smell you have ever smelled?

My kids when they are sick and have diarrhea.

What takes you out of your comfort zone?

Phone calls. I hate them. Lol.

•If you were on the cover of a magazine, which one would it be and why?

None. Lol.

•If you could be laid to rest anywhere, where would it be? Why?

I don’t know. Hopefully I have time to figure it out.

•Do you make your bed every morning or do you leave it unmade?

Unmade. I don’t see the point in making it every day.

•What is your favorite video game?

I love Mario Party, but I also had fun playing Call of Duty with Jacob, Jade, and Jon today.

•Name one thing that you couldn’t live without.

My kids.

•Pool side or beach?

Either. :D

•When you are using the bathroom at someone else’s house, do you leave anything behind different than it was when you got there?

No...

#survey #surveys #personal #question #questions #random

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mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker · 7 years ago

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Part 2

Comics Cube bullshit knows no end!

“There never was a whole lot of substance to Mary Jane Watson, and that was fine when she was the occasional love interest. I liked that Mary Jane Watson a lot. (When I was a kid, she represented the ideal girlfriend that I would someday like to have.)”

Translation:

I have never read much Spider-Man or paid much attention to the Spider-Man comics that I did read or apparently really bad at just understanding the stuff I read because I apparently missed the last page of the Death of Gwen Stacy, all of Gerry Conway’s run after that and DeFalco and Peter David’s 1980s runs on the character all of which give and showcase tremendous substance to MJ’s character.

Also I don’t think I know what a character with substance actually is maybe because I was too busy thinking how kewl it would be to fuck a total hawt babe party gurl like Mary Jane who obviously loved the drugs too. My ideal girlfriend!

“It’s when she became Mary Jane Watson-Parker, that writers and editors had to try to find something to do with her...”

Yeah. She the writers and editors had to invent stuff for MJ to do like having her act as a friend, a confidant, a medical aid provider, emotional bridge builder, partying in order to cope with the stresses of life but recognizing that wasn’t always the answer and caused problems itself, fighting off villains who attacked her due to connections to Peter or other people...or target her in general.

All these things the writers had to INVENT for the marriage.

She never did anything like that before.

ASM Annual #19 is just 40 black pages for instance.

“...and she’s just not that interesting on her own”

Mary Jane is so uninteresting on her own that she has been the lead in multiple issues of 616 Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Renew Your Vows and supported an entire all ages comic book series dedicated to her teenage soap opera life that found success in a time period where such a book was suicidal.

...Because she’s just THAT uninteresting on her own...You know when she is alone. Individually. Which was obviously the default setting for her during the course of an era called a MARRIAGE.

I guess not reading due to masturbating to Mary Jane centric fantasies before 1987 also means I do not know the meaning of the word marriage.

“The fundamental problem with her becoming the wife of Spider-Man, was that it made it mandatory for her to appear in every single story, no matter if she had anything relevant to do.”

Er....no.

No it didn’t.

There was no rule she HAD to appear any more than it was ‘mandatory’ that Aunt May appear in every story, even when she and Peter were living together.

Harry Osborn didn’t mandatorily appear in every story when he and Peter were living together either.

And guess what...Mj didn’t either during the course of the marriage.

There are dozens of issues between September 1987 and December 2007 in which Mary Jane and Peter are married and living together (and Peter is the central protagonist) in which MJ is never seen on panel.

Dozens.

Now sure did she appear more frequently than she needed to.

Yes...but that was the fault of the writers and editors for CHOOSING to include her mandatorily when it wasn’t needed or else not having something for her to contribute.

It wasn’t an intrinsic dilemma of the marriage.

There are issues of modern SUPERMAN comics where Superman’s wife and son do not BOTH appear and I’ll bet some money there are some issues where NEITHER appear. I will bet even more money that there will be even more issues in the future where Superman will be living with Lois and Jon but neither appear.

This statement is only confirming that the author doesn’t know much about you know...writing.

“Story is born from conflict, and there’s only so much conflict you can present in a marriage without it becoming unbearable to read.”

Maybe, maybe not. Here is the kicker though.

In a SUPER HERO series...you don’t actually NEED his marriage to be the primary or a constant source of conflict.

The series was never ABOUT the love life of Peter Parker.

It was about the LIFE of Peter Parker and as part of that he had a love life. So...why not present some fucking conflict ELSEWHERE in his life.

Or is the author’s understanding of writing and the notion that it’s born of conflict so unsophisticated that he believes that literally every goddam interaction between characters requires conflict?

Consider this...how much conflict is there REALLY between Peter Parker and Aunt May?

How much conflict between Batman and Robin?

How much conflict between even Holmes and Watson?

In the latter I know for a fact from this website that people love seeing the pair either shipped together or friendshipped together way more than the times they are just arguing or fighting.

Shit an utterly acclaimed issue of Batman from LAST MONTH was about a double date between Lois Lane,Superman, Catwoman and Batman. And the points of praise MOST heaped upon the issue WASN’T the clashes or conflicts between the characters, which were minimal to begin with.

The same is true of Renew Your Vows AND JMS’ run on Amazing Spider-Man, which is not only credited with the best take on the marriage but the marriage itself was PART of the praise for that run...as it was for the Eisner nominated issue of Spider-Man which again featured little conflict between the couple.

Want to go a little international with this?

Okay. Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z

Iconic anime/manga series from Japan.

Sailor Moon has strong romance elements to it in both it’s original manga and it’s very different anime adaptation.

The two power couples of the franchise are Sailor Moon and her primary love interest Tuxedo Mask and same sex couple Sailors Neptune and Uranus.

Neptune and Uranus are without a shadow of a doubt WAY more popular a couple within the fandom than anyone else. They also tend to not be in conflict with one another much at all and their relationship is a huge part of their pooularity as individual characters too.

In the manga Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask as a couple are more well regarded in the fandom than their anime counterparts who ARE in conflict with one another much more often, especially early on and consequently these early interactions are actually lambasted fairly frequently.

Now onto Dragon Ball Z. There are three couples I want to discuss. Goku (the lead character) and his often beleaguered and bad tempered wife ChiChi. Villain turned protagonist Vegeta and his wife Bulma and Gohan (the secondary protagonist) and his fellow school student and later wife Videl.

Goku and ChiChi are often for comedic effect placed at odds with Goku’s love for training and battle (meaning he isn’t around much) trigger ChiChi’s temper.

Vegeta and Bulma whilst slightly butting heads at first have tended to be depicted as more cool and calm as a couple. Vegeta is somewhat aloof but cares beneath it all and Bulma kind of just rolls with his gruff attitude.

Gohan and Videl are the most normal couple but the single most popular episode for shippers of the couple is the episode where Videl’s negative attitude towards Gohan really starts to go away and they grow closer as he teaches her for to use her chi and defy gravity.

Yeah...Goku and ChiChi are unambiguously less popular with fandom than Vegeta/Bulma or Gohan/Videl.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. It’s almost like in an ongoing series the need for constant conflict within a romantic relationship is NOT necessary, and mostly portraying a couple as loving, supportive, working together and punctuating this with conflict is a far clearer road to success than going the constant conflict route.

“Now, I’ll grant you that many writers were able to handle the marriage fairly well.”

Well which was it?

The marriage was consistently unentertaining for 20 straight years and MJ lacked the substance to have anything to do or generate conflict...or you know MANY (implying the majority) of writers actually did the marriage well thereby invalidating the entire bullshit argument up until this point?

“It wasn’t exactly entertaining, but it wasn’t an anchor dragging down the series.”

It wasn’t damaging the series and it was handled well but it wasn’t entertaining.

Is this guy from like a universe sideways to Bizarro world or something this makes little sense.

And I think he’s not even made an attempt to distinguish good quality storytelling from his personal preferences...or anybody else’s.

“However, the majority of writers did not do a very good job at all with the marriage and Mary Jane’s role in the comics.”

Let’s see ONLY counting writers who worked on the main titles with actual runs let’s go through them shall we.

David Michelinie: Had Peter and MJ both confront married life as a change of pace and negotiate a balance between their own wants and needs and careers and the same for their partners. Showed MJ as supportive, but also acknowledged she could get anxious (which is realistic) and also depicted her coping by dancing which was in character. So...for the first half of his 8 year run...no he wasn’t very bad at the marriage or MJ’s character. Next.

Peter David. Showed MJ as an important comical balnce to Peter’s down in the dumps attitude. So no he wouldn’t count either.

Gerry Conway. Jason Jerome aside he also didn’t really fail either because he GAVE MJ shit to do like handling her mentally ill cousin Kristy.

J.M. DeMatteis: Aggressively NO. He was the best marriage writer of the 90s.

Tom DeFalco: Some rocky patches sure but in general he could write the marriage competently in spite of over relying upon MJ getting worried about him.

Howard Mackie: Pre Gathering of Five Mackie wrote MJ as a strong woman who had Peter’s back. So again...no. Post-Gathering of Five Mackie wrote MJ as garbage but was also deliberately trying to sabotage her and the marriage so that hardly counts.

Terry Kavanagh: Yes he wrote it badly. Now name me one thing in any of his Spider-Man work he didn’t do badly

Todd Dezago: He wrote MJ and Peter competently and as a cute loving couple. So...no again.

JMS: The best marriage writer ever. Need I say more?

Sacasa: Wrote the marriage well and wrote an MJ focus issue dissecting her feelings about Peter in light of becoming a fugitive. So again...no.

So....actually the overwhelming majority of Spider-man main writers tended to handle the marriage and Mary Jane competently-very well.

So Comics Cube is talking shit...again.

“With that in mind, here are the 10 worst ways Mary Jane dealt with the stress of being married to Spider-Man, in no particular order.”

I need a breather after this one so I’ll post another instalment later.

#mjwatsonedit #mary jane watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Dragon Ball Z #Sailor Moon

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lucyytess · 8 years ago

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Bored asf

1: Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?

Closed

2: Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?

Yesss

3: Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?

Tucked in but I sleep on top of them(?)

4: Have you ever stolen a street sign before?

No but I stole a Donald Trump sign muahaha

5: Do you like to use post-it notes?

In an ideal world I would use them all the time but I’m a disorganized mess. On the occasions I do use them they’re pretty kewl

6: Do you cut out coupons but then never use them?

Nah

7: Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees?

Bees? (if you get my reference i love u)

8: Do you have freckles?

Yess on my shoulders

9: Do you always smile for pictures?

rarely

10: What is your biggest pet peeve?

When people are rude for no reason

11: Do you ever count your steps when you walk?

sometimes

14: Do you ever dance even if there's no music playing?

always

15: Do you chew your pens and pencils?

omg yes but usually its my nails

16: How many people have you slept with this week?

017: What size is your bed?

queen

18: What is your Song of the week?

Magnet by the Punch Brothers

19: Is it okay for guys to wear pink?

of course

20: Do you still watch cartoons?

yes

21: Whats your least favorite movie?

Pitch perfect

22: Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some?

the ocean!

23: What do you drink with dinner?

water if I’m going out usually

24: What do you dip a chicken nugget in?

I dont eat chicken nuggets anymore but I was always a sweet and sour sauce kinda person

25: What is your favorite food?

Pancakes

26: What movies could you watch over and over and still love?

Rent

(500) days of summer

Matilda

28: Were you ever a boy/girl scout?

I was a brownie!

29: Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?

30: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?

So long ago

31: Can you change the oil on a car?

HAHAAHAHHAHAAHA no

32: Ever gotten a speeding ticket?

Nope

33: Ever ran out of gas?

Nope

34: Favorite kind of sandwich?

PB&J OR grilled cheese but only if it’s with tomato soup

35: Best thing to eat for breakfast?

Pancakes

36: What is your usual bedtime?

It really depends, some nights 10 some nights 3

37: Are you lazy?

I wouldn’t say so, definitely procrastinate though

38: When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween?

From my memory I have been a ladybug, clown, angel, witch, and pumpkin.

39: What is your Chinese astrological sign?

Rabbit? I totally had to google that though

40: How many languages can you speak?

1, I can understand a lot of Spanish but definitely couldn’t hold a conversation or speak it unfortunately

41: Do you have any magazine subscriptions?

Nah

42: Which are better legos or lincoln logs?

Lincoln logs omg the ones you could saw in half still amaze me

43: Are you stubborn?

Sometimes, I really hate when people think I’m wrong but I know I’m not hahaha

44: Who is better...Leno or Letterman?

I dont watch either :s

45: Ever watch soap operas?

Greys? Is that a soap opera

46: Are you afraid of heights?

I love love love planes but I get nervous on ladders

47: Do you sing in the car?

Yes

48: Do you sing in the shower?

Yes

49: Do you dance in the car?

Sometimes, not with certain people though as I have realized that my antics may one day kill us

50: Ever used a gun?

No, dont plan to either

51: Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer?

OMG senior portraits and story time: I forgot (avoided) mine till the last day so a photographer came in and we went down one by one and it was me alone in this room with the creepiest man ever and he like put his hands on me to put on this pearl necklace and I was sooo uncomfortable especially because I hate hate hate being touched especially by strangers

52: Do you think musicals are cheesy?

Nooo

53: Is Christmas stressful?

This year was, I usually love the holidays though :)

54: Ever eat a pierogi?

Yes I’m some percent polish on my mom’s side and she makes them around easter

55: Favorite type of fruit pie?

Apple

56: Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid?

Teacher and archaeologist

57: Do you believe in ghosts?

Yes

58: Ever have a Deja-vu feeling?

Yes

59: Take a vitamin daily?

when I remember to

60: Wear slippers?

I own slippers but never remember to wear them

61: Wear a bath robe?

Sometimes

62: What do you wear to bed?

Sweatpants and t shirts mostly.

63: First concert?

Maroon 5

64: Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart?

Target

65: Nike or Adidas?

Adidas

66: Cheetos Or Fritos?

Cheetos! fritos are some nasty shit ew

67: Peanuts or Sunflower seeds?

Sunflower seeds

68: Ever hear of the group Tres Bien?

Nah

69: Ever take dance lessons?

I took irish dancing for a year

70: Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing?

Aw I havent thought about it really, something that makes them happy. OR the dream would be the same job as me so we can be coworkers and see each other lots

71: Can you curl your tongue?

Yes

72: Ever won a spelling bee?

Yes

73: Have you ever cried because you were so happy?

Yes

74: Own any record albums?

Yes

75: Own a record player?

Yes

76: Regularly burn incense?

I don’t personally because my mom is like deathly allergic:[

77: Ever been in love?

Yes

78: Who would you like to see in concert?

SO MANY haha

79: What was the last concert you saw?

Idina Menzel

80: Hot tea or cold tea?

Hot tea, cold coffee

81: Tea or coffee?

Coffee

82: Sugar or snickerdoodles?

snickerdoodles

83: Can you swim well?

84: Can you hold your breath without holding your nose?

Yes

85: Are you patient?

Yes

86: DJ or band, at a wedding?

Probably DJ? Not sure

87: Ever won a contest?

Yes

88: Ever have plastic surgery?

89: Which are better black or green olives?

90: Can you knit or crochet?

I can knit a scarf, I’d love to learn more

91: Best room for a fireplace?

Hmmmm probably living room so u can cuddle and be cozy and watch movies

92: Do you want to get married?

not sure

93: If married, how long have you been married?

095: Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way?

96: Do you have kids?

97: Do you want kids?

98: Whats your favorite color?

Black to wear, otherwise probably the color of the sky when the sun is setting

99: Do you miss anyone right now?

yes

#me #im so bored

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janestvalentine · 3 years ago

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#why red robin delights me as a comic nerd: the post which no one asked for but i felt compelled to write anyway, #there are things i'd change but almost all of them have to do with ''if this was a much longer story i'd...'', #there's a whole lot packed into just 12 issues i'd have preferred more time setting up both the dick-and-tim fight and the dick-and-tim reconciliation, #mostly because i have (1) hyperfixation, #but at the same time... i mean this is basically just a limitation of the comic book genre, #red robin devotes about half the story to soap opera and the other half to tim punching things, #unlike many comics which devote 90% of the story to punching things, #in my ideal world 90% of the story would be soap opera but that's kind of a Me Problem bc that's just not what superhero comics are about that's what fanfic is for <33, #anyway it's a little hard to articulate this but one thing i really like about rr, #is those attempts to treat the supporting cast sympathetically, #it becomes really obvious if you contrast with other comics, #so e.g. consider the way that the last arc of Robin turns Steph into an antagonist (by making her choices dumb and kinda villainous), #as opposed to how Red Robin uses Dick as an antagonist (and writes him sympathetically), #you can come away from the comic disagreeing w/Dick or sympathetic to him: the comic doesn't put its thumb on the scale too hard, #whereas if you want to justify Steph's choices in Robin in-universe it's possible but the comic doesn't give you a lot of help, #(and that's even though Robin actually *has* Steph's POV whereas RR is close-Tim-POV and we *never* see what's going on with Dick), #or consider the way that B&R handles a financial problem at WE (Lucius is clueless and wants Dick to solve the problem, #even though Dick keeps insisting he was raised in a circus and is therefore too dumb to do math (???RRRRGH)), #as opposed to how RR handles a financial problem at WE (Lucius identifies the problem + gets the idea + solves the problem, #+ Tim’s contribution is signing something), #most comics nerf secondary characters for obvious Doylist reasons & i'm fine with that but i do appreciate the comics that try to avoid it, #RR is IMO a bit jarring if you're coming from nu52/Rebirth era bc it's very very based in the conflicts and drama of post-Crisis, #(ergo e.g. Jason's a villain / things btw Tim & Steph are really tense / Damian hasn't gotten most of his character development yet / etc.), #but if you've read a lot of post-Crisis Red Robin is like this beautiful port in a storm as Yost tries to combine all the continuities, #PLUS it's got CONFLICT & MELODRAMA & SOAP OPERA & FLAWED CHARACTERS & i know not everybody likes that but i love it so much you guys <333, (x)

Red Robin 1-12: a love letter to continuity

a.k.a. I could footnote this entire run and that’s so much of what I love about it

References!!! So many references!!!

(This is a really long post because there are just SO MANY references; I’m so sorry; I’m just very enthusiastic; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!)

Among other things, Yost explicitly references a ton of characters and events from the final issues of Robin, including:

Tim’s high school friends Zo and Ives, and his contacts Harper and Bard

Tim’s final battle with Shiva in R 183

the new Anarchy killing his siblings in R 182

Dick and Tim’s final encounter in R 183

Tim’s go-to fake name “Alvin Draper” (a deep dive going all the way back to the 90s, when Tim uses the alias in Robin, Young Justice, and issues like Detective Comics 697)

Tim telling Steph to stop wearing the Spoiler costume in R 182 after he finds out she hired someone to attack him in R 177 (…it’s complicated, but look, none of this is Yost’s fault)

Tim worrying that Batman was going crazy in R 176

Tim breaking Jason out of prison in R 182

Yost’s also careful to keep track of and reference events from other comic books around this time, including:

Jason’s murder spree in Battle for the Cowl (and we even get Tim having the logical emotional response of blaming himself for freeing Jason),

Hush replacing Bruce in Batman: Streets of Gotham (and Ra’s tries to figure out what’s going on!),

Superman being the one who (apparently) brings back Bruce’s body in Final Crisis,

the attack of the Justifiers with the Anti-Life Equation in Final Crisis,

Tim and Cassie grieving Conner in Teen Titans,

Tim and Cassie’s goodbye in Teen Titans,

Tim’s meeting with Conner in Adventure Comics (and Tim muses on what Conner deduced about his costume),

Tim’s meetup with Dick in Batman: Blackest Night (and Tim second-guesses not telling Dick about his evidence),

Dick and Damian moving to the Penthouse in Batman, and Steph and Babs moving to the Batcave in Batgirl (when Tim heads to the Batcave, he’s startled to run into Steph instead of Dick, and when Babs calls Dick later, she also calls from there)

But that’s not all! Yost’s also really interested in older comics!

The entire plot of RR is a follow-up on Ra’s’ interest in recruiting Tim from all the way back in the Resurrection of Ra’s al-Ghul crossover!!

plus Yost creates a League character who specifically remembers and references Resurrection,

plus Tim notices that the current White Ghost is different from the old White Ghost,

plus Tim talks to Bruce’s gravestone, much like he talks to his parents’ gravestones in Robin,

plus Cassie mentions Tim’s Batman needs a Robin catchphrase from all the way back in Lonely Place of Dying,

plus Dick’s “Tim’s my equal, Damian’s my responsibility” line is a nice shorthand that’s very in-character and true to how Dick thinks of them in other comics (Dick has a high opinion of Tim and generally thinks of him as an equal or even better than Dick at things in New Titans and Nightwing; Alfred just told Dick that Damian is his “responsibility” in Batman and their relationship will continue to be ‘guardian and child’ in Batman and Robin),