#in this essay i will explain why that man is swearing on a superman comic

[tarotofbadkitties]

Goddesses and men...and women

Buckle up guys...cause this meta’s going a lot of places. I’m a big Snyderverse fan, and one of the things I most like about it is the same thing I like about a lot of Zack Snyder’s work, including projects unrelated to DC like Watchmen and Suckerpunch, is the sense of grandiosity. The heroes have epic journeys and the scale of their power and feats of daring are awe-inspiring. The tone is always sincere and the concept of these characters having the potential to be mythic in their power is never presented as something inherently silly. This bothers me deep in my soul, and I just recently put my finger on precisely why.

There IS nothing silly about these stories. There’s also nothing silly about stakes involving the fate of all humanity and nothing silly about the concept of being with powers far beyond our own that don’t obey the laws of nature that bind us. To see the same people that don’t blink at stories about angels and demons, gods and goddesses and heroes like Odysseus, Hercules, Beowulf and Jason consider the genres that most heavily borrow from that iconography and those themes inherently silly is just absurd on its face. Where else besides fantasy, sci fi and superhero media, which is a blend of both, do you find a conflict like Satan (Lex Luthor) persecuting Job (Bruce Wayne) in order to get him to renounce God (Superman) and show God and the world that neither he nor his faith is all it’s cracked up to be? Where else do you find a story of a mortal man like Prince Endymion who falls in love with a space goddess, like the moon goddess Selene?

Well technically...here is one place you’ll find that, in Sailor Moon’s central romance with our protagonist Princess Serenity and her lover...the Earth prince Prince Endymion. Now here’s where I fell into the rabbit hole (and certainly resisted making a pun about Usagi Tsukino because I’m a mature adult.) My first ship, the first series that captivated me and sent me online to find other people that loved this thing I loved so much I couldn’t stop talking about it...it’s these two. And the thing I’m currently VERY enthralled with, particularly the central romance...why it’s a space princess with goddess-level power and...a human man she falls in love with.

Kory, princess of Tamaran, owner of a power so great it’s beyond our Earth technology’s ability to even measure, woman who can command the elements, fly in the sky and run right off with the heart of this bedazzled mortal. But wait...this is actually a thing ALL OVER THE PLACE in properties I’ve loved!

And no, Diana isn’t from space, but this goddess-like being IS from a magical land that’s entirely separate from the mortal world and impossible to be reached by normal means. And who is this person who has been her love for all these years captivating audiences? Why it’s Steve Trevor...mortal human man. And Wonder Woman 1984 that everyone swore they hated but watched anyway was about the struggle for this immortal woman to try to live without her mortal love and attempt in desperation to overrule the powers that be to keep him by her side. Certainly reminds me of the myth of Selene and Endymion where was made keeper of his own death so that he would not leave her in death until he was willing.

Honorary mention...Xena and Gabrielle. Sure, Xena is only technically not a goddess, but even at the start of the story her power rivals that of the gods and she DOES achieve godhood...and as the myth decrees, her love Gabrielle stays as human as the day she was born. 

Myth-making is what we do, and getting enthralled in the adventures of gods and mortals is something we’ve done as long as we’ve told stories of any kind.

[desperatecheesecubes]

March Wrap Up Part 4 (I may need to find a better system)

Superman (1987) 662, 668

Dates Read: 27 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: Reading all of Chris’s comics is an interesting experience, boys timeline makes no sense. Hard to say my thoughts on either of these issues on their own merits-they’re both clearly one issue in an arc. I’ll probably go back and read the rest of the arc for issue 662 because it was an interesting start-i actually have to forecast siroccos so that was kinda a fun name for a hero for me lol. The third Kryptonian arc I’ll try and finish this month lol.

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Dates Read: 25 March- 29 March

Review: 2 stars

Thoughts: Hey have you ever written a good story and then decided to fucking ruin it completely with an epilogue? Well so did this author! Why why why why did this book go from being a historical drama to a fucking sci-fi in the epilogue. Explain it to me. Really truly. Because it was some of the stupidest shit I’ve ever read. God it made me mad. I’m making all my book people read it. I need to know what their authentic reactions are to that fucking acid trip of an epilogue. OTHER THAN THAT I liked this. The author didn’t Go There enough for my personal preference but that’s not the story he was setting out to write I suppose. A sapphic story of an enslaved woman becoming a spy and thwarting the man who enslaves her? Absolutely a story I’m down for. Unfortunately the pacing was very bad. In summation-I did not like this and I’m mad as hell about it.

Superboy the Boy of Steel by Geoff Johns

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: I loved the art of this so much. The first two pages technically being a Blackest Night tie in and the rest of the collected not addressing the event at all was absolutely hilarious to me. This was a fun story, it felt like the set up it was and it’s pacing worked well for what it had. I’ll get to Smallville Attacks soon I swear. It’s sitting next to me while I type this.

Superboy (1994) 5

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: this was another reread. Not too much to say about it other than how intense my dislike is for Tana-I am simply unable to look past her age Jesus Christ. Kon being absolutely determined to be a hero always breaks my heart a little.

Superman Man of Steel 35

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: Thjs was really interesting to me because in the most recent collected release of Kon’s 94 superboy run they do not include this issue or any of the rest of this arc so Kon just gets magically cured off page with no explanation there.

Superman (1987) 90

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: Jesus fucking Christ Luthor is crazy.

Adventures of Superman 513

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: My biggest take away from this issue was Kon believing he’d failed to evacuate the mountain and hating himself over it. Because I love Kon more than I love Clark lol.

Steel 5

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: This is listed as a battle for metropolis tie in issue but there’s only a few panels that do that and the character who’s having the tie in is completely foreign to me. A story about kids doing drugs on the streets isn’t really my cup of tea but it was fine.

Action Comics 700

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: damn they fucking destroyed metropolis in this one. The amount of times they blow up the globe from the daily planet to symbol tremendous loss in Superman’s life is kind of ridiculous at this point. I liked seeing the superfam all working together in this!

IN SUMMATION!

I read 7 novels, one novella, one poetry collection, one ‘collection of essays’, 4 graphic novels, two comic collecteds, 10 volumes of manga and 33 single issue comics. According to Goodreads I’m now ahead of my goal! According to StoryGraph (the one where I’m not counting comics, collecteds, or manga) I remain behind. A tragedy.

[cobrienba1a]

Essay Research

Question: Does Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” bold step in substituting the status quo for a darker, more brutal Batman, work for the character?

Essay Revamp Notes

The essay needs to be roughly 6-8 paragraphs

Need to have a strategy for every paragraph

Get Bolder as I go

Write as if the reader doesn't know

Back up all facts with evidence and Harvard referencing

No opinions, only facts

Things I know

The silver age was heavily censored- because of this, everything that came after it for a while was toned down

Batman’s origin story and motives- After his parents’ death he swears to bring justice upon Gotham through being a vigilante

How brutal batman can be- He does not stop at one punch on a criminal, he would go as far as to instill fear into them whilst breaking bones and leaving them traumatized, but he would never willingly kill.

 Although, Batman has had times where he did kill, either he had no other choice or unwillingly killed people.

Batman had trained with the league of assassins which explains his movements and attack strategies

Things I know now after research

The censorship died out gradually after the realization that this method was failing

The enforcers of this act were the CCA, Comics Code Authority

The method was to try and put a stop to juvenile behavior among the child population as they thought that the amount of crime committed by children was caused by the violence in comic books.

The animated intro for Adam Wests     Batman first appeared in 1966, an animated series did not come out until 1968

The CCA would only approve of the comic if it had: no horror, no sympathizing with criminals, good must triumph over evil etc.

Batman and his archetype, he is     more of a hero type in the 1966 but F.Ms one is more of a combination of     most archetypes

Things I need to find out

Frank Millers Motivations for the piece- Why he chose to break the norm

Why the darker Batman was preferred?

The design choice for Batman – Why was he aged and why was he made the size he was

How his movement and combat changed as well as why.

Structure

200 words for intro and conclusion

Leaving 700 words MAX for the rest

Batman’s origins and who he’s meant to be character-wise

Status Quo of the 1960s

Frank Miller's interpretation and Why Frank Miller changed the character

The archetypes both the old and new batman represent

Why the newer animation was more preferred?

Why the old Batman may have been more preferred?

References

“I fell in love with Batman and with Daredevil. In both cases, I simply fell in love with the characters, and have revisited them from time to time when I miss them and when I get a new idea of some new torment to put them through.” - Frank Miller

What I can gather from this is that Frank has decided that he adored the characters so much, that he wanted to create tougher situations to help reveal the character more, give everyone an insight into his mind and how he thinks. By putting the character through “torment” it will truly express his true nature and how he deals with the harder decisions, ultimately painting a more developed character. 

 “Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.” ― Epictetus

“Study the classics. Beyond that, my best advice would be to mix it up”- Frank Miller

This was also taken from the interview and The evidence suggests from this that Frank’s change on Batman was still inspired by the original classes. It is implied that he has done his research and to create his take on that character, he felt to “mix it up” and thus the dark knight returns was born. 

(Miller, Spring 2012, pp. 42-57)

Fingeroth, D. (2012 Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=asu&AN=73881644&site=eds-live&custid=ns195502 (Accessed: 19 October 2018)

Appearance:

“Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. So my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible... a . a... a bat!”  

Finger, Bill  and  Fox, Gardner. (1939)The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom, Detective Comics, Vol 1 #33

Looking at this iteration of Batman (1973) we can see Batman’s character pose, we can see he has that superhero physique (evident muscular features as well as strong, square, shape language) although as Batman’s goals was to put fear into his enemies, this design is very distant from his comic counterpart in the bronze age. 

It is clear here that this costume and this quote does not go hand in hand, Batmans circular features give a non-threatening look to the character, definitely not one to visually instill fear into criminals. As well as this, he is described to want to be a creature of the night, although possesses a mid-tone blue attire which does not fit the “black” aesthetic he originally wanted in the comics.  

Frank Miller’s iteration of Batman (in the animated film) is a lot different from the 1960/1970s Batman, but if you look closely, there are still a lot of similarities, for example, the color scheme is the same, only with a darker tone, the build is still muscular, the layout of the suit is the same. However, the only difference is, everything is exaggerated. He has muscles but they are MUCH bigger, he has the same layout but it’s been given more detail and definition, he has a blue attire but it’s a much darker blue (almost black). There are no circular shapes in this body, it is all very angular and blocky, which gives it a more sharp, intimidating and dangerous vibe, which hits a lot further to home than his predecessor. 

Audio:

Peter Weller:

This Batman represents a dated one, one that has been in business for many years and has gained a lot of experience with it. He is quite harsh in his tone, definitely not one you’d find in your typical hero, Batman in this film is quite dark and his brutal nature really shows through his voice. He had just had a fight with one of his best friends (Superman) as he had become corrupt and a dog for the military, which goes against Batman’s beliefs. This also shows in his voice, you can sense his anger with his lecture to Superman about staying out of his way.

Olan Soule:

Soule is a definitely what you would recognize in a heroic voice as it sounds strong and light-hearted, it lacks the dark nature that later iterations have but it makes more sense in the mind that he is a superhero. This is just an advert to road safety but the voice doesn’t really change depending on his scenario, he always keeps up with the heroic voice.