#it was like every series is a reason to hate DC comics

[damian-lil-babybat]

It arrived!!!!!!

I am now the proud owner of THIS COMIC waaaaaa.

Seriously, only good writing and good art can make me do fanart again for Damian. So I am happy comics nowadays are fun now.

Haven't bought any new comics since 2018...for obvious reasons. Let's just say, I don't want to give my money to DC editorials, until now. XD Dami-fans will know why. (Rant at the tags)

[lygma-nygma]

The genuine struggle of being a Riddler fan when all three of his most popular incarnations are different levels of deeply ooc for completely different reasons and you find all three insufferable but they're his most talked about because they're the only non-comic versions of him that aren't Jim Carrey, in three episodes of an animated series, or made of lego. You still reblog stuff about the ones you don't like though because the art is nice but god damn does it ache a little.

[themyscirah]

Suffering more than Jesus atm (being a fan of 80s/90s Suicide squad in 2024)

[omgshiftercat]

I have a friend whose ex, a minor celebrity in some circles, was abusive.

Shortly after she and some other women went public about it, there were some people who chimed in talking about other misdeeds of his.

Her ex was, and is, a loathsome waste of oxygen, and the words, "...who deserves every accusation leveled at him" would almost escape my lips...

...Except that some of the accusations people began throwing around because they (understandably) hated this guy weren't true.

This did not help my friend at all! It muddied the waters, and gave her awful ex ammunition for his claims that people were just out to get him, and were willing to make stuff up to smear him.

Switching gears: there's been a lot of discussion recently about how some brilliant and influential art has been created by objectively terrible people. Part of that discussion has been calling out people who say, "Their work always sucked," or "I never liked it." Not only are statements like this unhelpful, they provide cover for predators. If you insist that your tastes reflect your morality, you're giving yourself a huge blind spot, and making it easy to dismiss evidence of harm done by creators you happen to like.

This is one reason why I think exhibits like this one are important: they help teach that lesson.

Three notes on this: 1. by the time of that exhibition, Gill was long dead and therefore unable to profit from it.

2. This kind of thing isn't necessary for every artist, because not every creator does heinous things.

3. My friend's ex is nowhere near the artistic league of Eric Gill or any of the other creators I'll discuss.

Switching gears again...

If someone mentions a bespectacled British boy wizard with an owl familiar, in a modern setting with "secret world" magic, the name that springs to mind is most likely "Harry Potter", right?

But Timothy Hunter, from The Books of Magic, was published a full seven years before that. I was working in a bookstore when the novelizations for the BoM comics came out, and had to tell kids that no, this was not a HP rip-off.

I don't think the reverse was true, either: for one thing, The Books of Magic is set in the DC Universe, and I've never heard of JKR reading superhero comics. But also... sometimes completely separate creators will come up with strikingly similar ideas, utterly by coincidence. It's one reason why most authors tell fans NOT to send them ideas or fanfiction based on their work: there is rarely any good way to prove that you didn't steal a concept.

Now, obviously every creator is influenced by other people's works, and I completely agree that it's good to acknowledge that and to point fans towards your influences!

When Rowling began channeling her resources into making life worse for trans folk, I saw a lot of people saying, "Well, Harry Potter was just a mediocre rip-off of The Worst Witch anyway."

While I haven't read that series, I strongly doubt this claim. The idea of magic schools is older and more widespread than either of those series, and "British boarding school hijinks, but it's a magic school" was bound to be written more than once.

Now, some of you already know, and others have looked up, who originally wrote Tim Hunter. And... yeah, it's Neil Gaiman. *sigh*

In the last few days, I've seen some people saying, "The Sandman ripped off Tanith Lee's Tales from the Flat Earth." They cite a number of similarities: Azhrarn, the Lord of Darkness, is a pale-skinned, raven-haired Byronic figure with a sibling-like relationship to the Lord of Death and the Lord of Madness. Like the Endless, these beings are god-like, but specifically not gods. Apparently some people have mistaken fanart of Azhrarn for Morpheus. And Chuz, Prince Madness, has a bisected appearance, half his face horribly messed up, like the demoness Mazikeen.

But speaking as someone who was a fan of the late Tanith Lee years before I picked up an issue of The Sandman: I don't believe the latter was stolen from the former. Are there similarities? Yes, but they're superficial. If you've read both series, as I have, you'll know that the stories, settings, and characters are very different!

It's possible Gaiman was influenced by Lee's writing, and if so, I agree he should have acknowledged that. He did promote the work of other female creators, which is one reason why many of us thought he was "one of the good ones". But it's also entirely possible that these two authors independently came up with similar ideas.

When it comes right down to it, I think that statements like this -- "their best work was just a rip-off of something else" -- are just another variant of "their work always sucked".

It's often an easier accusation than "they've always been crap", because, as I said, writers come up with strikingly similar concepts all the time, and it's very hard to prove you didn't steal an idea. But it has the same problems, so -- barring the kind of case you could make with a college-level plagiarism-catching program -- I think it's best avoided.

Now, telling people, "Hey, are you sad about this creator turning out to be an awful person to whom you don't want to give any more money? Try this other person's work instead!" This is good! Let's have more of it!

Addendum 1: I think "separate the art from the artist" should mean, "you don't have to treat books already on your shelf as if they're suddenly coated in poison", not "I'm going to ignore this creator's actions and keep buying their products anyway."

Addendum 2: I just posted a version of this to Bluesky.

[mochi-kitty]

Being an impulse fan is like walking the edge of a knife sometimes

Rant about cartoon impulse that morphs into complaints about the young justice show itself.

Please scroll I just needed to complain a little

cuz on one hand that’s my boy. My complicated driven and violent creature who sometimes doesn’t understand that danger is realTM… and to see him animated is a dream but the only place he’s really animated is in a half anime half cartoon low effort art style series that sorta got him right in the season they introduced him in but then when the show got rebooted they turned his cringe dial allllll the way up and it’s kind of painful to rewatch because they didn’t hold onto a single bit of his story in the reboot after season 2 and if you thought they hated writing him in the newer comics well they also hate to do it in animation (as said previously they just never know what to do with the flashes hence why Wally barely appeared in Justice league unlimited). Season 2 impulse was okay, I was happy with what I got. Season 3 kid flash was unbearable. Season 4 kid flash was better but not as good as season 2 and they brushed over his involvement like nothing.

It just sucks so much because an impulse series is never going to happen. The TV Industry is too far into other genres like Harley Quinn and kiteman to even attempt spending money on adapting the impulse comics even if it would find a small audience, the fandom is just too divided between the multiple interpretations that were created for Bart Allen over the years. From aging him down when he shouldn’t have been to making him more adult and then never using him or killing him off to make him young again.

And it SUCKS so much because was keeping his comic personality in the young Justice show too much to ask for? Could the writers really not find any use for him past season 2? Could they not be bothered to read up on his lore? Not even from the wiki?

I keep thinking of what it would be like if the show directors had just a little more wiggle room to work with. Like if they didn’t HAVE to keep a central plot involving 30 different characters to wrap up a 24 episode season with a big battle at the end only to remember in hindsight that they A. forgot some characters still had holes in their plots and B. no one got character development that was substantial enough to matter. We had up to nearly a decade between season 2 and season 3 and it was a miracle in itself that it even got this chance in the first place. Even I admit I was too excited to care at the time but now it’s kind of painful to find all the faults in it when it’s been left again on the back burner of a greedy studio. From the time skips to introducing SO MANY new characters all in one season,,, the show practically dug itself in a hole and I will die on this hill. I understand the time constraints, the money issues, the audience reacting to a new season years after the last one when we’ve turned the internet into a harsher judgement zone. They wanted to include every character DC ever created, if only to please that one DC fan who even knew about Halo or dolphins existence and then add in real world issues on top of that to make it relatable.

IMO they bit off more then they could chew. Despite what redditers will tell you, the time skips were a cheap way to avoid certain parts of the characters development and they hindered more then they helped. Not only did we not get to grow with our original team of hero’s, we had to accept that we wouldn’t get to see 7 years of their growth (not even in flashbacks). And it just kept happening in a lesser volume with each season. Add on top of that we had the 20 new people they’d introduce who’d get the same no development treatment. Season 4, of course, tried to course correct and made little arcs for the original characters to get developed. Almost 9 years within the story later and with one of the original dead for no reason.

I just keep wondering if they hadn’t done any of that, what it would be like. Even the big rolling up hill plot of 24 episodes that crests 14 minutes into the last 20 minute episode with the remaining 6 minutes being the down time. If we had it more like the original Justice league cartoon with part 1-2 episodes focusing on one major plot or issue with all or most team members showing up. Or if we had kept it like season 1 with the monster of the week style of episodes (see supernatural season 1 to know monster of the week better) would we have gotten better character development? Would it have paced out the big bad reveal at the end more efficiently? Would it have forced the writers to actually read up on the characters they were adapting past their surface level personality? We’ll never know.

I can’t even hate the young justice plot that much either because it’s not terrible, it just the way they play dolls with the characters that hurts because I want to love it. My fav has been animated and I can see them move past their still comic pages and hear them actually talk on screen, that alone should be enough but it’s not.

Not when I can’t rewatch any of it without the high chance of getting second hand embarrassment if I don’t pay attention to when I have to skip ahead. An issue that wouldn’t even be a thing if the writers had JUST ORGANIZED THEMSELVES A LITTLE BETTER AND READ THE DAMN CHARACTERS COMICS A LITTLE.

I can’t even talk about the outfits or art style or the battle animations or the relationships or the specific character based plot holes or the change of priority the reboot brought or idk maybe Wally’s death??

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Iris West

Treated terribly by fandom because of racism and misogyny

Iris is one of the oldest Flash characters (well, oldest by measure of the Silver Age Flash) and despite the show's problems she was adapted pretty well. Her being pushed aside 100% has to do with her being Black in the adaptation. The most popular ship on Ao3 for that show is her white husband x a white passing supervillain clearly intended to be read as actually white who has been in LITERALLY ~SIX EPISODES. He DIED IN 2016. THEY ARE STILL DOING THIS

Gets mom friended like you wouldn't BELIEVE. People hate her because she was childhood best friends with The Flash and has chemistry with him :( like it's her fault she's sweet and smart and not the male blue coded villain to the red hero. I am so tired

Stephanie Brown

Literally my best friend ever!!! Every time she shows up in a comic I point at her and smile!!! She’s the vigilante known as spoiler & batgirl & was a robin before getting fridged because of editorial mandate and misogyny she deserves so much better @_@. The m/m that some people hate her for is timkon; like they ARE very gay but people are genuinely insane about hating her instead of also realizing that she too is gay (insane amount of subtext w her bff cass). Basically she was Tim’s girlfriend for a long time on and off. People will literally call her abusive for no reason they’ll be like oh but she didn’t apologize for starting a gang war accidentally and faced no consequences for it :/ as if she wasn’t literally KILLED OFF BRUTALLY. And although hate is rarer for her nowadays from what I’ve seen she’s also a victim of Background Lesbian Syndrome. And also a victim of Woman Not Allowed To Have Ocmplex Feelings in the source material itself (tim is canonically bi now yay but like steph wasn’t allowed to have any complicated feelings at all at her on again off again ex breaking up with her for good???). Anyways she’s the light of my life.

she’s the light of my life my baby girl my everything. she canonically dated tim drake, but people love to ship tim with his male friend kon or his male brothers (🤢🤮) and so they constantly sideline her, making her the quirky wingwoman or sometimes even villainizing her by trying to claim she was abusive to tim. i don’t know why so many people hate her my girl will literally just be standing there and people will hate on her.

Stephanie was first introduced in the 1994 Robin series as a side love interest for Robin, but when she turned out to be really popular she became the main love interest. Because of this, she was fully fleshed out as a vigilante calling herself Spoiler to try and take down her villainous father, the Cluemaster. She later grew a lot closer to other cast members, such as Batgirl and Oracle, to get herself a firmly established place among the bats. Then, she dies in a gang war after taking up the Robin mantle. Eventually, in 2009, she was brought back from the dead and took on the Batgirl mantle. Her and Robin get back together sometime around ~2010 and they are solidly together until 2021. Then, Robin breaks up with her off panel for zero reason in canon, only to date some really boring guy named Bernard. By fanon, she's often demonized and turned into an abuser to make either this ship, or a lot of other mlm ships happen. Either that or things are mysteriously set in the time she's dead despite characters who were not yet introduced until she returned appearing. strange.

[usedgingertwinkhole]

Okay the main reason that you should read Infinity Inc. Do you like cute college students who are fun together? Do you like found family? Do you like your favorite characters being friends forever and nothing bad happening to them at all? 

Well TOO BAD! If you read Infinity Inc. your favorite character has a 92% chance of either dying or going evil! You will love these stupid children and you will be so upset that DC refuses to have an actual full Infinity Inc. Reunion and instead decides that every few years former members should attempt to murder each other. 

For characters you have: Boy with daddy issues, other boy with daddy issues, gay angry boy with daddy issues, (unfortunately not canon gay yet) boy with EVIL daddy issues, and 7’6” himbo. It’s just... daddy issues all the way down. Also sexist 1940s man who is incredibly annoying. Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, or Jade, who you should all know, and frankly I think if your only exposure to Jen is Kyle Green Lantern you should be OBLIGATED to read Infinity Inc. I have seen some awful stuff flung around about her by Kyle fans. “Jade is only important to comics to tie Kyle to Alan and since she can’t do that properly she might as well stay dead” and that’s just what I’m willing to quote. 

Read Jennie-Lynn RIGHT NOW to properly appreciate her or learn to keep her name out of your mouth. I say while shipping her other ex with her dad and her brother. 

Lyta Trevor who has been through so much and deserves so much more than being hated because of Sandman, you do not know Lyta and you have not read her struggles, how dare you, I am assigning you the homework of Read Infinity Inc. or shut up. 

Okay that is the big sexisms it’s time to get to the big homophobias, or both. Hey remember how the mini series that Beth and Yolanda were killed off in either heavily implied that they were dating or ramped up the sexual tension so much that it seems that they are. I think you should read Infinity Inc. and join me in demanding that Geoff Johns brings back that relationship. Yeah it would be cute. 

Read Infinity Inc. now to fall in love with the cutest college age idiots you’ve ever read, ship a ship that is definitely considered problematic now (it’s Hank and Todd I don’t mean problematic problematic I mean, my god people are weird about non-canon gay ships involving canon gay characters, they just have a ridiculous amount of UST and you have to understand Hank was absolutely in love with both twins you have to you have to), be destroyed by the only death in the main series as you learn to care about them all, and also read further in the main characters lives and see the horrible shit they all but especially Hank gets subjected to... 

I forgot someone... 

MISTER BONES 

MOST IMPORTANTLY 

Infinity Inc. is the origin of this meme!

[howlingday]

This may be my not very popular opinion but I hate most spin-off products that rwby makes Number 1: Ice Queendom and the crossovers with DC, Both crossovers were created to make money and nothing else and my hate comes from the simple facts and that they want to make these crossovers canon or semi-canon, But make this spin-off fuck the issue of timeline and development of rwby, A good example is weiss from ice queendom being racist towards faunus to have a dream for her to no longer be racist and then she continues to be so.

Spin-Offs are kinda hit or miss for me.

I LOVED Ice Queendom. RWBY was really good in the anime style, though the plot did get a little eh for me.

DC is something I am VERY not okay with. I haven't seen the RWBY/Justice League specials yet, but just from what I read from the RWBY comics, it feels... off. Like, they make Ruby way too edgy with her "baby bird" speech. They just... don't feel like RWBY.

I never played Grimm Eclipse, though I've watched playthroughs now and then (but only for like two characters because the dialogue is all pretty much the same). I played and LOVED Amity Arena, and I am very upset that they didn't continue for some reason. I want to play RWBY Arrowfell, but I can't because it was only for a limited time from a specific website and I was too late to get a physical copy (PHYSICAL MEDIA IS FOREVER, BUY LASERDISK!).

I've heard about the Grimm Campaign, but I haven't seen anything actually physical that can be bought, not even a freaking guidebook. I have Combat Ready! ...but no friends to play it with.

World of Remant was... a thing. I will say that. Which leaves...

The best thing Rooster Teeth has ever made. I remember a video that criticized RWBY Chibi as "a series that uses the main series characters better in every way". Seriously, Rooster Teeth, THIS IS HOW YOU SAVE RWBY! JUST MAKE MORE CHIBI! WHY IS THIS SO HARD FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND?!

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

My DC Cinematic Universe - Creature Commandos: Part IV

Chapter Four: Fiends Made From Misery

Warning, uh...I'm gonna get a little heated in this one. I'm upset.

The Tourmaline Necklace, episode two of Gunn's Creature Commandos' first season, focuses heavily on one of his favored characters in the series: the Bride. We'll get into his iteration of her origin story in a moment here, but I will preface this with a few things. First, there is nothing wrong with making the origin stories of thee characters absolutely dripping with tragedy, and the Frankensteins definitely qualify in that regard. However, once again, Gunn's version of that tragedy is...fucked. It's fucked, when you really think about it. But again...it's allowed to be a little fucked. We'll get to it, but I will say that The Tourmaline Necklace is certainly...effective, and not badly written in terms of the Bride's origin, overall.

Secondly, I adore the Bride and Frankenstein's Monster in the comics, and I also honestly like the idea that she's the leader of the Creature Commandos, and that he takes a back seat in his role, never actually joining the team. Having two stitched together Victorian monsters on one team is a little much, and I do think this was a good decision, as was putting her in the leader position as one of the most famous monsters in history. Third, having the Bride be a rough-ass character and a bit crude is not a bad character trait. She can be a bit of a bitch (her words), and that's OK. Plus, Indira Varma knocks it out of the park in her characterization, and the Bride is one of the most fun characters to watch in the series. Genuinely, I do enjoy her character, and much of her character development. Not all, but much.

And fourth: having the Bride hate Frankenstein's Monster is a valid and genuine character trait. Yeah, no problem with that. She hates him in the comics, but also learns to tolerate and forgive him over time, which is character development. And there are different reasons for that hatred in the comics (and the original book) than we get in the series, and that's...a problem. Oh, and fifth, both have excellent designs, and the animation for them, especially in terms of the Bride and her action scenes, are genuinely stellar. Great job to the animators and character designers (even though she's missing something, but more on that towards the end).

OK. I've addressed my positives. So...deep breath...spoilers ahead...

WHAT IN THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER???

Why is he a whiny incel fuckboi? What the hell?!? This is a knightly, dignified character, who isn't the monster that he appears to be on the outside, and yes, loves the Bride because they had a bond, broken by the blades of tragedy and trauma! He isn't a whinging murderous jealous stalker pissbaby who throws tantrums when somebody gets too close to his "beloved"! He's in denial, sure, but not a goddamn delusional...monster! HE ISN'T ACTUALLY A MONSTER! THAT'S THE ENTIRE FUCKING POINT OF THE CHARACTER!!!!

...OK. OK. I have been WAITING to get that out of my system for WEEKS. I honestly love this character, and doing this to him in his first adaptation outside of the comics genuinely breaks my heart. And yes, he's coming back, and there's a chance of some kind of redemption for the character, but he's always going to be stained by this season's portrayal. And that's for the entire new DCU that Gunn is crafting! The character is actually ruined in every live-action or animated incarnation under that umbrella, possibly for years!!! It's just...incredibly frustrating. And I haven't even gotten to their backstory in the series, OR the comics. So...ugh. Let's get into this.

The first thing to be acknowledged, of course, is the backstory for both characters. As everybody probably knows (or should know), Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus was an 1818 book written by the mother of all Goth kids, 19-year-old Mary Shelley, and introduced the classic story of Doctor Victor Frankenstein, who sought to create life from the dead, and assume the role of God. He did so, and created Frankenstein's Monster as a result. This creature was like a child (like Victor's child, in truth), but was also innocent and naive despite his monstrous appearance. But Victor hated his own creation, and the monster fled, afraid of his creator and the world he was brought into.

In his innocent and naive wanderings, he learned to speak and educated himself, becoming very eloquent and expressive, rather than the stumbling moaning brute he's been portrayed as. In a way, that misunderstanding of his character is a poetic irony, as media tends to turn him into what the people in the book fear him to be: a monster with little mind. However, even in the book, the monster is corrupted, and grows to hate mankind as much as it seems to hate him. He swears to kill his creator, and eventually makes his way back, killing his brother in the process. Eventually, he finds Victor and, rather than kill him, demands that the scientist builds him a bride, so that he's no longer alone. And that goes...poorly.

Here's something media seems to have forgotten: Victor breaks his promise. See, the Monster threatens him to make a bride for him ("Shall each man,' cried he, 'find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?"), and promises to leave with her forever. But Victor is so afraid that they'll create Monster Babies that, knowing that the Monster is watching, he destroys the progress he had been making on the bride. In return, the monster returns to kill Victor's new wife, Elizabeth, some time later. And yeah, what this means is that Mary Shelley didn't invent the Bride of Frankenstein. I also forgot that was the case until recently. The Bride's existence is thanks to the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, which makes a stitched-together woman with the iconic white streak in his hair.

With that said, though, the end of the Monster's story in the book comes when Victor chases the Monster across Europe to enact his revenge, and the two finally meet within the Arctic Circle, only for Victor to die of hypothermia, and the Monster to realize that his creator's death did nothing for him emotionally, and decides to return to death the Viking way, and end the saga of Frankenstein and his Monster once and for all. No burning windmill, pursued by angry townsfolk with pitchforks, like in the 1931 film. Just a sad monster and his creator, fueled and emptied by pointless revenge.

And that's where the DC Comics Universe's story begins.

A Modern Modern Prometheus

Grant Morrison, maverick that they are, was hired to reboot the classic DC Comics team, the Seven Soldiers, with an all-new roster. So, they decided to bring a classic literary character into DC Comics lore, and it fit surprisingly well. This Frankenstein has much of the same origin story as the original, with the appearance of the 1931 film version, and one major addition: Victor actually did build the Bride. And like in the original 1935 film, she rejected him (wasn't her type; yes, actually, no more acrid than that), and when he seemingly dies, the Bride wandered the Earth on her own. In the process of her adventures, a random supervillain named the Red Swami found her, brainwashed her, and added two extra arms to her to have her look like a reincarnated Kali. But the secretive organization S.H.A.D.E. found them, and rescued and recruited the Bride as an Agent.

Meanwhile, Frank survives the Arctic, and travels to the United States, where he has multiple adventures, including an encounter with the difficult-to-explain eldritch being Melmoth, with whom he has a long history and rivalry (and one of the main villains of Morrison's Seven Soldiers). He's sent into dormancy after a battle with Melmoth, then brought back by a bullied high-school student, because Grant Morrison. He soon was recruited by the Bride to be an Agent of S.H.A.D.E., and joined the Seven Soldiers to fight against Mr. Melmoth and the Sheeda Queen (again, Grant Morrison). And then...Flashpoint and the New 52 came, and Frank and his Bride got a revamp. And not a bad one, to be clear. This time, both began as Agents of S.H.A.D.E., as leaders of the Creature Commandos. However, Frank and his Bride were on the outs when we first see them. And the reason for that is...understandable.

In the 1950s, S.H.A.D.E. technology allowed the doomed couple to actually have a child, created from their DNA. However, while the Bride was excited about this, Frank was worried, and for good reason. The Child broke out of its containment early, rabid and wild, and attacked the Bride. In order to protect her, Frank shot the product of their artificial union, and the Bride hated Frank for his actions. Neither is unjustified in their feelings, although Frank still loves his Bride, no matter what. However, what neither of them knew was that the Child actually lived, and S.H.A.D.E. knew this. It escaped and ran back to Castle Frankenstein on instinct, killing people in its path, and the Bride and Frank went to confront it.

When they found it, Frank recognized it as his child, contrite for his rash reaction when they first met, and attempted to calm it down. However, it was actually in pain and pleaded for death, leading to the Bride doing exactly what Frank did decades before, and killing the Child. This led to her leaving S.H.A.D.E., no longer able to trust the organization and their secrets, and to Frank now angry at her for killing their child, but still in love. If you want to read this yourself, check out Jeff Lemire's run on Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. 1 - 8, and while you're at it, check out Superman (2016) #12 - 13, where Frank and the Bride team up with Superman and Lois Lane to stop a monster, and...compare marriages. For only being in one issue, it's a frighteningly good read, I promise, as well as being gorgeously drawn.

So, with that, you may now realize how complicated these two are, both in backstory and in character. Frank is an eloquent and well-spoken character, extremely noble and stiff-lipped, but willing to dip into the morally gray for the sake of obligation, and haunted by his past. He is a murderer, but never an unjustified one. And yes, he does deeply love the Bride, but doesn't pursue her out of respect (and later, out of anger). The Bride, on the other hand, is admittedly less-defined. She is fiercely independent, stubborn in her own fashion, and does not brook deception. She doesn't care for honor as much as duty, and is far less bound than Frank is. They are starcrossed lovers, but syzygy is nowhere to be found.

There's a lot you can do with these two, so you may be able to see why I'm so...irritated. The Bride's personality, as I said before, is fine in the series. No real issues with it. But Frank? Ugh, Frank. You turned him from this knightly, noble and troubled character into a consciously murderous baby, with NO redeeming qualities to him whatsoever. And again, that's without considering the horrible changes in their backstory.

Rage Without Bounds

Spoiler alert, but in this version of the Frankenstein story, Victor Frankenstein creates the Bride at the behest of his creation/son, Eric Frankenstein (why Eric, by the way, why not Adam?), in his castle in the fictional nation of Pokolistan, where the series' main mission just happens to be taking place. Eh, whatever. Anyway, Eric throws a tantrum to his father/creator, who reluctantly creates the Bride for his son/creation from multiple bodies, as expected. After he is done, the new Bride is immediately frightened of Eric, whose literal ONLY desire is to smash, and doesn't even slightly remember how difficult it was for him to come into existence. He's genuinely an idiot.

We see a montage of Victor teaching the Bride about life and language, all while Eric complains that the Bride doesn't wike him yet, boohoohooGODIhatehim. And as the Bride grows this connection and trust in her creator/father/teacher, she also grows afraid of Eric, who grows increasingly frustrated and pathetic about not being able to have sex with her, blaming Victor for her opinions and calling it a failure, before running out in tears. Ugh. And, then, instead of destroying the Bride in front of his son, as in the book, Victor arguably does something far worse.

He has sex with her. His creation/daughter/student.

I just...I mean...what the fuck, Gunn? Look, I have literally no problem with sex in a DC Comics property, and I get that shitty people online have been calling comic book films sexless, specifically Marvel, but if you asked if I wanted to know the color of the Bride's nipples, I would've said I DON'T FUCKING CARE??? WHO THE FUCK WOULD CARE??? This is a fucking horrible plot point, not even including the fact that Victor was, again, essentially her father and teacher, making this spiritually adultery, incest, and in a way pedophilia, BECAUSE SHE WAS BASICALLY A CHILD!!! And sure, you can argue that this makes Victor Frankenstein the true monster, but guess what? You corrupt that point in the next scene by MAKING ERIC KILL HIM!!!

The Monster killing Frankenstein isn't a crazy idea, mind you, but you immediately paint him as the villain in doing so, as well as in the subsequent stalking-through-the-decades montage, and try to make the audience forget what Victor just did! YOU TRIED TO MAKE HIS ACTIONS THE LESSER EVIL, BUT IT'S STILL INCREDIBLY FUCKED UP WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT FOR LITERALLY 5 SECONDS!!! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING???

And the worst part, of ALL of this, if that's even POSSIBLE at this point, is that in the end, ERIC'S STORY DOESN'T EVEN MATTER!!! Nothing that this character does has ANY EFFECT ON THE PLOT WHATSOEVER!!! When we get our Eric Frankenstein episode in episode 4, The Iron Pot, we find out that not only did the dude kill the kindly blind person analog from the original story, for truly no good reason, but he also is still a whiny piss-baby, AFTER A LITERAL CENTURY OF BEING ALIVE IN THE WORLD!!! At least the Bride grew up at all, but Eric learned nothing? And frankly, this is a waste of David Harbour. The guy isn't a bad actor, at all, actually, but he JUST. KEEPS. GETTING. FUCKED. And he did a really similar character with teh Hellboy reboot a few years back! I just don't get it.

But yeah, when Eric shows up in the series finale to deliver his message, the Bride just shoots him before he gets the chance, calls him a stalker, and walks away! WHY WAS ERIC EVEN IN THIS STORY? FOR LAUGHS? BECAUSE I AM NOT FUCKING LAUGHING!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Purist Choice: Frankenstein's Monster and the Bride

Have Frank be the leader of the Creature Commandos, occasionally talk about the Bride and have her appear as a rival bounty hunter, maybe give them some version of the son story without S.H.A.D.E. involved, so you can still give Frank the lost love thing, get rid of the whole Victor spiritual incest subplot, and DON'T MAKE FRANK A GODDAMN FUCKING INCEL STALKER

Creative Choice: The Bride and Frankenstein's Monster

Have the Bride be the leader of the Creature Commandos, bring in Frankenstein's Monster as a side character and maybe intimate that he works for a rival organization so you can set up S.H.A.D.E. as a potential spin-off in the future, give them some version of the on story with or without S.H.A.D.E., get rid of the whole Victor spiritual incest sublot, AND DON'T MAKE FRANK A GODDAMN FUCKING WHINY LOSER INCEL STALKER

IT'S A PAGE ONE FUCKING REWRITE!!!

I'm...pissed. I realize that my irritation is...over-the-top, but I am genuinely upset by this. And honestly, while I was perturbed and annoyed in the moment when that episode came out, my feelings have matured like a fine wine into all-out rage. And yes, it's extremely possible that the fucked-up nature of their origins will be revisited in the second season of this show that we're getting. I welcome that immensely, honestly. But either way, their character's history is still written in stone. This will always be a part of their backstory in the DCU, and there's no changing that now. It's incredibly upsetting to me. And sure, bad things happen in a realistic universe, but...did this have to be one of them? Ugh. What a waste, in multiple ways.

And another thing, while I'm airing my last grievances: why not give the Bride four arms? I get that it's harder to animate, but there's a very easy way to fix that: don't let her keep the arms. If we did want to give the Bride and Frank a rivalry over the years because of hatred, she easily could have HAD the arms, and seen them ripped off during a fight between the two of them at some point. Or, even worse, she was given the arms in an unforeseen event, and they were later ripped off by their son. That would only have to be one scene of her arms in the flashbacks, and we could see why she and Frankenstein hate each other so much. There are ways it could've been done, and it's upsetting that Gunn didn't seem to try. And maybe he did try...but if so, this is what he came up with? Not impressed.

The Bride deserved to be in Creature Commandos, as did a version of Frankenstein, and both would make it into my iteration of the series, while only one would be an official member of the group, exactly as Gunn did. There's more to it that that, of course, but I'll leave some of that for later, when I talk about the story in a separate essay. And I'm looking forward to seeing the Bride again (NOT Eric), knowing that the decision made about her character aren't the character's fault. What's more, I will say again that her design and animation (even without the two extra arms) are both excellent.

And even though that one thing done to advance her character in the season finale was VERY shitty, I can see that Gunn likes the character enough to develop her, and she's definitely his Rocket Raccoon for the Commandos. And from there...yeah. I'm gonna lie down. This was a frustrating entry. Next essay, though, we'll hit episode three, Cheers for the Tin Man, as well as my favorite character in the series, G.I. Robot.

See you next time (maybe, no pressure)!

Part One: Introduction and Adaptation Part Two: The Original Creature Commandos Part Three: Amanda Waller and Rick Flag, Sr. Part Four: The Frankensteins Part Five: G.I. Robot

[atomicpatrolcreation]

Catching Up With DC Comics

As the year ends in about three days, 2025 begins, and the DC live-action universe counts down to the release of its first movie under James Gunn, I've decided to catch up with DC's continuity.

To be honest, the last things I read from the publisher were the Dark Crisis and Absolute Power events. They were very good and entertaining, but I felt they could have been better.

With so many comics released this year, I was unsure where to start. For my own comfort and happiness, I decided to dive into the Green Lantern run (my all-time favorite hero along with Flash, although I prefer Hal Jordan as Green Lantern) written by Jeremy Adams.

This comic, the 7th volume, was released on September 19, 2023, as part of Dawn of DC.I haven't finished this ongoing series yet; I'm currently on issue #11, which is more than halfway through the chapters that have been released so far.

This is the first time I’ve read something written by Jeremy Adams. Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations for this run, as every time a new Green Lantern comic is launched, the publisher seems to focus on introducing new characters without depth or relevance instead of crafting great stories that develop and evolve existing characters. But I was pleasantly surprised when I read issue #1-it was so interesting, albeit a bit slow.

As I mentioned, I've only read up to issue #11, which means I still need to read comics like Alan Scott: The Green Lantern, Green Lantern Civil Corps Special, or the two tie-ins to Absolute Power.

I forgot to mention that I’ve already read Green Lantern: Knight Terrors, but I plan to reread it because there are fascinating details that any Hal Jordan fan would notice, which expand upon Hal as a character.

Back to the topic, this run is excellent, with wonderful writing, although at times it feels slow and heavy. Even as a die-hard reader of the character, I found certain developments exhausting. The art is unpredictable, to say the least—it’s good, really good, but there are panels that don’t fully convince me. I think it’s more about the coloring than the drawing itself.

I love how the series brings back characters like Keli Quintela, gives relevance to classic characters like Alan Scott, and canonizes characters created in other media, like Razer. That’s nice and refreshing.

However, characters like Sinestro, the Blue Lanterns, or the Star Sapphires are either sidelined without reason or not mentioned at all.There are some aspects about Sinestro that I don’t like—they’re few, but they leave me uneasy. At times, he feels like the pre-Flashpoint Sinestro, but the next moment, he’s just another villain trying to get rid of Hal or Earth. This is odd because their rivalry has always been more about how Sinestro felt betrayed by Hal for exposing his excessive methods to the Guardians, not about hating Hal or Earth out of disdain. Sinestro's disdain is generally reserved for Guy, John, and the other human Green Lanterns. It's worth noting that he doesn't see them as unworthy due to extraterrestrial xenophobia, but because he believes they are not fit to succeed or equal Hal.

On the other hand, as I’ve explained, there are things I absolutely love, and most of that revolves around Hal and Carol’s complicated relationship.

There are moments where you can feel the love between them—the way they care for each other but can’t be together because they fear (more Hal than Carol) being unfair to one another. They both love each other, and it’s clear and obvious to everyone. They’re not together simply because Hal’s life (and Hal himself) isn’t meant to stay on Earth.

He’s a hero and can’t sit still when he feels needed, whereas Carol wants happiness and stability. She wants a life free from the constant fear of whether the man she loves is alive or dead. She can’t handle that uncertainty for the rest of her life.

You see Carol trying to move on with her life—she can’t, but she genuinely tries. She tries to stop being romantically involved with Hal while remaining his friend and supporting him because she cares about him deeply.And the way they worry about each other is heartwarming.

The first seven issues, which center on Hal vs. Sinestro, are filled with Hal/Carol moments where they show how much they care for one another, especially Carol.

I can’t quite remember if it was issue #6 or #7, but there was a moment between them that gave me the “Say the word, and I’ll leave the Order for you” vibes—a line Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Duchess Satine Kryze in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.Their romance is so sweet and touching. Jeremy Adams has managed to make readers root for them and constantly hope they’ll get back together.

In conclusion, I think DC made the right choice in selecting Jeremy Adams as the writer for Green Lantern. Of course, the story could continue to progress splendidly as it has so far, or it could end as many DC stories do—poorly for both the characters and the readers. Only time will tell, but I sincerely hope it ends well. I’d love to see a Green Lantern Corps run that’s well-written, engaging, and long-lasting.

P.S: While writing this, I realized there are several elements taken directly from Emerald Twilight, The Spectre (2001), Geoff Johns' run, The New 52, and Rebirth (2016), though the latter is less prominent.

[talleyuh]

i’m a pretty big fan of DC comics (specifically the movies because there are just so many gosh darn comic runs out there but i do my wiki research) and the characterization of diana prince/wonder woman is so all over the place.

i feel like i haven’t seen an adaptation of her character that really served her well, like everyone makes her super boring? i often see the criticism of captain marvel that she had no real personality outside of being a strong woman and i see that a lot with Diana in the DCAMU. like yes she’s a strong woman but I feel like there’s so much more that can be done with that character.

all of her dialogue in the dcamu movies was just really flat and boring. when she took center stage in wonder woman: bloodlines she made for a really forgettable character. i liked that they showed the lengths she would go in battle when she blinded herself to fight medusa but i had to reread my letterboxd review because i couldn’t remember that. i feel like the writing issue could be said for all of the dcamu movies, but they’re not available to watch on max anymore so i could be wrong.

i’ve seen most of the dceu movies (i am the strongest soldier i know) and i just found diana in any movie past wonder woman (2017) to be flat, repetitive, and radiate serious nlog energy. the entire crux of her character is that we the audience is to find her attractive, but god forbid we mess with her or she’ll beat us up. or when she said “i’m unlike any woman you’ve ever met” what about all the other female superheroes out there? she only works in a sort of male fantasy-only girl on the team kind of vibe. kind of similar to early black widow from the marvel movies but with only a little more agency.

i revisited justice league and justice league unlimited for the second summer in a row and i feel like the episodes where we get diana center stage are some of my favorites. even though i have my gripes with bruce timm and the writing of diana there too, i think diana works a lot and she could’ve carried her own series with a different set of writers.

as far as i can tell in the in jl and jlu (and the 6 issues i pirated from the sensational wonder woman) diana is levelheaded, kind, compassionate, incredibly headstrong, and genuinely smart. sometimes she prioritizes the brawn a little more than strategy but she was raised as a warrior and i feel like that could’ve been an interesting arc to explore.

i really hate how in every adaptation i’ve seen, they made all of the Amazons seem like heartless misandrists. like according to greek mythology, ortrera (the mother of the amazons) was raised in a world where women were treated horribly so she left and built her own world with other women so they could live in peace and train to be warriors. i’m assuming that ortera’s daughter hippolyta (even tho she died) is supposed to be diana’s mom. i think that the pressure of basically being an heir to themyscira could’ve been a lot of pressure for diana to subscribe to her grandmother’s line of thinking and been part of the reason she even left paradise island in the first place. also women were oppressed because femininity was seen as lesser and i would’ve loved to see femininity not be villainized and have a place to flourish on paradise island where they would be safe to express themselves.

the more i watch dcau shows, the more i can tell that they were made by men for boys and no one else. diana and shayera were sidelined so much even though they were probably the most compelling, at least to me. i feel like the audience was supposed to side eye diana because she grew up in a culture that was misandrist but didn’t take the care to explain with nuance why that was a problem.

time and time again we see people write diana to reject femininity and denounce her womanhood in favor of her strength to show she’s just as good as a man, but that sucks. she has the potential to be such an interesting character on screen if someone is willing to put in the work. and i especially hate that we only see her embrace femininity when she’s in a romantic situation with a man. we see her talk a lot about the deep sisterhood she shares with her amazon sister, but i wanna see it happen. i want to see her embrace the women on the justice league, have girls nights with her civilian friends, complain about work, just exist as a regular woman living in america.

i’m so sick of every adaptation of her character have themes tied to surface level gender politics because we’ve already gotten the same character a dozen times when the other two parts of the trinity are given so much depth. so challenge yourself, write diana like a human being!!! she is so much more then her gender

[dotthings]

Some DC stan BNF on twitter with 48k followers is shouting about how they “won” because Gotham Knights was cancelled and called it a disgrace to the Batman legacy. What did you win? The cancellation of a diverse, beautifully written Gotham based show that has the most unique live action portray of Harvey Dent ever? With a storyline that honored Batman’s legacy with every episode, examined what that legacy is, the nature of the good Batman does, and the people he mentors? Does it make you mad a black woman is Robin? Stephanie Brown is queer? A good DC show is being yanked off the air. I’ve been a DC fan a very long time and I love Gotham Knights.

People don’t have to like the show but the narrow mindedness and hatred and spite began before it even aired. They hated on it before it aired even one episode. So how are these dc fans to spit on a series like Gotham Knight this hard. I understand it’s not going to be for everyone, maybe some people found it boring, or they just aren’t that into this part of DC, or they didn’t want something so AU, what I’m questioning are the people who under the flag of being the True DC Fans went this hard targeting it and hating on it, beyond reason.

Its depiction of Gotham was lovely. It drew inspiration from BTAS and the comics, it examined characters familiar to me and not so familiar to me in different ways. It captured the spirit of Gotham, in a gritty, semi-steampunk, semi-gothic way. And it was an openly inclusive DC series about generational trauma.

As a DC fan I am really glad to have had this.

You have won nothing.

[sliipppy]

I haven't read Marvel in forever, i dont keep up. I dont read much of it in general despite it being what got me into comics. (Ms. Marvel is my favorite comic character ever, and her 2016 run is still to this day my favorite series ever.) So basically what I'm saying her is take way I say with a grain of salt.

I think Tom Taylor is Dc's Zeb Wells. Like fans hate the writers, but they keep getting projects. Taylor is dominating DC, doing so many series, and Wells keeps getting to work on the mcu projects. They both pull the most insane plotlines out of their ass to keep readers that end up going against their characters.

Importantly, neither lets the character they write progress. There's no development, just insane plot twists. (Like the whole Mj-Paul thing or most recently Bruce becoming nightwing shenanigans.)

While Spider-Man stays miserable, unable to just be an adult who can be married, have kid, be a person. Like he's not allowed to move on, which is why Ultimate Spider-Man works so well. Nightwing, on the other hand, is kinda the opposite, he is this perfect golden boy who can't do any wrong, who has no issues, has great relationships with every member of his family for some reason and is just happy-go-lucky. Both Nightwing and Spider-Man are bad because they are the two extremes of opposite ends, and neither are allowed to develop or progress as a character because of it.

Fortunately, for Spider-Man fans, things seek to be getting better as that series is ending soon, and there's Ultimate Spider-Man. I think DC fans are going to be stuck with Tom Taylor for a while, though.

This is random rambling at 2am, don't take any of this seriously.

[cogbreath]

i waint to hea r your bbt things

sheldon is also not the only one whos autistic imo. im not certain of who i all headcanon as such, but i feel its a fitting one for amy and bernadette actually. i think a lot of the problems with the way sheldon's autism is written is the fact that other characters don't *respect* him about it. like his needs and behaviors are often belittled or treated as nonsensical. overall i think everyone should be much kinder and understanding about it towards him seeing as they are literally his friends and all.

also probably a nitpicky thing and a matter of my own autistic sensory preferences but i feel it makes more sense for sheldon to NOT wear his sleeves rolled up for sensory reasons. whatever though im allowed to project. also i think they missed an opportunity to explore his interest in vexillology more? like there was maybe 1 or 2 episodes i remember about it but if youve ever met a vexillology enjoyer you know its a common topic they gush about.

speaking of gushing i think the dynamic between sheldon and amy would be like. two autistic best friends who love to infodump at eachother and do parallel activities. at most maybe they have some sort of queerplatonic thing going on? but im not actually super versed in what that means despite being aromantic myself xP

oh anothet thing that bothers me is how the female characters are written as not getting any of the geeky stuff??? it's stupid. like, yeah penny isnt a nerd, but she's an aspiring actress i think she would know what a star trek is. -_- honestly like, all of them would understand a lot of those things and are probably into similar stuff. bbt seems to think that like, these are Guy interests that all women dont understand or get when in reality like, dc comics n shit like that, literally your average person can follow along so i hate that they make the women seem as if they don't understand star wars references.

obviously this is probably one of the most common complaints about the show but id love to have made a lot of the pop culture references controlled and niche. we dont need a reference every other 5 minutes, id like to define each character's interests in a more sensicle way outside of just "haha guys look theres nerd stuff on tv hahah did you guys get that reference"?

also another problem is the way howard behaves. like some episodes his behavior is like, sexual harassment at times, which is met with a laugh track every time. not cool, and unnecessary, should be written to be more respectful. and then of course id like to make him have a better view of his mother, the dynamic in the show is one based off of antisemitic stereotypes about jewish mothers, and thats shitty. i wont retcon it to be a perfect mother/son relationship, like they would definitely still bicker, but i want to potray his mother as more than nagging and obsessive, like perhaps she does care too much and doesn't always treat him as an adult at times, but i dont find a lot of the overall nastiness that happens in the show between them to be funny or interesting.

raj is a pretty okay character imho, but definitely needs to be written more respectfully. He is a major example of the trope of characters of colour being sidelined. like the fact he was the ONLY character to be single in the end of the series? its kinda fucked up lol. obviously as mentioned before i think raj x howard should be the canon outcome. howeber both of them are bisexual, they both are potrayed as having interest in women; but i also think their interest in eachother is serious, or at least should be written as such. its also probably likely that the way he's written in terms of his culture should be improved but i havent gotten around to that just yet. i also think his anxiety issues should have been written with more respect, like the fact he was physically unable to talk to girls i think shouldnt have been an issue he had with *just* women. it seems they were trying to potray him as having selective mutism? but obviously thats not a thing that ONLY happens when one is a around ppl they r attracted to.

bernadette im actually rlly excited to write better because she reminds me of myself at times. i will dial her mischievous nature and her interest in microbiology up to 10. i will make her infodump about prions just i do.

also imho leonard is transmasc. i dont have any like, "evidence" or theory for why i think that other than just he feels that way to me. not that we even need justifications for transgender headcanons around these parts though.

also wil wheaton will NOT be existing anymore as a character in the narrative due to the fact he blocked me on tumblr for some dumbass shit. LOL.

uh i didnt expect to actually have all that much to say about this show... LOL.. enjoy my rambling!

[emperorsfoot]

I always wanted to ask Do you have a favorite version of Keldor? I personally enjoy the CGI version.

It took me a long time to get to like the CGI version of Keldor. His design is so dramatically different from every version of Keldor that came before him that when the series was first released I thought he should have just been an OC with a different name. His race was different, his backstory was different, and his motivations are different. He is not the same Keldor as the Keldor I fell in love with.

But none of the characters in the Core/CGI Masters of the Universe are the same characters that people feel in love with before. Everyone is different. Cringer is no longer an adorable grainy cat but is now an aged mentor and pseudo-parent figure. Man-at-Arms who previously was the mentor and pseudo-parent figure is now one of Adam's peers. Ram Man became Ram Ma'am and was given a backstory and depth of character development I never even imagined for the character before.

Everyone in Core/CGI is different from what they were before and that includes Keldor.

At first I didn't like this version of him, but now I see how he fits in with the rest of the world and cast he's paired with and I do appreciate and like him.

But my favorite Keldor... hm, that's a tough one.

I like aspects of every version of Keldor.

I like the Classics-Line comics version of Keldor for his motivations.

In the Classics continuity, Keldor does not start off evil. He is the eldest son of King Miro and next in line for the throne. But the population is divided and racist and Keldor is half non-human. The people already did not accept Keldor as their King, and their prejudice is only validated when Keldor is implicated in the death of his step-mother the dowager Queen.

This does not instantly make Keldor bitter, resentful, or "evil". As Keldor is leaving Eternos (banished for a crime he did not commit), his thoughts are of unity and healing. Of unifying Eternia as one people.

Later, even after he's been Skeletor for decades, at the conclusion of his final battle with He-Man as he lay dying, Keldor reaffirms that peace and unity was what he really wanted all along. He begs Adam to be a good king to all people of Eternia, both human and Gar, and all races.

Classics-Line Keldor is a tragic figure who dos the wrong things for the right reasons and is doomed by the narrative.

But I also like DC Comics Keldor.

Overall I hate the DC run of the MotU franchise. I feel like they did not understand the world or the characters, or even the point of Masters of the Universe. DC did not know what MotU was or is supposed to be. They did not do the reading and turned in a shitty class project.

But they did do one(1) interesting thing, and that is Keldor's backstory.

Prince Keldor is once again the eldest son of King Miro. But this time he's not a legitimate heir.

He's a bastard.

He's not just a child born out of wedlock, he's a child that his father was ashamed of and always resented.

Keldor grew up as the black sheep of the family, a public shame to his father who had an otherwise spotless reputation as a heroic warrior and champion of what was "right".

Keldor was denied any kind of connection to his mother and her people. Miro wouldn't let Keldor visit Anwat Gar, or even study the Gar language and culture from the confines of the palace in Eternos. Keldor was made to assimilate into Eternos human society even though he was not fully human, did not look human, and would never be accepted as a human among other humans.

DC's Keldor is also a tragic character.

But unlike Classic's where he was a noble hero who went down a dark path, DC's Keldor is a marginalized person who was pigeon holed into becoming the villain. His society and his own family gave him literally no other option except to become the monster they already saw him to be.

I like 2002 Keldor because the angst (and absurdity) of his backstory is exactly something my 12-year-old self would have come up with if I had known such a character existed back then.

Once again, Keldor is the half-brother of Randor, uncle to He-Man, and the eldest son of Miro.

But it seems like in 2002 Miro had no idea Keldor even existed.

Instead, some great cataclysm befell the Gar people either shortly before Keldor was born, or perhaps when he was still an small infant. Keldor's mother, holds Miro personally responsible for the tragedy that befell her people and seeks to use her son, Miro's own son, as an instrument of revenge.

That tragedy in this backstory is two-fold. One that Keldor never even had a chance to be anything else besides the villain. He was bred to be an antagonist and already set on the path before he was even aware of the world enough to realize he might have a choice. Two, he's seeking revenge on the wrong man. It is not his father, Miro, that is responsible for the cataclysm its Count Marzo.

2002 Keldor's story is a greek tragedy.

Finally, I also really like the original Keldor from 1987, because he's just a blank slate and can be anything we want him to be.

Keldor was King Randor's brother. But we don't know if he was older or younger, or if he was half-Gar or fully human.

All we do know for sure is that he was an aspiring sorcerer who's experiments went wrong and he was trapped in dimensions beyond time.

In an interview with the writer for this comic, they state very clearly that Skeletor is Keldor. The name "Keldor" was coined specifically because is sounds like something you could get if you mispronounce "Skeletor".

Skeletor is Keldor.

But, that is never explicitly stated or shown in the canon comic. So if someone hasn't read the interview and doesn't know the Word of God, then there's no reason to assume Skeletor and Keldor are the same man. In a previous comic its stated that Skeletor is a "demon" from another dimension.

A person could come up with any number of wild stories with this information. Perhaps Keldor and Skeletor are not the same person but instead switched places. Skeletor is a demon from another dimension and when Keldor's spell went wrong it teleported Skeletor to Eternia and Keldor into the demon dimension to take Skeletor's place.

There're lots of possibilities!

Anyway, to answer your original question:

I don't have a favorite Keldor.

I love all Keldor's equally, but for different reasons.

If I absolutely had to choose, I would say the "version" of Keldor that lives in my head is my favorite, and that version of Keldor is an amalgamation of all the versions of Keldor that've been made to date.

[aingeal98]

Top five characters

Of all time would be very, very hard to answer uhh.... Hm. You know what I'm going to try anyways. I can't make any sort of ranking for them because they all occupy such huge amounts of space in my brain so let's go with the order in which I found them.

1: Valkyrie Cain

From the Skulduggery Pleasant series and perhaps the most relatable character I've ever come across. She's Irish she's bisexual she uses humour as a coping mechanism she has an ego sky high she goes through so much trauma her own reflection hates her she's just. So good.

2: Toph Beifong

From avatar the last airbender. Iconic TV show iconic character. I feel like I shouldn't even need to explain this one like she's just too cool. Joined the show late and made every moment count, she was a delight to watch. I think avatar being the first show I experienced online fandom with is part of the reason she makes the top 5, but hey, nostalgia is one hell of a drug and she was a foundational part of my childhood that helped shape all the future characters I'd come to love.

3: Willow Rosenberg

From Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My favourite little meow meow (She has no morals, unfathomable amounts of power, and the only reason she hasn't destroyed the world is because her friends are in it and they like fighting monsters together) Such a good deconstruction of the nerdy best friend archetype and also she's a lesbian. And kills misogynists. But not unless they really piss her off because her friends kind of have a whole thing about murdering other humans and she spends a lot of time trying to pretend her morals are the same as theirs.

4: Cassandra Wayne

Everyone pretend to be shocked. The whole reason I got into the batfam and dc outside of the titans. I saw that Dick had a sister who was a cooler version of Batman and never looked back. No regrets even though comics can be. Well. This whole blog is a decent summary of all my thoughts on her. Also hilariously enough she's the only person on this list who would not be OK with murder. Congrats on being the most normal one here in that regard Cass it's not something that happens to you like. Ever.

5: Sameen Shaw

From Person of Interest. Bisexual sociopath and one of the best TV characters ever created. Watch Person of Interest for Taraji P Henson in Season 1 and then Root and Shaw from season 2 onwards. Trust me it's worth it. She's everything.

Honorable mentions: Marcy Wu, Helena (Orphan Black), Rukia Kuchiki, Jinx (Arcane), Chara from Undertale actually they should probably be top 5 now that I think about it but oh well. Team RWBY, Arya Stark, Daisy Johnson, Brittany from Glee and many many more.