#like Harley being at the sanctuary not only to be around ivy but also to work on her trauma was a good touch

[supercityboys]

Ok ok so I read Heroes in Crisis (forever changed) and I found a love for Booster Gold and got a good Harley Quinn rendition

[loyalshipper]

May I introduce the Tumblr DC community to one of my two favorite Batfam AUs I have created. Bruce Wayne owns a hotel/museum near an ocean cliff and still has a chronic adoption problem but doesn’t fight crime. (If anyone writes this you can make it to where heroes still exist, the Batfam are the inly no capes)

WE still exists but it isn’t run by Bruce it is run by Lucius because back in the 60s Thomas and Martha bought the hotel and wanted that to be their legacy. They still die the same way but Bruce puts all his efforts into running and blossoming the hotel which was his parent’s dream project.

I’ll get back into the hotel in a minute I’m taking about the kids now

Dick is gotten a similar way, he visits the Cape with Haly’s Circus, his parents die because of faulty wiring sold to the circus by Zucco and Dick becomes an orphan. Bruce just so happened to use his one night off in a while to go see the circus. He keeps thinking about Dick and ends up adopting him. He helps Dick and the Circus bring Zucco to justice and sues the hell out of him and shuts down his business. (Adopted at 8))

Jason was found living in one of the shut down rooms of the hotel. Because his dad left and was in prison and his mom od. So Bruce treats him like a wild animal and starts to leave food out on a regular schedule until Jason gets comfortable with him and he adopts Jason. (five years younger than Dick)

Tim was the son of two wealthy archaeologists who were gone 11 out of the 12 months. Bruce met Tim because he liked to come into the museum and take pictures of the museum exhibits and hotel architecture and shoreline which he would develop and give copies to Bruce. So he opens his house to this little boy with a penchant for photography. Until one day Tim’e parents call Tim telling him that they are staying in Egypt permanently because the archeological dig is producing wonderous results and they’ll be hiring him an around the clock sitter. Only for Tim to wait three weeks and no one shows up. They went so far as to fire Ms. Mac but never hired a sitter for their son. So he goes to Bruce in tears and explains everything, because this is it-his parents finally did abandon him, and Bruce sues them for custody of Tim. (Three years younger than Jason, adopted at 7)

Damian was the result of a relationship Bruce had in college while studying hotel management and hospitality. Talia is the daughter of a hotel conglomerate owner who is currently trying to buy Bruce’s hotel so it can be torn down and Ra’s can built a new hyper expensive hotel in its place. Damian was sent to live with Bruce to try and get Bruce to have Damian inherit the hotel so Ra’s can get it and destroy it, but that backfired because instead Damian falls in love with the hotel and his new family (reluctantly) and wants to see the hotel and museum flourish, not tear down this historical piece of architecture to replace it with a soulless hotel only available to the wealthy elite. But something available to everyone that families vacation to because there is so much history and beauty in a thing that has stood for centuries. So Damian turns against Ra’s. Due not that while Damian and Tim do have a sibling rivalry it is not as vicious and cutting as it is in canon. They love each other they just don’t mesh well while in the same room. And yes, Damian still has his variety of pets (7 years younger than Tim)

Cass came to the hotel with her “father,” David Cain, who went to the Cape for business, and just ended up leaving and forgetting Cass at the hotel. He was still abusive and Cass had trouble speaking but he wasn’t “turn Cass into the world’s greatest assassin” abusive. After Bruce finds Cass, he sues Cain for parental custody and then ruins his life unrepentantly. (Couple of months older than Jason)

After Martha and Thomas died, Alfred took over managing the hotel while Bruce was still growing up and while he was getting his degrees, now he is the grandfather to Bruce’s many kids and helps to keep them running and cared for while they run and care for the hotel. He’s also the one that helps the new kids transfer into the life of running a hotel.

Barbara is the daughter of the Police Comissioner still who became friends with Dick and works, first part time at the museum/hotel and then full time. Same with Steph and Tim (1 year older than Dick)

Cullen and Harper work at the museum, Helena works at the hotel. Carrie does both. Duke is the newest acquisition. Only, his parents disappeared and no one has been able to find them yet. So Bruce currently had temporary custody of Duke who lives at the hotel with everyone. (Harper is a year older than Tim, Cullen is a year younger than Tim, Carrie is the same age as Jason, Duke is a few months younger than Tim)

Each person has different jobs. (Dick is concierge/check-in, Jason does guided history tours of the hotel/museum/grounds, Tim works in financials because he deals with the least amount of people, Helena, Carrie and Steph are both maids, Carrie also does janitorial stuff with Cullen, Barbara works hotel check-in with Dick, Barbara and Harper work cashier at the gift shop, Duke doesn’t have a job yet because he is still dealing with the disappearance of his parents, Damian does every job to see where he fits in best.

JARRO IS THE FAMILY PET STARFISH THAT TIM ADOPTED WHEN HE FIRST JOINED THE FAMILY AND RESCUED FROM BEING EATEN OFF THE BEACH

The hotel is still fully staffed with not-batkids, like grounds keepers and other hotel cleaners and janitors.

Location time!

I’m turning Gotham nicer and changing the geography of the city.

The hotel Museum rests about 200 yds from a cliff that overlooks a beach. There is a well maintained stair case put into the cliff for people to walk down, as well as a longer gravel path that follows the cliff edge down to the shoreline. It is frequented by seals, sea lions, and in the distance, dolphins and whales. The hotel it’s self has about 100 or so acres of land and a long drive but it is technically within walking distance to the city. And it’s a normal coastal town with a port and touristic areas. Kinda eerie at night when the fog rolls in but that’s part of the charm of the NorthEast.

Selina is just Bruce’s friend in this. She is Helena’s mother and Bruce was a surrogate for her. She decided she wanted a baby and Bruce offered to be a donor. So Selina had Helena and Bruce is part of her life but not as her dad, which was the agreement. Selina takes care of the stray animals on the grounds and favors the cats.

Clark is a reporter that was tasked to right an article on the hotel and it’s history, became good friends with Bruce and brings his family (Lois, Jon, Bizarro, Kon, Kara, Lena, Chris, Ma, Pa, and Lex) on vacation to it every year. Lex and Clark are divorced husbands that left on good terms and are friendly enough to coparent their son, Connor, who was made the same way as canon but less hush hush and illegally, Kara is Clark’s cousin and Lena is her fiancée, Lois is his wife, Jon and Bizarro are their two biological sons (Bizarro has autism), Chris is their foster son. Bizarro latches onto Jason in a way that he hasn’t before and always loves coming to the hotel, Jon and Chris are best friends with Damian, Connor and Tim are long distance dating.

Collin, Maya, and Maps are Damian’s best friends from school (Damian has a crush on Collin) and he’s trying to convince them to join the hotel staff like his siblings’ friends but they are a) too young and b) not interested.

Roy has all of his problems as in canon and gets help for it, so as a way to try and bring the family closer, Oliver and Dinah arrange a vacation to the hotel for them Roy and Lian. As a stepping stone kind of thing. Get away from daily stress. Roy is resistant at first until he and Jason hit it off and start talking and Jason talks sense into him and they strike up a friendship turned romance.

The Flashfam visit the museum diring a countrywide roadtrip and mad the stop because Bart is a history buff and wouldn’t stop talking about it the entire trip. He becomes fast friends with Tim and is the only person to ever get a Tim Wayne history tour. No matter what Kon tells you he is super salty about it. Wally and Dick were internet friends and used the roadtrip as a way to be able to meet up.

Thad is the obligatory complainer who doesn’t want to stay in a musty old hotel.

Ivy is the main grounds keeper and is in charge of the native wildlife sanctuary most of the land is used for, as well as taking care of the native plantlife and lives in town with her girlfriend, Harley. Harley helps the kids prank Bruce.

Harley is a children’s psychiatrist hired by Bruce to help the kids deal with their various traumas. Her coming to the hotel for sessions is how she and Ivy met.

They started dating between Dick and Jason and Dick talks up each of them to the other, but each individual kid that comes in think they’d be cute together (since they are both professional while working there isn’t immediate proof that they are dating. But they will flirt with each other if they see each other) and it’s basically a right if passage to try and convince their siblings to help them get together and then try and set them up on their own and find out the hard way that they’re already together. They love seeing all the different way the kids try and set them up. They tend to go along with it until either the kids realise or they take pity on them.

Their favorite was Damian’s where he set up an entire romantic dinner at the hotel restaurant and Dick managed to slyly convince him to set it on a certain day that turned out to be Harley and Ivy’s anniversary.

Alfred is the head chef for the hotel, making room service meals and the breakfast buffet line up. Jason will help him out if he isn’t busy with other things.

Victor Fries and his wife hold an ice cream social ever summer at the hotel with all the ice cream flavors they came up with over the last year.

Edward Nygma, famous escape room designer, is hired to make an escape room themed on the hotel and museum that is built on the grounds near the main building.

Another ritual that starts, begins with Tim, where the older siblings convince the newest one that the hotel is haunted and Jason takes them on a “haunted ghost tour” of the abandoned part of the hotel (the part that is too dilapidated and run down to remodel safely) while the others are stationed at different parts of the hotel and grounds to run whatever scenario to scare the new kid. The only one that hasn’t been done to is Cass because even after several years she still jumps a little too hard at loud noises. But one time Jason accident closed a door a little too harshly while Cass and Tim were doing something and it caused her to jump so hard she knocked over Tim and started crying. They were contemplating whether she was strong enough to do it or not and that cemented that she wasn’t.

Tim and Cass are nearly inseparable and are commonly referred to as the Wayne Twins. For Halloween they decided to go as each other.

[pluckyredhead]

What's the top 10 worst things about HiC

Oh god, it took me FOREVER to narrow this down. There are so many bad things about it!!!

Literally I’m not even going to address all the little talking heads therapy sessions and how thoroughly riddled with continuity errors and godawful characterization they are, because there’s so much else wrong with the book. Just trust that they’re a mess, even if King is trying to be Intellectual (TM) by putting them in a nine-panel grid. WE GET IT. YOU’VE READ WATCHMEN.

I’m also not putting “they killed Roy” on the list because it’s comics, characters die. The fact that this book was a slaughterhouse is a problem (see below, #2), but the fact that one of those deaths happened to be one of my favorite characters is a bummer but not necessarily evidence that the book is bad. (The book is so bad.)

But okay, so the rest of it, from least-worst to worst-worst:

10. That Poison Ivy cover: Clay Mann draws beautiful people but for some reason he decided that the cover to #7 should be a dead Poison Ivy on her stomach, cleavage pressed against the floor, her spine arched EVEN THOUGH SHE IS DEAD in order to lift her ass in the air so that the reader can see both T and A at once. This was leaked and then ultimately pulled before it hit stands and Tom King tweeted that he'd never liked it, but it’s very telling to me that either literally no one noticed how gross this cover fetishizing a dead woman was before the internet protested, or DC actively planned to use a sexy dead woman to sell comics. In their book that was supposed to be about trauma and mental health and recovery.

10b. Babs, a theoretical protagonist of this book, sexily peeling her pants down to show her bullet scars, which shouldn’t even look like that due to all the surgery she’s had: We get it, you’re only interested in women’s trauma if it’s sexy. She doesn’t even get to talk on this page.

10c. The full splash page of Lois in her underwear, saying “What do you want me to do?” like she’s inviting the reader to bone her in the middle of this story about death and trauma: Stop!!! Just stop!!!

9. The laziness of everything having to do with Booster: Okay yeah, I’m gonna be fannishly self-involved about another one of my faves here, but Booster is legitimately one of the main characters of the series, along with the Trinity, Harley, Babs, and Wally. And yet the “trauma” that places him at Sanctuary was part of a hastily shoehorned-in Batman arc directly before HiC that writes him deeply out of character (he carelessly changes the timeline when despite the fact that he’s spent 15 years protecting the timeline, including the Superman arc he starred in literally directly prior to the Batman one), instead of anything endemic to the character (because spoiler, Tom King doesn’t actually know anything about the character). The series then entirely fails to address it, hanging Booster’s emotional arc instead on his friendship with Ted...a friendship that explicitly does not exist in the Rebirth timeline. The Ted/Booster friendship/marriage is literally my favorite relationship in the entirety of the DCU, but you don’t get to rest a protagonist’s entire arc on a relationship that was retconned out of existence seven years prior and then retconned away again. Do the work. Don’t copy Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis’s papers from 31 years ago.

8. Interpretive hand jiving through the pain: You know how some people have to leave the room when characters do something very embarrassing on television? I’ve never been like that, just Jesus Christ I had to read this page between my fingers. Y i k e s :

7. Harley beating the Trinity in a fight: Come on. Harley couldn’t take a single one of them on her own, let alone all three. Don’t warp the characters to make your MC look more badass and keep the plot moving. (King also wrote Catwoman beating THREE SPEEDSTERS in his Batman run, which again: no. Absolutely not. Stop it.)

6. That Watchman reference: See above re: being so embarrassed for someone you have to read through your fingers. If you haven’t read Watchmen, the line “I did it 35 minutes ago” is extremely famous and absolutely a mic drop moment. It’s not a mic drop moment here. The characters are completely different and talking about completely different things. The only thing Heroes in Crisis has in common with Watchmen (besides copying the use of the nine-panel grid, like I said before) is that it’s about how heroes are fucked up, I guess? Which is hardly a bold statement in 2018; it’s actively cliche now, in fact. The only purpose referencing Watchmen serves here is to let the reader know that Tom King has read Watchmen, which is both pretentious because it is Art and ridiculous because it’s one of the bestselling comics of all time and millions of people have read it.

5. The abysmal “journalistic ethics” on display: There are so many characters literally and figuratively assassinated in this book that it’s easy to miss that Lois is one of them. But here’s a tip: when someone’s medical information is leaked to you, it is not in fact your obligation to share that with the world, no matter who they are. That is not information meant for public consumption, which we might assume Lois knows, since she doesn’t usually share the private business of her husband or her son or their cousin or any of their friends that she is also friends with. But suddenly she’s forgotten that because it’s on a zip drive? Not only does that show horrifying journalistic ethics from both Lois and Clark, who seems to think she had no other choice, it’s also ableist as hell - what, if someone has mental health problems or experienced trauma on the job they’re automatically a danger to the public? And despite the attempt to make this feel like a big twist, there’s actually zero point to it, because a) we never see civilians reacting to this information and b) there are literally zero consequences to publishing it in this or any subsequent comic. It’s never even mentioned again. If a tree publishes all of a superhero’s medical information and deep dark secrets in a forest and no one reacts to it in any way, shape, or form, does it make a sound?

4. The actual premise: I do sort of believe that Bruce would think “go to the middle of nowhere surrounded by robots wearing creepy robes and masks and tell your secrets to cameras which are then wiped and interact with no one” = therapy, although if that’s the case I don’t know why he keeps bothering to put people in Arkham, which at least allows them to talk to other humans. But under no circumstances do I think either Clark or Diana would go along with this horrible, horrible idea, that offers no genuine help to anyone. Not only does the fact that it’s implausible undercut literally everything that happens within the framework of Sanctuary’s existence, it’s just one of many examples of how almost everyone acts completely out of character all the time in order to keep the plot chugging along.

3. Bruce’s terrible detective skills: The World’s Greatest Detective spends like six issues seriously thinking that either Booster Gold or Harley Quinn is the killer. Booster or Harley! Booster has neither the temperament nor the ability to kill on that level and Harley would never hurt Ivy, plus neither of them are a match for Wally (who is believed to be dead at this point), and Bruce should know that. Again, weak characterization all around, but it’s especially egregious given that King wrote Batman for A HUNDRED ISSUES.

2. Wally’s character assassination: This is a three-parter:

2a. Logistical: It makes no fucking sense. Wally got his own corpse to the crime scene by traveling five days into the future and killing his future self. Everyone sees the corpse. Then Booster, Ted, Harley, and Babs talk him out of killing himself. But...he already did that and everyone saw the corpse, so now we have a paradox that’s never addressed.

2b. Moral: The comics have tried desperately to walk Wally’s actions back in the past two years, emphasizing that he didn’t mean to kill TWELVE PEOPLE, including one of his best friends. It was an accident! But he still framed Booster and Harley for literally no reason except to create a whodunnit, set them on each other which could have easily ended fatally for Booster, and then sent everyone’s private information to the media (which again, the comic frames as somehow noble and necessary, but which is actually deeply unethical). So you made this beloved 60-year-old hero into a villain...why, exactly? Just so it would be surprising? Cool, great work, Captain Edgelord.

2c. Metatextual: This comic spins out of Rebirth Special #1. The New 52 erased Wally from continuity and then brought him back as the younger, biracial Wally (and this isn’t the place to get into fandom’s response to that and DC’s response to fandom’s response so let’s just say they are both YIKES MCGIKES and leave it at that). Rebirth Special #1 brought him back, and the return of the “real” (white) Wally (again: yikes) heralded a new universe that was lighter and happier and contained way more fan favorites. It was literally branded as a gift to fans, embodied in Wally West.

In Heroes in Crisis, Wally is crushed by the weight of everyone being so happy he’s there and loving him so much while he’s struggling with grief and depression, and that’s why he snaps. It’s the metatextual equivalent of having Wally look at the reader and say “You’re happy I’m back and comics can be lighter now? Well, FUCK YOU, YOU RUINED EVERYTHING.” It essentially blames the reader for having Wally go evil, because the reader loves Wally too much.

King, what the fuck?

1. The overall message: Heroes in Crisis was sold as a thoughtful exploration of mental health and trauma, instead of just another bloodbath. Instead, it killed a dozen characters in its first issue and dicked around for another seven with an uninspired whodunnit before throwing a beloved hero in the garbage. But in the meantime, it manages to say:

Trauma is unavoidable.

But therapy doesn’t help.

Trying it does more harm than good.

If you’re struggling, you are a danger to others and don’t deserve privacy.

Good luck with that.

Therapy literally saved my life. This comic enrages me. This comic is harmful. Superhero comics as a whole have a lot to answer for when it comes to discussions of mental illness, but at least some random issue of Batman where Bruce thoughtlessly throws another “looney” into Arkham isn’t billed as a sympathetic take on PTSD. Our culture already discourages asking for help, and we don’t need a pretentious funnybook miniseries helping with that.

(If you made it all the way to the end of this post and you are struggling with trauma, depression, PTSD, whatever...please do look into therapy. I promise you it’s nothing like this comic.)

In conclusion, Heroes in Crisis is bad and it should feel bad.

THE END.

[stvlti]

2020 Creator Wrap

I was tagged by @irolltwenties to do the 2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works tag! Thank you, lovely (*˘ ε ˘*)

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Before I begin, let me just tag some friends:

@reaperlight @3dnygma @drowthelynes @transdankovsky @fantomn @lawliyeeeet @dressed-to-keehl @setfa @0akdown @reidsnor @clubolive @mermaides

No pressure, but it would be fun if you guys share some of your works this year ( ˘︶˘ ) let’s see those fics and edits and artworks!! Get the clicks and views y’all deserve 💕 💕

And now, onwards to my 2020 Favorite Works List!

I didn’t write nearly as much as some of you guys did. And though I did exceed my goal of putting out 1 fic per month, I don’t have 5 solid ones I’m proud of. So I’ll just list 4 fics here:

01 // Growing Pains

I’ve always been very nervous about reccing this one, because it broaches a topic that I don’t really have a right to claim? I’m not transgender myself, but I simply adore the trans Dick Grayson headcanon so much it singlehandedly brought me back to the DC fandom and restarted my fanfic-writing habit for 2020 😂😂 plus the writing quality isn’t half bad, and I still really like the idea/metaphor this little story started with and grew from. 

Fave moment (besides the obvious):

"Ka-Pow!!" The boy ventriloquised. Lego Robin sailed through the air in his fingers. One stubby, outstretched leg made contact with a Lego henchman, knocking all the surrounding baddies over like bowling pins. "Sorry Mr. Bad Guys, guess it's way past your bedtime too!"

"Good job, Robin." The boy lowered his prepubescent voice and tried to affect Batman's gravelly timbre as much as possible. In his other hand, he walked Lego Batman across the floor of the crime scene. "How about we round them up and leave it for the Commish? It's getting quite late."

"Oh oh! Can I have cookies on the ride back?"

The boy swivelled Lego Batman's grinning face around. "I don't see why not."

Another night out in Lego Gotham City, another day saved by the Dynamic Duo. This called for a celebration indeed. The boy set the pair of heroes down by the Lego Batmobile and reached over to his own plate of Alfred's after-school chocolate chip cookies. He took his sweet time with the last piece, savouring each bite, sighing at the way it melted on his tongue.

02 // Transference 

This is my best-performing fic in terms of the kudos to hits ratio, so I feel validated in being proud of this one :’) It’s a pretty good marker of the distances I’ve covered since getting serious about reading the comic source material end of 2019, as you can see from the much broader and varied cast of characters I focused on for this story. It also definitely cemented - to me, at least - the fact that I can write action scenes. When I went into “Second Chances” (a fem Jay fic) earlier this year, I was so nervous about writing the action sequence there, because I’ve never written a serious action scene up until that point! To me, this fic definitely showcases the growth I’ve experienced as a writer this year ^_^

Fave moment: (CONTAINS SPOILERS, PLEASE READ THE FIC FIRST IF YOU HAVEN’T!)

When the trio return, Ivy takes her place at the meeting table with a severe expression on her face. She chooses her words carefully, when she speaks. "The odds aren't pretty. We just accepted 100 refugees over the weekend, and the Green is still repairing itself after last week's attack."

Rose exchanges a glance with Jason. He gives her hand a reassuring squeeze, though he's not looking any better than she feels.

"But, each and everyone of us stayed behind to defend the Garden, because we all believed in giving a sanctuary for the civilian survivors out there.

"So bring them here. I'll take them in."

No sooner has Ivy finished the sentence, than Zatanna and Constantine have fired up their teleportation portal, and Harley's cheerful "Good luck!" is lost to the mad dash off to the rescue mission. The rest of the Shadowpact scramble after Rose as she launches herself through the portal—

—and slams into Arsenal, pushing him out of the way seconds before a meteoric explosion of green fire incinerates the very spot he'd been standing in.

03 // Paying It Forward

This one is important to me if only for the reason that it’s the first time I’ve written character dialogues that flowed. And I didn’t even need to plan them out meticulously beforehand! Do you know how rare that is for me as an ESL writer? Dialogues have been the bane of my existence since I started writing as a wee teen. Luckily, the Titans TV show has some solid character dynamics for me to fall back on. And from there I started reading NTT era Dick & Donna, and I just fell in love with their friendship. And now, I can turn to this fic as proof I still got it whenever I doubt my abilities as a writer c:

Fave moment:

Dick glanced at her, eyebrows raised. "She ran out on you?"

"No, no, we never really... I don't think it counts as running away if it never led to anything more."

"But you wanted it to be more." Dick paused, taking in Donna's silence, which would've fooled anyone else but him. "You still want it."

"I-- yeah." Donna sighed and held her hands up as if to say you caught me. "I'm... Sorry? For stealing your girl?"

Dick laughed, bemused. "She was never mine. She knew what she wanted, what she needed - and I wasn't in the right place to give her that."

"And you? You think I'm what she needs?"

"Better you than me. You're Donna Troy. Older, smarter, prettier..."

Donna gave him a deadpan stare.

"... And you know who you want to be. She likes that in a partner. I'm still figuring that one out for myself." Dick stretched his arms up and then leaned back into his seat, lacing his fingers behind his head as he stared up into the ceiling.

04 // When I'm down on my knees, you're how I pray

I’m including this one just to showcase I got the range, babey. And honestly, the fact that I was able to write this fic and actually receive positive reviews for it was a surprise to me too!! This was the first time I ever attempted to write a real darkfic with dead dove subject matters, and I managed to nail the emotional manipulation, somehow ;__; It was a real learning experience too, learnt so much about Catholicism just to write about Dick’s guilt issues in an AU setting nobody asked for 🤡

Fave moment: (dead dove warnings apply)

"Not at all, Richard," Roman said. The boy would come to him, eventually. "Now, it's getting late. If that's all, I'll have Jason fetch your room keys. Seven Hail Mary's before bed, and think about everything we've just discussed. Tomorrow we'll do a proper debriefing."

"I... Okay." For a moment, Dick sounded like he had more to say. Instead, Roman heard a muffled sniffle, one that Dick likely tried to disguise with a hand over his mouth. Silly boy.

"Thank you again, Father," Dick said, after a beat.

"All in a day's work, my child." Roman unlatched the door and stepped out of the booth. He nodded at Dick as the younger man ambled out of the booth after him. "Goodnight now, Richard."

As he set off for the living quarters, Dick called out. "Wait!"

Roman turned around, inclining his head.

"Will you stay?" The candlelight chased shadows away from Dick's face, and for one glorious moment, Roman could see the depth of the desperation shining in Dick's blue eyes.

"Guide me through my prayers. Please."

Roman smiled.

-

Oh did you think I was done? 😂 It did say Favourite Works and not just Favourite Fics, so I gotta include this one on the list too:

05 // 2020 Jason Todd Birthday edit

I said Robin Jason deserves better and I meant it! 👏👏 This edit took me 12 hours and 67 layers ‘cause I made a mistake on like my 8th hour into the editing process o__o but it ended up being my most popular serious graphic edit, so it was worth it. I guess! 

I mean the likes to reblog ratio is still fucked but hey, I broke 1k, which is more than I can say for any of my other edits

[holy-fate-worse-than-death]

Okay, hear me out

The Outlaws re-form but it's just Jason Todd and Harley Quinn running around like chaotic bisexual messes working on their unresolved trauma and identity issues, while Poison Ivy is the Tired Lesbian Mom Friend™ trying to keep them all together.

So here's the set-up:

Via Roy's connection to Killer Croc (and yes Roy is definitely alive in this one, fuck you Tom King) Roy and Jason end up working with Harley and Pam.

It's supposed to be a one-time thing, but when Roy hangs up his quiver to be a Hot Single Dad™, Jason finds himself in need of some help, and he doesn't really have anyone else to ask.

This ties into the idea that Jason combats his social isolation by somewhat accidentally forming teams (eg Outlaws 1.0 and 2.0) that are meant to be short-term alliances but inadvertently become like family.

Ideas I have about this AU:

- Harley and Pam are absolutely canon. Not just queerbaiting where they're a bit too close to be friends. They kiss, they call each other "girlfriends" and Jason is absolutely beating the shit out of anyone who says anything remotely homophobic

- Harley and Pam definitely encourage Jason to admit his feelings for Roy (which they know about before Jason does), and eventually there's a lot of Jason and Roy being perfect gay dads

- Harley and Pam definitely babysit Lian at some point when Jason needs Roy to come out of retirement for a mission that only he can do (which also doubles as an excuse for a whole lot of sexual tension, e.g. "I miss spending time with you"-type stuff), and although Roy is incredibly skeptical, it actually works out really well

- Not only are Harley and Pam great babysitters, Roy feels empowered to start working on tech for the new Outlaws and he works as their own version of Oracle; gathering intel, sending them on missions, etc. This is kinda similar to the role he took on in Red Hood/Arsenal (2013), and it allows him to feel a sense of purpose and connection to his superhero days without feeling like he's neglecting Lian. (It's also a great excuse to spend a lot more time around Jason, if you catch my meaning)

- I know some people really don't fuck with the idea of Harley and Jason interacting, but I actually think it would work really well. We already saw somewhat of a precedent in Red Hood/Arsenal (2013) when Jason was trying to connect with Duela Dent (AKA Joker's Daughter). He's able to be compassionate towards her and connect with her despite the fact that she's literally wearing the Joker's rotting skin as a mask

- I think a similar relationship between Harley and Jason would be really healing for both of them, because it allows them to be people who form relationships that aren't necessarily decided by their trauma. I think there were absolutely points in Jason's life where he couldn't have been friends with Harley, and points in Harley's life where she couldn't have been friends with Jason, because of how much they remind each other of Joker. But Jay and Harley being able to have that friendship, and find common ground in other aspects of their identity (in the case of this AU the fact that they're both LGBT+ and don't adhere to Batman or the Justice League's moral standards), means that they've moved beyond their trauma and don't always see the Joker in everyone

- Obviously there'll still be initial growing pains, but I don't think the focus of this story should be on the Joker or any clown-related trauma. At a certain point, trauma just isn't a personality trait and it certainly shouldn't make up the majority of either Harley or Jason's personalities. They're both so much more than that

- At some point later in the story, however, there would be a situation were Harley and Jason come across the Joker and have to fight him. There's an unspoken tension because Jason is worried that Harley is worried that Jason can't handle it; and Harley is worried that Jason is worried that she's going to go back to the Joker. But they're in such an intense situation that they have no choice but to trust each other and trust the friendship they've built, and in the end they save the day because they were able to do that, which strengthens their friendship even further

- Pam routinely makes good points about radical environmentalism, and there are throwaway gags about how -- while the Outlaws primarily do the vigilante work that's too dirty for the Justice League -- they also occasionally break into animal testing facilities or sabotage coal mines/big businesses/other environmentally-damaging institutions

- There are regular cameos from other grey-area vigilantes (e.g. other former Suicide Squad members) and this story really tries to delve into the complexities of morality and why people do things that appear "criminal". It's mainly about dispelling myths and reducing stigma surrounding things like criminal behaviour, mental illness and addiction

- There's a cameo appearance from Killer Croc that deals with addiction and redemption, especially through Roy and KC's friendship

- KC is just so fucking proud that Roy is a dad, and there's probably a cute moment at some point along the lines of, "I may be a croc, but these sure aren't crocodile tears"

- Because this is my AU and I can do anything I want, I'd also like to see this story involve Dr Victoria October. I love her so much, she's one of the most underrated characters in all of DC, and I feel like a snarky, middle-aged trans woman would really round out the gigantic queer mess that this story is

- They come to Dr October for advice in a case that involves biomedical science of some kind, and it's meant to be a one-off. But then Jason gets injured a couple weeks later and Harley and Pam don't know where else to take him

- Victoria and Basil (Clayface) are definitely still dating in this one, and occasionally the Outlaws will team up with Basil for a case (although he's mostly in retirement while Victoria tries to figure out how to stop his powers from causing his brain to deteriorate like in Detective Comics (2016))

- Between Roy and Dr October the Outlaws end up with better tech than Batman a lot of the time

- Victoria is absolutely horrendous with kids but regularly finds herself having to discuss plans and gadgets in person with Roy, so she ends up sitting in his living room surrounded by children's toys, sipping tea and resisting the urge to glare at the adorable, gurgling baby in front of her

- She gets left with Lian at one point while Roy runs off to save Jason's ass, and it basically goes down like this:

- Croc loves babies and the first time Lian sees him she cries (Croc probably sneaks up from the sewers to talk to Roy about something while he's out for a walk with Lian in one of those cute chest harnesses you use to carry babies). Croc is so hurt that she's scared of him

- As she grows older she stops being scared and ends up fascinated by his shiny scales and big pointy teeth

- I'd also like Lex Luthor to be involved in this at some point. I'm thinking that maybe this could slot into the New 52 canon pretty well. Maybe the Roy in this story is the "real" Roy and the one that died at Sanctuary was a LexCorp clone. I'm also just really into this idea because I like Roy's robot arm and I think portraying those types of disabilities is really important and cool. Plus, it separates him from the other archers in DC and kinda epitomises the fact that he's the "tech" guy

Okay that's all I can think of right now, but this AU is basically my OTP + my other OTP + my other favourite characters

... Guess this is another fanfiction I gotta write lol

[revisitedgrunt]

Harley and Ivy.

A new fans thoughts on this relationship and the Harley Quinn comic: Part 4 of 4.

Issue 34 was the last one written by Amanda and Jimmy.  They’ve written 64 issues of the Harley Quinn comic book, not including specials, one shots and annuals, and every issue is absolute gold.  Some stories were, of course, better than others, but everyone was still a joy to read. They were fun and they made me happy.  I'll always have them, I'll reread them often and I have Amanda and Jimmy to thank for that.

Frank Tieri takes over for issues 35 – 42.  His short run mainly focuses on the Penguin trying to take over Coney Island.  This story arc was fine.  I didn't enjoy it as much as Amanda and Jimmy's work, but I didn't have any problems with it.   It was OK.  Harley and Ivy have a very brief interaction in issue 40.  It isn't of any consequence and is over in a second.

Sam Humphries takes over as the regular writer in issue 45.  Before I get into that, it seems to me that there are people at DC, editors and writers, that understand the Harley/Ivy relationship.  They understand just how much these two care about each other, how much they love each other.

In the Bombshells continuity, written by Marguerite Bennett, Harley and Ivy are in a romantic relationship.

In the last part I said I hoped to see Harley/Ivy in bed.  This sort of scene is exactly want I want in the canon contuinity.  I want there to be no doubt that Harley and Ivy have had sex.

The DCeased continuity, written by Tom Taylor, is non-stop death, blood and misery, but even here Harley and Ivy get a sweet scene together.  

It's not just non-canon realities.  In the canon continuity, the “Everyone Loves Ivy” story arc (Batman 41 - 43) , written by Tom King, has Ivy take over the world.  She has mind controlled everyone on the planet, and the only reason she stops is because Batman has Harley talk her down.

This leads into the “Heroes In Crisis” miniseries.  This is also written by Tom King, and he writes Harley and Ivy as a couple.  Harley breaks into Sanctuary to see Ivy.  Every scene the two share is full of love, care, support and respect.  Harley calls Ivy “pretty girl”.  When Harley is mourning Ivy, she says “I shouldn't have loved you.” When Harley is about to kill Booster Gold, she says “She saw her love (Ivy).  Covered in blood.”  In issue 9, when Harley sees the regrown Ivy, Ivy says this.

Which is one of the most romantic things I've ever read.  Harley rushes into Ivy's arms and stays wrapped around her for the rest of the comic, momentarily leaving her side to do this.

This will lead into the Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy miniseries, which is written by Jody Houser and is due September.  The description for this is pretty interesting as it says they will “explore their relationship” and the miniseries will “change their friendship forever.”  I'm obviously hoping that this means they will officially get together. I am so ready for Harley and Ivy being official girlfriends.  It could also mean that their relationship falls apart and they end up enemies, but I'm not thinking about that.  However, the fact that they’re getting their own miniseries shows that DC knows how popular they are, and how much they mean to each other.

So, to reiterate, DC seems to understand the Harley/Ivy relationship.  So I have to wonder why Ivy has completely disappeared from the Harley Quinn comic.

From issues 45 – 63 (19 issues), Harley and Ivy have not interacted once.    Harley has briefly mentioned Ivy twice, and that's it.  That's not the worst of it. Tony, Queenie, Goatman, Eggy, Jimm, Red Tool, the gang of Harley's (not including Coach), Summer Daze and the rest of the Roller Derby team have all disappeared!  These are people Harley considered family, characters I enjoyed reading about, and now we don't see them at all.

I understand a new author wants to make their own mark on a book, but I feel like you can do this by building on what came before, not ignoring it!  To me, this honestly feels like Sam didn't care about, or respect, all the work Amanda and Jimmy had done.

I also don't like the stories he's writing.  Harley always seemed to work best as a street level (anti) hero.  Now she's on Apokolips, breaking and fixing DC contunity, and completing trials to become the Angel of Retribution.  It doesn't work for me.  There's also a cancer storyline regarding Harley's mom that ties into the trials.  I think cancer storylines are played out by now, but this highlights another issue.  We have a very good understanding of Ivy's character by now.    We know that the second she found out Harley's mom had cancer, she'd drop everything to be there for her.  But she isn't, she seems to have ceased to exist. 

Does Sam not like Ivy?  Does he not like the Harley/Ivy relationship?  Has an editor told him he can’t include Ivy?  I would love to know why Harley’s best friend, and primary love interest, has completely disappeared from her comic book.

I used to have so much fun reading this book, now I find myself struggling to care.  I really wish I wasn't in this position.  I want to love this book like I used to, but it's really difficult at the moment.

I don't want to end this on a downer.  Amanda and Jimmy's work is superlative.    They also redefined the Harley/Ivy relationship and no one can now say they don't love each other.  No one can say they are just good friends.  Hopefully Tom King and Jody Houser, will build on the groundwork Amanda and Jimmy laid and, with any luck, we will soon get Harley and Ivy as official girlfriends.              

To finish, I'm really happy to see DC move away from the Joker/Harley relationship.  The story is no longer two wild, wacky kids, who were in a dysfunctional love affair.  It is now about a woman who was in a horrifically abusive relationship, but found the strength and courage to break free.  The Joker will always be a huge part of Harley's story, but it now seems like he won't be her great love, Ivy will.

I, for one, am very thankful for that.

Thanks for reading.

[taffystake]

Heroes In Crisis #7 Review

Written by: Tom King

Art by: Clay Mann, Travis Moore, and Jorge Fornes

Colors by: Tomeu Morey

So....remember how I said I was usually positive? Its time to get real negative because.....holy crap, does this comic make me utterly detest the writer. While I have undeniably enjoyed some of Tom King’s other work, Heroes In Crisis has driven me to madness with some of the most painfully slow, agonizingly self-reflective, and utterly meaningless writing I’ve seen. The fact this mystery comic has been more content to dwell on everything BUT the mystery just makes it all the more painful. But...I’ll try and start with the one positive....

The art for this comic is actually very good looking, with a lot of the character designs, backgrounds, and motion being conveyed extremely well. The art does a lot of good work conveying subtle emotional shifts, which helps to get across some of the points that, honestly, the writing is horrible at doing. If it weren’t for the art being as good as it is, this comic could rightfully just die in a ditch. Please let Clay Mann get some better writing for his art after this travesty.

Now then....the plot. After a few pages of watching Wally fuck around in a flowery meadow, we get to watch Harley manically sing as she attempts to bludgeon and stab Booster Gold to death. A very unsuccessful death, as his shield generator is back online. Leaving Batgirl and Blue Beetle to talk about the insanity of all this. After an interlude with Wally West’s interview from his first week at Sanctuary that....just establishes how cheery and bright he was before this comic ever happened, we get another interlude with The Flash rushing to Batman to get help finding Booster and Blue Beetle.

As Blue and Batgirl watch, Blue lets slip Booster’s shield only stays online while Blue is conscious. so Batgirl knocks him out. And then Harley continues beating on Booster Gold. Another interlude of Wally losing his cheery nature to this place later and another interlude of Batman and Flash hunting Booster Gold later, we jump to booster pleading for death, which...Harley fails to oblige. After admitting her manic singsong has apparently been her attempt at superhero banter, we get....another interlude of Wally West, which packs in the most blatant audience jab in this entire comic while also demonstrating his continuing downgrade into mopey bitch from his normal personality.

....Screw it, I’m going off on the audience jab here. Wally West’s revival at the beginning of Rebirth was meant as a sign that hope, legacy, and hero families would once again become the norm within the DC Universe after the New 52 did its best to kill all of those off. And so Wally is apparently feeling the weight of being this symbol of hope. EXCEPT there is no in-universe reason for him to be seen as ANY FORM OF A GODDAMN SYMBOL OF HOPE! NONE! NADAH! Even the one thing that could justify it, becoming a Blue Lantern at one time, doesn’t account for this because he lists all the shit his life has gone through chronologically and the Blue Lantern thing was before the New 52 reboot. So this is just Tom King taking a cheap shot at people WHO LEGITIMATELY WANTED A GODDAMN BEACON OF FUN AND HOPE THAT HE DECIDED TO KILL FOR THIS AWFUL EVENT!

....okay, Im good. For now. So after.......that, we see Wally’s hand generate electricity and bring to life a bud that grows. And grows. And grows. And grows until it becomes human-sized, opening itself to reveal a very Swamp Thing-esque Poison Ivy that he has apparently revived. Back with Booster and the others, they begin discussing Wally’s body being five days older than the others and how they are now five days after the Sanctuary massacre, so obviously Wally is alive and somewhere out there.

Fucking what. Im sorry, but we’re using evidence that a Flash is a few days older than normal to declare he must be alive five days after the slaughter. Two things: One, this entire run hasn’t done a goddamn thing to set up a fucking bit of chronology. If they hadn’t said it was five days after here, Id have thought anywhere from two days to five fucking weeks might have been the timeline here. Two, we are trusting this time DNA thing to be correct. On a Flash. GUYS WHO RUN SO FAST THEY TIME TRAVEL ON THE REGULAR. AND ITS ON THE ONE WHO CAME BACK FROM LITERAL OBLIVION IN THE SPEED FORCE! SO FOR ALL ANYONE KNOWS, EVEN IF THIS EVIDENCE PROVES FLASH LIVED PAST THE SLAUGHTER AND HIS BODY WAS TIME TRAVELED BACK, IT COULD BE A FEW HOURS AFTER TO A MONTH AFTER! 

But no, after we get the four stooges settled on their team name, we see Batman and Flash noticed their efforts to use Skeets to find where the hell Wally is. And it turns out he is alive in the flower meadow, talking to the revived Poison Ivy and saying he is sorry because he hurt her and she’s about to see something else. What thing exactly? Why, Wally West arrive from five days in the past to kill himself.

Yep. Wally West, the cheeriest man in the DC Universe, is the one who slaughtered all of the residents of Sanctuary. A bunch of heroes, a few villains, and most notably his best friend Roy Harper.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!

THIS! THIS IS THE BIG FUCKING TWIST OF HEROES IN CRISIS! THE KILLER IN THIS MURDER MYSTERY IS ONE OF THE VICTIMS! AND NOT JUST ANY VICTIM, THE ONE VICTIM WHO SPENT HIS WHOLE TIME IN SANCTUARY WALLOWING IN SELF PITY AND STARING AT HIS NAVEL SO MUCH HE CAN COUNT THE HAIRS! THIS ISN’T FUCKING PROBLEMATIC AT ALL!

....Now then. To explain. This entire series was solicited as a murder mystery and as a way to look at the psychological impact of their actions on superheroes. And with this single issue, this limited series has proven it has no FUCKING IDEA WHAT EITHER OF THOSE MEAN! The mystery, if you can call it that, was who exactly managed to kill everyone at Sanctuary. But the comic delays getting anything beyond slow diatribes about the heroes and the fallout from this place being slaughtered until issue 6 out of 9. And the one piece of evidence it gives is fucking meaningless because of who it involves, until this issue when the comic decides to establish exactly how many days its been since the Sanctuary slaughter and also establishes for sure that the evidence actually meant fucking anything. So figuring out who the murderer was could’ve been accomplished by a monkey and a dartboard more accurately than actual detective work.

And on the psychological front, this comic is a fucking travesty. Harley Quinn basically rides the bipolar seesaw in the most painfully cliche ways it can possibly use, having her manically singing songs and stabbing people before spontaneously breaking down into tears and regrets. But its worst affront is with Wally, as revealed in this issue. He went into what is essentially therapy a happy and well-adjusted person and came out of it so dour and ruined that he apparently decided to SLAUGHTER DOZENS OF HEROES AND FRIENDS OF HIS!!!! Which, despite being a comic proclaiming that it deals with mental issues, manages to make going to therapy look like a thing for people too dumb to just suppress their issues and die from the resultant tension. Wally goes in chipper and bright, and came out homicidal despite having NOTHING POINTING TOWARDS THAT AT ANY POINT IN HIS HISTORY!!! This comic understands mental trauma and mental illness like I understand Sumerian. FUCKING ABYSSMALLY!!!!

[aion-rsa]

DC's Heroes in Crisis Ending Isn't About Superheroics

http://bit.ly/2KbkXGZ

DC’s big spring event book is one of the oddest mysteries in superhero comics history. We break down the ending for you.

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Heroes in Crisis is the latest DC event comic to bear the Crisis-moniker. But unlike most of the previous Crises, this one wasn’t centered around the collapse or rebirth of the DC multiverse. Instead, it was about much more personal crises and in some ways showed off the DC Universe at its most heroic. But it’s also a book that featured a dead, time travelling Flash and a mystery about his death, so it certainly had some trappings of a traditional Crisis.

read more: How Event Leviathan Brings Mystery and Espionage Back to the DC Universe

Like any good mystery, the final chapter answered some questions and left some ambiguous. Thankfully, Den of Geek is here to answer ALL your questions about Heroes In Crisis - what happened, when it happened, and where it leaves all of our heroes.

Obviously, the rest of this article contains massive spoilers for Heroes in Crisis. Tread warily, friends.

THE ROAD TO HEROES IN CRISIS

Wally West was the original Kid Flash who, after Barry Allen’s death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, became the most prominent sidekick to make good as a legacy hero in comics. He grew into the role as the Flash and built a life for himself - a wife, kids, a place as a beloved friend in the greater superhero community. That was all erased when time was reset in the New 52 - legacy Wally was retconned out of existence.

However, he and only he was brought back from the Speed Force in DC Rebirth. He puttered around the DCU post-Rebirth, eventually remembering his past life and family, getting manipulated by Hunter Zolomon into breaking the Speed Force, and admitting he needed help working through the trauma of losing his loved ones.

He was brought to Sanctuary, a retreat of sorts set up by Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman for heroes who needed psychological help.

WHAT HAPPENED IN SANCTUARY?

A whole mess of killin, that’s what.

Something attacked Sanctuary, killed a dozen plus minor to mid-level heroes (including Poison Ivy, Arsenal, Wally, Tattooed Man, Gnaark, and Nemesis, among others) who were in treatment there, and then started releasing supposedly deleted recordings of confessional statements made by prominent heroes out to the media for wide distribution. This had all the hallmarks of a devastating attack, and all the forensic evidence pointed towards either Booster Gold or Harley Quinn, both patients at Sanctuary at the time.

It turns out that both were framed.

read more - Explaining the Stunning Twist in Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1

We discover late in the series that the actual killer was Wally West. Struggling with his trauma, Wally accesses the deleted confessionals to convince himself he’s not alone. The act of absorbing that much trauma that fast (he’s watching them at super-speed) causes him to lose control of the Speed Force, and the resulting explosion killed all the victims except himself. He panics and tries to find a way to fix his mistake by running five days into the future, killing his future self, then travelling back to his present to plant the body and rig the crime scene to frame Harley and Booster. Then he starts releasing confessionals to the press to show other heroes working through trauma that they’re not alone.

HOLY SHIT, THAT’S PRETTY DARK

Yeah, but fortunately that’s not where it ended. Booster and Harley teamed up with Blue Beetle and Batgirl and eventually solved the murder and the mystery of why Wally’s body was five days older than it should have been. They show up in time to see future Wally talk his past self out of killing himself and offer assistance in the form of a trip to the future for a spare clone body to plant at the scene, and then Wally heads into custody for more work on his grief.

THE HEROES IN CRISIS ENDING

While it feels weirdly anticlimactic for what was billed as such a consequential crossover, but that’s only if you’re looking at the plot and not the message.

What happens in Heroes In Crisis is largely immaterial. If you were here looking for NOTHING IN THE DC UNIVERSE TO EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN then you’re almost certainly furious with the time and money you invested in the book. What you got was a time travel murder mystery with a few really neat character beats (like Barry Allen’s ex-sidekick knowing how to stage a crime scene so the world’s best detectives would be fooled).

The most important thing about Heroes in Crisis is the why. This was a story about processing grief and trauma and working through mental health problems even through setbacks and mistakes. It took these heroes and projected our problems onto them to use them as iconic exemplars of the human condition, something superhero books (and the heroes of the DC Universe especially) are particularly designed to do. And if you stuck around Heroes in Crisis for that, you got more than your money’s worth.

read more - Inside the "Sheer Insanity" of Batman: Last Knight on Earth

The book was almost from the beginning up front about how little the superhero plot trappings mattered: the bulk of every issue was spent getting to know a character or two, learning what caused their trauma and how they were working on it. Poison Ivy is the perfect example of this: her death was literally and consequentially meaningless. She died for no good plot reason and stayed dead for a grand total of about 150 pages of story before being resurrected at the climax of the series. Her death did not matter to the plot, but her pain and her relationship with Harley were of monumental import.

The series wasn’t about Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman solving a murder while fighting off one of their greatest villains assaulting their secret identities. It was about Blue Beetle grabbing a beer with Booster, standing by his friend even though he was making what appeared to be bad decisions. It was about Batgirl reaching out to Harley when she was in a moment of crisis to try and help her use her grief for something not-self-destructive. It was about Wally seeing how the pain of dozens of other heroes helped him take the first steps towards coming to grips with his own, sharing that knowledge that he wasn’t the only one with the rest of the world in the hopes that it might help them, too. And it was about King sharing that knowledge with the reader.

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News Jim Dandy

May 29, 2019

DC Entertainment

The Flash

wally west

Tom King

from Books http://bit.ly/2JNOQ0L

[thecomicsnexus]

BOTTOM 10 STORIES 2018

This is a countdown to the worse 10 stories that I reviewed this year. As these rely on my reviews, this list only reflects my personal opinions and shouldn’t be considered as hard truth.

NUMBER TEN HEROES IN CRISIS #2. BY TOM KING

Batman is consumed by the death of his “partners”, yet he continues to recruit them (he has the Outsiders now). Wonder Woman is repressing her fears because of childhood trauma, this one could be kind of true, but doesn’t feel like something Wonder Woman would do. And at last, Clark Kent feels like he is faking both, his civil and superhero personas. This is not being explored anywhere else, but, at least to me, it’s pretty obvious that Superman is Superman, and Clark Kent is another side of himself, but pretending to be weaker. It’s in the realm of the possibilities that Superman is also faking his superhero persona, but it wouldn’t fit what we already know of the character. If the most recognizable superheroes in comic-book history are out of character, what should we expect from the rest of the cast? Well… Harley Quinn is not herself, Booster Gold is not himself, Penguin and Poison Ivy are debatable. Barry Allen is a broken property right now, so they can do whatever they want with him and it wouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s hard to understand what is Harley’s plan, or whatever happened to Booster (before and after he went to the sanctuary), but we tolerate that, because they are part of the big mystery. A mystery that may or may not involve time-traveling.

Tom King wanted to show our heroes as fragile, broken and normal human beings. This is controversial to say the least. For some characters is easy to go there, but for others he had to come up with problems that weren’t introduced before in those titles. Booster Gold alone is a big red flag about mis-characterization. We are still to explore mental health awareness in this book, and having a psycho killing everyone doesn’t look good on people with mental issues. Maybe if this was biweekly, the story would move at an acceptable pace. 

NUMBER NINE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #62. BY GARDNER FOX

Why this ended up being a Justice League story? No idea. The plot is boring and confusing at the same time, the main… antagonist?… is kind of the victim in the past… and… becomes the victim… and to save his family he puts his son in danger… and… whatever.

NUMBER EIGHT JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1. BY GARDNER FOX

It is a complicated story because it is implied that the Justice League of America already exists (so they decided not to tell the formation story). And we get the first appearance of Snapper Carr. A character that gets annoying on his first panel and never ceases to be annoying. However… I have to admit that at least the story has useful information all around that is integrated into the story. So, while the story itself is a poor shadow of future Starro battles, all the science bits are welcome.

NUMBER SEVEN SUPERMAN #259. BY CARY BATES.

How could I leave out of this list the very interesting era of Superman when he had to think of a lynx to get his powers.

Terra-Man is very overpowered, there is no reason for him to be in jail in the first place. He has a tattoo that allows him to teleport the prison somewhere else. He has a mystical pegasus at his disposal that can trace lynxes. He can defeat Superman easily, and as a last measure, can send him to another dimension to never come back. Seriously? How is this story not over before it even began? To make things worse, he figures out really quickly that Superman is killing Billy by giving him his powers. This is horrible on Superman. At least this is the end of the Superman-Lynx era.