#pre Batman Jace

[starlooove]

If y’all weren’t so racist we could have so much batgirl tiff and robin damian 💔

[zahri-melitor]

Future State:

So this is a qualified opinion based on the fact I have only read the Bat-related titles and have not yet read the Bat book storylines subsequent to this, but my first impression of this is that you are just fine to skip anything in Future State that you don't want to read.

It does contain 'who is the Magistrate'. The Magistrate are a paramilitary force paid for by Mayor Nakano to hunt down 'masks' in Gotham (both capes and rogues). Their major members are called 'Peacekeepers'. If you literally just substitute the current cape-hunting paramilitary force of Peacemakers commanded by Amanda Waller in your mind, you've got the entire effect without needing to read any of it (Also Gotham is indulging in its neon futurism aesthetic, so think Batman: Gotham Knights the game, or just Bladerunner).

I only have time to read one title: Future State: Dark Detective. The A story in this title follows Bruce working undercover to find a way to reveal what's going on inside the Magistrate. The creative team is Mariko Tamaki, Dan Mora and Jordie Bellaire. One of the only stories in the entire set where I would confidently say this was still a solid yarn even out of context.

I'm interested in John Ridley's Fox Family Drama: read the A story of Future State: The Next Batman. Tam's had a relapse (because nobody can track whether or not Tam is supposed to be better or not), Luke's literally at a loose end because of plotting changes, you meet Jace, Tiffany has been aged up by the time jump to effectively be the age she was back pre-Flashpoint, Tanya is angry at the world because reasons (Tam) and Lucius is making bad decisions because ???.

What else do you think is a fun story? Future State: Catwoman is a train heist story with neon futurism aesthetics, which is busy indulging in re-education camp/concentration camp themes with more than a dash of Hunger Games references. Creative team is Ram V and Otto Schmidt (no prizes for guessing why it's a good story hey). Worth it just for Selina and Talia working at slight cross purposes but acknowledging the other has her own goals.

The E plot of Future State: The Next Batman (the Gotham City Sirens) has Ivy, Selina and slave android named Dee-Dee who has broken from her creator. This is fun for me personally because it is the rare concept where Ivy and Selina are bouncing off each other and Harley is nowhere in sight. The characterisation is at best fine, but the GCS vibes are there and fun.

The rare 'look I don't want to read this but it's well written' award: Future State: Harley Quinn. I deeply, deeply do not care about Harley, but if more of Harley's books were written like this, I think I would enjoy her far more as a character. So, recommendation for the 2021 run of Harley Quinn under Stephanie Phillips, I suppose (I am not planning on reading it).

The rest: look, the biggest issue with basically all of the Future State titles is due to being set in media res of an altered future, there's an awful lot of characters with changed personalities and no clear connections as to why they're acting OOC. And I'm a full believer in 'if you show me how the character got there, it's not OOC', but the whole concept of this is we don't get to see how the characters got there. So you're stuck going "why is Jefferson Davis currently a being of pure lightning, this isn't Jakeem Thunder". "has this writer read a single Stephanie Brown story not written by Bryan Q. Miller? (Vita Ayala I have been anticipating getting to your Wonder Woman stuff but wow you can't write Cass or Steph)". "I really wish this story where Dick is based in the bowels of an abandoned Arkham Asylum was leaning more into the Batman RIP/Reborn era storytelling around Dick and Arkham Asylum" and so on.

Characters don't fully track in their storylines between titles. Who's imprisoned when? Who are Two-Face and Croc working with? What hero titles are Cass, Steph, Barbara and Tim using? What costumes are people using? And so on and so forth.

You can really tell it's worked up from existing plots that got some surgery to rewrite them from the initial concept. Damian is Sir Not Appearing for the entire set of Bat titles, which makes sense on one level (given this is based out of scrapped 5G material) but makes absolutely no sense on another. Talia al Ghul is running around the background of at least two stories helping out the Bats, with no explanation given, but Damian can't be thrown into the art of group scenes because???

Like, read Mariko Tamaki, Ram V and maybe John Ridley because they can actually write solid stories and know (or are busy creating narratives for) the characters they're working with. Ridley's busy retconning a huge amount of existing Fox family stories but as it is he's setting up what will be their default for the ongoing future. Skip everything else unless you're feeling completionist (or interested in the Jason Todd-based alternate future title that spins out of this in Future State: Gotham).

[leoruby-draws]

Batgirl and Robin (and Downy)meet...Batlad and Batbaby!!

Here's a comic I made showcasing Jace and Tiffany Fox in the Training Wheels AU!! Lets see how they get along with Cass, Jason and Damian!!

Look's like there's a new rival in town, and Cass is not impressed! But at least Jason and Jace get along. Jace might be a little insensitive here, I was trying to capture his pre-accident personality, not sure I'm happy with his characterization here. He's a pretty good kid honestly.

Cass might seem a bit harsh, but she's just very protective of the Bat symbol is all. Jason doesn't care lol.

The name Batbaby is something from this golden age Batman comic where Bruce turns into a little kid, very goofy. And I thought about using Batboy for Jace, but felt a little corny to me. Jason in a comic made a comment about using the name batboy, if I had used that name I probably would've shown Jason being kinda jealous of Jace here but whatever.

Damian and Tiffany have a little rivalry going on here, meant to parallel Cass's rivalry with Jace, the image of Batgirl and Batlad set against each other I couldn't resist. But it's also meant to parallel her and Jason mutual antagonism with each other, both as Batgirl/Robin and as siblings.

Btw Jason and Cass are 13, Jace is 14 and Tiffany is 1! Jace, I think, should be much older than Jason and Cass, around Dick's age maybe? That's the impression I got, but for this comic he's closer to their age. Also Damian should be 3-4, but for the purposes of comedy he's a baby here.

Also here's the color concept for Jace and Tiffany, considered a range of colors for Tiffany. She's the 'pink' batgirl in my mind, so I wondered with pallet would go best with that. But pink and yellow just seemed best to me.

Also here's a goofy bonus comic!!

Well, hope you like all that lol.

[earth4angels]

NATTIE I could talk about the batfam for hours so I’m just gonna yap (u can ignore this)

BUT LIKE Jason Todd is my favorite, he’s my baby but I feel like Harry has an entirely different vibe, like I can’t SEE him as Jason unless it’s pre death Jason but the most interesting and complex parts of his character arc happen post death and resurrection. So hypothetically, I think Harry could play either Dick or Tim (not so sure about tim tho tbh) Dick is this wonderful beautiful kind and lighthearted and jokey himbo (everyone loves him and everyone wants to fuck him) who’s like very much eldest daughter coded and carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and he’s like an acrobat so in terms of physical appearance I think Harry could be more of a Dick than a Jason if that makes sense? Bc post resurrection Jason is this mountain of a man between 6’0 to 6’5 250 lbs who’s hugely physically intimidating and always towering over people and Harry is this itty bitty princess thing (I’m Polly Pocket sized no judgment from me 😭)

In terms of acting tho he could play any of them and do an amazing job I’m sure, I just think the Harry/Jace/Dick parallels would be so awesome BUT ANYWAY I just wanted an excuse to yap, what do u think??

-🍓

mi fresita!! never feel ashamed to yap it out on my anon box I LOVE TALKING!! 🍓

actually you’re onto something! harry is an amazing actor so i feel like he can dominate everything?? jason is sorta tall true.. harry is short for the character but the emotions? the acting? he’s amazing at it! but now that you mentioned dick… now i’m like wait.. his character is very much jace? but then again i just need harry on the batman universe lmao (i get harry and robert together??? i can die in peace)

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week?

Danger Street #1 - Enjoyable! Not sure if King can handle all these characters, he's not a writer who is the best at giving everyone their own voice, but I liked the first issue. Haven't seen anyone offer a guess who the villain that traumatized Lady Cop is, must be a deep cut.

Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1 - An entire issue devoted to Waid indulging his Silver Age fanboy, but in a manner I don't enjoy compared to World's Finest. What the hell is the point of bringing back all these obscure worlds from Pre-Crisis that no one except Waid and a few other boomers know or care about? Why do we need two official vampire worlds? Or the Justice Lords and Injustice? Or the Crime Syndicate and apparently a Pre-Crisis Earth where the names stayed the same but the moralities flipped? Yippee I guess, must make sure that every evil Superman has their own official Earth. Morrison wanted to make sure that the Multiverse was more than just "hey here's Superman and Batman but this time they're Egyptian", they wanted the Multiverse to support different characters as being equal to the usual A-Listers. This new Multiverse is regressing back to the old status quo of there being a million Earths and Superman and Batman are the stars on every one. Weird that they left off the Arkhamverse, Tomorrowverse, and YJverse but included Injustice and DCSG. No films or TV Earths besides the Reeve/Keaton one, and even that is just meant to stand in for the Superman '78/Batman '89 comics. If this aimed to get me excited about the Multiverse it failed, I just want the damn thing to go away for a while and let DC focus on Earth 0 for a bit.

WildC.A.T.S. #2 - Breezy read but fun. Didn't expect Mr. Majestic to make his return so soon. Lot of Superman analogues, and actual Supermen, running around the DCU, somebody should do something with all of them.

Superman: Son of Kal-El #18 - Well this issue encapsulated this entire run in a nutshell: some interesting ideas that are failed by terrible execution resulting in a bland book. At least I can finally hop off Taylor's ride, won't be letting sunk cost tricking me into reading the next miniseries. A recent interview by Taylor made it sound like AoS will indeed be the finale for his time with the character, he was talking about how other people will be writing Jon after him and how Jon will be a big player in what's coming up. Until Taylor finishes writing Jon I've got zero interest in Jon anymore. Let his era be over soon please, this issue was clearly not meant to be the end of the series which tells me this was a sudden change, likely caused by editorial losing faith in Taylor as Jon's caretaker.

I Am Batman #16 - Huh. Didn't see that coming but I am intrigued where it goes. Ridley also gave an interview recently where he talked about other people writing Jace after him. Maybe Jace will be getting his own follow up mini just like Jon is, but by someone else.

Batman Incorporated #3 - Ghost-Maker is a total asshole and I'm not sure how long I'll keep reading if he remains the star. Dude needs to get humbled fast.

Invincible Iron Man #1 - Fine. About the same level of quality as Duggan's X-Men for what that's worth. Should have gotten Hickman on this, it's insane that Iron Man was the breakout star of the MCU and Marvel cannot seem to get him that modern day epic run he desperately needs.

Planet Hulk: Worldbreaker #2 - Pak is sleepwalking through this it feels like. Either that or it's decompressed for the trade, because not much is actually happening issue to issue. Jen's fate reminds me of the 40k God-Emperor.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

The Reporter who caught the Bat

by DarkHarmony

Clark did not know he was going to start his day by getting his ass groped in the bathroom, as he got up to brush his teeth, by the goddamn Batman, but that’s where he found himself. Bruce had not changed out of his Batsuit yet, the smell of his sweat still clinging to him, assaulting his nose. “Batman,” he sighed, knowing better than to say his real name while he was sporting that cowl.

The Bat growled against his ear.

 aka Batman wants to feel younger so Clark shoves him against a wall and has his way with him.

One-Shot

Words: 1319, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Play Games

Fandoms: Superman - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Clark Kent, Superman, Batman, Bruce Wayne, Deathstroke (mentioned), Starfire (mentioned), Dick Grayson (mentioned), Robin (mentioned)

Relationships: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne, Batman/Superman, SuperBat - Relationship, Robstar (mentioned), Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, (mentioned) - Relationship

Additional Tags: Shameless Smut, PWP, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, well lil plot, Established Relationship, Pre-Discussed Kink, virgin kink (but no one is a virgin lmao), lil praise kink, cz we all want praise, whom are we kidding, Soft dom clark, Batsy why are you like this, bruce has so much money and still doesnt pay for therapy smh, to me robin is damian but like it does NOT matter lmao, No Beta, we die like Jason, sorry jace, love u, clark pretends to be a civvi, dickkory mention, because i will shove them everywhere, i loved teen titans okay, pls they're my childhood

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/46106800

[green-arrxws]

📁| JACE FOX/BATMAN READING GUIDE

Who's Jace Fox/Batman?

Jace Fox is the eldest son of Lucius Fox, and after discovering a Batsuit in the Hibernaculum at Wayne Enterprises, Jace put on the suit and became the next Batman.

» READING GUIDE

PRE-N52

Batman (1940): #313, #323, #330, #333 (not really necessary since none of this stuff is canon anymore)

POST-N52

Batman (2016): #101

The Next Batman: Second Son: #1-12

Infinite Frontier: #0

Batman Special Edition (FCBD)

I Am Batman: #0

Batman: Fear State: Alpha

I Am Batman: #1-14

Dark Crisis (crossover storyline): Dark Crisis #1 / I Am Batman: #15 / Dark Crisis: #6

I am Batman: #16-18

» OUT OF CONTINUITY STORIES

FUTURE STATE

Future State: The Next Batman: #1-4

Future State: Nightwing: #1-2

Future State: Dark Detective: #3

Future State: Gotham: #1-3, #5-7, #9-12, #14-18

Future State: Justice League: #1-2

» OTHER MEDIA

VIDEO GAMES

DC Legends

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

An updated headverse design alongside the original for reference: Vivian Vale, the Bat-Girl!

So Vivian is an OC. She’s had a couple different names (Valerie, Victory, Vivian) but the new one seems like a good fit. She actually predates the headverse concept by quite a bit, so where she actually goes in the timeline is a bit nebulous, but her backstory actually ended up squaring well with both Joker War and The War of Jokes and Riddles in canon, so she’s probably contemporary to Jace’s tenure in the headverse

Vivian is obviously a relative of Vicky Vale, her younger sister who participated in the Joker gang wars as a teenager. After a close call where she almost died after her friends abandoned her, Batman (Bruce) and Dr. Thompkins saved her life and her family sent her out of the city for a number of years. While she was gone, she transitioned (MtF, natch) and shifted her Joker fixation to Batman. Keeping up with Gotham news while she was away, Viv used a combination of money her family sent her and what she could make from odd jobs to finish school and complete work on the gear for her costume.

Returning home, her first mission became clear: track down her former Jokers compatriots before they began another major conflict that would consume the city.

So Viv’s kind of inspired by the real life phenomenon of those really edgelord nerd types you saw online in the 00s and 10s growing up and mellowing out as the root of a lot of their discomfort and issues with “society” become apparent as symptoms of dysphoria. VIv pre-transition is very much a “The Joker is a big brain art performance gangster showing us all life is meaningless” type of nerd, a mentality her friends from that era maintain as they become more akin to the Beyond-era Jokerz in continuing the clown’s legacy. Post-Transition, she’s aligning herself with Batman’s ideals, but isn’t totally part of the family at this point. Jace appreciates the help but doesn’t know what to make of her, and the Waynes see her as an enthusiastic but unwanted interloper possibly endangering herself and other with her solo vigilante activities.

As for how Viv sees herself, she’s wracked by a lot of guilt. Her time as a Joker was rooted in self-loathing and a need to belong that was undermined by the Joker being metaphorically and occasionally literally toxic, but she hasn’t quite been able to make the Bats the sort of found family she wants them to be. The sense of community she longs for is there, she just has to work towards opening up. Her costume philosophy is a combination of baby’s first batgirl costume and the kind of second adolescence fashion disasters you see in some women as they first transition and work towards getting more comfortable with themselves. Her mask is similar to Jason’s, but with some added flair as she’s not much of a fighter compared to most of the other bats and relies a lot on theatricality and misdirection during direct conflicts.

Also it’s a little hard to see, but her shoulder tat is a crossed out joker smile, which I’m sure you can figure out on your own

[ectonurites]

I really like John Ridley's other works but idk why but I'm just not vibing with the next batman. (Although I did only consider the first Other History of the DC Universe great, the others aren't as good imo unfortunately)

Yeah I'm like. I just read through all of his Next Batman stuff recently so it's fresh on my mind and I think there's definitely some cool stuff in there but I don't like how it's felt at the expense of Luke's characterization (like? I have not read THAT much with Luke Fox but he seems particularly more of a jerk in all of this than anything else main continuity I'd read before?) to raise up Jace as a character. I think the focus on the Fox family as a whole in Second Son was a cool angle because getting to explore complicated family dynamics is something I think a lot of us would like to see more with these families of heroes, but IDK I just miss pre-reboot Tam's personality and have never gotten over how the New 52 flipped Tam and Tiff in terms of who was younger/older sdgfhg.

But also tbh im really interested in how I Am Batman is gonna go now that the Fox family's relocating to NYC starting in #6, I think since Jace is trying to be his own Batman pretty independently from the rest of the Bats' whole operation, having him not also in Gotham will help him to kinda define the role on his own. I think that might help the book find it's footing a bit better.

[dccomicsnews]

SDCC 2021: John Ridley Teases Big Things For The DCU's Future

SDCC 2021: John Ridley Teases Big Things For The DCU’s Future

John Ridley, writer of the upcoming I Am Batman, teased some big changes in a pre-recorded appearance at the start of the “Batman: Fear State” panel at Comic-Con@Home 2021. “I did want to take the opportunity to thank you, the fans, for all of your support of Jace Fox in both Future State and Batman: Second Son,” Ridley said, after apologizing for not being able to make a live appearance on the…

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (3/3/2021)?

cheerfullynihilistic said: How about that New — sorry, I mean Infinite Frontier? (And other comics this week, I suppose)

Power Pack #4: This is the best Wolverine appearance since his resurrection other than House of X #4 or this, right?

Avengers #43: This arc’s kinda losing me, but we’re on the precipice of Aaron doing his Justice League fanfic and I’m very ready for that. Hey, speaking of DC fanfic...

Infinite Frontier #0: I declared on Twitter that the main big idea set up by this issue - namely Joshua Williamson (aka what if Geoff Johns didn’t have any of the stuff you used to like about him, but also wasn’t even infuriating in any of the ways that at least got your blood pumping) of all people getting the keys to Justice Incarnate, the diversity-minded multiversal Justice League, replacing their dead gay Flash counterpart with friggin’ Barry Allen, and teeing them up for a big dumb event book fight with Darkseid as drawn by the guy who drew the ultimate roast of modern DC in Blackstars for maximum irony - was best read as an attempt by the DCU to kill us all in retaliation for Morrison inflicting it with the agony of sentience in Final Crisis. I don’t think that’s wrong, but it’s misleading regarding the issue itself because that implies a purposeful intent that simply isn’t here. Don’t get me wrong, there’s good work in these pages: the Justice League, Batman, Alan Scott, and Superman sections are all fun. But there’s zero statement of intent. New 52 was this isn’t your daddy’s Super Friends! DCYou was we’re gonna get kinda weird for a bit. Rebirth was we’re gonna start feeling like DC again. The unofficial post-Metal refresh was we promise it won’t be for long because it pisses off nerds, but our flagship books are gonna be actually good for a hot minute. This? This is we all know the real relaunch putting Jon and Jace and Yara in the spotlight and moving towards the Walmart publication model is still coming, but we’re not there yet, so while we’re while gonna start edging towards it in the meantime we promise not to rock the boat too bad. It’s not even a promise for the books this leads into, it’s a promise that they’ll announce their actual gameplan later. The whole issue is literally Wonder Woman and the Spectre looking around and going “nope, nothing too wild going on here”! In a first for these sorts of anthology deals, every section I thought I would like I liked, and every section I thought I wouldn’t I didn’t. Legitimately sad - I’m not too jaded in spite of my best efforts to get hyped by some well-done marketing disguised as storytelling, but there’s nothing under the hood here and nothing to promise, I’m just gonna buy the Superman and Batman family books and non-mainline stuff I was already planning on.

Batman #106: God what a fire cover. The issue itself is fun, a de facto new #1 reestablishing the new status quo and serving as a decent sampler platter for the flavor of what Tynion and Jimenez bring to the table. If you’ve been enjoying it thus far this is what’s fun about it already and the run’s best artist onboard without the constraints of Joker War - if a little stripped-back to serve as an introduction - and if you’re looking to jump on this is where to go, all you need to know is Bruce lost a lot of his money and he’s got a new partner with some history from his pre-Batman days you see in this issue. The Robin backup is garbage though, Melnikov deserves better.

Crime Syndicate #1: In the words of a show I’ve been watching of late:

I will acknowledge that retooling the Crime Syndicate from “What if the Justice League were mobsters” or “What if the Justice League were tyrants” to “What if the Justice League were cops, politicians, untouchable vigilante squads, and others violently operating the levers of real power” is a good idea, but I’m 90% sure it isn’t even deliberate and even if it was this would still be crap. One cheap shot chuckle out of me the whole issue, the rest of it earning nothing but contempt.

[tessatechaitea]

Justice League International #9 (1988)

I guess that means Black Canary will have to defeat the Manhunters.

I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was twelve and I'll admit that I thought Éowyn killing the Witch-king was a pretty good twist on the prophecy that he would not be killed by the hand of man. Later, as I got old enough to despise everything in the world because my sense of wonder had been worn down to a nub like a well-used eraser, I realized twelve year old me was a credulous little rat bastard who wouldn't know a good twist if it jumped up out of the lake as a drowned zombie boy and pulled him under just when he thought the film was over and he was safe. Wait a second. I don't want to discuss Éowyn anymore! Maybe I'll get back to it but I've just realized something more important. If Jason had drowned and remained a little boy from 1957 to 1979, how does he become a grown ass adult in the subsequent movies?! I suppose serious Friday the 13th fans believe Alice simply imagined being pulled into the lake, since the police found no trace of a small boy. And the actual Jason didn't drown at all but received such severe brain damage that he decided to live in the woods like Grizzly Adams. Maybe he didn't even remember his mother until she showed up to murder all those counselors and he learned who he was by observing the first movie from the woods. Then we was all, "Man! That woman killed Ma! I'll show her you can't behead my Ma and not get beheaded yourself!" Hmm, that was too easy to solve once I spent any time at all thinking about it. I wonder how many hours I could lose looking up what actual fans of the franchise think? I'll never know though because I dislike fans and fan theories almost as much as I dislike my twelve year old self for being so amazed by the Éowyn twist! Maybe the Éowyn twist is just as good as I thought it was 37 years ago. It's not like I've ever gone back to re-read The Lord of the Rings. I've only read a handful of books more than once in my life and have never re-read a book immediately after reading it until now with Gravity's Rainbow. You can blame Thomas Pynchon on my lack of reading comic books lately because his book was so fucking good and had so much going on that I had to read it again immediately. This issue takes place during the big DC Millennium event so it might be a bit confusing for me. I'll be damned if I'm going to dig through one of the forty comic book boxes lying around just to find Millennium to read before this.

No thanks! I think I'll just muddle through!

Remember when DC had huge events that crossed over into every single comic they put out but were totally boring and inconsequential and didn't have "METAL!" in the title? I'm so glad those days are over and Scott Snyder has made crossover events super fucking hardcore and radical again! *five minutes of mouth guitar noises*

Oh! Is this some of that Éowyn-like prophetic foreshadowing?!

Rocket Red #7 has to be the most lame attempt at having a team member betray the team, especially since he's immediately replaced by Rocket Red #4. "Whoa! What a twist!" I probably thought back at my still tender and rat-bastardly age of sixteen. Rocket Red #7 comes right out and tells everybody that he's a Manhunter. I guess part of the Manhunter philosophy is to first try and recruit man. If unsuccessful, only then do you hunt man. Batman explains to Manhunter Rocket Red #7 how to painfully shove offers like that up excretory orifices. After Black Canary gets on his ass several times for not including her in his exclamations of "gentlemen," Manhunter Rocket Red #7 learns to say, "No man—or woman—can escape the Manhunters!" So I guess no Éowyn twist this time. Hell, I'll probably never learn the twist for how the Manhunters can be defeated because that's the kind of plot point that's going to take place in the actual Millennium issues. And I probably won't re-read those for another few years!

"Suck on this, manhunter!" was my most commonly used phrase in college.

Black Canary is so concerned about gender equality maybe she should be scolding Batman for not hiring any other women. Rocket Red #7 beats the shit out of everybody inside the ship (not Beetle's Bug for some reason probably explained in Millennium #1) and then flies out to stand on top of it and not say he's king of the world because Titanic wasn't the huge breakout romantic hit it would be a decade later. What a great movie! It had everything! Boobs, guns, people dying. Like an Agatha Christie novel but with boobs! Once Rocket Red #7 is outside of the ship, the members of the Justice League with actual, non-screaming-related super-powers take notice of him. That's because they're flying to show off to the others their super powers. The characters I'm talking about are Guy Gardner and Martian Manhunter. Booster Gold is also flying outside the ship but he's just a small town thief with a Legion flight ring and a force field. He doesn't even have a manly bulge in this super tight suit! One thing I learned that maybe I knew once but probably not for long because I don't think it was ever front loaded as part of his characterization is that Rocket Red (like all Rocket Reds) is a techno-empath. That means his suit allows him to control technology by crying or getting angry. If you know for a fact that it means something else, just keep it to yourself, okay? This isn't fucking Wikipedia. It's a stupid joke review blog that, most of the time, forgets to even review the comic book. Nobody knows how to stop Rocket Red #7 from crashing the ship into a Bialian oil refinery because if they try to stop him, he'll blow up the ship and kill everybody inside. Which, you know, will happen anyway if it crashes into the oil refinery. So I don't know why nobody tries to stop him anyway. They just fly ahead to save civilians. Luckily Rocket Reds #1-...I don't know, 53 (minus #7) save the day! I guess they use their Techno-Empathy to shut down Rocket Red #7's eyeballs.

Oh yeah, Rocket Red #7 dies here. I mean, not here, exactly, because nobody stops the Manhunters. He dies a little later after the jump scare out of the pile of debris scene.

Max Lord consults his mysterious robotic sounding friend about the Manhunter threat but the dumb thing doesn't know any more than he does. Lord mentions that the Manhunters have gotten close to all of their potential recruits while looking at a monitor with those recruits. One of them is Halo and Geoforce from The Outsiders! Oh why oh why couldn't Halo have become a member?! Halo was my pre-Sailor Moon role model. I think I've just always wanted to be a hot young woman. Oh yeah. Didn't Doctor Jace turn out to be a Manhunter? The story ends with Maxwell Lord's personal assistant shooting him because she was also a Manhunter. How all these people were Manhunters, I'll never know! I suppose it's like when you've been playing a Dungeons & Dragons campaign for four months and suddenly one of the NPCs turns out to be a polymorphed dragon and you're all, "Holy shit! What a twist! This DM is devious!" But in reality, the DM only thought up the twist thirty minutes before that night's campaign. It's pretty much exactly like that. Every writer at DC must have gotten a memo from editorial that read: "One of your characters needs to be a Manhunter. It doesn't matter which one but it would be a lot more exciting if they were an important part of the team!" And Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatties read their memo, shrugged, and concluded they were only willing to rid themselves of Max Lord's secretary and the stupid, replaceable Rocket Red. A second short story finishes up this issue. It's about Jack-o-lantern of the now defunct Global Guardians being wooed by Bialian Rumaan Harjavti. He wants a super group of terrorists to threaten the Western world with. I guess they'll become Bialya's version of Qurac's Jihad. If it ever comes together, of course. Jack-o-Lantern would just be using Rumaan's money and support to get a new global team together. Probably. Justice League International #9 Rating: B. Did you know China has a university called the China University of Mining and Technology? That acronym is so close to being disgusting! Some translator should point it out so they can come up with a synonym for "mining" that begins with an "n" so they can sell a ton of school merch to the West.

[sebeth]

Young Justice: Eminent Threat

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

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 Young Justice: “Eminent Threat”

 Courtney Whitmore, Star Girl, makes her Young Justice debut, but as a television interviewer. Courtney interviews Gar (Beast Boy). Gar is dating Queen Perdita of Vlatava. The couple is known to their fans as “Gardita”.

Perdita featured in an episode from the first season of Young Justice. Wally had to deliver a heart to the other side of the country to save Perdita’s life.

Gar and Perdita met at Wally West’s funeral.

Gar continues his campaign against meta-human trafficking.

It seems the creators are feeling very confident over the possibilities of future seasons. We wouldn’t get these side moments with Gar or the cute ending credit scenes if the creators weren’t positive of future seasons. Otherwise, every moment of screen time would be too valuable to waste on cute moments like Gar’s romantic life and Artemis’s dog sleeping with a Wally plushie.

July 31:

We switch to Markovia where Brian is encased in the activation goo.

Artemis has Halo stay with stay with Sphere as she and Jeff leave to rescue Conner.

Halo mutters “Kill” after the duo leaves.

Dick enters the hospital and stills a lab coat.

After getting past the outer layer of the hospital, Dick takes off the lab coat to reveal his covert outfit and gear.

The spy bug Dick sent in last episode and pranks him. Pretty sure Oracle is running the bug.

 Dick sneaks into the room holding Conner and Brion: “They have SB unconscious and in a pod”.

Artemis: “He is not going to like that.”

The pod will bring back unpleasant memories of Conner’s Cadmus days – and he’s already on edge from seeing the pods.

Count Vertigo arrives back at the lab: “I have just spoken with his Highness and he gave nor orders for the parting and tarring of a Prince of the Realm!”

Does this mean Gregor’s involved? Or is the Baron referring to himself as “Highness”?  

Ecks turns on Jace but she defends her actions: “I had to! His so-called ‘Highness’ is out of control. The things he has made us to. But now, we have someone with the power to stop him. To stop Bedlam.”

It’s not Gregor as he has been a genuine “Highness” since his birth.

Count Vertigo attacks Doctor Jace.

Baron Bedlam arrives and it’s the Queen’s brother.  If Bedlam is a normal human, does this mean he has no connections to Apokolips? Or did an agent of Apokolips kill the real Baron and replace him?

Dick: “How did I not notice Delamb is an anagram for Bedlam?”

I didn’t catch it either, Dick.

I’m assuming the Queen’s maiden last name was Delamb so that would seem to rule out my “Apokolips Bedlam killed and replaced the Baron” theory.

Plasmus attacks Artemis and Jeff. The duo is saved by Halo and Sphere. Halo proclaims “No kill” and throws up an energy shield.

Sphere is referred to as “Super-Cycle” which was its name in the Kon/Bart/Tim Young Justice comic book.

The cycle attacks the henchmen. Dick saves Jace. She frees Brion from the metamorphosis pod. We didn’t see any goo in Conner’s pod but it would be an easy way to develop his tactile telekinesis.

Dick frees Conner from the pod. Jace offers to destroy the activation tar.

The group is unable to rescue the kids as the pods are boom-tubed away. The group does destroy the facility.

The Baron returns to the pre-coronation ceremony and frames Brion as the one behind the metahuman trafficking ring.

Jefferson is not happy with the night’s events because of the lost kids. Dick attempts to soothe him with their limited success.

A panicked Brion regains consciousness. And rapidly loses control of his powers.

Conner, of all people, intervenes: “The more panic, the less control you’ll have. Focus on your breathing. Just focus on controlling your breath.”

Conner is the Young Justice member most familiar with forced scientific experimentation and waking up in a pod.

Oracle urges Dick to turn on the television – Baron declares Brion the culprit behind the metahuman trafficking ring and the assassination of the royal couple.

Brion declares “Lies” and runs away – losing control of his powers in the process.

Conner: “Following him with infrared. He’s headed toward the palace. I’ll try to cut him off.”

Count Vertigo and henchmen Boom Tube onto the beach.

Dick orders Conner to retrieve Brion while the rest deal with Count Vertigo, Plasmus, and company.

Vertigo has the same reaction I did to Dick’s plan: “Sending your heavy hitter away?”

Dr. Ecks multiplies himself – similar to Madrox and Triplicate Girl.

Brion arrives at the ceremony in a molten lava form. He’s not happy.

He attacks DeLamb who is not only immune to the lava but punches Brion across the yard.

I’d say the Apokalips agent theory is back in play.

DeLamb rips off his skin to reveal a stone form underneath.

Gregor is very confused.

Conner arrives: “Prince Brion, we gotta go. There’s a better way to handle this. And we can help you find it.”

Bedlam attempts to reclaim the narrative – accusing Brion of being in league with meta-human assassins.

Gregor points out the obvious: “You’re a metahuman.”

Bedlam defends: “I had to become one, to defend us against them.”

Brion and Bedlam battles.

We return to the beach battle – it’s not going well. Artemis neutralizes Vertigo but Plasmus viciously murders Halo.

Halo’s death triggers Jeff’s ability to use the full extent of his powers and he attacks Plasmus.

Halo shocks Artemis and Jace when she revives: “No kill. No dead. Not dead. Me!” She says this as half her face is burnt off. Literally burnt off – no skin, no eyeball, visible skull.

Halo uses a purple light to heal herself.

Superboy saves civilians while Baron and Brion battle.

Baron orders the soldiers to fire upon Brion.

Gregor countermands the order: “Disregard that order. Arrest Baron DeLamb.”

Gregor’s no fool and knows bullshit when he sees it.

Bedlam hurls himself at Gregor but is prevented from reaching his target by Superboy. Bedlam is taken down by Conner.

The ambassador urges Gregor to banish Brion from the country. I may be overly suspicious but the ambassador has the slender build of the modern Bedlam appearances.  Hmmm.

Brion is devastated by his banishment. Gregor asks Conner to “Take care of him. Please.”

The Markov brothers are breaking my heart.

Conner leaves with Brion.

Jeff and Plasmus continue their battle. Jeff spots the control disk on Otto’s back and destroys it. Otto has a flashback to his transformation. Otto has regained control of himself and destroys an Ecks clone.

Dick knocks out the main Ecks causing the clones to disappear.

Count Vertigo and his weapons henchman Boom Tube off the beach.

A nearby farmer shoots and kills Plasmus: “I killed the monster.”

Jeff angrily informs the farmer: “You killed a kid. When you realize that, you’ll regret it. Trust me.”

Halo attempts to heal Plasmus but cannot: “No life. Cannot heal.”

Conner and Brion arrive at the beach. Artemis asks Dick: “What do we do now?”

The end scene is a house and a car. The dirt road may be an indication it is the Kent farm.

The “What now?” question is intriguing.

Based on the first three episodes, it looks like we will have two teams of Justice League and Young Justice. Possibly three teams of Young Justice – mainstream and rogue versions.

We have the “rogue” Justice League – Batman, Green Arrow, Katana, Plastic Man, Hardware.

We have Dick’s rogue team – Dick, Artemis, Conner, Jeff, Brion, and Halo.

Conner won’t be able to go to back to the mainstream Young Justice team. Bystanders were filming the brawl at the pre-coronation ceremony. Vertigo recognized Superboy. The Light and United Nations Secretary General Lex Luthor will smear Conner in the public. Possibly making Conner a fugitive from justice.

We also have the second rogue “Young Justice” team: Tim, Stephanie, and Cissie.

Gar has proclaimed himself a “metahuman civilian” and is focusing on his acting career.

We have two characters in the promotional materials that haven’t debuted yet: Arsenal and Metamorpho.

We know Metamorpho allies with Batman’s team. I assume he will show up the next time we see Batman’s team.

Arsenal is the true wild card. I have two guesses. Roy either 1) allies with Tim’s group or 2) has formed the Outlaws with a revived Jason Todd. We’d have a fourth Rogue hero team!

Tim’s group will clearly work with Bruce and company.  Does Dick’s team join the alliance or run their own plan?

An alliance would make the most sense as the various rogue teams have the same end goal. However, Dick and Bruce are known for their disagreements and “I’ll do things my own way” approach.

Three new episodes next week!

[fantastic-nonsense]

The tl;dr to this question is "Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, and sometimes Cass depending on the continuity you're looking at." For a longer explanation, see below.

Legally adopted and/or part of the Wayne family:

Dick: Dick was formally adopted (after a long time of being 'Bruce's ward who aged out of the system') in a 2001 Gotham Knights arc. Since then, there have been multiple panels affirming that adoption and that Dick views Bruce as his father and the rest of the Wayne kids as his siblings. Dick's adoption initially didn't survive the reboot (DC did this weird 'Dick was Bruce's intern' thing), but by the time we got to Rebirth, it was once again canon (not sure when they formally re-canonized it, though; probably somewhere in between Forever Evil and the end of the Grayson comic).

Jason: Jason was formally adopted in both pre-Crisis and post-Crisis continuities. Post-Crisis, it was actually a source of tension between Bruce and Dick that Bruce had adopted Jason but not Dick. Post-Flashpoint, Jason was seemingly just "Bruce's ward," but even that canon was contradicted multiple times before DC finally gave up and re-established during the Rebirth era that Bruce had, in fact, adopted Jason. Also, Jason's legally alive again as of RHATO Rebirth.

Tim: Tim was formally adopted about a year after the events of Identity Crisis/Infinite Crisis, after Tim's dad was killed by Captain Boomerang (his mom was killed by Obeah Man in the 90s and his step-mom, Dana, was screwed up by Jack's death, moved to Bludhaven, and then presumably died when Bludhaven was nuked in Infinite Crisis), and from 2007-2011 went by both Tim Drake and Tim Wayne (depending on the situation). Post-Flashpoint, that adoption was erased and Bruce & Tim's relationship was very strained; in the Rebirth era, his adoption was implied to be canon again in Tynion's Detective Comics run, but we didn't get confirmation until Infinite Frontier and Urban Legends, where Tim is once again explicitly adopted and goes by Tim Wayne.

Cassandra: Cass was adopted in the vague period in between Batman RIP and Final Crisis, but Bruce considered her his daughter much earlier than that. Post-Flashpoint, that relationship seemingly no longer exists, but between the 2019 Outsiders run, Urban Legends, and the Infinite Frontier era books, I'm pretty sure it's canon again.

Damian: Bruce's biological son. Self-explanatory.

Not adopted:

Barbara: Batfamily, but not Wayne family. Babs has her own parents who she grew up with. She's Batfamily through her vigilante activities, her relationship with Dick, and her (pre-reboot) mother-daughter relationship with Cass; that's it.

Steph: Like Babs, Steph is Batfamily, not Wayne family. Post-Crisis, both of Steph's parents are still alive (though her dad is super shitty, obv) and Steph lived with her mother, Crystal. I think post-Flashpoint she was rooming with Harper Row for awhile? But I'm not sure about the status of her parents. Either way, she's Batfam through her vigilante activities and her on/off relationship with Tim, not because Bruce adopted her. She doesn't live in the manor and largely does her own thing.

Duke: Duke is.......complicated. He was Bruce's ward and foster son for about a year before moving in with his cousin Jay, where he now (presumably) lives. He's...sort of considered Wayne family, in that at least Jason and Tim consider him to be some sort of brother? But he wasn't adopted and he no longer lives with Bruce.

Luke, Tiffany, Tam, Jace, etc: part of the Fox family. Both parents are alive, they're their own family, etc. Self-explanatory.

Other: Kate and Bette Kane, who are Bruce's cousins and part of the Kane family.

As far as the public knows:

"the Wayne kids" are Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian. Cass was included in that group from 2003(ish)-2011, but hasn't been since (she should be, and I think DC is finally trending back that direction, but as of now she's not yet Cassandra Wayne again). The boys are pretty public knowledge; Cass was always a bit more of a grey area because of her past (and then because of Beechen's Evil Cass arc, and then because she was off in Hong Kong...and then because she didn't exist for 5 years).

Dick was legally in charge of Damian during the Batman Reborn era (when Bruce was thought dead), and it wasn't looked at as weird by the public; they attended public functions as Bruce Wayne's sons and were referred to as such.

Most of the time they're referred to as "Bruce Wayne's wards," so whether the adoptions are public knowledge or not is questionable, but their status as his foster kids is not. Though they largely never lived in the Manor at the same time, they've all attended various public functions as Bruce's kids and acted on Bruce's behalf in various capacities while in the public eye.

Tim's adoption was super high-profile; Tim and Bruce even sat for an interview about it. Tim was also generally the most high-profile of Bruce's adopted kids because he became majority shareholder of Wayne Enterprises after Bruce's 'death' in Final Crisis and conducted WE business as Tim Wayne during his Red Robin run.

And as a bonus:

Everyone who's lived in Wayne Manor: Dick, Jason, Tim, Cass, Damian, Duke

People who have lived in the Manor at the same time: Tim and Cass (briefly; Cass mostly lived with Babs), Dick and Damian (briefly, before moving to the Penthouse together), and probably???? Duke and Damian (we're never actually shown that the two are living there at the same time to my knowledge, but it's a pretty reasonable assumption given the timeframes involved).

going to delete this later but genuine question for a drawing I’m doing — how many children do the citizens of Gotham think Bruce Wayne has?

I think it’s Dick, Tim, Damian, Cass, and Duke, because the public still thinks Jason is dead and Steph isn’t technically part of the Wayne family, but Idk!!!! please correct me if I’m wrong!

[rpmatchmaker]

Partner search!

Name:Rhys Age:20 Timezone:Central Email:dotiscat@gmail.com Hey there! I'm looking for long term, descriptive roleplay partners. I do m/m, m/f, f/f. I am also very wary of being approached with "I only do this gender" because I am very flexible, and just want many different characters on both of our ends. I do not appreciate stereotypical 'top/bottom' and 'seme/uke' tropes (please don't call it yaoi/yuri and/or give anime-esque face claims) and would like for relationships to remain as realistic as possible, meaning switching. I do smut. (Note: I rdon't roleplay with minors. Please be 18+. If you aren't a legal adult, I will not respond.) Fandoms ----- •Life is Strange (Max/Chloe, Max/literally anyone, Chloe/Rachel, Warren/Nathan) •Game of Thrones (Gendry/Arya, Jon/Ygritte, Robb/Theon, Robb/Talisa, Sansa/Margaery [video game>>] Mira/Sera, Asher/Gwyn, Rodrik/Arthur, Elaena/Gryff) •The Wolf Among Us (Bigby/Snow, Bigby/Woodsman, Bigby/Bloody Mary) •Steven Universe (Ruby/Sapphire, [aged up] Connie/Steven, Pearl/Rose/Greg, Pearl/Amethyst) •The Mortal Instruments (Alec/Magnus, Simon/Raphael, Isabelle/Simon, Isabelle/Lydia, Jace/Clary, Clary/Isabelle, Jace/Simon) •The Walking Dead (Rick/Daryl, Rick/Negan, Negan/Dwight, Daryl/Carol, Rick/Shane, Rick/Michonne, Michonne/Andrea, Glenn/Maggie [video game>>] Luke/Nick, Lee/Carley, Lee/Kenny, Eddie/Wyatt, Nate/Russel) •The Last of Us (Joel/OC, Joel/Tess, Ellie/Riley) •Infamous; Second Son (Eugene/Delsin, Reggie/Delsin, Fetch/Delsin) •Marvel (Tony/Steve, Tony/Bruce, Bucky/Steve, Clint/Pietro, Clint/Phil, Natasha/Wanda, Peter/Wade, Peter/Harry, Peter/Gwen, Peter/Harry/Gwen, Wade/Vanessa, Wade/Peter/Vanessa) •Until Dawn (Chris/Josh, Chris/Mike, Ashley/Sam, Sam/Beth, Emily/Jess/Matt, Ashley/Chris) •Borderlands (Jack/Rhys, Jack/Rhys/Timothy, Fiona/Athena, Athena/Janey, Fiona/Yvette, Rhys/Vaughn, Jack/Nisha, Axton/Rhys, Axton/Maya, Maya/Lilith, Lilith/Roland, Timothy/Wilhem, Jack/Nisha/Rhys) •Underland Chronicles (Gregor/Luxa, [aged up] Gregor/Howard) •Uncharted (Nathan/Sam, Nathan/Harry, Nathan/Elaena, Elaena/Chloe, Sully/Chloe) •Miraculous Ladybug (Adrien/Marinette, Nino/Alya, Marinette/Lila, Marinette/Nathaniel) •Suicide Squad/Batman (Bruce/Dick, Harley/Ivy, platonic Harley & Floyd, limited Harley/Joker [i advise being very careful, as this pairing is extremely toxic and abusive], Floyd/El Diablo) •Brokeback Mountain (Ennis Del Mar/Jack Twist) •Shutter Island (Teddy Daniels;Andrew Laeddis/Chuck Aule) •Hamilton: An American Musical (Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens, Alexander Hamiton/Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton/Angelica Schuyler, Elizabeth Schuyler/Maria Reynolds, Aaron Burr/Theodosia Prevost, Philip Hamilton/Theodosia Burr, Lafayette/John Laurens, Alexander Hamilton/George Washington, Lafayette/Hercules Mulligan) Eyewitness (US): (Philip/Lucas) --- I don't do canon/oc, but can be convinced for some, I am all for it! If you don't see a certain pairing you're looking for, approach me with it! I may have forgotten or whatnot and could easily be swayed for that pairing! ---- I would love to chat OOC. Being friends is what really makes this work! I want to hear about what's going on in your life. I want to be someone that you can lean on! If I do not reply to an email within the span of a few days, it may be because it got lost in my inbox. Just send it again if this occurs! I write in third person, past/present tense, and in paragraph form. I'm going to be honest, if you show disinterest with one liners and very limited two-paragraphed responses to my six, then I will most likely not respond. I want to be friends, and get along, but if someone doesn't want to put in the effort, I understand. I know life is busy, and you don't always have time, but if it's a constant one-two paragraphs and not at least giving me a heads up that you'll be gone, I'm not going to accept it when I specified that I just want something over three. :( I feel bad for doing this, but it just gets tiring to try awfully hard and get a disinterested response in return. Original plot ideas ------ •Anthropomorphic medieval nobles that have to tame the beasts within themselves in the midst of a war. ((This is an extremely descriptive, multiple character plot that I have pre-planned.)) •Super duo/team coming together to defeat a mass villain/conflict •Pandemic survivor must take an immune survivor across the US in order to extract the cure (credit to The Last of Us) •Future where androids/robots are used as helpers for just about anything, for example: Keeping disabled and elderly people company in their homes, doing odd jobs to assist humanity, etc. among this, most people who don't need them as companions are very prejudice against the AI. It is up to our characters to stop the impending war between AI and human. (Credit to I, Robot. Two of our main characters can be a human and an AI! :V) •Assassin roleplay (can be assassin/target, assassin/assassin. historical or modern) •Explorers looking for a treasure on the coast of a tropical island(credit to the Uncharted series! Can be romantic or platonic) •Time traveller gets stuck in time, and another person has to help them get back to the reality they came from. • Oceanologists go to a secluded island to study the plants and sea life in the water, and on a scuba dive, discover creatures unlike anything they've ever seen. People with tails and scales! (Merpeople! :D Can be romantic, like all the others) •Person goes to live in a very wealthy relatives home after they pass away, and learns how secluded the neighborhood really is, with a small village of less than 30 people, and nothing more. Supernatural occurrences ensue, and characters must stop the thing/creature as it starts taking people in the night. •Detective duo goes to a secluded mental penitentiary together in order to solve the case of a patient that went missing out of nowhere. Throughout their journey, detective 1 is separated from their partner, and is put through a series of trials in order to find their missing patient. What they think is going on isn't what it appears to be. (credit to the movie Shutter Island. Heavily influenced on the plot, and will contain many, many triggers. Such as murder, mental illness, and deception.) ------------ Limits: I cannot do pedophilia, mpreg, beastiality and/or furries, gun/knife kink, bathroom stuff, a/b/o, or gruesomely detailed rape/forced sexual interactions. Other than that, anything is fair game. Please don't contact me with a "hey, wanna rp?" I appreciate you adding things about yourself, and things pertaining to the RP like your limits and what interests you most! :) thank you! I apologize if I seem straight forward or offend anyone over some specifics I want, but I promise I am much, much more friendly and relaxed when we talk OOC.

[aion-rsa]

Young Justice Season 3 Episode 23 Review: Terminus

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loneliness + alienation + xpit x halo = oh crap for the DC Universe. Young Justice: Outsiders is going for it.

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This Young Justice: Outsiders review contains spoilers.

Young Justice Season 3 Episode 22

"Terminus" is, plot-wise, probably the biggest "Oh shit" episode of a fairly momentous season for Young Justice. It's substantially narrowed from the most recent run up - there's really only an A-plot, with a B-story for Black Lightning that I suspect is just positioning him for the climax of the season. And in that A-Plot: 

- The League gets enslaved by Granny Goodness and Anti-Life.

- Vandal Savage flips on Apokalips and sells out Halo's location.

- The team booms to the Orphanage in space to save Halo.

- They find out that X-Pit exposure is extremely unhealthy for non-metas in a way that it isn't for metas.

- They fail pretty spectactularly at their rescue, and become slaves to Anti-Life themselves.

And yet, the most significant part of the episode, the biggest bump that lands, is the hug between Tigress and Nightwing. It speaks to the skill of the creative team - the writers, crew, and performers - that "evil Justice League" is subsumed by me wondering if I'm really crying because the original Young Justice team is sad and misses Kid Flash.

The plot isn't really more complicated than that. The League gets barely any fight in at all before they're taken. Savage almost literally rings the team's doorbell before giving them Halo's location, and his only request in exchange for the information is "MAKE SURE GRANNY KNOWS WHO SENT YOU." Dick is still hobbled by X-Pit fever, and thanks to smart plotting by the show's creative team, he is joined by the original team and a hallucination of Wally West as they hold off a gang of parademons, a pair of Female Furies, and new Apokaliptian recruit Mantis while Terra, Geoforce and Forager try and find Halo. We're treated to a montage of straight up classic Young Justice villain asswhupping, including season one costumes and theme music (and GREAT, GREAT switches from the voice actors).

These are the little things that this show does so well. This is clearly nostalgic. The fight is a little on the zany side, a clear contrast to the pre-fever dream ass kicking happening around Dick. But when they finish with the bad guys and the fever breaks, we realize that's his defense mechanism and Miss Martian tells him that Dick broadcast the dream to everyone on the team, and as Artemis hugs him, it's really hard not to miss Wally too. The show makes you remember the growth without feeling exploitative or trashy in any way.

The next most effective part of the episode plays with that same skill: the show has gently been building a criticism of Batman over a couple of seasons now, both explicit (in Oracle's conversation with him last week) and explicit (in its treatment and in-universe criticism of Miss Martian's brainwashing last season). The show doesn't have any easy answers for Miss Martian this week - her psi blasts are treated as a necessary evil in a life or death situation for trillions as she and Superboy argue about them in the Orphanage. But they do present a different idea for Nightwing. Again using Conor as a foil, Superboy pushes Dick to be a better and different leader than Batman, critiquing the secrecy and manipulation and echoing the heart of Barbara's argument. But here he's making it to Nightwing, who is (for those who haven't lost sight of it, Batman included) the true promise of Batman's mission. Dick is a natural leader for the entire hero community, someone who's worked with and is respected by everyone, capable but with the emotional and logical distance to avoid obsession and potentially carry out the hero life in an emotionally healthy manner. It's amazing and wonderful to see that Young Justice gets this about Dick Grayson, because I'm not certain the folks running the comics do...

OUTSIDER TRADING TIPS

- The Black Lightning arc is almost entirely setup - it's just him moping about his betrayal by Helga Jace until he ends up with his meta-curious kids presumably just in time to take them to save everyone and learn about having no choice with powers? We'll see. But also, it's more of that crappy motion-comic animation, which *really* needs to stop. It's the lone blemish on a great episode.

- The Green Lanterns give us a cornucopia of references this week. The construct they put around the Orphanage is a giant Green Lantern symbol. We've also got John Stewart and Hal Jordan in addition to Guy Gardner, but Hal has salt and pepper sides. That has been explained in the comics as a side effect of Parallax possession. Could that be the case here?

- Also get our first look at Young Justice Elongated Man, which is just wonderful.

-The crew fighting the old team is Lashina, Gilotina and Mantis.

- That was a nice quick cut - when Granny is listing all the terrible things that have happened to Geoforce, trying to get him to lose his cool and she says "your trust betrayed by a confidante," we jump the camera over to Terra who turns into the dog with shifty eyes from The Simpsons.

- Dear lord, am I the only one who caught the sound effect when M'Gann put her phone away? Because if what I think is true...just gross, man.

- Is that Wally's ghost watching the dog sleep?

Keep up with all our Young Justice: Outsiders news and reviews right here.

Read and download the Den of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

Books

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Animation

Young Justice

Review Jim Dandy

Aug 20, 2019

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