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drew the tiny new design for my tiny son

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i may have my father's worst traits but i am more ethical & virtuous with them than him

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Some old Scott and Barda sketches from a couple of years ago.  For fun when I was bored.

These were drawn on a giant post-it paper pad!

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A challenge for the fandom: talk about Devin Grayson without starting your comments with ‘she sucks but’

Skip the commentary on what you don’t like, especially when you’re defending her. Try framing things in terms of what you enjoy from her writing

Here’s some to start with:

Relative Heroes was an incredibly well characterised superhero family

Arsenal 1998 is fundamental Roy and Lian characterisation unmatched elsewhere

She’s the closest Power Pack writer to replicating Louise Simonson’s voice and characterisation

Transference is legendary silly fun for a reason

Gotham Knights #32: 24 is my favourite depiction of the impact Bruce has on Gotham, bar none

The bank heist in Catwoman #61 is probably one of my ultimate Selina characterisation issues in terms of the amount of fun she’s having

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Matt Fraction has confirmed that Alfred is NOT an "AI hologram" in his Batman run [x]

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16 yr old Damian

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dick discovers how people censor his name on tiktok

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Superman (2025) persuasively sells you on something most other recent superhero movies don't, which is that a world with Superman is better off in meaningful ways than a world without.

It would fucking suck to live in the Marvel Universe as a non-superhero. You can identify with the protagonists, you can fantasize about being Tony Stark or whoever, but if you think about the civilians in those movies, the randos killed by the robot or sucked into the portal, it's hard to see the existence of superheroes as a net positive. They mostly seem to clean up problems that wouldn't have occurred in the first place without their egos and mistakes. Superman has a different emphasis though. The fantasy isn't just about having superpowers yourself, but about what if the natural disaster equivalent only did property damage, what if military aggression could be stopped in its tracks without a single civilian casualty, what if the evillest people in the world actually got their comeuppance.

It really meets the moment. I think a lot of us are wishing someone with power would do Literally Anything for the public good.

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While I absolutely respect the desire to see a powerful version of oneself in superhero characters (that is after all kind of the point), I find myself bouncing off of readings of Barbara Gordon that characterize her as a stone badass who never ever doubts herself or allows her disability to affect her.

Barbara's arc between Ostrander's Suicide Squad and Dixon's Birds of Prey is about her slowly learning to accept her disability. She starts this arc as sort of an ableist. In fact, even at peak chair era, she has shit to say about neurodivergent people and never really expresses any kind of real solidarity with them. She does much later, when written by other people, but that's N52 stuff and I don't fuck w/ that.

For Barbara, early in her time in the chair, her outlook is very "I am less of a person now, the life I wanted is over." imo, that's really what makes her stand out as a disabled character among the many other characters put through the wheelchair whackamole, like Charles Xavier and even Bruce Wayne. That's real dude.

I've worked with a lot of people early in their rehab after amputations and spinal injuries, Babs' mourning process is incredibly honest and well-captured for a couple able-bodied writers, imo. One of the best Oracle Moments is right after Batman's wheelchair'd in Knightfall, and Barbara just says like, "that's rough buddy," because what else can she say? She doesn't give him some pep talk about believing in himself, and the most advice she can offer at this point in her arc is, "talc your ass up or you're going to have brutal sweat rashes." She hasn't learned to be the character who can offer that pep talk, just a kind of honest empathy of, yeah this being disabled shit, sucks huh.

At this point in her arc, she's barely even willing to be seen by others for fear of being reduced to "woman in a wheelchair." She's even reluctant to let Dinah know. She has to work up the esteem to date again and even uses Ted Kord as a trial run before immediately classifying him Gay Best Friend like Tina Fey at a brunch bar.

What makes Barbara compelling isn't that she's not daunted by her wheelchair. It's that she learns to accept and work around her disability rather than just putting on some kind of comic book cyborg suit to continue being Batgirl. She still has a whole lot of baggage around independence and an inability to accept assistance. That imo is what makes her relatable and real, while many other disabled comic book characters feel saccharine or condescending, more like a PSA episode about believing in yourself than actually living with an acquired disability.

My personal reading of the character is that her "unafraid of her disability" moments like choosing a submarine, an incredibly inaccessible space, as her bail-out bunker is not a sign that she's a cool badass who doesn't afraid of stairs. It's more that she has to really learn how to be disabled and when she chooses the submarine it's a sign that she kind of hasn't yet.

When Dinah talks to her during the submarine raid, Barbara isn't like, "don't worry babe, I can shuffle along on the ceiling like the hallway Cenobite from Hellraiser," she's actually absolutely convinced she's fucked because getting outta there seems impossible to her. When she realizes she's going to have to swim with half her body paralyzed, she's like, oh fuck, I guess I'm drowning. She makes the attempt anyway and survives, because she's Barbara and that's her whole thing, but it's not that she doesn't let herself feel fear or doubt due to her disability, it's that she perseveres in spite of said fear and doubt.

That, imo, is a far cooler thing to do with your disabled character. Acknowledge the shame, fear and self-doubt that comes with a disabled body in an unaccommodating world, acknowledge the mistakes you're going to make as you learn how to be disabled, dust yourself off and don't let it defeat you. Make stupid choices like renting an apartment with stairs and zero ability to have a lift installed, thug it out for six months, realize how dumb that is, and then have the self-acceptance and honesty to move to a single-floor building where you're not fighting yourself every day.

idk man, I feel like we all go through some version of being a kid with cerebral palsy insisting on using crutches instead of the chair in inappropriate settings because we, being young and hyper-conscious of difference, see the chair as somehow "less;" I feel like the best of us learn to accept and overcome the shame, fear and doubt of the chair, and let it become a neutral part of who we are. I think that's a hyper-specific example but I've seen the same in hard of hearing kids who insist on lip reading over using aids, in autistic kids who insist on forcing themselves to mask, yadda yadda. It's just part of a lot of disabled peoples' lives and Barbara embodies that.

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The new suit grr

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Babs sketches

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The thing that I think really sets Murderbot apart from a lot of other robot media (particularly mainstream entries like the I, Robot movie) is that bots and constructs aren't a uniquely oppressed class, and humans aren't a uniquely privileged one. A lot of robot media rings a bit hollow because it portrays humans as all living a lavish, comfortable lifestyle, free from the burden of physical labor or control by their corporate overlords, and it's like. I think if the rise of generative AI has proven anything, it's that corporations and billionaires have absolutely no interest in making life easier for anybody, but will gleefully use new technology to make life infinitely worse if it means an extra buck in their pocket.

We are shown over and over again throughout the Murderbot Diaries that humans are mistreated just as badly as (or sometimes, in MB's own opinion, even worse than) bots and constructs. We see humans stripped of their rights, reduced to corporate assets to be bought and sold, sent into suicidal situations, abandoned and discarded as things. We see humans trapped in multigenerational labor contracts -- people born into an indentured servitude that requires them to pay back their food and lodging to the same company that will not let them leave.

None of these are hypothetical scenarios. These are all things that happen to real people in our world today.

And that is a huge part of why it resonates so much. The overarching theme of "capitalism is hell" actually means something because it isn't only applied to the fictional dynamic of bots vs humans. The theme is constantly reiterated through the humans themselves.

And that's also why it's so important that MB demonstrates empathy for and solidarity with humans who are themselves victims of the system. Because ultimately, that's one of the main things the series is about. It's about what it's like to be simultaneously a product, and victim, of a corporate hellscape.

That theme simply can't work if the humans aren't also forced to navigate that issue. If the story can't acknowledge that right now, in our own world, there are humans facing these same problems, and that these human rights matter quite a bit.

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okay, I caught up on all of the Absolute titles

I'm still far and away enjoying Absolute Wonder Woman the most. I think partly because (in addition to all its other great qualities) AWW is doing such a good job at I think the base premise of the Absolute setting - letting the hero shine out the brighter despite the dark universe they're trapped in. it's also balancing the backstory and present-day arcs really effectively, maintaining interest, revealing character (little Diana rules-lawyering herself to a diplomacy win with the Hydra!!) and driving both storylines forward. I was thrilled at the discovery of Io - I'd already gone aww 😔 when Clea was revealed as a fake and resigned myself to there not actually being an Amazon in the maze, so the double-fakeout was a delight. very looking forward to the wrap-up of this arc, will absolutely be buying AWW Vol. 2 as well whenever it comes out.

funnily, Absolute Martian Manhunter is probably at #2 for me, despite still having some frustrations with it - mainly related to pacing and how heavily it's relying on abstraction, to the point of obscuring characterization and backstory. we're six issues in and still know almost nothing about the Martians (because they're just ~too abstract~ to comprehend except through metaphor) and half the characters are still largely ciphers, including the kid who just got merged (?) with the White Martian.

that being said, I enjoyed #5-6 tremendously - the abstraction in the art is stunning and crystal clear in not just conveying but enhancing the storytelling; I was hollering at the shadows and use of color in #5, and the battle between the Martians crawling across people's eyes in #6. and despite my impatience with the drip pacing of backstory, the episodic storytelling for each issue is really tight and effective and interesting. I'm also getting a bit more invested in John & Bridget, which is a relief, so I'm on board to see where this goes!

Absolute Flash is probably next for me in terms of enjoyment. for something about the fastest Flash, it's a little amusing to me that the story in this is moving fairly slow. I'm glad the Iron Heights arc is giving Wally a little more space to slow down from where he's been stuck in panic/flight mode, and to make connections that he wants to protect - Grodd, Linda, Ralph, etc. Grodd giving Wally a bit of direction with his mini-quest, and giving Wally a reason to use his powers that is helpful/protective rather than terrifying/destructive is also nice. I'm a little 👀?!?! at the last issue for how enmeshed Barry seems to have been in all the incredibly shady goings-on at Project Olympus - he was co-running it as a partner to Elenore Thawne?? I'm sure we'll get more on the nuances to this, but it's v. interesting

Absolute Batman and Absolute Superman, for me, are both running into the problem of - hm. wallowing? too much in the grimdark setting? which. yes, I know that's supposed to be part of the set-up and appeal of Absolute DC, I admit this is at least partially a problem of personal preference.

but. like. okay - both series do a good job setting up interesting alternate backstories for Bruce and Kal, with interesting supporting characters, etc. I love the Krypton flashbacks and snippets we've gotten of the Kents for Kal, and Martha, the Thomas backstory, the Rogues-turned-childhood-friends, and even the childhood sweethearts BatCat for Bruce. both series also do a good job conveying and maintaining the personal convictions and resilience of the two heroes - I love Kal still being a justice-focused reporter at heart, and Bruce being a gadgety engineer and detective, focused on helping the people of his city.

but the present-day events are just like. a long relentless march of twisted grimdark horrors assailing them, with the common theme of "pushing them until they break". Absolute Batman at least has some interesting villains and relevant themes being explored for each one - Black Mask and his party animals, Mr. Freeze, and this version of Bane are far and away more interesting and effective than Brainiac and Ra's al Ghul have been so far over in Superman (they're both so boring and blegh, idgi??) and I'm sorry, but the torture porn and most of the fight scenes are fairly tedious.

but then, Absolute Superman had a really good moment for me with Kal sub-vocally whispering to the Brainiac clones and inspiring them to rebellion - more of that, please! I think that, and Kal inspiring both Lois and Jimmy, have been better than anything similar in Absolute Batman so far. I was extremely underwhelmed by the wrap-up of the Black Mask arc, where Bruce's attempt to expose Sionis and inspire the populace belly-flopped against Gotham's cynicism, and the crisis was only resolved by destroying the servers and the citizens basically going, "awww, I can't get money for committing crimes/murders/mass atrocities anymore? :( okay guess I'll go home then."

also. I do not care about spy/assassin Absolute Alfred Pennyworth.

anyway my (extremely predictable) favorite moment of Absolute Batman so far:

EMT DICK!!! AHHHHHH!!! 😍.......actually though, him (and eventually the other Robins) being in this universe is making me. rather nervous? for what terrible things are inevitably going to happen to them lol

Absolute Green Lantern - I....don't have a lot to say about this? lol. I really enjoyed the messianic/Super Saiyan gold John Stewart as Ain Aur (sooooo gorgeous 😍) and the accompanying much-needed lore drop. also rubbing my hands together in anticipation of messy divorced lesbians Jo Mullein and Cameron Chase.

anyway I'm aware I'm overall being a little uncharitable and impatient with these titles, lol - 6 or even 12 issues is barely getting started for a new universe, and the grimdark nonsense and apathy/cynicism of the populace is part of the setting being established, which will (hopefully) be influenced and changed by the heroes over the course of longer arcs. really, I'm not so bothered by it in each individual title because I do know that - but reading across all of the titles for the Absolute universe it does get a bit wearying.

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Text references to Tim being short and/or young-looking from when he's 16 and 17

Feel free to add on if I missed something, I'm making a collection. And you don't have to feel restricted by the ages, it's just what I've viewed more recently so I knew exactly where these were. Although I do already have the initial "I'm not twelve" correction from alpod as well.

The rules are, he can't just be visually smaller than someone or drawn with his proper baby face, it has to be *pointed out* in some way.

Thanks lol

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Loser man stops taking his antipsychotics and goes through it.

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(the spectre 2001 #24)

Helen is a perfectly written weird too-smart kid and it is a tragedy we never got more of her!

bonus: he had this rattling around in the trunk of his jeep all the way from star city