#—DC editorial team at the time probably

[thefaeriefeatherdark]

I do think the wildest part of the Skyrocket/Connie concept is that Visaggio seemed to legitimately believe that Kon-El is like... a D-List superhero. Which is just like, a wild thing to believe considering the Comic Kon won in a fan poll hadn't even finished coming out at the time she pitched her idea.

[fantastic-nonsense]

I have a fun [citation needed] hypothetical for you. Say you have been granted the authority to make FIVE editorial directives for DC comics that will be followed for at least the next five years. What are you demanding?

No company events.

No major events with ten thousand tie-in comics.

No big crossover events.

No big gimmick events.

No event comics.

Okay, I kid, but only slightly. I'm actually going cheat slightly and give you five plus an extra one that needs a bit more explanation:

No company-wide crossover events or gimmick events that derail major ongoing stories in individual books shall be made. If an event comic is published, any tie-ins will be published separately from the character's ongoing/mini (for reference: like the Blackest Night tie-in specials).

Institute a lore consistency team within the Archives department. Mandate that every single creative team MUST read and utilize a character/story bible before writing any scripts. The scripts will be looked over by a member of the lore team as well as the book editor before being approved for publication.

The Young Justice generation is finally allowed to grow up and, where necessary, get new hero names. In particular, Tim Drake finally gets to age and stop being Robin. He picks 'Blackbird' as his new name, gets a cool new red-and-black costume, and stars in a rebooted Young Justice book alongside his friends.

Barbara Gordon has to formally retire from the Batgirl role and become Oracle full time again. This is handled in a way that is respectful of her character and her disability. Cassandra Cain will be Batgirl full-time again while Stephanie Brown goes back to Spoiler; Cass gets a Batgirl solo ongoing while Steph would join a rebooted Gotham Knights team book that includes her, Kate, Helena, Luke Fox, and Jean-Paul Valley.

Wonder Woman's established lore is acknowledged, respected, and re-emphasized. Diana is a clay baby again, Cassie is Zeus's daughter again, The Return of Donna Troy is acknowledged as the definitive explanation of Donna's multiple-choice backstory (while the fire origin stays the definitive origin), Artemis gets her original origin back, etc. Full acceptance of the Rucka Rebirth retcon to reset Diana's origins and childhood back to the post-Crisis status quo. No references to the Zeus origin or the New 52 Amazons are allowed to be made except in context of Rucka's "it was a lie" explanation.

In priority order, those editorial mandates probably fall out to be something like 2>1>5>3 and 4 in a tie; 3 and 4 are kinda interchangable since they collectively would fix a wide swath of what's wrong with the Bat books right now.

My "extra" mandate would be that writers must utilize existing characters where possible for their stories. No new "major" heroes are to be introduced unless a writer can prove that a book needs a new character to fill an identified gap. Prioritization should go to a) characters who used to be used on a regular basis in a given book but have not been seen in 10+ years and b) characters introduced within the past 5-7 years.

I'd want this one for two reasons: one, there's a ton of pre-existing characters who used to be staple or regularly recurring characters who have failed to get regular appearances since 2011, for a variety of reasons. Forcing writers to use them instead of creating new characters would allow DC to rebuild some continuity, bring back old favorites, and provide closure to lingering storylines that were cut short or never followed up on. Two, there's a hell of a lot of new characters have been introduced and discarded without actually building them out properly the last few years. I would honestly only put this one in place for around 3 years...long enough to force DC to actually flesh out the underutilized newbies and provide some closure and new beginnings for some old favorites.

[grayson10yearslater]

Welcome to our first monthly mod meta! ✒️ In addition to the fanworks challenges and opinion pieces, we have a meta post planned for every month of this 10 year anniversary!

How Dick Became a Super Spy

As so often in Dick Grayson’s history, his life came into jeopardy and the direction of his comic was changed due to a big crossover with equally big creative differences. Nightwing was pulled out of Higgins’ hands without much preamble. While Geoff Johns and Dan Didio were fighting about Nightwing’s death, two seperate writers were hired to take Dick Grayson’s story into a different direction. Both the in-fighting and the hiring fumble delayed the final issue of Forever Evil and Nightwing (2011). From the battleground within the pages of the comics and editorial, Grayson (2014) rose as a much debated but impactful Dick Grayson story.

The Death of Nightwing

How Dick became a super spy within the text is a story well-known if only in its outline. The Crime Syndicate arrived from Earth-3 in the DC main universe to wreak havoc, and Dick was the big casualty. Saved and then sacrificed, Bruce sends Dick onto an undercover mission, but by the time Tom King and Tim Seeley wrote Nightwing (2011) #30, Dick’s direction was already clear – it is the beginning of Grayson (2014) much more than the end of Nightwing (2011). To observe how Dick became a super spy in-universe, let us have a look at Forever Evil.

Having just dealt with Zaszak in Nightwing (2011) #29 - #30, Dick returns to Gotham to drop him off at Arkham in time to see that Superwoman means to free the inmates. Dick is taken captive by Owlman and her before he can stop them. As the Crime Syndicate rallies the villains of the main universe among them, they reveal a captive Nightwing’s identity and vow to destroy and kill everything and everyone he holds dear (Forever Evil #1).

Watching the reveal, Tim aims to confront the Crime Syndicate with the Teen Titans not only because he believes Dick is still alive but also so he can protect their remaining hidden identities. . Meanwhile Owlman sets his mind on keeping Dick, the counterpart to his Talon, alive (#3).  

Bruce survived the attack on the Justice League Watchtower and has allied with Catwoman, who he reluctantly brings down into the cave, where she points out that the time in which Dick first dropped onto the scene, was when she thought he could actually be happy as Batman. Bruce has taken Dick’s identity reveal badly, going as far as to blame himself for destroying Dick’s life by allowing him to be Robin and pushing him away, so that he had to become a solo hero. Owlman meanwhile tries to get Dick onto his side by forcing him into losing hope (#4).

Batman, Catwoman, and Luthor’s villain team eventually work together to reach Happy Harbor, where the Crime Syndicate has taken up camp in the fallen watchtower. Alfred of Earth-3 tells Owlman to return to the watchtower, while Grid was supposed to protect Nightwing, the Cyborg counterpart seems to be doing none of that. Grid, as any corrupt AI, willfully misinterprets keeping Nightwing safe to keeping him behind lock and key within the murder machine, partially because Ultraman believes Owlman wants Nightwing to team-up against him. As the heroes infiltrate the watchtower, Owlman reiterates to Alfred to keep Nightwing safe at all costs. Alfred goes against Owlman, probably because he also didn’t think much of Earth-3 Richard, and loses his life. 

Bruce and Lex find Dick trapped in the murder machine, which truly is a nuclear bomb ready to go off in five minutes except if Dick Grayson dies. The bomb has been linked to his heart. Bruce promises Dick they will only escape together while Dick pleads with him to leave. Lex makes the “executive decision” to kill Dick and revive him, which he is almost unable to do when Bruce attacks him. Obviously, Lex can’t just explain beforehand. (#6) 

Dick gets his life-saving shot at the last second, and Lex is pushed away so Bruce can take Dick into his arms, relieved to have him back. As they try to get the situation back under control, Owlman follows them, insisting that now that Alfred is gone too, Dick is all he has. He is not giving up on them being a team. He wants the heroes to win, and they do.

Still believed dead by a majority of the world, Bruce tells Dick he wants to take advantage of the fact. Dick is supposed to go on a secret mission. At the time, Owlman is haunting Gotham in search for Dick (#7) and Batgirl is mourning him (Batgirl #30).

Creative Boogaloo

Didio had tried to kill Dick Grayson before and Forever Evil seemed to offer him a new opportunity. He didn’t expect writer Geoff Johns to quarrel with him about the fate of the character. Their discussion about Dick’s death took so long that both Forever Evil #7 and Nightwing #30 were ultimately delayed. In fact, it was Batgirl #30, which ultimately spoiled some kind of death was awaiting Dick. 

One might think this was the only creative difference at that time, but the journey to Grayson (2014) took a lot longer than some might think. Initially there were rumours, which got confirmed to be true years later, that Tynion was supposed to write Dick Grayson’s new comic. 

A few pages of James Tynion IV & Meghan Hetrick’s NW #30 appeared around the time Grayson was published [Bleeding Cool], but that Tynion & Mikel Janín had already decided on a setting and a new costume for Dick was revealed only in 2021 [Gamesradar]. 

Before the announcement of Grayson, all people had to go off of was the Batman: Eternal Thanksgiving Teaser, released as far back as November 2013, half a year before Grayson hit the market. It featured a blond wigged Dick and led to quite succinct speculation. It is also why Dick sports a blond wig in Grayson #1. 

Other rumours involved an Outlaw Justice comic written by Tynion and the rise of Harper Row as Nightwing – though given how Bruce reacted to Dick’s death and how Snyder portrayed Bruce and Dick’s dynamic, she would have had a difficult time living up to that legacy [CBR Community Tynion].

While these rumours floated about, DC Editorial took the miscommunication that plagued the New 52 further by hiring two writers separately: Tim Seeley and Tom King. Seeley had previously only written a one-shot for DC but his Hack/Slash series was quite popular, while King had no comic book under his belt. Allegedly, Didio hired him because he enjoyed his debut novel so much. (Or maybe DD has something to hide from the CSI, we’ll never know.) 

Strange as it might seem today, Mikel Janín was the creative with the most power on Grayson (2014). He had been with DC the longest during that time. In fact, Janín’s debut comic at DC was Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons in 2011. 

Even so, Janín might have been too busy with Tynion’s idea to design the first appearances of characters already featured in Nightwing #30. Helena Bertinelli’s first appearance, in which her costume includes a skull mask, was designed by Tim Seeley and he even got the ball rolling in regard to Dick’s new spy costume. (Tim Seeley Art Blog) 

Janín later created a couple of different Agent 37 concept arts before they decided on the one everyone knows today. [The middle one was only revealed years later.]

In an interview shortly before the release of Nightwing #30, Tom King spoke about what readers could expect. He revealed that Helena Bertinelli would make her comeback in Nightwing #30 and describes her as the "Batman of superspies." The first arc of Grayson would focus on her relationship with Dick. Ultimately, they decided to fashion her appearance and clothing more in accordance with the character's history as Huntress and not go with Seeley’s design. They not only discussed Dick’s new clothes but also his hair length in great detail. King explains that the sparring scene in Nightwing #30 was written to be "extremely difficult" for both Dick and Batman. Grayson would emphasise travel and exotic locations. Each issue would be set in a different locale, however, Dick's "heart" would remain focused on Gotham.

Furthermore, King reveals that Seeley and he had not met before, they did all their work by phone and internet. An interesting tidbit for all who like to know in which continuity context a writer sets their work: King approaches Dick’s experiences pre-Flashpoint as if all of it still happened. When Barry rebooted the universe those experiences were folded into the fabric of the New 52. While King and Seeley weren’t allowed to directly contradict the five-year-timeline, they set out and did play fast and loose with it. King's primary inspirations for Dick's character are New Teen Titans and Dark Victory.  [Comic Geek Speak PodcastComic Talk with Tom King] 

A few story elements King mentions will be familiar because the first part of Grayson remained blissfully uninterrupted by editorial, but what do you think of the road to Grayson?

Check out our Intro Post and come celebrate with us 10 years of espionage, sabotage, and partners who are sour, dark, and perfect!

[zahri-melitor]

I find that a lot of conversations around dick and barbara as a couple are held in bad faith, period. in fandom spaces i feel like most of the time it's due to how ntt/wolfman is highly revered vs the distaste for other nightwing writers (interestingly i do not think the flaws in wolfmans runs are as criticized) and the allegedly all-powerful, hateful Bat Editorial who don't want the "good" relationships to thrive

Like, I have no problem with people shipping whatever they want to ship. I have my own non-canonical ships that people have issues with. Generally if I don't like a ship I just avoid its content, because I have been in online fandom for over two decades and my patience ran out on shipping wars years ago.

That said: acting like Dick and Barbara, a couple who have been a default relationship shown on page and used as 'endgame' in potential futures and in multiple tv, cartoon and video game adaptions for decades now is out of the blue writing for DC, and a writer people don't like (Tom Taylor) is 'forcing them together' is so ludicrous I can't help but laugh.

Like, you can think NTT is the highest form of art DC has ever produced (I don't, personally; it's way too soap opera for my tastes) and still realistically face Dick and Kory broke up in main DC canon in 1994. When they were 21/22 years old.

It has been THIRTY YEARS.

They have not got back together since. There have been hints and jokes in various Titans-associated titles, here and there. Dick slept with Kory immediately after breaking up with Barbara AND having been sexually assaulted by Catalina, and so on. They have not been in a serious relationship again.

(It's actually interesting if you're reading comics, because Kory very very very rarely appears in Dick's titles apart from in flashbacks, but if it's a Titans title the writers are more likely to joke about their previous relationship. Which means depending on what you're reading you can get a different impression of how seriously it's still taken)

Occasionally stories reference possible futures where Mar'i Grayson exists. (I'd say the DickBabs futures probably outnumber these now but you know, Mar'i turns up every now and then, probably because she has a canonical name unlike the DickBabs red haired moppets you also get in other stories).

The relationship features in a bunch of adaptions, mostly ones centred during the NTT time frame.

I get it! There is content around!

But if you're talking about what's a realistic story to see DC Comics put out? DC is quite happy to take your money for a variant cover. They also clearly have absolutely no intention of having Dick and Kory dating on page while Dick has an ongoing solo that sells that is under Bat Office editorial, and Nightwing (or an alternate title like Batman or Grayson) has consistently sold since 1996.

Solos rank higher than team books in almost every metric.

[geekthefreakout]

Thank you for your "we need to combat people's black and white views in media” post. It’s nice to see someone have a reasonable opinion about something. I feel like a lot of DC comic spaces have the most bizarre takes and honestly think it’s why the state of comics is so bad right now and writers are afraid to take chances or write things that are so generic.

Do you have any unpopular opinions about Babs or Jason? Or anything you would like to see in future comics? You said you enjoyed Jason as a character but what’s your ideal Jason and how do you think he should be written?

Wow, what a lovely ask, thank you Nonny!

First, cuz I know I'm gonna ramble on about the other things- yes, DC is a goddamn mess and at least 48% of the reason is that fans feel especially entitled these days, which makes writers either overly cautious or extremely defensive of anything they try. Fandom spaces can get very toxic very quickly cuz of the whole black-and-white morality thing and the aforementioned entitlement that makes people feel like they get to dictate the direction the art they consume takes. You don't get to do that, people! Stop it.

For Babs- idk if I have unpopular opinions. Like most people, I think she was wonderful and *important* as Oracle, and I wish they would do more than pay lip service to her disability. On the other side of that, I understand that DC Editorial is a mess and that if a writer ever DOES decide to follow through on that "chip in her spine won't work forever" thing, they will need to cut through a lot of red tape to get permission to do so, so I don't really get mad when writers have her as Batgirl still, or have her bounce between Batgirl and Oracle. If she ever does become a full time wheelchair user again, I hope it's done in a respectful way that supports her agency, rather than how TKJ did her. The Young Justice show had an interesting take on that which I didn't mind.

My unpopular Jason opinion is probably that I liked the All-Caste stuff from RHATO N52 and I think letting Jason have a niche as a Bat that deals with mystical stuff and with the nitty-gritty of the criminal underground is a good way to set him apart and give him his own stuff to do outside of Bat Events. Also Generation Outlaw was a cool concept and I enjoy the idea of Jason reluctantly inheriting Bruce's tendency towards "Debatably Accidental Child Acquisition."

That said, my ideal Jason functions as a foil to Batman. I don't want them to be enemies, but I do want them to push each other and challenge each other. I want Jason to poke holes in Bruce's crime fighting philosophy, but to also still have a good relationship with his family. I want Jason to struggle with his own philosophy, as he did in Zdarsky's "Cheer" story, because the way he does things IS riskier than how Bruce does things and sometimes the ends don't justify the means.

I think Jason (like Damian, but Jason is more mature) works wonderfully in stories about redemption and self-discovery as well. Task Force Z had appeal for me in that sense, because I also think that Two-Face (who Jason has history with in his first post-crisis story) ALSO works well in story lines like that.

In the future... Well, my opinion is that there are just too many Bat books and Bat Events. I want DC to let their other characters breathe. My ideal set up would be Batman as a solo series and Tec as a team book, like it was when Tynion wrote it. Then Urban Legends for miscellaneous Bat stories. Nightwing of course with his solo (and please, PLEASE, let that boy stay in Bludhaven and take care of business, stop dragging him back to Gotham every time a rogue sneezes, he has his own shit to worry about). The rest of the Batfam can pop up in Tec and Urban Legends and then be with their respective teams. Titans, YJ, Outlaws, Outsiders, etc. (ETA BoP to this potential team book list of course!)

And then pls no huge Bat Events for at least a year and a half. Let them BREATHE, for fuck's sake!!!!

So... Yeah! Thanks Nonny!

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

Who would you want Jason to team up with?

I don’t really want Jason to be part of a team, especially for the time being. I’m tired of dc just shoving him with a group of people because editorial doesn’t know what to do with him (which itself is a product of their cowardice preventing them from letting him be what he wanted to be ever since he came back). There has yet to be a good Jason Todd solo run where the story doesn’t constantly shift its focus, and gets Jason’s motivations, thoughts, and competencies right while seamlessly incorporating this into an interesting plot (that again fits where his character is right now but manages to move him forward). He’s been around for FORTY years!! This is what fans are long overdue for, and it’s what I ultimately want.

He can maybe have a small supporting cast of friends or family, but I think the story can do without them too. Look at utrh; even his universally accepted best story isn’t technically centered on his perspective, it’s all from Bruce’s. Let him think and talk and act and reflect in his own space on his own. I don’t trust many writers to be able to include characters like Dick or Tim or even anyone else and not instinctively dumb Jason down to prop them up, even in Jason’s own story lol. This can actually also happen just to easily resolve plot issues, and that’s another issue I had with RHATO rebirth. The fact that he got tricked by Roman fucking Sionis of all people, the person he NOTORIOUSLY fucked over in his most iconic story. But now we’re supposed to believe Jason is actually clumsy, a bit stupid, and impulsive of all things because Lobdell does what he wants. Jason is a master of improvisation, he is not impulsive.

In the long term/in general, if he were to work with other characters I’d want to keep it at a collaboration at most rather than stick him in a team. He has potential to stand on his own and be a great character in his own right, away from the batfam, away from team ups. That being said, if I were to have people interact with him, I’d personally want to see him be featured in more occult/supernatural stuff, so probably Constantine, Zatanna, and Boston Brand. Especially Boston because they’ve met before and it’s one of my favourite robin Jason stories, small as it was. They had an interesting dynamic! As soon as Jason sees a spooky demon-looking dude in red he smiles and greets him all friendly. Also spirits and shit gravitating to Jason because his soul/aura is alluring to them. Could be interesting.

More of future Jason in the White Knight universe would also be nice. I like the idea of Jason getting his own Robin not in the “I’m more like Bruce than I thought” way, but I want to see him be good to Gan and not fuck kids up the way Bruce did to him. Not every hero who has a child sidekick sucks ass and is a manipulative control freak who abuses them, but Bruce is special like that in that he’s the best (worst). It’d be satisfying to see a robin under Jason graduate from their robin days to independence smoothly, and for them to actually have a good relationship with Jason even after. It’d go to show how good Jason is at not only being a mentor, but also his competency as a vigilante and his priorities with keeping kids alive/protecting them.

[radiofreederry]

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, by Kirby, as the first part of Kirby's Fourth World saga, is held back by the trappings of the book. because the book is about Jimmy Olsen - he's the title character - he has to be inserted - at times halfheartedly - into Kibry's efforts to lay groundwork and build up his high concept ideas of the New Gods, resulting in some fairly absurd scenarios, such as Project Cadmus having a legion of Jimmy Olsen clones serving as security.

The book is held back further by the fact that DC meddled with the art. Kirby was a get for DC, and they were eager to have him draw some of their big names, like Superman - only editorial came to the conclusion that Kirby drew Superman and Olsen too differently than the Curt Swan-influenced house style in place at the time, and so they had other artists redraw Kirby's pictures of Superman and Olsen, something which really pissed Kirby off (although he ultimately didn't raise the issue):

The reason Kirby took the Jimmy Olsen assignment is that, when he decided to leave Marvel for DC, he was offered basically any book he wanted. He chose Jimmy Olsen because it was one of DC's lowest-selling titles and had no regular creative team, and he would also have very little editorial interference in laying the seeds for the epic saga he had in its mind's eye. The book is probably the best it could be under the circumstances, but the Fourth World really didn't hit its stride until his run on it was done.

[wesavegotham]

@fancyfade and I talked about DC's habit of publishing stories that make Bruce look like a bad father, but them also not really wanting to commit to it and openly blame him, which often leads to weird victim-blaming, non-apologies and sometimes nonsensical retcons to save Bruce's reputation later on.

And I imagine that it put the writers in a very difficult situation when editorial told them to create this very long storyline that was supposed to end with Damian becoming the main villain for 5G. They started this with Justice League: No Justice and the Adam Glass' Teen Titans run in summer/autumn 2018, but Death Metal would only pave the way for 5G in early 2021.

Meaning this wouldn't be a fast fall from grace, but more like tumbling down a very long staircase for over two years.

Batman being too busy to grasp the gravity of the situation and thus blamelessly fail to intervene might have been plausible for one or two short arcs of Damian becoming evil, but this was way too long. They had to acknowledge the conflict eventually, but they also couldn't have Bruce prevent Damian from seperating from the batfamily to turn into a villain.

So they seemed to have settled on "Bruce is in fact concerned about Damian's estrangement from him, but he's also too busy and emotionally constipated to ever actually get off his ass and properly communicate with his son."

It's probably one of the few things in this mess of a storyline that DC has managed to keep somewhat consistent:

Damian and Bruce had an off-panel fight in Justice League: No Justice #4 that seems to have ended with Damian seperating from Bruce to found a new Teen Titans team. Bruce's words indicate that instead of trying to stop his son he has decided to accept this seperation for now.

Damian briefly returns to Wayne Manor in Teen Titans #26 to hack the batcomputer and runs into Alfred who claims that Bruce is concerned for Damian. But it also voluntarily or involuntarily highlights the discrepancy in Bruce's behaviour. He seems to say that he's worried about Damian, but then never acts on that worry. He's not doing anything to resolve their problems. He only shows up about 20 issues later when it's far too late.

Bruce's reluctance to stop this from escalating becomes even more apparent in Detective Comics #996 when Bruce asks Damian to talk and make up, to which Damian agrees.

Too bad it's only part of a simulation:

and while Damian was in fact present at Wayne Manor Bruce chose not to follow the desire to fix his relationship with Damian that he expressed in the simulation and rather chooses to talk about Gotham's crime rate before meeting up with Leslie Thompson to celebrate his birthday with her and Alfred.

Bruce similarly deflects Damian's accusation of showing more care for strange children than him by proclaiming that the city needs him and then guilt-tripping Damian by reminding him of the teenager Bruce wants Damian to look for because he was already busy fighting a gang and didn't have the time to do it himself in Detective Comics #1017.

This, well, let's call it a refusal to face their problems continues in Pennyworth RIP when Damian leaves the wake in tears and Barbara explicitly demands from Bruce to go after Damian. Which he doesn't do and Tim is apparently more interested in telling his Alfred story than in convincing Bruce to get off his ass to comfort a crying child that blames himself thinking he got their beloved grandfather killed.

Bruce's problems with opening his mouth to talk things out with Damian before it's too late might have turned out less catastrophic if Damian wasn't equally emotionally constipated. But Bruce is supposed to be the adult in this relationship and with Alfred dead and Dick calling himself Ric there was nobody to talk with Damian for him anymore.

It took Damian killing Brother Blood (and planning to kill even more) and thus DC completing their destruction of Damian as a hero for DC to allow Bruce to step in since now the worst had already happened:

Of course DC had to make it clear that our world's greatest detective Batman had somehow no clue what brought Damian to do all of this.

Then, still not willing to open his mouth to calm Damian down, Bruce seemed to think that hugging it out with Damian while he went through an episode of murderous rage was somehow a good idea.

Which it wasn't. Who would have thought. But it's enough effort so DC can claim Bruce tried, right?

Bruce even proclaims his love for his son and admits he failed him! Which would have been more believable had this desaster lead to a change in behaviour.

Instead the arc ends with Damian quitting and walking away into a dark alley and Bruce also having already vanished.

DC could have shown us that Bruce learned from his mistakes, but chose not to because they didn't actually want Damian to come back home.

Seriously, Jon:

and even Jason (!) went out to look for Damian:

Bruce...did nothing and waited. Again. I really don't understand why DC thought it was a good idea to make that a recurring trait for Bruce in recent years. Yes, neglect also counts as child abuse, not getting involved doesn't absolve Bruce of blame, DC🤦‍♀️

Like, he canonically sat on ass, probably for several weeks after Damian killed a villain and all the other stuff, thinking Damian would return home and ask for his job back on his own. As if Damian's pride and insecurity would allow him to do that. Of course he chose a more roundabout way to get in contact again🥴

Bruce didn't really seem that eager to see Damian again though and chose to repeatedly postpone looking for him to deal with other things. Again.

Anyway, at the end of the arc Bruce it finally seemed to come to Bruce's attention that it's actually possible to follow someone after they walk away from you:

But of course DC can't end this storyline nobody liked here, so Bruce forgets that lesson two pages later.

Instead Bruce decided to wait until Damian was gone again to...finally make an effort to search for him?

And it only took us almost three years to reach this point!

Anyway, we don't see them meet until one year later in our time, when they ran into each other again in Shadow War Alpha:

But when Ra's was killed Bruce at first couldn't open his mouth to talk:

...and when he did he put his foot in his mouth:

How many times has Bruce let Damian walk away from him at this point? You could make a drinking game out of this.

As I've talked about before, this apology scene could have been good...if they didn't feel the need to retcon the events of City of Bane to make it sound like it was Damian's fault even while Bruce puts the blame on himself.

But we could have moved on. We could have had them back as Batman and Robin!

Damn, I hit tumblr's picture limit. Anyway, we could have moved on! No more Bruce doing nothing while Damian's character gets written badly on purpose! No more Damian walking away while Bruce just stands there! No more punching each other!

But no! They needed to annouce a book called Batman vs Robin! With 100+ variant covers showing them punching each other! Bruce insulting Damian! Damian as one of the antagonists! Potentially partially to blame for a global crisis if Waid doesn't give us a twist! Amazing!

Fucking shoot me, I can't do this anymore.

[thevindicativevordan]

What do you think of the whole Timkon tease throughout Dark Crisis YJ? Do you think DC will make it canon or let Fitzmartin pull the trigger one day?

Blatant queerbaiting. No, if she could have she would have, that she didn't means she was blocked. No they won't undercut Jon. Ironically for all the queerbaiting the most explicit romantic scene in that series (well that I know of anyway, I only read the first three issues and the final one because I got baited into reading the final issue) was about... Conner and Cassie's relationship.

This is the biggest emotional moment Conner has in the entire series, and it's a moment where he gushes over Cassie, apologizes to her, and she makes it clear she still loves him. Tim doesn't even outright say that he had feelings for Conner, he just sort of alludes to it as an apology to Cassie. Shockingly it's the ConnerCassie shippers who get to exit the series with the biggest tease for their ship going forward, maybe editorial mandated that be put in? Otherwise it's not at all what I expected from Fitzmartin.

Anyway the YJ Dark Crisis mini was widely hated, even by the shippers, and sales were probably poor. Odds of Fitzmartin ever getting to write the YJ characters aside from Tim again are slim to none, and Conner's future lies with Porter and PKJ. They'll be the ones writing him going forward, PKJ wants to establish Kon and Kenan as friends, Porter has his own team he intends to use for Conner in the mini. Feels like YJ as a franchise/entity is going to be retired, and I don't think that's a bad thing at all. Time to move on, Conner has outgrown those scrubs and they're just holding him back at this point.

[nightmareinfloral]

Oh I think I know who you mean when talking about editorial. Does she happen to be a humongous fan of them and was the editor of Batgirls and is the current editor of Nightwing who is choosing what writers she wants to write them? Also is she behind all the recent covers of them?

It would be nice to have Oracle back and actually have an arc. Characters don't need trauma to make them interesting. She's over it and has been over the Joker for a long time. They keep recycling this story for her the same way they do with Jason Todd. They both don't care about that clown anymore. Like Babs needs an arc or something interesting to motivate her or actually cause a problem for her. I love her but I can't read one more thing where she is just perfect and isn't given any challenge. I want to see her suffer (affectionally). I love her the most when she was prickly and is a little bit of a bully. I like when she fights with other characters and then has to apologize.

ngl i don’t keep up with editor names but it is one of these ppl. it’s the same editorial team for both books. i remember it being a dude but can’t source that so i’m giving group blame lol. editors choose the variant cover artists and do have cover input so probably.

the move right now seems to be that dc wants to make d/b their new flagship couple, which. they’re also trying to be somewhat meta with all their batman “commentary”, if you can call it that, and the comparisons they’ve been making between batcat and d/b.

and i completely agree with the babs stuff. she’s just much more important as oracle and more interesting as well. you could replace her with a cardboard cutout in this new era and it wouldn’t change anything 💀.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

I was going to make a joke about “Lotte is the only fan who doesn’t want their fanfiction to be canonized”.

But then I realized... I probably wouldn’t, either? And she’s talking like she Can’t Write in the first place (enjoying looking up to people for doing osmething She Can’t, which is a very sweet way to contrast her from Akko by the way).

But even as an adamant writer and lover of fanfiction myself, I would be too shy and skittish about having so many fans reading (and judging and criticizing) my stories.

Even though I KNOW I put more effort into designing my Raven’s-sibling fancharacter’s backstory to be canon compliant than the people who wrote Sons of Trigon. XP And I will FOREVER be bitter about that, but Titans 2008 sucked anyways.

I won’t lie, I felt SO very delighted when I found out that fanfiction is canonically canon in A Different Earth according to DC Comics.

But the fact that it’s my OWN PRIVATE Separate Earth is part of the delight. Yeah, I wish more people read my fanfics and shared the love I have for my characters and their stories... but my stories are written to please ME, not to please a Target Demographic^tm. (I mean, they’re basically All About my OCs with Raven co-starring in most of them. Honestly the rest of the team largely falls to the wayside. And so many of them are about rather mundane things compared to canon. Hell, I think there are only Two Canonical Fight Sequences! In a SUPERHERO fanfic!)

Not to mention, the debacle that would be editorial oversight.... Finding a publisher... Deadlines...

My mother has been pestering me for YEARS to get my writings published, and for awhile I thought I wanted that. But as it is now, I really just kind of... don’t.

I’d probably have to delete my fanfics to be able to legally share my Original World Conversions with a copyright stamp. And I don’t really want to do that. /o.o\ I LIKE being a part of a fanfiction community, and I LIKE that the people reading my stories already understand Raven on a level where I don’t have to explain Why Having a Half-Sister By Father throws her off balance for a WEEK.

Maybe when I have a lot more free time and a better grasp on escalation, I’ll consider publishing. But not right now.

So yeah, I’m with Lotte on this one.

(I won’t lie, I have some CRITICISMS for my fandoms’ canons, but I know I legitimately can’t write it better myself. Trust me, I tried.)

[bitcofun]

This is a viewpoint editorial by Captain Sidd, a financing author and explorer of Bitcoin culture. If you have not heard, among the biggest crypto exchanges, FTX, was the most recent in a variety of dominos to fall in the crypto "market." The creator of that exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, had actually progressed into a media beloved over the previous 2 years-- beautifying the cover of Fortune publication and making interviews with the similarity CNBC and Bloomberg SBF, as he's frequently described, studied physics at MIT and hung around at the distinguished arbitrage trading company Jane Street He styled himself as the unpopular gigabrain, with an untidy mop of hair and a fondness for oversleeping the workplace while developing a monetary empire so he might contribute all of it to charity. With the collapse of FTX and the closely-associated Alameda Research fund, the cynical view of SBF paints him as a fraudster. He extremely well might have fooled financiers and countless retail customers by shunning the timeless, slick crypto con-man with his unpopular veneer and boylike face. Another theory indicate his ties to U.S. regulative firms and the truth that he was the second-largest donor to President Biden's 2020 project: maybe SBF was a federal government plant. Perhaps the fall of FTX was all part of a strategy, offering an ideal "emergency situation" to introduce guideline of Bitcoin and other decentralized tools that threaten the current world order. As more details emerges day by day, there are lots of information indicate support the view of SBF and his cadre as wicked scammers. The point of this short article is not to take that view and tear them apart. The point of this short article is to take the view that SBF and his team were gifted, enthusiastic and selfless business owners who made numerous, undoubtedly big, errors out of their own desire to make the world a much better location. Why take this view? What it recommends about other probably benevolently-led companies is damning. This view exposes a crucial insight about the state of management in our world today and what we can do to repair it-- prior to the world economy all of us depend upon suffers the very same fate as FTX. SBF The Altruist In much of Sam Bankman-Fried's media looks, he discussed his belief in a viewpoint referred to as "efficient selflessness." The media consumed it up, frequently keeping up headings stressing that he wished to hand out his fortune to charity and take full advantage of the quantity of excellent he gave mankind with his actions. In his own view then, SBF's assistance of having a hard time "decentralized" monetary procedures, contributions to primarily left-leaning political prospects and talks with DC political leaders about crypto regulative methods were the very best methods to harness his time and intelligence for the higher good. SBF's quantitative mind appears to have actually led him out even more than a lot of in his pursuit of excellent. As Sequoia Capital, among the most prominent equity capital companies and a financier in FTX, specified in its radiant profile of SBF: "To do the most great for the world, SBF required to discover a course on which he 'd be a coin toss away from going completely bust." That profile, released simply 6 weeks prior to FTX's speedy implosion, was entitled "Sam Bankman-Fried Has a Savior Complex-- And Maybe You Should Too" with the subtitle "The creator of FTX lives his life by a calculus of selfless effect." That mindset of risking all of it to speed up the effect he might have on the world might have led him to handle financial obligation he could not pay back and eventually utilize funds allocated for users in order to enhance his objectives. SBF's gambles might show his own extensive, mathematical take on the unclear mantra behind the reliable selflessness motion: " Effective selflessness is a task that intends to discover the very best methods to assist others, and put them

into practice" Even though this habits caused a coin-toss circumstance-- get big or declare bankruptcy-- SBF was clear throughout in his belief that this was the impact-maximizing course for humankind. Possibly to him, it deserved the threat if it assisted the conventional monetary system decentralize quicker. However, outside SBF's mind and calculus, what he did looks incredibly various. The Altruistic Fraudster In the world inhabited by those who SBF declared he wished to assist, we discover utter destruction from his careless actions. No matter his intents, countless retail traders were left locked out of the FTX exchange over night, simply after SBF openly revealed that "Assets are great." Not even 24 hours later on, SBF erased that tweet and changed it with a deceptive message that Binance consented to get FTX to fix " liquidity crunches" Over the list below couple of days, the enormous hole in FTX and its involved business ended up being starkly obvious. A number of users might have paid off FTX in order to withdraw funds when FTX wrongly declared just Bahamian citizens might withdraw. Later on, details emerged that SBF had a backdoor in to FTX's accounting system, permitting him to move funds without signaling others. The pedigree achieved by SBF and FTX attracted financiers and loan providers from throughout the monetary environment, from significant VC companies like Sequoia Capital to the Ontario Pension Fund FTX's failure hence triggered agonizing markdowns for a lot of those financiers, and no doubt a variety of more implosions in what might look like a 2008- design contagion occasion. The crypto lending institution and cost savings account service, BlockFi, was the very first to stop user withdrawals of funds in the wake of FTX's failure-- however it might not be the last. To lots of outdoors observers, all of this appears like expert scams, clear as day. SBF lied through his teeth, abusing trust and potentially personally absconding with user funds as the exchange was imploding. To SBF, the collapse of his empire may appear to be merely bad luck, a bad coin toss in the video game of utilize and misappropriation he was playing in order to do the most excellent as quick as possible. For a regular individual, it takes some severe psychological gymnastics to validate his actions, however to SBF they may have merely been the unsightly ways to a favorable end for all mankind. Again, I am not backing this view of SBF as a selfless individual defending the most excellent. All I am attempting to reveal is that this view of him is not incongruent with the criminal activities he devoted and the enormous losses handled by the customers and financiers that trusted him and his group. In reality, this view of SBF informs us much about the broader world of politics, and the dangerous monetary habits political leaders participate in-- obviously for the advantage of their constituents. The Altruistic Politician SBF might truthfully think residing on the razor's edge of insolvency permitted him to optimize his favorable influence on the world. How we money our federal governments today reveals our political leaders follow a comparable reasoning. While you might think the large bulk of political leaders are wicked evil spirits, out to draw the life blood out of the commoner to money their personal jet flights and pet tasks, I will presume they have the very best of objectives. Maybe numerous political leaders do think the guidelines they wish to pass, taxes they wish to change or jobs they wish to money will drive favorable modification. That is immaterial to my argument. What I will argue is that due to their careless financing approach, the outcome of even altruistically-driven costs by political leaders will lead to a mess equivalent from scams, simply as we saw in SBF's case. What is this negligent financing approach? Extreme federal government financial obligation. The State's Reckless Financing SBF might have recklessly

utilized consumer deposits and credit lines in order to money tasks he thought would favorably affect the world-- causing the quick collapse of his business and a near-total loss of consumer funds. Unfortunately, our federal governments are doing the very same with our cost savings and earnings, on a mind-bogglingly big scale. How? In federal government, main coordinators select an end they wish to attain-- the removal of hardship, or drug dependency, or high health care expenses for instance-- and invest versus it. When we pay into that system through tax, with the cash entering equating to or surpassing the cash heading out, there is no accrual of financial obligation, and for that reason no danger of personal bankruptcy. However, our federal governments are presently addicted to financial obligation. Given That President Nixon ended the U.S. dollar's tie to gold in 1971, all currencies worldwide all of a sudden ended up being "fiat"-- their worth not backed by anything however rely on that federal government's capability to pay for its financial obligations. Since 1971, federal government financial obligation around the globe has actually swollen in size. When a federal government handles financial obligation, it broadens the liabilities side of its balance sheet. This produces danger-- a commitment to pay versus unpredictable earnings in the future. The financial obligation of worldwide federal governments as a percent of their GDP. The bulk are deeply in financial obligation, with more than a handful over 100%. Source Many federal governments today bring financial obligation problems surpassing their whole GDP-- consisting of the U.S. Even if political leaders invested all the cash raised by releasing that financial obligation on programs they really believed would assist residents, there is now a substantial hole in the balance sheet that requires to be repaid. To a political leader with excellent objectives, consistently handling financial obligation to spend for continuous federal government programs and servicing existing financial obligation may appear like merely doing the most helpful for people and the world. Doing what is required to take on the terrific crises at hand, even when that results in a speeding up financial obligation problem. To outside observers, nevertheless, this activity must be equivalent from scams. So why are reckless federal governments still in organization? Governments Are Special First, federal governments are much like other companies because their debt-fueled costs plans make it through off trust. Lenders should rely on that the federal government will pay for its financial obligations at some time. Federal governments have a couple of additional tools up their sleeves than a typical corporation in order to keep paying down their extreme financial obligations. First, lots of federal governments can just print cash to decrease their liabilities. While you and I need to work to settle our financial obligations, a federal government's reserve bank can just purchase the federal government's financial obligation and turn over billions with a couple of keystrokes Other plans like minting a trillion-dollar coin accomplish the exact same ends. All of them take worth from all holders of that currency-- injuring the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum which keeps a bigger part of its properties in money-- and provide it to the federal government. Printing cash worked well from the 1980 s up till 2021, when inflation in genuine products took hold. Prior to 2021, inflation primarily impacted possession costs like equities and realty while driving a wealth space through the Cantillon impact Post-2021, customers are feeling acute pain from quickly increasing expenses of staples-- energy and food-- which implies the pitchforks are coming out. Numerous reserve banks appropriately comprehend their extreme printing and low rate of interest caused this result, so the capability to print more money is now restricted for the very first time in years.

Without the cash printer, how can federal governments continue to keep the trust of their financial institutions that they can pay for their financial obligations? Cue the 2nd tool of federal governments to pay for their extreme financial obligations: violence and browbeating. We've offered federal governments a distinct monopoly on violence, which they can utilize to oblige their people to pay up. Simply the risk of fines and prison time suffices to daunt lots of into abiding by increased tax or monetary controls, like those which might feature a reserve bank digital currency (CBDC). One just needs to aim to China to see how a CBDC can be utilized to micromanage the financial resources of people in the name of the higher excellent-- as specified by the gentility. Government usage of cash printing and violent browbeating indicate residents, not political leaders, wind up bearing the expense for the collapse of state financial resources driven by the careless financial obligation problems handled by political leaders. Those political leaders might even support making use of violent browbeating and cash printing to keep the financing going, thinking the discomfort to others to be worth it on the journey to a higher excellent they've specified. Depositors at FTX will foot many of the expense for the exchange's careless usage of their funds. To political leaders and SBF, this might seem like truthful errors and rough spots on the roadway to assisting others as efficiently as possible. To everybody else, it is identical from scams. Are You Begging To Be Crushed? The whole worldwide monetary system looks about as bad as FTX's books today, and the only thing that's keeping it from loosening up is our rely on it. From a resident's viewpoint, we are relying on that our federal governments will successfully draw out worth from us to spend for the misadventures and monetary risk-taking of political leaders The option for people is exceptionally basic-- withdraw from the financial and monetary system that is developed to squash you. That system can just endure if we, jointly, trust it enough to keep our hard-earned cash in it. If we withdraw from it in droves, the whole ploy vaporizes-- much like FTX. If you are among the very first ones to withdraw from the existing monetary system, you might keep your worth undamaged-- simply as those who fasted to withdraw from FTX were made entire, prior to the properties dried up. Those who are far too late to withdraw will be entrusted to cents on the dollar, penalized by the tax, control and cash printing federal governments will require to participate in simply to endure. What does it indicate to withdraw in a world where federal governments can freeze your checking account and take your residential or commercial property based upon only suspicions of a criminal activity, even in the most industrialized jurisdictions? Withdrawing has to do with range: How can you put one of the most range in between your possessions and the scams? I'll leave it to you to discover the type that takes in your circumstance, as each people is totally special. For me, it's unforgeable digital cash that moves at the speed of light, and lives all over and no place at the same time: Bitcoin. Whatever it is for you, I hope you act faster instead of later on. This is a visitor post by Captain Sidd. Viewpoints revealed are totally their own and do not always show those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine. Read More

[benbamboozled]

Iconic Steph and Cass moments from Batgirl (2000) #28–part one

Aka “I’ve been looking for the source for these pages and I finally got to the issue.”

part two

[fantastic-nonsense]

okay so to summarize the Polygon article:

there was no plan. there was never any overarching plan. Didio and DC editorial literally dealt with the New 52 by constantly flying by the seat of their pants. Which was always obvious, but nice to hear it confirmed

Didio's pieces of the interview just further confirmed that he was the kind of arrogant and out-of-touch micromanaging manager from hell that every ground-level employee hates

editorial interference was pervasive, consistent, and on several occasions absolutely nonsensical. An extremely spicy but completely anonymous story of an extremely shitty editor's interference with an unknown writer's title (probably either Gail Simone & Mike Marts or George Perez & Wil Moss if I'm going to guess, though it could also theoretically be Chris Roberson or Rob Liefeld given their public bridge burnings of DC) underscores the many similar issues across the company.

Upper management pushed arbitrary sales number goals and cancelled any book that dipped below 20k monthly sales regardless of whether it was turning a profit or not (thanks for confirming my long-time suspicions on why Blue Beetle and Sword of Sorcery were cancelled)

Official confirmation that Fialkov walked off the Green Lantern book back in 2013 because editorial wanted him to kill John Stewart and he wouldn't do it. Also, the story of Gail Simone's infamous 2012 firing/hiring saga is probably worse than we think.

the constant book churn and creative team replacement meant creative teams regularly found out their titles were cancelled or they were being replaced on an ongoing via social media rather than any official channels

event comics were literally just....not planned out, which absolutely explains why they've all been utterly directionless and narratively confusing:

Brenden Fletcher engaging in extremely educated speculative remarks commenting on what every DC reader ever already knew: that the crusty Old Guard upper management was keeping us from getting cool books like Gotham Academy on a consistent basis because they didn't fit the company's 'brand' or target audience demo

DC editorial is DEFINITELY going to hell for mandating that Oracle was both a "dirty word" and must never be even obliquely referred to in any context:

we finally got explicit confirmation that Bryan Q. Miller's and Scott Snyder's interview comments from years ago about Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown being considered "toxic" at DC was not only real but was the personal opinion of Mr. Dan Didio himself, and that Didio's perspective on the issue was helped along by Paul Levitz

Scott Snyder is an absolute gem of a man who is too good, too pure for both this world and the toxic af working environment he had to deal with during that era

the very obvious and conspicuous absence of even the mention of Geoff Johns' name

[bitimdrake]

Was Dick welcoming towards Cassandra and Steph when they first joined the family? I’ve heard conflicting things about that

Cassandra

For when Cass joins the batfamily, this one's a yes.

Dick and Cass meet in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knights #120, in the midst of No Man's Land. Dick's a little skeptical at first, but that's more because he's (rightfully) skeptical of Bruce's judgement. Bruce has spent months pushing everyone away, and now has finally called them all back only to abruptly drop "btw, I met this girl and she's part of the team now."

However, with Barbara stepping into vouch for Cassandra as well, Dick jumps on board pretty quick and welcomes her.

On the flip side, when Cass joins the Wayne family years later, the answer here is no. (Which is probably why you've heard conflicting information.)

This part comes with a huge caveat: it is built off bad plotlines and characterization. Cass had just gotten out of the evil!Cass arc--a rare case of DC editorial intentionally trying to destroy a character (as opposed to the common case of them doing it accidentally). A belated retcon declared she was brainwashed and not really evil, to salvage the situation.

In the wake of that, we have the Batgirl vol 2 mini, which is about Cass seeking redemption, and ends with Bruce offering to adopt her. And, presumably because the writers wanted an antagonistic force, Dick is...a huge asshole in this one.

I could try to justify this decision if I had too--they were never close to begin with, and Dick is skeptical that she's better now, and maybe he's overprotective of his current family especially after Cass nearly killed his beloved little brother Tim. But the way Dick is written in this mini is just so over-the-top aggro and distrustful of Cass it's hard to swallow.

Anyway, this thread gets continued in Batman and the Outsiders vol 2 #13-14, where imo the characterization is not quite as bad but still pretty bad. Dick eventually admits he wasn't totally comfortable with Cass's adoption, and the two make peace.

Stephanie

If we're talking about when Steph first became Spoiler, was briefly endorsed by Bruce as Spoiler, or became Robin, this one has no answer on account of Dick and Steph never interact. Literally they were in one scene together that entire time, and never spoke.

Dick's main exposure to Steph was through what Tim told him. He's a little skeptical about Tim dating this girl--especially when he mentions her pregnancy--but that's about it.

Dick and Steph finally interact for real years later when she becomes Batgirl, which marks her true acceptance into the batfamily, and uh. No, Dick is not welcoming.

Steph makes the inauspicious introduction of ignoring Oracle's instruction to stand down and accidentally freezing Damian in the middle of a fight in Batgirl vol 3 #5, and Dick goes to argue with Barbara that Steph shouldn't be Batgirl.

But unlike the Cass part above, this one actually makes sense!

Beyond Dick's overall stress level as a newbie Batman and Steph's poor introduction, Dick's second-hand impression of Steph up to this point is not good! She's the girl who accidentally started a gang war that got a bunch of people killed, faked her death and let Tim (and others, but Dick just cares about Tim here) be consumed by grief for over a year, and then accidentally started another gang war.

His impression is, of course, biased and one-sided. But it's also completely logical for him to distrust Steph and see her as a liability! I approve of this interpersonal tension.

Dick is still able to see and appreciate when Steph does well though, and she proves herself. By the end of the arc, he changes his mind.

[forevercloudnine]

hey since we've discussed that valentines special today/yesterday I wanted to ask if you have any expectations on what DC will do with this...because it was very unexpected that they'd even so much as directly imply Edward might be genuinely queer and not just vaguely queercoded - not to mention that it looks like that's actually confirmed canon now (at least in this singular instance)? And do you think that if they really do acknowledge it, that they might bring back the actor character (I believe his name was Antoine?) from the special, the one Edward had a past crush on? Since if they ever do intend to explore his queerness or give him a queer romance storyline that probably would be an interesting character to do it with, since he already knows about Edward's rogue persona (and apparently knew for a while and figured it out by himself too) and also seems to still think about him/still has some kind of feelings/is upset about not having prevented him from becoming a villain? feels like it could be an interesting setup for a storyline imo, should DC ever want to actually do anything with the whole confirmed bisexuality thing

Short answer: NO idea.

Long answer: I mean, it's not like "Dinner For Two" was slipped past DC Editorial somehow. For one thing, it was a Riddler comic being published immediately before a blockbuster movie in which Riddler is one of the central characters. And the last two Valentine specials before Strange Love Adventures (Crimes of Passion and Love is a Battlefield) both purposefully featured queer characters and stories. Edward would be the first character to be canonized as queer IN a Valentine special, but otherwise there's no reason to think that Ben Meares (editor for "Dinner For Two") or Marie Javins (executive editor of Strange Love Adventures) weren't aware of Ram V's intentions or the implications for Riddler's character. They're also both on the editorial team for a lot of current Batman titles (at least I'm assuming, based on how many recent issues of Batman comics are filed under their names on the DC Database), so it's not like they're disconnected from the Wider Batman Canon.

That being said, Riddler is a really weird character to have made canonically queer in DC's "good representation" era-- even though reforming (or pretending to reform) has been a persistent character trait of his, he's never been portrayed as sympathetically as, say, Harley Quinn or Pied Piper. And in recent years he's outright been a sadistic mass murderer, though that portrayal has definitely waned since the beginning of Infinite Frontier (his look and build have been steadily teetering back towards something more post-crisis, and in recent Detective Comics he's even lost the red hair and gone back to brown). DC is clearly looking to refresh his image-- maybe being bisexual is part of that process. The subtext has definitely been there for a while, and that's been a major argument from writers and editors for both Tim Drake and the newly-officially-asexual Connor Hawke.

If it does become a large part of his character moving forward, I imagine he would have to reform-- for the standard DC "good queer representation" reasons, but also because it's just really bad optics to have a canonically queer man kidnapping people and setting off bombs and such in order to get the attention of the straight hero. In this scenario I assume he could still be villainous in continuity-adjacent comics like Legends of the Dark Knight, but overall he'd probably settle into something like a PI background character?

As to whether he'll get a romance sideplot... if he does, I would guess he'd get a civilian supporting cast character, which Antoine Moray would definitely fit into. But romances never seem to last for Edward, so who knows. It would be cool if the recent RIddlecat content in Lonely City and Killing Time (at least I THINK that's what's been going on in Killing Time?) led to Edward and Selina having a conversation about their canonical bisexuality. Or Selina talking to anyone about her canonical bisexuality...