#I blame dan didio

[drbatsponge]

"We HAVE to have an adaptation of Babs as Batgirl before Cass, but uh Dick, Jason, and Tim can appear as their older mantles cuz that's different for some reason."

[incorrect-green-lantern-quotes]

As much as I love Hal and Guy and John, sometimes I wonder what Green Lantern comics would've looked like if they never came back to their old roles. Like if instead of Geoff Johns's epic saga that begins with Hal's return, Kyle was allowed by editorial to succeed at restarting the Green Lantern Corps and became the leader of a new generation of GLs?

I think that would've been the natural progression of Kyle's character. For years he was called the last of the Green Lanterns and he carried that weight like Atlas holding up the sky. He tried so many times to rebuild the Corps that he'd only ever heard about from others, and so many times failed because he trusted the wrong people.

But what if instead, Kyle's faith in others was rewarded? What if his search for worthy ringbearers led him to the unlikeliest of candidates? A car thief suspected of terrorism, and a hermit too terrified to leave her apartment? The Guardians of old would have looked at Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz and found them utterly unfit to wear the ring. Many of the Justice League probably would too.

But Kyle Rayner was chosen by sheer, desperate chance in a dirty alleyway. He remembers the toll that unyielding demand for perfection took on his predecessors, how it broke Hal Jordan in the end. He remembers how he was just given the ring with no explanation or training or support and how that cost Alex her life. So Kyle chooses to help.

He helps Simon track down the real culprit behind the bomb. He helps Jessica find the men who murdered her friends. He teaches them that there is no shame or disgrace in fear, so long as they overcome it. And for once, Kyle Rayner's trust and optimism wins out.

The Green Lantern Corps is reborn. There may be only three of them now, but it's more than Kyle ever had before. He takes his partners (for all that he taught them everything they know, he considers them his equals) to the Watchtower. He introduces them to the Justice League, and then breaks the news that the two new Lanterns will replace him when he ventures out to the stars to continue recruiting.

But before Kyle leaves, there is one last thing to do. He brings Simon and Jessica to the Warriors bar in New York to meet their elders. John, Guy, and Alan already know of the new recruits, having heard through the grapevine (Oracle puts out very fast newsletters), but it's another thing entirely to see with their own eyes the small spark that Kyle had carried alone finally growing into a fierce blaze.

And unseen by all of them, Hal Jordan watches as the family he nearly destroyed begins to rise from the ashes. The Spectre feels a little more at peace because he knows that Kyle Rayner is not the last of the old Green Lanterns. Instead, he is the first of the new.

Part 2: Simon, Jessica, & Keli

Part 3: The Lantern at the End of the Universe

Part 4: The Last Guardian

[necrotic-nephilim]

Hello! New to comics and I don't really feel like the New-52 comics are for me and would really like to read and understand Pre-flashpoint and all the dark and good stuff there. Is there an order or starting point you would recommend? Thanks for your time, and I hope you have a great day!

hi! i'm so glad you want to get into comics! i'd love to help with some recs! since you're here, i'm going to assume you're a Batfamily fan and most of my recs will cater to that, but i will try to encompass a bit of everything to help you just understand some big moments and all this mess that is DC canon. adding a cut bc jesus this got long.

so your starting point for pre-Flashpoint is going to be Crisis on Infinite Earths. the TLDR of this event is: DC had a big multiverse in the 70s and early 80s that wasn't friendly to new readers. to try to push their titles more and become a proper competitor to Marvel, they created an in-universe storyline that nuked the multiverse and gave a solid entry point for new fans going forward. this is why you hear terms like Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis. it refers to the comics canon before and after this event, in 1985. some characters had some big changes (for example: pre-Crisis Jason Todd was a circus kid whose parents were killed by Killer Croc) but most remained largely the same, just simplified. you don't *have* to start with Crisis on Infinite Earths if you don't want to. it's a *good* storyline, but it's a big one and a lot of big multiverse-scale stuff happens. so as long as you understand it as "big event that nuked DC's multiverse and gave the world a clean slate in 1985", then you've basically got the gist. also Barry Allen dies during it, but he comes back so don't worry about it.

in general, if DC has some big timeline/canon-altering event, they're going to call it a Crisis Event. the only Crisis Events that will matter to you, trying to get into pre-Flashpoint are

Crisis On Infinite Earths - the above, starts the Post-Crisis/pre-Flashpoint timeline

Zero Hour: Crisis In Time - an event in the 90s that sought to fix some of the kinks that the above Crisis caused, like fixing the origins of the Legion of Superheroes and other Golden/Silver Age characters, not *super* important tbh

Infinite Crisis - this was a big event that brought back some characters who got nuked by Crisis on Infinite Earths, unfucked Power Girl's backstory, and set the groundwork to bring back the multiverse. if you've heard "Superboy Prime punched a hole in reality and it brought back Jason Todd" yeah, this is the story where it happened

Final Crisis - a big event that was partly meta commentary but heroes fought Darkseid, Batman died for a hot second, it was all a big deal about evil winning and all that

Flashpoint - the event that nuked this timeline, a big storyline to do with Flash and the timeline that would result in the New-52 in 2011

are you confused yet? good embrace the confusion it's going to become second nature of a comic fan. you don't need to read these events as a beginner. you really don't i promise. they'll sound big and important, but besides Crisis On Infinite Earths and Flashpoint, the start and end of this era, the rest you can just kind of breeze by so long as you understand the big plot points like Batman dying or Superboy Prime punching reality. unless you really care about a character central to these stories, skip 'em for now.

now for any character, if they have a Year One comic? that is a very safe bet as a place to start. it is what it sounds like. Batman: Year One is going to be Bruce's first year as Batman. same as Green Arrow: Year One, Batgirl: Year One, etc. when in doubt, if there's a Year One, start with Year One. (note: for Superman, his "year one" type story is called Superman: Birthright and it is worth reading if you like Superman)

for Batman, i am holding you by the shoulders when i say this: people will tell you to read The Killing Joke. they're liars. do not listen to them. it's a bad story. you don't need it. do not let the Joker fanboys lie to you. people will also say Dark Knight Returns. don't listen to *them* either. i *like* DKR, i talk about it a lot here. it's not a good intro to Batman. it's an AU story, it's not canon, ignore it for now.

now where you *should* start with Batman, imo, is as followed

Batman: Year One - as said above, Year Ones are good, this is solid to start with

Batman: The Long Halloween - this is an iconic story and it's a followup to year One

Batman: Dark Legacy - the followup to Long Halloween, also a very good story

Batman: Hush - this story is a solid starter if you want to understand the general vibe of Gotham, the typical characters you see in the Batfamily, and a good Batman villain

once you've got the basics down, you *can* get into the big boy storylines like Batman: Knightfall and Batman: No Man's Land, but don't worry about those right now. they're long and complicated and shouldn't really be your starting point no matter how good they are.

other very good pre-Flashpoint comics that are easy to pick up and iconic storylines

Death of Superman - this is a long arc in the Superman run that if you collect in trades, goes Death of Superman, Funeral For A Friend, Reign of the Supermen, Return of Superman, Doomsday. it's long, but a very iconic storyline

Wonder Woman by George Perez - this the run that helped define modern Wonder Woman within the pre-Flashpoint era

JLA: Year One - if you want a good Justice League story where you get characters besides Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman taking the shine, this is a great place to start

Green Arrow by Mike Grell - start with Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters and then go into Green Arrow (1988). this has the darker, very 80s vibes that gets a bit gritty and very realistic with the issues it faces bc Green Arrow comics tend to be more rooted

The New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman - this technically starts before pre-Flashpoint, don't worry about it it's fine. a good run for all of these characters, can get a little confusing, it is okay to be confused do not be afraid to google shit

so, some big stories out of the way i'm just. honestly going to run down the line of the major pre-Flashpoint Batfamily members and give you comic recs for them that you can start with. (besides Bruce obviously, bc well. see above)

Dick Grayson

NIghtwing: Year One

Robin: Year One

Nightwing (1995)

Tim Drake

Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying

Robin (1990)

Robin II: Joker's Wild

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress

Robin (1993)

Barbara Gordon

Batgirl: Year One

Birds of Prey (1999)

Jason Todd

Batman: The Cult (as Robin)

Batman: Death in the Family (as Robin)

Batman: Under The Red Hood

Red Hood: Lost Days

Cassandra Cain

Batgirl (2000)

Batman: No Man's Land

Jean-Paul Valley

Batman: Sword of Azrael

Batman: Knightfall

Stephanie Brown

Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma

Batgirl (2009)

Selina Kyle

Catwoman by Ed Brubaker

Helena Bertinelli

Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood

Huntress: Year One

Birds of Prey: Manhunt

Damian Wayne

Batman & Robin (2009)

there are other very important pre-Flashpoint stories for all of these characters, but these are starting points more than anything. figure out what characters you're interested and go from there. understanding the universe at large helps, do not get me wrong. but at the end of the day, comics are a choose your own adventure of who you want to give a shit about. you're *never* going to read everything "important" and you're probably not going to understand everything. that's okay. don't treat it like a media you need to "complete" like a tv show or a movie, but more like an open world game where you decide what characters/teams/stories you like the most.

pre-Flashpoint covers a lot of ground. some stuff will be darker and grittier, some stuff will be more light-hearted. it will all be about what titles you pick up and what characters you decide you want to read about. you're obviously going to get a much more grounded storyline out of Green Arrow than you are say, a JLA comic. i prefer the more grounded, "street level" sorts of characters. (if you like gritty detective stories, i will be biased and highly recommend the Question (1987) just because. i love him okay.) but you might find you like sometimes more worldly and big scale. at the end of the day: don't force yourself to love a comic you're not enjoying, even if you like that character. you can put that shit down. sometimes, "important stories" are by shitty writers that you won't enjoy reading and you shouldn't make this hobby a chore. i don't care how "critically acclaimed" it is, you don't have to like it if it doesn't click for you. and on the flipside, a comic might be considered "bad" but you may enjoy it (a personal example: Robin III: Cry of the Huntress is considered a very weak comic. don't care. i love it anyway.) accept the cringe, have fun, and enjoy yourself at the end of the day. none of it will make sense anyway so just read what sounds cool to you.

this was all over the place and rambly, but i hope it helps at least a little! welcome to comics anon! if you or anyone else would like more character-specific recs, feel free to ask! if i don't know, i can at the very least hopefully point you in the right direction <3

[aingeal98]

Does Bruce ever overcome his enabling of Cass’s suicidal tendencies

Her crazy stunts (like literally fighting shiva to death) are always turned into a lesson she needed her to learn from or brushed off as something she can simply handle (being shot head on multiple times)

Need to see him reckon with just how human she is 😭

Honestly we never did see a proper reconciliation from Bruce. I blame Dan Didio for this tbh and not just because I blame him for everything. While Cass and Bruce did physically fight out their anger in Cass's batgirl run we never got to see Bruce actually do better or acknowledge his mistakes. Cass went to Bludhaven, then her run ended and she got turned evil, and when she finally came back Bruce was... Supportive but kind of distant, because the writer didn't know how to acknowledge his complete lack of care that Cass had been drugged and brainwashed into being evil.

Because initially the terrible evil arc was meant to be actually Cass of her own motivation, and we were just supposed to accept that the whole family heard about this and thought it made sense that she flipped. The bad writing affected not only her but everyone's reaction to her ooc behaviour, so coming back from that meant figuring out how much it was worth holding the family accountable for ignoring her and how much should just be glossed over because it made no fucking sense for them to react to her being evil like that. Bruce does sort of apologise for not making her feel like she belonged in Batgirl 2008, and he offered to adopt her which was great. But at that point the writer was basically fighting to undo all the damage done after her Batgirl run ended that they didn't really delve into the actual, well written issues that hadn't been resolved in Batgirl 2000.

Then Bruce died and Cass got shipped off to Hong Kong because an apology and an adoption meant nothing in the face of the head of DC having it out for you for being an Asian girl occupying the mantle of his childhood crush Barbara Gordon. And after the reboot the whole dynamic was written very differently, with Bruce being much nicer and saying the right things but also their bond being much... Flatter. As a result. Good dad Batman who's a firm hero works for some characters, but flawed dad Batman has always worked best for Cass.

[radioactive-earthshine]

Like I don't want to blame everything shitty that happened at DC between 2002-2020 on Dan Didio, but every drop of information we have old and new just makes it so easy.

[manyacivilmonster]

WELLS: Eventually, Impulse gave way to Kid Flash and Kid Flash, in turn, morphed into an adult Flash. Do you think those changes necessarily served Bart Allen well? WAID: Nah. Listen, Geoff Johns and I made our peace about this. I love Geoff. Geoff's one of my best friends, and Geoff is an incredibly talented writer and is the only writer alive who loves these characters as much as I do. And I don't blame him for paving over the Impulse identity. The shoehorning of Impulse into Kid Flash was, as I understand it, not his idea. It was a wrongheaded edict passed down by an editor that never got the character and has made it his mission to purge DC of anything even remotely fun and lighthearted. But even as Kid Flash, he was still largely recognizable as Bart. And then he became the Flash, and a more boneheaded move you couldn't have made with that character. Geoff and I fought against it, we fought like you wouldn't believe. Steve Wacker, who was slated to be the original editor, Geoff, me...we all fought the good fight, knowing beyond any shadow of a doubt that squeezing Bart into that costume would go against absolutely everything about that character. And we lost. We lost every step of the way. Ultimately, someone else's ego outweighed my opinion about what Bart would and wouldn't do, but that's how it often goes with corporate-owned heroes and is the price you pay dealing in them. Ask Keith Giffen sometime how many lectures he's had to endure about what Lobo "would and wouldn't do." So, in their infinite wisdom, DC Editorial made Bart The Flash, and that relaunch was one of the greatest critical failures in all of DC publishing history. WELLS: Really? WAID: In terms of sales they had on the first issue and the sales they posted by the fifth or sixth issues, it was just a crashing, crashing disaster. It was one of the most disastrous, embarrassing launches in DC history. And we were all " I'm not trying to sound all "I told you so," because it broke our hearts because we loved that character " but we warned them. We told them, "Don't do that, it won't work." Sure enough, six issues in, they realized they had a mess of a series they couldn't make work, no matter what. At that point, Dan DiDio called me up, a courtesy call, and said, "So we're going to kill Bart. I just thought I should let you know." My honest feeling at that point was like, "Dude, you killed Bart years ago." [mutual laughter] "That's so not Bart in that suit. I don't care. Everything in comics is cyclical. Bart'll be back eventually at some point anyway so, sure, go ahead and put the bullet through his head. I don't care." I figured Bart would be better off dead than misunderstood and mishandled.

Thinking about one of my favorite Mark Waid interviews of all time. Bro really said, my son is better off dead than misunderstood and mishandled 😂😂😂

[reversedumbrella]

Happy Birthday! I'd love to know what your favorite thing about Thad is and your favorite personal headcanon about him.

My curse with Thad is that I know had his editorial history not been like that I wouldn't really care. a compelling story cut short by the powers that be (dan didio when i get you). knowing that his story would never be solved in canon used to keep me up at night

he has a lot of wasted potential in his relationship with Bart, Helen, Max, Iris and so many others. its very easy to find the base for a good story in the existing material (mirroring bart, time traveller, connection to all Allens and Thawnes, etc)

for my favourite silly headcanon i'd like to say BALD. after mercury falling he got rid of his bart hair by shaving his head (something something something mirror bart shaving his head)

for a serious headcanon, Thad hates Iris West with a burning passion and even if he were to be redeemed he would never stop. i like to think that he kidnaps iris and blows up her house bc subconciously he was jeallous she saved bart. after Mercury Falling he blames her for saving bart but not him, cursing him to a loveless life. everything is her fault

[inamindfarfaraway]

So I saw your post here [https://www.tumblr.com/inamindfarfaraway/690058488775327745/batfamily-fanworks-that-purport-to-be-set-in-the] and oh my gosh YOU ARE SO RIGHT!

As much as I enjoy it, Hush is definitely to blame for this as it is held as THE end-all-be-all of all BatFam stories yet Cass (who an acclaimed ongoing series as Batgirl around the same time) was suspiciously missing from it along with Steph. Yet we only ever get flashbacks to Bab's time as Batgirl so that storyline also ended up cementing Bab's legacy as "the one and only Batgirl". Methinks a certain editor in charge at the time mandated for Cass and Steph to not appear in Hush because they-according to him-"were way too toxic" for said storyline. Because you see, as soon as he became a leading editor, his number one priority was getting rid of Steph and stripping Cass of her Batgirl role.

And so the age of darkness began...

First, there was War Games that solely existed to torture Steph in the most vile, most voyeuristic ways before killing her off. Then there was Robin: One Year Later, one of the worst, horrific character-assassination storylines since Spider-Man's One More Day, where Cass was suddenly turned into an over-the-top Saturday Morning cartoon villain obsessed with killing everyone, giving long-winded "together we can rule the world" speeches and being able to speak and write in fluent Navajo. ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD. Then there was Redemption Road which, despite its good moments and happy ending, did even more damage to Cass's character. And finally, we have Battle For The Cowl which ended up pushing Cass and Steph so far into the background, they were basically erased from the BatFamily altogether.

Yet despite Steph's well-received run as Batgirl, DC's poor marketing and the lead up to the New 52 prevented the series from becoming a proper bestseller and it was cancelled without any fanfare whatsoever. Still, all those horrible decisions and storylines (like War Games and Robin: One Year Later) did such massive, long term damage to the characters that, even despite all the small good things (Steph's Batgirl series to the excellent Gates Of Gotham mini-series starring Cass), they were buried from public consciousness. As for Duke (another character, I'm a fan of), I think its just a case of him being a very recent character, a lack of marketing and higher-ups not knowing what to do with him.

As for the asshole editor who everything to burry the Batgirls, he was eventually fired for creating an "unsafe working environment". And yes, his name rhymes with "Ban Video".

As for the people who keep erasing Cass, Steph and Duke from fan works, I know it sounds depressing but hear me out: Fandom, be it comics, video games, films, cartoons, TV shows, ect, has an unconscious bias of white male favouritism. (Yes, I know Dick is Romani, Damien half-Arabic/Asian yet they're still quite white-passing)

YES! THANK YOU! ALL OF THIS!

It is so sad and frustrating that these bias persist even in communities that are meant to be about joy and love; but of course the Batfam fandom has issues with sexism and racism when the canon also has for so long. I'm sure most fans don't try to be prejudiced, but male and white-passing characters are so much more popular than others. The unfair treatment of Steph as Robin and both her and Barbara in making Babs Batgirl again for no reason is one of the things I wrote Robins: The Musical to vent about, and that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Thanks for the explanation! I was already familiar with most of the context you generously provided, but I still really appreciate it as a specific comics shame/recommendation guide and education for others. I wasn't aware of Gates of Gotham and will read it! Black Bat my beloved. Dan Didio when I catch you...

(My original post is here)

[un-pearable]

wait i’ve got the perfect reaction image

i can be so so sad that Superboy (2010-2011) Superboy (2011)

[meara-eldestofthemall]

Hello Bat-gran 👋.

What were the decisions, good and bad, made about writing Tim and Damian (and by extension others) that led us to having 2 Robins?

Is this a problem textually, or a problem with DC as a company?

Thank you for the great ask. What an excellent way to start 2024!

The blame for the two Robins can be laid firmly at the gnarly, ugly feet of DC. The Editorial Staff has a long, disturbing history of making staggeringly bad character decisions. Worse yet they seem to hire writers who make even worse storyline decisions. The Robins dilemma is a perfect example. Let me explain.

When Damian was first introduced he was supposed to end up as a villain. That’s why he was so darn unlikable at first. The writers wanted us to hate him and boy did they make it easy. Then DC did an abrupt about-face and decided to make Damian Robin. They shoved Tim Drake out of the cape into the Red Robin suit to make room for the new kid in a manner fans still dislike today. It did neither Tim or Damian any favors but only seemed to cement the divide among Robin fans.

Half of the fans loved Damian. He was like a miniature Wolverine; violent, raw and disrespectful in a way Robin had never been before. It was a completely new take on the character. The other half of fandom loathed him as Robin and really, really wanted Tim Drake to remain in the role. Tim was the everyman, the Peter Parker of the DC universe. He’d taken the role to new heights and people wanted him to stay. 

So DC did what they do best - the wrong thing. 

After the not-nearly-fast-enough death of the New-52, the Rebirth universe featured Damian as Robin and Tim as Red Robin but in his old Robin suit with an RR shuriken stuck on it. See! Tim isn’t Robin, he’s Red Robin!

DC changed Tim back to just Robin (and made him 16 again) right around the time Damian quit the role. The original storyline was to have Damian become an anti-hero if not a full blown villain. That ground work was laid during Damian’s Teen Titan run where he had the illicit prison. Tim was given a sharp update of the Robin suit (we will not talk about the whole “Drake” debacle) and was working with Bruce again. 

Then DC Bloodbath of 2020 happened and Dan Didio plus a lot of other employees were fired. The massive shake up Dido wanted to introduce (5G which would have seen most of the legacy characters sidelined) was gone as well.

DC had changed direction. Again.

Damian was back in as Robin but with a new costume. Tim was still Robin and came out as Bi. Unfortunately this only compounded all the old problems. 

While an excellent character, Damian simply does not work well as Robin with anyone but Dick Grayson as Batman. He and Bruce are forever at each other’s throats and, quite frankly, his character development is hobbled by being Robin. 

Tim not only works extremely well as Robin to Bruce’s Batman but darn well all by himself. He’s far too independent to be considered the traditional sidekick. But since he came out as Bi DC can’t move him out of the Robin mantle without facing potential backlash due to the message that move would send (Robin is too important to be “sullied” by having a queer person wearing the cape). 

DC’s unwillingness to plan for the long term, and stick to those plans, is how and why there are currently two Robins. DC’s inability to learn from past mistakes is why we’re going to have two Robins for the foreseeable future. Could I be wrong? Gosh, I hope so but after more than 50 years of following Batman and crew, I highly doubt it. 

[popculturebuffet]

Valentine's Superhero Wedding Review Poll III

Hello all you happy people. For the past two years to celebrate the lovelist day of the year with my love of men, women and that beautifulu techiclor rainbow inbetween in costume who punch what good by letting my fine patrons pick out 3 superhero weddings, myself pick one, and you fine folks pick one of these for me to review. What says love more than some asshole in a costume crashing your wedding no?

So for your voting pleasure, here are this years nominees and the poll to pick your faviorite is below. Voting will close in a week. If it's a tie it's sudden death baby and if that ties.. well i'll just hav eto do both won't I. So vote whenever, vote soon, and vote with your heart, here are your nominees!

Lex Luthor and Adora of Planet Lexor (Action Comics 318-319)

Lex's pre crisis marriage has him doing the usual lex luthor things: escape prison, go to a planet he once fooled into thinking he's a great hero and Superman a villian.. then invite superman after the wedding to fake his own death and blame Supes for it.

Emma Frost and Tony Stark (Invincible Iron Man #10) Ones a life long playboy whose lasting relationships end in tears, betryal or the next set of writers wanting him to screw around again. The other's a life long career woman whose fine to flirt but mostly spends her time saving humanity and whose longest relationship was with a man she stole from his wife via very sketchy therapy practices. Naturally marriage is less out of love and more as a smokescreen to screw over a massive anti mutant biggot who used tony's tech to create a waking nightmare for mutant kind, but damn if it won't be fun anyway.

Luke Cage and Jessica Jones (New Avengers Annual #1) A relationship began in casual hookups and deep seated trauma, became one of marvel's most lasting and wholesome marriage and Hero for Hire Luke Cage and PI for hire Jessica Jones became the couple with the least time for your nonsense but the cutest baby. Naturally for their courtship their wedding involves a proposal luke announces to hold her to saying yes, a fight with an old foe turned into a scary monster/ super creep, and takes place just before the super hero community cracked in half.

Wally West and Linda Park (The Flash 132 and 159)

He was a fuck boy, she was a girl who didn't take his shit. Could they make it any more obvious. As wally west grew from irresponsible young ass to true hero worthy of the mantle flash he found his rock in reporter Linda Park, someone on his level willing to both call him out when he stupid, and support him when he's beating himself up too hard. Naturally given their marriage would be in trouble for the 2010's thanks to Dan DiDio's personal mission to make Wally West Fans suffer, their wedding ends in a magician making Linda disappear from everyone's memories, with the two finallyg etting married after antics with angsty future selves, Linda being Impulse's imaginary friend, and a picnic wedding to give us a happy end to Mark Waid's long and storied run and a happy start to one of the best marriages in comics

[shadowwingtronix]

DiDio's Darker DC (Still) Dominates

BW Media Spotlight reveals that DiDio's Darker DC (Still) Dominates

(Or “I ran out of “D”s.) I’ve complained numerous times about what I call “DiDio’s Darker DC”, because whatever issues I had with DC in the 1990s were to be blamed on the 1990s, while Dan DiDio’s time as editor-in-chief of DC Comics was when the de-heroing of the DC heroes really began. From trashing Dick Grayson and Wally West to wiping Clark and Lois’s marriage as well as Black Canary and…

[titans-thoughts]

I don't blame Joshua Williamson. You see, Dan Didio hated the entire Teen Titans and Young Justice generations because they made the main generation look old. He was by definition fighting a losing war, ever since Julie Schwarz aged up Dick Grayson back in the 60s.

He couldn't just age Dick and Roy back down to kids and erase all the others from existence. So we get the average career span of a Robin being 18 months. And with the arrows, we get important characters being erased from existence, or in Roy's case, being turned into a one-note parody of his former self. (And for some reason hanging around Jason Todd. No one quite groks that.)

So, there was that editorial mandate of not being able to use Mia, Connor, and Lian...until Didio was fired and they could.

You know when the first issues of Joshua Williamson run of Green Arrow was coming out and Mia wasn't even mentioned at all by any of the characters even in passing I thought part of the plot was gonna be that her existence was wiped from them by something (Maybe as a result of all that Doctor Manhattan New 52 Stuff) and part of the plot was going to be them remembering her.

But

No they knew who she was and recognized her immediately so they remembered her.

Which leads to my question of "WHY THE FUCK DID NONE OF YOU TRY TO FIND HER?"

You mean to tell me you guys knew Mia was somewhere in the world and you didn't try to find her at all or hell just mention she existed

No mention of his fucking daughter?!

You wanna convince me that Ollie wouldn't immediately search the entire world doing whatever he needed to do to get Mia back? Part of his arc is him willing to do "anything to protect his family" I guess that anything doesn't include even remotely trying to find her at all.

And all of this could have just been fixed by a simple box text of "But I'm missing one member. Mia Dearden. My daughter. I've been trying to find her. So far I've been unsuccessful." It's not that hard.

Come on!

[arabian-batboy]

People do realize the Batfamily was “destroyed” because of Dan Didio hate boner towards the Batfamily?

Yeah, but I guess since Damian was created around that era then its easier for people to blame everything that happened since then on him, even though he literally had no connection to any of the bad things that happened to other characters around that time (not in-universe nor in real-life), he's basically these frustrated people's scapegoat.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Sorry the comic anon again

I know we mostly focus the woke shit but comics also fall apart because

1. Rampant big events that cause more damage than good

2. Rampant character assassination and development erasure that cause serve damage (don’t get me fucking started on Dan Didio 5G plans and how that effect a character I was invested in)

3. PAINFULLY obvious writers who don’t check the characters they are writing past unless it’s a certain run.

4. And keeping the same godawful status quo that keep a endless cycle of the same shit again and again.

There more, but marvel and dc purposely put them into the landmines and refuse to properly adapt their stories and money making ways to modern era. I can’t blame just the wokies, I have to blame th embodiment of a strawman manchild like Dan didio

I know this long, but hear what the head of dc comics from the early 2010’s to 2020 said

https://www.omega-level.net/2013/09/09/frown-dcs-dan-didio-says-heroes-shouldnt-happy-lives/

Oh, absolutely mainstream comics have been shit for decades. I love that you made a numbered list because I have things to say and this makes it easy to organize, XD

FUCK EVENT COMICS. God, I used to love these things when they were rare. They felt meaningful and they were the only time you got to see some characters interact with each other, and it felt special because it was unique. Secret War, Crisis on Infinite Earths, No Man's Land, and Age of Apocalypse are some of my favorite comic stories ever. Reading the No Man's Land novelization was actually what got me into Batman comics in the first place, and from there into DC itself (eventually). Until then, the only comics I'd read were Marvel staples like X-Men and Spider-Man (which, believe it or not, used to be the only two Marvel characters 90% of mainstream fans liked) and Spawn. But event comics also completely killed my interest in DC and Marvel. Civil War ruined pretty much every character I liked, along with everything I enjoyed about the Marvel universe. And Flashpoint killed DC for me, while the New 52 dug up its grave and did unmentionable things to the corpse. Now, event comics happen all the time. Hell, DC rebooted its main universe I think three times in a 10 year span. And dear God don't get me started on multiverses. They used to be an interesting concept, but now they're just a receptacle for every idea that was too shitty for even modern Marvel/DC editors to green light for the main continuity.

Yeah, way too many comics these days are written by people who hate the character they're writing for. It's vandalism, pure and simple. Taste, quality, respect for the character and its history, satisfying the fans, all gleefully thrown into the fire. It makes it impossible to get into any character, because the moment the writer changes so will everything good about the character. Even new characters aren't immune. The moment Bendis took over writing Jon Kent he artificially aged him up, completely changed his character, and basically did everything he could to ruin the magic of Tomasi's Super Sons run. Pissed me off to no end, because I was actually considering dipping my toes back into DC just to read more Super Sons than the stuff I saw on tumblr until that happened. Still makes me mad thinking about it.

I know this is kind of similar to the last point, but Batman writers constantly do this with Damian Wayne. It seems like every new writer has to throw out all his character development and reset him back to being a barely functioning murder baby. Though, that's also a problem with Batman, too. How many times has he cut himself off from his family and friends because "he works better alone" only to realize that he needs other people? 20, by now? 30? I mean, fuck, they did the "Batman needs to be a loner oh wait actually he needs his family" storyline twice in three years. No Man's Land in 1999 and Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive in 2002. I get that long running serials are going to repeat storylines, but fuck try to keep things consistent for a decade, at least. I don't think that's asking too much. Aside from the vandalism and wokeness, I think the major problem with American comics is that they have no idea how to write a character or a story long term. They just do whatever they think will boost sales or get people talking, find out they wrote themselves into a corner because they didn't think further than, at best, a year out, and then reboot their entire continuity again because they can't figure out any other way to get out of the whole they dug themselves into. Why would anyone get invested in a product like that?

This is where I'm going to disagree partly. I don't think the status quo is necessarily a bad thing. I think about it a lot when people won't shut up about how killing the Joker would prevent countless deaths, and actually Batman is an idiot for prioritizing his own morality over the lives of others by not killing him. In real life, that might be true. "Do the ends justify the means" is a moral problem humanity has been wrestling with since we invented morality. But comics aren't real life, and they're not supposed to be. In comics, there are good guys and bad guys. The good guys stop the bad guys from doing bad things, usually by fighting them, and then arrest them. Good guys follow a moral code, one that usually includes a no killing rule. They do this because if Batman kills off his rogues, or Superman rips Lex Luthor's heart out, you can't tell anymore stories with those characters. Heroes are defined, in many ways, by their villains. Batman without a Joker, or Two-Face, or Riddler, or Scarecrow, is less of a character. Not to say that he can never face any other bad guys, or that they can't be cycled in and out now and then, but you can't just kill them off. You can't have Batman kill them off. Especially when comic book deaths are meaningless anyway. Once you break one of the central pillars of Batman's morality, he is immediately a different character. Less of a character, in my opinion. Especially these days, where morals are more about whether or not a character supports the popular new slacktivist cause and less about the fundamental questions of universal human morality. So, I very much advocate for good status quos to stick around as long as possible. But you also need to recognize when the thing you're doing needs to change. It's a delicate balance, and one that's completely beyond most comic writers today.

Ugh, don't even get me started on that "characters can't be happy" bullshit. I'll be here all day. Suffice to say, it's a garbage line that only exists to excuse bad writing and the most shallow interpretation of drama. Super heroes can be happy and still be entertaining and have personal strife. Reading constant misery and knowing that every bit of happiness a character does find will be temporary is what's boring.

[batfamcraze]

Maybe it's me but I think what I like most about Damian is how much I don't like him. You can tell DC Comics is going for a redemption arc for him and we're really beginning to see him grow into a good person and fine young man. And they're doing it right. They're showing his growth rather than telling us. Damian is still making mistakes and still is rather standoffish, but he's getting there.

He's the one you want to root for and he's hard to love but I'm so excited to see where they take him. So glad your blog is heavily dedicated to him. (And thanks for the follow too!)

Damian is my favourite Batkid and my favourite Robin. I like all of the Batkids fairly equally, but Damian is my #1 because his story and character is so appealing to me! (I also acknowledge DC's problematic treatment of him and the Al Ghul family at the same time of course)

I read Damian's comics when I was around 13 years old and I thought he was the coolest bitch. I loved that iconic introduction of him saying "Father, I imagined you taller." He's wished to meet his father his whole life and that's the first thing he says to him? Amazing.

While I understand that you like Damian and I agree with your statement, what a lot of people don’t know is that Damian’s current redemption arc in Robin (2021) already happened in Robin: Son of Batman (2016). 

In Robin: Son of Batman (2016), He leaves Gotham for a year to travel, and calls it his “Year of Atonement” (to atone for the crimes he’s committed), it's about Damian not wanting to kill people anymore and become a hero like his father is. (And I recommend you reading it honestly, it has such a strong hold to my heart!)

There are a few comics that include Damian’s redemption arc like Batman and Robin (2011) I think, and more that I'm probably forgetting. (I need to re-read Damian’s comics again honestly, because my memory is a little poor because of how long ago I read them lol!)

From what I remember in the New 52 continuity (It was the current canon at the time I read it, so, yeah I’ve been a Batfam fan for a LONG time lol), Damian was a solid member of the batfamily, and was a good hero/sidekick. At some point he stopped being an assassin and became a new addition to the family.

Now you ask: “So Damian already had a redemption arc, and they’re doing it again?”

And my answer is: “YES! That’s weird isn’t it? Congratulations! You accidentally discovered a problem I have with DC too!”

Please bear with me, I’m going to give context as to why Damian is going through another redemption arc, and share my thoughts on Robin (2021) under the cut lol:

The problem with Robin (2021) imo, is that Damian already went through a redemption arc. The reason why DC is doing it twice, is because DC’s ex-ceo Dan Didio (Whom I greatly detest, caused many problems with multiple DC characters), planned to turn Damian into DC’s newest and biggest villain for their canceled continuity that was planned after Rebirth, and to take place after the Dark Knights Metal event. The new failed continuity was going to be called 5G (Stands for Generation 5). It got cancelled because the executive team had disagreements with directions that multiple characters had, as well as hating the idea of a time jump that would be a part of it (Damian was apparently going to be 18!). You can read more about it here in Article 1 and Article 2. (There are multiple posts that could explain 5G better here on Tumblr but I hope I tried lol)

Didio is also to blame for DC having multiple continuities like New 52, Rebirth, etc. So if you're mad about DC being confusing and having their timelines restart frequently, blame it on this guy lol (Thank god he doesn’t work there anymore). Currently, we’re in the Infinite Frontier continuity, but it’s not actually a reboot like the past two so I let it slide ig, because Infinite Frontier is technically a continuation of Rebirth. (If I'm wrong about Infinite Frontier lmk, but my point still stands because I hate Didio for creating New 52 and Rebirth lol)

While 5G was in the works before it got cancelled and Didio got replaced by Jim Lee, Damian was in multiple comics that was going to explain his new path to villainy for 5G. His fallout with the Teen Titans he led in Teen Titans (2016) because he didn’t have faith in the justice system anymore, dealing with the trauma of Alfred’s death, attempting to kill KGBeast because of the attempted murder of Dick, Dick not remembering Damian and turning into Ric, were some of the reasons for his new path. (Source here and here)(I apologize if some details are wrong)

Because 5G was planning on making Damian a supervillain, DC wanted to give the Robin mantle back to Tim. (Despite Damian being Robin for about 15 years, which means Tim hasn’t been Robin for about the same length)

When 5G was cancelled, Williamson was then given Robin (2021) and he had to write Damian’s redemption arc, which is where we are now. If it weren’t for DC trying to change Damian’s story and ruin his character. *cough* *cough* racism. 

And the ideas they had for 5G that they didn’t want to throw away, gave us 5G’s leftovers known as Future State (2021), Death of the Justice League (2022), and the Batman comic with Tim as his Robin that recently got announced (writer Chip Zdarsky). Even though Bruce is supposed to “die” in Death of the justice League? ... 😐

*Apparently, James Tynion IV didn’t like 5G either, so he decided to write DC vs Vampires (2021) instead. Lol the more you know! ✨ (Source here)

To summarize: Tim was going to be be the new Robin for 5G, 5G gets cancelled, now we have both Tim and Damian run around as Robin in Infinite Frontier because of their failed attempts of changing Damian to a supervillain, and have Tim replace him. Now Damian is going through the same arc he already went through because of their idiotic decision. (Side note: If you were wondering why they’re both Robin currently, that's why!) 🙃

*This is not a hate post for Tim. I don't hate Tim, I actually like him! I’m pointing out the fact that DC is racist, and that they’ve been pushing Tim to be Robin recently, because he's white and he hasn’t been Robin for 15-ish years. Don’t misread this post please.

So... After all of that context (which was very much needed), I’m going to finally talk about Damian in Robin (2021) lol. 

First of all, I don't have a problem with Robin (2021), I don't fully hate it! There are a few parts that I like, the Lazarus Tournament was a pretty cool idea tbh and the writing is decent. But I don't think I can ever love it, because this comic is a reminder that it wouldn't exist if DC weren’t racist, and that Damian would be on the same path he was on before all of this bs. This comic has elements from Damian’s past comics that, imo, has been handled better.

I’m sorry if you like this comic and that I probably ruined it for you, but it’s completely fine to like this comic and still be aware of the sabotage he went through! If DC sees that Robin (2021) is successful, then they will surely regret their past actions and never attempt to give his villain arc a second try in the future (If DC tries again I will fight them)! I understand why someone would like Robin (2021) because non-Damian readers aren’t aware that he’s no longer that snotty brat that fanon thinks he is. Yea, Damian can be arrogant and childish, those are his flaws after all (and he’s still a child btw, and flaws are very much needed in a character. And I don't like flaw-less characters because they bore me lol), but he's WAY more toned down after Robin: Son of Batman (2016) and Batman and Robin (2011). Damian was already a developed good person before Robin (2021).

Without further ado, here are a few of my fav random panels of Dami’s past redemption arc that I love:

Damian's new friend Maya, helps him realize his potential to become a hero  💚♥️

Maya tells Damian that she forgives him for killing her father Morgan Ducard.

Damian was sent to kill a den of demon bats(?) in a cave, and sees a baby demon bat. When Damian tries to force it to fight back, it licks his nose, and Damian cries. This is how Damian meets Goliath ♥️. This scene represents how Damian saw himself in the demon bat, because he also had no desire to kill when he was young, but was forced to his entire life. Which is why he breaks down (including my own heart). [These pics are from Robin: Son of Batman (2016)]

I apologize if my reply was not at all you were expecting LOL, but I was going to make a post about DC’s failed 5G plan, and I thought why the hell not? I’ll do it now since it affected Damian A LOT!

“He's the one you want to root for and he's hard to love but I'm so excited to see where they take him. So glad your blog is heavily dedicated to him.”

Oh yes I absolutely agree! I’ve rooted for him on Day 1 and there aren't enough people on the Damian Wayne Defence Squad like me lmao. And thank you so much! That really means a lot! 💕 (I’ll also strongly defend the other Batkids too btw, I appreciate all of them lol)

Thank you for sending the ask! 💕