#also as with my hal jordan read...there's a lot of stuff

[teatitty]

Okay everyone buckle the fuck in because we’re doing a full comic read of all the times I can find in which Ororo and Logan interacted on page! 

Now while they don’t actually speak together in Giant Size X-Men (1975) #1 it is the comic in which they get recruited by Xavier and was Storm’s first comic book appearance! Logan first appeared in The Incredible Hulk (1962) #180 back in 1974 and Giant Size was only his 4th appearance. So I’m gonna show their recruitment pages just to give the bare minimum of backstory lol

They do stand side by side in one panel at least :D

[sunnyscript]

Parallax feels for y'all

[theflashjaygarrick]

Absolutely wild to me that with all of DC's reboots/retcons no one has had the sense to completely erase the Arisia incident (and no, I do not count Johns' whole 'Hal thought it was creepy but then learnt that her planet rotates differently so she is actually 200' nonsense. It's probably the biggest stain on the green lantern franchise (followed by the Kalmaku nickname thing) and genuinely there is no benefit to it existing.

But importantly I don't mean erase Arisia. She is a character with a lot of potential as a little sister with self esteem issues, a child who has been conscripted into a literal galactic army and is honestly just trying her best. She's adorable and had a lot of potential before Englehart made it so disgusting I stopped reading his green lantern comics my I own sanity. And I do feel like while it definitely did tarnish Hal and his reputation (and lets be real, probably should have done so for almost every green lantern in that era except John) Arisia herself was honestly a lot harder hit with being hated and erased. Which is how a lot of comic controversies - and even real life abuse cases can - go. I feel like she honestly deserves a second chance to be explicitly and overtly removed from that uncomfortable and unnecessary arc rather than just being pushed aside so people can write Hal as a space maverick male fantasy (when will Spectre Hal come back from the war).

But like imagine an Arisia year one with me (wherein the writers and the corps aren't creeps):

Arisia is a young orphaned alien girl who is still grieving when she has the responsibility and powers of a lantern ring thrust upon her. While still trying to get a hang of her new powers she is called into OA where she meets the other Green Lanterns. She begins training and becomes the (actual) little sister/kid of the green lantern corps. Crucially no one is weird about her. I would probably make it so that her home planet values really strong familial ties so that as an orphan she is desperately seeking out a family in the green lantern corps, which clashes with some of the other members who initially see the other corpsmen as work buddies at most. In this when Hal and her hang out its because he's her mentor and he radiates cool uncle vibes.

And honestly you could keep the ageing up with the ring idea but instead of making it part of a creepy romance arc it could be used to further explore her own anxieties. Maybe she feels overlooked as a kid so decides to make herself look older to feel more powerful when on missions, but it eventually it makes her feel more self conscious about what she looks like normally. Then it ends with her learning to embrace and find confidence in who she really is. You know, classic coming of age stuff. And after that Hal and Jon decide to introduce her to the Teen Titans so she can be around other heroes (roughly) her own age.

So she ends up on Earth for while where you could have a fun fish out of water dynamic whilst she explores earth life in San Fransisco. Not only is she a member of teen titans as their GL (or Teen Lantern as they probably insist on calling her). She can have a whole side plot about making friends in her civilian identity and wanting to be a normal kid (milkshakes, diners, roller skating, baby gay crushes) while also knowing that at some point she has to go back to OA and to her home sector. Back there she has to embrace this massive responsibility (honestly too big for someone of her age) that she didn't choose, but that was rather an inherited burden from her late father and duty as a member of the corps.

Ultimately it would be about finding confidence in your own heroism, a found family, and having fun coming of age moments. And rescuing a promising female character from being an embarrassing footnote in DC (and Hal Jordan's) history.

DNI INTERACT IF YOU ENJOY HAL AND ARISIA AS A COUPLE. I DON'T KNOW IF THESE PEOPLE ARE REAL BUT IF THEY ARE, LEAVE MY POST/BLOG ALONE.

[flashfuture]

Since I've been on it I wanna talk about Hal's parents. Cause I've seen some dislike for Geoff Johns take on them. But they didn't really, Jessica especially, exist before then. I feel like some people read the comic where Hal in hysterical grief over Coast City made a construct of his parents and then went off to kill all the Lanterns and Guardians and said yep that is exactly how his parents were.

But let's get into it. Martin and Jessica Jordan. For further context, the sibling order is Jack, Hal, Jim Jordan. Three boys. And it was sort of implied for years that they were Jewish and got confirmed not too long ago that Jessica is Jewish and Martin is Catholic. Hal was a grown man in the 80s. His childhood took place in the 50/60s. And before that he was a grown man in the 60s meaning his childhood was the 40s/50s. That absolutely influenced the type of life he had. Vs the further in time we drag this out the less natural it becomes to have super strict parents.

So to begin the first physical appearance of Martin Jordan comes in 1989 in Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn #1. This is a post crisis pre zero hour story so any events in this particular time window are wildly subject to change

Martin is a test flight pilot. He's Hal's hero. His plane goes down. Hal watches. This sequence of events stays consistent across every time line including Flashpoint which is you know fascinating.

"Hal got fired today-- and he got his mom to call up and beg for him."

"Talk about my father again Biff and I'll rip your lungs out."

In this version of events, we get a mention of Jessica. She's not named and doesn't appear. So you can tell she was brought up purely for a 'Hal is so irresponsible he needs his mommy's help' bit. Hal and Jack get along though and are violently defensive of their father. Hal also catches a drunk driving charge after this.

Speaking of drunk I know there's a comic out there where Martin is described as a drunk which I could not for the life of me dig up again but that's mentioned all of once so I just ignore it. What's with making test pilots drunks???

Anyways Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn is definitely not my favorite Hal Jordan story and I'm glad it's been mostly retconned out minus the very beginning parts with Martin.

(Green Lantern vol 3 #36)

"So you're back to flying planes, huh?"

"Dad's blood still runs through my veins, I guess."

This Christmas special in 1993 took place before Coast City exploded. Hal took Carol out to Jack's house to spend the holiday with the Jordan family. Hal directly attributes flying to his dad's influence.

Now Green Lantern vol 3 #48. Hal is standing in the ruins of Coast City not a soul left and he conjures an image of his parents. Reminder they are entirely Hal's imagination and again he is just about hysterical right now.

"I looked up to you. I worshipped the ground you walked on, or flew over. I wanted to grow up and be you... which probably has a lot to do with who I am now. Growing up, though, I never felt like you... I don't know thought that much of me."

As we saw Hal's dad died when he was Maybe ten. His little brother and older brother didn't have real accomplishments in elementary school. Jack the DA and Jim helping the campaign and having a family that's all modern. Stuff Martin would have never known about. Martin the pilot getting on Hal's case for having his head in the clouds? Really seems like Hal is the one he could have related to the most. Martin getting on Hal about not saving the city just proves Hal is projecting his worries about disappointing his dad onto his dad and then because he's so hysterical with grief forces himself to rewatch his dad dying.

Absolutely completely irrational state of mind he's in right now. At the end of this issue, he's going to fly off into space to kill all the Lanterns and the Guardians.

And then he summons Jessica. Calling her mother instead of mom is just really funny to me like informal with his strict dad formal with his chill mom. Lmao? Jessica only speaks on Martin. Reminding Hal of the good times they had. She's Hal's memory which which means Hal heard the story of dressing up as Santa he remembers his dad's aftershave. Summoning your mom just to talk about your dad is crazy work btw

Again Hal was so young when his dad died. Not a teenager not even close. What was Martin disappointed about? Maybe Hal who can't keep a job a girl or half his friends (Barry died and all super friends ditched him basically) is projecting backwards into time. And assumes his Dad would be disappointed in him.

"Personal gain? This is about personal loss!"

Personal loss and Hal's spent most of his time summoning his long dead father. He really never got over Martin dying and that's so apparent. Anyways this is where Hal decides to go into space and kill everybody. Seeing his dad taken from him one more time made him snap.

Hal is enamored with his father. Whether their relationship was tough or easy it wasn't necessarily the point. The point is Hal Jordan loves his father to Oa and back more than the rest of his family probably understood. He didn't just want to impress his father he wants to be him.

And Zero Hour royally fucked up Hal's family but like idk let's just say Infinite Crisis fixed it. That's two reality shattering events. Why not give Hal a little treat of being his dad's favorite. No one seems to miss when Jack, Jim, and Hal all went to the same college and the same fraternity and were besties

[zahri-melitor]

i mean this in the most politely curious way, what do you mean by Geoff Johns like? i’m newer to comics, so i really don’t know a whole lot about the writers. i see his name tossed around a bit and i can’t quite parce out what about his writing bothers the people who dislike him, and i’m so curious.

i haven’t really read anything of his yet, i don’t think, but i do know some of his stuff is on my want to read list, so i’m wondering if like…is his writing just awful?

Okay. In my own particular parlance: "Geoff Johns-like" means "banging on about Johns' favourite characters, noticeable bronze age groupy preferences, will not be shocked if it contains retcons changing things Johns doesn't like".

I am not saying that something is bad because it's written by Geoff Johns (in fact there are multiple storylines he's written I quite enjoy - go read Kon's Adventure Comics run, which contains some of my favourite Kon characterisation ever). It's meant more in terms of the fact that a lot of comics writers are quite distinct in their writing style, and you get to know their habits the more you read them. Alan Grant is going to try and sell you on the politics of anarchism. Greg Rucka really really really loves hyper-competent 30ish women with an edge, a grudge and a willingness to be seen as morally grey to achieve their aims. Scott Snyder really likes sweeping stories that have characters questioning their moral cores. Chuck Dixon is going to write everyone from a conservative viewpoint and specialises in character interaction. Grant Morrison loves pulling in pre-Crisis continuity points, whether or not they make sense. Paul Dini is Harley Quinn's biggest supporter and tends to write slice-of-life storylines in the same mode as he wrote BTAS. And so on.

The hallmarks of a Geoff Johns story are fundamentally the following: a massive hard on for the Green Lanterns Corps and Hal Jordan as the best Green Lantern in existence; he thinks Barry Allen is an interesting character; strong dislike of a lot of 90s storyline decisions, particularly the post-Crisis 'Last Son of Krypton' policy (aka 'Clark can be the only Kryptonian') and Hal as Parallax; inability to turn a script in on time; and he's one of the main writers interested in JSA stuff due to the historical quirk that his entry into DC comics came via JSA-related characters and writing. The man is not afraid of a big retcon to fix a situation he doesn't like.

I wouldn't say Johns' writing is awful. I would say he writes stories that you can pick out as specifically written by him as he has a distinct voice, and you'll have a better time with his writing if it's about a character he loves to pieces, if you also like that character.

Most of what people strongly dislike about his writing falls into his willingness to retcon situations and push particularly Hal and Barry as main characters (and people who don't like the Kon's parentage retcon).

I wouldn't actively avoid him, but I would say if you read some of his stories and decide you don't want to read more, you're not the only one.

[ypipie]

I DMED MY FRIEND ON DISCORD THINKING IT WAS YOU :SOB: anyways your hal autism intrigues me greatly do you have any fic recs,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

FIC RECS. No I don't (lie) i have a few that im too embarrassed to share publically . But comicswise, if you're interested in reading those,

THE SPECTRE (2001)

. God. the spectre 2001

Im so insane about the spectre 2001 its not even funny. I thought about it again tonight and accidentally reawoke my autism again. Hal Jordan in a green lantern sense has a LOT of comics, but most of the stuff i enjoy of her have been spectre related OR cameos in other comics. Like Justice League Spectacular. Or Batman: Universe (<- I'm also insane about it)

i haven't actually read a lot of fics on Hal, i don't usually read a lot of fics at all, but if anyone does have recs i would love to hear them too

[whohasthecards]

Just thinking about different fictional father-son pairings I really like, based on what I know from canon and what I like from fanfiction. I'm gonna list them down (and lowkey expose myself) cause why not.

Jake "Hangman" Seresin & Beau "Cyclone" Simpson

Jake "Hangman" Seresin & Thomas "Iceman" Kazansky

Jake "Hangman" Seresin & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Bruce Wayne/Batman & Jason Todd/Red Hood

Slade Wilson/Deathstroke & Jason Todd/Red Hood

Hal Jordan/Green Lantern & Jason Todd/Red Hood

Aaron Hotchner & David Rossi

Alucard & Dracula

Trevor Belmont & Dracula

James Kirk & Pike

Booth & Sweets

Gibbs & Tony

Ducky & Palmer

Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker & Leia Skywalker

Din Djarin & Grogu

Bobby Nash & Evan Buckley

Aizawa & Shinsou

Probably a shit ton more thats buried deep in my brain because I read all the fanfics pertaining to the pairing and now have nothing to read but rereading

Hey, it's likely that I already have read most of the father-son relationship fics, but if you want to recommend stuff, feel free to leave it in the comments

Also, a part of me wants to write Original Character father-son pairings, or characters with OC sons and stuff. Probably says a lot about me in a way, but well, I am exposing myself already

[lazaruspiss]

So, I'm writing a long fanfic based around the characterizations of the various Bats in the 80s-00s time frame, and Nightwing is gonna be important but I don't have a good grasp of his personality yet. I'm currently reading through The Resurrection of Ras Al Ghul, but that and a few of the 2016 issues are all I've got to go off of right now.

Do you have any comics you'd recommend for getting a good grasp of his personality and general vibes?

I'd also be happy to read any kind of ramble about his personality/appeal you feel like writing. Having read your fanfiction I feel like (sincere compliment:) you are the exact kind of unhinged I want to get character opinions from.

(Also you mentioned Dick being in the mob which sounds Very Fun and I wanna know what titles so I can read that)

-redhoodinternaldialectical on anon cause sideblog

ok first of all. im flattered. i feel so powerful rn.

and second of all... my 'to read' list is embarrassingly long, and dick's been around and in a lot of comics so i have a lot of trouble keeping up ;-; but i will try my best!!

The New Teen Titans gets recommended a lot as a starting point for Dick as Nightwing, and while i havent read much of it, the stuff i have read has been pretty solid and i get why its so popular.

Nightwing 1996 is my personal go to comic for Dick, mainly bc it was his first real solo run. (it's often listed as "volume 2" of nightwing, but volume 1 aka Nightwing 1995 was really more of a test drive just to see if they should make a Nightwing solo series) It's also where Dick joins the mob! although that came off the tail end of a lot of different plot points.

(This is a bit unrelated, but in general I think knowing a bit of irl context to certain comic events is important. Like, at one point Bludhaven is nuked off the map. It doesn't make sense, and it was most likely due to some higher up DC nonsense. And Nightwing 1996's second annual is written by a man. etc etc.)

... I actually have a guide I've been working on, main reasons being quick reference for what happens where, and that writing these things down helps me remember them better

as you can probably tell, I still have a ways to go. looking at this now i'm starting to realize that i am really down bad for him lol

Mobbed Up (where Dick gets adopted by a random mob boss who took one look at his depressed mug as he was getting fired from the police force and said "new son?") is issues #107-111

I feel like I should get back to character thoughts.

Dick on his own is deeply serious, he has a job to do and it's incredibly important that he does it right. In the beginning this serves as an invaluable asset, but as he loses more people it starts to turn into more destructive. A trait that is morphed by his traumas into obsessiveness.

Dick when Tim comes to visit (or just when he's around people he cares about) is a bit softer, it's subtle, but it shows that he's aware of/cares for the people around him.

Dick with Bruce around seems to worry so much about proving himself, about being seen as a respectable peer, that it backfires into making him come off more insecure and as a bit of a "rebellious teen". (which is exactly what he's trying to avoid when he strikes out on his own) I've read various arcs and issues but I haven't actually read any focused on Dick and Bruce aside from the ones towards the beginning, so I'm sure their relationship must change, but this is how they were when Dick had first moved to Blud.

I feel like Bludhaven is also important to talk about. It's very much meant to be "Gotham, but worse". It's a place that even Batman wouldn't bother with, a place beyond saving. I'm... kind of breaking my own heart, thinking about how much Dick put into this city, only to. To fail? In a sense? A hero's home city isn't usually obliterated like that. The only other example that comes to mind is Hal Jordan's, and Hal literally went insane and became a space terrorist to bring it back. Dick is just... forced to move on.

And Dick goes back to NYC. Nightwing patrolling Gotham with any regularity feels very modern. He shows up when there's a major event and DC wants to capitalize on having a bunch of names in the same series, and he shows up when something drastic changes (like a new robin, or a death). Dick has however spent a lot of time in NYC, either because of the Titans or because. yknow. home go boom.

Anyways. Arc recs. Unironically I need you to read Brothers in Blood. Get past the initial gross out factor of Tentatodd and it's a great look at Jason and Dick's relationship. This is #118-122 and right after Bludhaven gets nuked. Dick has just experienced the lowest lows that one could low. Jason seems to know all about it, and tries to help in the worst way possible. Jason is right and blunt and convoluted and so so insecure about where he stands with Dick. Dick doesn't know where he stands with Jason either, on account of all the murder, and his tactless approach to trying to confront Dick on the copious amounts of trauma that Dick is dealing with. BiB is my Jaydick bible.

I'd also say to just give the first few arcs a shot. Beginnings are meant for introductions! It gives a good sense of who Dick is, why he's here, and what his goals are. Exposition baby! And I'm once again thinking about how ultimately Dick kind of fails said goals. I love him but he makes me so emo. Blockbuster has also been his main villain since the beginning, up until. Yknow. He became deader than his namesake. There's also a few fear toxin based issues that are good for. well. understanding what his fears are. There's also a fear toxin scene in Batman: Orphans, but i'll just reblog the post i made of it so u don't have to read that one. The art is fun, the story is weird and just kinda. meh.

#60 is when Dick joins the force. The beginning of the end, so to speak, but we don't meet Catalina until #71.

#93 is That Issue. The infamous rape scene. The thing about his time with Catalina is that it was almost definitely meant to be explored for what it was- an abusive relationship. But DC wanted Nightwing in an event. It doesn't have any satisfactory end, Bruce (DC) calls Dick to fight in Gotham. He does. His story falls to the wayside for the bigger title. The worst thing that can happen to a DC character IMO is getting a Batman crossover. There was supposed to be an entire arc dedicated to what would happen to Dick in this abusive relationship. But we got 2 issues. And War Games. It pisses me off to absolutely no end. DC needed more mouths to kiss the ground that Batman walks on. They don't give a damn about the stories that exist outside their cash cow.

After all that, eventually Dick is back to his utterly depressing life. He joins the mob, finds a family, bad things happen to said family. (Mobbed Up, #107-111) He wants to protect the daughter, Sophia Tevis, and then Slade holds Sophia hostage to get Dick to teach his daughter Rose how to fight. He does, but he also teaches Rose how to question authority (aka her dad). Slade is not happy about that, and nukes Bludhaven. (Renegade, #112-117) See my earlier note about IRL reasons for dumbass plot points.

Nightwing 1996 has 2 annual issues (despite running for much longer than 2 years). The first annual is a fun murder mystery and i think a good look into how Dick handles relationships. He also reads as very aromantic/demiromantic who doesn't know it yet, but maybe that's just me, lol. the second annual is dog shit. Mark Andreyko can get bent, it sucked total ass and isn't worth reading.

[flowerflamestars]

Hey! So I went to check your bookmarks and alas you have none, but what are the chances you would still have Jason Todd fic/author recommendations? Assuming I've read none. Or just any favorite Batman fics?

I'm getting a little overwhelmed with all the different fandom tags and timelines 😅

🤍

So, as someone who is also relatively new-ish to the Batman fandom but binged A LOT of content early on, my best advice is going to be to find your own vibe.

I've been on tumblr since 2012 and wandered through a ton of fandoms- and yet? Batman has bowled me over with it's sheer....in fighting? (This is obviously not like. Voltron-level stuff. Do yall remember tumblr when Voltron was raging?) People are SO SURE their thing is The Correct Thing. Despite the fact that there are a near endless amount of canon permutations. SO MUCH ship discourse, babe.

So, of course, I have many recs, mostly from ships people get mad about.

A good Jason character intro: Give Thanks to Broken Bones by thepartyresponsible. a VERY GOOD Jason, but one the other hand, technically an Avengers fic. Highly readable, maybe doesn't 100% land the ending, but an extremely good mix of the two worlds.

My favorite Bruce Wayne: Masking by BombusBombus. As much a loving meditation on neurodivergence as it is a a love story, Superbat at their most husbands. (teen baby Jason running around, being lied to by Bruce about why his dad is just. staring at pictures of Superman's hands.)

Smut: make me (say your name) by Naheka. Dick/Jason, character study wrapped around smut that is just. SO in character. Not wildly explicit, but earning the rating.

Fluff (not vigilantes au): no ordinary by SPQR. Dick/Jason. They're teenagers at boarding school and it so SO perfectly captures that hazy late teen longing AND Jason's bone deep direness about all kinds of love. I'd read 8x more words of this.

Further fluff: a blue curtain is a damn blue curtain by heartslogos. I have no idea if Jason canonically knows the language of flowers, but it pops up a surprising amount? And frankly, feels right. Short, sweet, disaster vibes. Heartslogos has literal hundreds of fics, I haven't shifted through them all, but it seems like a good mix of gen and romance.

Bats being messy as all hell: Strings Attached by FabulaRasa. I love love love what a (justified) bitch Jason is in this one. Primarily a Bruce Wayne/Hal Jordan story, but the background Jason/Dick absolutely got me. Everyone's an adult and everyones being characteristically fucked up. Trigger warning for some messy internalized homophobia stuff being worked through. A lot of stuff about Bruce and Jason just...loving and hating each other.

Casefic that works as a romance with fun Adult elements: do you wanna feel a little beautiful, baby by sister. A rare gem in terms of everyone found familying about while not acting like that's a restrictive container. Jason/Tim. Plot important booty shorts. Easily the most realistic/best Stephanie Brown I've come across. Obsessed with the little snaps of Jason's vulnerability we get in this one.

I'm definitely forgetting or leaving out some fun ones, but this is a start! Happy reading :)

[thealexanderfiles]

1. Yes, but what they know is not the full truth typically. Best example is in Young Justice, the world is made to believe their base is the Hall of Justice, when that’s just a ruse, the real base is an orbiting satellite in space called the Watchtower.

2. Yes the public knows about Batman. The degree of how much they know about him can vary by story.

3. Both? Definitely vigilante, but in Gotham that means hero.

4. Yes!! In fact, my favorite interpretation is that people think Superman doesn’t even have a secret identity, and that his “secret identity” is as his birth self, Kal-El, and that he lives in the fortress of solitude. Lex Luthor uses xenophobia to rally people, saying that an alien shouldn’t be a protector of/champion for humanity.

5. Nightwing!!

6. Oooof there’s a lot here.

Canon I’ll go: Clark/Lous, Batman/Catwoman, Bruce/Talia, Dick/Barbara, Dick/Starfire, Tim/Stephanie, Tim/Bernard Dowd, Barry Allen/Iris West, Wally West/Linda Park, Wally West/Artemis Crock (Young Justice), Jason Todd/Artemis of Bana Migdrall (cannot spell that haha), Green Arrow/Black Canary, Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy, Raven/Beast Boy, and I’m definitely missing some but that’s what I’m thinking of rn.

Non-Canon (NOT INCLUDING BATCEST OR ANY OTHER INCEST/AGE-DIFFERENCE SHIPS!!): Batman/Superman, Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman, basically Batman/anyone on the JL besides Shazam, Dick Grayson/Wally West (love this one), Jason Todd/Roy Harper, Tim Drake/Kon Kent, Tim Drake/Kon Kent/Bernard Dowd, Damian Wayne/Jon Kent, Hal Jordan/Barry Allen, Ted Kord (Blue Beetle)/Booster Gold (practically canon lol), Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain, and I’m definitely missing some but that’s what I’m thinking of rn.

7. Really really really really weird.

8. Jon Kent is the second main universe Superboy!! He is the son of Lois and Clark, and is Damian Wayne’s best friend. Recently, he was aged up for various reasons, so he’s roughly 18 I THINK, which puts him a few years ahead of Damian which made people Not Thrilled. He has operated (and I think technically still is operating) as Superman himself, and he is bisexual!!

9. Yep still Nightwing (Dick Grayson). Stephanie Brown, Damian Wayne, and Tim Drake are up there too.

10. I have a FEW: Donna Troy, Cassie Sandsmark, Duke Thomas, Carrie Kelly, and I’m definitely missing some but that’s what I’m thinking of rn.

11. Okay so the college thing I believe is a fanon thing, but I love it. She is a psychologist or psychiatrist (can’t remember which rn), though her license has probably been revoked several times over by now. She did leave the joker, and has an amazing girlfriend (Poison Ivy) now. She and Batman aren’t friends-friends, but they aren’t particularly enemies either. Fanon will fluctuate with that though. Take your pick!

12. Yes!! The secret Batfamily stuff is a non-canon compliant fanon trope (that I do love to read and see, but don’t want in canon)

13. Depends on who you ask. Truly. He has done some bad stuff to his kids in the comics, but that’s what happens when hundreds of writers and artists all give their own take on the character, over now almost 100 years. I personally prefer Good Dad Batman, and tenddddd to choose to ignore the terrible things he did in canon on occasion. Others don’t, and that’s okay.

(Also for the Jason Todd anon: literally just WFA for free)

Hi! i hope you got done what you needed to get done nad have been having a good day :)

anyway, omg thanks for clearing up some confusion, would love to hear your 'personal canon' is that like a collection of headcanons or fanon or is it a bunch of small canons that fit together? sorry if this doesn't make sense. Is it, like, something you have it nailed down or do you see something, think, 'oh thats neat' and add it to your collection?

[apopcornkernel]

funnily enough im pretty sure i did read the actual comics before wfa. i vaguely remember reading utrh first? and then i either watched the movie next or read batman's whole robinjay run + aditf + alpod. and then wfa. i only read detective comics' robinjay after i finished wfa i think. i know i also spedran all of the post-crisis jason's death aftermath/appearances according to the reading list by dailyjasontodd. spedran his stuff post-resurrection too, minus countdown, 52, brothers in blood; i only realized I'd already read outsiders before when i reread it just now, though. which is really funny like the reason i remembered was because anissa and grace got together. that's how i knew I'd read the comic before. i was like oh i remember these gay bitches. i know there was a time after comics where i then dove into fandom and just immersed myself with art, fic, and posts. it was a little weird at first but i hadn't read enough for the other characters to know, and it's very easy to get drawn into fanon bc its satisfying to an extent, you know. ooh, i know i read three jokers early on. i was in love with that artist's jason and i found that one panel really funny (babs "he literally killed a man" bruce "you don't understand... jason's suffering"). i dont remember much about my first batman period. i do know it was all batman tho.

this is getting long.

my second batman period (more accurately termed batman/dc) was mostly me revisiting fics and remembering canon things that made me upset again. oh and also other robinjay stories that i hadn't read before like the cult, etc. but after some time i, and i dont know how this happened, got interested in hal jordan. i genuinely think it was just a fanart i saw of him with white temples. i thought it was hot and imagine my delight when i found out it was canon. and then i found out he turned villain and i was like WOAH I NEED TO GET ON THIS and tada, speedran parallax arc all the way to the spectre. tried reading rebirth and hated it so bad. stopped reading hal after that. somewhere along the way i found myself reading superman. then i dont know how this happened but i got interested in matrix/mae kent specifically and read up on her origin. afterwards i went to death of superman all the way to his resurrection and mae/lex breakup arc. i think this period fizzled out shortly after that. ooh, im checking my gallery rn, apparently i also read death metal and the return of bruce wayne. i dont remember anything about the latter. i remember being pissed at the former. i also read the damian resurrection arc and got really mad at an interview in one of the comics bc it was more of those "bruce feels more strongly for damian than his other kids bc damian is his Real Son" like bitch. No.

OH!! i also read the long halloween & dark victory during this time! this must have been when the batman came out. ALSO READ CONNOR!! i started at the time ollie died and went on until the time ollie came back but connor was now comatose (?). i remember a lot of screenshotting panels bc of how appalling the coloring was, connor's skin color was disrespected so much in this few issues 😭

ooh, interesting. after connor panels there's no more until this year, which would be my 3rd dc period. i reread the long halloween and dark victory, and then finished the last few chapters of the spectre. after that i started young justice but never finished. i reread utrh, and then funnily enough went straight to reading all about steph up to war games. after steph i read some other robin tim issues at random and then i finally read brothers in blood. quick break for batman year 100 and then right into batgirl (this was right after lee and i became mutuals). ooh, spirit world. and then ram v's the vigil. then i read rhato special? special? idk if that's the name but it was like a oneshot for rhato? or was it rhato #0? idk. i laughed the entire time. it was so bad. then i read gotham war, hated it. read some issues of black and white. three jokers again. finally read robins by seeley. robin year one. some pre-crisis jason esp the nocturna arc. tt #29. issues of gotham knights #43 something? + the interview about jason issue. actually i think that's all in the same arc. batman prodigal. pre-crisis talia. mandatory reread of batman #496. tried to start countdown, failed. the cult reread. BIRDS OF PREY!! cry of blood, and then a vichelena binge. the huntress cavalieri! the question o'neil! read a lot of huntress. tripped abruptly into hawk and dove, read a lot of cameos after their solos ended. read identity crisis after seeing the bruce tim panel. read jade (nguyen) in preparation for my comm critical essay. read superman again for the invisible mafia. started both superwoman 2016 and steelworks but never finished. read talia lexcorp arc and Never Recovered. tower of babel. redemption lost (ASS). rucka's wonder woman & the hiketeia. some titans bc of jade. more jade stuff. more huntress stuff (specifically nightwing cameos). read tom fucking taylor nightwing. started but did not finish dixon nightwing after that. started a reread of the spectre. started reading azrael + knightfall stuff but am not finished. was hit with the jli disease (lethal). then went back into superman comics but specifically the start of the lex luthor 2 arc + mae :). and now retracing post-rez pre-morrison jason comics

[captains-price]

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Saw a few other people doing this and wanted to do it too because I always love getting to know my mutuals better!

Three ships: the urge to put my ocs x my favorite characters is so real

1.) Chris Redfield x Leon Kennedy(chreon): they’re my babygirls <3 I love their dynamic, their interactions, I love Leon “it’s rotten work” Kennedy being paired with Chris “not to me. not if it’s you” Redfield. They make me feel things.

2.) Bruce Wayne x Hal Jordan(batlantern): workplace enemies to lovers speedrun when?? Listen. they fight, they disagree on a lot of stuff, they probably secretly hate each other in canon but they’re also in love and I stand by that :)

3.) Johnny MacTavish x Kyle Garrick(SoapGaz): if there’s 100 SoapGaz fans, I’m one of them. If there’s 50 fans I’m one of them. If there’s one SoapGaz fan, I am that fan. Golden retriever x golden retriever boyfriends fr and also their height difference?? Yes please!

(And the bonus otp: Mileena x @tiffanyvalntine )

First ever ship: the first ever pairing I remember ever looking at and thinking ‘for the love of god please kiss!’ was probably Soul x Maka from Soul Eater. But they baited the hell outta fans so I feel like it was justified

Last song: Alcohol by Sisyphus. That shit is 6 minutes long but the beat slaps so y’know

Last movie: Nope for the fifth time lmao what can I say it’s very appealing to me(and OJ x Angel is another ship I go crazy over but I didn’t feel like including them)

Currently reading: Aliens vs Predators: Ultimate Prey. It’s an anthology series so it’s a little easier for my monkey brain to focus on lol and I just love Predator related stuff

Currently watching: I’m not really watching anything new at the moment. But I’ve been rewatching New Girl, Derry Girls, and the IT Crowd

Currently consuming: idk water? I should actually be asleep rn but I’m doing this instead so water is all I can give myself

Currently craving: a tiramisu sounds kinda good rn I guess

Tagging: @j-hauke @gaytwoface @jewishroach @just-another-siimp @lesbeanphoenix @archaengell @salstray @killerspinal @chadillacboseman @velvetcrucifix @deadbranch and whoever would like to as that’s what I did!

[teratron]

Thoughts on Tom King's Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman #800 is out in a little over a week so I figured I offer my own unsolicited thoughts on Tom King's upcoming Wonder Woman.

Unlike the rest of comic fandom, I don't have any particular strong feelings on King as I've actually read very little of his work. I've read the times he's tried writing Wonder Woman but other than that the only thing I've read of his was his Hal Jordan "God of Light" special. Batman, Mr. Miracle, Heroes in Crisis, etc, all passed me by.

I found his attempts at writing her before to be largely bad however, mainly his use of her in his Batman run as a sexy litmus test for Bruce's loyalty to Catwoman. And his 60s mod inspired story in the WW 80th anniversary issue from 2021 to be serviceable but had far too much Superman for a book about celebrating Wonder Woman.

All that said, I’m hoping for the best for the most party on this run. The outgoing team of Michael Conrad and Becky Cloonan has run out of steam for a while now, so at this point I’m happy with a change up given how I feel the book has been since the lackluster Trial of the Amazons event.

I can’t say he made the best of impressions in his interviews where he brought out the overused “Wonder Woman has no good stories” lie and his quickly backtracking on that. But him talking about using being inspired by George Perez’s WW to take a chance/risk on a character he felt uncomfortable with was nice. It certainly puts him above other creators.

The current pitch of Wonder Woman being a fugitive from the US government is an interesting opening arc and other stuff he’s talked about relating to it all sounds like stuff Wonder Woman’s books should tackle.

But now we talk about the elephant in the room.

Yeah, this was sadly inevitable. “Diana with a kid” is surely a pitch that’s been laying around DC’s offices since Jon Kent was brought into this world.

Lot of stuff about this I don’t like right off the bat. King saying in interviews he created the character because he wanted a Wonder equivalent to interact with Jon Kent and Damien Wayne isn’t winning me over. Creators thinking of Diana in only how she compares/contrasts to Clark and Bruce with no regard of it makes sense for Diana is one of my biggest pet peeves about DC’s handling of her.

And “Trinity” is just a bad name. I’ll leave open the possibility we’ve not read anything about her yet so the name could make sense in-universe but with no context it’s bad.

Now with the negative out of the way, I’m willing to give the character a shot. My main hopes at the moment being she has a personality distinct from Diana and that King doesn’t draw out the issue of her parentage (it’s a good sign she likely isn’t Bruce or Clark’s kid)

My gripes aside, it’s nice to have a big time creator on WW again who is also taking big swings. I feel the last time that was probably a thing was Greg Rucka’s first run in the early-2000s.

[plutonicmirror]

Zero Hour (1994) #0 [and Zero Hour in general]

Let’s continue my Zero Hour first reading. After skipping some filler tie-in issues, I reached the finale. Again, funny numbering gimmick with a 0 issue. I think Marvel also had something similar with their -1 issues back then. Oh, the 90s!

Hal Jordan Parallax reveals his master plan: “I’m gonna erase the universe so hard, I’m gonna create a new one where everything is right and everyone is happy™”. Classic case of a hero reacting to tragedy the readers are supposed to know about the Emerald Twilight story arc, but I’m LARPing as a snot-eating 10yo in 1994 who just started reading comics and doesn’t have enough attention span to know the lore with absurd amounts of cope and a plan that sounds extremely good on paper, but that other heroes must oppose because morality yadda yadda yadda. Looking at you, Injusticeverse.

Shout-out to my man Danger, a D-lister that was brought to the final fight fOr a ReAsOn. I’m gonna be honest, I skipped his tie-in because I couldn’t give a fuck about who he was. I usually like me some B/C/D/Z listers, but I also don’t give a fuck about DC’s Titans and his book was apparently tied to that whole mess so I was like “meh, next”. I mean, this young dude is a nobody right....?

*one trip to a comics wiki later*

Oh...

Ahem, moving on. The Spectre shows up looking for REVENGE after all of the JSA folks get ultra aged up or straight up deleted from existence, even though they had previously asked him for help and he was like “nah that’s human bullshit, I ain’t movin’ any finger”. Good job, asshole.

So yeah, remember our D-lister? Turns out his power (which is absorbing energy and making explosions) is specifically needed to counter Parallax’s new Big Bang. So our heroes’ plan is...to recreate the universe exactly as it was. So basically Parallax’s plan but done by them because fuck you Parallax, you don’t get to play God. Except...it doesn’t come out exactly as it was, because there’s “““subtle changes”““. In a meta way, this event was supposed to be a soft reboot to fix some of the fuckery that Crisis on Infinite Earths (a big event I haven’t read yet out of fear) caused. Was it accomplished? According to Comic Pop’s Back Issues video on this event... it kind of wasn’t. Sidenote, I highly recommend that channel’s Back Issues series, after reading an event it’s fun to watch a recap that adds background bits for the uncultured (like me) even if I sometimes feel the critique of the host is too harsh.

A not-Killing-Joke’d Batgirl from another timeline who temporarily sided with Parallax because she was doing her best “I want to be a real boy” Pinocchio impersonation got killed in the heat of the moment, so the other normal-powered hero in the room (Green Arrow) gets pissed at his former bestie. After this whole event he ragequits btw and apparently a common joke is that many readers think that should be the standard reaction to the whole thing.

Parallax is seemingly killed but it’s comics so he’ll be fine, trust the process. If I recall correctly, Hal gets to be the new Spectre for a while [*Vietnam flashbacks of Identity Crisis*]. I forgot to mention that the current Green Lantern of the time Kyle Rayner and Wally West were also “killed off”. Again, they’ll be fine. I just didn’t care enough to read a wiki and find out how they come back. But that bit brings us to this “oh yeah, that happened” moment:

Power Girl was pregnant and gave birth to a baby with the help of Wonder Woman who conveniently decided to play midwife instead of stepping up to the threath. Bue hey, guess who also was sort of born in the aftermath of this event? That’s right, I was! So surely that means that baby is a very important char-

Whoops, nevermind.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE WHOLE EVENT:

“7/10 it was alright” - IGN.

The contrarian in me doesn’t hate it like most nerds out there do, but it’s certainly not the greatest event ever written. Granted I went in without knowledge of a lot of stuff, like how was I supposed to make sense of what was happening in the Hawkman tie-in issue aka the whole “let’s try to solve the problem of having multiple origins for this character by literally merging them all into one” thing? How could I know what CoIE fuckery needed to be fixed if I don’t know the big impact of CoIE besides Supergirl being killed off (this fact is cultural osmosis at this point)? Did it matter to me in the long run? Not really, because it’s not like I feel compelled to keep reading DC continuity and make sense of it for the time being. The art was good, the colors were pretty, the Parallax suit was rad, the pose Ollie made at the end was Jojo-esque and dramatic, Batman fucking off from the final fight via being killed was good.

Now, the tie-ins. Some of them were fun, some of them were a drag to read because I had no idea of background info for most of them. Almost all of the Superman tie-ins were fun to read with the exception of Steel because I was tired of wiki-hunting when I reached his issue, shout out to the alternate Jor-El and Lara, the Alpha Centurion and the “Superman tries to save the Kents during the chronal rift” stories (Superman vol. 2 #93, Adventures of Superman #516, Action Comics #703 respectively). The Legion of Superheroes and adjacent issues were extremely confusing to me as a casual but oddly engaging. I had no idea what was happening but it was sort of fun. It revived my itch to read LoSH comics even if I’m still feeling overwhelmed at the mere thought of going further with that task. Oh yeah, the silent Green Arrow issue was a lot of fun! (Green Arrow vol. 2 #90).

The characters introduced were a mixed bag. On one hand we have Bart Allen aka Impulse, who was created in the prequel to this event and was sort of interesting. But then the chronal rift time erasure bullshit happens and since he’s from the 30th century he basically does nothing of importance... Alpha Centurion, as I mentioned, was a fun read in his Adventures issue but in the core event he was... a convenient minion. Thriumph? Thriump was an annoying character, one of those “oh yeah he was totally there in the beggining of the big team but the big name characters just don’t remember tee hee!”. Don’t worry though, he would later die of a cold. Or something like that. Extant felt edgy throughout most of the core issues and the tie-ins, he really had that Madara Uchiha endgame villain energy...until he was revealed to be just a pawn that was just rebelling. And then he fucks off. Shout-out to this specific goofy panel:

Tie-in issues skipped: Anima #7, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #31, Damage #6, Robin vol. 2 #10, Showcase ‘94 #10, Steel #8, Team Titans #24 (yeah, this team got erased from existence and I just couldn’t care), The Darkstars #24. Also skipped: all of the Zero Month aftermath gimmick #0/soft reboot issues.

New Year’s resolution when it comes to DC? I’ll get around reading the 70s Green Arrow and Green Lantern book. Ever since I found some academic paper on it that mentioned the words environmentalism and malthusian I was like “ok wtf I have to read this”.

Tytyty for reading my blog.

[scorchedhearth]

Followed you for your superior content on Jason, but now the lanterns are slowly becoming my blorbo-in-laws because of you *shakes fist at the sky*

If I decided I wanted to give Guy, Hal, John, and Kyle a try, what would you recommend as a good one-shot to read? (For all of them, or one for each if there isn't a good book with the four)

glad to see the near-constant glc posting is working :]

the one story that got me interested in them is one of the stories in the 80th-anniversary comics, "four". the way they're all written and the history and comradery shown between them really pulled me in and made me curious to read more of them, i do recommend it if you want to get a feel of what glc stories can be like and the tone of their modern comics. i read the 80th-anniversary book before anything because i saw panels from it on twitter and read through the whole thing and while i missed a LOT of contexts and details for all the characters, it did succeed in making me curious and wanting to know more about the overall lore and history of the lanterns, and it might for you too

another book that i highly recommend for those four is green lantern (1990). hal, guy, john and kyle as you might know them and as they're often portrayed online are mostly a post johns, and especially hal jordan & the green lantern corps, version (the four corpsmen quote comes from that last book), and while johns stuff is still interesting and worth reading, i cannot in good conscience recommend venditti and hj & the glc, it's a pretty putrid book with its messages and treatment of characters. now they're basically '4 dudes in the corps' while before that in the 90s, it was at first hal, guy and john, and kyle gets there later and he's the only gl while the other three do their own thing, so their interactions and relationships are different than what they are now. and i recommend it because it has some of my favorite characterizations, but also explores the relationship between the first three well in the first issues, and then later on weaves a very interesting picture of all four (and alan scott too) up until the last issues. i'd say read the first dozen issues for hal, john and guy interactions, and then from emerald twilight/kyle introduction and his interactions with the others. i'm using these reading lists, they're really good

[spider-man-2o99]

what are your favorite comics?

as tempted as i am to just say “i’ll give ya three guesses, and the first two don't count,” and leave it at that for the sake of The Funny, lol—

im not gonna let myself keep going on and on and on for too long, or else this post’ll never get made, but this isn't. like. Everything. brain is just scrampled egg rn so these r a little all over the place but. w/e here r the first “favorite” books that’ve come 2 my mind:

(under the cut because i Ramble*) (*let us also proceed knowing that classic spider-man/spider-man in general goes without saying b/c i am Not typing that much.)

- Spider-Man 2099 (1992) big surprise, i know. lay off! it was my first comic! looking back on it, i probably shouldn't have been reading it as, like. a 9-10(??) year old kid. but. y’know. pish-posh. when the chips’re down, sm2099 was what i had during a real rough time that spanned years without letup, and as a result sm2099 has been a Really Important Thing for me ever since. has the relative decade’s worth of Enrichment ultimately also been worth the requisite Nigh-Obsessive Brainrot? 🤷 i’unno. i’m predisposed to say “well, duh, dude, no shit it has been,” so that's that.

- Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man (1995) duh. (in seriousness: fun romp of a one-shot, nd i really like that mig and mj were kinda-friends,., .,,.,)

- Moon Knight (1980) MK v1 was the run that REALLY got me into comic books as something more than just a passive casual interest, back in, uhh-- early-early 2020, i think? it definitely... shows its age in not a great way, at times, but otherwise i can’t help but feel a fond affection for the first volume of MK. (Plus, on the art side of things, it’s really cool to see Bill Sienkiewicz developing his iconic signature style over the course of the run!!!)

- Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place (2020) .......and tbh, every other Immortal Hulk one-shot, as well, but. Threshing Place especially has some just gorgeous art. I can’t stomach visual body horror very well most of the time, but I otherwise really like what I've been able to read of Immortal Hulk.

- Ms. Marvel (2014) genuinely a really good book and also the only Inhumans thing i like (in no small part, im sure, because there is not a lot of Inhumans stuff in it). starting to run out of spoons at this point so i’m just gonna be blunt if u hate kamala khan Fuck You

- Unbelievable Gwenpool (2016) unbelievable gwenpool is Good it’s a Good Comic marvel has just been absolutely massacring the character ever since it ended. in 2019 the Defiler leah williams took poor gwennie out behind the barn and basically just shot her in the back of the fucking head. we will probably never see the character in any significant or serious capacity ever again :(

- Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane (1958-1973) culturally important to the medium of superhero comic books As We Know Them Today. also generally batshit insane to an objectively hilarious degree ❤️

+ honorable mention(s): that one green lantern story where hal jordan slipped on a bar of soap and bumped his head so hard he not only  was immediately rendered unconscious but then also fell promptly into a coma.

ALSO Blue Beetle (2006) it's been so long that i barely remember what happens in it but i Do Remember that it was Good. i really need to reread the run sometime soon...