#batman: orpheus rising

[havendance]

(Batman: Orpheus Rising #3) Narration: But he hated trying to be methodical and indifferent about the loss of life. He thinks, somehow Batman does it all. Somehow he shuts it all out--he must...but, how? Orpheus: Grid 24, 37 Cruise.

And that's the secret: that he doesn't, that that's just the illusion he casts. In reality Batman feels every death and holds them close and lets them weigh him down.

[cryptocollectibles]

Batman Orpheus Rising 5 Issue Complete Set (2001-2002) by DC Comics

Written by Alex Simmons, drawn by Dwayne Turner and Danny Miki.

[zahri-melitor]

Okay rough first run through of what's got at least a mini between 1937-2011 and marked up if it's on DCUI.

There's almost certainly some missing, but it's a good chunk of the list.

Some of the more egregious (to me) missing comics:

Azrael volume 2

Man-Bat volume 3 (can be read on Ultra in Tales of the Man-Bat but you need to know it’s included to find it)

Knight & Squire (only available on Ultra as a trade)

Batman Family

Batman: City of Light

Batman: Orphans

Batman: Orpheus Rising

The Demon trilogy (as in Ra's Al Ghul) are only available on Ultra as trades

Almost all runs of The Demon (as in Etrigan/Jason Blood) are missing

Basically all of Sgt Rock, which is amazing given how frequently I was tripping over that in the Holiday Specials

Almost all of the Warlord runs, aside from the first 24 issues

The Cassie Wonder Girl mini

The Spectre volume 4 (aka Hal's Spectre)

Superboy and the Ravers

A bunch of minor 90s runs only have their #0 or #One Million issues

Most Martian Manhunter runs

Weird chunks of the 90s runs of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Superman, and the Man of Steel

Only two issues of Solo are available

[forever-carlyle]

Batman: Orpheus Rising 3

[joeysmuttonchops]

[Batman: Orpheus Rising #4]

YES. YES. YESSSS.

[redjaybathood]

Hilarious AU idea, but Stephanie, seeing that Matches Malone isn't showing up and that tensions are rising tries to offset them and make the plan work on her own.

IE she tosses the cape and turns her purple uniform inside out and claims to be 'Shadow'.

Stepping in right before everyone starts shooting with a 'dead mans switch' but its actually just a trick explosive she had on hand.

Forcing them all to listen she outlines how the Yakuza have some of the best product but no territory, some of the mafia families they best territory but weak product, penguin the best 'store fronts; but no clients, ETC.

Its clear she's proposing an alliance.

They think it won't work because Batman broke up the last big alliance of crime families, but she argues that's because they didn't know who they are dealing with, she does. (She signs for Onyx and Orpheus to run) Revealing that Batman has been behind some of the escalating tensions with his patsies, Orpheus and Onyx.

They use their forewarning and tech to successfully bail, Steph even throwing her bomb at them to help cover their escape while looking like she's helping. They get away and she promises them a lot of info on Batman she 'appropriated' if they hear her out and stand united.

Intrigued, the gangs agree to parlay.

Steph is now the nominal leader/advisors/Speaker of a Gangster Co-op.

This is very Steph, and it is also the best idea ever.

Steph accidentally Red Hooding her way out of gang war (well, less accidentally and more spontaneously), minus murder.

Also, this is hilariously close (in my mind) to that time when Biz made an Fiverr-like app for henches. But her target audience is the highest management, and the service is more like finding partners rather freelancers to do your job for you/finding projects to do as a freelancer. Her speech is like a presentation where she's selling a platform to find the solution to any of your criminal business problems. What, you need a guy in customs because your shipment of counterfeit European cigarettes got stuck in the port? And you, you do have blackmail on the head of Gotham customs department but you, yourself, are having issues with purchasing armaments for your security? And this guy over here, you have a line to German weapon manufactures who're happy to sell their heavy machinery but you have no way to transport it? Do I have a solution for you.

She shoulda rented a conference room in a business center tbh. She binged all Jordan Peterson videos prior to that and that "Negotiate or die" book, which is very apt for the situation.

Tim Drake CEO fanon is out, my brain is full of Stephanie Brown the youngest most powerful Gotham power broker now. Like. Jason has nothing to do in Gotham anymore, he might as well come back to Gotham and become a stand up comedian and beat Joker on that field. He does have material for several tours and a Netflix special.

I am, however, worried about Onyx and Orpheus, as they got away from the meeting but they're still have their cover busted. Will the Hills turn against them?

[clay-cuttlefish]

Oh Greg Rucka we're really in it now. Everything from Officer Down to when Gotham Central starts.

Officer Down

There's been a lot of cop shit so far, but this whole event is nonstop Cop Shit.

Batman going out of his way to wish Gordon a happy birthday is a pretty good moment. World's weirdest work friendship.

The speech about arresting people being the expression of police power is so dumb. You've killed people Gordon.

Unbelievably depressing how important Gordon is to Renee. She has so few people in her life.

Text-to-speech user Cass my beloved.

There's a joke about Cass being trans Batman that's tasteless but is a little bit funny to me as a Cass gender enthusiast.

I am willing to suspend my disbelief, and my real world beliefs about vigilanteism, to read about a spooky goth manbaby's unhinged family drama as he fights a clown trying to explode the city. It is very hard to do that when he works directly with the cops about normal crime, and Crispus laying out why that's fucked up only to walk it back drives me up the wall more than any unacknowledged shittiness. "Oh blah blah Montoya was right this is just how Gotham is" no the fuck she isn't!

There have been flickers of it in earlier appearances, but this story, and the very end, are where Renee is firmly out of the role of Good Cop and into her own arc.

Renee goes from not being a smoker to drowning her sorrows in the space of two issues. It's fast, but it doesn't feel rushed to me. She's been holding back so much for so long - now that her facade has broken, she can't put it back together.

Tec #755

Renee's only in this for a few panels and one line, but it's an interaction with Two-Face when he crashes Gordon's retirement party and gives a heartfelt speech.

Unknowing (Tec #758-760)

Things have settled for now, with Renee and Crispus working together fairly amicably.

And then they get mind controlled. Whoops.

Renee and Babs get dinner together in the backup for 758, which is cute. It's mostly a framing device for a story about the new commissioner, but hey! They're friends!

The actual important effects of this come later, but it's a good story and I like Sasha.

Tec #761

Renee and Crispus are outsiders even within their department and she's actively mocked here, which really doesn't help her ongoing breakdown.

Having Sasha's training montage as a side panel, with the department investigation overlaid, is a lot more interesting than just having them separate. It's a cool looking issue.

Hey remember how Bullock was implied to have killed that guy?

Tec #682

And that's Bullock gone. Renee's willing to investigate the murder he helped commit, despite trying to commit it herself, so she's a lot more stable than she was at the time. Unfortunately things will continue to deteriorate for her.

Orpheus Rising

A mini about the new vigilante Orpheus and the racial tensions in Gotham. There's still a lot of police apologism, but it's leagues ahead of its contemporary Bat comics when it comes to acknowledging police racism.

His introduction is explicitly about the lack of Black heroes among the Bats and how there aren't enough heroes of colour in general, which feels especially bad to read knowing that he's killed off in War Games less than three years later.

Tec #764

Bullock is finally actually gone, and he's replaced by Maggie Sawyer, an out lesbian from Metropolis who doesn't make me want to punch the screen.

Batman #597-598

Renee's increasingly quick to try and pass "freak" crimes onto Batman. That's probably fine.

Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive

Not a lot of important characterization for Renee here, but she and Crispus get to be competent and chase Alfred, so it's a good stable period for them.

Bruce implodes every relationship in his life and gets caught up in absurd Checkmate espionage and none of that is relevant.

Green Arrow Vol. 3 #16

Vic at Ollie's funeral. Not tiny in a crowd this time! They're acknowledged as friends!

[little-engineer-who-cant]

Ao3 Master List

Running master list of my Ao3 fics that are currently posted.

Never In My Wildest Dreams (Bridgerton) - Following the scandal of her aborted wedding to Anthony Bridgerton, Edwina Sharma wants to have a quiet Season. The world has different plans for her.

look into the eyes of damnation and bare your teeth (Skyrim) - The adventures of Alla Stoneshield in Skyrim, featuring custom followers.

Act I: Into the Breach

Act II: Rising Until Our Souls Shatter in the Sky

Act III: Call Your Rage Peace

Wolf's Den (Skyrim) - Farkas runs afoul of a Vigilant of Stendarr and stumbles upon a cottage in the woods. Gwendolyn is trying to scrape out a living in the Rift, then a dying werewolf collapses outside of her door.

sirens scream names forgotten by tomorrow, laid to rest in infinity (Batman / Percy Jackson and the Olympians) - Follows Jason Todd and Silena Beauregard in Gotham City.

Under the Red Hood Lies Jason Todd’s Shattered Dreams

Our First Date was a Walk in the Park

There’s a Waystation in Gotham

The Water Under the Bridge to Elysium is Still the River Styx

Orpheus, Don’t Turn Around (i know you will, you always do)

Screaming Past the Limit, Never to Slow Down Again

I Needed a Shovel to Love You (and now i’m digging up your grave)

Fallen Angels Holding onto Demon Collars

The Garden of Eden, Built in Sunwarm Sheets

Screaming to Delphi for Salvation

Robins' Nest

Fighting for the Light You Drowned Long Ago - Part 1 of Injustice

Are You Coming to the (Hanging) Tree? (Black Sails) - One shot Canon Divergence where Abigail Ashe  joins the pirates and Charles Vane teaches her how to survive them.

You’re the Torch I’ll Use to Burn this World Down (Black Sails) - Pre-canon Black Sails AU featuring a chance meeting between Charles Vane and Miranda Barlow. What if they talk? Written for the Built On Sand Creative Event.

Dead Doesn't Mean Gone (Resident Evil) - A short rumination on Leon Kennedy's infection post-Resident Evil 4.

Down Into the Sea and Back Out Again (Resident Evil) - Piers Nivans survives Lanshiang. An ongoing collections of vignettes about the consequences.

Duty-Bound for Hell, So We Make this World Our Heaven (Game of Thrones / House of the Dragon) - Dreamsharing AU featuring Myrcella Baratheon and Aemond Targaryen.

What If I Knew Of You? (Black Sails / Pirates of the Caribbean) - PoTC and Black Sails crossover where James Norrington ruminates on Captain Flint.

[fancyfade]

reading orpheus’s miniseries because i know he shows up in what im reading next and want to see him in a context outside of being periphery character to batman

anyway evidently Orpheus used to be a dancer (and so did his mom)

ID under cut (batman: orpheus rising #4)

[image: a comic page from batman: orpheus rising #4. we see a bunch of flashback panels. first there is young gavin king holding a pair of shoes in front of some other people (who are in silhouette).

ORPHEUS'S NARRATION BOX: As a child I danced and paid the price for not shooting hoops and roaming the streets at night. The dance made me fast and strong, but... the way of kung fu made me safe.

Then we can see a panel of a bunch of people in uniforms, one of them is doing a block and practicing martial arts. next panel shows gavin as an adult, leaping forward and kicking someone in the face. behind him is a woman holding an unconscious man, the framing implying he is protecting them.

ORPHEUS'S NARRATION BOX: Martial arts, just another dance to me -- balance, strength, speed, flowing into a poetic art form, until the body performed without effort, without thought. I was discipline and freedom combined.  part of my father, ex-military, network producer of news and sports for bread and butter. part of my mother, ex-dancer, seeing lost opportunities in me rather than my younger sister. caring for me, but not pushing me... too hard.

then there's a panel (in regular color, implying it's present and not a flashback) showing gavin shirtless and holding himself up on one of the gymnastics rings. then there's a flashback panel again showing three people hugging, one of them holding up a diploma.

ORPHEUS'S NARRATION BOX: They were there when I graduated, giving advice and concern. they were there when I joined the dance troupe and left to see the world!

end ID]

[tumblingxelian]

Orpheus the Unsung & Underutilized Hero

[timdrakequotes]

“He may not be as quick as Nightwing, but he loves this, the rush. The feeling of freedom. Soaring high and fast through a place where no one can follow.”

--Narration on Tim Drake (Batman: Orpheus Rising #1 – Mean Streets)

[docgold13]

365 DC Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

July 31st - Orpheus

Gavin King was a native of Gotham and was a gifted ballet dancer. He discovered the martial arts in his later adolescence and took to it as well as he had with dance. He was able to incorporate the two into a highly proficient individualistic style. Later in life, Gavin was recruited by a secretive organization whose overarching aim was to offer protection to the more marginalized and overlooked populations of the world. This organization trained Gavin as a crime-fighter as well as provided him a new identity and equipped him with a high-tech costume. Now known as Orpheus, he acted as a shadowy crimefighter throughout different locals across the globe before ultimately returning to Gotham. Batman initially mistook Orpheus for a villain but the two quickly worked out the truth. The two entered into a partnership wherein Orpheus posed as the leader of a new criminal gang, while covertly aiding Batman in thwarting the gang activity in the city. It was an effective plan and the former assassin known as Onyx became Orpheus’ lieutenant and bodyguard. Unfortunately, Orpheus’ role as a double agent was found out by the villain Black Mask. Black Mask murdered Orpheus and temporary assumed his identity so to sew chaos in Gotham. Black Mask was ultimately found out and taken down, where upon Onyx took over Orpheus’ former gang and continued the arrangement with Batman. The hero first appeared int he pages of Batman: Orpheus Rising #1 (2001).

[majingojira]

So, some of you may be wondering, especially in light of everything I've talked about with these event comics this year, 'Why do I even care when heroes get killed? Why do I get passionate about heroes who are turned evil?  Won't it just get undone? Won't they be heroic again? Won't the dead just rise again?'  Well, here's the thing: Danny Chase is still dead.  Oh, don't you remember him?  He was the telekinetic kid in the New Teen Titans.  Abrasive little brat.  Got on the fans and his fellow team members' nerves.  He's my favorite superhero of all time. He died in 1992.  And aside from being turned into a zombie minion once or twice, he has not come back to life in 28 years.  Hal Jordan was a villain 2 years, then dead for 8.  Regardless of his status as the Specter, still seen as a monster and villain for his actions by most people.  The Superheroine Ice was dead for 13 years.  Cassandra Cain was turned evil and only got turned back so quickly due to immense fan backlash.  Stephanie Brown?  Dead for 4 years, only resurrected so soon afterwards due to immense fan backlash.  Batman supporting character Orpheus on the other hand? Still dead after 16 years.  Barry Allen was dead for about 23 years,  Dan Garret, the original Blue Beetle, has been dead for 54 years.  My point, in case it is not clear, sometimes they don't come back.  And if they do, it's only because people demand they come back.  And sometimes people are turned evil and it lasts a long time.  Unless people demand it be changed. I joke about this stuff only because it only seems to matter if nobody in charge cares about them, and in that case, it doesn't matter.  Will Roy Harper be back.  Probably. I'd say he has enough fans in charge.  But  Hotspot? Gnarrk? Lagoon Boy? Probably not. That's why I care when Marvel and DC kill their characters.  Because they don't.

Linkara, Atop the Fourth Wall, “Heroes in Crisis”

[hellyeahheroes]

Heroines of WOCtober: Cassandra Cain

Known as Batgirl, Black Bat, Kasumi, Orphan, Destruction’s Daughter and One Who Is All. Cassandra is the daughter of one of the world’s deadliest assassins, David Cain, who raised her without ever teaching her language, training her skills at reading body language and training her to be an assassin instead. A later retcon would tie her father to League of Assassins and have Cassandra be trained this way by the League’s whole crop of deadliest members, thus giving her One Who Is All title. Destruction’s Daughter title comes from the same story and the reveal Cass’ mother is Sandra Wu-San, better known as Lady Shiva, deadliest martial arts master in the world. She would escape her father and join the Batfamily, taking the mantle of Batgirl (and in New 52 continuity - Orphan, which was a codename used by her father she tries to redeem). She is considered one of the best martial arts fighters in the world, on pair with her mother but her upbringing has also caused her to develop a severe disability, having serious trouble with speech and dyslexia that make it extremely hard for her to communicate with people. She also carries deep guilt for what she was forced to do as an assassin. 

Recommended Readings

Essentials:

Batman: No Man’s Land - The story that introduced Cass to DC Universe

Batgirl #1-73 + annual - Cassandra solo series that build the crux of her character, skills and relationships.

Cass series is involved in multiple crossovers but her tie-ins are mostly standalone and can be read without the need to pick whole story. However, as she makes appearances in other people’s parts of these storylines, I’ll list them here: Officer Down, Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, War Games (Which is horrible and I’d advise for skipping it). After War Games, her book also has a crossover with Robin, Fresh Blood. 

Justice League Elite - Cass joins said team under disguise of reformed assassin Kasumi, spying on them on Batman’s behalf.

Batman & the Outsiders #1-14 - Somewhat controversial entry, but not as hated as other books that tried to deal with character derailment Cass suffered when editorial mandate forced on turning her evil and then backtracked due to the backlash. Yeah, that happened. DC higher-up Dan DiDio hates Cass’ guts in most childish manner.

Ghost/Batgirl - Crossover with Dark Horse character Ghost, does not seem to be on ComiXology

Batman: City of Light - Cass is featured in a supporting role.

Batman: Gates of Gotham - Cass return after long absence

New 52

Batman & Robin: Eternal - Cass Return and introduction in this continuity

Detective Comics #934-987 - Features Cass as a member of team Batman assembles to protect Gotham from new threat and the final arc sets up the book she is currently appearing in

Batman and the Outsiders - Currently ongoing, Cass is part of the team with Duke Thomas, Black Lightning and Katana.

Guest Appearances:

Nightwing #81

Superboy #85

Red Robin #17, #25

Supergirl #63, #74 

Batman: Gotham Knights  #2, 5, 33-36, 42, 45-49

Supergirl #13-14

Azrael Agent of the Bat #66, #84, #94

Young Justice #20-21

Batman: Orpheus Rising & Batman: Family both are not on ComiXology

Elseworlds

Shadow of the Batgirl - To be released in February, it is a young-adult “dark coming of age” retelling of Cass’ origins.

Batgirl: Future’s End - Cass is a member of the League of Batgirls

Tiny Titans #33, #39, #40 & #45 -  Glory of the tiny gremlin that Cass is in this continuity.

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey - Not yet on ComiXology, announced for February 2020. It’s going to be a comedic 4-part miniseries featuring Cass (as Batgirl) among characters who will aid Harley when Joker puts a 4 million dollar bounty on her head (and whose roster just happens to reflect that of Birds of Prey movie). It’s published by DC Black Label, an adult-only imprint, which supposedly does titles out of continuity but is said to also follow the same continuity as Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s Harley Quinn series...which in itself was flip-flopping on whenever it is in continuity or not.

Other Media:

Cassandra appears as Orphan in episode 8 of 3rd season of Young Justice and is part of a secret team assembled by Batman with Robin, Arrowette and Spoiler

Ella Jay Basco will portray a younger, more street-wise (but apparently also more talkative, seemingly having her disability erased, go figure -.-) Cassandra in upcoming Birds of Prey movie.

- Admin

[joeysmuttonchops]

[Batman: Orpheus Rising #2]

"The extent of his own power still surprises him. He'd always been strong, fast, his movements fluid, one flowing into another, rhythmically building to a climax... a crescendo."

[morebedsidebooks]

15 Years Later Batman: War Games

I’ve considered myself a comics fan from the time as a little girl I received hand-me-down superhero comics from one of my older brothers. I spent a good deal of my childhood wrapped up in various tales published by DC comics mainly but, also other American creations as well as those from Asia and Europe. Lately I’ve been diving back into some of those DC comics. One character from Batman, Poison Ivy has remained one of my all-time favourites. But I’m not going to be writing about Pam today despite her being a recent topic of conversation. The reason being, during my trip down memory lane I was reminded of another contentious event in DC comics history. The October 2004 issue of Detective Comics #797 included the first part of “Low” a three-part story about Poison Ivy and the Riddler. However, that issue also started the first Act of War Games, an event which with prelude War Drums added in engulfed Batman comics for 10 months beginning earlier in March that year.

War Games, where a hypothetical stratagem Batman devised against Gotham’s underworld is put into action with disastrous consequences, can be memorable for several reasons. I remember it because of another beloved Batman character to me who played a major role Stephanie Brown, aka the Spoiler and for a short time also the fourth Robin among other designations. (She was however not the first young lady Robin if one includes The Dark Knight Returns which is outside main continuity.) The treatment of Stephanie, in War Games is the reason that I took a break from reading DC comics for a long time. 2019 marks 15 years since those events. So, with DC once again facing criticisms about how it wrangles philosophy and portrays violence, trauma and death I think it is time to revisit some of Stephanie’s history too.

Stephanie Brown was created in 1992 by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle debuting in Detective Comics #647. A teenager from some difficult circumstances with a criminal dad and mother with a prescription addiction.

She becomes a vigilante named Spoiler to thwart her father, eventually gaining allies and older mentors, also dating Tim Drake the third Robin.

Stephanie like those around her is not a perfect character having her share of mistakes and tribulations but, she also strives to improve and works towards making some difference in the world that isn’t as it should be. The Robin comic was particularly noteworthy for chapters featuring her teen pregnancy by an ex-boyfriend and the decision to put the child up for adoption. (Robin #65, 1999)

As well as in another powerful issue her confiding about an attempted rape at age 11 by her father’s friend who was left to watch her during an effort at rehab for her mother. (Robin #111, 2003)

Through it all she had a perseverance and resilience that became inspiring and her efforts and convictions led to her becoming a part of the Bat-family. So, it was quite a development when unable to stop the sudden murder of a key ally Orpheus (whose bloody body would be featured across pages to come as well) she was extensively tortured by the villain Black Mask, leading to a likewise incredibly difficult death scene with Batman by her bedside at the end of the third act of War Games in December 2004. Orpheus became a martyr figure (currently his last appearance which feels like a waste, along with the causticity  of killing off a character that talked about representation) and characters mourned Stephanie too, with a whole host of emotions as fans tried to come to terms also.

Not to be outdone though some months later when questions arose in War Crimes, the situation around Stephanie’s fate would get even worse with another principal character Dr. Leslie Thompkins given some of the worst (and out of character) motivations for not properly treating Stephanie, betraying her profession and the people close to her.

After Thompkins’ clinic becomes ground zero for the casualties in the massive gang war it’s an absurd decision to send a message to Bruce and young protégés about their actions. Not the first time the heartbreak would be used in such a manner either. It’s not all happy endings. It would be almost four years before DC returned to Stephanie’s fate retconning, revealing the truth of her death as a deliberate falsehood. (Robin #174, July 2008)

However, pouring more salt on the wound those years were a period during which she was also disrespected in death, an executive editor saying Stephanie was never a true Robin despite that going against Batman’s own words written in the comic on more than one occasion. Unsurprisingly behind the scenes editorial decisions about torturing and killing a 16-year-old teenage character apparently did not sit well with all the writers either. Stephanie taking on the Robin role was some small bright point of achievement to be wrestled before the horrible events to come, but also working as a ploy readers would fall into. When Tim’s father has it out with Bruce to put it mildly after discovering their vigilante personas, the developments of a new Robin (a position Stephanie held story-wise only 71 days before Batman fired her) did reportedly boost sales.

But she further had to die as Spoiler because another dead Robin is too much, for Batman. Young as I was in 1988, I too remember the spectacle death of Jason Todd the second Robin whose memory looms from the start in the prologue War Drums.

DC wasn’t done with him either. Reading stories of Jason, some that felt like the material I’d been craving for a long time, nevertheless always make me wonder where we’d be if the vote on his survival all those years ago had been different. A Death in the Family would seem to be a culmination after other titles usually on one’s lips around the experimentation of the late 80s less of interrogation and maturity perceiving a world growing darker inside and out but, the one question of what is too far to come back from.

And 16 years after it, well a dead Spoiler tortured and gone was too much for me. After nearly just as much time again today in 2019 marking the 15th anniversary of War Games I’m surprised in fact at how much the story even now hits me right in the chest. It’s been a long time with many, many people creating countless more titles at DC Comics. Including stories featuring Stephanie Brown who has gone on to take the mantle of Batgirl at one point (that same executive editor finally acknowledging how she connected to a portion of the fanbase and Bat-family in 2009) and likewise been reimagined through the reboots of the comics. (Stephanie in Rebirth’s Victim Syndicate in 2016 was particularly striking to me.)

Yet, I remember most clearly the earlier Stephanie perhaps by virtue being a teenager back then too. Or maybe in a similar fashion as impressionable of a moment as the comics I first received from one of my older brothers, as a young adult War Games seared into me a visual of a brand which gives its characters direction from bad places, hope, lets them rise and then to paraphrase it as a writer once did crush them like a bug. As a young child I could say wow Robins can die. Older, I could ask so what does it mean.

There are all kinds of stories, and what they offer to people as diverse as humanity itself. The ugly, tragedies and heartbreaks are important too for many reasons. I could write instead about such examples I’m fond of or, respect. Pieces of fiction that dance that line of examining and representing truth, little windows maybe the glass becoming a mirror that’s more painful because it is so familiar or, cuts when it breaks. Superheroes don’t live in the real world. But there is a very real world we live in where there are people that have and are growing up with no trust in authorities, screwed up parents, losing parents, becoming parents, facing sexual assault, abuse, gang violence and schools becoming yet another killing ground among other challenges. These sort of wars that are fought can leave a host of scars and casualties. Whether those 18 years or so are good or bad we’re lucky if they are only a small part of a larger life. Too often that’s not the case. But still, I have to ask when I pick up a comic and seem to find the same over and over, as time marches on what about this common story of harm and death has changed and what is its legacy?