#comic analysis

[shyjusticewarrior]

The Nightwing run forgot Duke again.

Tom Taylor learned nothing, unfortunately predictable.

[clementianos-blog]

From the beginning, Tim and Steph had a kind of chemistry in their lack of chemistry. They were very different - backgrounds, perspectives, family influences, etc. About all they had in common was that they were only children with family troubles, but even those similarities were abundantly different once you scratched the surface even a tad.

But what I find interesting, and seriously questionable, is how their actual relationship comes about. Steph repeatedly makes choices that aren't the best while "trying to help" and Tim repeatedly has to correct her. He's more-or-less acting like a conscience to her. I guess you could look at this as being that strong part of Tim's personality that drives him to help others. It's why he's Robin. Unlike his predecessors (and successors), the main reason he became Robin was to help Batman; helping everyone else was a secondary (and Batman's primary). To Batman, Tim's Robin is the "I'll help you so you can help everyone else." It's ingrained into him to see the shortcomings of others and he intrinsically wants to help.

There are multiple moments in which Steph is ready to walk away from a lowlife thug who is vulnerably facing certain death - and Tim explains why they need to help. But that's a major theme in the Batman comics in general, so it doesn't really fit the bill of what we're talking about here in a way that is unique to Steph and Tim.

But this does:

Steph is willing to steal two Zesti sodas from a convenience store after she and Tim cleared out the bad guys. He sees no problem in taking the Zestis as long as they will be compensating the store for them rather than stealing. He probably thinks "we COULD go to another, open store, but I'd rather help this one out" or even "best to be seen as little as possible" etc. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that he anticipates that she's thinking about stealing them. He asks "this your treat?" to put the burden on her since she was the one who offered to pick them up.

This could also be his subtle and not-enough way of pushing the "this is not a date" vibes he's been lazily humming out at her lately. Which brings us to the scene that follows this directly:

Tim has been emotionally cheating on Ariana for quite some time, relying on Steph for the emotional pick-me-ups and help-me-outs as well as leading her on. He's reflected on this a few times and even tried to do something about it several times before this point. But here, he is pretty open about his resignation.

This is the kind of thing teens do a lot - really, everyone does it at some point or another. We redefine our understanding of the world, of our morals, of our personal resolve to suit what feels nice. Exactly this is why it's a very good piece of advice to write down your goals in distinct, objective terms and keep them visible to you when you make them. If you say you aren't eating sweets for a month, be specific about what that means. If sugar in your coffee is an allowance, then say so. If desserts, pastries, jams and jellies, and candy are not allowed, then say so. Without being specific... we start to think things like "Well, a blueberry muffin isn't really a sweet (even though this one is covered in sugar crystals and tastes sweeter than the candybar I had last month)."

I'm not really cheating on Ariana. I haven't held Steph's hand. I haven't kissed - er, I haven't intentionally kissed Steph.

The problem is often that we don't see the danger of this stage. Just like Steph saw no danger in stealing two Zestis from the convenience store, Tim sees no danger in letting Steph treat their outings as dates. It's just a buck. It's just a game. It's not serious. No one's getting hurt by it.

And this is a problem for the exact reason Tim gives Steph.

What Steph did was so small, so simple, and seemingly so harmless. The shopkeeper probably would have handed them a case of Zestis each for what they did. But the shopkeeper isn't there.

Steph has Tim here to help her understand why it's wrong to compromise even an inch of her integrity.

What Tim is doing is so much worse. SO much worse. There is no justification, no excuse, and no good reason other than "this makes me happy right now."

But unlike Steph, Tim doesn't have a... well... Tim to put it in perspective. To help him see why it's wrong. Why it starts like this, and soon he'll be bending all the rules.

Instead, Tim has a Steph who is the one dragging him into this quagmire where he's blatantly cheating on his girlfriend and cannot see it for what it is.

And yes, it's clear he can see that it's wrong - just like Steph knew that taking the sodas wasn't really right. But just like with the sodas, neither of them recognized the action for what it truly was: stealing/cheating. Once put into that context, Steph immediately pays. If it were simplified like that to Tim, he would cut it off. The end. No more. I'll either say goodbye to Ariana, or I'll say goodbye to Steph.

But he sees something else: he feels happiness, he sees two happy girls, and he thinks, "No one's getting hurt here. It's not really right but it's not like I'm, you know..."

It starts like that. And soon you're bending all the rules.

TimSteph has a lot of positive qualities to it, but the fact that Steph's a project of Tim's - to build into an upstanding citizen from the rough place she's been raised - means that he needs to stay in the role of her pillar of morality. If he doesn't, as we see, then he falls himself.

Tim managed to say no to the Zesti, but the apple was just too tempting.

[boyfriendgideon]

as yr favorite local jason todd fan sometimes i get so fed up with the apparent inability of most dc comic writers to write a class conscious narrative about him.

and yes, i know that comics are a very ephemeral and constantly evolving and self-conflicting medium.

and yes, i know they’re a profit-driven art medium created in a capitalistic society, so there are very few times where comics are going to be created solely out of the desire to authentically and carefully and deliberately represent a character and take them from one emotional narrative place to another, because dc cares about profit and sometimes playing it safe is what sells.

and yes, i know comics and other forms of art reflect and recreate the society within which they were conceived as ideas, and so the dominant societal ideas about gender and race and class and so on are going to be recreated within comics (and/or will be responded to, if the writer is particularly societally conscious).

but jesus christ. you (the writer/writers) have a working class character who has been homeless, who has lost multiple parents, who has been in close proximity to someone struggling with addiction, who has had to steal to survive, who may have (depending on your reading of several different moments across different comics created by different people) been a victim of csa, who has clearly (subtextually) struggled with his mental health, who was a victim of a violent murder, and who has an entirely distinct and unique perspective on justice that has evolved based on his lived experiences.

and instead of delving into any of that, or examining the myriad of ways that classism in the writers’ room and the editors’ room and the readers’ heads affected jason’s character to make sure you’re writing him responsibly, or giving him a plotline where his views on what justice looks like are challenged by another working class character, or allowing him to demonstrate actual autonomy and agency in deciding what relationships he wants to have with people who he loves but sees as having failed him in different ways, or thinking carefully about what his having chosen an alias that once belonged to his murderer says about his decision-making and motivations, you keep him stuck in a loop of going by the red hood, addressing crime by occupying a position of relative power that perpetuates crime & harm rather than ever getting at the root causes, and seesawing between a) agreeing with his adoptive family entirely about fighting nonlethally in ways that are often inconsistent with his apparent motivations or b) disagreeing and experiencing unnecessarily brutal and violent reactions from his adoptive father as if that kind of violence isn’t the kind of thing he experienced as a child and something bruce himself is trying to prevent jason from perpetuating. because a comic with red hood, quips, high stakes, and familial drama sells.

it doesn’t matter if it keeps jason trapped, torn between an unanswered moral and philosophical question, a collection of identities that no longer fit him, and a family that accepts him circumstantially. it doesn’t matter if jason’s characterization is so utterly inconsistent that the only way to mesh it together is to piece different aspects of different titles and plotlines together like a jigsaw. it doesn’t matter if you do a disservice to his character, because in the end you don’t want to transform him or even understand him deeply enough to identify what makes him compelling and focus on that.

and i love jason!!!!! i love him. and i think about the stories we could have, if quality and art and doing justice to the character were prioritized as much as selling a title and having a dark and brooding batfam member besides bruce just to be the black sheep character are prioritized. and i just get a little sad.

[pixelsandpapers]

We're looking for indie comic features right now!

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finished magazine will be posted on Tumblr, Tapas, and Webtoons. Authors may share the magazine anywhere else they please.

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[betterthanbatman1]

This is so. Fucking. Stupid.

Before I dive in let me just say: This writing is so pathetic simply because this is how humans act?? Like how fragile does Bruce’s ego have to be that he’s going to start a fist fight with his son. It’s like in the damn high school movies where the bully pushes a girl and the other guy punches the bully in the face. People don’t just go around punching people!! They get frustrated and angry but they don’t just fucking punch someone who they disagree with!? (Majority of the time)

Now for the actual analysis: I actually had high expectations for this, I really thought that writers have learnt that no we actually don’t love seeing Bruce beating the shit out of Jason/his kids. “hEs a ViGaLaNtE and Jason’s a cRiMiNaL” fuck off that’s not an excuse.

Honestly Jason shouldn’t even try to convince Bruce anymore, it’s always the same shit. “They’re bad people, they deserve to die”

“You don’t get to decide that” *punches his son in the face*

How many times have I had to read this?? Every fucking comic that includes Jason and Bruce ends up in a fist fight. I’m fucking sick of it.

The writing was genuinely so stupid

“If you think one more death is fine if it stops more death- then shouldn’t I kill you?!”

There’s so much here that just doesn’t make sense and that’s excluding the fact that Bruce is threatening to kill his son.

Do these contemporary writers not understand that Jason doesn’t kill everyone who may kill others. He’s not a “Mass murderer”. He kills the dirtbags of Gotham. He kills the worst of the worst. He kills the r*pists, the abusers, and anyone who brings harm to women, children and the vulnerable. He doesn’t go storming into a restaurant and shooting up the place??? That’s what a mass murderer would do.

Now with that in mind, the logic would be No Bruce you shouldn’t kill Red Hood because he doesn’t just kill people. You wouldn’t be reducing the deaths in Gotham because without Jason killing the scum who terrorise the vulnerable, then there will be more deaths. Killing Jason if anything would increase crime. In UTRH, when Red Hood first appears, Batman himself said “crime is down”. That shows that what Jason does is in fact effective, which is why he does what he does. If Jason was just a killer killing other killers, Jason’s whole reason his own morals would not be consistent or accurate!! If that was the case then yes YES Bruce you should theoretically kill Red Hood. If if if god forbid Jason was one of the nasty scum of the earth that he tries to wipe out, then yes by his morals he indeed deserved to die.

These writers are so clouded with having this raw masculine rage between the two characters; being allowed to kill someone or not, that they blindly and stupidly forget that both of these characters are human and therefore have complex morals and values.

Jason fundamentally believes he is doing good for Gotham- and the statistics prove that!! Bruce knows that what Jason does is needed. He knows that Jason’s methods help Gotham. Jason is a consequentialist and both Jason and Bruce should know that. Likewise, Bruce is a deontologist, he believes the actions are wrong and immoral but he knows that Gotham is better off. He just doesn’t agree with the methods. Jason said himself “I’m doing what you won’t” Bruce knows Jason isn’t a dumb vengeful maniac terrorizing Gotham. So why the fuck did the writers bring these characters so low that Bruce would even suggest that Jason should be killed along with the other criminals.

Lastly, if the answer was yes, then Bruce why the fuck are you asking to kill your son? Like you’d actually do it you little bitch. Kill the joker first and then ask about your son.

Really shitty writing, it’s so frustrating. Like, I was actually excited to see what this new Jason comic was going to give me. But now…More fights between him and his Dad. Yippeee this is really what the readers want. Smh

Call me naive but I just thought maybe Jason and the bats would be able to connect without beating the shit out of each other.

[goodoldfashionedengineer]

I like analysing shit.

I like Red Hood: Lost Days

So I am going to analyse some of it.

To start with, lets look at the titles of the issues.

#1: The First Step

#2: Baptism

#3: School

#4: Higher Learning

#5: After School Activities

#6: Benediction and Commencement

What immediately strikes me is how all of these are relevant to the issue AND as a whole. They are describing a life fresh from birth to how that life progresses until graduation. Extremely important when considering that this is basically Jason's second life. He died and now he is "reborn" after being put into the Lazarus pit.

The First Step: The fact that the title name was on the page in which Jason was pushed into the Pit lets me believe that this IS the first step, as Red Hood: Lost Days explains the time between him being found by Talia to him becoming Red Hood. This is the first step in him becoming the Red Hood.

Baptism: Not exactly clear as to what "Baptism" is referring to here. I have multiple ideas. First, there is the possibility that it is a continuation of the last issue, as that issue ended with Jason being pushed into the pit and in religious baptisms, water is usually connected to it as the person being baptized is getting water poured onto their head. But it could also mean a non-religious baptism as in he is starting a new role. He finally gets to train with a clear mind and can properly start his journey.

Issue #3-#5 are relatively similar, all him explaining his training and stopping the evil schemes his teachers are involved with.

Benediction and Commencement: Commencement, he has completed his training or "graduated" if you take the school aspect into account from issue 3 to 5. Benediction, he gets his blessings from Talia to finally confront Bruce after stalling him so long. Commencement, "the beginning of something new". The issue ends with him picking up the Red Hood helmet, before that, he met up with Hush. The beginning of the Red Hood.

Next I want to focus a bit on religious imagery. I am not a big fan of it in general, but considering that words like "Baptism" and "Benediction" are in the titles, it is note-worthy. If it is something you're uncomfortable with, feel free to skip this section

I have seen people make the point that this cover:

Has similarities to pictures of Mary holding a dead Jesus.

And now that I think about it more, I can see why and they are pretty good stand-ins.

Jason came back from the dead, like Jesus.

Talia found Jason after he came back. She considers it a miracle. Like fate WANTS Jason to live. He wandered into her life. She isn't so much as interfering with fate, as stepping out of its way.

And then you have this page:

Jason as he has his arms spread wide, legs forming almost a straight line. Similar to Jesus on the cross.

The Lazarus pit isn't green. It's orange and yellow. It shines so bright. Ra's says it burns in his heart. He tells Talia it could turn Jason mad in a few months, years or decades. That she has unleashed a curse. A pestilence. Pestilence being one of the for Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And so, the Lazarus Pit becomes a symbol for Hell.

The fact that Jason and Talia are more distorted versions of the religious figures they could represent becomes more prominent as the story goes on. In the bible, Jesus goes back to Heaven to rejoin with his Father. In this story, Talia is told and knows that she should return Jason to Bruce. But she doesn't. Because Jason will see it as betrayal and he wouldn't forgive her for that.

My last and favourite point is how RH: LD is the perfect set up to Under the Red Hood.

Jason explains how it isn't about the Joker. Or Bruce. Or him. It's about the three of them.

Bruce was supposed to protect him.

Joker killed him.

Bruce didn't avenge him.

He tried to kill both of them only to NOT do it and walk away.

Jason died away from Gotham in Ethiopia, but not before being beaten with a crowbar, the building he was in having exploded and then asphyxiating due to the smoke.

Jason almost killed the Joker by setting him on fire. (Explosion)

He initially wanted to do it in another location. (Ethiopia)

He wanted to do it slowly. (Crowbar)

Jason says when the pain would hit the Joker, he would scream. Until it hit his throat. His lungs. (Asphyxiating)

He is reliving his own death. He wants his murderer to go through the agony he did. An eye for an eye one could say.

"Reliving his own death" is an objective statement here, as Jason sees the Joker swinging a crowbar that is dripping with his own blood while at the same time also standing right above the Joker, who is drenched in gasoline.

Now I want you to compare these two scenes. This is when he was about to kill the Joker:

The panels switch between Jason and the firelighter, present Joker and past Joker. The firelighter, the device that would end the Joker's life, comes more and more into the focus. Until he disengages it on the last panel.

Now to the second scene, when Jason planted a bomb under the Batmobile and was about to detonate it.

The panels switch between Batman and Jason. Jason is hovering over the detonater. Until he pulls away.

When Jason explained to Talia why he walked away from the Joker, he said that it wasn't enough. It was only ever about the three of them, not just Joker. His plan doesn't include murdering Batman anymore.

But the reason Jason gave Talia why he didn't kill Bruce? "I couldn't let him get off so easy. He'd never know what happened. He'd never know knwo why. He'd never know it was me." One could wonder if we are supposed to see this as a parallel as well. If we should apply this reasoning of why he didn't kill Bruce to why he didn't kill Joker.

The Joker would never know why Jason killed him. He doesn't even know that it IS Jason who is about to murder him.

And while is plan doesn't include killing Bruce anymore. Nobody said anything about the Joker.

As I said, perfect setup to Under the Red Hood.

[professoruber]

Flamebird Analysis: The odd treatment of Bette Kane and her history/experience

Batwoman (2011-2016) #1

Okay so first of all, Kate; rude much?

Second of all... was Flamebird's costume really that impractical? Especaially when compared to Kate's costume.

While admittedly Flamebird's original costume was not exactly the height of practicality...

(Although she still seemed quite capable of holding her own in it)

Beast Boy (2000) #2

However she later does in fact get a more practical outfit which she also kickass ass in.

Beast Boy (2000) #4

And we do know that its Flamebird's second (more practical-looking costume) which Kate burns, as Bette ends up suiting up in her aforementioned spare after Kate fires her...

Batwoman (2011-2016) #3

While I am admittedly not an expert on combat outfits; Flamebird's second costume to me seems like it walks a good line between aesthetic and practicality. It has plenty of flair and style to it, but also appears quite flexible and overall not really too drastically different from Kate's Batwoman costume in this regard (rather hypocritical of Kate to say "you need a uniform" while she wears a long wig for no apparent reason apart from style).

If anything...

The "uniform" which Kate gives Bette kinda strikes me as being less practical for the situation compared to the Flamebird costume which she burned. Like Bette's mask seems to be just a piece of fabric tied around her face, which certainly feels like it should be looser and not be as sleek and flexible as the Flamebird costume.

Building off this, from what I've seen and looked over so far, the treatment of Bette kinda feels like it has a weird... juxtaposition at times between what's getting told and what's being shown, I guess.

Like on one hand...

It's shown by both Bette's comments here and the existence of her old Flamebird costumes that she has been experience vigilante for sometime. Longer than Kate I think, if I'm understanding the timeline all correctly.

There seems to be this odd case of both having Kate and the narrative treat Bette as an inexperienced rookie... while also having Bette and the narrative establish Bette as having been a Teen Titan, who has fought Deathstroke and presumably has years of experience.

Even Kate's codename for Bette indicates a rookie status...

However despite the references to Bette's past career and capabilities, and Bette's protests of being more capable than Kate gives her credit for, and Kate also immediately feeling quite shitty at how harsh she was when firing Bette...

The narrative still, from what I understand, kinda vindicates Kate entirely by having Bette get brutalised to the point of falling into a coma immediately after she defies Kate by heading out as Flamebird after getting fired... so I guess Kate was right? I don't know.

Like I said, I just find all of this quite of a weird portrayal. I've been curious about Bette lately on account of her being the original Batgirl (or rather, Bat-Girl), which is a very iconic mantle to the general "Bat-Mythos" even if Bette herself is far less remembered.

I guess one thing I find especially strange is how this is from the first issues of Batwoman 2011... meaning that this was right at the start of the whole New 52 Reboot stuff and so they could've presumably just retconned Bette's experience to make her an actual rookie sidekick instead of this weird half-measure where they both establish her past experience as canon while also otherwise ignoring it.

There's other stuff which I could go over; such as Bette's coma, her stint as Hawkfire, her enrolling in West Point... all of which probably has room for more detailed specific analysis by someone more familiar with both Bette and also the Batwoman comics (I've only fairly recently started looking into this stuff out of curiosity as I work my way through learning more comic history).

So I'll skip to a more recent appearance by Bette in 2017...

Detective Comics (1937—Present) #967

This whole exchange feels once again like Kate ignoring Bette's history, experience and capabilities. Especially the whole "pass second year in the top 99th percentile of your class and maybe I'll put in a good word with you to Batman" thing. No one else needed be top of their class at West Point, or attend West Point at all, to be a superhero. And it just seems strange to have Bette getting forced down that specific road.

Like; going by publication history, Bette was considered part of the original Teen Titans team due to debuting in the 1960s-1970s period. In fact she joined the team before the likes of Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg (at least in terms of publication anyway).

While I'm not entirely certain how her current age placement in the roster, they did still at least establish her as being a Teen Titan who fought Deathstroke and so presumably in the same generation as Nightwing (even if possibly a bit younger) and other core members. The from what I understand the Titans are currently considered senior and experienced enough to be the current "top team" of the hero scene in canon.

So all together this adds up to, as I keep saying, a strange contrast between Bette's stated/implied history and how she gets treated by the narrative.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Last year Bette did make a return as Flamebird (not Hawkfire). Which could mean one of two things...

Kate finally acknowledged Bette as ready/worthy/experienced enough to go out on her own

Bette went screw it and decided she didn't need Bette's permission

Honestly kinda hopping the later cause it brings to mind a bit of the Beast Boy comic which I quite liked...

Beast Boy (2000) #3

Better gets a very stern reprimand from Nightwing (some she admires), and is told she's not cut out for this world and quits. This comes after she's spent most of her appearance in this run being kinda a comedic relief in the form of her repeated failures to bail Beast Boy outta jail (since she's never posted bail before and didn't know how)

But after this..?

Beast Boy (2000) #4

She comes back, with a new (more practical-looking, as I discussed before) costume and beats up several bad guys to help out Gar (who in turn really appreciates her arrival and assistance).

Batwoman (2011) #3

Making this post I've noticed an interesting similarity and contrast between Beast Boy and Batwoman comics in regards to Bette. Both times, Bette gets very sternly reprimanded and told she's not cut out to be a hero and ordered not to be one by someone she admires/values the opinion of.

Both times she defies them and goes out anyway, putting on the same costume both times in fact.

But while the Beast Boy comic portrays her as competent and capable, even having her involvement appreciated by Gar...

Meanwhile in Batwoman?

Batwoman (2011-2016) #4

Bette's defiance almost immediately ends with her horribly injured, and in turn accidentally helps the DEO work out Batwoman's identity.

Two events regarding the same character which that character reacts to in a similar manner but one ends with her vindicated and the other... very much not.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Moving back to Bette's recent appearance in DC's Legion of Bloom. West Point is 4-years in total, and when we last saw Bette she was on her second year at the latest. So with the nature of comic book time, I find it unlikely she'd already graduated.

Her return to Flamebird could also have something to do with Infinite Frontier (I don't fully understand how it works, but apparently everything's canon now again sort of?) re-canonising Bette's competence? That sounds like kinda an amusing thought tbh; multiverse shenanigans happen and Bette wakes up one morning feeling suddenly competent again. Good for her.

Anyway I hope this is a good sign for Bette's character. Even if she's unlikely to be a major player, would still be nice for her appearance to at least depict her as capable. Plus as I said, comic book time means if she does actually stick to West Point, then she'd unlikely to be graduating (and get allowed to be a vigilante) anytime soon. So at that point you might as well just let her go be rich and play tennis since its not like that's a route to her actually doing anything.

Bette seems pretty neat from what I've seen of her, so I wish her the best. Even if Legion of Bloom continues the running joke of her trying and failing to recreate Titans West.

[spider-man-2o99]

so, then, what IS up with miguel o’hara’s moral backbone?

lol sorry if y’all’re sick of my 2099 soapboxing. anyways.

while i understand where the reading of “miguel is a morally bankrupt evil scientist and his spider-man is just a violent shitheel” comes from, i just... really can’t ever get behind it, based on what we see in the text of SM2099 v1 (1992-1996) itself.

like, don’t get me wrong-- from our first introduction to the guy, we very quickly learn that he has been a cog in the machine for one of the 2099 imprint’s Big Bads, the ruthless megacorporation in charge of the United States’ East coast: Alchemax.

..but. like.

the whole point of his origin story is changing that. the initial catalyst for his Spidering--getting roofied by Tyler when he tries to quit his job--would not have happened if he had no moral compass to speak of.

narratively, it’s less that miguel himself is changed, after he gets his powers, but that his perception of the world has changed.

just-- just bear with me, yeah?

see, for a lot of his life, miguel was a perfect cog in a shitty machine, and he did everything he was expected to without even thinking to stray from the path set down for him by his biological father and by alchemax overall.

and, then, suddenly, that’s all ripped from him in an instant. and miguel’s left floundering in the water.

he’s no longer on the winning team-- more than that, he realizes that he probably never even was on the right side of things, to begin with.

miguel o’hara’s most-quoted line is his response to the infamous “great power,” bit: Great responsibility? No. With great power comes great guilt.

he’s repressed, and he’s a hypocrite, but a guy can only turn a blind eye so far when something he knows is wrong is happening right in front of his face.

as soon as it’s even suggested to him, he immediately steps out of line and tries to put his foot down on absolutely not using a human test subject for his personal spider-man project. when stone brushes him off and makes them go through with human testing anyways, and then the subject dies, miguel doesn’t hesitate to turn up his nose and walk out right then and there on the spot.

his reward for it, of course, is an ice-cold dose of Reality.

from there, his blinders get pulled harshly off his face, and mig realizes that he really doesn’t want to keep being the person that he has been. his life has been wasted sitting idly by and letting bad things happen because all he knows is helpless compliance, right up until he goes and gets himself The Fly’ed into spider-man.

and once that happens, and he Realizes it, he starts to fight back.

that’s how the run is kick-started, in the very first three issues!

the first ten issues of spider-man 2099 (1992) follow miguel stumbling from a very sheltered life, having been thrust head-first into navigating a world that is not only deeply, deeply unjust, but also wants him very, very dead.

he don’t got a dead uncle to motivate him! all he’s got it his own fear and an inner desire to use his new abilities to try and make the world a better place.

hell, the first time he put on the costume, ol’ miggy boy wasn’t even doing so for the purpose of becoming a superhero in his off-time-- it was just an old spare in his closet that he threw on in a desperate attempt to Not Fucking Die as a bounty hunter tracked him to his home.

it’s only later on, after he’s had time for it all to sink in, that miguel realizes that he can actually meaningfully help the people who had been cast aside by the same society that had previously lifted him up above them.

as much as he whines and bitches and moans about it, he never seriously considers throwing in the towel and hanging up the costume for good. he may hate what has happened to him, but he never once seems to hate what he can now do with his powers, vis-à-vis challenging injustice.

mig’s often stuck between a rock and a hard place, what with the kind of world he lives in. it’s why he don’t work well when he’s stranded away from his dimension. peter can get his villains locked up just fine and dandy, but miguel’s world isn’t like ours like that. it’s brutal and it’s very very much established across the imprint that earth-928 (marvel 2099) is a kill-or-be-killed place to live.

despite how people harp on him not having a no-kill rule, miguel honestly hasn’t even killed enough people to count on one hand; the first was completely by accident, even, and the second told him to his face that if spider-man let him live he’d just keep being a cannibal gang-boss because no one else ever has or would try to oppose him.

is killing people the answer? not if you have any other option. but. mig ain’t a friendly neighborhood superhero. he’s just doing what he thinks is right in the moment while scared absolutely shitless for his life most of the time.

now, i don’t mean to defend his every action--miguel o’hara isn’t a saint, and, good god, but he’s made some questionable choices--but. at the end of the day, he’s still shown throughout the run to be trying to be better.

and, i dunno. maybe i’m just a sentimental little sap, but a story about somebody who finally “wakes up” and struggles to build a life worth being proud of after years of having shut down from heavy early-life trauma? that hits, man.

hits real close to home, to be honest. learning to Live after so long simply Surviving is fuckin’ hard, man.

[shyjusticewarrior]

The context that Bernard knows Tim's Robin means this sentence can be read two ways.

"My boyfriend, named Tim Drake."

"My boyfriend, you."

[writingsofmax]

Comics Analysis with Max: A first look at Riddler: Year One

On this first page we see Edward at home and we get a sense of how he lives. The colors are muted and grey, the walls are dark and textural. This combo lends itself to making the environment feel lonely and oppressive. Edward's clothes are also completely gray as well. It's worth noting that most of the light that is shown on this page comes from either his computer screen or his phone. His phone lights up his face completely. The only escape he has from his environment is coming solely through online connections. It "lights up his life" so to speak. In comics, panel size can relate to time, space or significance of what it's depicting. The largest panel on this page is his drawing of Batman that he's drawn over some finance sheets. The size of the panel and the stark contrast of Batman against the white page is visually striking. That panel being the largest thing on the page shows its signifcance in Edward's life.

This second page has 8 panels tightly fit together onto the page. They are small and constricting with very little white space in between them. It gives the reader a feeling of being trapped or overwhelmed, an insight to how Edward might be feeling.

The first two panels depict Edward sitting alone, and emanate a strong sense of melancholy. The grey swirling shadows are inprinted onto his face as he sits on the floor in the darkness, his only companions being his books. There are no visual indicators to show how long he has been sitting there, we are left to guess.

The next two show Edward being consumed by dark vines that grow from his head. Even though they are growing from his head, he is shown touching his chest showing that his trauma is emotional (heart-centered) as well as mental. When he comes back into reality (by throwing up) the colors immediately lighten but are still blue, a color commonly used to depict sadness.

This page in comparison to the last, has wide expansive panels that flow from side to side. The content is given space to breathe and feels airy and light. This is also the first page that isn't mostly dark and monochrome. It's light, airy and filled with warmer colors like yellow and red. The two panels shown at the top are the only two with borders. That's because these two panels show what is happening in reality- Edward is watching the train come. The next 4 panels do not have borders and take place entirely in Edward's mind. This daydream of Eddie's is depicted so expansively and with warm colors to show that it genuinely gives him a sense of comfort to think about it. In his mind, things would be freer, warmer, better, if this daydream were to take place for real.

On this page we have our first dialogue. However, it's still only happening online. One half of this page is soley depicting Edward being online and intereacting with things there and the other half of this page is a depiction of the real world that is tinged with red- a color that symbolizes Batman (Vengeance) in this universe. It shows that the online world takes up just as much space in Edward's life as the real one does. The panels depicting comments online show people's reactions to Batman and some becoming inspired by him to act on their own. The next shot of the outdoors show turbulent waters and the Gotham retaining wall, a foreshadowing of what's to come.

On this page we see Edward out in the world. He is seemingly in the aftermath of a place that Batman has wreaked havoc upon, as we see a woman fleeing. Edward is not scared, he is depicted as smiling and gleeful. This is the only other page we see other than his daydream page where Edward is depicted in color. It's a page showing where he finally finds comfort outside the horror that is his life. The lighting on him in the first panel is telling, it's blue and red. The blue (used heavily in earlier pages to depict estrangement, trauma, sadness) is fading away to the red, Batman's color. There is also emphasis on the panel in the middle of this page. In it, Edward sits alone and everything is grey but the light from his phone creates a ring of light around him as he looks into it. This is as he is typing that batman is "hope incarnate," and that belief of Edward's is reflected in the way this panel is drawn. His happy face is shown washed in red on either side of this panel as well. When we get to the last shot, Edward is looking up at the city and instead of seeing it as a dark and oppresive place, he sees it awash with red, and the possibility of Vengeance.

[mintacle]

Time to talk about the "utilitarian killing vs. no kill rule" dilemma (aka Jason v. Bruce; debate class version.)

As always, I am not interested in stating who is right or wrong. Both have good arguments. I do think Batman is admirable. And I do think Jason has a fucking point. But I'm not trying to answer the trolley problem once and for all in a tumblr post.

No, what I want to talk about is 'what is Bruce's ideology?' Because beyond his claim that killing is bad, everyone deserves a chance at redemption, he doesn't have the right to play god and that's a line if he once crosses it... Beyond that, I think the real reason Batman doesn't kill is because he just can't.

Which yeah, I don't think I could either. Taking a human life is a huge emotional burden. I think deep down, also shaped by the trauma of watching his parents murdered before his eyes. It's just not something Bruce can do.

He justifies this with morality and the points he brings up are good, but I want to draw your attention to this part of utrh

So, Jason calls Bruce out on his aversion to killing. Building up narrative tension to the finale when Jason poses the ultimate challenge with Batman needing to choose whether he will kill the Joker or Jason.

Later we see Bruce in the Batcave.

Bruce himself is questioning his rule!!! He is wondering whether Jason might be right to say that he will become what Batman can't be by ultimately disposing of evil.

But the conclusion, delivered via Alfred is:

No.

And I think that's an ok conclusion.

But having given that answer means that utrh ends the way it does. You have to commit to it.

You have to commit to it.

You have to commit.

And that is the tragedy.

For me, a good debate on the kill rule, if you're gonna have it at all, needs to acknowledge that it is not a purely rational decision for anyone and that Bruce is not this person standing on a moral pedestal who believes he is beyond scrutiny.

[majorproblems77]

Links meet AU analysis master post

Hi there!

As you probably know by now I make analysis posts for a variety of Links Meet Au's

This is to not only help me keep track, but for you to know quickly who it is I make these for! I do plan on asking a few more creators of the comics I'm currently reading. When I do get confirmation I'll add those to this list.

:)

Have a great Day!

I make posts for the following Links meet AU's - Links go to the main pages of each AU you should go check them out all of them are great :)

Linked universe

Zelda the sacred realm

Bonus Links

Recalled

Shifting Sands (LU AU)

Heroes spirit

[jinxedshapeshifter]

K so apparently some people on Twitter got upset that people saw Future Growth as romantic.

Here's the thing: an analysis of both Espio and Silver's characters and their interactions will tell you why people don't view it as platonic and see it romantic instead.

I'm going to be specifically discussing IDW and game canon here, as the two are intertwined (with the games up to Forces being canon to the IDW comics).

I did multiple analyses on these two goofballs on an old blog. Espio is NEVER that open. He's only ever opened up to Silver, at least to the extent he did in Future Growth.

It's also worth mentioning how in tune with Silver's emotions Espio is compared to everyone else.

Literally how the hell is Espio the only one who noticed something was off about Silver’s behavior and mood

You'd think with how often Silver and Sonic cross paths Sonic would take notice of Silver's emotional state, I mean, look at his expression in the second panel. Nobody but Espio noticed something was off about Silver. As far as we know, Espio doesn't really spend a ton of time around Silver, and he definitely isn't around him as much as Sonic or Amy.

It's ALSO worth noting that Espilver originated from Sonic Rivals 2. Espio didn't hesitate to help Silver. He will hesitate if he's weary of one of Vector's plans. And even if you just look at how Espio behaved at the end of Sonic Rivals 2, he is never nervous. But explaining what Silver was doing? He just ignores Vector after a certain point.

The reason Future Growth came off as romantic to people is because it's the first time Espio is seen really opening up, and it's to Silver. Not Vector, who (along with Charmy) he's closest to. Silver.

Also, Silver (from my memory) hasn't hugged anyone besides Espio, and Espio would probably stab anyone else who tries to hug him (although to be fair Silver did catch him off guard lol. Still, Espio was messing with a kunai literally right before that and probably could’ve stabbed him if he wanted to).

Even outside of that, with their past interactions, of course it's not gonna be viewed as platonic. He and Espio were good friends and had built up a pretty good relationship in Rivals 2.

Basically, if you're like "why are people viewing this as romantic????" you should go back and look at how they’ve interacted in the past. How Espio acts when Vector asks him about Silver at the end of Sonic Rivals 2 comes off as a parent prying you for information on a crush (and I do think this is exactly what that was given the fact that Espio could’ve literally just explained Silver’s motives and Vector probably would’ve accepted it lol). How they interact prior to Future Growth can come off as romantic or a crush. Hell, this angsty wattpad lookin thing exists.

For context, here’s the full cover that’s from:

They never went on a mission together in the Zombot Arc, which is where that image comes from. However, Silver did work with Whisper. Why is this worth bringing up? Espio worked alone, Cream and Gemerl worked together, Rouge and Metal Sonic were just there, Tails and Amy worked together, and Knuckles stayed on Angel Island to watch the Master Emerald. Not to mention how much the Espio and Silver thing looks like a fucking Wattpad cover compared to the other ones??? Anyway, it’d make more sense for Espio to be the lone one and Whisper to be on the same panel(?) as Silver, but they didn’t do that.

I don’t think any of what has been done with Espio and Silver was done just to show that they’re friends. It genuinely feels like there are subtle hints at something more between these two, even down to the (really subtle??) implication that Silver’s gonna stay in the present and chill with Team Chaotix my explanation for which you can find here).

Without context, yeah, I can completely understand why you might question why people see Future Growth as romantic. But when you look at how they act with each other prior to that, it does start to make sense.

The IDW angsty Wattpad fanfiction cover is weird. At that point in the comics, Espio and Silver hadn’t even interacted much, and since they’d never gone on a mission together as a pair, it doesn’t make sense why they’d be paired off like that.

Espio’s behavior at the end of Sonic Rivals 2 is weird. He never tiptoes around questions that should be easy to answer like that.

Espio opening up to Silver specifically, while not necessarily weird, is quite telling.

I’m not saying Espilver is canon. However I am saying there’s like zero explanation for why they’re always paired together if Blaze isn’t around (in which case Silver is paired with Blaze instead of Espio. I view that as different because I think Blaze views Silver more as a little brother than anything, and they’ve also spent more time together visibly compared to Espio and Silver).

So basically, if you think it’s weird that people view Future Growth as romantic, there are more hints at Espio and Silver liking each other romantically than you think.

[swaines-attempt]

Hey who wants an essay about obscure Batman villains no one cares about

Recently I've read two arcs of different Batman comics that introduced similar villains with similar theming.

Batman and Robin (2011) #10 through #12 introduces Terminus (left) and his gang of Bat-Freaks, a team of ordinary criminals who have suffered at the hands of Batman and plan to smear his name in revenge. Terminus, their leader, is a sci-fi body horror effigy of a man, whose identity and reasons for hating Batman go unexplained.

Meanwhile, Detective Comics (2016) #943-947 introduces the Victim Syndicate, a team of former hostages to Batman's villains whom he failed to save. They are led by the First Victim (right), a mysterious BDSM freak covered in the literal blood that is metaphorically on Batman's hands. He claims he was the first person who Batman failed to save, but again, the details and his identity go unexplained.

The Terminus gang and the Victim Syndicate are both, in concept, a really interesting bunch to me. The concept of Batman "creating" his villains has already been widely explored, but these cases feel grounded in a way I find refreshing. They have none of the larger-than-life mystique of Joker or Two-Face, they're just ordinary people lashing out at the symbol that has failed them.

The problem is in the implementation of both groups. The members of the Victim Syndicate are just kind of weird, and not in a good way. Characters like the Noxious Man and Mudface have potential in isolation, but in the wider Batman lore they just feel like diet versions of the established villains who created them. Some of them have potential to be explored. The idea of following a long-term Poison Ivy thrall is legitimately intriguing, and the Victim Syndicate arc wrings a lot out of Mudface's emotional history with Clayface. But it bothers me that these people have somehow gained superpowers from the villains’ attacks. Why did Noxious Man and Mute gain powers from their chemical weapon exposure when none of the thousands of other victims have? How do you explain Mudface's powers without making it completely contrived (Clayface just happened to have the same chemicals that created him on hand)? It takes me out of what is otherwise a really interesting gang of characters.

Terminus' gang, despite not having a proper team name, has a much stronger concept direction. Bootface, Bat-Head, and Scallop all have distinct, recognizable designs that the Victim Syndicate doesn't match, though Smush and… unnamed rope guy… are a little goofy. Their backstories are all much more grounded as well. In fact I admire how the first issue they appear in sets them up in so few panels. All of these people were criminals already, and now they're blaming Batman for the consequences of their actions (more on the implications of that in a bit). But again, there are no grand Joker schemes here. Terminus' gang tries to smear Batman's reputation by branding people with the bat symbol. It's brutal, it's messy, it's ordinary people lashing out, and it is delicious. It definitely outdoes the Victim Syndicate’s initial plan, which seems to be undefined beyond targeted mayhem (although teaming up the First Victim with Anarky to make a social movement against Batman is an inspired choice, as is the later falling out between the two over the Victim’s lack of true sympathy).

And that brings us to the respective leaders of the two gangs, Terminus and the First Victim. Unlike their lackeys, these characters do hold that larger-than-life supervillain quality, but the First Victim executes on it much more effectively than Terminus. Neither of them ever actually explain their beef with Batman, and I think that ambiguity is good, but Terminus just feels implausible. Why is a supervillain with access to mech suits and missiles teaming up with frickin Bootface? I’ve already talked about how the actions of Terminus’ gang are brutal and crude, which is a large part of their appeal to me. But surely someone with the resources to make a bat-mech could do so much more. It makes not getting to find out what Terminus’ deal is feel like a failure on the part of the writing. Cool body horror though. The First Victim, on the other hand, matches the vibe of the other characters much better. His force-field is definitely in the realm of science fiction, but it feels more restrained than Terminus’ military depot clearance sale. It fits his vibe as well. Punching him accomplishes nothing, because you can’t get him out of your head, and you can’t wash the blood from your hands. And that is exactly why the First Victim is the scarier of the two. He's psychological in a way that actually feels threatening, and has palpable impacts on Batman and his family dynamics. It makes his ambiguous backstory intriguing, where Terminus' feels like a plot hole.

To tie in a common theme with Batman, it's worth examining who the writers choose to be a villain. These characters are all villains, but, well, they're also victims. The Bat-Freaks in particular are written with a tone that suggests their predicament is their own fault for being criminals in the first place. Again, Batman comics (and crime media in general) tend to ignore the legitimate grievances and brutality that drive people to crime in real life, and that aspect is on show here even more than it usually is. Comic book demonization of disability is also on full display here, with Bat-Head's comedic tics probably being the worst offender. This is a larger problem that exists far beyond these two arcs, but it's so front and center here that I can't analyze them without making note of that.

For all my criticisms of these characters and arcs, there is a lot to like here. I specifically read these arcs for the villains, but I was surprised to find a lot of well-written Bat-family content as well. The Terminus arc includes a great exploration of Damian's early insecurity within the Bat-family. If you've been on the Batfam side of Tumblr, you've probably seen the sequence where Damian steals one of Jason's helmets. That's from this arc. You may have seen the sequence where Dick gifts Damian one of his escrima sticks and points out he's already Robin, so he has nothing more to prove. That's from this arc. And in the Victim Syndicate arc, the First Victim's grievances against Batman push Stephanie, herself repeatedly victimized by Batman, to fight back and reclaim her identity as Spoiler.

(Note that I haven't read the full runs of these comics. I like what I saw of Damian and Stephanie, but I recognize that I have no idea if that good characterization holds up when put in context).

Batman villains fascinate me as an exploration of the extremes in life, how a concept or symbol can fully take over and tinge everything you see and do. Even poorly-written supervillains can have an undeniable magnetism. I think it's worth exploring, defining, and redefining the villains that slip under the radar.

[wardevilwins]

I’m doing a reread of part 2 and one thing I’m noticing is these repeated 2 page structures. I think he is doing his layouts as 2 page spreads. He’s doing these interlocking repeated structures like the 2 page structure being mirrored in the next 2 panels.

At the same time he is mirroring the 3 section structure of the two pages in the lower section. It’s like the layout is developed to structure a geometric language for the chapter

So we have the “two page” side by side panels and the “three section” with two panels oriented one way and the third oriented perpendicular. And he keeps these structures around until the end of the chapter. When the class president attacks Asa, the same repeated structures come back but now shaken

The geometric grammar of the chapter is developed in parallel with the developments in the story. Once Asa dies and Yoru takes over, the entire basis of the page structure changes. Huge spreads. Configurations that he hasn’t used yet. The rigid gutters are erased. The layout is chaos.

The development of the layouts follows Asa’s rigid mindset giving way to violence in her death. It’s really incredible stuff. If you have never read Chainsaw Man two pages at a time I highly recommend it he is clearly writing for a volume experience it’s awesome.

[sadstonewrites]

Some moments from Amazing X-Men #19 I think about a lot (Colossus rant incoming)

The team literally calling out how Piotr is ‘martyr prone’ - cause let’s face it, he is. Piotr’s whole character at this point is to be the shield, taking the hits and sacrificing himself for the greater good. This is ESPECIALLY true after his run in X-Force and the whole Cyttorak incident; he needs to sacrifice himself, to be the shield, because in his mind it is the only way he has value to the team and to his friends. My guy’s self esteem is low, and more than that he sees himself as nothing but a beast of burden - Storm tries to purposefully exclude him from the mission to circumvent this. 

But then this happens

THE GROWTH. THE SELF REFLECTION.

He still saved everyone but then he SAVES HIMSELF TOO! 

In conclusion, I want to see more of this Piotr, and I love him your honor.