#i mean Wally (who is one of the only other ones with a solo series) mainly plays support on the Titans

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Nightwing #100 was fun and a good celebration of Nightwing's history and progress. The Titans set up was really cool to see and I hope DC follows through with putting the Titans into the spotlight.

BUT

It can't be in the Nightwing series. I can't think of anything more damaging to The Titans as a team and to Nightwing himself than to have the entirety of the Titans crammed into a solo series.

This is why we have team series and solo series. People don't read Titan series for stories 98% focused on Grayson with every other Titans character relegated to a cameo support role. People don't read Nightwing for stories revolving around his Titans' leadership duties.

The best part about the Titans is that it's a diverse group of personalities and skillsets. Every character gets a chance to shine, every character has a distinct personality and goals. They aren't Dick Grayson's backup dancers or personal cheerleading squad. And Dick's book should be where he gets to just be himself doing stealth missions and clandestinely fighting assassins, without trying to be the perfect leader that's always got a plan.

I liked Nightwing #100 and I've liked the other times Titans characters have crossed over into the series. But this can't just be it. They have to have a Titans series. They have to.

[radioactive-earthshine]

So uh I am confused and I know I am never going to read the comics to find this out myself but who actually is Bart's legal guardian and by that I mean who adopted him officially? I know he was being mentored by Maxwell and then the Garricks but which one actually took him in? Sorry if I'm bothering you but I know I am just never going to read the old comics.

Officially-officially adopted him? No one.

DC is a comics universe where physics, legality, common sense and politics are gravely different from the real world so we cannot really expect the comic's universe to hold up to our laws and regulations because if we did then a lot of what makes these stories interesting would just fall flat. However in this scenario we can use our definitions for two key terms to understand what is going on with Bart... Because it is interesting.

In The United States the difference between Adoption and Legal Guardianship (for a child) are very different and serve different purposes;

Adoption; a permanent decision (usually) to separate a child from their biological parents or legal guardians and terminating their legal rights to said child. The prior parents or guardians have no legal claim to the child. In the eyes of the law this makes the adoptive parent the parent. Period.

Legal Guardian; an often temporary caregiving situation for a child where the child is temporarily removed from their biological parent(s) guardianship for an indeterminate length of time while the parents still maintain their rights to said child. This is often used to maintain stability for a child who is in crisis either due to their own health or due to their parents' health or situation but not always. There are a lot of scenarios that can lead to someone being a legal guardian.

The fact that the term "legal guardian" is used in regard to Bart implies that someone is listed as Bart's parent if the comics follow any semblance of our laws and they are at least inspired by our laws.

Bart has had multiple legal guardians and there was one throwaway line that Bart used to describe himself as "Max's ward" in I believe a Young Justice special. The word "adopted" never came up in regards to Bart only "legal guardian" or "guardian".

Of all his guardians the one that Bart bonded to the strongest was "Uncle" Max and towards the end of his comics it had solidified thoroughly that they both had a father/son relationship (to Wally's SHOCK.) Jenni during her brief stay with Bart and Max also once made a joke and claimed that Max adopts Bart eventually... when Bart turns 30. Jokes aside this implies that Max only had a "legal guardian" status in regards to Bart and was not listed as his legal parent.

Bart and Max said "I love you" to each other on multiple occasions which is an absolute milestone in comics period. It's a big fucking deal. So if Max had only been around for just a little longer, I think that it would have been definitely on the roster to make an adoption official. We never got this sadly.

Jay and Joan as guardians both adored Bart and clearly loved him, however unfortunately we did not get to see much of their interactions beyond guest appearances in other comics as Bart no longer had a solo series so we were given brief affectionate moments. Jay showed immediate interest in Bart's interests by playing videogames with him when the man never held a controller in his life, and even watched some of Bart's shows so the man clearly went out of his way to make Bart feel welcomed during a traumatic time. Jay was different from Max but he was still put in a guardianship role and settled into his mentor where Wally checked in on them from time to time as he did with Max. It still begs the question though... If Max, Jay and Joan were all listed as legal guardians that thereby implies that they had someone listed as Bart's legal parent(s).

There are three options that I see as possible;

1.) Oracle setup a fake parent history which may have been Meloni Thawne and Don Allen when she assisted Wally with setting up Bart's "identity papers" and the parents exist only on paper for them to use as necessary. (see Impulse #1)

2.) Iris is listed as his legal parent (very unlikely).

3.) Wally is listed as his legal parent. It's most likely that #1 is the scenario they are using but it could be any of the 3. With how often Wally checks in on Bart and how Max reports to him directly when things go bad there is some loose evidence to suggest that Wally is legally listed as his parent, and Wally does make a comment when Bart implies that Max was "gone" (he just moved across the street) that if Max was no where to be found he would have to take him in full-time.

Wally also was responsible for setting Bart up with Jay and Joan when Max "died" and is shown being deferred to for multiple decisions regarding Bart.

Granted this could just be Wally looking out for him as best as he can because it is the morally correct thing to do, he wants to and he does care about Bart. But it could be that Wally West, even though he no longer had a secret identity at this time, was ironically listed as Bart Allen's parent. I think it is unlikely that legally Wally is but it is clear that the entire Flashfam defaulted to him regardless so they may have just had an agreement among each other that he has personal pseudo-legal control over Bart's life and living arrangements.

As for Iris as a possible legal parent that is pretty unlikely given that while she adores and loves Bart and was responsible for saving his life and setting him up with Max in the first place she tries to be as absent as possible barring special events (like birthdays).

In conclusion TLDR; Bart does not have a canon explanation for who is his legal parent and he never is adopted, Max was the closest person emotionally to him and 10/10 was on the path to adopting him but Jay and Joan are a good second. Wally is likely regarded by all the other heroes as Bart's "true guardian" and the one ultimately responsible for him.

[thattimdrakeguy]

Bart Allen/Impulse CHARACTERIZATION

People reblogging one of my Bart posts but it’s one of my most vague posts on him lol So I wanted to make a more indepth post if people actually are interested. And I’m going off the characterization his creator wrote for him, as it wasn’t very long for him till he was flanderized and not nearly as recognizable.

OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT BART:

He is not a little rain of sunshine, and can be prone to getting into fights or scrapes with other kids. He is a teenager, who indeed, has teenage angst. Look at him go!

Yes, he even cusses! Sometimes in our modern English language, sometimes in future language.

He is not freaking 8--in the beginning of his solo he was 14 to 15 years old, and he hangs out with people his own age and an old guy. Writing him like he’s an elementary school student, can sometimes be genuinely offensive simply because it comes from his ADHD and people misunderstanding what it’s like--

Bart is NOT the biologically youngest member of Young Justice, and is older than both Tim and Greta (or at least I’m pretty sure in Greta’s case. I am 100% sure in Tim’s case.)

While Bart is primarily calm, he is prone to having fits like any other teenager, and can became a genuine brat. But it isn’t like he’s constantly having a fit. He’s just a teenager.

And while he’s not as hyper as people believe, he just has super speed, and like any average person, will get excited about things he finds cool, so he’ll speed around, he does zone out a lot, and have day dreams.

He is more of an introvert and does not enjoy popularity too much when he achieves it. He prefers being by himself or a small group of friends.

This teen has stolen cars, and it takes him a while to realize the hard way that life isn’t like the video games he grew up in.

There’s a page where he looks like this:

No, there is nothing important about it, I just thought it was really funny, and it reminded me of how Dick has worn Batman boxers before. That is all.

There are times where he can seem distant, because he’s very much a person stuck in his own head a lot of the time, but he genuinely really is a sweet, caring, helpful kid. It just sometimes take him a while to remember that.

He doesn’t actually talk that much in most situations. He has a smart ass remark every now and again, but he actually has very few words to say a lot of times unless he’s around someone he’s more comfortable being around like his friends or family.

Bart isn’t actually the shortest member of Young Justice, he was the same height as Tim and Cassie, and despite the latest Young Justice series written by Bendis suggests otherwise--Bart as an adult (which he is currently 19-years-old) is 5 foot 11, and even bigger than Wally, meaning he grows to be one of the taller members. So he gets a growth spurt more like Cassie, and less like Tim. The art is his solo was just stylized to be more cartoony, while others played more to 90s stereotypical art, or realism.

Inertia never lived with him. Most people are aware of that and just like to play with AUs, which is just fine, but some people aren’t aware of that lol.

Bart does have crushes on girls/women, and has since his very early days. Though, he doesn’t want to date his best friend, who is a girl. I’m mainly just saying this--because people like to infantilize him just because he has ADHD and choose to have him still act like girl’s are gross. When--he’s canonically had sex before. (Though he was an adult at the time, for the record.)

This isn’t the only example, but it’s the only one I have screenshotted. Other ones are way more obvious to the point Bart has hearts around his head.

He thinks more with pictures and scenes that play out, rather than words.

Sometimes Bart is more of a fish out of water, or alien-esque role, given he’s from the future and was only raised in V.R. Meaning that he isn’t aware of a lot of things due to how he was forced to be raised.

He’s not happy go lucky, he’s just not angsty as often as others.

Please respect the Bart.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Worst Flash Storylines and Plot Ideas of All Time

As you’ve probably ascertained from the general contents of this blog, the Flash is my favorite comic book series. I love the characters and most of the stories. However, just like any series that’s been around for eighty years (counting the Jay Garrick stuff), the Flash does, unfortunately, have some truly terrible stories and plot ideas. 

In terms of terrible plot ideas that didn’t completely ruin the surrounding stories: 

1. Barry Allen uses the Mirror Master’s mirrors to manipulate Iris into agreeing to start dating him again (Flash #109). Creepy, Barry. Just creepy. The story is great Silver Age fun otherwise. 

2. Iris West: meanest woman alive. Iris was, by and large, incredibly awful to Barry up until maybe about a year before their 1966 marriage. Almost every time she shows up in an early Silver Age issue, you will admire her daring and independence (this is good) and be bewildered as to why on Earth Barry would want to spend time with a woman who is constantly calling him slow, lazy, and ambition-less (this is not good). It doesn’t really affect any one issue too much, but when read in a conglomerate, she starts looking really awful. Although as bad as Early Silver Age Iris seems as a romantic interest, she’s got nothing on Silver Age Superman and Lois Lane, the most dysfunctional couple in the DCU. 

3. Wally West’s zero-effort code name and costume (Flash #110). It really could not be more obvious how little effort the writers were putting into creating this character. The duplicate origin is also pretty cheesy, but there are enough differences from Barry’s origin for it not to frustrate me. But the name “Kid Flash” and the fact that his first costume was literally identical to Barry’s just feel incredibly lazy. Barry and Wally do have an adorable dynamic in the issue, though, so it’s by no means all bad. 

4. Barry Allen waiting an entire year after his marriage to tell his wife that he’s really the Flash. Frustrating and unnecessary; especially since Joan Garrick had been in on her husband’s secret since the 1940s. 

5. Iris Allen is FROM THE FUTURE. I both love and hate this idea. It’s so perfectly comic-booky, but at the same time, it opened the floodgates for the Allen family being a confusing, time-displaced mess. 

6. The Trial of Barry Allen. This one’s weird. I like many of the individual issues in this arc, and I actually think the last two issues are really great as an ending for Barry Allen’s original run, but this storyline dragged on for waaaaaay too long. There’s a reason I call it the Arc that Never Ends. Also, the titular trial is actually the least interesting part of the entire storyline. His battles with the Rogues and Kadabra are far more interesting. 

7. Wally West’s borderline creepy, chauvinistic attitude towards women under Mike Baron (and, to a much lesser extent, William Messner-Loebs). There’s being a hormonal twenty-something, and then there’s going through girlfriends at the rate other people change their socks. Messner-Loebs mostly avoided this issue by making it clear that Wally was under intense psychological stress that was negatively impacting his behavior, but under Baron and in some of his JLE appearances, he comes across as a real creep around women. 

8. Kadabra overkill under Mark Waid: I like Kadabra, but when he’s the main villain in like four distinct arcs, it gets to be a bit much. It’s like modern Eobard. He is legitimately written well, though, so he doesn’t drag down any of the stories too much. 

9. Pointlessly Dead Rogues: Killing off the Rogues in Underworld Unleashed for no good reason (the rest of the story is great, especially the Trickster). 

10. Pointlessly Dead Rogues 2: Electric Boogaloo: The Golden Glider’s pointless death to build up a character who was himself killed two issues later. (The rest of the story is decent.) Also, the treatment of Lisa in general post-Crisis is frustrating, since she becomes considerably more unhinged than she was before. 

11. Any time Waid tried to write McCulloch, with the exception of Flash vol. 2 #105 (and even there, he seemed off). It’s like he forgot Evan wasn’t Sam. 

12. Apparently, the Top trying to blow up both Central City and half the world makes him a loser? Also, he suddenly hates Piper for no readily apparent reason. (At least the story had some good Piper and Wally bits.) 

13. BARRY ALLEN HAS A SECRET EVIL TWIN! DUN DUN DUN! (The rest of the story, where we get to meet a whole whack of interesting future Flashes, is actually pretty good, but whoo boy, the Malcolm reveal feels like it came straight out of a soap opera.) 

14. In order for Captain Cold to ANGST, the Golden Glider’s pointless death remained in place for over ten years. It did give us a really, really good Capt. Cold story, at least...but it’s still fridging. 

15. Rainbow Raider’s mean-spirited murder by Blacksmith. Poor Roy. 

16. Albert Desmond becomes Hannibal Lecter, only twenty times as rude, for a Gotham Central arc that would’ve been terrific without him as the main villain. 

17. Owen Mercer is an idiotic child murderer and gets killed by the Rogues. Why was this necessary? (The rest of Blackest Night: The Flash is pretty good.) 

18. Josh Jackam-Mardon’s murder. The murder of small children for shock value is pretty gross. Especially since nothing was ever really done with it. 

19. Barry’s PARENTS ARE DEEEEAAAAD! (Okay, it’s really just his mom, but still. This is a very frustrating retcon, since originally his parents were alive and well until after his own death.) 

20. Albert Desmond was Barry’s jerk coworker; which never impacted the plot or led to anything. As a result, it’s just another frustrating retcon. 

21. Sam Scudder murdered someone before becoming the Mirror Master. Yet another Johns retcon that never went anywhere and only serves to darken the Silver and Bronze Age stories after the fact. 

22. Flashpoint (a decent story) wiped out a whole bunch of characters I really liked from existence for several years. Evan McCulloch’s still not back. 

23. Giving the Rogues metahuman powers doesn’t suit them, on the whole. They work better without them. 

24. Roy’s second pointless, brutal death in (I think) Forever Evil. 

25. IT WAS MEEEEE, BARRY! After serving as the main villain for like six arcs in eight years, I’m glad that Eobard finally seems to be getting a rest. The level of bad things he was responsible for was getting ridiculous. 

26. Sam/Lisa. WHY? (The only time it even kind of worked was in Forever Evil.) 

In terms of entire storylines I didn’t like: 

1. The Flash: The Most Terribly Written Man Alive. Poor Bart is aged up with no adequate explanation, loses all the traits that made him a likeable character, fights some awful villains, and then is murdered by the badly OOC Rogues. Meanwhile, Inertia goes from an at least somewhat sympathetic villain to a complete psychopath with little explanation, a murder is retconned into one of Captain Cold’s reformed periods, the Pied Piper and the Trickster completely forget that they’re supposed to be reformed, Abra Kadabra inexplicably teams up with the Rogues despite generally being a solo operative, and all of the Rogues act like total morons, willingly following a teenage speedster for no adequately explained reason. UGH. 

2. Countdown to Infinite Crisis: Even though Piper and Trickster were probably the best part of Countdown, that isn’t saying much. Both of them are uncharacteristically stupid (especially James), and James is a grade-A jerk to Piper for no reason. Also, both of them continue to forget that they reformed, and then James gets brutally murdered and Piper almost loses his mind. Also, the other Rogues cameo, and continue to act like idiots. Countdown: it really does ruin everything it touches. 

Superboy Prime will kill you! He’ll kill you to DEATH! And after you read Countdown, you’ll wish he had killed you to death. 

3. The Identity Crisis Tie-In Retcon: So, you know all that awesome character development the Rogues have had over the years? Well, forget all that, because it was all just Roscoe brainwashing them! Which was something he could definitely do before this story! And why did he do this? Why, because Barry Allen, one of the most upstanding men in the DCU, brainwashed him! Also, apparently, the Top had a huge bodycount that we never heard about back in the Bronze Age, because we need even MORE grimdark retcons for our cheerful Silver/Bronze Age history! I like Geoff Johns’ work, I really do....but BOY HOWDY does he need to lay off on the retcons sometimes. 

4. Identity Crisis: With the exception of Owen’s introduction and the establishment of the relationship between him and Digger, this story was pretty awful all around. More specifically, as far as the Flash was concerned, it was responsible for Digger’s second pointless death. It also killed off poor Jack Drake and poor, mistreated Sue Dibney, who deserved MUCH better. And the Justice League, including Barry, are A-OK with brainwashing, apparently. Comics are fun! 

These last two stories are pretty recent, and they did have some parts I liked, but on the whole I felt they also belonged on the list. 

5. The Trickster finally returns! Hurrah! Except it turns out that he’s way more like the Joker now than he ever was before, and he mind-controls the city in a super-creepy way. A very disappointing return for the character, especially since it was set up really well. 

6. Forever Evil: Captain Cold becomes a murderous dictator with a stupid Santa Beard, all of the Rogues get horrible costumes, and Sam completes his mutation into Evan-in-all-but-name. There are some good characters bits in the story (even for Cold), but on the whole, I found the story to just be unlikeable and depressing and thought Cold was pretty out-of-character. Poor Commander Cold....

So, what are your least favorite Flash storylines and plot ideas? 

[fandomsalty]

Why I Don’t Like Dick Grayson

Not in any particular order.

1. He’s redundant.

If the Robins are reflections of Batman, then Tim is the Leader and Detective, Jason is the motivation and willingness to clean up the streets, and Damian is the skill. Dick isn’t any of that.

2. He threw Tim out onto the streets when Bruce died.

This one is self explanatory. And he took Robin away from Tim which is unfair since Robin is Tim’s and only Tim’s. It’s his mantle and Dick wasn’t allowed to give it away.

3. He threw Jason in Arkham.

Also self explanatory. What kind of brother throws the other in jail??

4. He’s never there for his “brothers”.

Where was Dick when Tim got hit by Bruce? When his parents died in pre52? Where was Dick when Jason was getting beat up by Bruce? Or when Damian was getting resurrected, he didn’t show up and Damian was supposed to be his favorite “brother”.

5. He faked his death.

This is mean because Tim, Jason, and Damian all died for real and Dick only pretended to die?? That’s insensitive to the ones who actually went through the trauma.

6. His name.

Wtf is wrong with his name. Who goes by Dick anymore.

7. Ric

Ric is so rude to his family. They shouldn’t even bother. Barbara wastes her time trying to talk to him and it’s so annoying to see her run after this idiot. I ship Jason x Barbara.

8. He killed Wally in Young Justice (cartoon).

First he steals Tim’s team then he gets Wally killed in S2? If they let Tim lead Young Justice then I doubt that would have happened at the end…

I read a lot of FanFiction where they try to excuse his actions, but the truth is that Dick isn’t a good brother or a good superhero. They should drop Nightwing and do a Red Robin/Drake solo series imo.

I don’t really read the comics so I won’t be able to give you the exact comics but if you look it up, you’ll find it probably

[jcogginsawriter]

Hand to Hand: Mark Waid’s Flash

I have been a fan of comic book characters for a long time. I started with the cartoons, and as I got older, I began doing deep dives into wikis, reading fanfiction, and participating in that shallowest of internet past times, the vs debate. I dabbled in writing fanfic for myself, but I spent far more time thinking about writing fanfic instead. I would come up with all these ideas about what I would take from the various different versions of the characters, and don’t get me started on the idea of Crossovers.     The point is, I knew a lot of what happened in the comics, but I never read many comics. I didn’t know where my local comic shop was, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have had the money to spend on them. The comics that I did read were usually fan translations of manga. I did read a few comics, big name stories like Death of Superman or Crisis on Infinite Earths, but they were few and far between.

Recently, I’ve begun to change that. I now follow several comics as they come out, most notably the current X-line. This change sprang in part because I began reading a lot more comics criticism. In particular, I followed the blog of a certain Superman fan, and began to eagerly digest his various takes. I wanted to be able to ask him questions about new comics without looking like an idiot (This is how 90 percent of my interactions on comics twitter go, BTW) and that was a kick in the pants for me.

After getting into a steady habit, I decided to look into reading some of the classic runs I’d read so much about throughout life. To go from knowing them second hand, to knowing them first hand. After a bit of hemming and hawing, I’ve settled on Mark Waid’s legendary run of Flash Comics to start off with.

(Spoiler Warning for some 30 year old comics, by the way)

As of this writing, I have read up to the final issue of his story arc Dead Heat, wherein Wally does battle with the speed cultist Savitar. Before we get into things like plot and characters, I want to discuss the art, because no discussion of comic books is really complete without talking about the art. Unfortunately, the art in this run hasn’t done much for me, but that’s not really it’s fault. I read this comics in manner that they were not created to be read, digitally and zoomed in. These comics were drawn with physical issues in mind, and I don’t doubt that they’re good in that format. It also doesn’t help that I’ve read far more manga than I have American comics. American comics have never clicked with me the way manga does. Even now, I still find the layout of manga more legible than the layout of an American comic. That’s not a value judgment, it’s just my personal experience.

I do distinctly recall thinking that the art was better up to issue #79 (The conclusion to the Return of Barry Allen storyline), than it was after. I prefer the less exaggerated character designs, and lighter inks, though it could very well be a case of me having gotten used to the initial style and not liking the change. One thing that thing I can say about the art is that it helped me grasp how Wally’s costume differed from Barry’s. Before this, I was incapable of separating them in my mind, but seeing them side by side made it clear to me how different Wally’s Costume was colored and shaded.

Now, onto the writing of the run, we’ll start with the lead, Wally West. My previous touchstone for Wally was the Justice League series from the DCAU, which I watched a lot as a kid. The Wally in these comics comes off as more serious that his DCAU incarnation. Not too serious, he still cracks jokes, but he’s more on the ball. He takes his adventures as seriously as any hero would, rather than the more carefree attitude I recall his DCAU version having. This is not unsurprising, Wally here is the lead whereas there he was part of an ensemble cast, and here we get his internal monologue which gives us a much more thorough sense of his headspace. Not to mention, the DCAU version was voiced, so we know with no ambiguity what tone his dialogue’s in. In text, tone is more up to interpretation.

Perhaps the biggest thing that set Comic Wally apart from DCAU Wally is that the Wally in the comic was more consistently angry and frustrated. While his DCAU incarnation had hidden depths, I can’t recall a time when he got seriously angry. This Wally is frequently irritated, usually by things which are enitrely understandable. On occasion, his irritability causes him to be rougher with the bad guys than he could be, and that feels uncomfortable sometimes, though thus far he hasn’t gone too far.

Going into this, I knew that one of the issues that Wally had to overcome was his mental block about surpassing Barry, and to my surprise, it wasn’t as much of a through-line as I expected. I was expecting it to be a reoccurring issue that was solved by the Return of Barry Allen storyline, but in reality there are only one or two times something like it comes up, usually in the context of him not being able to do the vibrating through walls trick. In the Return of Barry Allen, it feels more like an issue introduced in that story than a long running plot line. Granted, it may only feel this way because I’m solely reading Mark Waid’s Flash. I didn’t read the issues prior to his take over, so that storyline could have been more apparent there for all I know.

Moving on, starting with Waid’s run had another knock on effect, that being that the character introductions aren’t introductions. I came into this expecting to see when Wally met Linda, when he met Jay Garrick, when Pied Piper redeemed himself, but all of that happened before Waid took over the book, so they’re already part of the cast from the start. Again, not a flaw of the work, it’s just a result of my personal experiences. Now, let’s take a look at some of these characters.

I’ve heard a lot about Linda and Wally’s romance, and so far it’s not bad. I wouldn’t rate it as one of the best of all time, but I haven’t gotten to most of the major moments yet, so that’s not a huge surprise. One thing that’s very apparent is the Lois Lane DNA in her character. Some of that is to be expected, which the love interest to your superhero is a reporter, but I see a lot of similarities in their personality as well. There’s a lot of the same fire in her. Fortunately, the fact that Wally’s identity is public lends a very different arc to their relationship than what you see with Lois and Clark, so Linda doesn’t come off as a Lois rip-off. Linda’s concerns that there’s no place for her in Wally’s wild superhero life is the kind of relationship hurdle that isn’t present in Lois and Clark’s Relationship.

Next, let’s take a look at the first Flash, Jay Garrick. Within this series, Jay is perfectly pleasant, and by no means unlikable, but he also comes across as...kind of superfluous? There are three elderly male speedsters in this comic, and of all of them Jay is by far the least defined and has the least role. Max Mercury is the Wally’s mentor in the ways of speed, the one with the most knowledge of the Speed Force. He’s basically what I expected Jay Garrick to be going into this. The third of the group is Johnny Quick, a speedster who is the father of another speedster, Jesse Quick. Jesse is also very skeptical of Max Mercury’s teachings, which veer from the scientific into the mystical.

Because Johnny takes the role of skeptic, Jay is left without a role in the narrative because being the nicest of Wally’s friend group. Veering over to Hollywood for a second, whenever a book gets adapted into a movie or TV Show, minor characters get lost in the transition. Either they get composited with other characters, or they get cut entirely. Game of Thrones is the most prominent example in recent memory. I bring this up because, if Waid’s Flash were to go through that process, it’s hard to argue that Jay wouldn’t get the ax. Despite being the most important of them in the context of the universe at large, Jay is the least important Speedster in this narrative. Of course, Jay’s importance in the context of the larger universe means that in this hypothetical adaptation, he probably be composited into either max or Johnny. More likely Max, since mentor is the logical position for the first Flash to take in the Third Flash’s narrative.

I mentioned Jess Quick there, so let’s talk about her. Thus far, her most prominent role in the narrative has been to call Wally out and be his critic, though she does have very good reasons to be angry. In the Terminal Velocity storyline, Wally believes he’ll die soon, and tells the Flash Family that Jesse will be his successor, but it turns out to be a lie in order to motivate Bart Allen to take things more seriously. Jesse has remained angry with Wally since then, though it hasn’t seriously impacted her hero work. That’s good, because her continued competence lends legitimacy to her anger within the narrative. She’s not being punished for being mad at Wally for mistreating her. Hopefully it stays that way going forward.

Now let’s take a look at the character Wally chose over Jesse, Bart Allen AKA Impulse. I’ll say up front that I’m not reading Bart’s solo series during this read through, as I didn’t want the hassle of going back and forth between books. As such, the only issues of it that I’ve looked at are the ones that tie into the Dead Heat arc. I feel it’s important for me to say this, because I’m basing my opinions of Bart primarily on his showings in Wally’s book, not his own. In Wally’s book, Bart’s character flaws are more on display.

Bart is a character deliberately designed to be obnoxious, and such characters are a hard tightrope to walk in fiction. Gotta be annyoing enough to get the point across, but not annoying enough to turn people off from the work. Bart in Wally’s book isn’t perfectly balanced, and tends toward the too much pile. Not to an egregious extent, but a little bit. I found myself echoing Wally’s frustration with Bart more than a few times. In Bart’s defense, Wally does share some of the blame here. He doesn��t do a very good job as a mentor, and handing those duties off to Max is probably for the best.

I find it interesting, that a character like Wally who is so defined by inheriting a legacy is a poor mentor, to both Bart and Jesse. He makes different mistakes with both of them, but he still fails both of them. I’m eager to see how that plays out in the future issues.

Now that we’ve discussed the supporting cast, let’s discuss some of the book’s villains. We’ll start with the one who is most infamous, Eobard Thawne. Thawne’s spends the majority of his time in this book thinking he’s Barry Allen, and if I’m being honest, he’s more effective under that guise that he is as Eobard. The scenes where what appears to be Barry Allen turns evil out of jealousy of his successor are powerful, more so than the more traditional villain Eobard displays after the reveal. Not that it would have been a good idea for it to actually be Barry, of course. Much as I prefer Wally to Barry, having Barry go full supervillain would have been very out of character. In any case, this run had a profound impact on Eobard’s character going forward, solidifying him as an agent of toxic fanboyism, making him a dark mirror of Wally West.

The next major villain of the run is the cult slash terrorist organization Kobra. That might bring thoughts of GI Joe to your mind, and you honestly aren’t far off. So far as this run goes, the biggest differences between DC’s Kobra and Hasbro’s is A) DC’s version prefer green over blue, and B) Hasbro’s version has more in the way of distinct characters. Kobra thus far is more of a plot device than  anything else. They’re generic terrorists with little to make them distictive. Their storyline, Terminal Velocity, is more notable for it’s introduction of the Speed Force, Wally preparing for his upcoming ‘death’, and Linda going on a revenge quest after said ‘death’. All things that Kobra is incidental to, any villainous organization would have sufficed.

The final, as of my current point in the run, major villain is Savitar. Savitar was formerly a soviet test pilot who gained a connection to a the speedforce, gave himself the name of Hindu god, and started a speed worshipping cult. It says a lot about my mind that my immediate thoughts upon reading Savitar’s origin were. “Huh, an AU where Hal Jordan became a Speedster the same way would be neat.”. Savitar is in some ways an improvement on the Kobra Cult from Terminal Velocity. This time the Cult has a more direct connection to the Flash and his mythos. Dead Heat is by no means a retread of Terminal Velocity, but if you wanted to mesh them into one story, it wouldn’t be hard. And it’d improve on both, in some ways.

One of the things I like to do in my fanfic ideas is connect the other speedsters to Thawne’s theme of Toxic Fandom, and it wouldn’t be hard to do that with Savitar. His entire motivation is to deprive those he considers unworthy of their speed, and that can easily by played as a metaphor for gatekeeping.

Over all, while the run is far from perfect, I must say I’m enjoying these comics a good deal, and if you’re like me and have read a lot about comics without actually reading them, I don’t think you’d regret jumping into them.

[nightwingmyboi]

Pt 1) I just realized Young Justice based Dick's reaction to Wally going into the speed force on how he reacted to Donna's death in the comics which means that in the show canon he probably went through all the shit he went through after Donna's death like oh shit man, they didn't even show us that much, just that he was still struggling in season 3 but if they really did base it on Donna's death then Dick was straight up suicidal and the show doesn't??? Address it???

Pt 2) they're just like "fever dream" and "calls Will Walls" and that's!! All!!! Like, shit man, Young Justice season 3 was already pretty dark with the human trafficking stuff, but having realized what they were basing his reaction on (the self isolation, super dangerous missions with no backup, etc - all shit he did in the comics) and I should have noticed when the title of the season was Outsiders like fucking duh but holy shit

Yeah, season 3 referenced the Outsiders (2003) comics series some, but honestly only the bare bones. Like, I’m not surprised you missed it; the only things they really carried over was the name “Outsider”, along with Dick’s aversion to being on a team after the death of a close friend. Well, that and the one episode with Will where he tries to talk some sense into Dick, which was very reminiscent of the type of support that Roy gave Dick in the comics during that period of time. 

I feel like besides that, the show didn’t really approach it all the same way. Comics Dick Grayson was very much self-destructing, as you described. He had shut himself off from the hero community, and even six weeks later, he was still isolating himself in Bludhaven, refusing to talk to anyone and mourning. 

Teen Titans/Outsider Secret Files

Elsewhere, he is even shown pushing away Tim, and presumably Bruce was included in that exclusion as well. I don’t know if I would say he is explicitly suicidal like you mention, but you could probably make a case for it. He is definitely depressed. And he would have continued this self-isolation if not for Roy coming to him in person, and out-stubborning him into leading the Outsiders. Dick just barely agreed, and only then because the team was meant to be just work. And even when Dick is leading the team, he doesn’t act as he usually would; he is strict and emotionally distant. It’s easier for him to lose his temper and fly off the handle. 

Outsiders (2003) #4 

Happy? He’s mad again. We almost went a whole day without him offering to fire us. 

In contrast, YJ Dick isn’t really shown self-isolating. Even on his “dangerous solo missions,” he has Barbara in the back seat monitoring the situation and helping him out. And honestly, a lot of YJ is him trying to convince people to go on missions with him rather than the other way around (like with Superboy, Black Lightning, Will, etc). He coordinates with Batman, Aqualad, and Wonder Woman. He cracks jokes a lot. He’s flirty with Barbara, and is in a close relationship with her. After that initial period of being somewhat flighty when it came to leading the Outsiders and taking responsibility for the kids, he seems to regularly train the kids and is shown mentoring them. He chills around the campfire chatting and bonding with the team. You would not have caught Comic Dick doing any of that lmao. 

Really, we only catch hints that YJ Dick is struggling, like with the Will/Wall thing and the fever dream. For the most part, Dick isn’t shown to be struggling to the same degree/extent that the comics allow. It’s true that Dick is certainly masking his grief, but even so, he is way more well adjusted than I would have expected. Dick is infamous in the comics for bottling up his emotions and lashing out when the stress becomes too much, and for cutting people out of his life when he experiences a loss (like with Donna and then Bruce later). But there is none of that in the show. And really, his best friend dies as a result of a plot that he had concocted (a plot that said friend who died very much did not agree with), but Dick apparently was fine going right back to plotting behind people’s backs once more? That didn’t seem to fit quite right to me, idk. 

So yeah, I would have liked for the show to have leaned into Dick’s bad habits a bit more, to have him be angry and guilty and more withdrawn. And have the others reach out and help him overcome. I also realize that YJ isn’t the Dick Grayson show, that other characters needed time and exploration also, and that Dick recruiting people the way he did served the greater plot so. Sometimes that is how it be. 

But really, since we are talking about it, the whole Outsiders concept fell a little flat in the show for me. The team originally were called the Outsiders in the comics because they worked outside the hero community doing the sort of messy, dirty jobs other teams couldn’t. The team was edgy and destructive, filled to the brim with members with abrasive personalities and strong opinions. The team dynamic was very dysfunctional, sometimes it was like watching a train wreck having them interact. It was delightful. But the YJ team was in the leagues pocket from the get go, and was basically a team of cinnamon rolls (looking at you Halo and Forager). Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but I wish they hadn’t attached the Outsiders name to it at all, because I came in with expectations that were squashed. Still, I can see what they were going for, it was certainly darker/grittier than previous seasons. And this also isn’t to say I disliked YJ; I did still enjoy season 3 quite a bit, and there are good moments in the show. Like that aforementioned fever dream?? That was really a punch to the gut, wow. And seeing Lian? That one episode with Zatanna and Artemis? I could go on. But I won’t because this is already too long. 

[bigskydreaming]

What are the best standalone dc comics you can recommend to someone who just knows the main few jla heroes, the existence of multiple robins, and only a few of their actual names? The less grimdark the better, I've already got Li'l Gotham, Kami Garcia's Raven, Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen in my list. Anything with Dick?

With the ironic exception of the 90′s Nightwing solo series, which I will never recommend as it contains all of my least favorite staples of his character lol, from cop Dick to ‘let’s systematically destroy his life because that builds character’ which uh, is NOT the point of angst or conflict IMO, lol.....

Ahem, anyway, except for the 90′s Nightwing solo series, I personally would recommend going back to the 90′s comics for fun stuff. First off, back then the titles were a lot less interconnected, it was a lot easier to read just one book and not inevitably need to rush over to another one to get any context for what was happening, and like....I think the 90′s (at least for DC) gets an undeserved rep. It was dark at times, definitely, but not the unending grimdark of some of the more recent years, and there was a definite focus on younger heroes - for instance, a lot of the names I bring up in my posts about the lineup I’d use for Jason’s Titans, those come straight out of the 90′s versions of those characters. Like The Ray, Damage, Anima, etc.

So the 90′s Young Justice book, Superboy, etc. The Flash, because Wally and Linda Park are a hugely underrated DC couple and were so great together, and the Rogues were at their best in the 90s, I think. The JSA title from back then was a TON of fun at times, with a lot of characters you’ll rarely see anywhere else, unfortunately, but definitely deserve all the love. 

And the 90′s Robin book! Maybe unexpected given my posts about Tim and his fandom these days, but a huge part of my issue there is that fanon Tim and Red Robin Tim are just....the ANTITHESIS of everything Tim was originally, and why I loved him. In the beginning, 90′s Tim was the Robin Who Shouldn’t Have Been. What I mean by that is he wasn’t this exceptional prodigy whose rise to heroism was inevitable - his discovery of Batman and Robin’s identity was as much a matter of luck and fanboyism than anything, certainly not Tim being this child-sized Batman who was every bit as competent as his older counterparts with none of the training. 

Tim was the Robin who made no sense, and that was the point - he didn’t have Dick’s lifetime of dedicated athletics or Jason’s street-smarts or self-preservation instincts (Jason died because he followed his understandable desire for family rather than his instincts, it was never because he was this reckless kid with no sense of danger, he KNEW how to protect himself and keep himself safe and alive...the tragedy of his death was it happened because he didn’t CARE in his desire to believe the best of Sheila and try and save her).

The point of Tim, originally, was he became the hero he was for one reason only - sheer stubborn determination to live up to the example of the Robins before him and be the partner he believed with all his heart that Batman needed. Tim, ironically given how he’s portrayed today and viewed by fans - was the everyman. 

Yeah, he was wealthy, but that wealth wasn’t portrayed like he was Bruce Wayne Jr., but rather just that he was a well-off kid who skateboarded and played video games and had the luxury of going off and doing what he wanted. It wasn’t emphasized the way it is now. And yeah he was something of a loner, but that was by choice - because he was this kid who was obsessed with his hobbies that by their very nature required secrecy. But he had friends, he was just selective about them, and his only hurtle to making friends later with his teammates was the secrecy demanded by Batman. And he was never this socially awkward, maladjusted loner who was a lonely outsider constantly looking in - Tim has probably had more casual girlfriends than any of his brothers, he was awkward but never exceptionally so, and his social issues or problems fitting in at times at school were always portrayed as like....teenage growing pains, rather than any kind of true outsider status.

Tim Drake, originally, was just your average kid who became a hero because he loved heroes and believed in them, and he saw a void that nobody else was filling, and said well if nobody else is going to do it, might as well be me. 

And he was the Robin who had everything set against him and no reason to expect he’d actually work out....because he wasn’t an innately exceptional athlete or genius, he HAD lived a relatively sheltered and privileged life (at that point, though they emphasized and upped the tragedy and neglect of his family circumstances more and more in later years)....but initially, the point was....he had no reason to have the skills or the drive of either of the two previous Robins....AND YET HE SUCCEEDED ANYWAY.

For one simple reason:

He was determined to. He refused to give up. He powered through despite all odds. THAT was the point of Tim Drake.

He was the underdog. That was why we rooted for him!

And that’s why the modern version and the fanon versions of him are so dissatisfying to me personally, because they’ve taken ALL of that away from him and made him into this entitled, inevitable HEIR to all the talents and instincts and toils of everyone who came before him. He doesn’t have to work for any of it, it all just comes naturally to him. From his first appearance in most stories, he’s already the equal of all of his predecessors, able to play cat and mouse with Bruce and Dick and Jason without any of them gleaning on to the fact that he knows more than them, and he’s like....the puppet master secretly helping them all from behind the scenes because they apparently need his help and were incompetent until he came along and that’s not Tim Drake to me and completely the opposite of why he was so great! Now in fanon he’s as wealthy as Bruce and as tragic as Jason and as athletic as Dick and as smart as Babs and I know I’m always saying the Batfamily is a family of Mary Sues and that’s their entire concept, but there’s this insistence on Tim being the MOST Mary Sue of them all and THAT’S his niche, like if he isn’t the most special or talented or smart then what’s even the point of him and its like......STUBBORN TEENAGE HERO IDEALIZATION! THAT’S THE POINT OF TIM!

Modern and fanon Tim Drake is this dark, brooding, cynical pragmatist, when 90′s Tim was the kid who was so hopeful and optimistic he brought a smile back to even Dick Grayson’s face when Dick Grayson had stopped smiling!

Ahem.

Anyway.

Yeah, 90s Robin is a good series. So is the original Batgirl series. I’m a sucker for Kyle Rayner of course, so I’d recommend his solo Green Lantern title, but even though his debut happened in Green Lantern vol 3 issue #50, I’d start around #60 to be honest, because the early issues are when women in refrigerators was coined with the utterly gratuitous murder of his girlfriend Alex deWitt, and its truly an albatross around that book’s neck that never needed to happen and IMO added absolutely NOTHING to his character or the title, so skip it and don’t do that mess the courtesy of even reading or acknowledging it. 

Hmm, what else....the Captain Marvel/Shazam stuff from back then was excellent of course, as was Wonder Woman and her supporting cast. The Titans were honestly not at their best in the 90s though there were some good minis here and there. 

After the 90s, my recs are sporadic - I’d read the Ryan Choi as Atom series, Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle books, the Jason Rusch Firestorm, etc. I really have very little modern or current DC recommendations as IMO the entire New 52 was an unnecessary miss and Rebirth has done very little to course correct, though I do think the early Rebirth Nightwing title was pretty good and had some fun stuff.

Anyone else got anymore/other recs for anon?

[phantom-le6]

Film Review - Justice League vs The Fatal Five

Hello all, and welcome to my first review on Tumblr in the wake of Facebook scrapping its Notes functionality, thereby forcing me to shift platforms (a practice I hope I won’t have to keep repeating).  To kick off my use of this new posting platform, I’m reviewing one of the two new films I got for Christmas, or rather the two films that are totally new to my collection; the other films I got were better copies of films I already own.  Anyway, we’re taking another dip into the world of DC Comics direct-to-home release animation with a look at Justice League vs The Fatal Five.

Before we get in the review itself, however, quick bit of house-keeping for anyone who hasn’t read one of my reviews before. The structure of my reviews is intro paragraph or two, a plot summary for anyone who has seen the film before and wants to refresh their memory, then the review itself.  The plot and the review are both clearly labelled, so to avoid spoilers just scroll past the section headed as ‘plot’ to the one labelled ‘review’.  Got all that? Ok, then here we go… 

Plot (adapted from Wikipedia):

In the 31st century, Mano, Tharok and Persuader of the Fatal Five attack the Legion of Super-Heroes' headquarters for their time sphere. Star Boy, Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5 try to keep them back but fail. Just as the villains activate the sphere, Star Boy leaps at them and is taken along. Arriving in the 21st century above Earth, Star Boy triggers a boobytrap Brainiac 5 programmed, trapping the villains inside the sphere in a stasis field. Star Boy comes down in Gotham City while the sphere ends up in Metropolis. Star Boy discovers his supply of medicine, needed to stabilize his mind, was destroyed in his rough landing. As his medicine doesn't exist yet, Star Boy's increasingly erratic behaviour gets him apprehended by Batman and taken to Arkham Asylum. The stasis-locked time machine is picked up by Superman and brought to the Justice League's headquarters for analysis. 

Ten months later, Jessica Cruz is struggling with the trauma of her near-death by a murderer who killed her friends, making her afraid to leave her apartment. To add to her anxiety, she has been chosen by a Green Lantern power ring and Wonder Woman keeps trying to recruit her into the Justice League. In Gotham, Miss Martian is trying to prove herself to Batman for membership in the League, but her inexperience works against her good intentions. While trying to unlock the secret of the strange sphere, Mister Terrific accidentally brings down the stasis field, freeing its occupants. Superman and Mister Terrific fight them, but Superman is wounded by Persuader's axe and the villains escape.

 Star Boy's memory is jogged by a news report of the fight, and he breaks out of Arkham. The Justice League members compare notes about these mysterious assailants and discover they are time travellers; and from Star Boy's words, Batman deduces that they are after Jessica. When the three villains attack Jessica, Star Boy comes to her rescue, followed by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Mister Terrific, and Miss Martian, who force them into flight after a hard struggle. In the aftermath, Star Boy and Jessica form a close friendship based on the fact that both of them are struggling with their mental health.

To find out more about their guests from the future, Batman instructs Miss Martian to telepathically link them (Batman, Miss Martian and Jessica) with Star Boy's memories, thus learning about the Legion. They witness a battle between the Legion and the Fatal Five, which ended with the capture of Mano's lover Emerald Empress and Validus; as there was no prison that could hold them in the 31st century, the Legion took them to Oa in the 21st century. They also learn that if Star Boy misses more than two doses of his medication, it will cease to work and prevent him being in the Legion. 

Upon their awakening, the League receives an ultimatum from Mano: Surrender Jessica or all American cities will be destroyed by bombs created by Tharok. The first bombings start in Metropolis, forcing the Justice League to move out. Left behind with Star Boy in the Watchtower, Jessica is contacted by Tharok through her ring, forcing her to surrender herself to the Five and enable them entry to Oa's prison cells. Despite interference by Kilowog and Salaak, Emerald Empress and Validus are freed, and when Jessica fights back, Persuader cleaves her ring in two. Afterwards, Emerald Empress has her Emerald Eye of Ekron steal the energy of the Central Power Battery, and the Five return to Earth to recover the time sphere. 

In the meantime, Star Boy discovers Jessica's absence and informs the League. The heroes proceed to the time machine's location, a secret US military base, where the Fatal Five force them into battle. Emerald Empress subdues the Justice League and then initiates her master plan to use the Lantern's power to destroy Earth's sun, wipe out humanity, and thus prevent the formation of the Legion in their time. On Oa, Jessica recovers her faith and determination, and by reciting the Green Lantern oath, she reassembles her power ring. Brought back to her apartment by the ring, Jessica flies to the base and prevents the Fatal Five from escaping back to their own era by bringing the whole base down upon them, killing the supervillains. 

Superman, Jessica and Star Boy race after the Eye, but are too late to prevent it from plunging into the sun. As the star cracks apart, Star Boy sacrifices himself by lowering himself into the sun's core and using his powers to reverse the fracturing. In the final scene as the Justice League members commemorate Star Boy's heroism, they are joined by the Legion who have come from the future to honour their fallen comrade. Batman also grants Miss Martian admission into the League for her bravery.

Review:

This film is basically an original story not adapted from anything in particular, and although it is done in the style of the DC Animated Universe that originally revolved around the Batman, Superman and Justice League animated shows of the 1990’s and 2000’s, it is apparently meant to be a stand-alone narrative.  Cast-wise, we get back the like of Kevin Conroy, George Newbern and Susan Eisenberg to reprise their roles as the DC Trinity (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) from the Justice League animated series, and well-known voice actors like Kevin Michael Richardson and Tara Strong also feature in this production. 

In terms of character, we’re certainly getting a bit of a different Justice League line-up while also getting DC’s future team the Legion of Superheroes worked into the mix, primarily through the character of Star Boy and the film’s antagonists the Fatal Five.  In terms of the League itself, the customary League core that is the DC Trinity is in place, but then we have no Flash, Miss Martian in place of the better-known Martian Manhunter, and Mr Terrific to add to the team’s diversity in place of using Cyborg.  Finally, we have Jessica Cruz as the team’s Green Lantern, and it’s the use of her and Star Boy in this film that makes this film stand out from any other DC films, because both of these heroes are neurodiverse. 

As fans of more modern DC comics stories, or anyone who has looked into this film’s behind-the-scenes extras, will know, Star Boy is a schizophrenic, but by the 31st century there is medication to manage the behaviours that this form of neurodiversity can cause, so it’s not an uncommon idea among DC’s writers to show Star Boy getting trapped in our time without this medication.  During the Justice League era between Infinity Crisis and Final Crisis (not long before DC did its new 52 reboot and decided to stick to buying pre-2000 Marvel lore), the comics did in fact do this as part of the Legion coming back in time to bring back Wally West, the then-Flash who had become stuck in the Speed Force with his wife and children during the Infinity Crisis. 

By the same token, Jessica Cruz is a Green Lantern who has crippling anxiety following a traumatic event, so she’s having to use a lot of willpower to overcome that anxiety and function like anyone else.  Given that Green Lanterns are chosen based on their ability to overcome great fear, not only does it make a lot of sense for someone battling anxiety to be chosen as a Green Lantern, but it also very effectively demonstrates a much more positive and healthier take on mental illness in the world of superheroes. Granted, DC isn’t being particularly original in this regard; Iron Man’s alcoholism in the comics and his PTSD in the MCU show that Marvel has at least one heroic character that they’ve been willing to showcase as a positive example of what people can do despite being mentally different to others.  Sadly, neither company has yet done a good, positive, accurate take on autism yet, but then if they did, I’d have less fodder for my novel writing. 

Putting two neurodiverse heroes at the core of this film really makes it a great one to watch just because for once it means the neurodiverse characters aren’t the stereotypical crazed villain types and the idiotic stereotypes that stem from such misuse of the mentally divergent in fiction get combatted a little.  Granted, it would have been nicer if DC and WB could have demonstrated this kind of pro-mental health attitude in its live-action film wing by not making the Joker solo film and doing something more akin to this film in its place. There is no doubt in my mind that DC and WB need to put more of the staff behind their animated films on DCEU projects if it ever hopes to seriously compete with the MCU. 

Otherwise, the film is largely just a good diversion; well-animated, well-performed, but not a huge level of plot depth despite putting two neurodiverse characters front and centre on the side of the heroes. Hopefully going forward DC and WB can address that on some future film, either animated or live-action.  For now, I’m going to content myself by handing down a score of 9 out of 10.

[cryptocism]

ive been scrolling through ur blog for a while (cuz ur dc opinions are Top Fucking Notch) and i saw what you said abt bart in tt 03 and f:fma and while i totally agree (it killed tt 03 for me lol) im super curious abt how youd do his development if given the opportunity?

I’ve been thinking about this one like A Lot so buckle up this is long: 

it would kind of depend? On whether or not he’d be in an ensemble team like Teen Titans or with his own solo series. 

I understand metatextually why he became Kid Flash in TT, since they needed him to be more mature and a more recognizable character and having him upgrade costumes/codenames is a good shortcut for both. But I’ve already talked about why it didn’t sit right with me. 

So, lets flip the script a little bit - the start of TT would be largely the same. Our boy Bart is on the new Titans team, and things are kind of awkward after YJ disbanded, also Max is gone and Bart’s relationship with Wally is still not doing great. Things are rough, Bart has newfound doubts to deal with, especially now that the world seems to have gotten harsher and everyone seems to have a lot less patience to deal with him. The pressure to be more mature and a recognizable character is coming from other characters now rather than an authorial need: he’s reminded to take things seriously, or that he should know better by now, that he needs to slow down and think more. So Bart decides a change is necessary, and we get the library scene. He reads all the books, he reappears as Kid Flash, saves Tim via bullet catch, disassembles a gun, takes down Slade, etc. etc. Here’s my departure from canon though: it doesn’t work. 

Kid Flash is not a solution, or a magical cure for immaturity. Reading a whole library so he’s miraculously smarter and more mature and capable is, at its core, a pretty naive conclusion. And it makes sense he would think that. But it doesn’t work. He’s still impulsive, distractible, hasty. He can’t put a lid on his own sense of humor. People still think he’s annoying or lazy or careless. And he keeps trying - he knows all this stuff now, he read a whole library! - but he’s still apparently too much the same person as he's always been. And even though he’s trying very hard to live up to the Kid Flash name, it still doesn’t feel like him. Wally doesn’t like it, since Bart is literally just imitating him now, which makes things between the two even worse. And Bart keeps worrying about what’s supposed to come afterwards, since “Kid Flash” is inherently temporary, and while Impulse was only peripherally related to the flash legacy, Kid Flash comes with expectations. 

Bart is trying very very hard to be ‘grown up’ and ‘mature’, but he hasn’t actually learned anything other than a bunch of facts (which are still useful, but) he’s just trying to be who everyone expects him to be. 

And this is what i mean about the ensemble thing, because this arc would be in conversation with the rest of the core four, who are also trying very hard to be people they’re not, but all in different ways. Bart obviously with the codename change, but Cassie, Tim, and Kon all have similar issues, they’re all trying to imitate people. 

Tim is doing his Batman jr. routine, reverting back to the persona he had at the start of YJ. He’s cagey and mysterious and does questionable things without telling anybody, because he’s de-facto leader of the team again, and he has to be better than he is. No more kid stuff, the Titans are serious, he has to treat it like a job, not like a sleepover. And this whole act is putting distance between him and his friends. 

Cassie is trying her hardest to put herself in a support role. Donna’s gone and she has some big shoes to fill (she and Tim could probably bond about that if he weren’t stubbornly trying to brood at all hours of the day) and she’s doing her best to just Be Donna. Cassie and Tim would work better with their team roles swapped, and they both sort of know this - Cassie is naturally charismatic, thinks on her feet, can maintain good PR, and when she’s confident in herself is great at leading. Tim is partial to planning ahead, secrets, and keeping in the shadows, and is better at being a confidant and emotional problem solver among the team (when he allows himself to be open among friends, that is). 

But they’re both trying to fit themselves into what they see as pre-ordained roles: Robin is leader, Wondergirl is a supportive mediator. But Cassie’s got a temper and little patience for people being idiots, and Tim’s not predisposed to spotlights. 

Kon on the other hand has a story that’s less about who he should be and more who he shouldn’t be. The Lex Luthor dad storyline is here (minus the mind control shit, although the threat of it is still brought up) and Kon is doing his level best to do nothing that could be interpreted as something Lex might do. While everyone is doing their best to Not be their own person, Kon has no idea if he ever was his own person. He’s questioning everything he does, wondering if it’s some kind of evil gene showing through when he’s angry or petty or selfish. He’s going through lots of clone angst. 

So they’re all dealing with expectations and who they are or aren’t supposed to be, trying to fit themselves into boxes that don’t suit them and then convincing themselves that this is how it ought to be. Kon ought to avoid feeling or acting in any negative light because any sign of Luthor is a sign of evil, Cassie ought to tone herself down and act like Donna, Tim ought to step up and lead the team and act like Dick, and Bart ought to listen better and be smarter and slow down and grow up and do his level best to just Be Wally. 

Throughout the issues they’d all get a spotlight on their various crises, taking them through complimenting character arcs. Kon would realize through a couple close encounters and chats with ma and pa and talks with his friends and citizens of metropolis that nobody is all good or all bad. Clark can be a real asshole sometimes and Luthor’s actually done a fair bit of good (usually in his own interests, but still we’re gunning for nuance). Turns out he doesn’t have a dark side to be tempted by, he was made from 50% complex person and 50% complex person, just like everyone else. Which means he isn’t destined to be the next Superman, or Superman’s next supervillain. He’s just like, a person. With his own thoughts and feelings that have nothing to do with genetics. 

Tim would wear himself out and hide it from everybody until he killed himself, but it’s only when he sees Cassie also wearing herself out too that his ‘somebody needs somebody’ instincts kick in and they’re actually able to talk about how miserable they both are. Through some trial and error they’re able to figure out a good co-leader system for leading the team, having each other’s backs along the way, which allows for them both being able to help out the other members of their team with their own shit i.e. Kon and Bart’s identity issues. 

Bart is, like Cassie and Tim, wearing himself out trying to be this perfect version of Wally that never actually existed. He actually hates the recognition the new name gives him, because people have expectations for him now, ones he can never seem to live up to. He’s bad at following orders still, which makes him a pretty shit sidekick for Wally, in fact he’s just pretty shit at being a sidekick in general. But, he reasons, he’s supposed to be grown up and responsible now, and responsibility is all about doing shit you hate until you die, so he’s probably on the right track. 

It’s only later, once he gets some support from his friends, who help him deal with things like Max and YJ disbanding and stuff that he’s able to actually sit down and have a heart-to-heart with Wally. Wally confesses that he understands the pressure to live up to a legacy, and how he did his best to just Be Barry when he became the flash. In fact while Bart was trying to live up to Wally and be a good sidekick, Wally was trying to live up to Barry and be a good mentor. Wally’s the one to tell him that Bart’s always done his own thing, and is at his best when he does. They both agree they suck as partners, but maybe they should’ve tried to be family first. And there’s probably a racing metaphor in there somewhere because speedsters love their racing metaphors. 

ANyway Bart returns to Impulse, forging a new path, getting along better with Wally now and hanging out with him just as civilians with no pretense. He learns some valuable lessons about how maturity can’t be learned in a book, and that he’ll get it himself the more he lives and learns from experience. The Titans all get along better now that they’re all sure of their places in the group, and they can all go on just being themselves without worrying about expectations or roles to fill or whatever. 

...If Bart still had his solo series instead though, id actually want it to go in a sort of different direction? The thing about living up to predecessors and trying to be some ideal version of another person works well for the Titans because they can all deal with a similar issue in different ways, but I think it would also be interesting to do the complete opposite. 

Lots of shitty things happened in very quick succession in Bart’s life that he had no control over: Max’s disappearance, having to move in with Jay and Joan (who are nice, but whom he barely knows,) leaving his friends in Alabama, Young Justice breaking up… Basically, things kind of suck for Bart, and all he wants is for them to go back to the way they were. Instead of trying to be grown up or mature or whatever, Bart is resisting every single encroaching thing about coming adulthood. Because all growing up ever seems to mean is that everything changes and either you have to leave the people you love or they have to leave you. 

So this series would focus mostly on that, both in his civilian life; going into high school, not knowing anybody, the few friends he does make are less interested in ‘kid stuff’ and more focused on dating and interpersonal drama, high school itself seems to be geared entirely toward the “what are you going to do with your life” question, when he visits his old friends back in manchester, they’ve all kind of grown up without him. And in hero life; everyone from Young Justice is trying to move on and not talking to each other, his father figure and mentor is gone and he's not really jiving well with the rest of the flash family, and people just seem to have less patience for Impulse now that he’s older. 

Growing up is hard. It’s hard and no one understands. Especially not when you’re also a superhero and have dealt with some quality trauma like losing loved ones and feeling yourself die. So it makes sense that Bart would resist that in every way possible, do his best to pretend like everything is still how it used to be, for once in his life just trying to make everything stay put. He refuses to get rid of his old stuff, he doesn’t want to treat any villainous threats seriously, people in school keep talking about college and jobs and tuition fees and Bart wants none of that, he acts out, refuses responsibility, gets reckless under the pretense that he never used to have to be cautious. 

And this is the part where I’d bring in Inertia, cause Thad was robbed and I want him to have an actual arc that doesn’t end with infant-splosion. Also he can have a good ol companion arc to Bart. Welcome to foils everybody, where two identical boys with opposing life experiences get to thematically compare and contrast with each other as they deal with the trials and tribulations of growing up. 

So, I’m ignoring every appearance Thad ever made after Impulse 1995, picking up instead where his story left off where he swore vengeance on his creators and disappeared into the speed force. And he’s off to do exactly what he said; Thad Thawne II is going to kill his namesake/grandfather/creator - the president of Earthgov. 

But, turns out assassinating the president of a whole fucking planet is a lot harder than he thought - Thad has planned extensively for every moment of his life, so once he starts going off script things predictably go a little off the fuckin rails. Thad fails, obviously. For one because despite how much President Thawne might deserve to die, Thad at this point hasn’t done anything worse than attempted murder, and making him a killer would put a wrench in any kind of redemption arc he could have. Also he’s acting on rage, in a highly emotional state, basically going up against the entire government. Of course he’s going to get caught by the science police and brought into custody. 

Bart, meanwhile is jumping with both feet into any kind of escapism he can find, which involves various time travel shenanigans and lands him in the 30th century. He gets to reunite however briefly with his mom, but the mission he had gets derailed by the appearance of Inertia. 

Every time Bart and President Thawne interact, the president always seems to make a bid to sway Bart to the Thawne side. This never works, which is part of the reason Inertia exists in the first place; a version of Bart that the president could control. When Inertia landed in the 30th century, hell bent on assassinating his creator, the President subdued him and eventually coerced him back over to the Thawne side of the family feud. No longer a rogue agent, Inertia is back to his old self, all about destroying Bart and the rest of the Allens. 

They have a battle, taking place all over the 30th century city, and Bart does his best but Inertia has the entire Earthgov police force on his side, and Bart eventually gets captured. He gets taken to some kind of holding facility, meets with the President who monologues as him while Inertia stands beside him like a good lackey. Then suddenly the speed-inhibiting cuffs or whatever Inertia had put on Bart to stop his speed malfunctions, and Inertia drops the act, now Impulse and Inertia working together to take down the Earthgov people holding them there. 

Turns out as soon as Inertia knew he couldn’t take out the president, what with all the military force President Thawne had on his side, he bided his time until he could. He uses Bart’s help to finally get President Thawne cornered, and the assassination plan is back on track. Except now Bart is the thing stopping him. He makes the argument about how murder bad. Heroes don’t kill, etc. Inertia insists he isn’t a hero. But Bart reminds him that that’s not how Max saw him. 

Inertia hesitates just enough that President Thawne is able to get away, and now the two of them have to make an escape attempt back to the past. Bart insists on trying to take Meloni with them, and they try but ultimately fail somehow (maybe someone has to stay behind to make sure they can make the trip safely, idk. At first Thad is willing to stay behind, since there’s nothing really for him in the past. But Meloni knows that President Thawne would destroy him if he did, and she can’t let harm come to either of her sons - and she does consider Thad her son, just like Bart. She’s had far too little time with either of them, but she loves them all the same. She tells them to take care of each other, and is the first to encourage them to be like, actual brothers.) 

After yet another tearful goodbye, Bart swearing he’ll find a way for them to all be together again, Bart and Thad go back. And they do end up having to lean on each other, because shit’s tough for the both of them. Thad initially wants to apologize and possibly reunite with Max and Helen, and then finds out Max is gone. And Bart has someone who understands exactly what he’s going through. 

Things get a little more lighthearted from here. Bart and Thad don’t get along well at first, since they’re both going through rough times and lots of changes and their first instincts are to lash out at each other. But eventually they form a sort of camaraderie through shared grief, then shared fish-out-of-water experiences. Which evolves into shared inside jokes and video games and comic books and they become slow but steady friends. 

They upgrade into brothers when Bart defends Thad against the repeated (and not entirely undeserved) suspicion he receives from the rest of the Flash family. Jay and Joan take him in, but it’s clear they don’t trust him, and neither does Wally. Bart stands up for Thad, arguing that he’s as much of a Thawne as Thad is, and treating Thad like he’s the next Cobalt Blue is just going to ensure that history never changes and stupid family feuds are forever. After this, Thad starts trusting Bart a little more, and kind of solves Bart’s problems regarding encroaching adulthood with his friendship. Neither of them really had a childhood, and Thad hasn’t experienced 21st century life at all, much less the societal expectations to grow up. So Bart gets to have fun again, and Thad won't judge any of his games or his books or his attitude or interests for being childish or lame because he’s fascinated by the experience of anything regardless of the target audience. 

And from there it's a series about these two becoming brothers and growing up and the different lessons they learn and wacky characters they meet along the way. Thad ironically also puts Bart in a position where he has to take on more responsibility, since even though Thad can imitate heroic actions and is actually pretty good at it, he doesn’t understand what makes them heroic. Bart has to draw on a lot of the things Max taught him and now has to teach them to Thad. 

There’s crossover comics with Superboy, where Bart laments about having to deal with grown up stuff, and Kon gives him a new perspective on the whole “being young forever” thing, since that was a reality Kon actually had to deal with and it sucked. 

Through various misadventures they meet new and familiar characters to give them different perspectives on the whole passage of time thing. Villains who despise children or childish things, villains who embrace it but probably too much. People who talk about growing up as the worst time of their lives, others talking about it like it was the best. Kids and adults alike trying to force Bart and Thad to act a certain way while treating them another. 

The two of them come to opposing conclusions about this; Thad wants to embrace change completely, partly because he wants to experience firsthand all that life has to offer, but also his worldview depends on believing that anyone can change, and anyone can be better, because he has to believe he can be redeemed for all the shitty stuff he did. Bart, on the other hand, knows his life isn’t perfect but thinks, based on recent events, that it’s all just going to get worse from here, and so resists change as much as possible. 

Thad, in his haste to experience everything, sometimes ends up going too far, either burning both of them out, or pushing them into situations that they’re not ready for or are ill-equipped to handle. Bart, on the other hand is so resistant to change or responsibility that he stops them from doing actual necessary things like planning their futures or doing chores or making new friends. This acts as the crux for their main conflict that slowly builds throughout the series, and then in a finale to the arc, they both figure out a way to get Meloni back to the past, and to raise some stakes they have a falling out in the middle of the mission about it. 

Bart accuses Thad of trying to leave him behind, or trying to be the better version of him again, and that old insecurity about Thad replacing him crops up. Thad thinks Bart just can’t handle anything outside his personal bubble and wants to force him to live in the real world. Plus he also feels kind of abandoned by Bart, who often would leave Thad to do the scary adult things on his own. 

Tensions still high, there's suddenly an external threat to deal with - probably president thawne and the science police - and they attempt to continue arguing even while fighting the president. I’m making this up as I go so lets say yada yada big climactic moment it's looking like the two might fail to get Meloni back and they’re both still angry with each other and Bart just… can’t take it anymore. 

He keeps losing people, and the ones he keeps he always seems to screw up with. And at the end of the day he’s just a kid who wants his mom. Is that really so much to ask? So there’s a reversal, a parallel, if you will, of the assassination attempt from the beginning of the series, this time with Bart. Or, because I don’t think many people would buy that Bart would actually ever for real kill someone, maybe he’s finally about to get his mom back, but she doesn’t want to go (since she made that deal with the president that he wouldn’t harm anyone of the Allen family so long as she stayed with him) so he’s trying to force her, risking the lives/well-being of the entire Allen bloodline across all of time. 

This time it’s Thad who has to talk him down, who has to remind him about being a hero, who has to remind him that trying to go back to some magical time in the past where things were better is just going to stop him from learning and growing as a person, and that doing anything and everything possible to get there is just going to lead to Bart doing something he Actually Can’t walk back from. 

Alright but here’s the thing because having Bart be forced to leave his mom again for like the billionth time is tired and overdone, and personally the whole message about heroics involving extreme and damaging amounts of sacrifice can only go so far. So here; Thad and Bart are both right. 

Like on the one hand, yeah, it’s childish and selfish for Bart to want to be with his mom at the expense of literally everyone else in his family. On the other hand, the fact that they can’t be together because some asshole is upholding a stupid grudge is bad and unfair and wrong. The issue needing to be fixed is not the kid who wants his mom, it’s the jackass keeping them apart (and who also wants to kill/imprison people). So Bart convinces Thad that they have to save Meloni, and Thad convinces Bart that there has to be another way - one where they get their mom back and the Allens don’t have to be hunted. 

The whole story would be leading up to the two of them coming to this conclusion; the healthy middle between the two extremes. Where they have the maturity to plan ahead and sort through their differences and figure out the best course of action with the least amount of collateral, but they don’t let go of that adolescent need for justice and fairness - that thing that makes you dig in your heels and say “no. That’s not fair, that’s not right.” 

SO here’s where I’d put the title card: “Bartholomew and Thaddeus Take Down The Government”. How do they do it? No idea! I’m flyin by the seat of my pants here! Do they run for office? Do they publicize the president’s crimes in such a way he gotta go to jail? Do they somehow turn public opinion against him enough to get him out of office? idk!!! And I don’t remember enough about Earthgov’s political situation to put an accurate read on what exactly they might do to disrupt it. 

Either way they don’t kill him, manage to free their mom, and they all go back to the past together. And a new arc would involve the three of them getting settled in the past; Meloni would be a main character now, and hers is a two-pronged fish out of water story where she’s trying to figure out how shit works in the past, with overtones of the struggles of being a single parent. 

And... I’m not going to say any more about that because this is long enough already oof. 

TL;DR I think a coming of age story would be cool for Bart, and having to deal with growing up when he never really had a childhood. Also the comic itself would be aimed at younger audiences, who can probably relate to having a Bad Time in the Teens and wacky hijinks with friends and siblings.

[littlemisssquiggles]

So...just finished wrapping up the season finale of Young Justice Outsiders

With Young Justice Outsiders being officially done now, I’m going to give my honest opinion of the entire series and I’m going to be blunt here folks:

Outsiders was pretty great. I enjoyed it a lot. However, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Invasion and the original first season. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to say the season itself was underwhelming---I’m just saying that there were certain things that the other first seasons did better than Outsiders for me.

One of my biggest beef with this season is how it didn’t do a good job at letting us get to know the new characters like Tracie 13, for example. If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew about Tracie through my love for Blue Beetle, I would have absolutely zero idea who she is. And what sucks is that Outsiders didn’t do a good job at introducing her to me as part of the audience. 

Even after one whole season, I don’t know anything about Tracie beyond the bare minimum that she’s canonically the girlfriend of Blue Beetle and has powers. 

For people like me who aren’t familiar with her character, I wish the series could’ve done a better job at setting her up---allowing me to get to know her first. This is how I was able to fall for Blue Beetle. In Invasion, we were introduced to newbies like Blue and Bumblebee. Same for Impulse and Invasion did a good job at setting these guys up and developing them. 

Blue of course got it better since he was a focal character of S2. Sadly Tracie 13 isn’t the only character who suffered from this. There were Whisper and Oprhan too.  Unless you’re a Batman fan, you might not know these characters at all. Even now, after this whole season, I’m like WHO ARE YOU guys? Who are you supposed to be? 

I guess I can look into them now but you get what I’m saying right? Maybe next season we can get a chance to know more and see more from these new characters. Speaking of next season:

Young Justice S4...when?

With the way how things ended off, I’m hoping S4 is a sure thing. I sincerely hope it’s in the cards. Now before I close things off with this post, I’m just going to unapologetically screech things that went through my mind while watching the final few episodes of Outsiders. Apologies for the ALL CAPS:

BRION! GODDAMMIT MAN! 26 EPISODES! 26 GODDAMN EPISODES OF PLOT AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ALL GONE TO SHIT! DUDE! WHAT THE F*** WITH THAT ENDING! WHYYY? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE WHOLE TWO EPISODES BEFORE WHERE HE WAS TALKING ABOUT PATIENCE AND SHIT! YES I KNOW HE WAS BEING MANIPULATED BUT SERIOUSLY MAN! DAMMIT BRION I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU!

WALLY! FREAKING WALLY WEST. THANK GOODNESS THEY CONFIRMED THAT YOU’RE TECHICALLY STILL NOT OFFICIALLY DEAD! THAT LEAVES ROOM FOR YOU TO RETURN IN THE SPEED FORCE LIKE MANY OF US HAVE BEEN SPECULATING SINCE INVASION FOR YEARS.

AND SINCE WE’RE ON THE TALK OF WALLY, ARTEMIS AND ROY---I MEAN WILLIAM. THANK GOODNESS YOU TWO DIDN’T HOOK UP. THAT SHIP WAS CRINGE. I’M SORRY. I MEAN I GET WHERE THEY WERE GOING AND I ACTUALLY ENJOYED HOW THE SHOW HANDLED THESE TWO. FELT VERY GENUINE AND REAL. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, GLAD IT DIDN’T PULL THROUGH CAUSE IT WOULD’VE BEEN WEIRD AND I’M HAPPY THE SHOW ACKNOWLEDGED IT. ARTEMIS IS STILL IN LOVE WITH WALLY BUT SHE’S ACCEPTED THAT HE MIGHT NOT BE COMING BACK. THAT’S ALRIGHT, WE ALL KNOW HE’S GONNA COME BACK IN S4. YOU’RE GONNA GET YOUR HAPPY EVER AFTER WITH WALLY ARTEMIS. JUST YOU WAIT.

 SPEAKING OF SHIPS, FREAKING BRION AGAIN AND HALO. YOU SUNK MY SHIP AGAIN! JUST AFTER IT GOT BACK TOGETHER AFTER THAT ODD SUBPLOT WITH THE TRAITOR DOCTOR! DOES… THIS MEAN THAT HALO IS GONNA HOOK UP WITH CYBORG NOW? CAN I SHAMELESSLY SHIP THESE TWO NOW AS MY REBOUND SHIP TO COMBAT MY FEELINGS OF ANGER OVER HOW THEY SCREWED BRION’S CHARACTER IN THE END AND RUINED WHAT HE AND VIOLET HAD? SERIOUSLY I’M GONNA BE SALTY ABOUT THAT FOR A WHILE. F***ING BRION!

 OKAY,WHAT ELSE, WHAT ELSE? OH! FOREGGER IS BABY. FRED BUGG WITH TWO G’S IS STILL BABYEVEN AT THE END. CAN WE ALL SIMULTANEOUSLY AGREE WITH  THAT NOW? FOREGGER IS BABY. MY PRECIOUS BUG SON WHO I ADORE SO MUCH. I SHALL ADD HIM TO MY GROWING COLLECTION OF BUG SONS RIGHT NEXT TO BLUE BEETLE. MY TWO BEAUTIFUL BUG BOYS.

 OUTSIDERS MADE ME REALIZE HOW MUCH I MISS BLUE BEING A RELEVANT CHARACTER. I KNOW HE HAD HIS STORY IN INVASION AND IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME. BUT I FEEL LIKE INVASION SPOILED ME. THEY GAVE ME SO MUCH GREAT BLUE BEETLE CONTENT THAT I WAS STARVING IN OUTSIDERS. YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I MISSED MY PRECIOUS BUG SON THE FIRST DURING THAT TRYING HIATUS, OKAY.

 SPEAKING OF SONS, EDUARDO DORADO JR…YOU WERE SURPRISINGLY GREAT THIS SEASON. WAS NOT EXPECTING EL DORADO TO BE SUCH A POIGNANT CHARACTER BUT HE WAS. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING HIM THRIVE MORE IN S4.

 AND SPEAKING OF ED…HMMM…I DUNNO. AS MUCH AS I LOVED THE FINAL MOMENT WHERE WENDY TOOK OFF HER INHIBITOR COLLAR AND SHE AND ED SHARED A NICE BIG OLE SMILE THAT WAS SOO ADORABLE….I DUNNO.

I TOTALLY SHIP ED AND WENDY BUT…I’M ALSO STARTING TO LIKE THE IDEA OF BARTUARDO TO MAKE UP FOR BLUEPULSE BEING DEAD NOW. SO…I’M CONFLICTED. MAYBE ED CAN BE REVEALED AS BI. IT COULD HAPPEN NOW. YOUNG JUSTICE IS WOKE ENOUGH FOR THAT NOW, RIGHT?

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HOW WOKE THIS SHOW GOT THIS SEASON. NOT GONNA TOUCH IT. JUST GONNA MENTION IT AND SAY THAT IT WAS THERE---IT WASN’T AS OBNOXIOUS AS MOST WOKENESS IN MEDIA TODAY. BUT IT WAS THERE. I SAW IT.

 ANYWAYS NEXT---STATIC SHOCK; OH MY WORD, STATIC WAS…SURPRISINGLY UNDERUSED THIS SEASON. NOT GONNA LIE. HE HAD SOME GOOD MOMENTS BUT…I DUNNO, I FELT LIKE THEY DIDN’T DO MUCH WITH STATIC THIS SEASON AT ALL. NOT AS MUCH AS WHAT THEY DID WITH ED.

I MEAN I LIKED THAT THEY CHOSE TO PUSH ED OVER STATIC SINCE HE’S A CHARACTER FOLKS BARELY KNOW ABOUT WHICH…MAKES THE SCENARIO WITH HIM GETTING MORE SCREEN TIME TO SHINE THAN STATIC MORE IRONIC. BEFORE YJ, STATIC HAD HIS OWN SERIES AND WAS MORE KNOWN THAN EL DORADO. IN YJ, ED IS GIVEN MORE MOMENTS TO SHINE. I’M HOPING THAT S4 GIVES ME THAT SUPERPOWERED RUNAWAYS REUNION I’M CRAVING NOW.

LET ED, VIRGIL, JAIME AND BART GO ON A SOLO MISSION AND BRING BACK TEAM HEADBANDS TO JOIN THEM. BRING BACK ASAMI AND TYE. MAYBE ARSENAL TOO. I NEED THIS EPISODE.

 And on a final note…WHAT WAS THAT REFERENCE AT THE END? THEY TEASED SOMETHING BEFORE THE CREDITS BUT BECAUSE I’M NOT FAMILIAR WITH THIS CHARACTER OR SYMBOL, I WAS LEFT CONFUSED BUT…EXCITED?

 And that’s all I gotta say. Overall, I liked Outsiders. Invasion is still my favourite season of YJ though. If I had to rank the seasons from personal favourite to least favourite, it would be--- Invasion, Original First Season and Outsiders would be last.

Again, not saying Outsiders wasn’t good. As a matter of fact, it was great and proves that Netflix and DC can provide a great continuation to this franchise. I just hope that the traffic for Outsiders was good enough to warrant it being in for a S4. I really hope so. I hope fans don’t have to wait another several years for YJ again.

 Fingers crossed. But yeah, those are my thoughts on Outsiders.

 ~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)  

[bluboothalassophile]

I honestly don't understand DC always trying to undermine Raven's powers. I read the current comics that she's in and it is so poorly written and boring. They suck at character development and its so fucked up that she's always brushed aside. And also I'll never forgive them for killing Roy and they keep fucking up Jason. These guys went through a lot and I just wanna see them be happy and I want to see more batfamily moments and team ups like in Batman and Robin Eternal.

Hello,

Reasons I am mad about Canon Raven:

She’s ALWAYS depowered; always, and she is literally the very definition of an over powered character. 

When they attempt to over power her again they fuck it up; like in Titans with Raven’s ‘telepathy’; she’s a fucking empath! NEVER has she been a telepath!

She has never been utilized outside of the Titans; which is infuriating on many levels. Because she needs to go solo; with a big comic or go to JL Dark or hell, team her up with Lucifer! I don’t know, but something outside of the fucking Titans!

Her solo series, while hold much promise are always cut short, or tie into nothing about her canon life.

They just severed her connection with her aunt and cousins, further isolating her again.

I am royally pissed that her connection with Victor Stone, a.k.a. Cyborg, (which I think is canonly her BEST familiar relationship EVER, their dynamic is amazing; it’s also an amazing dynamic for Victor too! So why was it cut!?) has been severed, was briefly rekindled only to be discarded again.

She’s always de-aged; sorry @chromium7sky, but I really hate that because I really think she should be about Jason and Tim’s age, hell, I’d even settle her being Dick’s age, just enough de-aging her! At this rate; and I’m sorry @impulse-goblin, she’ll be a RobRae with Carrie Kelley or Matt McGinnis! Which is so not okay because DC is screwing her over royally.

Marv, her creator, can no longer write her well to be engaging; which is sad.

She’s been royally dumbed down; which really fucking pisses me off, because even though N52 SUCKED BALLS, Raven, while bitchy, was always eager to learn; it’s one of her defining traits! She’s super smart, she’s engaging, she’s empathetic and kind, and rebirth has made it so she struggles with school. -.- Explain that to me, please, she’s never been stupid or struggled learning before. And I get trying to connect with modern readers, and making characters relateable, but that was just plain fucking stupid. There are other characters you can do that with, using Raven does not help in anyway.

I will not get into my issues with N52, there’s many, but mainly: WTF is up with Raven’s Entire Personality!? I mean don’t get me wrong, I loved the design she had, and I loved her on Tim’s team, also their entire friendship was amazing, but WTF, what a Bitch. I wanted to smack her.

They either forget she is a magic user, or they forget she’s a demon with demon abilities or something, but it always seems like one or the other is missing with her.

Off side key irritation too: How come her father doesn’t play a larger part of the DC universe and getting heroes to fear him? I mean come on! Titans plays him up to be like Darksied or Lucifer level of terrifying, and the DC universe: Who’s Trigon? WTF is that about!? You want the Only Daughter Of Trigon to have meaning, to show her power, then why the fuck isn’t Trigon more widely known and feared!? Come On People! We have Darksied’s ENTIRE Family feared, but you want to play Trigon off as eviler than Darksied but the entire DC universe outside Titans is like: Who the Fuck is Trigon!?

Kay, Metal hinted at her connection and importance to the Multiverse, but the DC, I don’t know… Forgot? And somehow the entire reason for her being captured, isolated and singled out by the Batman Who Laughed was forgotten. Granted my favorite panel of her and Victor happened because of that, but seriously; MAJOR PLOT HOLE DC! Come on, we aren’t Marvel, cease these plot holes in your big labels! Be grown ups!

Mainstream Raven hurts my Raven loving heart. But her counterparts are pretty cool, like on Earth 1 or Bombshells or the recent Titans movies, definitely liked her in the Titans live action show, and obviously I loved her in the cartoon; not Titan’s Go as that has helped in destroy her and the Titans. 

Now, my issues with Heroes Crisis:

King. Fucking cock teasing bastard tormented us with BatCat for over a year, getting them to the fucking alter then he did that fucking stunt; hell yes I am pissed still, and I am no less angry going into Heroes Crisis.

Kay, now for real.

I have major issues with the plot, thus far, because there doesn’t seem to be one.

Killing Roy and Wally did nothing to further a plot, or even engage in the plot and has just furthered to hurting surrounding characters.

Killing Roy was fucked up and senseless; as a writer I find that appalling.

Killing Wally was unnecessary; especially after all the fucking trouble we had gone through to get that speedster back! I mean COME ON! It’s like you brought him back solely to kill him off, and if that’s the case, someone smack a brain into King’s fucking head.

While the premise of Heroes Crisis was engaging and interesting to read the idea for it, it has been a dismal affair.

Why the fuck are your only suspects Harley Quinn and Micheal Carter, a.k.a. Booster Gold? No seriously want to explain that!? 

There is NO WAY Harley would ever hurt or kill Ivy, just no, and DC I don’t care about trying to cater to people and convincing all of Harley and Ivy are straight, it just wouldn’t happen. Ivy and Harley are in love, and I sincerely doubt, that despite EVERYTHING Harley has done in her life, that she would ever kill the woman she loved.

Also, Micheal Carter has selflessly saved the timeline multiple times, and done so without recognition. Yes, he can be full of himself, but where the hell did King come to the conclusion that Carter was a sociopathic narcissist? Someone please explain the basics of human nature to King; PLEASE! For the love of God, someone! I expect this crap from Lobell!

Now to my fury with the Batfamily in it’s current state:

Rebirth presented us with fairly healthy dynamics between the Batfamily members; which was refreshing as all get out, but now… I’d like to rip DC’s heart out and shove it up their ass for what they’ve done.

First, they allowed King to be the ultimate cock tease! Bastard built up the fucking BatCat wedding to be the wedding of the goddamn century; going to make comic history! And he fucks us over like we’re a two cent whore whilst simultaneously destroying the Batfamily.

Second: who the fuck even ALLOWED Lobdell into DC again to write!? I mean really!? Did you asshole not learn your lesson the first time!?

Third, wtf is up with Ric Grayson; I get it, we’re all exceedingly immature for taking an actually socially acceptable nickname from the 1930′s and perverting it into penis jokes. But news flash, Dick’s character has evolved with taking that in stride and laughing it off. Changing his name only pisses us off and furthers our desires to make dick jokes. 

Fourth: What the fuck are you guys even doing allowing Lobdell near Jason? I get it Lobdell is some ‘big shot’ good ‘big name to have on a comic’ but his writing is shit, I’ve read better stories from Kindergartners. Lobdell is like the Russo brothers of DC, please remove him from our premise, and I petition for us, the fans, to take custody of Jason from Lobdell for the sake of global comic peace. The Dude Can Not For The Love Of God Write. I’m surprised he even knows how to arrange letters on a piece of paper to form words honestly.

Why aren’t Duke and Cass B’s kids? No seriously? Why!? We all know those are his favorite two kids, so wtf are they doing… anywhere else but with the Bats?

Why is Babs Batgirl? Don’t go with that female empowering crap answer, just don’t, she was a better icon as Oracle than as Batgirl. She’s long since outgrown the role, and she had grown beautifully into the role of Oracle, so run this by me again: Why did we take a beautiful survivor, who created empowerment for people with disabilities while remaining a strong female lead and turn her back into Batgirl? Seriously? Someone explain that to me!?

Thank God DC hasn’t fucked up Tim yet, but Can We Please Stop With Evil Batman Tim!? Tim doesn’t even want to be Batman! He Never Has Wanted To Be Batman!

WTF did you do with Damian’s character development? He is not this baby raging Bat anymore who seeks to kill everyone who crosses him. Also what the hell was up with the whole Dami’s got a secret prison thing? That lead to nothing and has since been dropped, but seriously people, who is the lead brain in DC right now allowing this shit!?

Again, I must ask, what’s up with evil Bat futures; have we NO HOPE that these boys can grow up and actually be decent people!? Really. I want to know. I don’t get the options you’ve given these heroes.

Why does B have a double standard when it comes to Kate and Jason; and don’t say it’s because Jason’s killed, Damian’s killed and B is trying to be a good dad to him, so what’s up with this shit!? Is it really so much easier to have the rift between B and Jay than attempt to amend it!? If B has a problem with Jason using guns then the same problem should be applied to Kate; I don’t care about her likability, she’s a bitch and the double standard should cease.

And why is Jason trying to connect with Willis Todd? Willis was an abuse fucker or did Lobdell for get his own canon material again? Someone please remove Lobdell from DC premises! PLEASE! Send him to Marvel or something, I don’t care, but stop allowing him to fuck over Jason because he wants to!

Now, again, I’m brought to the double standards B has and his own reckless behavior. DC please, either find a ethics and morals person to join your writing team, or grow a fucking brain because you are precariously close to having Batman become the killer and the villain.

Why are we isolating the Bats again, when they were so connected at the start of Rebirth? I want to read about the Batfamily BEING A Family! Not this divide and pit against each other crap. 

The worst part of all this is, Rebirth actually started off great! Now it’s a flaming pile of wreckage and I almost wish we’d go back to N52 if only to stop watching the same trainwreck over and over happen.

[spectral-musette]

I saw Justice League!

I VERY MUCH ENJOYED IT.

Spoilers below:

So disclaimer, most of my DC knowledge comes from the small screen (not the comics). Grew up with Lois and Clark and Batman the Animated Series. Caught up with the animated Justice League and Justice League Unlimited from the early 2000’s after it aired. Super enjoyed Young Justice. I’ve seen some sporadic DC animated movies, though certainly not all of them. I liked Season 1 of Gotham a lot but I bailed in Season 2 cause I got busy and was feeling sensitive about some of the gruesomeness of show.

(I’m not currently watching any of the other DC shows, the 70’s Superman movies have never been my thing, nor have any of the live action Batman movies, really.)

Overall I have way more background with DC characters than with anyone from Marvel. I adore various individual Marvel characters a lot, but for the team ups, I just feel more invested in the Justice League than I do the Avengers.

Also overall, I found both Wonder Woman and Man of Steel to be the more moving, poignant films, but….

Damn, Justice League was a lot of fun.

I mean, Wonder Woman made me actually tear up, but Justice League was a romp that left me feeling pleased and happy and very entertained. I definitely have space on my shelf for both kinds of superhero movies.

Starting off with who I know least about:

Aquaman was excellent and I hope everyone who fancast Jason Momoa is patting themselves on the back. Good call. He’s got a powerful screen presence and pulled off Damaged Loner who is Too Cool for School but Secretly Cares really well. I found him very interesting, I’m ready to find out more about his story and ship him with Mera, carry the heck on.

Cyborg was very sympathetic, and for only having about three quarters of his face to work with (what a nice face though), Ray Fisher had so much gravity and emotion. Also what a beautiful voice??? So glad they didn’t process it too much to sound more robot-y, because I just enjoyed listening to him so much. I liked that he played such a pivotal role in the plot. Of the newcomers, Aquaman and the Flash carried a lot of the humor, but Cyborg saved the day.

I’m mostly familiar with Wally West as the Flash (as in JLU and Young Justice), but I thought Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen was very endearing. Snacks for Barry 2k17. I thought his first-battle freak out was really well handled, and I love the way Bruce resolved it with the “just save one”. (Barry’s Speed Force run was a bit weird though, lol) Like, all in all, will any cinematic superhero speedsters compare to Quicksilver in Days of Future Past? Probably not. But I still liked Barry.

For those I know more about as characters in general:

I do like Ben Affleck as Bruce, and his Batman is growing on me. I liked that the opening scene with Batman involved a little more martial-arts-graceful-it’s-jujitsu-god-bless-you Batman than the heavily armored version in Batman Vs. Superman. Still really love Jeremy Irons as Alfred and only wish there might’ve been more, and more Alfred and Bruce banter. I could’ve listened to Alfred pick on Bruce about his crush on Diana for the entire runtime of the film.

(I am here for WonderBat, I blame the Justice League cartoon.)

BUT FOR REAL, MY GIRL DIANA. *RUNS HANDS DOWN FACE* I just love her a lot.

It’s admittedly been a while since I watched Batman vs. Superman, but I felt like her characterization in Justice League was a bit more in tune with how she was portrayed in her solo film – older and wiser and sadder, but with the same insightfulness and willingness to show vulnerability and softness when it was needed. And I like that the film gave her space to grow, exploring her fear not just of losing people she cares for, but of taking the responsibility of asking anyone to answer her call and risk their lives.

(Just now thinking about how much that must resonate with a Bruce who seems to have lost a Robin somewhere along the way)

And last but not least, CLARK I AM SO HAPPY YOU STOPPED BEING DEAD. The resurrection was a BIT wacky. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t that. I was kinda hoping they would bring the coffin into the Kryptonian ship and something would just happen, but oh well. I felt like newly resurrected “unbalanced” Clark was maaaybe not even necessary, but I assume they wanted to have some hero vs hero fight scenes, and all in all it didn’t last that long (especially compared to the last movie in the franchise).

bEcAuSe Clark Just Loves Lois So Much, and I am always in favor of that as a plot point.

Also I really like both that Lois is dragging her grieving self to the Daily Planet to do her work but at the same time acknowledging that she’s not okay, and she’s not ready to write about other people’s grief and fear and pain just yet. And the fact that she carries some shame about that is very Lois, but I love how tender and understanding Clark is – of course he would never be ashamed of her. I really love everything we’ve seen so far between Clark and Lois, and I’m so happy that the DC movies are not only embracing the most iconic couple in superhero history but also making them fresh and real enough that I can actively ship them.

If I have to say something critical, it is that the villain was a bit cartoony (not just in the CG sense) and dull. Like, it provided the necessary “save the world” conflict. Aaand may have suffered a LITTLE from sharing a name with 70’s rock band. Like, I may have giggled a little, just like, once.

But not spending a lot of time developing the villain meant we had more time to devote to the heroes and the team dynamic and I was okay with that.

Wasn’t wild about the new Amazon costumes either, but they also weren’t quite as objectionable as I was expecting. Might’ve been more annoyed if I hadn’t known about it going in.

The CG on Henry Cavill’s face on the reshot footage was also noticeable and distracting, but, honestly, if that’s my biggest qualm about the movie, I’m okay with that?

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/lifestyle/things-editors-like-t-suggests-cameos-by-cindy-sherman-warhols-portraits-of-women-and-more/

Things Editors Like: T Suggests: Cameos by Cindy Sherman, Warhol’s Portraits of Women and More

Lina Bo Bardi’s Most Beloved Pieces Come to New York

The multidisciplinary Italian-Brazilian artist Lina Bo Bardi is best known as an architect, most famously of the 1968 São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), a rectangular glass box suspended from two red concrete beams like a kind of Brutalist crab. But she also made radical Modernist furniture. In 1948, not long after she moved to São Paulo from her native Italy, where she had collaborated with architects including Gio Ponti and Carlo Pagani, she founded a furniture studio, Estúdio de Arte e Arquitetura Palma, with fellow Italian architect Giancarlo Palanti. Independently, she continued to create innovative seating and display units for the buildings she designed; in keeping with her communist principles, she liked to shape each aspect of her buildings to encourage accessibility and, in her words, to “fight against the formulaic and routine.”

Among her most influential pieces are the foldable jacaranda-wood chairs she produced for the auditorium at MASP, each of which features an elegant pale leather seat and back that lace up like corsets. One such chair is now on view at a new exhibition, “Lina Bo Bardi & Giancarlo Palanti: Studio d’Arte Palma,” of rare Bo Bardi furniture at Gladstone 64 gallery in New York. Also on display are a swooping iron-and-leather deck chair she created for Casa Valéria Cirell, the rustic shingle-walled home she built for a professor and his family in a tropical suburb of São Paulo in 1964, a mahogany Zig-Zag armchair with a fuzzy animal-hide seat by Estúdio de Arte e Arquitetura Palma and a compact movable wooden chair she designed for the Espírito Santo do Cerrado Church in southeastern Brazil.

Complementing the furniture are works by Bo Bardi’s contemporaries in the Brazilian artists’ collective Grupo Frente, including Lygia Clark and Alfredo Volpi. For Simone Battisti, a partner at Gladstone, the exhibition is all the more exciting because of its setting; the gallery occupies the former home of another Modernist architect, Edward Durell Stone, who in 1956 replaced the facade of the classic Upper East Side brownstone with a geometric concrete grid. His neighbors at the time weren’t pleased, which I imagine Bo Bardi would have enjoyed. On view through June 15 at Gladstone 64, 130 East 64th Street, New York, gladstone64.com — ALICE NEWELL-HANSON

Photographers Take on a New Medium: Cameo

According to the Egyptologist and philologist E.A. Wallis Budge, the word “cameo” derives from the Cabalist word Kame’a, meaning “magical square.” Magic certainly comes to mind when viewing the enchanting new cameos created by the photographers Cindy Sherman and Catherine Opie, who worked with the New York-based collector Liz Swig on a new limited-edition series called “Cameo.” The project consists of nine jewelry pieces — four by Sherman and five by Opie — that will be shown at the Venice Biennale this May and will be available for sale online. The latest project from LizWorks, a platform founded in 2014 by Swig to foster creative collaboration, “Cameo” began after Swig saw Opie’s 2017 exhibition “Portraits and Landscapes” at London’s Thomas Dane Gallery, which included a series of portraits with dark oval backdrops. The photographs reminded Swig of one of the oldest forms of portraiture: the carved cameo. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute!’ Swig says. “Nobody has explored the cameo, maybe ever, in contemporary dialogue and life.”

Soon after, Swig reached out to Opie and Sherman about carving their photographs into curved shells to create unique cameos. For Opie, the project with LizWorks gave her the opportunity to put the art form, which dates back to ancient Greece, in a new context. “When I make a photograph, there’s only five of them out in the world, and I love that there’s this reiteration, or reinterpretation, of a photograph that is not on a gallery or museum or collector’s wall but that it’s out in the world being worn,” she says. Sherman’s cameos transport the most contemporary form of portraiture from the digital into the tangible. She tells T in an email that she had “been looking for alternative ways to transform some of my images from Instagram, since they’re not suitable for regular photographic reproduction. And I like the idea of jewelry as art.”

The cameos were carved by the artisan Gino de Luca, whom Swig met at a jewelry fair in Vicenza, Italy. De Luca is a descendant of a long line of cameo-makers based in Torre del Greco, a town outside of Naples where cameos have been made for centuries. “Cameo” was de Luca’s first encounter with the works of Sherman and Opie, and a chance to modernize his family’s craft. “Within a minute, he just got it,” Swig says of speaking to De Luca about her vision. “He is a magic force, but on this earth.” Price on request, lizworks.net — HILARY REID

A Show on Andy Warhol’s Favorite Subject: Women

In the wake of the Whitney’s landmark Andy Warhol retrospective, “From A to B and Back Again” — the first show of its kind at a U.S. museum in 30 years — New York’s galleries are taking a turn celebrating the artist in their own ways. Sperone Westwater is exhibiting a collection of the artist’s early drawings of people and still lifes of food, handbags and stilettos while, at its upstate satellite in Kinderhook, Jack Shainman will soon open a show of the collaborative paintings Warhol did with Jean-Michel Basquiat. Up at Lévy Gorvy is “Warhol Women,” which, along with some of Warhol’s best-known portraits (Jackie, Marilyn), includes those of Gertrude Stein, Golda Meir and the artist’s mother, Julia Warhola. “It’s such an obvious subject,” says the writer Alison Gingeras, who will contribute an essay to the show’s catalog, of Warhol’s relationship to and reliance on women, “and yet it’s never been fully unpacked in all its complexity.”

That complexity is perhaps most apparent in four images near the gallery’s entrance that a casual observer might dismiss, unwisely, as outliers: These photos, taken over two days in 1981 by Christopher Makos, are of the artist himself in coifed wigs and full makeup. In one, Warhol has been rendered almost unrecognizable, with teased-up Stevie Nicks hair, drawn-on eyebrows and a flirty pose incorporating clasped hands. In another, he channels his most famous subject with an asymmetrical blond wig, a bent knee and arms crossed modestly over his crotch. Though rather than a billowing dress, he wears slim jeans, a white button-up and a plaid tie, as if, below the neck, he’s still Andy. Warhol was deeply fascinated by New York’s drag culture. As far back as the 1950s, he attended clandestine drag salons hosted by the photographer Otto Fenn and made drawings (some of them part of the Sperone Westwater show) based on Fenn’s images. Still, Makos has said that’s not quite what these pictures are about. As Gingeras puts it, “They’re more about undoing gender than performing drag,” adding, “Warhol had an expansive definition of what a woman is.” “Warhol Women,” through June 15 at Lévy Gorvy, 909 Madison Avenue, New York, levygorvy.com — MERRELL HAMBLETON

From Bobbi Jene Smith, a Dance Work Like a Mountain

Since leaving Tel Aviv, where she was a principal with Batsheva Dance Company, in 2014, the Iowa-born Bobbi Jene Smith has been busy choreographing or appearing in one work after another. “With Care,” an elegiac follow-up to her solo “A Study on Effort,” debuted in the fall, and “Deo,” a dramatic staging of the myth of Demeter and Persephone, which Smith cocreated with Maxine Doyle for the Martha Graham Dance Company, premiered last month. But even as she embodies Graham’s definition of the artist as someone who just keeps marching, Smith isn’t much interested in straight, continuous lines. “It’s creation and destruction. You build up and then have to come down, or go down to come up,” she says of her process. Indeed, the symbol of the mountain has become something of a touchstone for her, one that’s directly informed her newest piece, “Lost Mountain,” which will open in New York at La MaMa the weekend of May 16.

In this case, the mountain is not just a metaphor for the artistic struggle but also for the search for meaning in life. To Smith’s mind, one way that meaning can be found is through moments of human connection. “I like the idea of people bumping into each other and, much like the tectonic forces that make the mountain itself, rising up to make something larger,” she says. She will perform the piece with an ensemble of 10 that includes the dancer-choreographer Marta Miller (“I’m pulling her out of retirement for this”); Or Schraiber, Smith’s husband; the violinist Keir GoGwilt; and the Israeli singer-songwriter Asaf Avidan. When we speak, Smith is hesitant to give away too many details but shares that the evening-length work consists of a series of cinematic vignettes, that all of the music will be live and that there will be little separation between art forms. Fittingly, the group is rehearsing at a farmhouse-turned-artist-retreat on a mountain in southern Vermont. Have there been any inspirational hikes, one wonders? “Hopefully next week. It’s been pretty cold,” says Smith. “And we have a lot of work to do.” “Lost Mountain” will open as part of La MaMa’s Moves! Dance Festival on May 16, at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East Fourth Street, New York, lamama.org — KATE GUADAGNINO

Michelle Pfeiffer’s Intoxicating New Scents

The last person I’d expect to create a collection of slightly hallucinogenic abstract contemporary art might be Michelle Pfeiffer. But the perfumes from her new collection, Henry Rose, range from the delightfully disorienting (like a Jeff Koons balloon dog) to the unsettling, like a Spielbergian poltergeist-filled TV screen.

Last Light, one of the five scents, is somehow at once lovely and hopelessly unreachable. Jake’s House is a fresh eau de cologne but smells like it was made in 2042, and so is simultaneously familiar and alarming. Fog is a work of conceptual realism — a shadowy curtain of scent that silently curls around you. (The catch, of course, is that fog has no smell. That makes it an olfactory illusion, an extraordinary trick and a mesmerizing perfume.)

Dark Is Night smells like you’re in a nightclub — you know, nightclub air at 2 a.m.: the scent of aluminum, electricity and perfume with a hint of dark plums drenched in sugared rum. You’re lost; having this many weird olfactory landmarks means you have none. The parts fly at you, fill you up till suddenly. You can’t pass a mental breathalyzer. henryrose.com — CHANDLER BURR

[hellyeahheroes]

Looking Back at 2016- Best Supporting Series

While you can cast your votes for Hell Yeah Teen Superheroes Awards 2016, I’ll be taking look back at the year behind us and see what would be my picks for the listed categories, as well as musing in general about books in each. Today we’ll take a look at series about adult characters, who had used young heroes in supporting roles.

This year, in general, was full of books that were fitting in that group. While Marvel had only few such titles, DC got on the roll with Rebirth, where suddenly it seemed like every book about an adult went “Doesn’t he have a sidekick?”. Duke Thomas was used heavily in both Batman’s books, Jonathan Kent in Superman’s, Emiko Queen in Green Arrow, Wally West in Flash… you get my point. Quite frankly that was the best way for DC to go, considering one of the goals of DC Rebirth was to reestablish a sense of legacy and history that have been lost with the dawn of the New 52.Not to mention family being one of its central themes. As such it was really hard to narrow this down to those few titles that I felt deserve the most recognition. Again, these are my personal picks and if you feel that I’ve missed something, feel free to argue… or cast your own votes in the awards proper.

The first title I want to mention is one that seems to be getting the least attention. Published under DC’s Young Animal imprint, Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye had only just started, with three issues released in 2016. However, said issues were undeniably a blast. Gerard Way’s brand of weird combined with cartoony, retro style of Michael Avon Oeming, managed to create something that has a feel similar to Venture Bros (especially with Wild Dog, who would probably fit on Venture Bros pretty well), only less interested in taking apart the tropes of classic comics and cartoons in favor of just enjoying them. Cave Carson, one of the most obscure DC characters ever (they’ve literally picked him because he had the smallest entry on “Who is Who in DC Universe?”) not only must confront his past and stop people who want to tarnish his legacy for profit (or more nefarious goals) but also repair relationship with his teenage daughter, Chloe. It’s the stranded, but still able to be mended bond between those two that provides a sense of normalcy between everything weird the book is throwing at us and Wild Dog’s antics. I put it on my list to also represent those few books that started to late (Nova vol.7, which would also qualify as a solo/shared book, depending on how you look at it) or introduced teen character too late (Power Man & Iron Fist, whose last two issues of 2016 added Alex Wilder to the cast) to really have a winning chance in voting, but deserve acknowledgment.  

The next title that needs to be recognized for what is it stands on the opposite end of the spectrum. Firmly grounded in real life and tackling real problems, Captain America: Sam Wilson is one of the most controversial titles of 2016. Which occurs in a way that I cannot help, but find really ironic. Sam Wilson tries to be Captain America for the people, who doesn’t shy away from talking about a different subject and sharing his views. And media made him into their favorite punching bag. Conservatives are lambasting him constantly, accusing of “dividing this country” for taking side…which usually means taking a side they don’t agree with. Helping with hacker Whisperer to expose S.H.I.E.L.D. illegal facility to detain supervillains without a trial? “He aids traitors against the government!” Taking down a bunch of racist hunting down immigrants on the borders to sell them as subjects to a guy who is in equal parts Doctor Moreau and Joseph Mengele? “He is attacking good citizens keeping our borders safe!” Going after corrupt supervillain corporation that was backing those racists? “He is destroying honest business and all work positions it created!” Trying to intervene in a conflict between Americops, who are basically police brutality incarnate and citizens of Harlem they’re beating up for minor offenses? “He is attacking our protectors and aiding criminals and thugs!” And at the same time, he cannot really win either. When he tried to resolve the problem with Americops peacefully it escalated into a brawl and teenage superhero Rage accusing him of selling out. Nobody talks about the moments he succeeds, but everyone brings up the slightest misstep, big or small or not even a bad move at all, unless you can spin it as such. And the irony comes in the fact that this is exactly the treatment the book has gotten from the audience. Fox News went apeshit over Sam beating racists on the borders. Lurk through Spacebattles or 4chan or any other site and you’ll see endless legions of manchildren whining about how corporate supervillain Viper is an obvious Trump parody or how Nick Spencer claims all cops are evil. At every step, this book is lambasted for lacking nuance subtlety or moral ambiguity as if any of those things were needed here. And yet people who should be talking about this book only pay attention to it when they can bash it as well. Yes, I’m talking here about last week’s issue with “SJWs parody” (by the way, one time the book took a jab at liberals in 2016? Turned out to be a robot and ploy by Hydra. So maybe give a guy a benefit of doubt?). I’m sorry, but when was this entire publicity when the book introduced new Falcon, who is a Latino-American illegal immigrant who likes leaving food and water on most dangerous routes from Mexico to America? When it was when he made an issue about Misty Knight hunting down a criminal who was using robots to make sex tapes of superheroines to ruin their reputation? When it was when Sam Wilson made a speech at Jim Rhodes’ funeral, about how much of an inspiration to black community he was? Oh right, everyone were too busy over the fact that Sam had a meeting with Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Monica Rembeau, Misty Knight and Nick Fury Jr. before the funeral, either accusing the title of being racist to show so many black superheroes know each other or accusing it of being racist because, and I quote, “Tony should be there!”. It makes me sad this title gets so little love, despite how often and unapologetically it speaks against current problems and isn’t afraid of siding against the system or the “centrism” it’s now being accused of supporting. And because of prominent roles played by Falcon, Rage and during Standoff also Kobik, it qualifies here and deserves a recognition.

The next title on the list caused much less controversy. In fact, it’s being celebrated by pretty much everyone interested. Deathstroke. A triumphant return of legendary Christopher Priest to the comics mainstream after 9 years long absence, that fixes the unholy sea of shit that the New 52 was for Slade, Rose and Joey Wilson. Not everything it does is flattering to the characters – Jericho, for example, is trying to get back into the closet, something that has already been pointed out to be clearly caused by his daddy issues. But this is also why the book is allowed to get away with it. It’s an unapologetic portrayal of Slade as a destructive force who damages everyone he touches, whenever he wants or not and it explores both the impact he had on Rose and Joey as well as their complicated relationships. At the same time it is possibly only comics in the big two that is doing a serious, gritty (and I mean here real gritty, not the “GUN! MURDER! FIGHTS! SEX!” misunderstood gritty that comics tried to do since the 90s) mix of military drama and spy thriller as it examines Slade’s past and how it constantly comes back to haunt him and his family. The book is great at juggling many plotlines and tones, so one moment we can have a serious military story about Slade, followed by Rose kicking asses to lighter moments with Joey.

While Captain America: Sam Wilson was lambasted by the media and Deathstroke was allowed quiet existence with well-deserved critical acclaim, our next book is somewhere between them. Undeniably a critics’ darling, it had caused some backlash over the treatment of at least one character. The Vision. Dark, depressing tale of Vision and his newly-created family that mixes a heavy drama with psychological horror in science fiction dressing. The book focuses heavily on the family, as they struggle to salvage as much of the crumbling normality they’ve built. Because of it I had a hard time deciding whenever to qualify this book here or as an ensemble title (as even the title can be read in two ways). But in the end, even when he doesn’t do much at given issue, Vision is the one the emotional weight revolves around. It’s his obsession with normalcy and emotional neglect, that contribute to Virginia’s progressively worsening mental state, which also impacts Vin and Viv. It’s only with the addition of Victor Mancha, Vision’s more human brother, that we can realize how damaged Vision himself is. Of course, the controversial treatment of Victor by this book was something we’ve been discussing several times by now and I had to establish my position on the issue more than once. I still feel that the direction the book has taken Victor in id not ruin the character and had potential, which is why I find the decision to kill him to be one big disappointment in an otherwise excellent title. Despite that one blunder, however, Vision remains one of the best titles of the year. Among many good titles helped put Tom King’s name on the map, while also having an unusual, beautiful art by Gabriel Walta.

And finally the last book in this category and also the one I think I’ve enjoyed the most. Superman. Alongside its sister series, Action Comics, the book establishes return of pre-Flashpoint Superman as a prominent figure in DC Universe, while also exploring a completely new direction. Superman is now not only married to Lois, but they also have a son. Young Jon Kent is a fun character, who is learning about responsibilities that come with his powers and legacy of being the son of Superman. Of course he is lucky enough to have Clark and Lois, who are fantastic parents. Clark, or Superdad as fans came to call him, proves to be a loving father, who understands how hard it is to grow up with superpowers, so he tries to ease this for Jon as much as he can. Together they visit Dinosaur Island in heartwarming tribute to late Darwyn Cooke and punch evil Kryptonian robot in the face. Not to mention how Clark and Bruce put their sons in a boot camp to teach them some teamwork. Even when the book lacked Jon’s presence, as was the case in the last story of 2016, Supermonster, it still managed to emphasize on him and how important he and Lois are to Superman. It did so by contrasting Clark and Lois’ love with a relationship between Frankenstein and his Bride, whose marriage fell apart after the death of their son. The book establishes Superman as a family man and in doing so reveals a whole new field of stories to tell about the same Man of Steel, that many people have called boring for years.

So, these are my picks for the best titles with teen heroes in a supporting role of 2016. Do you think I’ve missed something or something didn’t deserve the praise? Tell me in comments and reblogs. And remember you can vote in for the awards, by sending my asks, fan mails and submissions.

[bigskydreaming]

Interesting bit of little-remembered/mentioned Green Lantern lore: Kyle Rayner is mentally and emotionally over three thousand years old.

See, in the JLA story arc “The Obsidian Age,” back in 2002 or 2003, not long before the end of Kyle’s original solo GL series, the JLA lineup of Clark, Bruce, Diana, J’onn, Plastic Man, Kyle and Wally ended up three thousand years in the past in Atlantis, where they were killed by a JLA-style team of the time, thanks to the manipulations of an Atlantean sorceress named Ganymede.

At pretty much the last second, Bruce came up with a plan that would tie into failsafe protocols he had back in the present, and allow the new team he gathered then to resurrect the JLA....but to do so, he needed someone to inform the ‘rescue team’ of what to do....and there was only one person he could figure out a way to survive long enough to do that: Kyle.

So Kyle’s physical form was killed along with the rest of the JLA, but his mind and spirit survived by stowing his consciousness inside his own ring, which was then taken and hidden away by Manitou, one of the ‘ancient JLA’ who ended up siding with the JLA and joining them in the present later.

(Incidentally, this is part of what I love about Kyle so much. Bruce was just like “Okay, I need you to exist as a disembodied consciousness/ghost for 3,000 years just to pass on a message to the modern day heroes about how to save us all, can you do it?” And Kyle’s just like...”oh man, that’s gonna suck for me, but hey, if you say its what I gotta do, I’m your guy.” Like, much like Dick Grayson, Kyle Rayner was born to be a team player, which makes how often he spends isolated and alone super depressing).

But yeah, Kyle had to let the whole 3,000 years between then and the present day pass naturally, before the rescue JLA lineup, led by Nightwing, went searching for what happened to the JLA, found Kyle’s ring and him, and he could tell them the whole story and fill them in on Bruce’s plan to piggy-back off Ganymede’s own magic and get her to unintentionally resurrect them all herself.

So for 3,000 years, Kyle’s ghost essentially sat in a cave with no companion other than Manitou, who is similarly long-lived now thanks to the spell he cast to keep him alive long enough to help. Kyle’s joked about how many games of solitaire he played during the time, and how much time he spent contemplating the meaning of life and other deep philosophical questions, but like...the experience definitely left a deep and lasting effect on him.

In fact, not long after that story, it was one of the canon reasons Kyle left the JLA and Earth in general, to spend the next several years in space....as he told J’onn and Hal-as-the-Spectre....he was having a really hard time adjusting to life in the present day again, because he didn’t feel like he fit anymore. He didn’t know how to relate to people given the sheer scope of what he’d experienced and how long he’d spent existing mostly alone. He basically sent himself into self-imposed exile because he just didn’t get people anymore, and he genuinely felt more comfortable among alien species and out on his own in empty space.

Eventually, he adjusted more or less, with of course this also being due to a lot of later writers not knowing or being interested in factoring in this aspect of his stories and experience....but because of that period he spent in self-isolation away from Earth, even if the Obsidian Age isn’t often cited as a defining reason for that....ultimately, there’s a stark difference between the Kyle of before the Obsidian Age and the one after...because everyone who’s picked up with him after his space exile has tended to write him as a lot more quiet, introspective, contemplative than the more bravado-filled, joking, eternal frat boy kind of characterization he kept pretty consistently up until the Obsidian Age. 

You could easily argue that his experiences and several millennia spent mostly alone with just his thoughts directly played into his later ability to be the one and only person to master all seven emotions of the emotional spectrum and become a White Lantern without help from any other entities, just purely by himself....as well as it playing into how and why he was able to host the entity Ion so much longer than anyone else.

Anyway, I’ve always just found it a really fascinating aspect of his character that’s rarely remembered or played around with, when it both explains so much about his later stories and just has so much potential in general. Batman’s like “Hey you gotta play dead and just bum around as a ghost for three thousand years just cuz I said so,” and Kyle’s just like “Aww man? Seriously? Ugh, well if you say so, fine I guess. Let’s do this thing.”

Like, this was a guy who has on at least three different occasions been the most powerful person alive and at all other times exists as ‘just’ one of the biggest guns Earth has defending it, and has so little ego and so much implicit trust in his teammates and the talents and expertise of even someone with no superpowers whatsoever, that they say “here’s what we need from you” and he’s just like “if you say this is the only way, I trust you, so just tell me when and where.”

How can you not love a character like that? 

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