#maybe people call them dc comics

[oifaaa]

Wait is the reason people use the tag dc comics over just dc bc you have a place in America that's called dc

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

Family Methods

[ Suicide Squad: Get Joker! #3 ]

As much as I rag on this story for implying Jason’s trauma-induced spidey-senses activate when the joker walks into the room, there was some rare mockery of Bruce’s side of the ever-so-tiresome morality debate.

Like, ah yes,

the pinnacle of morality

[talxns]

Academic Articles that Analyze Queer Readings of Batman and Robin (Brudick)

There actually exist multiple!…but the ones I want to introduce right now talk specifically about how the creation of the batfamily was DC’s attempt to dissuade brudick readings. and that it can be argued that DC is still doing the same thing today.

The first article is called “All in the Family: Homophobia and Batman Comics in the 1950s”, published in the International Journal of Comics Art in Fall 2000 by Chris York. It was not available for free online, but I bought a digital copy of the volume it was published in and provided screenshots because it’s been 24 years and I hate the fact that academics are behind paywalls so I’m sharing.

This article was actually infamous because DC refused to grant permission for the use of their panels in this article.

Click for better quality.

Notable Quotes:

“National [Periodical Publications]’s biggest step, however, was the introduction of other members of the Bat-family, which would give them permanent female counterparts and solidify their heterosexual status.”

“It is clear that, although Batman and Robin remain partners, their interests are no longer as the Dynamic Duo, but as a Bat-family.”

“Taking the focus of the comic away from Batman and Robin was exactly what these superfluous characters were designed to do.”

The second article, published in the Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies in 2005, is called "Domesticity, Homosociality, and Male Power in Superhero Comics of the 1950s" by Mark Best.

Good news! This article is available online for free and it’s a great read.

Notable Quotes:

“In contrast to the Marvel family, however, the Batman and Superman families were modeled more after the familial relations of the nuclear family and the gender expectations of the domestic ideology.”

“One way the genre attempted to contain any “subversive” potential, including the possibility of homosexual readings of the comics, was through the narrative device of the “super­ hero family.””

Here is more academic reading with the themes of Batman and homophobia, written in 1991. This article is referenced in the former piece.

In summary:

(lest we forget) Batman has had queer readings since its inception, specifically between Bruce and Dick.

The creation of the batfamily served to curtail those brudick readings

It seems pretty obvious that the same attempts are STILL being made by DC, now with the exaggerated push for explicit familial titles like “father” and “son”. And are still working if you see any discourse online from fans who strictly oppose brudick on the basis of their “father/son” relationship (which seems to me a more modern emphasis compared to in the past, maybe i’ll make a different post about that later.) They are unknowingly parroting Freddy Wertham’s concerns and eating up DC’s new strategy of distancing Bruce and Dick, just under an accusation harder to argue against nowadays. It’s gauche to criticize queerness nowadays, but consider it incest and suddenly it’s acceptable to bash again.

I just find it incredibly fascinating that brudick had been discussed and analyzed in multiple academic articles! And reading some comments I saw lately of people exclaiming “I can’t believe Brudick is this popular!/Who on earth is shipping Brudick!?!” made me sigh and really want to pull these out. Brudick has been a thing before all of us were born. DC’s propaganda/internet purity culture has been doing too good of a job lately. We have to remember our roots.

[littledead-ridinghood]

sorry if this is a weird question to drop on you you were just the first person I thought of who might know but do you know if it's canon/canonically-based evidence that jason is physically stronger than other bats because I always see people say jason is the one with "brute strength" and I can't remember if that's based on anything besides people saying that as a nicer way to call him a brute(maybe it was on lobdells stuff? but I wiped most of those out of my memory)

You thought of me first? <333333 I'm blushing. And it's not weird at all! Even if it was, I love answering weird shit.

Anyway:

So part of Jason being considered "the muscle" of the bats comes from the fact that Jason's currently the biggest of the robins. (Adult!Damian is usually drawn as the tallest of the kids when all is said n' done (that's vague for "age")).

Well, how big then?

I always go with this chart which was released while UtRH was being released:

(I Love this! I wish DC still did little info things like this within their comics. Or maybe they do and I'm just blind. But Look! Canonical Information!)

So canonically speaking, at least when running around pre-crisis, Jason is 6 feet tall and 180 pounds. (Also note criminal mastermind and put a pin in it)

But you've probably heard 200 & 220 thrown around a lot. Those numbers are specifically pulled from two different DC character encyclopedia books which I don't trust at all because there notoriously filled with false information and are dubbed as not canon all the time.

Personally, I use the 6', 180-195 pound range which estimates for fluctuating weight, the passage of time, muscle mass, and minimum bulk & cutting (which I assume is part of most superheroes' training to stay in fighting form, but please recognize that vigilantes are more athlete than bodybuilder) because it's from a canon source (Canon is "king" and all that). No shame to people who use the other numbers or even headcanon something completely different, but again, vigilantes are predominantly running all over cities day after day, not stagnant weight lifters. Cardio vs weights body compositions are quite different even if both are healthy. (And it's not all "swimmer's body illusion" either (they have that body because they swim? No, they swim because they have that body.)

How much muscle mass a person can maximally obtain is up to your genetics. But that max only comes with constant maintainment. It's not feasible for Jason to be doing all that cardio and also have that much muscle mass and fat. Cardio burns "fat" (calories), weights build muscle. We constantly see the former and former-adjacent workouts more than the latter with him. Jason is running across rooftops, flipping off them before falling into a shoulder roll onto the next roof over chasing after bad guys every night. The number of calories he'd have to eat and time put into lifting weights (too many reps a week lead to damage, not growth) to maintain his max (max being what a lot of weights category athletes try to achieve which Jason just hasn't been shown to be (except in his jailbird phase where he could literally only lift weights, read, and avoid being killed to pass the time)) isn't possible.

Using comic art to "prove" how much he weighs doesn't work either. Firstly, because everyone wears weight differently. Two people can be the same height, weight, and sex and look completely different. This is due to different body types, composition, genetics, diet, (what kind of) exercise, and many other factors. Assuming someone thinner is automatically "super light" doesn't factor in different body compositions (fat, muscle, bone percentages). (yes, I know it's stupid to apply science to comics. There's my digression. let me live). Secondly, Jason (just like everything else about him) isn't drawn consistently at all. Sometimes he's pretty damn massive, but we also have Twink and Twunk Jason (DC can't even decide on hair color? Do you think they're gonna decide on his body?).

So, comic book art isn't super reliable as evidence unless we want to theorize if, how, and why he seems to fluctuate between weights all the time (<- Which I have a whole headcanon about if anyone's curious), especially in comparison to the others because, seriously, it's totally a Jason thing. Most characters are pretty consistent in body type. Anyway, someone could argue "See! he is 210!" but it's also not for a long enough period to stick around :/ Again, hard to consistently maintain that much weight as a 6-foot-tall, cardio-based athlete.

Also note: DC is horrible when it comes to weight-to-height lineups. A woman hero can be ~5'7'' and then we're told she's 110 lbs which Fact 1. is considered underweight for this kind of height-to-sex ratio, Fact 2. probably isn't factoring in the fact that muscle is heavier than fat, she just "looks thin", and 3. Usually, totally, absolutely is just blatant sexism.

Really, the numbers don't seriously mean anything of actual substance because their comics, are unreliable, and also usually just...scientifically wrong. But Jason's perception on page, as well as the information we've been told, is one reason he's considered "brute strength first and foremost."

Furthermore, Jason has been shown repeatedly to be on par with Bruce (even when Jason, most of the time, plays defense in their physical fights) but many people chalk this up to him and Bruce having similar physiques making it "easier". Again, counter-productive argument because Bruce and Jason have been drawn very similarly before in stories as well as completely different from each other in others. Also, this purposefully, blatantly ignores Jason's actual skills. No one chalks Dick Grayson or Cassandra Cain beating Bruce up to their body types. Moreover, when Bruce and Jason are drawn similarly in body, no one refers to Bruce as "Brute Strength" either. Bruce gets to be tactical, strategic, clever. (Also Also: In Pre-Crisis, Bruce, Dick, and Jason are deliberately drawn to look similar (height, mass, looks, etc.) to get that Brothers in Blood effect. Still, No one chalks the formers up to all strength. Just Jason)

And that brings us to your question, Anon: Is there canonical evidence for Jason being stronger than the other Bats?

Remember how I told you to put a pin in that "Occupation: Criminal Mastermind" note? Well, first off, Jason creating jobs for his community. Go off, king. Second off, and more importantly so, "Mastermind": a person who supplies the directing or creative intelligence for a project (Merriam-Webster).

When Jason was first re-introduced, what made Jason dangerous was that he was highly skilled and smart. He was playing with both Black Mask and Batman like a cat batting a toy mouse. He orchestrated an entire "slow-growing" takeover of Gotham's underworld (he was actually very quick about it). Jason controlled the situation and planned so well that he had the villains and heroes who were both after him fighting each other so he could slip away and do what he actually needed to do.

Throughout Jason's history, he's always had tools with him when he fights. To the point that Bruce says to Jaybin "You won't always have this" cutting his utility belt, insinuating he relies too much on it, which Jason returns the favor to on his return and fights B hand to hand <3 Love a cocky callback. Furthering this, he knows many, many different fighting styles and techniques both from life experience and from extensive training. Jason's a quick learner by nature and is incredibly adaptive. Guns; knives; swords; pens; sets bombs to specifically implode, not explode; makeshift gadgets; a baseball bat just laying around; a tire jack that one time; brains. I could go on. Jason doesn't just hit things. He uses what he has as a means to an end. He's canonically known as one of the best strategists in-universe and is incredibly creative with his surroundings. Jason isn't just great at extensive, long-term planning either. Bruce himself has remarked on the fact that Jason thinks incredibly quickly on his feet, he's really good at improvisation. Concisely, he has plans A-G and if all those fail, he can pull something out of nothing. Contrast this with Bruce who needs to have a plan for everything. Even if it doesn't look like he's following a plan, Bruce is. Opposed to Jason who can go with the flow and figure it out along the way.

Jason even said this in present-era in TFZ:

And that's the whole point, isn't it? Jason is strong. Incredibly so. He's big and tall and has gorgeous thighs. Not to mention, has a mean right hook. But just because Jason's strong doesn't mean he isn't a bat first and foremost who relies on his brain before anything else. He died 4'6 (on his death certificate, his height varies depending on what source you pull) and famously had to defend himself his entire life ever before being Robin. Being young and small and forced to survive shaped Jason into a quick thinker who could either get away or take enemies 10x his size down. Nowadays, he just has a longer reach.

In Event Levithan when Damian says: "Jason Todd is one of the Great Master fighters of all time" He doesn't say strongest because Damian doesn't mean strongest. Damian means adaptable, smart, capable, and well-rounded in skill.

While I don't doubt that Jason is most definitely one of the strongest Bats due to his size, what makes Jason dangerous is not his body, but the fact that he knows how to use it. It's not "Brute Strength" as many people like to say, it's Strategic Strength. He knows just because he's stronger than someone doesn't mean he'll always win. A la see panels above. Jason knows throwing his body around won't do anything of real, long-term substance. That it's just blindsided and stupid.

I'm sure if I looked I could pull panels where other bats and/or vigilantes refer to Jason as the muscle, brute (strength), all brawn (no brain), other such implications, etc, but whenever people do, it's always to undermine Jason's skill. Because it's not actually about his strength. Jason, with his taller, more built form, makes walking quiet seem easy. And it looks easy because he's good. Jason himself knows his skill set, it's everyone else that undermines him time and time and time again. (Again, Event Levithan, Bruce doesn't agree with Damian's statement even though Jason just outsmarted the six or so people who all just tried to take him down (for something Jason didn't even do, mind you))

But, again from Damian, Jason's not known as "the muscle," he's "the emotional one" also usually used to...degrade Ja--We can't have anything nice apparently is what I'm saying. But yes, when people refer to Jason as "Brute Strength" it's usually them trying to find a nicer way of saying Brute or "thinks with his fists" or "Jason hits first, asks questions later." It's in the same vein as when people say "Jason likes books" as short-hand for "see, he's smart at something" rather than acknowledging that Jason achieved a degree's worth of knowledge in comp-sci by age 13.

Anyway Smart and Strong Jason, my beloved. I wish DC & others loved you as much as Rosenburg and the teams of artists he's been working with do.

[theamityelf]

Okay, I'm trying to familiarize myself with Batfam stuff, because I lowkey think they'd be fun to write for. (Never seen any of the animated series or read any Batman comic with Robin in it.)

What I have so far:

Bruce Wayne. Obviously. That's a Batman. Parents killed in an alley outside a theater, he maybe trained with some assassins (and Talia al Ghul is a character who's related to that somehow I think; she might be an assassin), and he's Batman. I know who Batman is. He doesn't kill; that's his rule.

Alfred. Butler. Secretly really good at weapons? Just generally hypercompetent and would probably be killing people if not for Bruce.

There's a bunch of Robins, which I will list. It seems like a lot of them have straight black hair and blue eyes; if true, it's wild that they didn't vary that more. I hope the fandom does something else, lol.

Dick Grayson first. He's the circus one who got adopted when his parents died. He's good at flips and stuff because circus. Not sure the specifics of his parents' death, but I suppose it triggered Bruce? And so Bruce was like, "I gotta adopt this kid." And he later became Robin. And then he did Teen Titans (which I haven't seen, but one of my college roommates watched Teen Titans Go a lot) and dated Starfire. I think he's the one whose costume is sometimes blue? But I'm not sure. Personality-wise, I think maybe he's generally positive and responsible. This is the first Robin, so he's probably got standard Robin characteristics and grew up with the standard amount of superhero angst. Not too much, not too little. I feel like I'd like Dick Grayson if I knew the character well. Oh! He's also called Nightwing, right?

Jason Todd next. He's, like...a street orphan? And I think he's the one with the white in his hair. He got killed by Joker with a crowbar and then came back angry because Batman didn't kill Joker. And I feel like things remained tense with him after that in canon but fan works have them resolve things, but like I said, I have not consumed any of his canon. I'm just going on vibes. Personality-wise, I'm thinking rougher-edged than Dick. Um, Red Hood, right?

Tim Drake is next. I genuinely don't know if and when he was adopted, because I'm pretty sure everything I've consumed about him was just like, "No, he has parents. But he figured out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, so he gets to be Robin." But I also think he lives with them? I think he's more upbeat than Jason; he fully opted into all of this.

Wait, Barbara Gordon is somewhere in there, right? Probably before Tim. I don't know what she's really doing, but she's Jim Gordon's daughter and I think she becomes Batgirl. Does she get killed by Joker? Jim Gordon is like, Batman's favorite police guy. He's the one who's always lighting the bat signal.

Full disclosure, I know Stephanie Brown is someone, but I have no idea who she is or what she's doing or when she comes into play, and iirc I think I saw a Tiktok that implied she straight up lives somewhere else. I guess Barbara probably does, too. And I guess Dick probably moved out to do Teen Titans, although it would be very funny if he didn't. I'm sure a lot of fan works just have them all live together; if the Marvel fandom could put everyone in Stark Tower, the DC fandom can move everyone into Wayne Manor.

I know that Cassandra Cain is deaf, and I think she's a street orphan, too? And I feel like there was some connection between her and the kid from the Birds of Prey movie. Maybe same character; I feel like I remember reading criticism about her not being deaf in the movie. I also don't know when she comes into play, but I'm pretty sure she's one of the straightforwardly adopted ones. But I'm just guessing that because I'm not aware of any reason for her not to be.

Duke Thomas is the black one, and I think he was kind of on the Tim Drake track of figuring out the Batman stuff. I don't know how he came into play either. I think he's called Signal? Does he have an electricity thing, or am I mistaking him for a different character? There are a lot of black superheroes with electricity powers. Personality-wise, I think he's just generally cool and good-natured, but I'm not sure whether that's an actual canon thing, or if I've just consumed content that misrepresents his whole deal. Whatever the case, I'd probably love him if I knew more about him. I feel like I'll like all of these characters.

Damian Wayne, biological son of Bruce and Talia. (Though, if I'm mistaken about that, then that's really funny.) He's, like, an analyst type, which means we've got a lot of characters who are specifically characterized as analytical. (I hope knowing more about them will make it easier to vary the kind of intelligence. I want them to have different specific strengths and weaknesses. They probably do.) And I think he might have also been trained by the assassins, but I'm not sure. Personality-wise, I'm pretty sure he's distinctly creepy. Like, I think he's the creepy genius child trope, and all serious and formal. I like that trope.

[marinettesaltprompts]

Not sure if you're still active, but here's a 'prompt':

Maribat, but without the wish-fulfillment:

The bats-family comes to Paris, and the usual Maribat stuff happens. Shadowmoth is found, Lila gets revealed, Marinette gets to castigate her friends to the bone beofre dimissing them as vile people beneath her notice and Adrien gets summarily replaced because Plagg's Miraculous is apparently Ladybug's engagement ring and Damian is "just better". To top it all off, Marinette is taken under Batman's wing, and without an active threat in Paris leaves for Gotham.

It's not what she expected.

She realises the true depths of human cruelty without the insanity of Akumatisation to hide behind,

She gets to learn what it's like to be the last person to know plans because SHE'S not the one calling the shots anymore, indeed: she's the most junior person int eh chain of command. She's the one who has to shut and obey when push come to shove, and get excluded from decisions that effect her and information that she should have but Batman keeps locked up under "need to know". And she's not on the list.

Because why would she be? She was the child who struggled to find Shadowmoth while she had a box of magical superweapons- including one that could give her any power she asked of it- when it took Batman his Robins maybe a week at most to do the same with conventional methods.

She even finds out that Batman has a dozen contingencies in place to take the box and Miraculous from her if she goes rogue. Based on information he's accumulated from her while she spent time under his roof and trained to impress him.

Oh, and to add salt to the wound: Damian makes it clear that he doesn't consider her his equal. Guardian or not. Certainly not someone he's going to take orders from, or someone he's interested in romantically for that matter. It takes more than a reasonably attractive face and talent for magical devices to interest Damian Wayne; and beyond those things what's exceptional about Marinette Dupain-Cheng compared to the other potential love interests he already had?

Did it occur to her that he might already be in a relationship before she gave him the ring? Because it seems like she's committing the same sin that Adrien Agreste once did in assuming the bearers of Destruction and Creation have some special destiny to be together.

(Adrien could tell her how that works out).

So now Marinette's stuck in a new, far less friendly city, speaking a foreign language and in a home filled with strangers she impulsively threw her old life away to be with. And she has to live with it because of how she burned her bridges.

Great Post! You put a lot of thought into the prompt, and the idea of Ladybug being brought into a situation where she's way in over her head and not instantly the main person in charge (just because she holds a powerful set of magical earrings) actually sounds great! Though that itself could be its own fanfic idea.

I myself am not personally fond of the Maribat part of the fandom or the idea of even mentioning it, given that it and the the idea of Marinette and Damian ever being a thing represents everything bad about the salty part of the fandom, especially from people who likely never read any actual DC comic involving Damian.

However, I do appreciate how you deconstructed the idea of not only Damian instantly being Marinette's love interest, but also how Marinette meeting the Batfamily would instantly make her part of it or even their favorite, since neither of those would likely ever happen given the dark and gritty nature of Batman comics contrasting with the light and generally perfect world of Miraculous.

I mean, the idea of Marinette relating in any way to the BatFam would be ridiculous in canon, considering her generally perfect and happy family life in comparison to everyone in the BatFam differing flavors of trauma. By comparison, Lila being a bitch or her friends not believing her seems mundane by comparison.

Anyways, love the post!

[androxys]

Comic Ages: Quick Breakdowns for the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages

If you're new to comic fandom, or even if you're not, you may hear people talk about specific "Ages" of comic books. If you don't know what that means, or what people mean when they talk about a Golden Age, this is a quick writeup meant to help you out!

This focuses on the Golden Age, the Silver Age, and the Bronze Age of comics. This is a DC focused writeup, though it's loosely applicable to Marvel comics too.

The Golden Age (1938-1950s)

DC Comics as we know it started taking form in 1937 with the debut of the Detective Comics title. Published by Detective Comics Inc. in partnership with National Allied Publications, the title was an anthology of various detective and mystery stories featuring characters such as Slam Bradley. Have you ever read the first dozen or so ‘Tec stories? Because I haven’t. I care much more about what came next. In 1938, All-American Publications began publishing Action Comics, debuting a character called Superman. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Soon after, in 1939, Detective Comics #27debuted the Batman. Arguably with Action Comics #1, though definitely by 1940, the Golden Age of comics had begun.

The original iterations of the Flash and Green Lantern—Jay Garrick and Alan Scott, respectively—were created in 1940. The savvy reader among you might recognize these two as belonging to the Justice Society of America, which had arrived on the scene by 1941. The JSA would be rounded out with Hawkman, Doctor Fate, the Spectre, Sandman, the Atom, and Hourman. Other characters created around this time include Green Arrow (1940), Wonder Woman, (1941), and Aquaman (1941).

You may notice that the Golden Age overlaps with World War II, and it definitely affected DC’s publication. The newly created figure of the superhero became a more starkly patriotic figure, often spangled in red, white and blue. Plots began to incorporate nationalistic themes, and heroes often fought spies, foreign agents, and saboteurs. Arguably, though, scholars argue that the war era was most important for how superheroes began to move out of a purely print medium to radio and film. (For additional reading on DC Comics and WWII, see the Freeman and Hutchens citations below)

As the 40s went on, however, interest in superheroes began to wane, and DC (though technically they weren’t yet a consolidated DC Comics) began to pivot to other themes, such as Western stories or science fiction. The end of the Golden Age, however, can arguably be traced to 1954 with Frederic Wertham publishing Seduction of the Innocent. Wertham’s book that claimed that comics were an active harm to children due to their depictions of violence and supposed (homo)sexual themes. Seduction of the Innocent led to Wertham testifying before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee, which in turn ended up leading to comics publishers adopting the Comics Code Authority, a sort of self-imposed regulatory authority.

I would personally characterize the Golden Age as having a sort of earnestness to it. Characters are being invented left and right, but the writers haven’t yet had enough time with them to shape them into the figures we now know them to be. In hindsight, a lot of these early stories seem... silly… Superman eating a pocket-knife in Superman #8 comes to mind. But even within the same issue as the goofy knife-eating, you see Superman working against foreign agents representing the real-world anxieties of the time.

The Silver Age (1958-1970)

After the establishment of the Comics Code Authority, the content of comics had to change. At the same time, DC Comics (though they still weren’t technically doing official business under that name) had a stable of characters begging for reinvention. In 1956, Barry Allen debuted as the new Flash in Showcase #4, and the Silver Age was off. Science fiction themes seemed to be all the rage for the Silver Age: Hal Jordan, the new Green Lantern, got his ring from a dying alien. Ray Palmer, the new Atom, was described as a genius inventor who created his size changing powers. Hawkman was brought back, no longer as the reincarnating pharaoh Khufu, but as a police officer from the planet Thanagar. The Martian Manhunter was more thoroughly fleshed out and elevated from a detective to superhero. As individual heroes were getting re-tooled, the concept of the Justice Society was updated in 1960 to become the Justice League of America, which debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28.

After establishing refreshed versions of some of their older heroes, DC decided that they wanted to begin to reincorporate some of their older characters into their modern publication. This effort began in 1961 with the spectacular “Flash of Two Worlds” in Flash #123, which featured Barry Allen, the Flash, teaming up with Jay Garrick, the Flash of the Golden Age. This issue established that the Golden Age characters all still existed, but on a parallel Earth that vibrated at a different frequency than the Earth of DC’s main heroes, which was designated Earth One. By using their powers, characters like the Flash were able to vibrate at the other Earth’s speed, crossing over. This concept would soon be expanded upon, leading to frequent crossovers between Earth One and Earth Two characters and teams.

Having two separate Earths, each with their own history, allowed DC to have multiple variations of the same characters, offering greater storytelling breadth. The Bruce Wayne of Earth Two, for example, had retired as Batman to become Gotham Police Commissioner, passing on the torch to his daughter Helena Wayne, the Huntress. Huntress would cross over to meet the Bruce Wayne of Earth One, the younger, childless Batman. DC would develop other Earths, such as Earth Three, with villainous versions of Earth’s heroes, of Earth Prime, with a single Superboy as Earth’s only superhero.

The Silver Age, as a whole, can be looked at as campier than other eras of comics thanks in no small part due to the regulations imposed by the Comics Code Authority. Stories tended towards science fiction and the fantastic, and creators were very interested in making pre-established concepts new again. Comics continued to expand through new mediums, often keeping with the tone of the time: the Adam West Batman TV show, for example, ran 1966-1968 and is a great example of Silver Age camp. While the Silver Age has an event that can be pointed to as a relatively agreeable indication of the era’s beginning, its end is slightly less clear.

The Bronze Age (1970-1986)

The Bronze Age of Comics came about during the 1970s, but it’s not easy to discern exactly when or with what event. Comic readers had been indicating a desire for darker or more mature stories. (In some ways, this desire can be considered as a reaction to the trend of the Silver Age as a whole. For further reading, I suggest The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon, which dives into how Batman media specifically follows a tone-pendulum.)

Some point to the death of Gwen Stacy over in The Amazing Spider-Man as the event that heralded in the Bronze Age, others point to Jack Kirby leaving Marvel to join DC and begin the Fourth World. The Bronze Age was emboldened by the revision and weakening of the Comics Code in 1971, after Stan Lee published a comic about drug use without the Authority’s stamp of approval. The comic was a success, leading the code to reevaluate or be left behind.

In the realm of DC, Green Arrow’s joining the Green Lantern title in 1970 in what would then be Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76 is generally considered a Bronze Age hallmark. The series focused on contemporary social ills, with its arguably most famous story tackling drug addiction in America. 1971’s Green Lantern/Green Arrow #78, “Snowbirds Don’t Fly,” depicted the teen hero Roy Harper's addiction to heroin and the other heroes’ reaction and response. In the Batman comics, Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams began a long campaign to bring Batman back to a more gothic, brooding figure with appropriately dark villains. O’Neil and Adams’ 1971 Batman #232 debuted Ra’s and Talia al Ghul, while 1973’s Batman #251 would see “The Joker’s Five Way Revenge” take the Joker from his Silver Age clownish portrayal to a more menacing, murderous villain.

As DC Comics approached 50 years of publication in 1985, they began to recognize that five decades had left them with quite a mess of continuity. There were the Golden Age heroes on Earth Two, the Silver Age heroes that had become the Bronze Age heroes on Earth One, and a plethora of alternate Earths and company acquisitions to make it muddier. To mark the anniversary and clean house at the same time, DC embarked upon the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Crisis on Infinite Earths, often referred to just as “Crisis” was a year-long maxi series running from 1985-1986. The plot involved the destruction of the DC multiverse, and resulted in the establishment of a New Earth with a new continuity. Nearly everything that came before was taken off the metaphorical table, and writers got to choose which pre-Crisis elements to re-canonize and which elements to create fresh.

[mintacle]

My hot take is that the same people who call Jason copaganda, pr-gunviolence or etc are from the same vein as people who blame schoolshootings on videogame violence, who blamed crime on Metal and satanism.

Instead of taking a critical look at a system within which a symptom of a problem is making itself known, you look if there is an outside influence, a kind of "virus" that you can blame for making it "sick".

DC comics are a little fucked up. That's the agreement you entered when reading them. All characters are inconsistent and sometimes in the wrong. Jason is a Bat, so at least it feels like he's maybe substantial enough to blame for the whole batclans issues, in a way that Helena Bertinelli (for example) can't be, because she is less closely tied and has less appearances. Congratulations, you have an identified patient! Jason is the problem that is rippling out and causing all these nasty and unsatisfied feelings the readers have about how crime is handled in these comics.

We see crime being fought in imperfect ways and our current cultural consciousness goes off with warning bells to identify the problem. But what you were taught was to identify what outside influence happens to be present and connecting the issue, and how to justify that all evil stems from this malignant influence. So surely if we could just remove this bad thing, we could go back to the wonderful world we knew where everything was ok.

That world never existed. The thing we are nostalgic for, is the world before we became aware of it's flaws. The problem has always been there, has always been an integrated part of this whole you used to love and admire.

But because the kind of people blaming Jason for "copaganda" do genuinely and truly come from a good place of wanting social justice (I'm saying you are good people. I disagree and think you are making a logical error, but we do care about and want the same thing. Good People) because you come here with the right intentions, you use the buzzwords of copaganda. Or gunviolence. You know from what you have heard that the issue is systematic, but you are struggling to find what that system equivalent is in DC comics. You are falling victim to the fallacy of assuming a main narrative perspective. Just as irl cops are hard to identify as the problem bc you might have to first struggle through the cognitive dissonance that your old worldview of good cops was wrong (so so wrong), you experience cognitive dissonance if trying to read comics with someone like Batman being wrong and flawed.

Looking beyond any superficial similarities to cops Jason is called out for (uses a gun, kills, enforcing his vision of justice) he really doesn't have much more similarities. He isn't a figure of authority, he lacks the nigh god-given justification to do whatever he wants whatever the outcome and is questioned at every turn. Just the sheer instances of Batman or another Bat showing up to beat Jason up and lecture him on what he does.

Extending this, he does not have the pervasive and persuasive power to shape a narrative. Jason's narrative is so far out of his hands. Which has been a core truth about him since for ever. From his maleable origin story, to his death, the years of him being gone and having No Voice Whatsoever, his resurrection in utrh showing him trying, struggling to have a voice against Bruce's story and being drowned out and denied his perspective, the inconsistency of his character after, each writer trying to shape him into something. Now cops fucking have a narrative. Their narrative is the main one we are fed. Their violence is structured and oppressive. Jason is neither a structural systemic power, nor is he oppressive of anyone. If you disagree with his violence for the sake of the moral highground of condemning killing.... Then, just, there are other media, you know.

Cop violence is systemic violence. It is violence that is "justified" to the extent it requires no justification. It is above being questioned. I am genuinely willing to hear an argument how Jason is cop-coded. But to me he is the punk resistance based "violence" that is only organized in the anarchical but organical sense of caring to protect the community that surrounds you. He doesn't approach Gotham as a paternalistic force of protection shielding it from above, but as one of them from within, showing up for the people who are suffering the way he has suffered too.

[distort-opia]

hey tort, what you didn't like about Batman caped crusader new design? And apparently with what I seen of the news, Joker was left out of this one hahaha

Mm, well... there's some stuff I like the sound of:

"A cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man." It's funny to me he's talking about this as if it's that new of a take, Bruce has been weaponizing Alfred and Alfred's been enabling him in the comics for a while. But I am excited about an intentional approach to Bruce as a dark spooky offputting freak. Timm has been talking elsewhere about how he wants to depict a Bruce who's not very heroic and much darker, who's wearing a "person suit" over his true self which is Batman, and I think that could be quite interesting.

Meanwhile, Harley Quinn is now a serious psychiatrist who only fakes being bubbly... and actually a serial killer going after the rich of Gotham? The more you read about the changes, the more she's just a whole ass new character. I do get wanting to reinterpret things or bringing novel elements, but going "let's make everything about her the opposite" doesn't really land you in the realm of interpretation. Harley now sounds like a new person, with the only things in common she has with actual Harley Quinn being the name, profession and the harlequin-themed suit... which isn't even red, black and white.

And well. While the description of Selina isn't too flattering, I can't say she hasn't been depicted this way before. I just don't really like it:

Making her a rich person who's stealing because she wants to keep being rich... [sigh] I prefer the Selina who grew up impoverished, and who's got much more complex motivations to her being Catwoman.

Alas, Harley might be hard to recognize, but then there's Harvey:

The "let's take character traits and turn them opposite" approach strikes again! And once more, it makes the character very different, because Harvey being disfigured by acid after trying so hard to be good and save Gotham, and the disfigurement bringing Two-Face to the surface... it's such a core tenet of him.

I know some people might prefer these extreme changes over how the original characters were written, or even argue that they've gone through so many different origins and versions-- this is just another one of those. And I agree that this is just how things go, when a story that's almost a century old gets readapted, again and again. But well, especially when it comes to Harley and Harvey, I personally feel that if you're changing the core traits so much... at least don't call them by the same name, dammit. I'd feel similarly if they made a show about Batman and then went "oh we put a whole new spin on him by making everything the opposite!" and you find out he doesn't give a shit about his parents' murder and he kills people.

But who knows! The show isn't out yet. Maybe it'll be super well written, or these things have been blown out of proportion in interviews, and so on. We can only really tell once the show is out, so I'm waiting until then to truly form an opinion. And to be honest, I'm not that upset they left out Joker; DC has been overusing him for a while, and Joker fatigue is sadly not that hard to understand. Plus, keeping in mind all these major changes... they'd probably give us a Joker we can barely recognize, too.

[whywoulditho]

I'm glad, that DC writers are changing constantly and therefore the characters are protected from the Bat-family. The Bats are the cancer of DC comics. There wouln't be any independant characters anymore if they could gez their grubby hands on the other DC families

That's another way to look at it.. I agree that they're trying a bit too hard to connect every character to the bats' storyline. so you might have a point there. maybe it would create more bad than good if they let batfam authors interfere with the other storylines... but i still wouldn't call the bats the cancer of DC. I think if you took the bats out of DC, it would lose like half of its charm and quality.

with all that being said though, i still think the biggest problem of DC romances (or comic book romance in general) lies in each run having separate authors. think about why harley x ivy worked. it's because both of those characters already existed before they got together. both of them were loved villains and later anti-heroes, they both have their own story, their own past and their own redemption arcs. they're both INTERESTING. and when DC made the risky choice of making them a couple, it worked.

i'm not saying it would work with any other characters, or that they should make all their major characters date each other. but if you want to explore romance in your comics you have to give the readers an actual relationship, involving two realistically written and interesting people. not a major character and their accessory love interest. that's my issue with tim x bernard, or jon x jay. no one will get attached to, or even invested in, these relationships because we don't know anything about the love interests. they're just some random people. even if you try to give them personalities they will still not have a story outside of their relationship with the major character. bernard and jay were only created so tim and jon would have someone to kiss. it's hard to care about them, and therefore their relationship. they're just boring romance side plots.

you can introduce a character with the sole purpose of making them a couple with one of your major characters and still make it work, like batman and catwoman. you can create chemistry with a new character just as well as you can with already existing ones. but i think we need more of the first option. less last minute love interests and more people falling in love. i think what makes DC special is that they show us so many different versions of their major characters, we get to see them grow and change (take notes, marvel) so it wouldn't be off-brand to see already existing major characters, like superboy and robin, ending up together. not when it's DC. to be honest i think it would be like super iconic of them to do that. and i also think that DC fans would much rather have their favorite characters end up with the kind of person they went through hell and back with instead of like, a random citizen. tim and kon have so many parallels. they're both people who didn't have to be heroes at all, but still chose to do it. they both struggle with carrying a mantle too big and the fact that they were not chosen for it makes them even more insecure. they also have a past together, they're close friends, they would take a bullet for each other. so much potential. dont even get me started on damian and jon. those two are like, literal mirrors of their fathers. they have huge legacies on their shoulders and they're like quite literally the only people that could understand one another. again, so. much. potential. i'm not saying they have to be together, but if DC was gonna write romance for these characters I wish it could have been with each other.

[goth-pod]

Goth-Pod Ep 5: Gotham Troubles

Welcome Back! Listening to you send ins, Juda Boone talks about things by Gothamites, for Gothamites!

[goth-pod is a fictional in-universe podcast based on the DC comics universe. Juda Boone is an original fictional character, not based on any real person or known comic book character.]

Transcript under the cut

Hello everyone and welcome to Goth-Pods special trials and troubles episode! I’m an indie theater’s take on the ghost of Christmas Present- and your host, Juda Boone. 

We're looking at your submitted trademark Gotham problems. So without my usual ramblings, lets get to business

—

For our first submission username Trekkle brought up a good debate: Subway vs Bus: The Subway is safer, since buses can get hit during rogue attacks, but if you're stuck underground there's a chance of a killer croc attack and also the birds ride the roof. 

Fantastic points, Trekkle! Thank you for writing in. I don't know exactly what you mean by the birds riding the roof, though. Do you mean Robin? Because I have been on the tram while a fight was happening between Robin and The Penguin on top. Of course, I missed most of it because I had my headphones in. Noise cancellation has its pros and cons in Gotham.  

There’s no set answer on this one, I don’t think. You kind of have to pay attention to what Rouges are active the way you pay attention to the weather. Cloudy with a 70% chance of a Riddler scheme? Maybe take the Buses, since they’re not connected to a maze-like system like  the subways are. But maybe it's sweater weather with a possible freeze-over because Victor Fries broke out two nights ago and is due for a showy return. Then an underground bunker with cushy seats doesn’t sound too bad.

—

From Clexx we have: I'm new to Gotham (full ride scholarship, thank you Mr. Wayne): Why does everyone hate Superman? I tried to get answers from a friend and they called Superman a Homewrecker. Is there an infidelity scandal around Superman I don’t know about??

Oh wow. First of all, congratulations on the scholarship! I'm assuming you're attending Gotham U? Just be sure you get a proper Rogue-proof gas mask. Yes there is a difference. It’ll probably be covered in your Orientation though, so onto the main question. 

To the Homewrecker comment.. oh I didn’t think it’d come to this. Okay, there's this thing in Gotham. Clexx, have you ever heard of Bruceman? Ask your friend about it, they’ll probably love to explain more. Basically it is a Real-Person based Ship on Gotham’s two protectors, Bruce Wayne and Batman. One watching over the day, the other the night. 

This is another Topic that might take all episodes to explain, so to keep it short: People see Superman and Batman’s relationship- professional, platonic, romantic, or however they define it- as a threat to Bruceman, the number one Gotham Ship. Godspeed if you get between our beloved prettyboy himbo and our odd night-stalking cryptid. 

—

From Allison: My cousin is visiting and I want to show them why I stay in Gotham. Where can we go for 1) a low level rogue attack (for Bat sighting), and 2) where can we go for a Wayne sighting. (They think Dick Grayson is hotter then Brucie [eye-rolling emoji])

For the first one, I think any part of our public transport system will do, as we discussed before. The tricky part is knowing when it’s going to be low-level or if your cousin will be joining you in a shelter-in-place lockdown.

For a Wayne sighting, unfortunately it’s harder to say these days. Bruce Wayne has made several statements on how he’s spending less time at the company in order to focus on bonding with his new son, Jason. I hate to disappoint, but right now might not be the time for celebrity sight-seeing. Maybe take a day trip to Bludhaven! Your cousin might enjoy the chance to convince you instead. 

Thank you all for writing in and for joining us on this special episode! If we didn’t get to your submission, head over to our socials to see if we replied there. I’m Juda, you’re listening to Goth-Pod

Until then, Newcomers, visiting cousins, locals on the bus, Stay safe, Gotham.

[bloodymary83]

The Joker’s Pronouns

I’ve noticed that the Joker has never referred to himself as a he in comics and, this is not recent so people can’t blame it on current events. Joker has always done this. He mostly refers to himself as a “girl”. The closest he has gotten to calling himself he is when he refers to himself as the Clown Prince. None of the hero’s, villains or regular citizens call Joker she/her. They always refer to Joker as he/him. Joker never protests or gets upset by it. I think Catwoman has referred to Joker a few times as She/Her but, that’s when they were friends. Harley and Punchline have never referred to Joker as She/Her. I was told by a Redditer that the DCU states Joker as being Non-binary but, I don’t want to state that as a fact since I can’t actually find it anywhere. (I’m not saying they lied or were wrong it’s just that people demand proof and, then when you give it to them they get mad. I’d hate to see what they do if you don’t have proof.) So am I saying the Joker is transgender? No I don’t think so. He’s definitely more effeminate than some men but, he’s way too comfortable in his own skin to be suffering from gender dysmorphia. Is he Non- binary? Maybe? I honestly don’t think he gives it much thought. I think he just does what he wants. I just find it odd with current events and current comics of cringey mpreg that no one has talked about how he refers to himself as She/Her. I don’t think the other villains refer to Joker as he/him because, they are transphobic. I think Joker just never bother correcting them. Maybe he feels like only he can call himself she/her and others aren’t allowed? DC has never really explained it but, they’ve done it for decades. For example Joker’s said the following lines in comics, “It’s not nice to keep a girl waiting, Let me tell you something girl to girl, Beat it girls only, You know girl talk, Do you tell that to all the girls, What’s a girl gotta do? I have to use the little girls room. Come on Bats don’t keep her waiting while pointing to himself. She wants what she wants, once again talking about himself. He’s also described himself as Not a basic Bitch to Harley, while once giving Batman information about Two-Face, Batman showed disbelief and Joker told him, Never doubt a woman’s intuition. When Batman cuffs Joker to take him back to Arkham, Joker often replies, I’m not that kind of girl Bat’s” it happens far too often for Joker to be using She/Her in a Joking manner. Maybe it’s because, of his childhood. When Guzzo kidnapped and assaulted “Sonny” (aka child Joker) Guzzo seemed the type to refer to Sonny as a “girl”and, other derogatory names normally reserved for women in order to emasculate him. Maybe it’s Jokers way of taking back the power Guzzo had over him or, maybe he just became accustomed to referring to himself that way since it was quite literally beaten into him since childhood. The oddest part about this whole thing is, Why has no one ever talked about it? Why hasn’t anyone ever pointed it out? I guess even DC staff is too afraid to question the Joker.

[howlingday]

What if insted of the everafter team RWBYJ + neo landed in the dc universe

Ruby is in metropolis with superman

Weiss is in gotham with batman

Blake is themescera with wonder woman

Yang is in central city with the flash

Jaune is on oua with jessica

And neo with lex luthor

So, full disclosure, I have not seen much of RWBY/Justice League beyond the little stories in the comics (that I did not like all that much). However, I do enjoy what if scenarios, so let's see if I can make a little something out of this.

----------------------------------------------------

Hailey Rose

Ruby's eyes fluttered open. After her unfortunate fall from the bridge between Atlas and their destination of Vacuo, she thought herself as good as dead. And with the death of her sister, she supposed it was fitting, in a tragic irony sort of way. However, as the stars once gold now changing to white, she realized she was falling from the night sky.

What truly clued her in was the honking of a horn below. She turned around, finding a veritable metropolis, like a much, much warmer Atlas. In the distance, she thought she saw an angry Neopolitan falling herself. She hoped she was wrong. Unfortunately, as her signature parasol opened, she'd known it was too good to be true.

And now she was falling. Aura low, weapon gone, it all added up to being a bad day for her. Or night. Bad night. Maybe the last night of her life. Should she scream? Cry? After everything going wrong in Atlas, she began questioning herself as a huntress. As a hero. And so she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

"Whoa! I got you!" A voice said, her body suddenly supported by something warm. "Are you okay?"

Ruby opened her eyes, whirling her head around and finding a smiling face looking at her. He had dark hair that ended in a little curl at the top of his forehead. His blue eyes held so much kindness in them, and a bit of worry, too. Looking down, but not too far down because they were still who knows how high in the air, she saw a blue outfit and a red cape fluttering behind him.

"Miss?" Ruby shut her eyes, thinking this was a dream. People can't fly, right? "Miss, your heartbeat is a little erratic. Try to breathe." Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke.

"Can we go to the ground, please? I've never been this high up outside of a bullhead before." With a nod, he slowly lowered themselves down to the rooftop of a nearby building. With her feet on solid ground, Ruby gave a shudder of relief. "Even with my semblance, I've never gone that high before."

"I take it you're not from Metropolis, are you?"

"Metropolis?" Ruby cocked her head. "Where on Remnant is Metropolis?"

"Ah..." The man nodded. "Definitely not Metropolis. This is a planet called Earth." Ruby's eyes almost popped out of her head. He raised his hands in a calming manner. "Let's start from the beginning. My name is Superman, and I'm a hero. And you are?"

"I'm... I'm Ruby Rose. And... And I was a huntress."

_______________________________________

A Cold Reception

"And what exactly is a huntress?"

"A person who dedicates their life to protecting the peace from the Grimm." Weiss couldn't tell, but the... man?... whom she was speaking to didn't offer much emotion on his end. If he was confused, angry, or some third emotion, she couldn't tell. What she could tell was he wasn't happy. "And you are?"

"Responsible for protecting the people of this city." The man tapped into his gauntlet. His entire appearance was nothing like she'd seen on Remnant. His face was mostly hidden, with stubble dotting along his jawline. His entrance was also concerning as she saw no sign of him or even heard him, and yet he took hold of her unarmed, only to let go when he got a good look at her. "You might say like a huntress. I'm going to scan you."

"What?" Weiss, surprised by the sudden shift in the conversation, could only watch as a little camera pop out of his wrist, and a shimmer of pale light quickly passed over her.

"Hm. There's no record of you. At all." By his tone, he wasn't happy to hear this.

"And this is a problem because...?"

"You just neutralized a gang of thugs using a weapon that encases them in ice." He took a step closer. "There is no record of you in any database I have, and I have everyone in my database." He now towered over her. "And now you're in my city, from out of thin air. There's a lot of problems."

"W-Well," Weiss gulped, "it's not like I came here voluntarily. I fell off a bridge in my world, and now I'm here without my team."

"And who else is on this team?"

"And why should I tell you anything, Mr. Batman?" Weiss stepped away. "For all I know, you could be just as dangerous as these men I just neutralized."

"I'm not." He leaned closer. "I'm more dangerous."

================================

Ominous Omens

"I swear, I'm not dangerous!"

"That is not for you to decide." Said the woman holding Blake at spearpoint. "Your arrival could be a foul omen from the gods, and even if not, you are still an intruder."

The situation swiftly went from bad to worse. Not only was she down a weapon, she was also low on aura and separated from her team. Or at least, what was left of her team. Her jaw clenched at the memory. She then felt her entire body tense. The warrior in front of her was about to strike when suddenly,

"Enough!" A voice called. The spearwoman relaxed, stepping away from Blake. A new woman arrived, donned in armor that reminded her of a more colorful Pyrrha Nikos. She placed a hand on the other woman's shoulder. "Allow me, Agnes." The other woman bowed and stepped away. "You have trespassed on sacred Amazonian ground. Explain yourself willingly, and you may be pardoned."

Blake took a moment to glance up and down the imposing woman in front of her. She didn't have armor covering the space between her wrists and torso, nor anything from the top of her knees and the top of her thighs. At her hip, she wore a lasso and sword in it's sheath, and she saw the round edges of a shield peek over her shoulders. This woman was a warrior and considering how the other women bowed at her approach, she was also royalty.

"My name is Blake Belladonna. I come from another world, my world, and I fell onto your island." Blake began. "I was separated from my team after we were escorting civilians from Atlas to Vacuo."

"Atlas?" The woman asked. "The titan, Atlas?"

"What? No, Atlas is a city. It was in danger from a man named General Ironwood, and we were ambushed by a woman named Cinder Fall-"

"Enough." The woman held up her hand. "Agnes, Gloria. Escort her to the prison. I wish to speak more on this in private."

"As you wish, Princess." The two bowed and took Blake by her arms.

"And be careful," the princess warned, "there is something about her that tells me there is more going on here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flash Fact Yangers

"I'm sorry, a what?"

"A semblance." Yang repeated herself. "Everyone on Remnant has one. Mine is when I get angry, I catch on fire."

"And you think my 'semblance' is super speed?" Asked the man in the red bodysuit. With a big lightning bolt in the center of his chest, he looked pretty ridiculous, though it wouldn't be the first time she was caught off guard by a guy in a onesie.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've seen it." Yang shrugged. "There was an Ace-Ops chick who really put my sister through the ringer back in Atlas."

"And where's Atlas now?"

"Far as I know, it's still floating where it was when we evacuated." Yang gave a sigh. "Too bad I fell off and now I'm here."

"That's pretty nuts. You think everybody made it?"

"Probably. Even with Cinder and Neopolitan attacking us, I'm sure she kept her head on tight and got everyone out of there."

"You must have a lot of faith in your sister, huh?"

"Oh, uh, y-yeah." Yang blushed. "My sister. Totally."

...........................................................................

Guardians of Peace

"Penny!" Jaune awoke with a start. Looking around, he found himself inside a prison cell. As he approached the green window in front of him, a girl half his size stepped into view. "Uh, hi?"

"Who are you, and why did you come to Oa?"

"Oh-ah?" Jaune repeated. "What's an Oa?" Her eyes went wide, and she turned away cursing at herself. "H-Hey, are you okay? Let's start over. My name is-"

"Prisoner 07132013." The girl finished. "And you were imprisoned on Oa by order of the Guardians while you await your trial."

"Trial?" Jaune looked around. "Wait, what happened to Atlas? And the civilians?! My team-!" Jaune stepped away and started taking deep breaths.

"Um, are you okay?" The girl asked. "What civilians are you talking about?"

"We..." Jaune took one more deep breath. "We were escorting civilians from Atlas to Vacuo using a bridge made between the kingdoms. Suddenly, we were ambushed by Cinder Fall and Neopolitan, both criminals and monsters working for Salem. We tried to fight them off, but Cinder escaped with both of the relics, and I was too late to escape."

"Wow..." The girl breathed. "You're, like, a real hero."

"No." Jaune felt his chest tighten, remembering green eyes just like the girl's. "I'm not a hero."

"Well... I think you're a hero." She looked left and right, then whispered to him. "I'm supposed to be impartial, but I'll be rooting for you. Just... quietly. Really, really quietly." Jaune chuckled at that. "I'm Jessica. And, uh, what was your name again?"

"Jaune." He smiled. "My name is Jaune Arc."

**********************************************

Worst Case Scenario

"And you must understand that I have a... certain image to uphold." The man said, pouring himself a glass of bourbon he keeps on special occasions. Though, he never drank it in front of company. Instead, it was a show of wealth, power, authority. It let people know where they stood with him. "An image that cannot be compromised under any circumstance."

The man approached the window, glaring down at the city. He kept a certain distance away to ensure this... visitor didn't try anything funny. Lex Luthor was a businessman of many interests, chief among them being not dying at the hands of some creature lesser than himself. Or dying at all, really.

"You say you fell from the sky, after being betrayed by your previous employer in a grab for power." He turned around. "I suppose I can relate to such circumstances. I too have been betrayed by those closest to me, and all because I wanted to live in a world that I felt belonged to me."

He kept his eyes on her. If she made a move he didn't like, she would be full of holes from the gun turrets in the ceiling before eleven and at the bottom of the lake before midnight. Still, it was slightly unnerving how she didn't move. She sat perfectly still, poised with a straight back. She clearly had a sort of refined academy, likely similar to his own.

"You want revenge." He stated plainly. "I've met many like you, and only so few of them are not after me. So I must ask. What's in it for me if I help you?"

In an instant, the girl changed in front of him. Her body fell away like shattered glass, replaced by a new face. This time, a different girl sat in front of him, with silver eyes and short hair that ended in red tips. She smiled at him.

"And why should that matter to me? Do you think I'd care about someone I never met?"

The next body she adopted was a man. Tall and imposing with burly muscles and dark hair. The only thing that didn't change with her was the color of the cape behind her. She then drew a thumb across her neck with a sadistic grin.

"So you're saying you saw the girl and Superman with each other? Why should I care?"

At this, Neopolitan changed into Lex, and gave the exact same smarmy smirk he'd been constantly giving her.

"Alright. I'm listening..."

[fastestmanalive333]

What’s one story would you write for Chris Kent? (If he was still canon/part of the Super Family?)

oh shit.. i dunno.. if i wrote a full on story based on him i would really delve more into his psyche.. and the mythology of nightwing and flamebird more.. i'd give him his own supporting cast.. it would be self contained, he'd still go to clark and lois for advice and to to talk to them but it would really be more about him.. he'd have his own villains.. maybe, i'd have him protect kandor.. it would now be an established country like how themyscira was before dc screwed that up, there'd be tourists and such.. he'd patrol around there more.. we'd see how the politics are are.. i said in my rewrite of war of the supermen they would move to rokyn to keep with the story.. but eh i feel there's really just more interesting stuff to do and more story potential if the kryptonians stayed on earth.. there's so much you can do with that.. there's a whole kryptonian city on earth.. with a whole culture.. it changes the status quo.. it shakes the status quo and it hasnt been done before.. new storytelling that keeps the reader intrigued.. outside of his main title he would of course join kal, kon and kara during crossovers.. and bigger storylines.. then eventually he'd join a new team.. the team of screwed over characters.. Jason Todd would get out of the constant loop he's in.. and actually get development he'd be on it.. it wouldn't be called titans or outlaws it would be something else.. something new.. Jay would probably ditch red hood for something else.. down the line.. a more heroic mantle but it would look something like this.. Red Hood, Damage, Koryak, Golden Eagle, Red Devil, Nightwing, Flamebird, Argent, Ravager.. we have two noticable characters of course people are gonna recognize.. and the rest are the more obscure ones who got fucked over.. and many of them.. have a hard upbringing.. and you'll see them feel sort of like a found family at first they wont know each other.. until they team up to sort of take out a threat.. it would sort of be like infinity inc crossed with new teen titans simply put.. and you have five characters here who were raised by bad people and had a hard upbringing.. if i wrote a fricking comic or ever wrote a fan fic with this team i would

[ijustthinkhesneat]

I am about to be so real.

I fucking hate DC comics.

Like have they given us Dick Graysons butt? Yes. Jason Todd’s thunder thighs? Yes. Damian being teeny tiny? Yes. Tim being a bi gremlin? Yes.

But you know the fuck what. I simply cannot get over their aversion to men having problems and like dealing with it in a healthy way. Why is modern Bruce literally the worst person ever?

And I don’t mean in WFA or fanfic or cute little cartoons. Why in the Batman Comic series is Bruce one of the worst people ever? Bruce “I care about kids who were hurt like me and want to try and give them a better life” Wayne has fully morphed into Bruce “Teehee I beat my children and blame them when sociopaths that I enable hurt them” Wayne.

Like literally fuck off. It’s not even just that. The whole Red Robin arc when Dick is just “wow my brother is having a really hard time. I’m gonna call him crazy, take away the thing that’s been helping him to stabilize and give it to someone who tried to kill him multiple times and is consistently verbally abusive towards him. That will be really good for him.”

Literally what the fuck. Don’t even get me started about tarantula or Damian dying or any interaction between Bruce and Jason.

Like I’m just so fucking tired of this company peddling media about how it’s normal and right to forgive people who habitually abuse you. How it normalizes unsafe and unstable relationships between men.

And a huge part of this is because they just write this shit for shock value. Like what horrible thing can we run these characters through and never talk about ever again just so people will talk about it. Remember that like 3 comic long shit show of Dick getting brainwashed by the fucking Joker? Like it’s literally Dick beating the shit out of his brothers and being like I don’t know you and I don’t care and then it’s just like haha back to normal everything is great now.

I fucking hate it. It’s bad writing, it’s an irresponsible narrative about how trauma effects men and I’m just tired.

I really do like the fandom too. I think DC fans have created a lot of safe spaces for queer people, people of color and people with disabilities. But so much of what the fandom runs on is just so far from canon. I know tons of people irl who have never read a release post new 52. And I know some people who have never read a DC comic period cause they saw a glimpse of the toxic waste in there and noped out.

Like I know I’m just some guy on the internet but seriously if your canon comic material is so bad that a very large portion of you fanbase feel they can’t read it or would rather write there own story that just completely changed your characters you need to take a long look at what you are producing. Dick maybe being bi in Gotham Knights is cool. The rep for a character that has been coded as queer for a very long time is cool. But representation is in fact second to writing a good story and having good characters and DC is failing spectacularly at both right now.

[mistress-of-vos]

Idk where the whole "Tim hating Lex and being annoying to him and somehow being smarter" comes from... Oh, wait! I know where it comes from!

Annoying, ignorant batfam fans

And it's not even surprising if we take a careful look. We're talking about the fandom that doesn't understand Clark, Kon and Jon at all and uses them for batfam prop up purposes. It's the same fandom that doesn't even comprehend Batman characters and says the most disgusting stuff about Jean-Paul Valley (aka Azrael) as if his character wasn't summarized in like, five comics you can easily read. The same fandom that doesn't get Selina Kyle despite the fact that movies like The Batman exist, that the Long Halloween got an animated adaptation, that she has DOZENS of praised comics you can pick up to understand her. The same fandom that doesn't understand freaking Ra's al Ghul as if the guy didn't have a trilogy that literally summarizes his character and also he's an archetype, how the hell do you get an archetype so popular as his as wrong as batfam fandom does?

*insert Misty breathing loudly here*

Okay I kind of got off the point. I was talking about the annoying portrayal of Tim and Lex, because those who do that don't even understand Tim. Tim would *love* to interact with Lex.

This is Lex Luthor, Superman's nemesis, the smartest man of earth. Tim would be thrilled that he can have a chance of going against him even if he's actually just standing next to a Bruce who tries to get Lex to answer a question just to get Lex drinking wine and telling Mercy to call security.

Tim is a detective, and we have seen how, despite everything, he admits greatness when he sees it. I do think he could get a bit sarcastic with Lex when on his Red Robin persona (we have seen how sarcastic he got with Ra's even when Ra's is definitely more likely to shut him up than Lex is) but I actually don't believe he would do that often as he would be too conscious that if someone is a master of speech, it's Lex Luthor. His words got him all the power of the world after all. You don't wanna start a sarcasm fight with someone like Lex.

And I believe as Tim Drake, he openly admires Lex. Maybe not in a idol way, but Lex is a genius, and I bet on the DC world Lex's career is studied both by people in economy and politics and STEM. Lex did so much with so little that I highly doubt there's a way for Tim to not admit that yes, Lex may be *bad* but he's certainly a genius and perfect at what he does. Credit where it's due, or something.

Lastly, I don't think Tim hates Lex. They aren't close enough for that, and Lex is often dancing in a grey area, and don't forget Tim is already fine with many figures in said grey space. Tim would consider Lex a danger, of course, because getting on Lex's bad side can get him killed. He also considers Lex someone who can and will do good, but Tim isn't gonna be the one to go on that trip of getting Lex to see what his genius can make for the world (that's on Clark).

The only thing Tim could dislike about Lex it's that Lex hurt Kon. And Tim loves Kon (in whatever way you prefer) and Tim comes to me as the kind of person who can't quite forget those things. He would be wary, perhaps, constantly on his tip toes when operating too close to Lex's doings and clenching his jaw when Kon interacts with the man because as much as Tim knows Lex is always in control and won't hurt Kon again... He still did. But if Tim held that against Bruce, wouldn't Bruce lose on the number of children he has hurt? Tim can't quite settle his feelings on that, but Kon got over it, so it's not something Tim keeps against Lex.

Tim is careful around Lex, and he's also a bit of a fan.

And well, he is thankful too. Lex brought Kon into the world, and Tim is thankful for that.

(My conclusion is that some batfam fans have clearly never read Superman comics but also it's funny they haven't read Batman comics either and maybe they shouldn't speak on stuff they don't know but that's just my opinion right)