#text.tb

[tbcanary]

being a liker of women in comics is the hardest thing in the world. you read one spectacular run about her that rewrites your entire brain and then after that it's like. do you want the run where she's a sexy lamp. the one where she's a generic love interest. the one where she's needlessly infantilized. or the one where her entire backstory is erased in order to make her a surprise villain and evil temptress.

[tbcanary]

the thing that drives me crazy about this costume isn’t even necessarily the constant ass shots and the weird way her tits look with that white accent. like, sure, those things drive me insane, but i’ve been dealing with that kind of thing for dinah the entire run, so whatever.

the thing that makes me actually insane is that helena is usually shown to very carefully consider her costumes and both what they represent and what they invoke.

in cry for blood, for example, she draws on visuals of priesthood and faith, because those are very important to her and part of why she does any of this in the first place.

like. sure, it’s kind of a weird costume (affectionate), but it has significance and thought and it works. she’s invoking a theme, she’s making a statement, go off.

and, even earlier, she talks about the idea of using a costume in huntress (1989). the run has a LOT about her relationship to the huntress as an idea — her desire to leave it behind, versus the knowledge that she can’t actually do that. it also includes this panel:

that’s only somewhat related, but you know. she thinks of the huntress as an extension of her cowardice, this sort of monstrous part of her that she struggles with constantly. so the silhouette is very dramatic and wild - the big hair, the huge cape. it fits in thematically.

even when you look at helena wayne, some of these themes carry through. she has a white cross on her chest, it’s drawing on the cross Helena Bertinelli wears at her throat, we see it, etc.

and the birds of prey costume. instead of doing literally any of this. went for a white pattern that kind of invokes a cross, but not really. and. this:

it’s just like. part of a broader issue I have with Simone’s run in that, for all it claims to be feminist and powerful, it really just reduces characters — Helena, in particular — to the sort of catty 2000s mean girl stereotype that was already everywhere. no thought to the depth, no thought to the backstory. just make it hot.

[tbcanary]

my main issue with a lot of ongoing runs right now. or. okay i have a number of issues but the one i’m on about right now. is that the visual artists are clearly putting their whole pussy into the characters and the backgrounds and every single aspect. and then the writers are either phoning it in or fucking it up or, even worse, both.

[tbcanary]

obsessed with the way cass and jason mirror and invert each other. cass’s father didn’t want her to be human so he tried to make her a weapon. jason’s dad doesn’t want him to be a weapon so he tried to force him to be more human. and they were both wrong.

[tbcanary]

it’s early in the morning so i can’t phrase this well but there’s something interesting about rose and jason as people who try to be their own kind of vigilante outside of their father’s influence and yet still have all the visual elements that clearly label them as being That Man’s Kid

[tbcanary]

i think one of the benefits to older huntress comics is just how brutal she was allowed to be. i know writers later gave her arcs meant to show that she could change and become less violent and more of a team player, but i just love the runs where she’s allowed to be both caring and compassionate and absolutely willing to kill and cross that line when push comes to shove, in part because that’s what sets her apart. she’s tied so closely to the mob and wrapped so tightly in her upbringing and the rules of her family’s world that death to those who cause her harm is not only an option but in fact a logical conclusion.

[tbcanary]

in retrospect it’s absolutely insane to make dinah the kids’ therapist in the yj cartoon. comics dinah would never. z would be like “my dad is basically dead and I’ll never see him again” and dinah would say “have you tried ruining someone else’s marriage to cope”

[tbcanary]

i am literally always thinking about this

[tbcanary]

dinahollie is good. halollie? also good. dinahbabs? perfect. dinaholliehal? wonderful! but my god you can’t put babs into that triangle whatever she and dinah have going on is separate

[tbcanary]

i think the thing that gets lost in the mix is that it doesn’t actually matter whether jason todd is coded as a woman or not. we can agree to disagree on that front. the issue is that you cannot go into the tags for a female character or make a post about women in comics without someone bringing him up, which takes the focus away from the people you actually want to discuss in favor of rehashing the same things about the fandom’s favorite white guy.

the question is not “is jason written as a woman” but, instead, are you aware of the ways in which jason has been used to further misogynistic tropes or diminish the storyline or characterization of female characters in comics, and are you contributing to those same trends within the fandom space. just my two cents.

[tbcanary]

one thing that did stand out to me while i was going back through cry for blood is how often we don't get to see helena's face.

it's a little thing, but there are so many panels -- especially when she's just received news of something, or is in emotional turmoil -- where she hides herself. she turns away, she bows her head. it's interesting, particularly because comics do so often show us those big dramatic facial expressions. but helena curls inward when upset. i think about these two panels a lot:

there's a note from stephanie hans in the backmatter of an issue of die that i think of -- about how in comics, how much space something takes up indicates how important it is -- and yet, somehow, whenever some new information comes up, helena makes herself small, minimizes her own emotional displays.

now, given, she does hold herself in a very particular way as a default state. head tilted down, no eye contact, etc:

but that's exaggerated when she's upset. often, she even takes the pose of a prayer. like the specific thing i'm referring to is either sitting with her head bent toward her clasped hands as if she's praying, or turned away toward a window or mirror that frames her like an altar. like so:

there is, in fact, an entire page where we don't see her face. while she's recuperating after all of the drama of the first half of the arc, she won't look anyone in the eye at all. instead, the framing moves around her and shows her, bent forward and hidden, from different angles:

i just think it's a nice little touch. a good display of who she is and how she responds to troubling situations, which makes perfect sense given what we learn about her during this arc. like, you know, if you're always at least somewhat at someone else's mercy -- be it batman, the other families, the people training her -- you'll want to minimize the outbursts and hide vulnerabilities, and she has a specific way of doing that. it often resembles prayer, because of course it does. she doesn't compare herself to a nun for nothing.

also, for a fun (?) bonus. this doesn't happen as often in the huntress costume… unless she's confronted with family. and then it creeps right back in:

anyway. helena bertinelli i care you.

[tbcanary]

yeah yeah tom king this tom taylor that geoff johns the other thing. i need people to start recognizing the plague that is scott lobdell.

[tbcanary]

the thing that tom k*ng doesn’t understand is that damian should grow up to become nightwing, not batman. and he should have long cool hair and tons of fun earrings.

[tbcanary]

i think. one of the things that bothers me about how people write jason. is that there tends to be this sort of dichotomy. either he’s a nerd who loves classics and misses his family and is misunderstood, and therefore can’t possibly be to blame for the things he’s done, or he’s a ruthless killing machine with no redeeming qualities. and for me one of the things that i like is the way those two things coexist. he can be well-read, but mixed in with classic lit is ethics and philosophy lit that endorses his own stance on killing as an imperative or obligation. he can miss and care for (some of) his family, and also never want to see them or spend time with them, and also bristle and lash out and hurt them when they get too close. he can mourn the loss of his own childhood and parents while still killing others and ruining lives he deems unworthy. he’s not soft and wholly blameless, nor is he without relatable and redeeming qualities. that’s what makes him interesting.

[tbcanary]

arrowfam week day four: found

(set after the current ga and bop run, hypothetically)

—

Someone in the house shrieks. The sound rattles off the walls, and Dinah is up and in the hallway before she can even process.

Behind her, Ollie is cursing as he struggles to pull on pants and follow her. She doesn’t wait for him; she bounds up the stairs to where she thinks the noise came from, heart pounding in her throat.

“Sin?” she shouts. “Lian? Are you okay?”

Dinah all but flies down the hall toward the door to Sin’s room. Lian’s door is open, and the lights are off; no point checking there.

The roar of her blood is so loud in her own ears that she doesn’t notice until too late that the screaming has stopped. As she flings open Sin’s door, adrenaline racing in her veins and pulse pounding in her chest —

She hears laughter.

She sees Lian, sitting on the floor and clutching her chest as she lets out a stream of giggles.

She sees someone standing in the center of the room. Someone blonde, wearing black fishnets and a familiar bodysuit that sits just a little too loose around her slim hips.

Dinah’s brain catches up about as quickly as Ollie, sliding in his socks to hover at her side. “Is that my wig?”

Sin whips around to face her. The blonde hair falls in her face in tangles and knots, but Dinah can at least see something close to guilt on her features.

“Um,” Sin says. “Yes. It was in the closet?”

Dinah’s heart is still pressing uncomfortably against her ribs. She crosses her arms and cocks an eyebrow. “And the fishnets?”

“…Laundry?” Sin tries.

“You’re a little old to be playing dress-up, you know,” Dinah scolds.

“Oh, come on, pretty bird,” Ollie huffs next to her. He puts a hand on her shoulder, and Dinah just manages not to shove him off. “Didn’t you tell me you got your start trying on your ma’s things?”

“That is my business,” Dinah intones. She ignores the heat rising to her own face. “I know for a fact that those were hidden, Sin. Did you pick the lock to the attic?”

“It isn’t just me!” Sin insists. “Lian did it, too!”

Lian sticks her chin up defiantly. The fabric slips from her hair and pools around her collarbone. “Uncle Ollie doesn’t care if I wear his things.”

“If you—“ Ollie starts. He leans past Dinah to look at Lian more closely. Then he sputters, indignant, and points an accusatory finger. “Hey now, little cat! That bow is an antique!”

Lian shrugs. The shameless expression on her face is every bit her father, and Dinah almost forgets to be mad at them both. “You need better locks.”

“Oh, do I? And who’s going to pay for those? Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know—“

Dinah rolls her eyes and cuts Ollie off with a hand. “Girls. This is your home, and we love to have you here.”

Sin preens. She ruffles the blonde hair with one hand to reveal her dark, sparkling eyes. Something about it is downright uncanny; Dinah had never anticipated anyone coming along to fill her shoes once she’s out of the business, and with her sister standing there in her old uniform, something in her heart aches.

But she presses on, anyway. “If I find you digging through my private things again, I will make you clean every single dish in the kitchen. By hand. In chili night. Understood?”

Lian shivers and sticks her tongue out in disgust. “Eugh.”

“Loud and clear,” Sin answers.

“And don’t scare me like that again. I was about ready to scream the house down.”

Ollie laughs under his breath. “Well, with my help—“

“Do not finish that sentence, Oliver Queen.”

Dinah does her best to ignore the way Sin and Lian are laughing again, both looking at each other out of the corners of their eyes.

It’s going to be a very, very long day.

[tbcanary]

like. it’s complicated, right. bruce didn’t want to see dick hurt; he hurt dick trying to prevent it. he tried to save jason’s life; it killed him. he wanted to show steph the right path forward; he pushed her to hurt herself and others. he loves cass and admires her abilities; he pushes her to be more vigilante than human.

(i don’t have a great pithy way to summarize tim or damian or duke or babs, so i won’t try to, but their relationships are similarly complex and difficult with bruce and with the other bats.)

point is, there are no easy dynamics and there is nothing that is purely good, because the vigilantism fucks all of them up, and bruce, as the driving force behind that vigilantism, fucks them up, too. that’s just how it is. and that’s not to say he doesn’t love or care for them, it’s just that he isn’t very good at parenting them, despite being an excellent mentor and teacher in other ways.