#the book titled 'Batman' is allowed to focus on Batman

[zahri-melitor]

Is Zdarksy’s Batman run actually bad, or is it just messy?

I actually like Zdarsky's current Batman run and don't think 'bad' or 'messy' are actually the right words to characterise it at all.

There's a tendency when a writer gets handed one of the Big Name Titles (Batman, Detective Comics, Superman, Action Comics, Tom King's currently attempting it over in Wonder Woman) to want to produce a Genre Defining, Intellectual Run on the the title. I don't entirely blame it on Jeph Loeb and Hush, but it's undoubtedly become a lot more common since Hush sold approximately one squillion copies and has never been out of print since 2003.

Writers want to make their mark on the title and so they get caught up in interrogating Bruce's psyche rather than focusing on writing entertaining stories based in Gotham characters.

(This is also why I suggest if you want a fun Scott Snyder Batman run you read Gates of Gotham or All Star Batman rather than his Batman run, because he's trying less hard to write his Great Batman Graphic Novels and more focused on telling a good story).

At the moment we have both Chip Zdarsky and Ram V focused on writing Great Defining Batman Runs, rather than what is more common to happen, which is one of the writers on Tec or Batman is trying this and the other is focused on writing entertaining Gotham stories. Ram V's is, from all accounts, probably the one of the two that is going to end up entering The Canon.

However I certainly see more people talking about Zdarsky's run, probably because it's the more accessible of the two to pick up casually for for a run.

What ALSO doesn't help is that Ram V. is currently writing a Barbatos-based run and Zdarsky is writing a Zur-En-Arrh-based run (extremely generalised), as they're two overlapping Basic Batman Plots about forces controlling Bruce.

Why I think people are currently complaining about Zdarsky's run:-

It's based around an interrogation of Zur-En-Arrh Batman. ZEA is probably one of the least liked 'Bruce has crossed the line and is trying to be All Batman, All the Time' plots around here, because it revolves around a concept essentially invented by Grant Morrison, and people on tumblr don't like Grant Morrison's Batman.

Zdarsky is writing about Joker. People on tumblr don't like Joker and think he's overused.

Zdarsky's run has leaned quite heavily into multiversal concepts so far, but what he's looking at is different depictions of Batman The Character across different media adaptions, particularly older adaptions, and what they have to say about the central truth of Batman The Character. He's picking blokey and reddit-popular sort of titles to reference, not tumblr-popular ones.

The primary character in the run is Bruce. The secondary character in the run is Tim. Every other Bat character who passes through the run is brought in to serve a purpose to the narrative, using an aspect of their personality, and if you're a fan of another character, the fact that they're appearing as a side character or an obstacle in the story can be annoying, as the story isn't focused on the thing you cherish most about your blorbo.

I think everyone is busy blaming every aspect of the plot of Gotham War they don't like on Zdarsky, despite the fact it was written by a trio: I don't see Tini Howard or Matthew Rosenberg catching nearly as much flack for Gotham War, even as aspects of the event were pretty clearly steered by them (The Selina parts of the plot were obviously Howard. The Jason parts of the plot including the conditioning look pretty clearly to be a Rosenberg requested part of the story, given he had been consistently writing most of the published Jason content for the last 3 years).

Really, I think at its base it's that Zdarsky is digging into an aspect of the Batman mythos that tumblr doesn't particularly like, and that Zdarsky's main focus in terms of characters are Bruce and Tim. It's fashionable to complain that Tim's getting love and support by a writer for a whole lot of fanon rather than canon related reasons, PLUS Zdarsky is using the wider Gotham cast sparingly and only when he specifically wants them to work within the narrative he's telling.

Plus, it's pretty clear to my eye that Zdarsky's favourite Batman eras are about 1995-2009, and that's shaping some of his choices of characterisation using long term aspects of characters. He's a Brubaker-Rucka and a Morrison-Nicieza fan, people. He likes O'Neil era events and Batfamily writing from Gotham Knights and Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive.

[salarta]

Scarlet Witch #4 Thoughts

Scarlet Witch #4 came out today, wrapping up the Griever arc where Polaris and Quicksilver join in to help Wanda. Thoughts below, but of course I loved it and thank Orlando, Dauterman and Camagni for their work.

My biggest takeaway is that this book really got hurt by how Marvel didn't market it as a Magnus family reunion. Yes, Wanda is the focus as she should be for a book titled after her, but you can't reach all your audiences if they don't know what you're doing. I didn't even know about it until shortly before issue 2 came out.

Overall, the story did a great job of emphasizing how great Lorna, Wanda and Pietro all are together, what great work can be done among them. There's a specific quote from Lorna that's incredibly poignant.

"You two don't threaten each other -- you strengthen each other. Strengthen me."

Fandoms can sometimes get very snipey and inward fighting. This is especially true with old timey comic book fans, whose comic book culture decided to treat everything like a competition for dominance. "I bet Batman can beat up Superman." "There's only one role for a token woman on this team, which woman is deserving of hanging with the guys." That kind of thing. Some of those old timey fans work for Marvel, and they insist on things like "there can be only one true daughter of Magneto" and then say Lorna can't be one if Wanda is one. Even though they have no such limits on male characters, e.g. Thor and Loki both being Odin's sons, or three Summers brothers existing.

This quote is a good one, because it openly recognizes that fandom can be collaborative instead of combative.

Another great thing is an overall theme of potential and possibilities. This book emphasizes it with Wanda for the story, but it's something I've said many, many times about Lorna. She's full of untapped potential, and there's tons of possibilities in things she could do that Marvel simply hasn't done. This issue in particular feels like it was made to recognize how these characters can offer so much if they're not kept in artificial boxes by people like Tom Brevoort.

On to the smaller touches. I found myself really liking Quicksilver in this. For me, personally, Pietro's been one of those characters who I never really cared a ton about but still respected greatly for his history and importance. This arc, especially this issue, made him a lot more appealing for me. He's got that cocky snark down with a good heart.

Also neat to see Lorna called magnetist. Neat new descriptor, though of course I wouldn't want it to limit her. Good as flavor text, so long as writers don't respond to it as "oh she's just a living magnet, that's all." Her powers really allow for a lot more than that.

Gonna wrap up by saying Wanda entered Griever and made her boil-pregnant. Griever's having her boil babies.

Hopefully this is just a start for the siblings spending more time together. And hopefully it provides a way out of Brevoort trying to ruin Lorna to satisfy his nostalgia for sexism.

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 27

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: ��The world will look up and shout, ‘Save us!’ And I’ll whisper, ‘No.’”

Number 27 is…Rorschach, from Watchmen.

A lot of you are probably surprised to see a character as iconic as Rorschach – arguably the most famous character from one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, “The Watchmen” – so low in the ranks. Well, trust me, as iconic as Rorschach is, there’s a good reason I place him where I do, but we’ll get to that in a bit. For now, let’s focus on the character himself.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock nowhere near a book-and/or-magazine-vendor since the mid-80s, then the chances are good you’ve at least heard of “The Watchmen.” This was the arguable masterpiece of English comic book writer Alan Moore. This man is something of a strange legend in the world of comics, responsible for such titles as “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” “V for Vendetta,” and “From Hell,” as well as being the author of “Batman: The Killing Joke.” However, many agree that when you hear his name, “Watchmen” is the first of his works that seems to come to mind. This graphic novel was a hyper-dark deconstruction of the superhero genre as a whole, and set the groundwork for a lot of comic book stories that would come after it. The idea of “superhero deconstruction” has sort of become a sub-genre within itself, to be honest, and while parody and satire of the genre did exist long before Moore whipped up this piece, “Watchmen” is almost universally agreed to be the place where the idea of taking superhero fiction and giving it a psychological and sociological bend, and showing that superpowered beings in the world aren’t necessarily the end of all problems, became REALLY popular.

The main protagonist of “Watchmen” (at least ostensibly) is Rorschach. Most of the characters in Moore’s book were based on pre-existing comic book characters, sort of blending original elements with older concepts to create recognizable figures and play off of established tropes. Rorschach is sort of a conglomeration of Batman, the Shadow, the Question, and a much lesser-known character called Mr. A. The story of the graphic novel focuses on Rorschach – real name Walter Kovacs – trying to solve the murder of his former superhero teammate, the Comedian. The adventure grows increasingly more bizarre (and thoroughly messed-up on MANY levels) as Rorschach uncovers a vast conspiracy and plots to commit mass slaughter, leading to many of the former Watchmen banding together again to try and figure out how to stop the chaos. Without going into too much detail, for those who don’t know already…yeah, it doesn’t exactly go how Rorschach – or, indeed, anybody – really planned. Rorschach is a fine sleuth, and the visual design of him – a noir-style detective’s getup combined with a bizarre, shifting inkblot mask – is certainly one of the most striking in all of comics, many would argue. However, what truly stands out about Rorschach is his philosophical viewpoint: Moore created Rorschach as a sort of satire on the strict objectivist policies many of the characters I mentioned earlier notoriously had. These were characters who seemed to see the world in a strictly black-and-white perspective, where good is good, bad is bad, and there’s basically no gray moral ground in-between. He does what he feels is right based on this ideal, but the problem is…that’s a REALLY hard ideal to put into practice in the real world without seeming like a complete idiot or semi-psychopathic. Rorschach’s steadfast nature, his determination to stick to his ideology, is both his greatest asset and his greatest failing: it’s an asset because it’s what allows him to get through as far as he does and keep focused on the case at hand. But it’s his greatest failing because his inability to cope with the gray area, and reason out anything beyond his basic, fundamental viewpoint, leads to a lot of personal problems, and ultimately to his own downfall. This is actually why Rorschach ranks as low as he does. To put things in the simplest terms possible: while I love the deconstruction and homages present in Watchmen, I feel like I prefer other takes on these concepts more, and I also prefer some of the characters that inspired Rorschach over the Watchmen's chief sleuth himself. Still, he's more than worthy of placement in the Top 31: when I think of comic book detectives, he's one of the first I imagine.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 26!

CLUE: “Truth brings closure.”

[watsondcsj]

And Now for the latest in my long line of Jon Kent Theories: The Composite Theory

The Jon Kent that returned from his trip to space as a teen in 2018 is a fusion of Jonathan Samuel Kent, Scott Lobdell's Superboy, and Pre-Flashpoint Lor-Zod a.k.a. Christopher Kent.

I wrote an essay explaining in excruciating detail how incorrect the current interpretation of Jon Kent's memories are and why this may be. In it, I also explain why there is such a strong narrative focus on Jay instead of the title character. To sum up, Jay and Henry Bendix play out the behind-the-scenes drama at DC Comics related to Jon Kent, Brian Bendis's library of work at the company, and Dan DiDio's 5G relaunch that never happened. The context of this essay is important even if the final part of the essay is now almost wholly inaccurate.

It also describes how many of Jon's memories and experiences align well with scenes in the New 52 Superboy comic and a fixation on a coded message in the Superman & Robin Special from earlier in the year. What has alluded me until now in this post-SoKE #17 world is what exactly that message was saying. After going back and forth a few times, the aging alien in that book is a metaphor for Jon. The reason it reproduces asexually is that Jon is about to split like an amoeba. It's about to be revealed that Jon is a fusion like Superman and Batman were able to do in World's Finest, but instead of being only two people, he's three.

The first and most obvious is the Jon of Rebirth that fans have been frothing at the mouth to have returned. The second that I've laid out is Scott Lobdell's Superboy. Chris fits in easily. First, in my essay I lay out how Jay and The Aerie have similar backstories and I posit that this is Tom Taylor commenting on Jon's rapid aging to be too similar to Chris' stories. Second, in PKJ's original outing with Clark and Jon in the final issues of the 2018 Superman book, Jon develops "Hyper-violet vision" by focusing his heat vision between ultraviolet and x-ray radiation. Chris also has shown off the ability to see past the visible spectrum. Although this was more of a utility power than offensive, it's not a big stretch to say that it was this understanding of electromagnetic waves that would allow Jon's heat vision a kind of nuance that his father did not have. This would also explain why Jon is being said over and over again to be the most powerful Kryptonian on the planet recently.

I've come to like this theory more than any others I've made because this one also gives the writers more freedom than if they were to be flung back to the exact events of Superboy #32-34 (2011) and were instead only referencing them with Jon's Superman Blue. Can't wait for Adventures of Superman next year!

[l-r-christian]

Title: 'Tied to one' part three

Pairing: Poly!Mikaelson x Black!Witch!Reader

Summary: Hayley had gone to a undoing the Mikaelsons soulstrings to Y/N and to have Elijah tied to the hybrid. Not only did it undid the strings it also had brought back Mikael and Esther along with the second oldest Original.

Warnings: Angst, Jealous Mikaelsons, Hayley being kinda of bitch, Reader being a shy bean, Soft Finn

A/N: holy another long part Batman 😳 I am really enjoying doing this series.

Hayley went to the witch that she was going to check out with Elijah but since the noble vampire and his siblings found their soulmate, Elijah was more focus on Y/N instead of Hayley.

"This spell is powerful. Are you sure you want this? The price for this is great."

"Whatever it takes. Just do the spell." Hayley said glaring at the witch who swallowed knowing she'll die after doing the spell as to rewrite a soulstrings could disrupt the balance of nature. Hayley woke gasping feeling an arm tighten around her and Elijah's scent hit her nose and felt him nuzzle her neck.

"It's too early to be awake baby." Elijah's voice husky from sleep making Hayley flush as she realized that she was bare. Hayley looked seeing it was 7AM and heard Klaus with Hope then felt Elijah's hand move along her waist.

"Elijah?"

"Hmm?" Elijah acknowledge Hayley as he placed kisses along her neck pulling her closer and Hayley caught a glance at her string that was tied to Elijah's finger and couldn't help but notice three other strings tied to hers.

"Hum...what...happen last...night?"

"Did you drink too much last night?" Marcellus threw a party then Niklaus and I took you to bed which you took us both so well." Elijah says as Rebekah walked in without a care surprising Hayley when the vampire kissed her.

"You and Nik wasn't too rough on her, right?"

"Never Rebekah." Elijah says kissing Hayley's shoulder before getting out of bed and Rebekah began to dress Hayley. The hybrid walked out a little overwhelmed of the fact she took Y/N's place to which she noticed the witch wasn't in the compound as it was like that the witch didn't even step foot in the place.

"What happened to Y/N?"

"Y/N? Who is that?" Kol asked confused as the others looked at Hayley confused as Hayley realized the spell the witch did had work though Hayley only wanted Elijah.

"Nothing, I was just thinking of a character of a book." Hayley said sitting next to Elijah as everyone took her word unaware of what was coming their way. Mikael woke in a tomb with the thought of killing Klaus while Esther had woke where Klaus left her last frowning when she didn't see Finn. The second oldest Mikaelson had woke before his mother and saw his string having a burst of color and went to follow it to his soulmate.

Y/N flet like something was wrong as four of her strings was a ash gray yet one was a warm orange and brown with swirls of gold mixing with her pastel colors but she couldn't ignore the magic over the other four. Y/N rush down the street carrying a bag of herbs and bumped into a man who quickly caught her from falling.

"Oh.....sorry." Y/N breathed staring at the man getting lost in his hazel-green eyes as the string on her finger glowed and the man stared into her chocolate eyes. Soulmate echoed through Finn's head and now he was going to focus on her no longer caring about Esther's mission.

"No my fault. I'm Finn Mikaelson......your soulmate."

"Oh hum....I'm Y/N L/N." Y/N said flushing when Finn kissed her hands and he noticed the ash gray string.....dead soulmates this made his heart ache at the idea that Y/N had ready lost four soulmates.

"Witch?"

"Yes....an old one..... I was just getting some herbs." Y/N said as Finn held his arm out to his little soulmate and the urge to protect her filled him.

"Allow me to take you home."

Klaus stormed into the compound tearing a stake from his chest getting the others attention right away. Elijah stood pulling away from Hayley worried about Klaus watching the Original hybrid pour a drink.

"What happen Niklaus?"

"Our father happen! Mikael is some how alive again." Klaus growled angry as Elijah narrowed his eyes as Freya frowning walking into the den getting their attention.

"Freya is something wrong?"

"Finn isn't in the pendant.....I can't feel his soul."

"First Mikael now Finn what's next? Our mother?" Rebekah asked as they all looked at one another unaware of Hayley's worried face. Hayley left the den to check on Hope as Freya went to do a spell to Finn and Kol leaned back looking at the others.

"Hey do guys feel like something is missing? I know that Mikael is important and a missing Finn but lately I have been feeling a dull heartache."

"Yes and the ash gray string....are we going to ignore it?" Rebekah asked as they looked at the second string seeing how dark the string was. Klaus and Elijah knew what both Rebekah and Kol was talking about.

"A dead soulmate we never met? Though it is impossible as soulmates always find one another." Elijah said as Klaus stood from his chair he sat in.

"We'll deal with it later at the moment our loving father is alive."

Finn watched Y/N make some kind of potion for her protection rituals as the three months he spent with her was the most joy he had ever felt in a millennium as she made him feel alive. The vampire moved behind her placing his hands on her hips nuzzling her neck taking in her scent relaxing against her making the witch smile reaching up rubbing his cheek and he turn his head kissing her palm.

"You seem clingy today Finn."

"Only for you my beloved. Are you feeling better today?"

"I am so is our little jelly bean." Y/N said as Finn placed a hand on her abdomen listening to the small heartbeat. A sudden crash caught Finn's attention and he quickly place his soulmate behind him growling lowly fangs showing feeling Y/N grip the back of his shirt.

"Protective of your little witch, brother?" Finn heard Klaus say as the oldest Mikaelson stood straight glaring at the hybrid as Elijah and Hayley walked in. Y/N peeked out from behind the tall vampire seeing the other Mikaelson brothers feeling an urge to hold them fill her.

"What do you two want?"

"Our mother and father has been back for awhile now. Niklaus and I hoped you knew where mother was."

"I haven't seen her, Elijah. I have been focused on my soulmate." Finn says as the two looked at Y/N feeling the need to kiss her filled them as an ache settled in their chests hearing a soft heartbeat coming from her. Elijah was snapped out of his thoughts when Hayley held his hand making him smile as Y/N felt hurt for some reason but shook it off.

"Your witch uses old magic maybe she can find mother or father. Her magic won't be sensed my mother."

"It is up to her."

"We should help them my big bear." Y/N says softly still staying behind Finn feeling shy as she clings to her vampire while Klaus smirked looking at Elijah.

"A bear? Elijah, I thought our brother was the boar."

"He is, Niklaus."

"He isn't a boar! He is a bear!" Y/N said shouting at them narrowing her eyes at them then squeaked when the three looked at her.

"Stop scaring her. We'll help."

Freya was so happy to see Finn even more learning her brother found his soulmate too while both Kol and Rebekah stared at the young witch feeling the need to rush to hold her. Y/N was beautiful in their eyes as it seemed her mocha skin was glowing as Finn was carrying her things talking to Freya about the spell Y/N would be doing.

"So you're Finn's soulmate." Y/N heard a voice say and look seeing Kol standing in the door away watching the black beauty working on a spell as Kol thought it was odd that he could see her strings but was drawn back to her cute face.

"I'm Y/N and you must be Kol." Y/N said smiling as Kol spotted her tarot cards and walked in sitting down.

"Can you give me a tarot reading?"

"Yeah I can. I need to leave this sitting anyway." Y/N said shuffling the cards and had Kol pick four cards. Hayley stopped hearing Kol and Y/N while seeing Finn and Elijah watching from the doorway.

"What do they say?" Kol asked watching the witch frown as she looked over the cards then looked at Kol.

"Someone close to you is lying to you, something is not real or not what it seems." Y/N said as Kol stared at the cards and how all this felt familiar. Kol looked at her and his heart skipped a beat as he swore a memory flashed in his mind.

"What do they say?"

"Hmmm something good is in your future." She says making Kol smile brightly staring at her in awe as Elijah comb though her hair loosening her curls letting them fall down her back.

"Is that good thing you, baby?" Elijah asked the witch as he kissed her neck making her flush while Kol smirked enjoying how Elijah flirted with her.

"You alright Kol?" Elijah asked snapping the vampire from his thoughts and just got up leaving in a hurry confusing them all. Y/N looked at Elijah worry on her face as Elijah looked at her feeling the urge to cup her cheek to soothe the witch.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No beloved." Finn said moving down kissing her forehead as jealousy fill Elijah watching Finn with Y/N. Hayley stepped up to Elijah pulling his attention to her as he gave her a smile.

"I'm sure Kol is fine. Maybe your tarot cards are wrong?"

"Her cards are never wrong." Finn says noticing the worry on Hayley's face but Y/N grabbed his attention.

"I found your mother. She is in the Ninth ward hiding with the witches."

"Stay here with Freya. I don't want you hurt." Finn tells you as much like Elijah the other three felt jealousy fill them seeing Y/N cup his face placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

"Return to me safe. Return to us safe."

"I will my beloved." Finn says smiling as his siblings saw their ash gray strings spark with color before dying out. The siblings left unaware that Mikael was headed for the Abattoir while they headed for Esther and soon Hayley's mistake was about to com ed to light.

[arabian-batboy]

Tumblr wouldn’t let me answer this ask, but basically someone asked what would I do if I was in charge of DC (when it comes to Batman’s comics), so here is my answer.

I would have a lot of things established as facts that would be forced on everyone working on any Batfamily’s characters.

First of all, I will establish who exactly is in the Batfamily and what is their relationship to Bruce, I would separate them into two categories; an inner-circle (Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, Duke, Damian, Alfred, Barbara, Stephanie and Cassandra) and an outer circle (think characters like, Batwoman, Catwoman, Azrael, Huntress, Harper, Batwing and etc...) Dick, Jason, Tim and Cassandra would be declared as legally adopted by Bruce and all of them would be referred to as son/daughter of Batman/Bruce Wayne by both the narrative and other characters. While Barbara, Duke and Stephanie would be friends to the family (I also would explain the family situation of Duke and Stephanie and who their legal guardian is, since they’re both underage)

All the characters would have their hair color, eye color, skin tone (no more whitewashing here), height and age (unpopular opinion but I would make the Batfamily frozen in time without aging or aging very slowly) stated and regardless of artistic creativity, everyone working on them would have to follow through with these rules.

I would try to bring an expert to establish a unique fighting style for everyone in the family, sorta like how in the Avatar universe each type of bending is based on a specific type of Asian hand-to-hand combat, so something like that. I would also try to give everyone a signature weapon that for the most part, only they use, so Dick and Babs can share a escrima/tonfa, Tim and Stephanie can share a Bo staff, Damian and Cassandra can both use swords/blades, Jason has his guns and Duke would be given his own weapon too (I vote for Nunchucks)

And it may be a small detail, but I would establish where exactly does each member of the family live and how the place they live in looks like. For example, who permanently lives in the Wayne Manor and who only comes for a visit and how does each of their bedroom looks like? Who lives on their own in an apartment and how does it look like from the inside an where is it located?

Also I want more details about their civilian lives, like who still goes to school/college and where is that? Who works a full-time/part time job and what do they do? Just small things like that.

Lastly (not really) I would probably have someone make a giant (as detailed as possible) map of Gotham City, where we would know the name of every area of the city. I would also highlight in the map all the important places like where is the Wayne Manor, the Police Department, Arkham Asylum and other places of interest are located, just so that we can have idea of where the characters in the story are and how far/near are they from their destination or from each others.

When it comes to comics, I would kill the concept of crossovers, from now on comic’s stories would start and end in the same damn comic without any interruption. Each member of the Batfamily would either have a solo book, a team-up book or both and while they can pop up in each other books, the focus of the story would still be on the title character. Each arc would have the same writer/s from start to end and after the arc finishes, new writers would come to start a different arc (writers would only be allowed to do 2 arcs in a row, then they will have to give someone else a turn before they can come back)

Barbara would be the most effected, I would somehow reverse her back to being Oracle. I’m really struggling on an idea to do that without being disrespectful, since disability isn’t really a game where you can just turn it off and on whenever you want. Maybe I will have an arc (that has Cassandra heavily featured in it) where she finds out that the chip that gave her back the ability to walk was actually temporally all along and that using it any longer would harm her or even kill her. So after one final mission, she decides with full content, to step back into the role of Oracle and give the Batgirl role to Cassandra while giving a cute and sappy speech (and Cassandra’s would be wearing her OG Batgirl’s costume with the creepy smiley face) And afterward I would like her to star in either another Birds of Prey book or a comic similar to it.

Dick would still be Nightwing and he would have two comics, one would be a solo Nightwing book while the other would be a team-up comic with him and all the original Teen Titans members who are now adults, they would just be called the Titans and in the Superheroe community they would probably be the in-betweener, in the middle of the Justice League and Young Justice. And while this may be my bias talking, I would also try to bring him and Starfire back together (and I may even make them engaged after a really slow burn)

I love love love early Rebirth Outlaws with Jason, Artemis and Bizarro, so I would definitely have to bring them back and their comic.

I would keep Tim the hell away from anything Robin related, it’s boring and redundant, but at the same time I don’t want him to be either Red Robin or Drake. I would give him a small plot where he would connect with a specific title with a story behind it (and a matching costume that goes with it) similar to how Dick became Nightwing after hearing the story of Nightwing from Superman. After that, he would be leading Young Justice in a comic with all of his friends. 

I would have a comic featuring the duo of Stephanie (still Spoiler) and Cassandra (now Batgirl) called Batgirls or something like that, where they would have a Panty & Stocking type of dynamic and adventure (Barbara would make a lot of cameo in this comic).

Duke would still be The Signal and he would have his own solo book and while he’s not an official member of Young Justice, I would still have him working with them from times to times (basically if they operate at day, YJ would have Duke as their leader, but if they operated at night then they will have Tim as their leader)

Like Dick, Damian would have two comics, one solo book and one team-up book. I would call Patrick Gleason back and allow him to do the 2nd and 3rd part of R:SoB that he wanted to do. I would bring some Arab writers/artists to explore more of Damian’s and Talia’s heritage in the comic. Meanwhile, the team-up book would be a brand new team with other child-characters his age (I wrote more about this here if you want to read more)

Bruce would still have a solo Batman book focused on him (with Damian heavily appearing in it, because I’m sick of DC not giving us good old classic Dynamic duo stories anymore), but Detective Comics on the other hand will no longer be just a 2nd Batman book. It would be a de facto Batfamily book, it would be the book where all the Batfamily would get together to interact with each other or solve crime/go on shared missions, depending on the story, it could be all of them at the same time or it could just be different combination of different characters, basically it wouldn’t belong to one character, it would belong to all of them, while their solo books is the place where all the attention would be on them specifically.

And that’s it, the rest I would leave to the hands of the writers, artists and editors.

[ilikekidsshows]

One thing that pisses me off not just about the miraculous fandom but modern fandoms is fans inability to consume long overarching stories.

Like so many people are complaining about how long the reveal is taking or why haven't certain characters outgrown this trait yet or why is this character arc botched or abandoned. Like guys we just got the confirmation this show will be 7 seasons long PLUS like 3 tv specials. We're only roughly halfway through the series.

Once the reveal happens half the tension in the show is gone! I'm not saying leave the reveal till season 7 and make us wait 9 years this isn't HIMYM but miraculous is not a fast paced story. It's a long haul story. I just wish more fans would be patient. Miraculous is in the extremely fortunate and rare position that it will have a conclusive end and not be suddenly cancelled. That was and still is a huge problem for shows and cartoons with dedicated fans but networks pull the plug for stupid ass reasons.

So miraculous fans please chill the fuck out on things not resolving right away. We still have 78+ episodes plus the tv specials. If we get the end to certain things now it'll be so boring.

I think the concept of Instant Gratification describes the issue with many modern fandoms today. I hate to sound like I'm anti-technology, but the constant stream of quick and short bursts of entertainment allowed by the information age has made people more impatient. It's not about waiting for the climax to get a deeper sense of satisfaction, it's about getting that instant gratification right this instant. It's why one-shot fanfics are all over the place, when multi-chapter stories used to be just as common and popular, if not even more so, and it’s also why people are less willing to read a fic that’s still a work in progress. It's why people refuse to watch Youtube video essays even as they leave comments on the topic based on the title and thumbnail alone because, while they couldn't be assed to watch a 20-minute video (let alone an hour long one), they sure can spend that time calling the Youtuber names and making arguments the video actually already refutes. It's why a lot of online arguments happen only because one party read nothing but the first and maybe the last paragraph of someone's post and skipped all the explanation for their point of view (if I've ignored an counter argument for one of my posts, it was either because I missed it or because said counter argument did this. I have attention deficit issues so I do genuinely forget responses sometimes, but I'm also not writing a second essay for someone who's proven to me they won't read it).

Of course, it's only by constantly consuming only fast-paced content that you can become this impatient. People have different ideas about stories based on what stories they have encountered in the past.

Another thing that influences the Miraculous fandom in particular is that, while I love to show off exactly how much Miraculous has done to build up the overarching plotlines, Miraculous isn't really a show that's about a single story. It's easy to understand why people think it is one though: there's one main villain, we keep discovering more about the mythology, one of the main plot threads is the romantic relationship between the leads and singular episodes and plot elements tend to get payoff later. What is the purpose of a show if not to progress the story? Because the heroes aren't getting closer to defeating Gabriel or getting together, people think that the story isn't accomplishing anything.

I'll do a comparison to illustrate why these things aren't as clear-cut signs of a continuous storyline as people think. In the Spider-Man comics, you can pick any issue up and the chances are that the villain will be a part of Spider-Man's already established Rogues Gallery, who's back for more after who knows how many defeats, and those past defeats might even get referenced in callbacks to previous issues. It's also very possible that Peter and Mary Jane's relationship is the central focus with them not being together yet, having relationship problems or even having broken up (in really old issues the girl might be Gwen Stacy and short-term options have also always been available for romantic entanglements). Does this mean Spider-Man is a continuous story where the only point is that all the villains get put away for good and Peter and MJ live happily ever after? No, it doesn't. Spider-Man is designed to go on indefinitely, so there's no clear ending point. So, what is the point of Spider-Man then, if there is no Ending?

It used to be the single issue, because comic books used to have every issue be a stand-alone story about the hero and their supportive cast. These days it's more every three-to-six issues, because superhero comics are written to have short story arcs that can then be collected into trade paperbacks. A superhero series is not a single story; it's a series that functions as a story engine, meaning the series can generate several shorter stories where the hero helps fix a problem or solve a mystery.

In the superhero genre a villain will never get killed off or removed from stories permanently as long as the writers think they can still come up with stories to tell about them. The hero's romantic life will never be completely smooth sailing unless the writer is using other things to ramp up the stakes. Everything always allows for there to be another adventure.

I think the huge success of Avatar: the Last Airbender made people think that a series that is a single story is always superior to a series with multiple shorter plots. When I was liveblogging Sailor Moon, a viewer offered to give me a list of all the non-filler episodes because they genuinely thought I'd feel like I was wasting time on the show otherwise. This attitude is simply not based on fact. It's not fair to compare Miraculous Ladybug to Avatar, because they're both setting up to do completely different things. Miraculous Ladybug is trying to become a brand, like Batman or Spider-Man. It is part of the "Zag Heroes" lineup, a series of French-created superhero franchises to compete in the America-centric superhero market. This challenge is good for the genre, because Marvel and DC have started resembling each other more and more as these companies stew in their old ideas and copy everything that worked for the other one. The superhero genre needs new blood.

Also, Avatar: the Last Airbender first became popular by doing episodic plots for almost the entirety of the first season because it's actually not a wise choice to expect the audience to be willing to commit to a story that'll only give payoff later when working with an untested IP. Very often shows with longer story arcs start with the episodic format to hook people first, and sometimes the more linear plot is introduced specifically because the audience for the show is now expected to be both dedicated enough and older and capable of keeping up. Because, here's the thing: you can't expect little kids to remember every episode or even every character you've introduced in your show. I'm not sure if people are ready to hear that but I'm throwing it out there anyway. Kids are not dumb, they can understand more complex storylines, but many kids are still training their memory, so they might not remember the details of complex storylines that go on for too long.

This is why the news that Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season was going to have a recommended viewing order originally had me concerned. Miraculous is being branded for kids. The plot requiring too much skill in memorizing story details will make it less accessible to kids and might put those two additional seasons at risk. However, it seems that the "constantly changing status quo" concept of Truth, Lies and Gang of Secrets was a fluke and the evolution of the show is more subtle, so they might not be cutting the amount of episodes for those final seasons because the show is getting too complicated for kids to follow all the important details.

Regardless, Miraculous Ladybug being an adventure cartoon TV show instead of a comic book or a more cheaper-to-produce TV drama does mean that Miraculous Ladybug isn’t expected to go on for decades like a superhero comic or a soap opera. Because of this, it can have evolution and changes and even a planned ending. The show is expected to end at some point, even by the people making money off of it, mostly because making a cartoon like this indefinitely costs a lot of money, and kids’ adventure shows tend to see a decrease in returns if they go on for too long.

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

Submission: Transcript of Lily's Harley Quinn video, part 3 (last part) *season 3 spoilers

Talk about Harley!

Oh for crying out loud, I don’t like Harley!*gasping sound effects*

Alright alright, I like the potential Harley has as a character. It’s the same way I’ve felt about a lot of characters in the past-

But the problem is, while every other character gets to do cool new things or gets to explore new dimensions of themselves, Harley is the lone exception.

What are the two stories that you always assocciate with Harley Quinn *picture of her being bushed out the window by Joker in TAS, and another picture from Eat, Bang, Kill*

And what do they do with Harley in this show?

*two different pictures showing the same thing*

Starting to see the problem?

Part of why the show is so much fun is that they take all these characters that have been stagnating for years, and do cool and new things with them. Even mr. Freeze, who’s become the literally- thing in the entire world. But Harley goes trough the same story she always goes trough. And once the Joker is out of the picture and she hooks up with Ivy, the show is left with her having literally nothing left to do aside from playing Side kick to Ivy’s plan to creating Eden.

About the only real improvement they’ve made to the character, was getting away from Tara Strong’s impression of Morton Goldman and just get her a new voice actress, who is also the executive producer. And you know, she does a really good job at doing Harley, but this is about the only interesting thing they do with Harley and even calling that interesting is a stretch.

Despite Harley being the titular character, she’s  given the least real focus apart from the same two stories that were already pretty much pre written. It’s kind of like how Spider Man adaptations always have to carry the burden of having to adapt uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy’s d- Peter being borderline homeless and poverty stricken, and the first time a Spider Man film tried to get away from that stifling mayer, guess who started complaining.

Are they just not allowed to do anything with Harley or do they just not care? She has a small arca bout wanting to take over Gotham in season two, even axing other supervillains one by one, but she gives that up in favor of being with Ivy! Even as far as season three she’s hung up on trying to stick it to the Joker. Harley just doesn’t do anything new, and that’s the weakest element of the show. Think- comic book adaptations are at their worst when they souless.ly go trough the established notions. It’s why Batman movies sucked for so long, because none of the people making them had any interest in the character outside the edgy darkness brutal man, which has been the meyer the character has been stuck in for quite some time. All the Batman characters are stuck in the stagnating swamp of fanboy expectations, but in this show at least, they managed to go out of it and be fun again, but Harley is still stuck in that swamp. I want them to do something else with her. I think the show should have started with Ivy and Harley already together, because then it would force the writers to have a new idea about the character that is in the fucking title.

Harley as a stand-alone villain never made any sense, she doesn’t have a villanous goal, she doesn’t want anything. She’s always ultimately been a henchman, but her solo act has always lacked motivation. Ivy has reason to be a villain, she has a real goal in mind, she does evil to achieve something, but Harley’s ever been a villain because the people she’s dating have been villains. Hell, she actually had a conventional job she was actually good at, but she threw it away because of bog fangirl biastophilic, and that’s a part of her character that never really went away. It would be interesting to unpack, I mean, she basically jumps from one supervillain that treated her like shit, to one that just happens to not. In season one she joined the League of Doom just to be treaded seriously as a villain which she never is and ultimately gives up on. After that, not much, at the end of season three even she has a crisis over if she’s even evil or not, but in the end all she ever just does is fill in for Batman, while he’s in prison, once again playing second fiddle to other people. Even ion Eat Bang Kill was more focused on Ivy than Harley, this is a problem company wide, even when they bring in good writers *shows picture of Tee Franklin*, Harley’s just stuck in the same place.

So far she’s been moving around two different storylines, not really committing to anything and ultimately ending up right back to where her character started as, as the henchwoman toa villain slash Batgirl, who’s actually carrying some fucking cards.

And i wouldn’t mind that if they would just stick to it. I don’t object to a character stepping back and deciding their role is just going to be Bong, Goons, Kiss Wife, heck, I’ve even written characters like that (A/N: she didn’t have any visuals fort his part, so I don’t know who she’s talking about).

Being a supporting character isn’t bad, but I know for a fact that the next time we see Harley after this shins end, will hit the reset, and she will go trough the exact character arc all over again, because this is what comic book adaptations are now. Constantly re-threating the same story and never bothering to do anything else and not committing to anything for very long.

The MCU tried to do something new with Peter Parke, getting away from the established formula and asshole fanboys bitched and moaned incessantly, because he wasn’t street anymore, to the point where they hit the reset and put him right in the misery porn that Peter’s been stuck in for a long time, and overall the character has been poorer for it. He lost his identity and became just another Spider Man fort he pile.

I don’t know how to fix it without committing to something. If you want Harley to be Ivy’s supporting character, fine, but don’t hit the reset button just to do it again later on. But it’s not fine to, every time they start over, pretend that it's  a bold new step fort he character. That’s why DC properties are so fucking boring. They’re just recycling the same few interpretation of the same characters that are kind of bad. Like, Batman is an interesting character, but you wouldn’t know that if you only watched the theatrical films, because the theatrical film are pulling only from the same four comic books, that also happen to be the edgiest, and two of them are fucking satires in the first place.

+like, fuck off Joker, you are not a victim- and you get films that completely miss the point of them, because they just wanted to write edgelord fanfiction. And these one dimensional versions of these characters are something the fanbase not only tolerates, but applauses.

There is this scene from Justice League Unlimited that people pass around as an example of what Batman should be like. You probably seen it, it’s the scene where Batman comforts Ace as she’s dying. It’s the scene every person complaining about modern Batman cites, but you ever noticed that they only ever cite this one scene? It’s because it’s really hard to find Batman moments like this. They don’t let him be that way very much, because the fanbase only wants psycho thug Batman. They’re the same group of people who wants cartoons to be grittier and more adult, but Warner Brothers made the critical mistake of actually listening to these fucking clowns.

That’s where we are with Harley, because part of the reason why her only stories are the Jokers girlfriend, or abuse victim, or Ivy’s girlfriend, is because by and large, the audience only wants those thre stories. And the times when they try something different, the audience turns their nose immediately. As it stands, Harley is DC’s own banshee queen, she’s stuck in this rut with a fanbase that, fort he most part, doesn’t want her to move anywhere, and the potential the character has is squandered by everybody, creator and fan alike.

Harley Quinn is a great show, but it’s not because of Harley herself. Season one has Harley dealing with who she is, and by the end of season three she still hasn’t answered that question. The romance is really good, and all the other characters are really good, but Harleys character arc cist decidedly undercooked.

Is that everything? I think that’s everything. Everything that matters anyway.

Oh yeah, uh, Mikay has a video on the Eat, Bank, Kill comics, and Tee Franklin’s other comic Bingo Love. You should go watch them.

You know she’s friends with Tee Franklin? That’s wild. My wife is so fucking cool, and all their friends are fucking cool. How did I do that? How did I land such a absolutely gorgeous, talented, successful woman? How did I do that? The partner I had before her was a walking nightmare on sticks, that tortured me for fun! How did I – wait am I Harley?

[maxwell-grant]

What's your opinion on the Netflix's series Lupin ? Do you think it's a good example of how to adapt a pulp character to a modern setting ?

As I was writing this I discovered that they actually released a Part 2, which I'll be watching soon. This is just based off my Season 1 impression.

I thought it started off pretty strong and kept up the momentum for the most part until the last episodes, where the plotting definitely lost me. I think the episodic heist structure works for this show better than the long-term plotting they seem to be heading towards and I hope Season 2 dials back a little. The show fundamentally understands the appeal of Arsene Lupin better than a lot of other modern reboots/revivals, but it also seems torn between wanting to faithfully recreate said appeal while also telling it's original revenge story, and that kinda starts to show in those last episodes.

The show definitely understands the need to keep the focus away from Lupin at points, but it didn't really make the main side characters interesting enough to carry their own narratives, especially when they cut to the cop characters. And while I like Assane's motivation, I'm not interested in his family life, not when he only interacts with his kid through Lupin fanboyism and I don't think the show grasps that this doesn't reflect well on him as a parent (as in, they seem to depict his main problem is just being absent, and not that we barely see him taking any interest in his son's life and instead diverting everything to Lupin references).

I don't think Pellegrini works as a long-term villain and I don't like that the show keeps having Assane fuck up just to justify him not taking out Pellegrini sooner (that epísode where he goes to the tv show and loses the tape really, really lost me, that was so fucking stupid on his end and not at all in line with the competence and forethought previously established). I also think the show loses me a bit when they keep forcing themselves to tie it all back to the fact that Arsene Lupin exists so they can justify the title. It's like how everyone universally agrees the worst part of Joker is when they have to show the Wayne murders and take everyone out of the story so they can go "oh, yeah, I forgot I was watching a Batman movie". It's not as egregious here but it's way more prevalent.

Despite my several criticisms of it, I do like the show a lot, I think they definitely had the right idea in many aspects. I definitely appreciate the distance they took to distance themselves from the original novels as well as Lupin III and make this more of a "return to form", about a dashing shadowy master thief sticking up to the high society that looked down on him and enacting justice while having fun doing it. People forget a lot that, although he can play the part, Lupin was never an aristocrat.

Unlike the gentlemen thieves before him, he was a street urchin and son of a chambermaid with a personal spite against rich snobs, who committed his first robbery to pay for treatment to her disease. He was remote and solitary, more so as the books went on. He was never immoral, he always had a code to help the innocent and victimized and repay his debts, used calling cards to make sure others weren't injustly framed, and was generally noble, but he was always an anti-hero who was a criminal because it was fun, and had little concern for those he stole from.

Netflix's Lupin really had the right idea in pushing the class element of Lupin's backstory upfront and grounding his reasons for becoming a master thief in a much greater tragedy. They kept the general broad strokes of his backstory but still in a radically different context that allows Assene to fully shine as a character in his own right. He uses modern technology and gadgetry, he lingers on rooftops dressed in black like Batman, he strolls out to museums in suits like James Bond, and there's quite a bit of Edmond Dantes in his mission and character too. I like that his mastery of disguise doesn't come from makeup (frankly the one time they try to do that it's...not good), but from how good he is at misdirection and at blending in places where nobody's gonna pay attention to a black man in a janitor's outfit, or nobody's gonna want to be mistaken for racist by denying him an interview. He weaponizes people's prejudice against him in several ways and I thought that was a really clever way to update Lupin to the 21st century, and it's the kind of thinking that really benefits any attempts to do the same for other properties. It definitely proves that adapting pulp characters to modern times is nowhere near as impossible as some may say, even if it does take a lot of effort and a lot of thinking to pull it off right.

And Omar Sy carries the hell out of this show every step of the way. The character writing is good as is, but man, they really should let Omar have more fun with this role than he already does. If I had to recommend the show to people not familiar with Lupin or the archetype I would definitely recommend it based on his performance, I'm definitely interested in seeing more of his roles. So, yeah, really like the show, definitely interested in seeing more of it, and I would definitely point to it as a rare good example of a 21st century adaptation of an old pulp character.

[phoenixlionme]

My Thoughts on Racebending

I just wanted to jot down my complicated position on racebending. Feel free to comment but BE RESPECTFUL.

1. I like seeing the racebended ideas from fans (i.e., the Asian racebend of the Batman or MCU; the black racebend of the MCU; the black Alucard fanart) because their so interesting and I can’t find the right words, but I just like seeing them.

2. I understand that the reason why people, usually POC, racebend is because they rightfully feel ignored in most of the Hollywood media. I mean, it took the MCU nearly 20 years to have a black lead, female lead, and Asian lead. And I often hear online how people recount how others have told them they couldn’t be a certain hero simply because they weren’t white. And they were kids at the time being told by either other kids or even ADULTS. That feeling just sucks.

3. Tying into the above, racebending also allows POC who are darker skinned to find a voice because WHEN Hollywood decided to be inclusive they almost always pick people who are light skinned, even if in comic/book adaptations where the character(s) in question are either shown or described to be dark-skinned. And this is NOT an attack on light-skinned or mixed actors because I also HATE how marginalized group act colorist (is that the right term?) towards each other when they should be angry at Hollywood’s bullshit way of being diverse.

4. Racebending is NOT the same as whitewashing. The latter is about turning POC white, therefore causing LESS representation towards an already marginalized group. The former (while it does have some issues I’ll get to in the next point), is about giving MORE diversity.

5. From the last point, I have seen some people, POC, point out an issue with racebending. Something that I, after some time to think, agree with. It doesn’t really add anything. Like, why would you bother making Bruce Wayne black when there’s Batwing or the new black Batman (I forgot his name). In other words, instead of racebending character who have long been seen as white, why not create original characters and/or give more focus to an interesting POC that already exists. Plus, it seems like the company is trying to say “look how diverse we are”, but there doing the minimum amount.

6. I’m fine with racebending white characters but NOT characters who are already POC. So, if they’re a person of color, I don’t believe they need to be racebended for obvious reasons.

7. Despite my point on #5, I will NOT do what some “fans” have done to actors of color who portray normally white characters: Attack in a barrage of racist and sexist (if a woman) comments and trolls. That’s why I wanted to be explicit about my complicated feelings on this topic: I may have some issues with it but I’m NOT going to be an asshole who attacks in actor, a person, just because of a fictional character. Even if they do whitewash, which I irrefutably HATE but refuse to stoop down to trolling an actor. 

8. I DON’T think characters from AU count as racebends because they aren’t the same character just have the same title and MIGHT have the same powers. Examples would include Marvel’s Miles Morales, Marvel’s Silk, DC’s Superman of China, DC’s Val-Zod, and other examples like them. I also feel the same way for the same reason for characters who are the prodigies of superheroes like Marvel’s Ms. Marvel and other heroes like that. All you have to do is give them their own stories, rogues, problems -- DON’T make them into a carbon copy of the established hero.

9. In the cases of heroes who were incredibly obscure and white, I find no issue racebending, genderbending, or LGBT bending them since they’re obscure. 

10. However, at the end of the day, if any racebended character helps anyone feel represented, I’m happy for them. And I wish all the luck to the actors of color who get the roles.

Well, those are my thoughts.

[bombseel]

I think Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Dark Nights Metal (that title is so fucking long... Hate comic books) is my favorite Duke Thomas story. I'm not used to him being in stories and being the center of the story, I feel like in big casts like Batman or Outsiders, he can get lost in the ensemble. It feels like he hadn't got any story focus since, like, 2017? 2018?

Anyway, it works SO well. Duke's light powers allowing him to see the past, being used to remind him of what he lost, that's so effective! And him being the Signal, the light of hope in the literal dark multiverse, it calls back to Batman and the Signal and what Duke says about his mother and lighthouses and being a beacon of hope. I could read a whole story about an apocalypse story with a main character with these powers!

I loved the final Justice League (especially Nightwing and Hawkgirl with her pet husband), vs the draconic justice league, it was a cool fight where how predictable it was made me more hyped.

Also, it was just a good finale to the dark multiverse in general? It felt so final, yet so hopeful. I hope we get to see more of the Final Knight soon

[gamer2002]

Danganronpa - Review2002

Danganronpa is a mystery VN, where 15 high schoolers are trapped in a murder school, and in order to get out one has to kill another and frame somebody else for it. Observed and manipulated by the headmaster of the school, a sadistic robot-bear called Monokuma, our main character, Makoto, has to survive and not lose his hope. Because there is a lot of despair. And hope. Despair. Hope. Despair. Light. Darkness. Kingdom Hearts.

But we’ll talk about that later.

Despite all the murder thingy, the game is just an edgy shonen and is very animu. It’s not a bad thing, because it’s entertaining, and that’s what matters the most. Characters are mostly simplistic, often stereotypical, but are distinguish and memorable (aside from meh protag). What is good about the cast is how the group dynamics changes with each case. Thanks to that, the characters seem more alive, and the surrounding drama seems more impactful. And sometimes the drama is really good, though it’s dragged down by the meme writing. But about that later.

The trials, where we try to figure out the killer’s identities, are good gameplay-wise. Aside from the rhythm minigame. I get the creators wanted to demonstrate losing arguments by lack of confidence, but, until half of the game, that minigame had nothing to do with logic or deduction. Every other minigame was good or ok, though.

Comparing to Ace Attorney, the trials were more dynamic, with constant new arguments and questions. It helps that the equivalent of AA’s testimonies is briefer (as it’s on a time limit). Not to mention, the filled with moving camera direction really made non-animated and non-moving characters feel alive. The music was ok – it serves its purpose, but it isn’t memorable.

The gameplay between trials was ok. Investigations didn’t drag too long. The free time did sometimes, but that’s because I was collecting more coins than it was necessary. The coins are spent for presents, which we can give to other characters, in return for learning more about them and gaining upgrades for the trials. But, to be frank, some upgrades were “turn off the setting we put to make the gameplay purposefully shittier”.  

It’s an entertaining game with some good ideas, which earns 7/10 in my book. But there are reasons why this game doesn’t earn any higher, which I’m going to elaborate on. The subject is Kingdom Hearts Meme Writing, Monokuma being a letdown villain, the big revelation being a lot of nothing, and how the writers could’ve made the Hope vs Despair nonsense actually work. The last two are impossible to write about without spoilers, but I can explain the first two without them.

Despair. Despair. Despair. Despair. Do you get it? I hope.

I know this is a shonen, regardless how edgy it is, and the writers were pretty self-aware of this. But the despair/hope meme drags down the writing. Monokuma goes on and on about how he will turn all the hope into despair, and this is just as ridiculous as a talking cartoon bear that kills a man by literally blasting him into space can be. It’s a meme writing. A ham-fisted, forced meme writing.

Other examples of meme writing is Kingdom Hearts, with its light and darkness, or Ace Attorney, with its truth. We all roll our eyes over that. Characters are bringing up some concept in a melodramatic way, repeatably, with a ridiculous zeal that doesn’t just seem alien, but straight out autistic. But it’s okay, all those titles, including Ronpa, are still shonens. Kingdom Hearts is a battle shonen where you fight against forces of evil alongside Donald Duck. You can turn your brain off and enjoy yourself, no biggie. But turning your brain off is a bit harder in, you know, a murder mystery.

Yeah, Ace Attorney is murder mystery as well, and yet I give it a pass. That’s because “truth” is just an ideal of idealistic characters. Phoenix, Edgeworth, and the rest, are melodramatically motivating themselves by simplistically expressing their ideal. And  melodrama is part of a wrestling, and logic wrestling is what Ace Attorney boils down to. So, why this isn’t the same in this logic wrestling game?

The problem with hope/despair is that those are not just some concepts or ideals, but those are emotions. Emotions that the writing does attempt to make you feel, sometimes pretty successfully. Case 4 is an example of a beautifully set up tragedy, it’s the game’s emotional peak. The reveal is shocking and sad, and the dramatic confession is filled with genuine emotion. And then the confession has the word “despair” in it, and my brain is immediately going back to Monokuma and his antics. Good thing that the official translation team has realized that they would have killed the mood sooner, if they had included that word in an earlier appearing evidence. Same thing happens whenever the word “hope” appears – it just makes us recall the memes.

In my AI: Somnium Files I’ve explained to you the need of being explicit about what is supposed to make the player feel emotions. But you can’t be ham-fisted about what the player is supposed to feel. Turning hope and despair into KH’s equivalent of light and darkness is turning them into a material for jokes. It is a repeatable telling us what to feel, and that simply can’t work. If the game didn’t do that, a lot of good moments wouldn’t be dragged down by being a reference to something we joke about.

Monokuma is just the biggest kid tier villain

There are spoiler reasons why Monokuma fails at being a villain, but I’ll mention them in spoiler section about improving the whole hope vs despair conflict. But the basic problem with Monokuma is spoiler-free, because it all boils down to the game’s initial setup.

Generally, Monokuma is a recurring type of villain that mixes nihilism, cartoonish silliness and cruel sadism into one, disturbing package. Other examples of such villains is the Joker, or Killer the Butcher from Zambot 3. When you look at Monokuma alone, he is (aside from spoiler reasons) a good example of such a villain. He is over the top, entertaining, scheming, memorable, gets all the attention in every scene he is in, and is constantly disturbing. All his bases are covered, so all is good, right? But only when you look at Monokuma alone.

Character in a story isn’t just some element you can look at alone, it’s an element you see among all the others. Great villain needs a great hero. Great hero needs a great villain. If one is unimpressive, the other can’t impress us with their triumphs.

The reason why the Joker is a great villain is because he is a challenge for the goddamn Batman, creating a clash of an unstoppable force against an unmovable object. Killer the Butcher’s enemies are kids piloting alien giant robot with superior firepower. What makes the Bucher a good villain is that, regardless of his lost battles, he still succeeds at causing significant collateral damage, which constantly contributes to his stated goal of slowly killing all humans. And Butcher doesn’t just rely on his show reaching logical conclusions about consequences of battles between giant robots, the entire arc before heroes directly attacking his HQ is about him using a weapon they can’t fight with a giant robot – kidnapped people turned into living human bombs. The amount of sacrifices, losses and traumas that kids from a 70s (!) super robot show have to go through is why Killer the Butcher is an impressive villain you love to hate.

But Monokuma isn’t an unstoppable force going against an unmovable object. Neither he is battling heroes that are capable of beating him in a direct confrontation, forcing him to rely on different forms of accomplishing his goals. He targets fifteen uninformed kids, with like three giving him a reason to worry, and puts them in a situation where they can’t initially defy him at all. It’s not a spoiler to say that the kids initially can’t find any clues that would’ve allowed them to free themselves from Monokuma. Their exploration of the school is limited, and next areas are unlocked only after class trials. Meaning, Monokuma limits kids’ ability to gather information required to beat him, until the next killing occurs. If the kids don’t kill anybody, they can only hope to (hah) apathetically accept their imprisonment by Monokuma.

To sum it up, all that Monokuma accomplishes is making some confused kids kill one another, when they are in a situation where it’s their only option to free themselves. Wow, what an impressive villain, doing whatever he wants with helpless children and driving them to murder.

It doesn’t help that the actual conclusion of the conflict with Monokuma is underwhelming, and all his actions only make us respect him less as a villain. But more about that later, in the spoiler section. But not immediately, because first we need to focus on the game’s disappointing big revelation.

Who cares that the world is over?

All attempts to escape the murder school were pointless – the world has already ended! Play the laugh track.

To give the writers credit, Genocide Jill’s explanation of that was funny and played out as a dark joke. And that’s the only way this revelation could be played out.

When it comes for the twist being a twist, it’s okeyish. The twist itself isn’t hard to guess, by the end of the first trial, and it’s almost given away by the third one. On the other side, there are photos of kids that died in previous chapters, and you could wonder if they aren’t going to reveal that everybody lives and this all was a simulation, or something. It can be easily guessed, but there is room for speculation, and you may not know which route the writers will go. Even if those routes are “predictable” and “a disappointing backpedal”.

But even if you end up being surprised… it’s an emotional bunch of nothing. Makoto gets his answer to what could’ve happened to his family, and he still doesn’t even realize it. That’s how the writing poorly handled one way it could’ve made us care about end of the world – through Makoto’s reaction to it.

Makoto is such an uninteresting, purposefully average, and ultimately unimpressive main character. We know he has family, parents, and a younger sister, but one picture of them is all we got. We don’t know the dynamics of their relationship, and we don’t know why Makoto loves them. Just saying “they are his family” isn’t enough. When Superman and his family are written well, we know why Clark Kent cares deeply about them – Ma Kent is such a great mother, Pa Kent is such a great father, and each scene with them demonstrates it.

Through the game, Makoto could’ve flashbacks to his family, as an ongoing C plot. That way we would’ve been shown why Makoto cares about them, why he wants to make sure they are safe, why he could feel tempted about escaping via murder (leading to him rejecting that idea because his family wouldn’t want it that way). And then boom – yes, the world has ended, and they are probably dead.

But Makoto never ever connects the state of the world to the state of his family. And that’s a big mistake, because that was a way to spice up the ultimate clash between Hope and Despair.

How to argue that Despair can be better than Hope

Before I focus on the topic, let me first expand on the topic of Monokuma being a disappointing villain, by telling you why Junko is a disappointing villain.

Junko just pulls everything out of her ass. Ok, she happens to have a super soldier sister, who was capable of killing Academy’s entire adult staff, letting her to take over the school. This part is acceptable by shonen standards. It was the Acadamy that was responsible for sealing the building and setting its defense, ok. But then everything else is an unexplained bullshit. Endless Monokumas? She has them because the writer says so. Ability to take away memories? She has them because the writer says so. Hijacking all TV channels? Performing ridiculously complex executions? Securing supplies to the Academy in a post-apo setting? She can because the writers says so.

She simply isn’t a formidable villain. She is nothing more than a bored girl, that could’ve been successful as a normal person, but the entire universe decided to grant her everything to let her play a supervillain. She doesn’t accomplish any impressive feat by herself. Even taking over of the Academy was solely thanks to her sister. With her granted unfair total advantage over the cast, there was no other way for her to lose than keeping screwing herself. She can’t even gain respect as a formidable opponent from sticking to her rules, because she not only purposefully handicaps the most competent person in the cast, but also keeps breaking her own rules.

The second aspect of a good villain is understandability. And Junko is a stupid incomprehensible mess. She always feels despair, and that somehow makes her constantly bored. But she wants to prove that’s better than hope. For some reason, she is a sadist. She is also happy about facing ultimate despair in form of her own death, but she didn’t yearn to that enough to off herself before all her plans. Nothing adds up, and she just does whatever crazy shit the writers needs her to do at the current moment. This is the aspect where she just sucks as a Joker-type villain. Such villains, when done well, aren’t just twisted, wrong, crazy edgemasters. When done well, they are also, despite everything, still somehow understandable. That’s what makes them actually shocking. It isn’t just shocking that they do horrible things, it is shocking that they can argue that everything they do serves a purpose and is consistent with a coherent belief.

Joker (when written well) and Killer the Butcher do have nihilistic philosophy that is wrong and twisted, but does have some shocking points. Joker believes that normal life is pointless, because one bad day can drive you mad, so it’s better to embrace awfulness of the world as your entertainment. And this philosophy is consistent with him wanting to commit macabre crimes. Killer the Butcher believes that humans are ungrateful bastards and will even treat their saviors like crap. And this philosophy is consistent with him wanting to kill all humans. Even if you don’t agree with their believes (I hope), you understand why somebody with such believes would be doing what they are doing. This understandability is what elevates banal conflict against a bad guy that does a bad thing that has to be stopped, into a conflict against a personified idea. Batman doesn’t just fight the Joker, he fights a nihilistic view of a pointless mad world. Zambot 3 kids don’t just fight Killer the Butcher, they fight view of humans as unworthy of living and being saved. That is why those conflicts aren’t banal.

Meanwhile, Junko makes a big promise for a Hope vs Despair conflict, arguing that the latter is better than former, but...

What is “despair” anyway? Is it to give up from stuff like escaping the school, and accepting whatever you end up having, however shitty it is? But what does it have with Junko’s boredom and embracing her own death? What is the point of the over-the-top executions? Junko is gleefully sadistic, what about despair makes you sadistic? Did she want the cast and her viewers to embrace sadism as well?  How’s that better than hope? It’s incomprehensible, and fails to make any point. The blame lies pretty much on the out-of-place sadism that exists just to make Junko an edgelady.

Danganronpa is a murder mystery. And despite being an over-the-top shonen, it does focus, decently, on motives for committing murders. Every single killer in this game is understandable. Their actions were wrong, but you understand why they did everything they did. There is just a sole exception to this rule – the games’ main villain.

During the final confrontation, Junko was arguing that futile hopes of previous murderers drove them to committing murder. That alone does make a good point. Then she offered everyone safe peaceful life, if they acknowledged her belief and abandoned all hope. Ok, that’s a good dilemma. Surprising that with such a good prepared dilemma Junko bothered to handicap and eliminate Kyoko, when she could just guide the cast towards Junko and this dilemma faster. Still, Junko does make a point about despair being better than hope, and does make the cast face a dilemma, in a way that is consistent with her belief. But then she adds she wants to punish someone for lulz, and that person has to be our bland player character.  

And how killing Makoto proves that despair is better than hope? It was a yet another act of Junko’s pointless sadism, which only made it more difficult for other characters to agree with her. Anyway, Junko is ultimately unimpressive, because she loses to Makoto just saying “let’s have some hope, guys”. All that buildup of understandable motives of past killers lead to a rather banal final conflict with a completely banal resolution.

Things would be different, if Junko didn’t forget about Makoto’s family and did bring them up during the final argument. I still think that trying to kill Makoto was counterproductive, but I understand the need of putting MC’s life at stake. But Junko could single out Makoto for execution because he was pushing for the idea of everyone leaving the school, despite the revelation about state of the world, and she could accuse him for selfishly risking lives of others, just for a hope of reunion with his own family. Imagine that being the payoff of flashbacks to Makoto’s family and his wish to reunite with them. Sure, here, Makoto has proved he wouldn’t directly murder anybody over it, but would he willingly disregard safety of others? He can’t really refute that, without giving up on leaving the school.

And that’s how Junko could undermine Makoto and make her point. Living trapped in the school and abandoning all hope for the outside world was bad, but it could be worse. At least it was safe, peaceful, and they had food plus entertainment. Looking for anything better outside was risky. Hoping for anything better was risky. Hope was bad. The state of despair, where you no longer hope for anything better than what you have, was good. Unable to accept this Makoto was spreading ideas that were dangerous for the well-being of others. How Makoto, willing to selfishly drag everyone else into a dangerous hell-word and risk their lives, was that much different from every other killer? Sure, they killed others directly, but at least none of their victims had a slow and painful death. Makoto was willing to potentially doom others to that. And this is why he had to be put down, like all the other killers had to be, regardless of their understandable motives. In the current state of the world, any reckless hope is a dangerous thought crime.

Here, the final debate could be more complex. Makoto could’ve pointed out that, even if he could be accused for having a selfish hope, it was the same with others. Everyone else wanted their situation to improve, and giving that up for hollow safety wouldn’t do. Hope is better than despair, freedom is better than safety. The future of post-apo is libertarian, and if we can’t live with the freedom to pursue our hopes, then we won’t live at all. No more lockdowns!

You don’t have to agree with such a statement, but at least it is some statement. Here, we have a clash of hope that accepts the risk against despair that is unwilling to accept any risks. Unlike what we got, where despair is somehow tied to sadism, and hope simply rides on the power of friendship.

[howdoyousayghibli]

Arrietty: Back to (Incredible) Basics

I didn’t realize this until the opening credits played, but The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) makes four adaptations of written stories in a row from Studio Ghibli — Howl’s Moving Castle, Tales from Earthsea, and Ponyo being the other three. I’ll admit that Ponyo is a bit of a stretch, but Hayao Miyazaki has stated that his inspiration was Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale, so I’m sticking with it. 

Arrietty is an adaptation of Mary Norton’s widely beloved children’s novel, The Borrowers. While it was released as The Borrower Arrietty in Japan, the U.S. and UK releases were titled The Secret World of Arrietty and Arrietty, respectively; I can’t fathom why neither wanted to promote its association with a popular book, but here we are.

These four adaptations make for some interesting comparisons, to the extent that I wonder if there was some sort of strategy meeting held at Ghibli headquarters after Tales from Earthsea squirmed out into the world. That movie, and, to a lesser but still noticeable extent, Howl’s Moving Castle were both stuffed to the brim with mysteries, big ideas, and subplots, and they suffered for it. In contrast, Ponyo and Arrietty are simpler both narratively and thematically, but are astounding in their technical artistic achievements.

Arrietty tells the story of a family of Borrowers, tiny people who live under the floorboards and survive by “borrowing” what they need — such as a cube of sugar, basketball-sized to them — from the full-size humans who live above them. The main focus is on the family’s daughter, Arrietty, who is just old enough to join her father on his borrowing trips. Their comfortable but tenuous existence is disrupted by the arrival of Sean, a sickly young boy who’s been sent to live with his grandmother and her caretaker for some peace and quiet. 

These two plot points — the Borrowers’ survival and Sean’s sickness — are really the only plot points of Arrietty. This and the fact that both of these stories are actually addressed and resolved is refreshing after the overcomplicated Howl’s Moving Castle and Tales from Earthsea. 

Arrietty is a classic Ghibli protagonist — spirited, independent, and curious. Sean is also compelling; his melancholy brings to mind Princess Mononoke’s Prince Ashitaka and makes an engaging counterpoint to Arrietty’s enthusiasm and determination. The two are voiced by Bridget Mendler and David Henrie, whose resumés both largely consist of various Disney Channel shows. Fellow Disney Channel alumnus Moisés Arias (he was also, bizarrely, Bonzo in Ender’s Game) joins the cast as the fun-but-racistly-designed Spiller.

The adults of the cast pulled in a bit more star power — Arrietty’s parents, Pod and Homily, are voiced by Will Arnet and Amy Poehler. It’s easy to hear the Batman in Pod’s gravelly seriousness, but Arnet manages to infuse equal amounts of gravel and affection into Pod’s sparse dialogue. Poehler, meanwhile, gets some of the movie’s best dialogue as the anxious Homily; the character easily could’ve been obnoxious, but, as 6 seasons of Parks and Recreation can attest, Poehler is relentlessly charming and elevates each line she’s given.

There’s great characters and voice acting in Arrietty, but where the film really shines is in the presentation. Studio Ghibli uses the diminutive size of the protagonists as a chance to show off — throughout the movie, details of animation and sound design reinforce the tiny scale of the world we’re viewing. 

Visually, these reminders come in two forms: the creative ways that the Borrowers re-purpose (downscale?) the things they borrow, and the details with which the animators pack each shot.

The Borrowers’ ingenuity is a lot of fun to look out for throughout the movie, from stamps as wall art to soda can pop-tabs used to hang soup ladles. I can’t say how many of these were thought up by the Ghibli team and how many are pulled from the novels, but either way, they point to a well-thought-out world and add a great deal of charm.

The animation details, despite everything, blow me away. I feel Studio Ghibli shouldn’t be able to surprise me anymore, but by scaling down the action, they created new opportunities to impress. The premise allows for details like the grain of the wood inside the walls, rough but worn smooth and shiny, or the way water clings together, pouring out of their tea kettle in bulbous fist-sized drops. 

The sound design is similarly effective — a ticking clock can thunder across an entire room, and a giant hand can silence the rest of the world as it closes around a Borrower. It’s clear that the team behind this film saw the Borrower’s size as not just a premise, but a challenge, which they met amply. 

There’s a YouTube channel called Every Frame a Painting, probably most famous for their “Marvel Symphonic Universe” video. I happen to think that particular video is pretty off-base, but I love the channel as a whole. I bring them up because of their “Edgar Wright - How to Do Visual Comedy” video. It’s a great video, which you should watch, but the thrust of it is that the humor in Edgar Wright’s comedies doesn’t rely solely on dialogue like in many other comedies. The video posits that, if all your humor comes from funny dialogue, you’re throwing away the visual aspect of the medium — why not tell the story in a novel, or a podcast, or a stage play? 

This is a roundabout way of saying that Arrietty feels like a film that is truly firing on all cylinders. The premise, characters, animation, and sound design all reinforce one another; they feel deliberately interwoven in a way that few films do. 

Like many Ghibli movies, in a thematic sense Arrietty didn’t exactly leave me satisfied, but that same dissatisfaction has kept me thinking about the movie weeks after seeing it. (Vague spoilers ->) Sean’s attempts to help the Borrowers largely leave them worse off than before; does that mean he should have done nothing? Or did he just need to be more thoughtful? Are the Borrowers at fault for being too suspicious? It’s hard to agree with that when there’s ample evidence supporting their behavior. (<- End spoilers) These kinds of questions mean that, even the movie lacks a certain catharsis, it inspires further thought in a way that a lot of entertainment doesn’t. 

Up Next: 

From Up on Poppy Hill! Goro takes a second stab at directing — let’s see if he learned his lesson from Tales from Earthsea, shall we?

Alternate Titles:

Arrietty: Ah, That’s Better

Now You’re Just Showing Off, Mr. Miyazaki

“Arrietty, Kids?” “Aye Aye, Captain!”

Stray Notes

The crow and bird fighting are a great The Cat Returns callback 

”can I have some warm milk?” You go sneaky Sean, this kid rules

Has Mr. Ghibli ever seen a boy that wasn’t skin and bones?

*sees raccoon* haha sick Pom Poko reference

Wish I had a Lego Batman dad

And a Leslie Knope mom

DON’T RUN SEAN YOU’RE SICK

Why do they randomly emphasize the T sound in Arrietty sometimes (ARE-ee-eh-dy vs. AIR-ee-EH-tee)

Yooooo Spiller is tsundere AF

TOM HOLLAND voices Sean in the UK version??? And it was his first role in anything ever????

[enygmass]

Title: Fragments

Author: Ames

Wordcount: 2355

Fandom: Not batman for once [whoa]

Synopsis: Brief glimpses of Nikolai’s life from birth (ish??) to the first scene of the game

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

So I haven’t written one-shots in so long, but I discovered the game Monstrata Fracture like a hot min ago and haven’t been able to get it off my mind so like… if you wanna bag yourself a monster babe then you should jump over to @astralore [or their itchi.io] and check it out, i’m js... ^^

Anyway I may be botching this but I a) love Nikolai and b) love delving into characters pasts, so let's rock and roll, kids

Everything this is based on was snagged from the game play, mythology books, and lore that was answered on the blog 

____________________________

When the eggs were retrieved from the ocean, the fortune teller had announced that the speckling on the shell of the seventh egg looked “off.” The second fortune teller agreed, and the third one had not protested the former declaration.The three fortune tellers were sisters, renowned for the accuracy of their predictions, and for them to state such a thing with brutal bluntness brought immediate attention to this small, stunted, seventh egg. Albeit, a declaration that this seventh child would bring great things had come along with the unusual spotting, yes, but the unusual spotting was what stood most clear in the minds of all who were present. 

The young mothers did their best to pay it no heed. Alkonosts were superstitious by nature. Their ancestors had brought with them tales of dangers in the woods, of beasts in the snowdrifts, and of consequences for every action. Once, this declaration of unusual spotting may have brought dread to the ears of any parent, but the two mothers were of a more modern mentality. They thanked the sisters, inclining their heads with grace, before sweeping the eggs up into their arms and leaving. 

Seven eggs, seven children, and the seventh, to be a son. 

_____________________________

Nikolai could not recall the exact procedure that led him to become a he. 

What he could recall were colours. Colours of all kinds; reds, golds, blues, greens. It was a myriad of hues that swirled before his naive eyes. He remembered that he had tried to speak. He had wanted to say something to his mothers, perhaps ask them what the colours represented, but he was silenced by a talon coming down and pressing upon his chest like a weight. 

Then, with the colours, there had suddenly been pain. Magic always had a consequence. This was a concept that had been drilled into the minds of any species that lived in their realm. Any entity that used magic, was exposed to magic, or even so much as learned about magic, knew that it took as much as it gave.

It felt like he was being reborn. 

A part of him wondered why he had agreed to this, although the reward held greater merit. To be able to feel like he was truly himself made the process worthwhile. Not to mention that the sprawling records of their family lineage that his mothers’ kept locked away indicated that he was not the first one in their family line to go through with this procedure.  

The process overall lasted minutes, but to Nikolai, it felt like centuries. It was only when the colours faded away and the bombardment of sensations fell to a dull thrumming in his mind did he become aware of his mothers’ voices. 

“Take him back to his room. The recovery process…”

“The recovery process can be tedious.” Another voice, less familiar and more jarring, cut his mothers’ protests short. Nikolai struggled to see who the owner was as the world seemed to spin in front of his eyes. He could make out the form of another Alkonost woman, with brown feathers meticulously groomed, standing a few feet away. Her lips were pursed in a thin line and her golden eyes were fixated on someone behind Nikolai’s prone form. 

“But it has never failed. He’ll be fine within a few days.” Another shift, and Nikolai felt himself being lifted from his position on the floor. The Alkonost woman’s gaze moved to meet Nikolai’s and her lips, if possible, drew into an even tighter line. “Contact us if problems arise, although I think there won’t be. I highly doubt the one who is supposed to be destined for ‘great things’ will be going away any time soon.”

With that, she turned away as the world in front of Nikolai’s eyes faded to black. 

______________________________

“Nikolai.” The voice of his teacher snapped Nikolai out of his daze, forcing him to turn his gaze from the treeline outside to the front of the classroom. An Alkonost woman stood at the front, her grey feathers adorned with silver, and a small smile tugging at her lips. “You’re lost, again.” 

“Not lost,” Nikolai was quick to protest as he straightened his back. “Just thinking.” 

“And what were we thinking of today?” The amusement was not lost in her tone as she settled herself on the edge of her desk. Her name was Lada, and she had been teaching him and his sisters to sing since they were hatchlings. His mothers’ could have taught them, but they were too busy with their political careers. Hence why Lada was in their lives. 

Singing was, unsurprisingly, a major part of an Alkonosts life. Singing was involved in everything they did: celebrations, mourning, daily routines, even mundane tasks such as cleaning often led to a chorus of songs from the flock engaged. One of the most profound memories Nikolai held was singing at a chapel during a Christmas celebration. The way the chapel had been lit in a brilliant golden glow, with holly entwining its columns, and how the room had been filled with Alkonost of all colour and kind singing with their glorious voices, was burned into his mind. He held onto it with every ounce of strength he had, in fear that he would never experience it again. 

“The regulations.” He spoke what he thought because he knew that Lada would find out either way. The regulations were on his mind a lot lately. His mothers had taken him aside and explained that his family, in particular, were under government watch for the use of their voices. An average Alkonost could wipe an individual's memories for 12-24 hours with the right training. Nikolai’s family could wipe them for more than 48. In fact, an ancestor of his had been known to have a voice that could wipe memories for years, if she so chose. 

“Ah.” Lada’s smile slipped and she fixed him with a more stern look. “What about the regulations?”

The question was so simple, but enough to cause Nikolai’s shoulders to tense up. It was no secret that the regulations were greatly protested by many Alkonost, but there were a few in the mixes—Lada included—who believed they saw the benefits of the regulations. 

“They’re unethical, that’s what,” Nikolai was quick to snap with his response, his brow furrowing as he turned to face his tutor. “Why should we be restricted when our gift doesn’t even make it into the harmful category of magic? Vampires have no restrictions on their compulsion abilities, and I dare say that being able to persuade someone to do something like slaughter their family is much more dire than causing memory loss for a day. Not to mention the lack of restrictions on Banshees, Fae, or even Kelpies. God knows their abilities are worth a ban.” 

Lada’s expression betrayed no emotions as she folded her talons on her lap, allowing Nikolai his brief vent. It was only when there was a pause for breath between his rants did she speak. 

“You’re forgetting, Nikolai, that many of the individuals you’ve listed have their own struggles they deal with. Yes, they may not have restrictions, but they’re subjected to far worse.” Lada’s lips twisted to a grimace as she fixed him with a stern gaze. “Like the slave trade, for example. No Alkonost is subject to that, but I can tell you that many Kelpies are.” 

The slave trade. It was one of Lada’s main points to bring up whenever they got into this debate. Nikolai was young, yes, but he was well educated in what the slave trade incorporated. Many Alkonost and other higher-class species had a hand in its ongoing, and it wasn’t uncommon to hear it discussed at Alkonost events. Nikolai bit his tongue. It was better to not discuss those kinds of things with Lada; she usually found a way to make several fair points to counter any objection Nikolai voiced. He wasn’t a fan of the trade either, but his resentment didn’t run as deep as Lada’s did. 

“Why don’t we get back to the topic at hand?” Lada clapped her talons together and stood back up, gesturing for Nikolai to come closer. “We can practice a piece from принц огня, if you would like?” 

принц огня was an Alkonost tale from the old country about an Alkonost Prince with red, gold, and violet plumage who discovered he had the ability to control fire. Most people chalked it up that he was a phoenix mixed into the nest, but it was still one of Nikolai's favorite stories to listen to when he was a hatchling—only because he saw so much of himself in the Prince. Not to mention that both of them had received ill-fated prophecies about how they were destined for greatness, although the Prince's ended off on a much more tragic note. From what the text said, his magic cost him the life of his loved one, and although his powers brought great change for the Alkonosts, his grief over his partner's death drove him into utter despair. The story ended off with the Prince becoming nothing but a wandering hermit who sang a mournful ballad, much to many's chagrin. Alkonosts rarely felt, but when they did feel, they felt with their entire being, and the Prince's story showed how dire the consequences of this could be. 

Gathering himself, Nikolai frowned at Lada's abrupt change of topic, but nodded his head regardless. In the end, it was best to focus on lessons rather than politics. 

_______________________________

"You seem preoccupied." Rishika's voice all but purred in Nikolai's ear as she settled herself beside him, tucking her feathers in as she did so. The sunlight filtering between the tree leaves and into the courtyard caused Nikolai to squint a bit as he turned his head to address her. She was looking rather smug this morning. 

"What did you do now?" Rishika, for all she was worth, was quite notorious for inciting a bit of trouble wherever she went. Nikolai had found this out himself when they met in high school, which he so fondly called the 'Incident'. She became a close friend of his after the 'Incident' occurred. She also became a fast enemy of the two students; they ended up getting expelled, although Nikolai was more responsible for that outcome. Not that anyone would say that, of course.

Rishika had the audacity to look offended at his question for just a moment, before a wide grin split across her face. "I got the dog girl—Aileen, I think her name was?—to loan me some of her assignments for cheap. At least now I'll finally get what McCal is talking about in their statistics classes." 

"Did you blackmail her or something?" Another more disapproving tone interjected before Nikolai could get a word in. A flash of raven-black feathers indicated the arrival of Faust, who promptly settled himself into his usual position on Nikolai's right. Rishika shook her head vigorously.

"Hardly! I just needed to ask, and she was more than obliging." She tutted a bit before closing her eyes. "Sometimes simply asking is the best way."

"She was probably terrified." Nikolai's own lips twitched into a grin as he surveyed the courtyard. "You're a rather intimidating person, even when you aren't trying to be." 

The courtyard was less busy than usual, which was odd. The last gasps of the summer months often drew everyone to the outdoors in a bid to bask in the warmth before the long winter set in. Nikolai knew for a fact that he wasn't too eager to have to bundle up again, hence why he was out here. His body was naturally warm and to be wrapped in scarves and blankets was near-torture for him. This didn't seem to be the same case for others. Besides the flock of Alkonosts, there was a wyvern, a fae, a faun, and a few groups of various other species dispersed among the trees. 

"Well, I'm rather flattered by that declaration, Nikolai." Rishika rested a talon on her chest as she sent him a rueful smirk. "It's the closest thing to a compliment you've ever given." 

Now it was Faust's turn to give a scoff as he leaned back on the picnic bench, focusing his attention skywards. Nikolai followed his gaze to the windows of the North Courtyard. The university itself was impressive, but the architecture was truly a marvel. Given that the university was an old castle generously loaned by a few nobles, the mixture of gothic arches with Edwardian flair was breathtaking when first seen. After several classes and near breakdowns, though, Nikolai deduced that it lost a bit of its charm. 

He was about to prod Faust to see what was on his mind—presumably, something to do with James—but a flash of colours in one of the windows caught his attention first. The figure that the colour belonged to seemed to pause and look towards them, as though they knew they were being observed. Nikolai's smile grew broader as he leaned forward, taking in their still form. Alkonosts had wonderful sight-another perk of their natural predation- and Nikolai could see every detail of their observer's face. He leaned to his right and jabbed his elbow sharply into Faust's side, gesturing to the observer. 

"It seems like we have an audience." Faust focused his attention to where Nikolai had indicated, and arched an eyebrow in response. 

Nikolai, in return, leaned forward further and shot a rather exaggerated wink and kiss to where the observer stood, prompting Faust to let out a chuckle. The observer seemed to bristle at the attention and hurry off, leaving Nikolai to watch their form disappear past the remaining few windows. 

"Was that necessary?" Faust asked, closing his eyes again. 

"Well, I strive to make our audiences feel welcomed. Besides," Nikolai paused and looked between his two friends. "Do any of you recognize what that was?"

Both Rishika and Faust shook their heads. None of the flock seemed able to assign what species their mysterious observer belonged to, leaving Nikolai feeling unsatisfied. Hopefully, he'd run into the observer at a closer proximity. 

They were interesting, and interesting things were something that Nikolai always strived to collect.

[hellyeahheroes]

Orphaned: How The New 10s Have FAILED Cassandra Cain

As we approach the end of “the New 10s”, how we came to call this decade (a term I will be using in the common usage, referring to all years with 201X number, not the proper one which ends with 2020), I took a look at one of the characters who I really feel got the short end of the stick through all of it  - Cassandra Cain.

There were some good things for the character in the decade. Writers like James Tynion IV, Bryan Edward Hill actually gave her as much respect as they could in given circumstances and she even made her first-ever appearance in animation. However, looking back I cannot say that it has been actually kind time for her . The bad just outweighs the good. I have isolated five reasons why I believe that to be the case.

1. The Erasure

This room is full of New 52 Cassandra Cain stories.

As always, everything boils down to New 52, the reboot that defined the New 10s for DC Comics. A reboot that asked us to assume Cassandra no longer exists and never existed, even if this did not mesh with the supposedly intact, just compressed, Batman continuity. The only writer who seems to have ignored it was Grant Morrison, whose Batman Inc. was caught by the reboot in the middle and seems to exist in a Schrödinger's relationship with two continuities - both part of the old and new DC Universe.

What is worse is that DC editorial has been silently stonewalling writers who wanted to use the character with vague excuses of her supposedly being toxic and little explanation beyond that. Scott Snyder was denied the use of her in Batman and had to create Harper Row as a replacement. Gail Simone’s pitch for a Batgirls book featuring Cassandra, Stephanie Brown and Barbara Gordon was rejected in favor of a solo Barbara book. In which both characters have been banned from appearing. The only exception was the Future’s Ends special, which was literally Simone’s final issue. It feels that this was done due to higher-ups' desire to push Barbara as the One True Batgirl. Which manifested in some of the editorial changes made to the book, like an artist being told, behind Simone’s back, to make a new villain look like Stephanie. Or Batman flat out calling Barbara “Only Good Batgirl” despite this making no sense in a continuity where she is literally the only one to ever use the name. The fact this ended up doing more harm than good to Barbara is a topic for another list like this altogether. The crux of it is, DC did their worst to make people forget Cassandra ever exists and alienate her fans for years, hoping to get rid of them entirely.  As the very existence of this article proves, their attempts were less than successful.

2. The Alienation

Once DC actually gave in and allowed Snyder to bring Cassandra back, other problems arose. The first one has come in the form of her new codename - Orphan. That name was supposed to allow her establishing her own identity instead of being defined by Bruce and Barbara. However, this argument seems dishonest when it is an identity previously used by her villainous father. The idea of Cassandra redeeming it has some merit, I admit. But this decision does send a message of her being defined solely by her abuser. It also serves to separate her from the rest of the Batfamily. Originally Cassandra has been portrayed as a member of the group and an adoptive sister to all of Bruce Wayne’s fellow sidekicks. Now it feels like her very name serves to single her out, an orphan among orphans.

This problem is not limited to the title. In general, Cassandra is now written as more isolated from the rest of the Batfamily, excluded from as many things as possible or having her role limited to nothing but a cameo. It has been 5 years and DC did as little as possible to reestablish her relationships with any people she was close with previously. In fact, with characters like Stephanie or Tim Drake, they seem to be betting on fans remembering their bonds from the previous continuity and act like they do not need to put in the work to rebuild them. Even if such measures have been taken for things like the reveal of her mother again. Her relationship with Barbara is as quickly cut as it was reestablished, without giving us anything but one or two scenes that work mostly as a reminder of what the two have lost from old continuity. She is not allowed to form new bonds with major characters either, her interactions with Jason Todd and Damian Wayne being kept to a bare minimum even more than before New 52. 

What’s worse is that new connections that she does form end quickly broken and undermined. After a big buildup of her friendship with Harper that girl gets completely written out of Batman comics altogether. Her relationships with Clayface and Batwoman were shattered with the former’s death. Not only that but DC seems entirely unwilling to follow on plot threads like this. It has been over a year by now since Kate was forced to kill Basil to save Cassandra’s life and not a single interaction between the characters seems to be allowed to ever bring that up, despite the effect it should have on both of them. I’ve gotten an impression they aren’t allowed to interact at all anymore, just stand awkwardly next to each other in group shots. Even Cassandra’s currently established bond with Duke Thomas feels constantly undermined by a looming threat he will end the story broken and turned into a villain. All of this sends a message that Cassandra is not a real part of the Batfamily, more a hired muscle than a real member of the group. 

Even the relationships with her villains have been taken away from her by simply erasing said villains. The same goes for many characters who once were her supporting cast, like Brenda or Onyx. Even her father had to be killed despite how many great scenes past writers could work out of confronting the two and exploring both how twisted his view of her is and what extent of the damage he has done to her. It gives an impression of outright spite, as if DC only agreed to bring her back at the cost of stripping her away from all interesting story threads.

3. The Jobbing

The less is said about Thomas Wayne vs Entire Batfamily, the better.

One of the problems with Cassandra’s portrayal is jobbing. For those who do not know, jobbing is a term in wrestling where a wrestler is made to lose a fight to put their opponent over with the audience. The bigger the reputation of a certified badass the jobber has, the more likely people are to buy the other guy as a genuine threat. A quote attributed to veteran wrestler Christian goes “If you can make the other guy look good you will always find a job, but you will have to do the job”.

Sadly, since her return, Cassandra has been reduced to a jobber. A character who is known as the best martial arts fighter in the Batfamily, if not in the DC Universe as a whole, is constantly made to lose to make someone else look good. In fact, between 2015 and 2019 the character had literally a single clean victory. By “clean” I mean a fair one on one fight. Every single one of her other victories was immediately being retconned as her opponent holding back (Dick Grayson) or undermined by her having the help of other characters (Lady Shiva, Azrael). Even the one opponent she was allowed to beat, Ismael, was a new character introduced just a few issues prior and his only show of skill to speak of was beating her in a previous fight. Meanwhile, she is constantly made to lose against opponents who have never been shown to possess skills or abilities that could make it believable, like Jason Todd, Helena Bertinelli or Karma. Thomas Wayne, a character whose use of guns was justified as compensation for his horrible hand-to-hand skills, is likely the worst example of them all. Cassandra is allowed to beat unnamed minions, be it Colony soldiers or League of Shadows ninjas. However, these do little to establish her as a force to be reckoned with she once was. After all, every single hero takes down hordes of minions constantly. Overall her status as a great fighter is at this point nothing more but an informed ability and DC has killed all credibility she once had.

There are painful and insulting implications that come along with Cassandra’s jobbing. This is because her skills as a martial artist have always been something she took great pride in and formed a lot of her self-esteem around. She finds comfort and relief from living with her disability in them. Her story is not one of a person “overcoming” their disability or have it nullified by superpowers that comic books are sadly full of. It is a story of a disabled person learning to live with their disability by finding solace in other skills she has and proving herself a true master despite said disability. By making her be beaten by everyone and their mother, DC turned that character arc into a cruel joke. Cassandra who is losing every fight is Cassandra that DC wants you to laugh at. Mock her for being delusional to think disabled people can be heroes and not just helpless victims. An ableist position very in line with a company that erased Barbara Gordon’s disability and history as Oracle, and to this day has editorial personally offended by the idea she could be anything but helpless in a wheelchair. As a result all Cassandra stories since her return just feel mean-spirited.

4. Shiva

Since Cassandra's return, the only two stories to focus on her have been about her mother, Lady Shiva. This has been a larger problem that has existed since Dan DiDio started meddling with the characters. We could see it in a classic story Destruction Daughter as well. There seems to be a desire on an editorial level to repeat and outdo the classic fan-favorite fight between them from Batgirl #25. Which is by many considered the best Cassandra story and the pinnacle of Kelley Puckett's run. But the editorial does not want to simply “top” that fight. They also want to somehow integrate it into a bigger story that ties Shiva with League of Assassins. I mean no disrespect to James Tynion or Bryan Hill or Anderson Gabrych, but none of them managed to truly make it work. The stories, while still well-written, seem to be inherently contrived. And I believe the future attempts will never truly work no matter who is writing them. The whole premise is nonsensical. Shiva that works with Ras Al’Ghul and his League is by definition out of character as the two have no aligning goals to speak of. There is nothing he can offer her and she doesn’t care for his goals. And the idea of sticking with him to fight challenging opponents is undermined by a fact she could get a good fight by simply slaughtering his entire organization. I started comparing this to Street Fighter to easily explain my issue with this. For Shiva to work with Ras makes as little sense as for Akuma to be M. Bison’s lackey.  DC is constantly trying to sell to us a story that does not work and then angrily try again when it is not hailed as better than Batgirl #25. It seems that Cassandra has become a means to an end in all of it. That she exists solely to get Shiva over as a minion to a bigger villain she has no good reason to follow in the first place.

This does nothing to make Cassandra less of a jobber either, as Shiva has been stuck in the same position for the entire decade herself and at this point is no more threatening than a Teletubby. Especially if the same stories that are supposed to reestablish Shiva as a threat are the stories where she fights her daughter. It feels like the two characters are trying to each regain their credibility by beating the other one because DC did such a good job of undermining them they wouldn’t be allowed to defeat anyone else.

While I want Shiva to be an antagonistic force in Cassandra’s life and she is a great villain, the way it is done does nothing for either character. Their complex relationship and clashing philosophies don't need to be violent or even physical at all to be compelling. It effectively squanders all potential the two have, seemingly for no other reason than to put Ras Al’Ghul over.

5. No Focus

Some of you may have caught on the prevailing theme of these points. Cassandra is no longer being written as a character in her own right. She is erased or pushed in the background to not overshadow Barbara. Her relationships are not being built upon and her plotlines are being dropped in favor of focusing on other characters. She is isolated from her new family and her membership is undermined even by her own codename. She keeps losing so that villains can look strong and cannot score a victory to not make someone “more important” look weak. She keeps being dragged into fights with Shiva to push Ras Al’Ghul as a bigger deal. She is constantly on team books that are always about other people first. 

This pattern speaks for itself. Despite an ever-increasing number of her fans and even writers who adore her, DC does not care about Cassandra Cain. This whole decade the company has shown the only role they see for her is someone used to push characters the editorial wants people to like instead. DC’s treatment of her betrays their arrogance, the belief the editors know better what the fans want than the fans themselves. Sadly it seems to have spilled onto other media as well. From what we know about her appearance in the upcoming Birds of Prey movie, Cassandra is the only character the creators did not care to get right, just somebody to make others look good. This is also why I am not holding my breath for her upcoming appearances in DCeased and Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey books. At the end of the day these are still not her stories, just someone else’s books she was allowed to be in. Do not get me wrong, I hope we really get this “Cass Renaissance” the fandom is getting excited about. But outside of Shadow of the Batgirl, which will actually be a story about her, I do not trust DC to treat her as more than a glorified prop for other characters. If there is one thing I learned is that you can never expect good things from the Big 2. You can hope for the best and prepare for the worst. But they will very rarely offer you a surprise that is actually pleasant.

- Admin

[aconitemare]

[jaydick fic] Before That, And Colder

Chapter One

Summary:  It's been over a year since Dick left Spyral. He's finally settling back into his old life, but his time undercover has unsettled the dust that once collected over the past. Now Dick has a barrage of untouched memories to sort through and yet another Batman case summoning him away from the 'Haven. And while Dick is catching up to his past, Jason's is catching up to him.

AO3

Next Chapter 

The Batcave has a myriad of underground tunnels leading to it from miles around, but Dick as usual enters through the same trapdoor in the study he used as a kid. This library is more modest than the others Bruce keeps, with tenfold the ambiance. The books flaunt their withered spines and yellowed pages, elders of an erudite community, and intrigue emanates from the very dust collecting atop shelves and between pages. This is not a room Alfred obligates himself to maintain quite so keenly. His neglect may be strategic, some emergency deterrent to wandering guests with sensitive allergies. Not that a guest has ever, at least to Dick’s knowledge, made it this deep into the Manor. 

This particular room also features in a long-standing, recurring dream Dick has had since he was ten years old. The dream has aged with him; the details are softer, more nebulous — his subconscious could once recall the exact titles on each book’s spine, the precise pattern of the red and gold rug on the floor — but the dream’s accuracy eventually faded with the real-life furniture. The quiet terror that possessed him, however, intensified. The worsening fear is probably not specific to the dream though; the world itself is scarier to Dick than it was fifteen years ago.

The dream begins with Dick in this study, the burning sconces casting shadows and providing dim light. In the real world, the sconces are electronic; man-made, ordinary, and only on if he flicks the switch. But in his head, they are made of real fire. They burn regardless of him, entirely independent of his actions, ignited long before he arrives. As the scene progresses, Dick opens the trapdoor by pulling out the correct books in the correct order; putting them back in a different, correct order; waiting for the middle shelf to retract into the wall behind it; staring unblinking into the retinal scanner until he was cleared. 

This process quickened as Dick got older until the door would open without him lifting a finger. The door immediately reveals a steep, stone staircase that plunges into infinite darkness. The wordless terror, the fear that calls distantly as if from the other end of a tunnel, grips him here. He must descend the stairs; that is the dream’s one imperative. Sometimes he takes the first step himself, allowing the unknown to swallow him by increments. Sometimes he falls, a blameless mistake, and slips innocently into the open mouth of night. Sometimes he is pushed, a comforting hand on his back turned treacherous. Dick never does look behind his shoulder or acknowledge the betrayal; he doesn’t need to. He knows who the man is and trusts him even as he plummets. 

 But that is all a dream. The trapdoor doesn’t really open unto a staircase — not right away, at any rate. Dick has to make the trek through a dimly lit corridor first, which is murder on the legs after just patrolling Bludhaven. He hasn’t had time to relax the muscle, having coming straight here after a text from Bruce. The door makes a loud sound when it finally shuts, which Dick remembers used to freak the bejeezus out of him when he was ten. The temperature also drops rapidly, although this doesn’t unsettle him anymore. Robins fear neither dark nor enclosed spaces. They revel in the creepy-crawly. Flourish, even, once training has been completed. 

Dick takes the stairs two at a time. The elevator, accessible through a strangely grandiose walk-in storage closet, wasn’t added until much later in Dick’s adolescence. He still prefers the stairs; they feel quicker. Cement gives way to rock. The air dramatically cools halfway down the stairs. Moisture clings to the walls, the ceiling, the floor. A few feet from where he stands, the Batcave is bathed in blue light. Dick spots Bruce down below, ant-like from here, bowed before a colony of busy monitors. Dick leaps over the last ten steps or so, flitting towards the hunched exoskeleton of the Batman. 

“You summoned?” Dick greets and thinks about how ants communicate through pheromones and stridulation. An ant can disclose its role within the group by injecting pheromones into food, which they then directly feed another ant. Dick pictures Bruce rapidly rubbing his legs together, finds this funny, and then imagines Damian spitting chewed-up falafel into Tim’s open mouth. This is no less funny for its grossness. 

Bruce glances at him, a miraculous feat that nearly sends Dick stumbling backward in shock. “What’s that face for?” Bruce asks in the same second he quickly returns his focus to his research. Dick consciously relaxes his wrinkled nose, courtesy of Ant-Damian. 

“No reason,” answers Dick breezily. “How’s Gotham hanging?”

Bruce’s chosen screen, a small tablet-sized rectangle built into the desk, mirrors the information on the much larger main screen on the wall. Dick cranes his neck to look at it, but not before catching the upward tug of Bruce’s lips. “From the belfry, as usual,” he quips. 

“Ha!” Dick exclaims and pokes Bruce’s shoulder once. “That was funny. I knew you had it in you, B.”

“Thank you.”

Dick continues, “Everyone told me, ‘that man is as dry as a raisin,’ but I insisted that you’d make a joke pun-day.”

“I already said thank you, Dick,” Bruce reminds. Across the giant screen is a slowed-down video reel of a man — a boy, really, judging by the way he holds himself despite his grown height — being tied to a streetlamp. 

“Who’s that?” Dick asks. 

Bruce zooms in on the victim’s face. “Terry Weind. Sixteen years old. Badly beaten, but stable. General Hospital released him this morning. There are two other young men — both aged sixteen, both from low-income households — discovered in the same fashion in downtown Gotham the past month.”

“So I’ve heard,” admits Dick. No pictures of the victims have been released, either through mainstream news channels or the bat-vine. Dick recognizes the background instantly as Park Row where Bruce had taken the liberty of installing his high-tech spycams. Bruce keeps Crime Alley well-monitored even as a memorial. For good reason, as it turns out, because it’s suddenly become volatile again after years of dormancy. 

Bruce switches to the next tape. “Devin White, fifteen years old. He’s the third victim and was admitted last night. According to Oracle, hospital records list him with internal bleeding, a cracked skull, two shattered kneecaps, a fractured scapula, and a broken arm.”

Devin looks up on the screen and Dick automatically pauses the tape, hand darting across the keyboard, to take in the boy’s fear-blown brown eyes. He resumes the video. 

“I can’t identify the assailant,” Bruce informs, keying into Dick’s intent. “He wears a red hood and keeps his head down at all times. According to Gordon, the victims are all certain it was a man but none can remember his face.”

That surprises Dick. “They would’ve been looking right at him. And there’s street lamps,” he says.

Bruce grunts his assent, eyes glued on his screen. Devin struggles futilely on the screen as the man steps back and raises his arm above his head. Moonlight glints on metal.

“Wait,” says Dick, throat tightening, “is that —”

Before he can finish his sentence, the gleaming crowbar cracks against the boy’s skull. And then his face. His left shoulder. His right. His kneecaps then. Face again, other side. Dick’s jaw clenches. He doesn’t look away. At the end, the man removes his phone from his pocket and holds it over the boy — either taking a picture or sending a text, or both, from the angle and the time it takes before he’s pocketing the object again. 

“One of the Joker’s goons,” Dick decides, punch-to-the-gut quick, when the attacker finally walks away, crowbar tucked into a duffle bag and the boy a crumpled piece of paper beneath a weakly flickering light. Dick changes his mind. “But no, he wouldn’t care anymore. It’s been, god, six years.” Out loud, six doesn’t sound very long at all. Dick sees Jason’s death like a black-and-white photograph, forever ago and therefore impossible today. But the pictures of Jason back then are in color, his visage spread out on the front pages of newspapers dating within the decade. “The joke’s been played out,” Dick declares anyway because it would be for the Joker. 

“Maybe not. He’s unpredictable and historically not above recycling old material. That’s why the hoodie bothers me,” Bruce confesses. He pauses the video and faces Dick. The glow from the monitor limns the severe cut of his cheekbone as it casts his face into extremity: the heavy brow pulls farther down, the wide lips weld into one shut line, and his austere eyes sink towards a deeper, darker blue. Dick sees himself in the pupils, a distant figure peering out from a dark well. 

Bruce pushes his chair away from the desk so he remains seated yet notably detached from Devin White. Dick can feel the heat emanating from the computers, warming one side of his body, as Bruce rests his chin atop his palm. Aloud, Bruce contemplates the question, “Is the color coincidental, or a nod at the Red Hood?”

Dick barely even registered the color, but once he does, his heart drops into the pit of his stomach. His stomach drops to his feet. His whole body has capsized, the world itself hurrying to reorient itself to his new right-side-up. “That would mean the Joker knows Red Hood was a Robin.”

“It would, wouldn’t it,” Bruce says flatly. 

Dick follows the train of thought. “Then — what? He knows you watch the Park Row Memorial? He’s — baiting you? What does he want with this stunt?” Dick looks, frustrated, away from the broken kid on the screen towards the sturdy man in front of him. Bruce is quiet for a few moments, moments where Dick can feel his own heartbeat in his chest, his ears, his fingertips. He waits Bruce out, a red gash of a smile widening behind his eyes meanwhile. Then, finally:

“I met Jason on Park Row.” The statement is more utterance than response, spoken to the floor in a low tone. Dick’s mind immediately presses against whatever anxiety Bruce is brewing for himself. 

“A lot of events have happened on Park Row,” says Dick. “If you think this person — the Joker, or whoever — knows that much, ah, they’d have to be psychic.” Internally, Dick’s profile of Jason and Bruce makes room for another detail. Twenty-five years old, out of the house for seven years, and still Dick collects his mentor’s unnecessary, painful secrets. Dick is a recordkeeper of other people’s wounds. 

Bruce leans back. Dick knows he means to reset himself; change the angle of his thoughts with the angle of his body. “Maybe so,” Bruce grants, “but I’m willing to bet they know that street hits close to home.”

Dick purses his lips and thinks of scattered pearls. “Everything that happened on Park Row happened to Bruce Wayne, not Batman,” he reasons. “If the Joker knew who you were, and what this memorial meant to you, he wouldn’t lead with a Robin. Even one he,” here, Dick falters. “Even Jason,” he neatly amends. “His obsession is wholely with you.”

Bruce considers this. “Then either it’s not the Joker at all, or the Joker only knows that Red Hood was Robin, without knowledge of Jason Todd, or —”

“Or the ski-mask is purely coincidence,” Dick finishes. “For that matter, Bruce, it could all be coincidental — the victimology, the weapon —”

“Except that Jason contacted Tim the other day,” Bruce interrupts. His tired eyes seize Dick, seem to shake him by his very arms. “The day following Weind’s attack, photographs of the victim were left on his patrol bike. Photographs of Leland’s attack were delivered to the Red Hood through a series of messengers switching hands until the envelope got to him. The latest victim, as of two nights ago, had photographs attached to his bike again.”

Dick’s eyebrows have raised by this point. “Jason told Tim all this?” 

“More or less. Not enough to satisfy, but Jason is hardly cooperative as a general character trait. Tim compiled his notes for me; I’ll forward them to you.”

Dick bites the further questions that taste like metal on his tongue, demanding to know why Jason would go to Tim first. It’s not essential. It’s reached Dick, at any rate, as all family matters do.

“Whomever our perp is, we can safely assume they know the details of Robin’s death and know that he came back as Hood.” Dick waits for Bruce to contribute more information, some other detail Tim afforded him, and continues when Bruce gives the slightest nod. Bruce is already on his computer, retrieving Tim’s file on the case and mailing it to Dick. “That’s a lot of baseline knowledge on their part,” Dick muses. “And a lot of patience. This is a long-con, no question.” 

Dick rambles about Jason’s enemies — mostly ordinary gangbangers who likely wouldn’t have the connections or patience to sleuth Hood’s previous alias — as well as Batman’s historic opponents, who have never exhibited an equivalent fixation with any of the Robins before. Bruce rubs his chin, eyes on his computer, while Dick consolidates their shared thoughts. 

“Not to get technical here, but we have a whole boatload of equally implausible possibilities here, Bruce,” Dick concludes.

“No more so than we usually start off with on a case,” Bruce replies immediately.

Dick laughs, low and tired. He can feel exhaustion creeping into his bones at the same steady pace all his needs do. Hunger, fatigue, thirst, rest — these sensations rarely overwhelm him, but instead stalk him with restraint like prowling predators. 

When Dick laughs, Bruce glances up at him with a small smile. For a moment, Dick thinks of spending the night in his old bedroom. But he has a life in Bludhaven. His life. 

Dick’s work phone buzzes. He slides it out, unlocks it, to skim over Tim’s notes. “So, should I put in a request for time off at the station?” he checks, half-joking. The BPD had been graciously flexible during his first year as a beat cop, but his stint in Spyral has reset any seniority he might have accumulated. Plus, he’s reluctant to coast on the “aren’t you jazzed I’m not actually dead” card. Half his coworkers entered after Dick’s time in Bludhaven, and only a quarter of the ones who remember him appreciated the cleaning-out he did on the dirty cops. 

Bruce quirks an eyebrow. “Can you afford to?” he asks. 

Dick translates the question in his head: Would you let me help with your bills in the meantime? “Probably not. I don’t need time off. I’m used to not sleeping — seriously, I think if I had a full eight hours, it would actually shock my system and land me in a hospital,” Dick answers. He looks around the cave in the overpowering light that somehow manages to always feel dim. Is there a comfortable chair he can settle into? He’s getting too big to perch on the computer desk without pressing fifty buttons, some of them possibly red and ominously labeled things like “EJECT” and “DO NOT TOUCH.” 

“Are you equating sleep deprivation with drug addiction?” Bruce asks, amusement lightening his voice, draining some of the dark from the room. 

Dick locates an ultra-cozy office chair shoved near a map table. He sets his sights on the coffee-stained throw pillow atop heavy black leather. “I’m just saying, that would be a strange ER story: man jittery from insomnia withdrawals. Why risk the news headlines?” he muses, wheeling the office chair towards Bruce. 

Bruce does not agree. Instead, he points out, “You assume in a city hounded by masked villains and mini apocalypses that ‘son of billionaire sleeps pretty okay at night’ would catch people’s attention?”

Dick quietly blooms when Bruce says son . It’s a warm word like sun . How badly he always wants to hear that word; he stretches towards it, leafy limbs unfurling. He tries not to preen and instead seats himself, beginning the process of getting comfortable. This position, and then that position, around and around. 

“You look like a dog circling its tail when you do that,” remarks Bruce. 

Dick scrolls to the top of the file on his phone, having figured out how to spend the next few hours. “Dogs have the right idea. How else can you know for sure you’re using the cushion to its greatest potential unless you sample seating arrangements?” The file is far from lengthy, he’s gathered while skimming, but there are details Bruce hasn’t covered in their conversation. For example, all the victims were attacked downtown, but Trey Leland lives in Bludhaven and was only passing through. Opportunistic, Dick characterizes the attacker. 

“Are you comfortable?” Bruce asks. Dick grunts affirmatively, trying to focus. He hears Bruce say something about how Dick never stays in one spot anyway, but the words are more like ideas, like something transmitted through playscape talk tubes. 

There’s a zone Dick wants to reach where details of a case will absorb him so fully he doesn’t register hunger, exhaustion, or his bladder for that matter. Everyone in the masked business knows the zone, but it’s harder to access when he’s tired, which he is — a bad start for this mission, so he will try to sleep after tomorrow’s shift if he can. It occurs to him that he might not be able to, considering he doesn’t have a gauge on how long until this criminal will strike again, or escalate from teenagers to their actual target. 

He looks up from his phone and, from where his head spills out over the chair’s arm — noticeably hard and plastic beneath the cushion, already chafing the back of his neck — scrutinizes Bruce. Bruce must be tired, too, because he actually breaks away from his computer to return Dick’s stare.

“Yes?” prods Bruce after a moment. 

Dick answers immediately. “We’re going to have to work with Jason.”

Bruce’s expression reveals no challenge with this. “Yes,” he replies, neutral.

“Like, close-up. Face-to-face. We might have to — guard him,” he finishes, lamely, hoping he’s getting his point across. 

Luckily, Bruce does seem to understand finally the monumental undertaking of convincing Jason to accept their full help. “He’ll insist he has his own safehouse,” Bruce says. 

“Or that he has his own team,” Dick adds. 

“That team is haphazard at best with little in the way of deductive skills,” Bruce argues.

“It’s none of our business, he’ll say,” Dick counters.

“Then he should not have contacted Red Robin,” Bruce dismisses easily. 

 Dick is reevaluating his decision to remain on duty at the BPD. He’s almost not even tired anymore with this new, shiny, family-resistant case. “His safehouse is still functional,” Dick tosses into the ring. 

Bruce’s voice turns grave, eyes suddenly weighing onto Dick like stones on his chest. “No house is safe,” Bruce criticizes, “and the only people he can trust are the people whose identities may be equally compromised by this situation.”

Dick purses his lips and thinks. “He won’t like that,” he warns.

Bruce’s voice regains that darkness Dick tries so hard to lighten. It’s no use, though, not during cases like these, not when Jason is present. And he is always present, in the style of phantoms, but particularly now. Bruce flexes his jaw. “But he will heed it,” he states. 

Dick knows, if his and Jason’s situations were reversed, if Jason was the one putting barriers on whom Dick could trust, Dick would not listen. Dick would push back and then pull away from Jason, from Bruce and his untrusting brood. He has before. 

Dick watches Bruce who has fixed his attention concretely on the screen. He’s excruciatingly tense and it fills up the cave, tightening the muscles in Dick’s shoulder. The tendons in Bruce’s jaw flex and Dick can feel Bruce’s teeth grinding in his own head. He wants Bruce to turn around and meet his gaze. He wants to know if he’ll see himself in Bruce’s eyes again. But it’s no use; Bruce isn’t looking at him. He’s been dismissed without a word. 

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