#there’s a lot of cultural differences to think about with Shayera

[echowolfs]

Hot take: Hro’s a good guy by Thanagarian standards and a not so good guy by American standards, and that was hard for Shayera to reconcile with because while she is a Thanagarian who was raised on Thanagar, being on Earth for five years with very minimal contact with her home-world changed her expectations of other people and she didn’t recognize that change until it was nearly too late

[talleyuh]

i’m a pretty big fan of DC comics (specifically the movies because there are just so many gosh darn comic runs out there but i do my wiki research) and the characterization of diana prince/wonder woman is so all over the place.

i feel like i haven’t seen an adaptation of her character that really served her well, like everyone makes her super boring? i often see the criticism of captain marvel that she had no real personality outside of being a strong woman and i see that a lot with Diana in the DCAMU. like yes she’s a strong woman but I feel like there’s so much more that can be done with that character.

all of her dialogue in the dcamu movies was just really flat and boring. when she took center stage in wonder woman: bloodlines she made for a really forgettable character. i liked that they showed the lengths she would go in battle when she blinded herself to fight medusa but i had to reread my letterboxd review because i couldn’t remember that. i feel like the writing issue could be said for all of the dcamu movies, but they’re not available to watch on max anymore so i could be wrong.

i’ve seen most of the dceu movies (i am the strongest soldier i know) and i just found diana in any movie past wonder woman (2017) to be flat, repetitive, and radiate serious nlog energy. the entire crux of her character is that we the audience is to find her attractive, but god forbid we mess with her or she’ll beat us up. or when she said “i’m unlike any woman you’ve ever met” what about all the other female superheroes out there? she only works in a sort of male fantasy-only girl on the team kind of vibe. kind of similar to early black widow from the marvel movies but with only a little more agency.

i revisited justice league and justice league unlimited for the second summer in a row and i feel like the episodes where we get diana center stage are some of my favorites. even though i have my gripes with bruce timm and the writing of diana there too, i think diana works a lot and she could’ve carried her own series with a different set of writers.

as far as i can tell in the in jl and jlu (and the 6 issues i pirated from the sensational wonder woman) diana is levelheaded, kind, compassionate, incredibly headstrong, and genuinely smart. sometimes she prioritizes the brawn a little more than strategy but she was raised as a warrior and i feel like that could’ve been an interesting arc to explore.

i really hate how in every adaptation i’ve seen, they made all of the Amazons seem like heartless misandrists. like according to greek mythology, ortrera (the mother of the amazons) was raised in a world where women were treated horribly so she left and built her own world with other women so they could live in peace and train to be warriors. i’m assuming that ortera’s daughter hippolyta (even tho she died) is supposed to be diana’s mom. i think that the pressure of basically being an heir to themyscira could’ve been a lot of pressure for diana to subscribe to her grandmother’s line of thinking and been part of the reason she even left paradise island in the first place. also women were oppressed because femininity was seen as lesser and i would’ve loved to see femininity not be villainized and have a place to flourish on paradise island where they would be safe to express themselves.

the more i watch dcau shows, the more i can tell that they were made by men for boys and no one else. diana and shayera were sidelined so much even though they were probably the most compelling, at least to me. i feel like the audience was supposed to side eye diana because she grew up in a culture that was misandrist but didn’t take the care to explain with nuance why that was a problem.

time and time again we see people write diana to reject femininity and denounce her womanhood in favor of her strength to show she’s just as good as a man, but that sucks. she has the potential to be such an interesting character on screen if someone is willing to put in the work. and i especially hate that we only see her embrace femininity when she’s in a romantic situation with a man. we see her talk a lot about the deep sisterhood she shares with her amazon sister, but i wanna see it happen. i want to see her embrace the women on the justice league, have girls nights with her civilian friends, complain about work, just exist as a regular woman living in america.

i’m so sick of every adaptation of her character have themes tied to surface level gender politics because we’ve already gotten the same character a dozen times when the other two parts of the trinity are given so much depth. so challenge yourself, write diana like a human being!!! she is so much more then her gender

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 7 January 2019

Quick Bits:

Aliens: Dust to Dust #4 concludes this series from Gabriel Hardman, Rain Beredo, and Michael Heisler. It’s been very good, capturing the feel and atmosphere of the first two Alien films and delivering a very taut horror-thriller. Absolutely gorgeous artwork from Hardman and Beredo.

| Published by Dark Horse

Atomic Robo: Dawn of a New Era #1 isn’t a bad jumping on point. It doesn’t really get you up to speed on the past of the series, but you also don’t really need to have read any of it to enjoy this story. Great humour and interesting tidbits of science and history as usual from Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener, Shannon Murphy, and Jeff Powell.

| Published by IDW

Avengers #12 works to build up Black Panther’s “Agents of Wakanda” to serve as a support network for information and grunt work throughout the world to feed the Avengers team proper. It’s an interesting use of otherwise lesser-used characters from Jason Aaron and definitely broadens the scope of the overall series.

| Published by Marvel

Barbarella/Dejah Thoris #1 is a very good beginning to this series from Leah Williams, Germán García, Addison Duke, and Crank!. Williams captures the tone and feel of both characters very well through their dialogue and the artwork from García and Duke is impressive.

| Published by Dynamite

Batman #62 is the second part of “Knightmares”, which near as I can tell is going to be a series of one-off stories by an array of brilliant artists with Batman as filtered through some strange psycho-thriller lens (or at least the first two parts adhere to that ethos). It’s good, but it’s weird. Great art from Mitch Gerads as Tom King keeps us off balance and at arms length with the narrative confusion.

| Published by DC Comics

Birthright #35 concludes this arc with an epic battle between Brennan and Mikey, as Brennan confronts his family, cutting deep into the resentment that Brennan has felt for his brother. The art from Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas is amazing.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Bitter Root #3 continues to be thoroughly excellent in every conceivable way, presenting a compelling mystery in the origins of the Jinoo, an interesting family drama delving into more of the history and interpersonal foibles of the Sangerye family, and it’s just an entertaining supernatural schlockfest on top of all of that. David F. Walker, Chuck Brown, Sanford Greene, Rico Renzi, and Clayton Cowles are delivering one hell of a story here. Oh, and the art from Greene and Renzi is stunning.

| Published by Image

The Black Order #3 shifts to the perspective of Black Dwarf here, and like the first issue, plays off a narrative that is contrary to what you’d expect. Where Glaive thought himself a comedian, Black Dwarf is more contemplative, wondering if his thoughts and desires are who he is, or if he’s merely the brute that others see. It’s interesting, even as it continues the ongoing plot of trying to destroy the Sinnarian Empire.

| Published by Marvel

By Night #7 takes an interesting turn as Heather’s father and uncle take a moment to act as exterminators and she and Jane try to rescue Barney from a mob boss. Love the humour as always from John Allison’s script, especially as he adds some unexpected elements. Very nice design and presentation of the bug from Eidolon by Christine Larsen and Sarah Stern.

| Published Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Captain Marvel #1 is a fun relaunch, perfectly mixing humour, action, and interpersonal drama as Kelly Thompson, Carmen Carnero, Tamra Bonvillain, and Clayton Cowles bring Carol back to New York. Beautiful colours throughout from Bonvillain, really making Carnero’s line art shine.

| Published by Marvel

Criminal #1 is a very welcome return to the Lawless family, as Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillips weave a tale of Ricky stealing an old thief’s necklace trying to bail Teeg out of jail, only to wind up in even more hot water than he began in. You don’t need to have read any of the previous volumes of Criminal before, but I still highly recommend that you do since they’re awesome.

| Published by Image

The Curse of Brimstone #10 gives us some more answers as Annie confronts Wandering Jack to get information on the Salesman and to figure out a way to possibly save her brother. This is still a weird series, but Justin Jordan, Eduardo Pansica, Júlio Ferreira, Rain Beredo, and Wes Abbott have definitely been making it interesting.

| Published by DC Comics

Deathstroke #39 gears us up for the conclusion next issue by positing that from Slade’s point of view what he’s claimed happened actually did happen, as the disparate threads converge. It’s interesting as to how Priest has been staging this story.

| Published by DC Comics

Die #2 is brilliant. As good as the first issue was, and it was really damn good, this one is even better as we get the exposed to some of the rules of this fantasy world and thrown headlong into the seamless world building of this realm. Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles have something truly magical here, taking a childhood love of science fiction and fantasy, and subverting it into something that can hurt us like weaponized nostalgia. It is absolutely stunning.

| Published by Image

Faith: Dreamside #4 is a very strong conclusion to this mini from Jody Houser, MJ Kim, Jordie Bellaire, and Dave Sharpe. The entire series has looked good, but Kim and Bellaire really take it to another level with this finale, the confrontation of Belu is just incredible.

| Published by Valiant

The Freeze #2 is probably better than the first issue and it was an incredibly debut, from Dan Wickline, Phillip Sevy, and Troy Peteri. I absolutely love that the focus isn’t on the freeze itself or what caused it, and is instead about the people living in the world and the problems that this kind of apocalypse could cause. It’s smart and leads to some very compelling character drama and complications.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 is amazing. Spectacular even. This is a very heartfelt and humorous debut from Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal, Nolan Woodard, and Travis Lanham that takes Spider-Man down to the local level, spotlighting his, well, neighbourhood. There’s also a back-up from Taylor, Marcelo Ferreira, Roberto Poggi, Jim Campbell, and Lanham that could well be a game-changer.

| Published by Marvel

The Green Lantern #3 continues to be one hell of trip from Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, Steve Oliff, and Tom Orzechowski. It still feels like something out of a different time, but that’s part of what really makes this work.

| Published by DC Comics

Gunning for Hits #1 is a pretty dense beginning to what’s apparently a crime drama mixed with the music industry, not at all like Empire because I know that’s probably what many would think. It’s seedier, grittier, down at the street level, but as I say, this is dense. This first issue has a lot of narration, a lot of dialogue, and a great number of pages that more or less outline how signing deals work in a how-to format. It’s unique, blending some of the hallmarks of something like an autobio comic with a more standard narrative approach. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what Jeff Rougvie, Moritat, and Casey Silver do for a second number.

| Published by Image

Hit-Girl #12 is the bloody conclusion to Rafael Scavone, Rafael Albuquerque, Marcel Maiolo, and Clem Robins’ “Rome” arc with Mindy and Paola confronting the corrupt convent. Absolutely beautiful artwork from Albuquerque and Maiolo, with even time for one last twist in the tale.

| Published by Image

House Amok #4 features some very impressive artwork from Shawn McManus and Lee Loughridge as the story takes and interesting path as it heads towards the conclusion. Christopher Sebela has been giving us an interesting look at this world through Dylan as the scales fell from her eyes, but this one makes us wonder, what if the family isn’t really crazy.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Justice League #15 heats things up on Hawkworld with a very interesting revelation about Shayera and Thanagar Prime, along with a deeper mystery about the multiverse. It really makes me wonder what James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder are getting at. Gorgeous art throughout from Jim Cheung, Stephen Segovia, Mark Morales, Tomeu Morey, and Wil Quintana.

| Published by DC Comics

The Last Siege #8 is the brutal conclusion to this series that has been a practical masterclass in storytelling, from character development through pacing, atmosphere and execution. This series has just been incredible. Landry Q. Walker, Justin Greenwood, Brad Simpson, and Patrick Brosseau stick the landing with one hell of a finale.

| Published by Image

Man Without Fear #2 continues to tear Matt Murdock apart as he finds ways not to deal very well with being hit by a truck. And gives in to fear. Great art from Stefano Landini and Andres Mossa as Matt’s nightmares come to life.

| Published by Marvel

Martian Manhunter #2 continues to be a bit of a slow burn, parcelling out a bit about the in-story present and then delving into more about J’onn’s past on Mars, building up Martian culture and what they were taking from Earth even in our ancient past. The art from Riley Rossmo and Ivan Plascencia is amazing.

| Published by DC Comics

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #2 is another great issue as Miles and the Rhino team-up to track down the missing kids. Saladin Ahmed does an amazing job of humanizing Rhino and making us empathize with his plight. The art from Javier Garrón and David Curiel is again very impressive. 

| Published by Marvel

Moth & Whisper #5 concludes this series from Ted Anderson, Jen Hickman, and Marshall Dillon. While it does bring the story to a satisfying resolution, it still leaves open the door for more to come, which I’d love to see.

| Published by AfterShock

Murder Falcon #4 delivers some pretty big revelations as the reunited Brooticus faces off against Magnum Khaos. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton are really nailing the heartfelt character beats in amongst the over-the-top monster battles.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Oblivion Song #11 deals with the fallout of Ed’s transference of another piece of Philly over to Oblivion. Gorgeous artwork as always from Lorenzo De Felici and Annalisa Leoni, particularly during the creature battles.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Outer Darkness #3 continues to show us how this universe works as the crew try to salvage a derelict vessel on a supposedly barren rock. This mix of horror and science fiction is wonderful and John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau are really creating something unique here.

| Published by Image / Skybound

The Punisher #6 begins the next leg of Frank’s ongoing nightmares with the first part of “War in Bagalia” from Matthew Rosenberg, Szymon Kudranski, Antonio Fabela, and Cory Petit. I’ve really been enjoying what Rosenberg has been doing since the “War Machine” arc and it just seems to be getting better. There’s some really intriguing things about a nation run by Baron Zemo here.

| Published by Marvel

Red Sonja #25 ends this volume with another one-off tale with Red Sonja ferrying a musician to a ship on the coast from Amy Chu, Erik Burnham, Carlos Gomez, Mohan, and Taylor Esposito. It’s a curious story of longing for home that allows for a little bit of reflection on the series, but it doesn’t ruminate on it long. 

| Published by Dynamite

Self/Made #2 doesn’t have the luxury of the twist of the first issue, so has to work harder to get past that “I see dead people” Sixth Sense moment, and, really, it does. This is just a damned good story, playing with sci-fi and fantasy elements, blended seamlessly due to it all being a representation of game development. Mat Groom, Eduardo Ferigato, Marcelo Costa, and Troy Peteri are doing some great work here.  

| Published by Image

Sleepless #11 brings all of the plots and machinations to an end as Sarah Vaughn, Leila Del Duca, Alissa Sallah, Gabe Fischer, and Deron Bennett bring the series to an end. Some very interesting bits of tradition, change, and resentment towards monarchy.

| Published by Image

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #4 is an epilogue to the “Spider-Geddon” event, paying tribute and burying the fallen. It’s a very haunting story, making you wonder if Gwen’s going to take a darker turn in the future. Seanan McGuire, Rosi Kämpe, Takeshi Miyazawa, Ian Herring, and Clayton Cowles do a wonderful saying goodbye to various parts of the Spider-Verse.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars: Age of Republic - Jango Fett #1 is this week’s one-shot exploring various characters around the Star Wars canon. Jody Houser, Luke Ross, Java Tartaglia, and Travis Lanham give us a decent story of betrayal and consequences with Jango and Boba Fett.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars Adventures: Destroyer Down #3 concludes this mini from Scott Beatty, Derek Charm, Jon Sommariva, Sean Parsons, Matt Herms, and Tom B. Long. It’s been interesting to see the two time periods of the stories play against one other with events in the past informing those in the present.

| Published by IDW

Thor #9 is somewhat of a companion piece to this week’s Avengers #12, setting up Roz Solomon as another Agent of Wakanda, but you don’t need to read both of them to enjoy them individually. This one delivers a lot of information on what’s going on in regards to the build up of the “War of the Realms” in addition to giving Roz a new purpose and changed outlook. Gorgeous artwork from Mike del Mundo.

| Published by Marvel

Turok #1 is an entertaining reimagining of the series from Ron Marz, Roberto Castro, Salvatore Aiala, and Troy Peteri, somewhat in line with the original Valiant interpretation, albeit moving it forward to the late 1800′s. Quite like the art from Castro and Aiala. Castro’s art reminds me a bit of a cross between Joe Kubert, Bart Sears, and Jordi Bernet.

| Published by Dynamite

United States vs. Murder Inc. #5 paints a very bleak picture for the next stage in the US government’s war against the crime families following the assassination of the President. Wonderful work on tone and atmosphere from Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming, Taki Soma, and Carlos M. Mangual. 

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Web of Venom: Venom Unleashed #1 is a pair of tales spotlighting the new dog-form of the symbiote as he chases down people infected by Carnage, then Cletus’ perspective on it, from Ryan Stegman, Kyle Hotz, Juan Gedeon, Marc Deering, Scott Hanna, Livesay, Roberto Poggi, Victor Olazaba, Dan Brown, Matt Yackey, Andrew Crossley, Carlos Cabrera, and Clayton Cowles. Really nice to see Hotz’s art here.

| Published by Marvel

William Gibson’s Alien 3 #3 has the crap hit the proverbial fan as meddling with the xenomorphs begins to bear its deadly fruit. Johnnie Christmas, Tamra Bonvillain, and Nate Piekos are doing such an amazing job at adapting this for comics, it makes me kind of sad that it wasn’t the direction the films took.

| Published by Dark Horse

Wizard Beach #2 continues the fun of the first issue, with Hex trying to get off the beach, build himself a castle, and hunt down tasty, delicious rats for lunch to no avail. Nice bits of humour and the introduction of a girl who Hex might well be smitten with, as well as a darker mystery involving her grandfather’s wand. Great art from Conor Nolan, Chad Lewis, and Meg Casey.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Wrong Earth #5 has both of the dimension-displaced Dragonflies(flymen) continue to attempt to get back to their respective homes. Also, through flashbacks and monologues, I kind of get the impression that Tom Peyer is trying to tell us that both of them are thoroughly insane. There’s also the usual back-up comic and prose text pieces to round out the issue.

| Published by Ahoy

Young Justice #1 is the launch vehicle of the new Brian Michael Bendis-driven Wonder Comics line. If you look at it from a perspective of DC’s continuity, it’s probably very confusing. Many of the characters seem to be in their pre-New 52, even potentially pre-Infinite Crisis forms, Gemworld is attacking, Amethyst seems particularly bloodthirsty, and we’ve got a couple of inexplicable legacy characters in Jinny Hex and Teen Lantern, but...I think that confusion, that chaos and frenetic energy, is part of the point, since at the onset, the invaders from Gemworld are aware of the shifts in the multiverse. So maybe give it a chance to develop from there are clue us in on what’s ultimately going on? Regardless, there’s gorgeous action, interesting layouts, and fascinating design work from Patrick Gleason and Alejandro Sanchez.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #3, Black Dahlia, Blackbird #4, Cemetery Beach #5, Curse Words #19, The Dreaming #5, DuckTales #16, Euthanauts #5, Go Go Power Rangers #16, God of War #3, Hack/Slash vs. Chaos! #2, Joe Golem: The Drowning City #5, Kick-Ass #11, LaGuardia #2, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest #4, Patience! Conviction! Revenge! #5, Predator: Hunters II #4, Prodigy #2, Rose #16, Star Wars #59, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #40, Vampirella/Dejah Thoris #4

Recommended Collections: Dread Gods, Eclipse - Volume 3, Lucy Dreaming, Modern Fantasy, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra - Volume 4: Catastrophe Con, Tomb Raider - Volume 4: Inferno

Housekeeping: You can check out my review of the hardcover of Rick Geary’s Black Dahlia here. 

Also, every Monday, I’ve been providing a selection for my comic of the week for Batman’s Bookcase. The latest was a look at Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham’s excellent Conan the Barbarian #1. Read it here.

d. emerson eddy is too hot to handle, too cold to hold, he’s not a Ghostbuster, and he’s not in control. Please somebody put him back into his cage and into some kind of climate controlled environment.

[timholtorf]

Time for a wild story!

This is a story that came back to my mind of those heady days when I was really into comic books.  This is the far flung days of 1999, when I would search through the old comic bins at Westgate Books in Saskatoon and search for everything and anything with Green Arrow and Hawkman.

I loved those two characters and their supporting cast.  I loved the fact that they both significant others and that they both had an interesting outlook on life.  All of that came about from when I was even younger, back when DC Comics had the old World’s Finest Comics series that was only a dollar, had no ads, and had five or six different stories.  Plus, for a while, the front and back covers made a huge picture.  There was Superman and Batman which was the feature story.  There was Green Arrow, Hawkman, and often Black Lightning, Shazam, the Creeper and many others. The Green Arrow and Hawkman stories were the ones that really drew me in.

That’s the history, now back to the late 1990′s. Which is still sorta history.

I had started to get into Birds of Prey.  At the time it was a few mini series and one shots, written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Greg Land.  It was nice to see Black Canary back in action, and it was great when the Huntress was added into the mix from time to time.  And during this time, it was the burgeoning days of the internet and forums.  I had made a bit of a name for myself as someone who knew most things related to the Thanagarian cop named Hawkman.

I especially loved Tim Truman’s Hawkworld prestige mini (which, you need to get, it’s a really good read).

This mini series became critically acclaimed, much like Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters by Mike Grell had as well.  It would eventually become a monthly series that followed the lives of the two Thanagarian cops as they navigated their way through policing, social situations, and culture in Chicago.

While the series was good, it had huge problems due to continuity.  The story that John Ostrander told was about the Hawks on Earth, but they were hoping that it would be a sort of retelling of the Pre-Crisis hawks.  You also had the problem that the Hawks were still a part of the JLA after Crisis.  And the editors wanted this story in Hawkworld to take place in the (at the time) current DCU.

So there was lots of issues, Steve Lieber took over in the relaunched Hawkman series, Shayera Thal became a private detective in Detroit, Katar became an avatar of the Hawk-God and absorbed the souls of Carter Hall and Shiera Hall, and eventually Katar was killed off.

JSA came back a few years later, and with it came the new Hawkgirl in Kendra Saunders.  There was no Hawkman yet, however.  Not until a major arc that had the JSA travel to Thanagar to bring back Carter Hall.  Carter revealed that it was Katar who helped him get back, but there was still memories of their time together sharing the same head space.

This was revealed in an arc in the Hawkman series where Shayera made an appearance, Animal Man guest starred and Byth was the antagonist (for those who don’t know, Byth Rok has a long history with the Hawks).

Okay, so what does all this have to do with Chuck Dixon and Birds of Prey, you may ask.

During this time, I think before the JSA revival, I received the most surprising of emails.  Direct from Chuck Dixon himself.  Being the huge comic nerd I was, you can imagine how absolutely taken I was by this.  I even showed my roommate at the time.  Sure enough, it was Chuck Dixon, and he was giving me information that he was trying to get Shayera Thal into the Birds of Prey.  I think I had dropped the suggestion into a DC Forum at one time and completely forgotten about it.

The excitement was incredible.  I was being given some prime information, and even some script and image previews.  I was over the moon.  But sadly, in the end, it didn’t happen.  Instead of Shayera Thal, Powergirl was brought into the Birds of Prey.  DC editorial at the time had said the Hawk’s were too toxic, there’d be too much backlash.

From time to time, I think about that moment in my personal comic book journey, and I sometimes catch myself thinking what would Shayera had been like in the series if she’d been there when Gail Simone took over.

Sadly, Shayera was killed off before the Nu DCU was announced.  The new Hawkman that was released was Carter Hall, and there was no mention at all about Katar Hol or Shayera Thal.  It’d be cool if maybe, just maybe, someone would rewrite Tim Truman’s Hawkworld just as Truman rewrote Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert’s Hawkman from the Silver Age.

[motherboxing]

Hypothetical: Sam Wilson visits or is retconned into being in the DCU. Is he a Thanagarian? Is he retconned into being a cousin race of Thanagarian Falcon People? Is he a human and do the Hawks call him a Pretender? Now that I’ve thought about it I have to know.

This, I think, would have to depend a lot on how much of the original character of Sam Wilson you wanted to preserve and what kind of story you were looking to tell about him. You could certainly do a serial-numbers-filed-off Sam Wilson who’s Thanagarian, but there’s no real reason you’d HAVE to play it that way if you didn’t want to. Carter and Kendra fly with wing devices and harnesses and they’re not Thanagarian (they don’t, despite DC’s insistence on sending them to Thanagar for no reason a bunch of times, have any connection to Thanagar that really makes sense or has been presented consistently, but are not typically referred to as “pretenders”*, though Thanagarians can usually tell that they aren’t Thanagarian**). Adam Strange flies with a jetpack; Sam Wilson’s wings are jet-powered, so he could just as easily be from Rann as from Thanagar if the selling point for making him an alien is the device he flies with.

THAT BEING SAID, there’s a number of things that would make Sam Wilson make sense as a Thanagarian beyond the wing motif. His military background and ability to communicate with birds certainly fit with other Thanagarian characters’ backgrounds and abilities! Also, hawks are only one of the birds that Thanagarians are weirdly fixated on as cultural iconography; they have political assassins who are called Ravens, Katar and Shayera give each other the nicknames “Peacock” and “Magpie”, etc, so for there to be a Thanagarian called the Falcon makes sense!

What I’m ultimately saying is the sky’s the limit! Haw haw. But seriously I think it would depend on the kind of story you’d want to tell around his character.

*After all, Carter and Shiera refined Nth metal for flight use BEFORE the Thanagarians! As Khufu and Chay-Ara, they found a crashed alien ship made of the stuff, because the Thanagarians were at that point building spaceships out of it but not using it for individual flight rigs, not having figured out how. Khufu and Chay-Ara figured out the personal flight thing, and refined it over their subsequent lifetimes. THEN, according to post-Crisis/New Earth continuity (I think) Katar Hol’s father travelled to Earth as a Thanagarian scout decades in advance of an invasion, and basically stole Carter’s idea for personal flight rigs and designed the Wingman Corps around it. 

**HOW they can tell is another matter! In the most recent stories I’ve read that make note of the physical similarities between Thanagarians and humans at all, there’s some stuff about Thanagarians being able to SMELL a difference, which… uh… okay?

[bidinahlaurellance]

i'm hitting you up! :) who would you put in your league and why? bonus round: if the the trinity member you had to put in your league was different to the one you chose a minute ago (e.g. if you picked diana in your first league, then clark/bruce would have to be the member in your second league), how would your second league be different to the first one and why would it be different?

Okay so my first League would be: Wonder Woman, Starfire, Black Canary, Supergirl, Mera, Hawkgirl, and Red Hood. I think that this team would work pretty smoothly bc while these characters are very strong and stubborn, they have a lot of respect for each other and can still listen to each other.

I think Starfire would bond really well with each of the women bc she’s so interested in other cultures and not one of them have the same experience while also getting along with Jason bc she’s very affectionate and kind which is something Jason isn’t used to but might open up more bc it seems like she’s genuine towards him. Jason can respect Diana/Kara a lot more than he can Bruce or Clark. Idk I just feel like they mesh better. Dinah has been so strong and kind to Ollie’s kid sidekicks, that he kinda looks up to her and wishes she had been around when he was first came back. Idk why but I really love the idea of Mera and Diana being really good friends. They way they are introduced to Man’s World just seems so similar to me and I think they would have a good time comparing cultures. Shayera would love being on a team with more strong women, especially ones that have different fighting styles. They have a lot that they can teach each other and they are all fiercely protective characters.

My second League would probably be with Superman, though I could just as easily make ones for both S/B. Anyway Clark’s League would probably be half calm and collected, half impulse. But each member is both of those things, just about different topics. I think they would compliment each other and all be the voice of reason in the different scenarios. (I hope that’s what you meant)

[flashter]

What are your opinions/ships for Wally??? Like OTP and BrOTP wise

//ooc:

I feel like I’ve talked about my ships and OTP’s before, so I’ll go into more detail now. I’ll also go into more detail about his friendships which I never do. There is a lot below this read more and I’m sorrynotsorry about it. 

OTPs-

birdflash: 

This is my all time top ship ever in anything. I’m not sure if it’s because I rp as Wally or I just see them being really good together.

Dick/Wally are whole-hearted dedicated individuals who would love the shit out of each other. They both bring the best out of each other while being able to support each at their worst and being able to handle that with grace. This probably comes from their years as friends and teammates. They both know that the other is loyal and exceptionally talented and could see the potential of the other. However, they have their flaws (stubbornness, competitive nature, etc.), which makes them more like a real couple. Overall, their relationship would be a very healthy, loving, and supportive one.

Further, Dick and Wally need each other to remain true to themselves as people. There are plenty of platonic canon moments in the comics where they call each other out for this. Quite frankly, it makes sense because with their similar experiences as being heroes from a young age and having mentors. I think I unlike some of the other Teen Titans and Titans, Dick and Wally are more pressured into roles to take over for their mentors for legacy reasons. “There always needs to be a Batman, he’s a symbol,” and “There always needs to be a Flash to protect Central and keep the League honest”. It came with the territory of being the sidekicks. So, the two get caught up in this loop and when they do they have each other. For Wally, Dick has to remind him he’s not Barry–whom Wally idiolizes/idolized–and that he’s competent and capable of handling things on his own. That Wally can be Wally West and a successful Flash. Where for Dick, Wally has to remind him that he isn’t Bruce and doesn’t have to be to accomplish whatever he’s trying to accomplish as either Nightwing or Dick Grayson. He also reminds Dick that feelings are nice and that he cannot function like Bruce, so he has to do things his own way. Further, Wally would support Dick being Nightwing or Batman or whoever he chooses to be and that he doesn’t have to take up the Batman mantle if he doesn’t want to. There are other people to do it and there can be a Gotham with heroes that doesn’t include a Batman. While the similarities of their situations are fundamentally the same, the nuances are different. This makes for a really good dynamic.

Aside: For any of you who have watched Yuri on Ice!, Dick/Wally remind me a lot of Victuuri. I know some of you might think me a heathen to compare my non-canon ship to a canon one, but it has a lot of good parallels and like I said, that’s how I see Dick and Wally being as a couple in my mind. The other reason I compare the two ships or see birdflash as Victuuri is because of the world YOI is set in. Literally no one cares Victor and Yuri are gay and everyone cares for them and loves them, in my head I see this for Dick and Wally. No one cares they are gay and everyone in their lives and in the world is like “that’s so sweet, they belong together”. But this is more of a social commentary and less of a headcanon-y one. Still I think the representation of YOI with canon gay characters who represent different cultures and are fully developed characters without their “gayness” being the main attribute. I think this is an important thing to mention, as I see both Dick and Wally being in love but never having being gay as a defining characteristic of themselves or their relationship. It’s just a matter of who they love (which is honestly how the real world should work…but I digress).

Last thing about this ship and why I ship it: the friends to lovers trope is a) my life and b) cute af. @theacro-bat​

Linda/Wally:

I feel bad I don’t know their official ship name, but oh well. I don’t only ship these two because their canon, but I ship them for how genuine their relationship is. Linda gets Wally to grow up a lot and to being such an ass; Wally gets her to be more fun and spontaneous. Most of all, they love each other to pieces and would (and probably have) died for each other. They are my favorite DC power couple, and I don’t think they’ve ever broken up (I might be wrong about that, I don’t consume ALL the comics). They have a lot of depth and character development within and because of their relationship that benefits them both.

I don’t have too much else to say here because you can read the comics or about them. I don’t need to justify a canon couple, they’re canon.

The biggest difference between Dick/Wally and Linda/Wally is the making him grow up part. I don’t think Dick would push it that much and just accepts and/or excuses that part of him. Dick would probably figure that something else would happen to force him into growing as a person and he doesn’t necessarily feel the need to do it. Linda, on the other hand, whips Wally’s butt into shape and pretty much tells him he has to grow up to handle his problems (she does this constructively of course). But like I said, that’s the biggest difference.

BRotps-

Wally and pretty much anyone and everyone. Although, I’ve written some about each closer friendship he’s had.

Dick/Wally:

I know you’re done reading about these two, so I’ll make this brief. Copy and paste the above but instead of being romantically involved they are platonic. I will say this about their friendship, they are both touchy with each other, not sexually but support-wise. They hug, do the head-to-shoulder, and shoulder touching. They’re cool. @theacro-bat​

Roy/Wally:

Aside from being redheads, Wally loves Roy to death and will probably never give up on him. Roy could scream at him and Wally would still come back. They may not be best friends like Dick and Wally are, but that doesn’t undermine their closeness. Wally remains close to Roy to the point that Lian refers to him as an uncle, so that says something about their relationship.

Jinx/Wally:

Okay this one is more complicated, but sort of my favorite. I know I don’t rp a TT Wally, but that doesn’t change how much I love them. From teenagers to adults, the two went from being a couple to being best friends. They are the most platonic lovers you will ever see and meet. Because of their history, they know a lot about each other but continue to grow that relationship into a better bond that often surpasses the definitions of romantic and platonic. Wally will always be there to support and listen to Jinx. It’s highly probable if not a true fact that these two would live together because they both hate being on their own and they can “tolerate”–in Jinx’s words–each other’s company. Wally doesn’t mind her behavior and she doesn’t mind his eating and running around all the time. Their relationship is really beneficial for the both of them. They put up with each other in a way that only best friends can and they can be in the same room without the need to talk. Jinx also sort of fills Wally’s need to be a caretaker and den-mother. I genuinely believe they love each other.

If you want to compare this to a canon companionship, I cite Dick and Donna. @lucklessprincess​

Shayera/Wally: Unlike his other close friendships and relationships, these two are sort of the most “brotp” of the bunch. Shayera and Wally would hang out to get into trouble and send memes back and forth to each other. (Shayera is officially meme queen in his phone.) Despite Shay being a highly skilled warrior, she’s still a person with a sense of humor which Wally can compliment nicely by either acting as the thing she is making fun of, or being her comedic partner. In this way they are a lot like siblings with Shayera as the older sister. Wally and Shay are probably the closest fun friendship in the Justice League. Even though their friendship is mostly humorous and joking in tone, they care for each other immensely (like siblings). Shayera cares a lot more for Wally then she’ll admit and Wally thinks she’s worth everything even though he’ll never say it. That’s why she is the one who pulled Wally out of the Speedforce and he’s the one who believed in her/forgave her after the Thanagarian invasion. @masic-bxtch​

[motherboxing]

brehaaorgana replied to your post: Me, to Caitlin: I really should head home, I’m...

i would love 2 know all ur thoughts

My thoughts are basically that I have a weird... not exactly a soft spot for otherkin or more modern interpretations of that concept (fictionkin/fictive headmates/etc) but like, I don’t know, I MOSTLY feel a gentle combination of bemusement and secondhand embarrassment because I think a lot of that stuff comes out of some deeply nerdy impulses that on a basic level I very much understand. Like especially with the idea of people identifying as fictional characters on some level - I mean, whatever, I’ve made fan stuff about fictional characters and when you do that it’s fun to sort of feel like you’re getting into the head of these pretend people and exploring this alternate world. At best I think it’s a totally healthy creative outlet, but it can very easily become a means of dissociation (it was for me for most of my teens and early 20′s, honestly) or otherwise just avoiding reality. 

I think with otherkin and fictionkin and etc the personal connection element of that just gets amped up to 11 and people start... I don’t know, hyper-identifying with the stuff they’re into. I’m not just really into mermaids, I AM a mermaid, in my soul, and no one else is a mermaid, and there has to be some explanation! A lot of internet culture enables this because internet culture has always had a weird relationship with, uh, reality in general, and also internet culture has always encouraged people to just be the weirdest versions of themselves - something which I think can be really endearing and sweet and fun, but also DEEPLY off-putting and horrifying. On the “endearing and sweet and fun” side you have a broader and more flexible and enduring medium for stuff that had previously been the content of fanzines; you have people connecting with each other in ways they never did before the internet really; you have new avenues for people to share experiences and interests with each other without feeling embarrassed or whatever that the stuff they’re into is nerdy or boring, because whatever you love, there’s probably another person in the world somewhere who also loves it. On the deeply off-putting and horrifying side, you have all the ways that online communities facilitate and enable social dysfunction, including predatory behavior. And of course, all of that can and does often bleed into itself, because social spaces on the internet are such nebulous and difficult to regulate things. A lot of nerds are already a bit socially stunted to begin with which contributes to confusion sometimes about what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t. (Captain Awkward has a whole bit about Geek Social Fallacies and from whence they spring that I don’t care to look up right now, but it’s pretty relevant to all of this, I think.) I’ve seen online nerd circles that started out as pretty wholesome pretendy fun times games or whatever turn into really shitty mutual bullshit societies through a combination of people turning a willful blind eye to abusive behavior and people just not being clear on how other humans are supposed to act, all of which was amplified and made extra strange by the fact that these were basically social circles of people who mainly bonded and interacted around, like, comic books or whatever. 

From what I’ve seen of otherkin etc stuff, I think there’s a LOT of that that goes on in those circles, so I wouldn’t call it basically harmless - but I do think there’s definitely an alternate universe version of me out there who found the internet under slightly different circumstances (maybe at a slightly younger age, maybe instead of ending up in nerd roleplaying communities on livejournal I found the then-equivalent to the tumblr fictive headmates scene, whatever that was, if it even existed back then) and spent AT LEAST a few months absolutely convinced that her favorite fictional characters were real sentient entities who lived in her head and could take over her body at will. I was a pretty credulous kid in that sense. So in that respect I feel like I get the place where this sort of thing springs from in some people, although I’m sure those people would argue against the idea that I get it at all. 

One thing that has been fascinating for me has been watching as otherkin and etc communities online become more and more integrated into, like, other online circles - including discussions of social justice, specifically.Everything on the internet is only one or two steps removed from everything else on the internet, of course, so it’s inevitable, but it’s still weird since I see otherkin etc as this kind of fringe special interest that is deeply dorky and probably not something the people who are into it actually ever talk about in the context of their offline lives - whereas social justice stuff is (or should be) VERY grounded in reality and actively engaged with the world outside of the internet. I dunno. It leaves me feeling some kind of way, I guess. Mostly I read old livejournal otherkin drama out loud and then we looked at otherkin FAQ’s on tumblr and decided that I’m DEFINITELY a multiple system and Shayera Thal is my fictive headmate, and that I am Valid in this and all things.*

*this last sentence is a joke I don’t actually believe that I am a multiple system which includes Hawkwoman, and I ESPECIALLY don’t believe that I am valid in literally any respect.

[motherboxing]

Given the way hawkworld tries to deal with race I think it’s obvious that Ostrander was trying to do something with Shayera about like... a person being in the position of sometimes but not always “passing” for a privileged class. The parallels between Shayera as a Downsider (aka a member of the ghettoized/enslaved classes) on Thanagar, and her human (eventual) boyfriend, Jonesy, who is a black guy who grew up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago, are talked about explicitly; however, obviously on Earth, to humans, Shayera reads as a white woman, even though she clearly feels that she has little in common with white American human beings - also, on Thanagar, she is of the same species as most Topsiders but her Downsider status is given away by cultural cues like speech and body language etc, despite the fact that the majority of Downsiders are not Thanagarian at all. I mean... I dunno. Again, as with most of Ostrander’s handling of Shayera, a lot of this is subtext, and the reader is left to draw their own conclusions. We see Shayera learning about slavery and colonialism and specifically about segregation and genocide and we see how this knowledge affects her perceptions of humanity, and how that knowledge has a different impact on Katar, who is a native Topsider (aka a member of the Thanagarian ruling class) and who is perceived as such by most Thanagarians (and other alien races) despite being half-human. Katar’s approach to race relations is like, well-intentioned paternalistic benevolence, while Shayera’s is hard-headed pragmatism. 

I dunno! In a lot of ways this allegory is really nuanced and interesting but also when the book tries to talk about race in more explicit terms it Does Not Work at all. I feel a way about all of this, as like... myself... being, whatever, the person that I am with the background that I have, who cares though, I don’t feel qualified to pass judgment on whether or not this always works. It’s mostly just interesting. I wish literally anyone else that I knew had read this book! How am I supposed to process my feelings if no one can talk about this with me! Argh!