the Raging Ranter

I get upset easily. Then I rant about it

[thatkoalatho]

just bros being bros, not a single heresy in sight.

art by me, selfie by Gulliman

[beckyninja]

🤣

[xingyueiri]

我们还有机会谈论真理与宇宙吗

[xingyueiri]

‘I am His right hand, brother, I am His general, His champion. I am the Avenging Son. By His might am I preserved.’

[xingyueiri]

。

[xingyueiri]

"I gave everything I had to you, to them. Look What they've made of our dream..."

[xingyueiri]

Zzzzzzzzz……

[peony-pearl]

THIS IS AN OC CHECKPOINT

give me 1 cool fact about your oc RIGHT NOW

[peony-pearl]

UPDATE it doesn't even have to be 'cool', give me a fact about ur oc!!!!

[masterofthew1cket]

i know that outside of A Lonely Place of Dying, it's barely canon; but i would really love to play more into the Stalker Tim thing, it honestly has to be one of my favorite pieces of fanon.

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Tim: hey you remember that one time you played Zeke in high school musical? Dick: …how exactly do you know this? Tim: wait, you don't remember? Dick: nonono, i do. cause i was there. it was my life. but... how??? Tim: so anyway, did you use a real cake—

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Jason: does anyone know why The Creature has polaroid pictures of me from my Robin days with fucking red sharpie crossing them out?? Tim, appearing from The Shadows: i fucking knew your days were numbered. prayed on your downfall. Jason: ???? Dick:...Timbo.. you uh.. have something you want to share with the class? Tim: i saw him yell at you once and didn't like it. Jason: I DIDNT KNOW YOU???

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Helena: there's energy drinks in the fridge, chips are in the left cupboard above the stove Tim, rat-like little goblin showing up at his Adult Best Friend's house near midnight for shits and giggles: cool. your great uncle twice removed on your dad's side just beat cancer by the way Helena, grading papers, somehow Not Super Concerned that This Kid has seemingly figured everything out about her personal life: i see. send him my congrats i guess Tim: :]👍

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[katanahime]

The thing about Tim having been Dick's Robin as well is that it's not just them being Batman & Robin in Prodigal, either.

He was Dick's Robin while Dick was Nightwing.

He did choose Tim, he just wasn't Batman when he did so. He didn't need to choose Tim as Batman because he'd already chosen him.

And he also calls Tim's Robin his partner when he comes to visit him in Bludhaven.

And denying how important that all was is fundamentally foolish.

You can like other relationships and the important ones speak for themselves. No need to trash Dick & Tim over it.

[zahri-melitor]

What does Tim bring to the Batfamily?

Have you SEEN the rest of them?

Aside from Dick, who is a socially competent leader type who is also so stubborn he spent two decades furiously trying to prove his independence from Bruce, the rest are primarily a crowd of prickly independent loners.

Bruce? Prickly independent loner who wants to control everything his way

Babs? Prickly independent loner who wants everything her way

Jason? As Robin the MOST socially isolated Robin, followed by returning as a villain/antihero almost exclusively focused on ‘notice me sempai’ towards Bruce and occasionally Dick

Cass? Highly independent loner by nurture who has trouble depending on others

Steph? Extremely prickly independent loner with a Not Like Other Girls habit

Damian? Prickly independent loner who simultaneously wants validation from Bruce & Dick

Helena? Prickly independent loner who is forcefully pushing Bruce away as too overbearing

JPV? Geek isolated loner by nature who has no idea how to talk to women and is terrified of upsetting Bruce/Dick/Tim. At best hangs around with a hangdog ‘can I join in’ expression as Azrael

Kate Kane? A prickly independent loner still hurting over the loss of Beth with another firm ‘you’re not my boss’ attitude towards Bruce

At best I’d say both Luke Fox and Duke Thomas are social team players, but by the time either of them are relevant the Batfamily is very much an established concept.

And for that matter? Harper? Another prickly independent loner heavily focused on keeping Cullen out of trouble

It’s no wonder Tim’s the glue that created the Batfamily as a concept that expanded beyond Batman & Robin (or Robin & Batgirl teamups). Who else was going to prevent any long term team ups blowing up and people stomping off to sulk?

[writingdose]

being a writer is fun

[swordsoul2000]

accurate

[soleminisanction]

Tangentially related to my last post: I think Steph should be a fangirl of the Gray Ghost. Specifically, I think she should be the only member of the Batfamily other than Bruce who genuinely loves that goofy old serial.

Most of the family will watch Gray Ghost with Bruce, if he asks. Jason refuses to, a little out of spite but mostly because he over-compensates for people assuming street kid = stupid by being a Classic Literature™ snob and looking down on campy, light-hearted family fare like GG. (In about a decade, when he's less in-his-20s and more secure in his identity, he re-learns the joy of media that doesn't take itself so seriously.)

But none of them really enjoy Gray Ghost the way Bruce does. He can bond with Dick over Errol Flynn movies and with Tim over Sherlock Holmes adaptations and with Cass and Duke over anything with a kung-fu fight scene. Even Damian has found an appreciation for the sort of old-school mecha anime Bruce definitely watched in college and used as inspiration for his tech designs.

Gray Ghost, though, is Bruce's favorite, and while everyone will watch it with him, it's not the same as sharing that enjoyment. Increasingly, it makes him feel like they're just tolerating silly ol' Pop-pop and his old man nostalgia.

So the fact that Steph unironically loves those literally black-and-white stories about two-fisted justice, where Good always triumphs over Evil and escapes the elaborate over-the-top death trap in the nick of time... well. It certainly doesn't fix their relationship or anything, but it gives them something to bond over.

[soleminisanction]

Concept: himbo love interest for Steph.

Specifically, a big ol' golden retriever of a man she meets as a civilian. Bouncer at her favorite club, maybe. He knows her casually as Steph, and maybe they've flirted a little, but it's never been anything serious since she's still clearly getting over a break-up.

Then, something goes down, as things do in superhero comics, and golden retriever man is rescued by Batgirl. And, because Steph is historically Not Great at keeping her secret identity, she quips something at him while he does that's a direct echo to their previous flirting, cluing him in to her identity.

(He then goes home and falls down the research rabbit hole on the "Aaron Black" media push but that's background stuff.)

And then. Then.

This sweet himbo of a golden retriever man decides that, obviously, the best way to repay Batgirl for saving his life is to become a superhero who can help her right back! And so he does. In my heart, he's a big ol' nerd who models himself directly on his favorite fictional hero, The Gray Ghost, because that was actually a great idea that deserved to be in a better story.

And now, Stephanie. Now the shoe is on the other foot. :3c

[soleminisanction]

The two critical components here are a) eager as he is, Mr. Gray Ghost respects Steph's boundaries in truest Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass fashion and b) this is 100% a "he fell first, she fell harder" situation.

So the first thing he does when they first meet as Gray Ghost and Batgirl is blurt out her real name, and the second thing he does is immediately apologize for figuring that out and promise to be more careful about 'codenames in the field.' Once he explains his intentions as Gray Ghost, he starts following her around like an eager puppy, rushing into fights like Leroy Jenkins and relying on his football skills and sports armor to get him through.

Within a few days, Steph is at the end of her rope trying to keep this dumbass guy alive (and more than a little steamed about Tim, Babs and Cass teasing her about the whole thing, calling it a taste of her own medicine), maybe even to the point of losing her temper and yelling at him over it.

But then. He does something stupidly heroic (emphasis on the stupid) like tackle a monster-villain to get it/them off her and gets mauled pretty severely in the process. Steph naturally takes the opportunity to recover quickly and save the day, then rushes over to tend the guy's wounds, and Mr. Gray Ghost gives her a dopey smile through the pain and blood and calls her the most incredible thing he's ever seen before passing out.

And bam, that does it. She brings him flowers in the hospital and the story leaves off on them arranging a date for sometime in the future.

[soleminisanction]

Finally started in on the collected edition of The Boy Wonder. Gonna make a list of my favorite little details as I go:

Damian's BIG ears. It's such a great character detail to drive home that he's young and childish not just short, and a hint that he hasn't yet "grown into himself" for a lack of a better term.

"You remembered to buy the baby formula?" "Yup, and the money for the sitter." "Thanks honey." So, Babs and Dick have a kid in this world?? That's a wild thing to drop as casual battle banter.

God the effect with the demon bird/Rok basically not being colored is so cool, especially when it makes him looks like the gutter of the page itself is reaching into the world of the panel.

Damian's cape, especially the hood, being too big for him. Especially the way it makes him look when he's pouting/sulking.

"That's the annoying part when you dislike someone who reminds you so much of yourself, isn't it?"

"Had their father been there, he'd have told them to assess the situation first... Scan the battlefield for advantages, establish a strategy... But tonight, the hounds were unsupervised... Like beasts on the prowl, they pounced... underestimating their prey."

The squiggliness of the panel where Jason realizes he shot Damian!!

The fact that a Jason's shitty apartment looks so much like the one Bruce found him squatting in as a child.

Jason's design overall is such a great deviation from the way he's been portrayed in the past. And the way his story gets so neatly boiled down to intersect but not surplant Damian's is just, gold star writing.

[soleminisanction]

The pink on the cover of issue 3, the one with Tim. Both of them. IDK, I don't want to jump to the conclusion that it's deliberately bisexual flag coded, but it's a notable deviation from the previous two issues, which are mostly Robin colored -- red and yellow base, heavy on the green for the al-Ghuls and the Pit, with the mostly blank white for Rok and Dick's scenes bringing in blue. It's a notable deviation, in a comic so simply and deliberately colored, especially since I'm pretty sure the only pink thing in the actual comic is the smoke bomb used during the scene where Damian and Tim find their teamwork.

The little Wayne Enterprises™ tech graphics that only appear in Tim's issue.

I love it when people remember that Tim is the family politician. Like, Alfred straight up called him that in ALPoD. Whether you think he got it from his parents or not, I do love seeing him portrayed as the one who knows how to work a room and do the wining and dining sort of spy craft.

"I can tell you feel bad about killing that guy. But do you feel bad because you hurt someone... or because you were punished for it?"

Still my favorite line in the whole comic, something I'd needed to see Damian confronted with for years, and in the collected edition I can better appreciate that it comes close to the halfway point of the series -- a literal and figurative turning point for Damian's character. "These are the questions that expose your character" indeed.

The way all the hoity-toity crowd at the party is always depicted as giving Damian a wide berth, but also clearly glaring at him; the way the art shows Damian's emotions with every panel is so, so good.

Flashback!Robin!Tim is so!! Tiny!! And cute!!

"He'd done it again. Felt so threatened by his brother, he'd assumed the worst of him. He wanted to feel better, to feel worthier than him so badly... he could hear the voice of his mother and his grandfather judging him for letting his insecurities drive his choices."

[soleminisanction]

The cover of issue 4, the one with Talia in the head scarf cradling baby Damian, both with the demonic faces and surrounded by Lazarus fumes. Gorgeous.

Merle's design is great, especially the Carrie Kelley-esque glasses. Does somewhat spoil my guess that it was Damian himself under the sack but so it goes.

Ohhhhhh the Talia childhood flashback!!

Also I like how defined and aquiline her nose is even in the simplified flashback style.

"Knowing full well she'd always be a hand, and never the head," is a great line, but I'm not sure it hits as strongly as it could have with Ra's being called the Demon King instead of the Head of the Demon. Like yeah I know that's what his name translates to (or so I've heard) but it doesn't parse the same. Does make her "Talia Head" name extra funny though.

Also funny: the fact that, in an extra-stylized flashback sequence where everyone is portrayed as shadows wearing clothes, they went out of their way to replicate that big iconic BruTalia kiss right down to Bruce being shirtless.

"She was so young when she met the champion, when she had her son... Did she want all these things, or did she want to want them, to please an increasingly cruel father?" That is SO GOOD. The rest of this has already effectively supplanted Morrison's version in my personal canon, and I'm adopting that one specifically.

(Tangentially this has also strengthened my low-key Talia/Janet Drake crack pairing)

"You always said not to put one's individual self at the center of all things!" "But she was always slaving away for that demon. Under his boot. 'If I can save her from this, we'll be free.'" It's all so good. Instant new touchstone for the whole Demon web.

"Yer mind is so much more... open here." On a page with no gutters, no panels, just the black and the flashes of metal sparking from the blades... fuck I love comics.

"I've regretted being the son of the Demon's Head so badly. All I wanted was to be the son of the Bat to make up for it. But the Bat has its limits, and I am the son of the Demon too. I can redefine what both ideals mean." Cheering, dancing, spinning around, it feels so good summed up so well!"

I love that Silas doesn't forgive Damian. I love that the entire conversation begins with a direct refutation of the "You can't blame him he had such a hard life" idea and follows up with, "You were molded to think this way, but it was still your hand on the blade, which means the guilt is still yours." And I adore that, with all of that firmly stated and laid bare, Damian isn't made to submit to the unreasonable demand for retribution, even one that comes directly from his victim. He did those things. He carries the responsibility. That doesn't mean he's evil or worthless or deserves to die.

And bringing it all back around to Talia on the final page, letting her be so human even in the role of the main character's mother? Love. So much.

It's just. Gah. So. Good. Juni Ba et al you are brilliant.

[ashoss]

like a house on fire

[edithsweetithh]

in honor of america's 250th birthday approaching, here's your friendly reminder that this poem by emma lazarus (a jewish-american woman) is on a plaque attached to the statue of liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

[crylin]

Let's change clothes? 😂👖🔄👗

+ bonus! Team 2: challenge accepted! 😎✨