#thoughts: comics

[alexrusso-]

Death and the Maidens

wtf was that

I knew going into it what would happen to Talia. I still wasn't prepared for what she goes through in that story. But what I had no clue about was what that story does to Ra's al Ghul's character.

I have to keep reminding myself that this all came out post-9/11, during the height of Arab-specific xenophobia and racism.

Rucka's one of my favorite comic writers, so it stings all the more that Death and the Maidens is such a huge misstep. I want to chalk this up to editorial mandate and their beef with the al Ghuls.

Having Ra's al Ghul work with n*zis is character assassination of the highest order and absolute bullshit. The same Ra's who in older continuity used his organization to fight the Axis powers during WWII? Who came up with this? Ra's al Ghul is by no means a good person. But he's not a one-dimensional cartoon villain, and making him work with n*zis cheapens his complexity. The same complexity that makes him such an interesting villain in the first place is absent here—like his relationship with Talia, his respect for Bruce. Ra's rarely does right by Talia, but he loves his daughter, that's always been a staple of his character.

I hate, hate, hate the way Talia's utilized here, and her complete lack of agency. So begins Talia al Ghul's villain era and the demise of her characterization in modern comics. It's painful to read, especially coming from a writer I normally trust to write women well. And knowing that Morrison will later double down on this trajectory makes it all the worse.

Also, being an Arrowverse fan before reading this is wild. Like, I know the Nyssa in Arrow is basically reflavored comics Talia, but it's still weird reading Nyssa's name attached to such a deplorable character.

Last but not least, my Brutalia crumbs:

R: You have not heard my offer. B: Talia's not yours to give, Ra's. R: No, not anymore. B: Then there's nothing you have that I could possibly want.

:'(((

[alexrusso-]

war games rant

So where I am now in my modern Batman read through is War Games. I've just finished that arc and oh buddy... It's just so bad? And so out of character? Like, did these writers even like Batman? They seem to also hate the Batfamily as a concept.

This era of Bat comics is just… not great, especially coming off the Denny O'Neil era.

Spoilers from here on out:

So point #1, the Stephanie of it all. I already knew all the Steph stuff going into it, tried to brace myself for it, but it didn't lessen the blow at all. The way she's treated is disgusting.

TimSteph isn't my ship. But wow the treatment of that relationship is so awful in the events leading up to and throughout War Games. Tim and Steph are canonically in love and in a good place in their relationship up until Tim quits being Robin. And then Stephanie basically ghosts Tim for the 71 days that she's Robin? And Tim just... accepts that? Like what in the lazy writing. And then War Games kicks off and Tim shows zero concern at all for Stephanie—he doesn't even ask about her? There's just no way.

Also throughout War Games, there are literally only two people who are remotely kind to Stephanie: one is her best friend and the other is someone she's never even fucking met before. The fact that Catwoman has only just met Steph, but already treats her with more respect and compassion than almost anybody else in the Batfam ever has is wild.

And then you have Cass, who's the only one actually concerned for Steph's safety. Who spends an entire issue (Batgirl #56) frantically searching Gotham for her. And then you get this fucking panel in Nightwing #98:

And then Steph's death. The fact that Bruce never told Tim (or Cass) that Steph was dying, the fact that Stephanie's final moments are with someone who treated her like utter garbage for a majority of the time he's known her. It's all infuriating.

This panel gutted me. This whole scene is one of the only times Batman's written compassionately.

Which brings me to point #2: the Batman of it all. Bruce is written to be painfully unlikeable and quite frankly pretty out of character. Batman can absolutely be an asshole, but not to the degree he's portrayed here. Why is he speaking to Barbara like that?

And Barbara... Babs would never call Cassandra stupid. Barbara spends so much of Cass's Batgirl solo run being Cass's pseudo mom/big sister, treating Cassandra as a person first and Batgirl second, and trying to make sure Cass feels loved and like a human being instead of a weapon. Of all the people for Barbara to be an asshole to, making her be a jerk to Cass is such bad writing.

These writers and the editorial clearly had a story they wanted to tell and didn't care which characters they assassinated in the process.

When I tell you I miss the O'Neil 90s-early 00s Batman era, I really mean it.

[alexrusso-]

Huntress: Cry for Blood

I'm now in the early 2000s of my Batman/Batfam read through, and got around to reading Huntress Cry for Blood for the second time - I like it even better now.

I first read it back in like 2017, I think, when I first got into Batman and DC comics. I had zero context for Huntress outside of loving her in Birds of Prey. I didn't realize how much I was missing from 90s Batman content, and that added context just makes me love her even more, holy shit. What an underrated character.

Huntress's rage is such a deeply rooted characteristic of hers. And when you get her full backstory, you understand why. Rucka basically took her original backstory from her 1989 miniseries and ramped it up to an 11. I liked seeing her rage explored, loved seeing her work on trying to find calm and peace outside of it and her thirst for vengeance.

I know very little about Question tbh, especially Vic Sage's Question. But he gets a million brownie points from me for treating Helena decently.

I adore Tim's relationship with Helena. The sibling dynamics are lovely, and they're on full display here: Tim checking up on her once she's back in town, raiding her kitchen, questioning who this guy is that's with her. Not to mention his refusal to believe she's guilty (listen, I love that his argument is basically "if Helena was gonna kill someone, she wouldn't be dumb about it"), and his determination to clear her name. I just love Tim in general, he's a good egg.

I find Dick's relationship with Helena fascinating. Not so much in that I actively want them to be together as a couple (I'm into it more on a platonic level). I just find their interactions interesting.

Now to get to the Batman of it all... Listen, I love Batman but I really wanna punt him into the sun every time he interacts with her. His behavior toward her is so fucking hypocritical when juxtaposed with how he treats Azrael. Around the same time Cry for Blood was being published, there was an arc in Azrael’s comics where he gets framed for murder, with an actual “witness,” not just “oh these are Huntress’s crossbow bolts.” Az is being framed, but Huntress doesn’t believe him and wants to bring him in. Batman’s the one who sticks up for him, and orders Huntress to back off.

Where’s that faith with Huntress? Especially after the events of No Man’s Land, and her getting shot by Joker. Which don’t even get me started on Helena’s stint as Batgirl and how fucking terrible Batman is to her then.

To be clear, I understand why Bruce doesn't trust Helena at first. I get that Batman has a code. My issue is that he's not consistent in how he treats people who violate it. It's an even bigger issue when you take into account that during No Man's Land, when Batman was gone, Huntress was abiding by his code. She's shown she's capable of doing it, but Bruce still treats her like shit. I guess I just fail to understand why when it comes to Huntress, there's no winning with Batman.

[alexrusso-]

Best of the Best would honestly be way more interesting without the fight. The format of flashbacks interspersed with fight narration is tedious.

Exploring the relationship between Dinah and her mom is interesting enough. Why do we have to once again butcher Lady Shiva's character to do it? Especially considering Dinah and Shiva's history of having a complex, interesting relationship. Shiva spitting on Dinah? On anybody that she deems worthy enough to fight? That's pretty ooc. I get that it's a Black Canary title, but this is a recurring problem with DC writers.

I don't know how the new Batgirl run is faring with its portrayal of Shiva. Hopefully better than this. I'll definitely be reading the trade for that once it's out.

Thank fuck I'm just a few issues off from hitting Gail Simone's BOP run in my BOP re-read.

[alexrusso-]

so glad I stopped reading TK's Black Canary. Just saw that panel and I'm disgusted. What a gross mischaracterization of Dinah. And a gross mischaracterization of Lady Shiva in general throughout the issues I read. This is exactly what I was afraid was going to happen when he announced this project.

Tom King needs to be stopped. Stop letting him write women. Stop letting him near WOC.

[alexrusso-]

Read Best of the Best #1 and yeah if T** King has no haters then I'm dead

[alexrusso-]

I'm reading through Kevin Smith's Green Arrow run, just finished Quiver for the first time. (Some back story: I'm trying to read all the post-Crisis Black Canary stuff I can in chronological order, and Quiver happens to be where I'm at year-wise in my Batfam read through.)

I'm kind of realizing that I... maybe don't like Ollie? I kind of hated Longbow Hunters (a hot take apparently), and I'm not a fan of him in Quiver. Both runs are considered the "best" of GA, so me being 2 for 2 in disliking them is... interesting.

I'm wondering if it's the character or the writers or maybe I only like Ollie when he's written a certain way? I vaguely remember enjoying the Rebirth run of Green Arrow (enough to finish it, but not enough to really remember it). I also remember liking Tom Taylor's take on him.

I'm definitely at a point where I don't like him and Dinah together romantically. Which kind of sucks as someone who's a Dinah fan first and foremost, because GA and Black Canary always go hand-in-hand.