I was feeling sillay and my tism was acting up so i made this!
This is me having fun,people with weird anti-selfship mentalities please just scroll past
Unlike most other sidekicks,Summer Kent wasn't introduced in a run of his mentor to be brought back later.Instead,he premired in his own series in 1983 with the writers purpose with him being to show what it would be like for Clark to take Bruce's route and adopt an orphan to raise them as both his own child and a protege.He gained what were called 'mixed reviews' but in reality was just a mix of love from black,latino,queer and autistic comic fans,female ones especially,and hatred from bigoted ones.Summer has gone through multiple,let's say,'seasonal changes' personality and design wise and this was made to help you read on when,how and why!
Sparks:Secret Origins-The solo series in question!43 solid issues,a great introduction into his character and let's you get a good grip on what he was like as Sparks,as well as his familial relathionships and longest running friendships
The New Teen Titans-A major recurring character in this run due to Dick and Kory's mentorship of him(be warned of secondhand embarrasment when it comes to his self-aware crush on Dick showing and him thinking he's just jealous of Kory when he's actually crushing on her too)
A Death in the Family-For the final interactions between him and Jason before Jason's death
The Last Day of Summer-His accidental death at the hands of Mr Freeze,DC's response to people saying Sparks and Robin don't work without eachother
Ember's Ashes-His ressurection and journey to herohood.70 issues of character development and not a single page was wasted as he grew from an angry,violent and gothic little girl to a bubbly and openly kind young adult with a love for femininity in a transgender way as he realized his genderfluidity.This coming of age tale includes his first relathionship with none other than Rose Wilson,Deathstroke's daughter and the fourth Ravager,which ends on odd but good terms.(See also Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen as they heavily overlap with this run,including him gaining his kryptonian name as 'Va-El',given to him by a newly ressurected Clark)
Steel(1994)-Same situation as NTT,him being mentored by the protagonist and appearing as a major supporting character as a result
Superboy(1994)-Summer trifels with his greatest battle yet:Being the oldest sister to a teenage boy.Hilarity,sibling and parental angst and bonding ensue in this series,along with Summer teaching Kon-El how to make his way in the world and beating up a couple of predators in the process and him giving him some Kryptonian hybrid powers tips in thanks.Here and in Ember's Ashes is when the rest of the Superkids(Chris/Lor-Zod,Mia/Cir-El and Jon Lane or 'Laney')join the Superfamilia
Young Justice(1998)-44 to 45 and 48 to 55.Pops up in World without Young Justice as otherworld Jason's s/o,a childhood friends to lovers hero/civillian romance,and the gang convinces Kon to get him to tag along as a 'dorky babysistter' as the Boy of Steel put it after seeing how strong he is in action.This is the first time Summer thinks about mentoring younger heroes other than his adoptive siblings
Robin(1993) and Batgirl(2000)-128 to 130 and 26-38 + 53-62.Summer said 'fuck Tim,Jason's MY Robin' before they even met and Stephanie didn't get any better off until them and Cass decided to team up and now they're girl best friends(actually platonic for them and Summer,the regular meaning for Stephcass)
Lost Days-He's on Jason's mind a lot during this run if Jaysumm is your thing
Supergirls-Starring the Superfam girls as an ensemble cast,this rotates between 'Girl Power media that's actually pretty feminist and fun' and 'Weird,weird and MORE weird'(and that adds on to the feminism and fun).This includes a special crossover issue where Summer and Mia get Cassie Sandsmark to re-embrace her butchness
Under The Red Hood-Sparks and Robin finally reunite but not like they expected!Summer is heartbroken at his best friend's new found darkness and wants to save him from it but Jason just wants to patch things up.And they both get what they want in:
Ember/Red Hood-World's...strangest...ROMANCE⁉We get to see this lovebird and loverfang take the first steps to finally getting together in this 29 issue wildride!Much romance,comedy,inner torment and rubbing off on eachother(not like that!!Mind out of the gutter,people!)gets done but sadly no actual kissing
Tiny Titans-Shows up pretty often thanks to being Superman's oldest kid and the second Superkid to debut in canon,usually as an mc and is in a comedic love square with Jason,Eddie and Rose as the center
We are Robin-3-9.Gets very close to the 12 year old Duke Thomas and to his gang to a lesser extent and is the reason he gets adopted by Bruce and made the official 5th Robin(Overlaps with Ember/Red Hood)
The Bird and The Dragon-Mini 13 issue series of him and Damian becoming found siblings and him Damian's first friend(Overlaps with Ember/Red Hood and Batgirl(2009))
Batgirl(2009)-Appears in every other issue so it's best to just read all 60 of them!Many epic black girl friendship momence between Summer and Stephanie + Jason comes in from time to time to cause problems on purpose(and to flirt with Summer)
Red Hood and the Outlaws-Summer finally joins a team and never like he thought he would.Jason's influence on him turned him into a different person again like when they were sidekicks but this time making him into the brightly destructive vigilante Ignite,hated by Metropolis once more for his antiheroics and turning over a new leaf because of it!This 92 issue series brings back familiar faces from Jason and Summer's pasts and tons of new ones,stacked with fantasy elements,trauma,jokes,epic fights,genuine bonding that a good chunk of them don't care to admit to,fanservice that caters to bisexuals and Jaysumm's canonization!But only near the end because ✨drama✨
The lineup for this team is:Jason Todd as Red Hood and briefly a Star Sapphire,Eddie Bloomberg as Red Devil,Rose Wilson as Ravager and eventually Willow,Summer Kent as Ignite,Artemis of Bana-Mighdall simply as 'Artemis',Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern,Pepper Jackson(@moonage-gaydream)as Star Sapphire and Thaddeus Thawne as Inertia.The team technically disbands by the end but they all remain best friends and keep in touch!
Gotham Academy:Second Semester and Gotham Academy/Lumberjanes-Major support once more(and main character in the latter)but this time finally in the mentor role!Maps and he in particular are linked(This is a special tool that will help us later)
All New Teen Titans-Damian's Teen Titans generation has come and their mentors are Jason still as Red Hood,Duke as The Signal,Stephanie freshly new at being Batwoman and Summer as Superman,taking over his Papí's mantle in the meantime as Clark is in a coma from rescuing Jon from Ultraman.Damian's lineup is him(Shadowbird),Maya Ducard(Nobody),Surren Darga(Fang),Jon Kent(Superboy),Nell Little(Batgirl),Maps Mizoguchi(7th Robin),Colin Wilkes(Abuse)and Kathy Branden(Beacon)
Their adventures are much more light-hearted than the Outlaws' but no less impressive and their bonds are all over the place in both bad and good ways and by the end,they've become family(Jason and Summer taking on the 'Team Parents' role and with additional romances in Damimaps,Surnell and Mayakathy).This run is 55 issues and lasts two years in-universe
New Ember Days-An ongoing slice of life epilogue that shows him being as beloved as Clark after going back to Ember,with a slightly adjusted costume(thank Jason for the pink domino mask,same as the black one for Ignite)and eventually comes up to him and Jason having their first bio kid after getting married,a girl named October with a mix of Kryptofang and Lazarus Pit dna and a bright attitude and love for most things.Action is frequent in this one and as always,humor is too
Wayne Family Adventures-He gets passing mentions in the earlier episodes and debuts in Dirty Little Secret,where Damian discovers him and Jason are dating while looking for Jason's weakness and returns in Belonging to comfort Stephanie after a call from her and does the same for Jason in Strong Enough while visiting Wayne Manor,slowly becoming a major recurring character from then on
Dead Sidekicks Force-Completely optional,this is an au that dives into what would've happened if Summer,Jason,Stephanie and Damian got even closer earlier and decided to form the titulary team as based on them being 'Dead Sidekicks' and recruting honorary members as they went along.Similar to the animated Teen Titans adaption in tone and to a lesser extent in artstyle too
That's about it for comics but for animation and video game fans,he also has big roles in the Utrh movie adaption,Ditf 2020,Lego Batman:Family Matters,the aformentioned Teen Titans cartoon(which has Dragon Rose as canon since they're both Dick's age in it and there being no Jason),the Injustice game series and Lego DC Supervillains and will be in season 2 of Batwheels along with Clark and Lois!
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