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isfjmel-phleg · 2 months

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So the context for the pages below is that Dick has called in Tim to help him with a case that requires tech expertise, and of course Tim agrees to help. But it's evident from his expression that he's not especially enthusiastic. He looks tired. A bit downcast.

At this time, there was a plotline in Tim's solo series in which the Drakes lost a lot of money and had to make some pretty significant lifestyle changes. Tim had to leave his boarding school and sell his beloved Redbird, and his family moved out of their fancy house in the suburbs to a more modest apartment in the city. The Drakes aren't destitute; they've just gone from upper-class to upper-middle-class. But it's a big change by their standards, and Tim, although he puts on an optimistic and compliant front for his dad's sake, initially panics about how the downgrade might impact his very expensive job as Robin.

Dick seems to sense that something is bothering Tim, so he puts a hand gently on his shoulder and asks--not how Tim is doing, he'd never get a straightforward answer for that, but rather "how's life in the big city treating you?"

Note that Tim does not answer that question. He makes a vague statement about how Gotham is and then changes the subject to how his dad is doing. And it's true; Jack Drake is not handling the new circumstances well. But that has nothing to do with how Tim's doing, at least not directly.

What Tim seems to be trying to say here without directly saying it is that he's worried about his dad and doesn't know how to help him. Being emotional support for depressed father-figures is normally Tim's thing, it's why he's Robin in the first place, but it's different with his dad, who isn't easy to connect with even at the best of times.

Dick offers him some fairly generic reassurance that might also be meant for Tim himself. But what really gets me here is Tim's little "Yeah..."

He wants to talk more. He wants to tell Dick all about how he's doing, what he's struggling with. But that's wading in too deep, getting too vulnerable for someone who's there to offer support, not be supported himself. So he quickly changes the subject back to the case, Dick has to move on to the next task at hand, and Tim is left alone with his feelings.

(Nightwing 1996 #68)

Just a short interaction, but it says so much about Tim's reluctance to open up about anything too personal, even with someone whom he's particularly close to, who genuinely cares about his well-being and wants to know how he's doing.

#comicsposting again #TD: he lived so others wouldn't die #I need a tag for DG but haven't found the right quote yet

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isfjmel-phleg · 3 months

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Love it when editors are clearly having way too much fun with the letter page.

Three issues in, I can confirm that the mission statement is indeed accurate. Dude has been flying around. Stuff has happened. Exactly what, I'm not sure, but it has happened.

#comicsposting again #and look they've handed me a tag on a plate #RK: he's a guy. he flies around. stuff happens.

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isfjmel-phleg · 3 months

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I get bored at work and this is what happens

#comicsposting again #BA: fastest attitude alive

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isfjmel-phleg · 2 months

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Tim and not being like Batman: a collection

(Young Justice 1998 #36 / Robin 1993 #132 / Batgirl 2000 #58-59 / Batman Allies Secret Files and Origins #1 / Teen Titans 2003 #20 / Robin 1993 #134 / Red Robin #4, 12)

#comicsposting again #TD: he lived so others wouldn't die #sorry to bombard you with panels but as I go through Tim's stuff I'm seeing a running theme #(behold - glimpses of the one and only good story in the 2003 series I do not acknowledge)

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isfjmel-phleg · 2 months

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When asked where he pictures himself in twenty years, or as an adult in general, three options spring to Tim's mind:

(Red Robin #25)

It's already devastating enough that he sees his own death as a possibility of where he'll be in twenty years, but at age seventeen he already has his own epitaph picked out.

"He lived so others wouldn't die. He died so others could live."

He wants to be remembered as self-sacrificial.

And he wants to be remembered. Note the flowers at his grave.

#comicsposting again #TD: he lived so others wouldn't die #(finally got the perfect tag for him!)#anyway going through Tim's material is making me sad #there's a lot to unpack in these panels (and this series in general)#but that epitaph really gets to me #(note the cross on the headstone too! this comes a few issues after Tim expresses his religious doubts #so it's interesting that he would specifically imagine a religious symbol on his hypothetical grave - how deep do these doubts really go?)

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isfjmel-phleg · 1 year

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(Young Justice 1998 #7 and #55)

Attitudes toward mortality at the beginning and end of the series.

#comicsposting again #got a new YJ collection today and this juxtaposition came to mind

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isfjmel-phleg · 19 days

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If you're a being of light, don't forget to charge up as much as possible before this afternoon. You don't want to get caught with no battery power while your power source is temporarily out of commission!

#comicsposting again #RT: born with the light #I can't believe no one has written a Ray story involving an eclipse #the closest is the Final Night storyline #but anyway it would be an interesting challenge (what if it happened at an inconvenient time?)#and I'm surprised that writers have been sleeping on it #and instead going with Gets Knocked Out Early In A Fight or Is Mind-Controlled to deal with this OP character

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isfjmel-phleg · 3 months

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Triumph's Wikipedia page and TV Tropes listing both claim that his back was broken during the fight he has with Martian Manhunter prior to being fired from the Task Force. This is actually not the case! J'onn is pretty rough on him (perhaps deservedly!) in that scene, but that back injury was preexisting, and Justice League Task Force makes that pretty clear. I'm not sure where the misconception comes from.

So I'm going to talk about how it actually happened, why the way it happened was significant, what the consequences were, and what purpose this injury serves in Will's arc.

Story time!

In the build-up to the climax of Will's solo, he is confronted by the son of the supervillain his father used to be a henchman for. This guy has taken up his father's mantle--Dr. Cobalt--and is out to prove himself. This is, of course, a foil to Will's deliberate rejection of everything his father stood for. Naturally there's a lot of animosity between these two, and they get into a fight.

Will's power is controlling electromagnetism. He's not really invulnerable, but he can make it look that way by putting an electromagnetic field around himself. This has to be done consciously, though. He's only invulnerable when he's thinking about it. Dr. Cobalt catches him off-guard in an emotionally compromised moment, flings him high in the air, and drops him. Will lands on his spine with such great force that it forms a bit of a crater.

(Triumph #4)

His teammate Fang (Meredith [surname unknown]) arrives on the spot as soon as she can. She has a medical background (she's a dentist) and knows to how to respond. She reports that he's gone into cardiac arrest, so she injects him with what's probably epinephrine and administers CPR.

The next step should have been to get him to a hospital, but the next time we see the team, they're in Will's hotel room. It's unclear why. Did he refuse medical care? If so, why would his team let him do that? Fang points out that his back is broken, and Wilma (Lester Holmes) wants them to hand the mission over to another team member. Will is in no state to handle this. But he insists on continuing anyway. This is a very personal mission, involving his estranged father, and not even a broken back is going to stop him.

Although he's clearly in a lot of pain.

This particular series doesn't make it clear, but Will uses his powers to treat the injury. He takes the pressure off the damaged vertebrae by creating a gravity pocket around them and goes about the rest of the mission like nothing's wrong. The injury is not addressed again in this series, and his mission fails to give him the closure he's looking for anyway.

So what's the point?

The broken back is an outward manifestation of how much his past has hurt him. Having Dr. Cobalt II be the one to cause the injury is significant: Cobalt represents the life that Will's father chose and that Will has tried so hard to distance himself from. This distance has extended to his relationship with his father (deeply resentful) and with his younger self. Eight-year-old Will was emotionally hurt quite badly by his father's choices and coped by shutting himself off from emotion. He uses his apparent stoicism to mimic invulnerability just as his electromagnetic fields do for him physically.

But like his powers, the stoicism only works with conscious effort. Right before Cobalt's attack, Will had run into his father (now working for Cobalt II) for the first time in decades, and the rush of pain and anger made him an easy target.

Try as he might, he can't really escape the hurt he's been through. But instead of taking steps to actually correct and deal with the problems, he chooses to conceal it and try to keep it to himself. What's going on with him physically is now the same as what's going on emotionally.

The aftermath of the broken back is addressed in his next appearance, in Justice League Task Force #27. Since his powers only work when he's conscious, he now has to sleep in a painful-looking full-body harness to take the pressure off when he can't access his powers. There's still an incredible amount of pain (surely he has to take painkillers to be able to sleep at all), he is apparently paralyzed without the use of the gravity pocket, and he's struggling to adjust to this being his life now. He is disabled but refusing to accept it or help of any kind beyond his own powers.

He also hasn't told his Task Force team about the injury. Somehow he has managed to rig his video call system to show an image of him as he was before--confident, carefree, in charge, and mobile--rather than reveal the humiliating truth.

This would be an opportunity to allow his team to help him. They would be deeply concerned if they knew what had happened to him. Maybe some strained relationships could be worked on by this chance to bond through helping him out in whatever way possible (...like making him get actual medical treatment, maybe?).

But Will is too proud for that.

So his team has no idea what's going on with him. Not long after this, his ego and insubordination get him in trouble with J'onn, who as a last resort proceeds to get into a vicious fight with him. He beats Will up enough for him to lose his grasp on his powers, which leaves him lying immobile and in shock from pain.

Vandal Savage is hanging around for some reason and somehow knows all about the broken back. He helps Will reactivate his powers as part of a mind game he's playing with him, trying to draw Will in to his side (as he already has succeeded in doing with Ray).

(Justice League Task Force #28)

When the demon Neron targets Will to make a bargain, he starts by emphasizing the misery of living with a broken back and how it's really all Will's fault. The point hits home--because although Neron is manipulating here, he's not incorrect in his assessment of Will's self-created problems. The broken back is the consequence and symbol of all that.

(Justice League Task Force #30)

And the offer of healing for his back makes the deal especially tempting. It's a major factor in Will's taking the candle that, once lit, will seal the deal in exchange for his soul.

Even with the gravity pocket relieving the pain most of the time, the spinal injury is still a liability on missions. During space travel, Will gets put in a position where he is about to lose access to the electromagnetic field, which now means not only getting inconveniently depowered but also succumbing to paralysis. He manages to accomplish what he needs to (saves a teammate's life) without either of these things happening, but he undergoes a lot of anxiety about it meanwhile.

(Justice League Task Force #32)

But when they land on a planet that has much greater gravity than Earth does, it affects his powers immediately, and he goes into shock and collapses in front of his team. They have no idea what's going on or what to do for him.

(Justice League Task Force #33)

J'onn's solution is to enrage him enough to get his mind off the pain and thus make him able to recalibrate his powers to the new setting. And it works. Is J'onn aware of the injury and just not saying anything about it? He is a telepath, albeit one who usually tries to respect his team's privacy.

This would have been an ideal time for Will to confess the truth. He needs all the support he can get, especially in this unfamiliar environment. He does emerge from the shock groggy and less inhibited than normal, but he still is in enough control to continue the lie. He lets the team assume that what all they witnessed was just his powers shorting out from the heightened gravity.

And the broken back never comes up again.

Even when Will shows up at the JLA Christmas party intending to apologize and make amends, and later when he has a more candid conversation with Cindy and Ray, he still does not tell them about the injury. It would have been a fitting symbol of a new willingness to be vulnerable and accept help, which would have really hammered home that he has grown. But he doesn't--because he hasn't really changed that much. He wants the benefits of a restored relationship with his team without the responsibilities of true friendship, such as honesty. And because he's still clinging to his pride and concealing his brokenness, he cannot achieve his happy ending.

Presumably his back is restored, as promised, whenever the candle is lit. But the now aged-up Will we see after this is not rejoicing at being healed. He's apparently more angry and bitter than ever, cut off from any meaningful connection with his team now that they've forgotten him.

(Justice League Task Force #37)

Removing the injury/disability does not solve his problems. He ultimately fails to learn the humility, vulnerability, and trust in friends that the unfortunate circumstance of the outward manifestation of his inward pain could have guided him toward. It could have been treated early enough and he might not have had to live in such pain. Or perhaps there wouldn't have been much the doctors could do, and he would have had to accept a new kind of life and reevaluate his role as a hero under these different circumstances (not unlike how Barbara Gordon became Oracle). But he denies himself either of these options because maintaining his pride is his highest priority.

Will MacIntyre is broken. He's been broken for a long time before he ever shatters his vertebrae. And it is his inability to acknowledge, accept, or seek aid for this brokenness that leaves him apparently beyond repair in the end.

#comicsposting again #WM: broken bitter and alone #this turned into a whole essay-thing #but that's all right #there's some very thoughtful writing going on here and I want to call attention to it #it's not just 'LOL this loser got beat up'

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isfjmel-phleg · 8 months

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Context:

(Young Justice 1998 #49)

#comicsposting again #YJ: so glad we found each other

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isfjmel-phleg · 3 months

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Okay, I can't do fancasting, but I can pinpoint what I personally would be looking for in actors for a YJ-and-adjacent adaptation.

Whoever would play Tim would need to be able to convey a lot of seeming contradictions. Friendly and affable but intensely private. The Only Sane One but in fact just as unhinged as the rest of his friends. Resident logician and strategist but brimming with (mostly) controlled emotionality. Comes across as mature and sensible but also has lots of annoying little brother energy. He would need to demonstrate a wry, self-deprecating humor while also having the capacity to be driven and serious and sit on rooftops to brood when necessary. Should have the physicality of someone who has carefully trained for what he does, not someone who has effortless natural talent.

Kon should be the charismatic teenage hero type, like something escaped from a Disney Channel show. Lots of Attitude™, lots of style, lots of action. Boisterous and cocky but can be caring and gentle. This actor needs to have fantastic comedic skills because Kon needs to be funny. Deliberately, consciously, genuinely hilarious and witty. Not at all dark and brooding. But he should also be able to pull off a very specific type of angst--depressed but in denial about it. Kon's happy-go-lucky persona is both an expression of his natural personality and a front he clings to avoid being vulnerable, so his actor should be able to convey these layers of complexity. Hypothetically, his actor would also be playing Match and would have to pull off a cold, efficient, vindicative (but ultimately tragic) persona too.

Bart needs to be played by someone who can avoid making him a caricature. The fun and humor and lightheartedness need to be there, of course, but they're combined with a very teenage belligerent and stubborn side. This needs to be someone who can convey a unique style of thinking and get across that Bart is in fact quite intelligent and perceptive. There should also be an ability to effectively emote without words. It's a highly energetic role with a distinct physicality. Ideally, Bart's actor would also be playing Thad, so he would need to be able to pull off the contrasting roles, to give each of them their own distinctive mannerisms and styles of speech and physicalities, and to absolutely nail the emotionally intense climax of Mercury Falling.

Greta's actress should be able to be both genuinely sweet and genuinely terrifying. One is not a mask for the other; she is both at the same time. She should be able to deliver some of the most disturbing and hilarious lines ever with utter sincerity (things like "Death is coming, and...he's on skis"). She has a vindictive streak and can be harsh but not so much that the audience won't feel for her. There's an innate vulnerability and waiflike quality to this child despite her powers. This is a very dramatic role that would require a broad range as Greta gradually goes to the Doug Side dark side before being restored back to life.

Cissie needs to have the air of someone overtrained since childhood in athletics with a side of pageant-like skills--like a child on one of those dreadful reality shows about exploitative parents. She is poised and controlled and elegant and knows how to make an impression. At the same time, she is intensely emotionally driven and would need to pull off highly dramatic scenes, like her attempt to get revenge on her school counselor's killer--but also drama played for laughs, like her expectation that she'll have to become a villain after the failed revenge or her reaction to being dragged into the baseball game.

Cassie is an interesting combination of reckless enthusiasm and struggles with self-confidence. Not big on tact and can be toxically optimistic. Her actress shouldn't be the glamorous type; she needs to seem like a very ordinary, relatable, down-to-earth girl (who happens to have superpowers). No big transformative makeover moments--she should just become more and more comfortable with and confident in who she is as she matures. Her actress should be able to convey the stages of an arc in which she gradually figures out her distinctive identity and develops as a strong leader and role model.

Anita's actress needs to have a strong, authoritative presence. You should really feel that she can compel others to do her bidding at the sound of her voice. She should have a warm quality too that really comes through in her relationship with Slo-bo in particular. There needs to be a balance of her formidable powerfulness and the fact that she's a teenage girl who is increasingly in over her head, and her struggles as she is stuck raising her deaged-to-infant parents must be poignant.

Slo-bo should be cast as someone who has the quality of an old soul despite being the technical youngest of the group. He should combine the tough abrasiveness that he feels he needs to assume as Li'l Lobo's successor with a keen sensitivity and struggles with self-loathing. He insists he's not a good guy and presents himself in the most morally gray terms he can, and this isn't an act (exactly), but it's complicated by the fact that he is legitimately kind and self-sacrificing. If played right, the audience won't initially know what to make of him but by the end should be heartbroken by his apparent death.

For Ray, someone who can portray the heroic nature of the character, but neither formidably muscular or a suave heartthrob type--he's rather ordinary. This needs to be someone with good comedic timing, someone who can pull off the naivete and the Absolute Disaster-ness and seem out of his depth in the real world, but also convey introspectiveness and a longing to be loved. He wears his heart on his sleeve, struggles with some depressive episodes, and can be quite vulnerable, with some notably dramatic scenes. There should be a bit of an edge to the character as well, as he becomes more jaded and makes choices that could potentially result in his going evil.

Grant needs to have a sort of ordinary-teenage-boy quality. Earnest, sweet, eager to prove himself, awkward, a bit of a goofball. But his actor should also have the capacity to handle a highly dramatic role. He should be able to convey explosive anger without being brutish and unsympathetically aggressive. There's an underlying anxiety in how he responds to the world, something ingrained in him by his abusive upbringing. Despite his powers and the anger and strength associated with them, he is emotional and vulnerable, with quite a few scenes that would require him to weep. He undergoes a striking change in demeanor after his face is scarred, and his actor would need to make the transition into bitterness believable.

#comicsposting again #YJ: so glad we found each other #as promised: some Thoughts #setting aside the less important issue of physically resembling the characters as drawn #because that can be adjusted with costuming etc.#the concern here is more what *kind* of actor could bring each character's essence to life #and I'm also assuming that these hypothetical actors are all actual teenagers who can adequately convey just how young all these kids are

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