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booasaur · 5 months

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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters - 1x03

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spockvarietyhour · 4 months

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#Monarch Legacy of Monsters #spoilers #Monarch Spoilers #Keiko Miura #Lee Shaw #General Puckett #Danny watches Monarch Legacy of Monsters

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captainpikeachu · 4 months

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It just occurred to me to ask……was General Puckett still alive in 1982 when Lee made it back?

Did Puckett outlive Bill? Did he hear the news of Bill’s passing on Skull Island and regret that he couldn’t stop it? Did he die before Lee made it back so he never knew that at least one of the “youths” he was in charge of, the one he knew personally, actually made it back?

WHY IS EVERYONE SO TRAGIC??? 🫠

#I’ll just lay here with my feels #this show is attacking me honestly it’s rude #general puckett #bill randa #lee shaw #monarch legacy of monsters

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blackbatcass · 6 months

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sometimes the ghost of kelley puckett (he is still alive) haunts me. does he know. does he even know. he’s so detached from the comics community and he’s such a private guy (I RESPECT THAT WHOLEHEARTEDLY) that i really and truly do not know if this man knows how much cassandra cain means to us. does he know batgirl 2000 is heralded as the bible of dc solo books, as a lot of people’s favorite comic ever written. does he know how much we love cass. how we write essays over her character and how amazing she is and how she changed our lives. does he know how adored his writing is. does he know he wrote the best comics character introduction of all time. does he even. know.

#cassandra cain #dc #look. sometimes i think about kelley puckett. and i go a little crazy #i KNOW how much shit he got from dc execs at the time #because he was doing something new and different #and because dc as well as a lot of fans at the time #didn’t have room for a newly created disabled asian teenaged girl in their personal batman mythos.#i have a pretty good idea of how much disrespect cass got as a character (SEE: HER LITERALLY BEING WRITTEN OUT OF THE STORY WHEN #DUDES GOT SO WHINY ABOUT BABS NOT BEING BATGIRL. WTF.)#so. i have no idea what his general thoughts & feelings were when writing for dc.#i think he’s doing accountancy now? or coding? something like that #the man did like ONE interview and i think it was from 2002 #ANYWAY. THE POINT IS.#the way this circle of online dc fans regard cass and batgirl 200 in general #is SO…#WE LOVE CASS OKAY. SHE’S SO MANY PEOPLES FAVORITE CHARACTER.#and batgirl 2000 is thought of as THEE comic book EVER #and as some of the best writing dc had EVER had #kelley puckett is a literal god of a writer to us.#AND I DONT KNOW IF HE?? KNOWS THAT?????#DOES HE KNOW I WOULD PAY HIM A MILLION DOLLARS TO COME WRITE FOR DC AGAIN.#because hes just that good and most comics post new 52 have been garbage #does he know how beloved he is. I don’t know #anyway. I sincerely hope wherever mr puckett is right now #he’s having a wonderful day and he knows how many gay people on tumblr #write extensive meta essays about his writing

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degrassi-fandom-confessions · 6 months

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Sam Puckett and s10 Bianca would’ve been besties

#icarly #degrassi confessions #degrassi #degrassi the next generation #dtng #sam puckett #bianca desousa #admin nick

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whaleiumsharkspeare · 1 year

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I can’t believe you guys forgot about that insane iCarly episode where Sam, annoyed at having been cut in front of in line, slaps the guy who cut her, only to find out he was a prominent member of a local mob. So Carly, Freddie, and Spencer have to disguise themselves as members of the mob in order to rescue Sam, and the episode builds up to a surprisingly well choreographed fight scene where Sam takes down the leaders of the mob with her butter sock. And the mob member who cut in front of her was played by Jeff Goldblum???

#almost weirder than the episode where they built a nuclear generator #icarly #sam puckett #carly shay #spencer shay #freddie benson

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maemil · 2 months

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God, I was getting annoyed with some choices the writers started making a bit after the halfway point of Batgirl (2000), only to be informed that this was pretty much exactly when Kelley Puckett stopped writing.

#i see what you guys meant when you said he did it best agsjdk #to be fair i really enjoyed testline. which was right after puckett left but that may also be my bad case of the stephs #i am still reading. its not like end of the world stuff. theyre just kinda making bruce worse & have been focusing *hard* on her & boys #like issues 39-45 have on some level themes regarding her relationship with either superboy or this one random villain or guys in general #she feels hella lesbian coded for a lot of it tbh like she does not seem comfortable with dudes checking her out ever shdkjdk #but thats just making it more annoying because im like 'free her or make this an actual exploration of comphet (never gonna happen)'#i have a feeling the problems with bruce are gonna be resolved with them kicking each others asses which normally im all for but not rn #i just feel hes being written worse than the writers think he is which just makes things frustrating #especially when his level of shittiness up to now felt pretty ideal. but theyre also making her dad worse. ig to make bruce look better :/#batgirl (2000)#mae reads comics #edit: it is looking like 48-50 will be bruce problems. 51-52 is horny. and then we hit robin!steph which will make me hate bruce more oh god #hopefully theres some interesting parts in the bruce problems section i genuinely dont hate them having conflict. but RIP #after that is like two events shdjdk i might need to take a break from batgirl for a min #its been my go to fun comic for a while but i do have to pace myself with those anyway #and ill ruin the good stuff im sure *will* show up later if i go into it grumpy because of change

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longtammw · 1 year

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Minnesota Sports Teams Signatures Shirt, Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Timberwolves Minnesota Wild Twins Puckett Shirt

#DESCRIPTION #SHIPPING & MANUFACTURING INFO #TEEJEEP #Minnesota Sports Teams Signatures Shirt #Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Timberwolves Minnesota Wild Twins Puckett Shirt #Nothing like falling on your sword for the Emperor with No Clothes. Trump has been relentlessly attacking Kemp for not stealing the Minneso #Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Timberwolves Minnesota Wild Twins Puckett Shirt. Then again #cult members go where Dear Leader is. Whether it’s Washington DC #Waco #or Guyana. You just go. These past #grueling 4 years have obviously shown us not to expect to find an ounce of integrity #honor or courage in a Republican politician. They all suffer from Trumpholm Syndrome… However #Elite Legal Ninja Strike Force With Laser Eyes #Jenna Ellis #who reportedly contacted Dr. Oz asking if it was possible that Rudy Giuliani could have transmitted his covid to her when he farted in her #was not amused. Is this an event that employees #and not the company #are organizing and funding? If yes #distribute a general email message or flyer #inviting people to attend and contribute. State that the event isn’t employer-sponsored. Also try to word the invitation so that it’s about #not about hitting-up for contributions (even though the “user fee” does need to be clearly stated). If th #Buy It NOw: .Minnesota Sports Teams Signatures Shirt #Christmas In The Camper 3D Sweater #Appalachian State Mountaineers Distressed Retro Logo Shirt #ELF So Effing Tired Sped Teacher Christmas Sweater #Christmas Aloha Hawaii Mele Kalikimaka Ugly Christmas Sweater #Homepage: limotees jeeppremium telotee #Gearbloom is your one-stop online shop for printed t-shirts #hoodies #phone cases

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its-cartooncrazy · 1 month

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[Image description: a panel from Paranatural showing Max puckett talking in deadpan. The speech bubble has been edited to read "If I cry, it's a general thing like I'm sad for the world that cover letters exist". End ID]

In case you're wondering how the job search is going

#waiting for my friends to get back to me with feedback for my cover letter #also im just very tired emotionally on account of the crying over cover letters that i actually did do #anyway.#paranatural #sure why not

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gamesception · 4 months

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Sception Reads Cass Cain #32

Batgirl (2000) #14 writer: Puckett pencils: Scott

Different inker this time, John Lowe instead of Campanella. I'm not enough of a connoisseur of comic art to really notice the difference. Honestly, I've been favoring pencil art in this series in general and not really mentioning inker & colorist. Should I be crediting/calling those out specifically? Let me know.

Anyway, we're back to the main series. Last time Cass was riding high after saving a repentant assassin from government agents. It fit more or less right in with the sort of one shot story we've seen a few times in her series, so there really wasn't a reason to expect any follow up from it, though the tone was a notable break from the usual Batgirl benchmark somewhere between sombre and miserable. This time is a return to form.

Before we get into the issue, that note about the tone does tie into that DCWomenKickingAss post that's been making the rounds again recently (link), the one with the interview with Scott Peterson where he describes the original instructions he gave to Kelley Puckett for designing the new batgirl as:

“Hey, new Batgirl. Young–late teens, I think–and Asian. And cheerful and chipper and always up and good natured and she has a complete and total death wish.”

As much as the Cass we got ended up being my favorite comic character ever, it's unfortunate that the 'cheerful, chipper' aspect - which is definitely there in the character, I've talked in previous posts about how much she loves being Batgirl and how critical that is to her character and to the overall themes of the book - is rarely the dominant tone of her ongoing. The quote from Puckett above implies book that on the surface is bright and cheerful, with a subversive undercurrent that fades into the background only to rear up and slap you in the face unexpectedly, where as what we got is an unrelenting 'long darkness of the soul' situation, punctuated by brief flashes of light that more often than not turn out to be the headlights of an oncoming train.

Which brings us back to the current issue.

We start with some government suits watching video of Cass and debating whether she's a metahuman or not, before being surprised by the fact that they have no matching info for her. Still pretty fun and lighthearted, but it does establish the idea that these guys are going to be a problem.

we also re-do the goodbye scene from the end of last issue...

Only this this time Puckett adds this bit where the assassin realizes he'll never get to see his family again, dampening the mood, setting up for what happens to him later, but also putting this divide between himself and Cass. Last time this guy could be read as a sort of self-surrogate for her, someone parallel to her situation as a former assassin, and by saving him Cass was sort of getting the chance to save herself.

Here, though, the guy establishes himself, however briefly, as his own person, with a life and a family. All the things that Cass's unique history and circumstances have denied her.

Things that Barbara is extremely concerned that Cass may have permanently cut herself off from ever having in the future by letting herself be recorded by the government outside of costume.

Cass, of course, can't imagine a future for herself. Because she's going to die within the year when Shiva returns. And because she doesn't want to be anything other than Batgirl. But mostly because deep down she doesn't believe she deserves a life or a future, and doesn't want to think about why that is.

As it is, Cass doesn't think she has any connections, so isn't afraid of losing them.

Bab's dialog implies that she's going to go to Bruce about this thinking maybe he could get through to her, but Bruce, consciously or otherwise, has been actively isolating Cass, so can he really be counted on to prevent her from isolating herself even further?

There's this transition page where Cass wakes up to find Bruce instead of Oracle in the Tower. I don't talk about color much, but Jason Wright does a good job here, the colors not just conveying a transition to night but also the switch to a darker emotional and narrative tone, despite still being all smiles, not knowing what happened.

Just like John way back in issue two, we have another guy who Cass thought she had saved, and let herself feel happy about, only to find out that the villains had come back for them later. And once again it's a pretty gut wrenching twist.

Cass asks Bruce's permission to hurt these people, not just take them down and capture them, but to personally punish them, and he grants it, which is a pretty gross dynamic all round.

Remember this bit from issue 4, when Bruce is talking about how 'perfect' Batgirl was?

Better even than himself, not just as a matter of skill, but more importantly for how she was untainted by any excess cruelty. It's why he was so shocked to find out she might have killed someone, despite knowing Cain had trained her from birth to do just that. It wasn't something that the Cassandra the he knew was capable of. But a few short months working for Batman and...

This isn't 'gentle'. This isn't someone you'd be shocked to find out had killed someone.

Remember this bit from issue 4? Bruce all high and mighty about what David Cain did to Cass. But for all the painful and potentially lethal extremes of his training regimen, and for all the evil he intended her to do, David raised a girl who, once she understood what killing was, chose to abandon her life and her father - despite loving both - rather than kill again.

A few months exposure to Bruce is eroding away the humanity and compassion that compelled her to seek atonement in the first place.

Bruce, his methods, the way he treats his friends and family, he's actively making Cassandra worse.

On the way home Bruce says he's sorry, but it's about what happened to the assassin, he's not sorry for what he's doing to Cassandra himself, what he's taking from her. He's not even done taking things from her this issue, as he doesn't take her back to the clocktower.

Of course. Of course he's fine with throwing away even the possibility of a future independent of him and his mission. You can just imagine how the conversation with Babs went too, at first trying to appeal on Cass's behalf, Bruce just not getting it, switching to practical threats to the mission, how Cass's exposure potentially exposes Oracle, in the hope that he'll respond to that - only for Bruce to respond by taking Cass away entirely, severing the one lonely link to someone who at least tries to care about her as a person in her own right.

When Babs was trying to appeal to Cass earlier, she brushed her off, convinced that she didn't have anything to lose anyway. You can feel the realization dawning on her that yeah, she really did have something to lose.

And the issue ends with this panel that makes her tiny to emphasize how completely isolated she is now.

This issue is a major emotional low point in Cass's early series, maybe *the* major low point. Bruce at his worst, Cass at her most alone.

Things will slowly improve from here, though sadly never in quite the way they needed to, with a direct confrontation of Bruce himself.

#cassandra cain #sception reads cassandra cain #batgirl

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thecruellestmonth · 4 months

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Canon blood types: Gotham edition

Note that the following information is not medically accurate and should not be taken as any kind of medical advice. Copious amounts of comic book medicine and biology abound here.

Bruce Wayne may (or may not) have O- blood, the universal donor type. —Batman 2016 Annual #3

Bruce is a compatible blood donor for Andrew Bennett. —The Brave and the Bold #195

Dick Grayson is a compatible blood donor for Bruce Wayne. (If Bruce has O- blood, then Dick must also have O- blood.)—Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne

In the DC Animated Universe, Dick has O+ blood. —Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero

Jason Todd has O- blood. —Detective Comics #1032

In the DC Animated Universe, Barbara Gordon has AB- blood. She has the same rare blood type as Nora Fries, wife of Mr. Freeze. —Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero

Crystal Brown is a compatible blood donor for Stephanie Brown. —Batgirl (2009) #24

The Joker is a compatible blood donor for Alfred Pennyworth. —The Brave and the Bold (1955) #141

Helena Bertinelli has a rare blood type, the same as Guido Bertinelli. —The Huntress (1989) #6

Kirk Langstrom and Francine Langstrom have the same blood type. —Detective Comics #429

Bruce Wayne

Batman (2016) Annual #3 suggests that Bruce could have type O- blood.

Batman (2016) Annual #3, written by Tom Taylor - Batman is seriously wounded in the field. Alfred performs a blood transfusion with a supply of type O- blood.

Type O- blood can be donated to patients with any blood type. Batman might be keeping a supply of O- blood not for himself specifically, but for anyone in need of an emergency blood transfusion. So maybe we can't conclude that Bruce must have O- blood.

The Brave and the Bold (1955) #195, written by Mike W. Barr - Batman donates blood to his friend, a heroic vampire named Andrew Bennett, who shielded him from a silver bullet.

Dick Grayson

In Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne, we learn that Dick Grayson can donate blood to Bruce Wayne.

Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne, written by Kelley Puckett - Batman is infected with a deadly virus and then taken captive. To save him, Nightwing takes an dangerous experimental vaccine that prompts his body to produce virus-fighting antibodies. Hours later, after Nightwing finds Batman, Nightwing undergoes a "complete blood transfusion" to deliver his antibody-rich blood into Batman's body, while Nightwing receives Batman's virus-laden blood.

If we assume that Bruce has O- blood, then he can only receive transfusions from O- blood, and thus Dick must also have O- blood.

In Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (part of the DC Animated Universe), Dick has O+ blood. O+ is the world's most common blood type; about 40% of the population has O+ blood. O+ blood can be donated to people with any "+" blood type (including A+, B+, AB+, and O+)—about 85% of the total population. O+ patients can only receive blood transfusions from O+ and O- donors.

Jason Todd

In Detective Comics #1032, Hush states that Jason Todd has O- blood.

Detective Comics #1032, written by Peter J Tomasi - Hush captures several Batfamily members, and attempts to steal and sell their organs as revenge against Bruce. Hush begins with Red Hood, and confirms that Jason has type O- blood.

Type O- blood is the universal donor type. This kind of blood can be donated to patients with any blood type. (Recall Mad Max: Fury Road.) People with O- blood can only receive blood transfusions from other O- donors. About 6.6% of people in the USA have O- blood.

Barbara Gordon

This canon is valid for the DC Animated Universe. Barbara may or may not have a different blood type in the comics.

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero - Barbara Gordon is listed as having AB- blood in Gotham General Hospital's database of blood donors. She is also a compatible organ donor (HLA match) for Nora Fries; and so Mr. Freeze kidnaps Barbara in hopes of performing a life-saving heart transplant for Nora.

For the sake of the plot, Nora needs a transplant from an organ donor with her same rare blood type. In real life, an AB- patient could receive organs from a donor with AB-, A-, B-, or O- blood, as long as the HLA typing matches (read more about that here).

Type AB- blood is the rarest ABO/Rh blood type worldwide; only 0.6% of people have this blood type in the USA. People with AB- blood can receive any Rh negative blood (including A-, B-, AB-, and O-); about 15% of the population has Rh negative blood that can be donated to AB- patients. People with AB- blood can only donate red blood cells to people with AB- and AB+ blood—about 4% of the population. However, type AB is especially valuable as the universal blood plasma that can be donated to patients of any blood type—and so people with type AB blood are often urged to consider donating blood plasma.

Stephanie Brown and her mother, Crystal Brown

Batgirl (2009) #24, written by Bryan Q Miller - Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) is poisoned with Black Mercy spores. She wakes up days later in West Mercy Hospital. Her mother, Crystal Brown, a nurse, donated her blood to help flush the spores from Steph's system.

We know that Crystal can donate to Steph, but we don't know whether Steph would or wouldn't be able to donate to Crystal. Parents and their children don't always share the same blood type. (This also means that Damian doesn't necessarily have the same blood type as Bruce.)

The Joker and Alfred Pennyworth

The Brave and the Bold (1955) #141, written by Bob Haney - The Joker tricks Alfred Pennyworth into drinking exploding juice. The Joker drinks anti-exploding juice. Batman forces the Joker to donate his anti-exploding clown blood to Alfred.

Helena Bertinelli

The Huntress (1989) #6, written by Joey Cavalieri - Helena Bertinelli has been captured by villains who wish to open the locked vault of her late father, Guido Bertinelli. The lock can only be opened using a sample of Guido's blood type. This blood type is so rare that the villains could not find any in the local blood bank at that time—and so they decided to capture Helena as their "fresh supply".

In the mid-to-late 1990s, Helena's father's name was retconned to be named Franco Bertinelli. Then Huntress: Cry for Blood revealed that Helena's biological father is not Franco, but instead Helena's mother's lover from the Cassamento crime family. In the end, all our information about Helena's blood type may be invalid and apocryphal.

Helena possibly has AB- blood, the rarest blood type. This is the same blood type that Barbara has in the DC Animated Universe.

The Langstroms

Detective Comics (1937) #429, written by Frank Robbins - Francine Lee Langstrom has transformed into She-Bat after secondhand exposure to her husband's bat serum and then being bitten by vampire bats in a cave in Nevada. Her husband, Kirk Langstrom (Man-Bat), says his the same blood type is the same as hers, and so he offers to donate his blood to help treat her.

Helpful references

Stanford Blood Center

UC Davis Health Transplant Center: "Matching and Compatibility"

American Red Cross Blood Services

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aingeal98 · 1 year

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Something about Cass and Shiva and reverse arcs. Something about Shiva growing up with a normal life and family and choosing to give all that up and exist outside the boundaries of regular civilisation. Giving up her... Humanity sounds too cold but her personhood? Something like that. Sandra is gone and Shiva is all that exists and it's not a tragedy or a triumph it just is.

And then Cass who is dehumanised by her father from the second she is born. Treated as a favourite pet science experiment for most of her childhood until she kills and chooses to break free. And like Shiva she wanders the world but unlike Shiva she's not content to just exist Outside. She wants communication and she wants connections and once she has a family and a home and a life it's intimidating and overwhelming but she finds she wants it all too.

Shiva was born with everything Cass wanted but she'll never be able to give it to her. They're on reverse character arcs and what Shiva can offer her isn't a family and a place in the world but... An understanding. Of who they both are now and how their similarities can help Cass grow even when their individual goals are polar opposite.

Shiva exists in the moment, cares little for the past or the future, and while interested in humanity her heart doesn't bleed for them. Cass is haunted by her past, clings to the hope of the future, and cares for everyone. Every single person is worth fighting for.

But they both exist on a level very few others can reach. They both love the fight, love the victories. Even if they fight for different reasons. There's an understanding there that's so interesting to me, and I wish more writers expanded on Puckett's storyline in a way that had Shiva as more than a generic antagonist but without making her a caring attached mother either.

#cassandra cain #lady shiva #dc rambles #dc

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fancyfade · 5 months

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Williamson continues to disappoint in batman and robin 2023

Like (spoilers. also CW child abuse)

I respect the general intention behind the talia portrayed as putting limits on damians instructors in the league and not being portrayed as a 100% abusive monster. It's necessary to show that, though obviously the best option would be for her not to have been portrayed as involved in raising him as an assassin at all.

But Williamson has previously done half assed al ghul retcons that went nowhere, often while later portraying them in a more unflattering manner in a way that makes me question if he was actually trying to fix writing in the first place.

He also just... is a huge fan of making damians abuse I guess like more "conventional", or more immediately obvious to see, which I don't like. Like whenever he writes damians instructors their always telling him he's not good enough or being extremely harsh in ways he needs to be saved from.

But like... previously in tomasi and gleasons writing, we see damian told that he is great. It's not unwarranted - he is incredibly talented and he works hard and does impossible feats. But i feel like if Williamson wrote those scenes he'd rewrite it for damian to do something incredibly impressive and then people come in and tell damian he sucks anyway and needs to be better and that is so NOT THE POINT. Like his childhood can be abusive... and he was treated like the heir who was going to take over*, he was not insulted a bunch, he was told he was great (while he also demonstrated capability).

Like I'm reminded of how horrocks wrote cass and david's dynamic compared to puckett (link). Where when Cass reflects on her childhood with David while Puckett writes her, she often is portrayed as happy. Even when he shoots her to keep her on her toes. She doesn't see anything wrong with her childhood! Horrock portrays their dynamic with a much more "typical" take on an abusive dad and abused child, with cass being touch starved and sad.

Williamson takes a complicated situation (raising a child in such an extreme way to kill people is abusive, but he also was supported/encouraged vocally by his family and told he's awesome (not unwarrantedly, he does demonstrate being awesome)) and then flattens it into something that is more palatable and obvious to the reader. There were these mean guys who insulted Damian and hit him or wanted to throw him to the wolves. It just sits so wrong with me to flatten a complex situation that is not immediately obvious to many people what's wrong with it into a more stereotypical situation

In terms of Talia I feel like... it is not making things worse, and maybe trying to be a little better, but it's still working off foundations that are so OOC it's hard to imagine. Like yeah realistically Williamson can't retcon Talia raising Damian as an assassin without DC editors approval probably, but given the rest of his writing I really doubt he would try to do that anyway. No matter what, the major complaint ("she raised her child as an assassin") is still there

*going by new 52 onward stories, pre new 52 was kind of unclear and I could see some arguing for Williamson's interpretation... but also pre new 52 would not have had Talia present at all (just while she's being villainized)

#batman and robin 2023 #dc comics #tuesday spoilers #spoilers #child abuse cw #damian wayne #robin #talia al ghul

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fantastic-nonsense · 1 year

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i don't know if you've already made a post about this but what comic(s) do you think have the best characterisation of cassandra cain and dick grayson?

My instinctive response to this ask was to just answer "Prodigal and Batgirl (2000)" and be on my way. Instead, I took a little bit more time to think about what my answer should be and what information might be useful to people looking for comics featuring a well-characterized Dick and Cass. So, with that said:

Dick:

Robin: Year One (2000)

New Teen Titans/Tales of the Teen Titans (1980 & 1984)

Batman: Year Three (1989)

Batman: Prodigal (1997)

Titans Vol. 1 (1999)

Nightwing/Birds of Prey: The Hunt for Oracle (2000)

Gotham Knights (2000) #1-12

Peter Tomasi's run on Nightwing (1996)

Batman: The Black Mirror (2010)

Batman: Gates of Gotham (2011)

Listen. All of these comics have their flaws. Many of them feature dated and occasionally poor treatment of various characters/social issues. I'm still holding a grudge against Devin Grayson for her Nightwing run and will until the end of time, and thus the inclusion of Titans Vol. 1 and her first Gotham Knights arcs might seem a bit odd. But I also think this is a pretty solid list of comics that portray Dick in ways that feel consistent and faithful to his core characterization; they're also some of the comics that feature Dick at his best.

Cass:

Batgirl (2000): specifically the Puckett/Scott run (#1-37) and the Gabrych run (#38 & #58-73)

Bruce Wayne: Murderer?/Fugitive (2003)

Gates of Gotham (2011)

Tynion's run on Detective Comics (2016)

Batman and the Outsiders (2019)

Batgirl Vol. 1 was and continues to be the golden standard of how to portray Cass. She's never reached those heights again. Other comics featuring Cass wish they were Batgirl Vol. 1, but it was a true "lightning in a bottle" run that has yet to be replicated. That being said: Murderer/Fugitive (which takes place during Cass's Batgirl run) is great, and Gates of Gotham features the only solid pre-reboot Cass characterization post-Evil Cass arc.

Post-Flashpoint!Cass is a bit of a different animal, but within the context and limitations placed on her appearances until Dan Didio's departure from DC in 2020, she's best characterized and treated in Detective Comics Rebirth and Batman and the Outsiders.

Honorable mentions: these comics either weren't quite on the same level of "good characterization" to make the list or just didn't highlight the character as much as they could have, but I still really like what the creative team did with them in the space they were given:

Dick: Nightwing (1996) #6 (for being a fun depiction of Dick and Tim's early-days relationship), Teen Titans (2003) #6 (great characterization of Dick. So-so characterization of...several other characters), The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul (I love Dick's characterization here, and it's one of my favorite Bat books, but he's just not in it all that much), and Batman & Robin (2009), which...I'll get into my complicated feelings about Morrison's B&R run some other time, but generally: I like Dick's characterization in this comic a lot in isolation. It becomes much more difficult to square, however, when you take everything else going on during the Reborn era into account.

Cass: Mariko Tamaki's Shadows of the Bat: The Tower (2021) event and "Sounds" short from the DC Asian Superhero Celebration (2021) anthology. They're nice and have some great Cass moments, but they're either too short (Sounds) or too focused on other characters/the overall plot (The Tower) to truly do her justice.

#ugh....the hesitation to put Titans Vol. 1 on here but knowing it portrays his relationships with the rest of the Fab Five the best...#dick grayson #cassandra cain #bri's recs #dc comics #batman #batfam #nightwing #batgirl #replies #dick grayson meta #cassandra cain meta

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dailycass-cain · 2 months

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so this is my first time reading Batgirl (TYSM for the guide!) and I'm pretty new to comics in general. I've made it to #41 so far, and I can't help but notice the huge decline in writing from #38 onwards with the change of writers. Maybe it's just exacerbated by how good the previous issues were; but it really feels like Cass drastically went from a rare female character that is actually written with the same respect and depth as the male characters to being turned into a "girl superhero" with boy troubles who gets forced into bikinis and love triangles. Since you seem to know a lot about what was going on behind the scenes at the time, did something happen? I know there's misogynistic/racist men in the industry who hated Cass so I was wondering if that was already brewing back then during her 2000s run

I think when it came post-Puckett era, Dylan Horrocks was faced with a choice: ape off Puckett or try something different with the character.

I'll be honest, the early Horrocks' stuff you're in hasn't aged well. The ideas are interesting, of exploring sexuality and Cass realizing she can "see" what men think of her, and I think the utter realization of Babs making a mistake is good. It's just the overall execution is more of a miss.

The thing is, #41 gives us an excellent in-character reason for her choices. It's just this is all balanced with Bruce being pretty awful to Cass during this period (because this is all in a lead-up to Horrocks "big" story for #50).

Horrocks run can best be summed as: starts "meh" has interesting ideas, but fails to fully execute them well. There are some standoff amazing moments in the comics (I think the Doll Man issue is quite underrated).

Though, you're right. This is the era when Dan DiDio began to rise to power within the DC Comics Company, and it shows during this particular run.

So during this "run" we had A LOT of things happen outside the comic.

#1 Batman: Hush going on, and that story is particularly infamous for neglecting Cass due to story writer Jeph Loeb's distaste cause she wasn't Barbara Gordon (artist Jim Lee, who now currently runs DC too had this idea but since 2020 has softened this stance and realizes the mistake made).

Add this with DiDio's bias toward the Bronze Age "iconic" characters (Barry, Hal, and Babs) you have this growing problem.

#2 Cass DID get to be involved in another comic. The Justice League: Elite maxi-series. Though she didn't show up in THE Batman story, Cass was showing up in two other series at this time. One, well is in my "infamous" Cass reading guide (Batman: City of Light), and JL: Elite.

The later series did a nice job with the "twist" that Cass was on the team and as an agent of Batman spying on them. It is an actually interesting and good story.

#3 This is the era the "editorial edicts" started to come in. So a rather infamous thing during DiDio's reign was editorial edicts that would force changes in comics (leading to some outrageous OOC moments). This happened TWICE in Horrocks' Batgirl run.

At a certain point, Horrocks is told via top brass that he's losing Babs as a supporting cast member and has to write her off the comic. So he has to write a Babs/Cass go their separate ways due to well you'll see.

The other is in regards to Stephanie Brown who'll be back in the comic past #50 (she left the series in #38). What Horrocks didn't know until a Bat summit around this time (where all the Batman book creatives discussed where to take the books in the coming months) is that Stephanie's days were numbered.

She was coming back (and as Robin), but they were killing off the character. Horrocks and Nightwing writer Devin Grayson HATED the idea and objected to it.

Sadly, they were outvoted and well whatever else occurred in those meetings (or after) resulted in Horrocks quitting the Batgirl series and DC Comics itself by #57 (this is why Horrocks' run on the book just ends abruptly with no real end). Horrocks is still currently just enjoying the life of writing and doing Indie comics.

Interestingly, whatever Horrocks said or did it's interesting to note his is the only run never collected fully by DC Comics. Sadly, the only Batgirl issues that were EVER put in a trade were the stuff that made him walk (Batman: War Games, the event that killed Stephanie Brown). That was until the mid-2010s when DC released a HC Batgirl Anniversary trade that also included stories of Bette Kane, Steph, and Cass as Batgirl. #45 (aka Cass wearing Babs' Batgirl costume) is in the trade collection.

Ironically, this bad management editorial would also eventually affect Kelley Puckett (who returns to DC with Supergirl Vol. 5 #23-29, 31-32) around 2008 to 2009 but then ALSO decided to leave DC and comics altogether.

Not those two, but also the writer who'd replaced Horrocks, Andersen Gabrych (who was one of the minds behind War Games). However, I honestly do love Gabrych's run on Batgirl more than Horrocks. It's just the edicts and the rushing toward the end of his run kind of sours it.

I hope all this information is helpful.

#cassandra cain #dc comics #dc gonna dc

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fairytale-poll · 8 months

Text

MOD'S CHOICE POLL

Mod's own propaganda under the cut:

Sasha as Red Riding Hood:

During submissions, I became so absolutely excited when I saw this pop up. I don't know who decided to submit it, but they unlocked some childhood memories for me. Back when I was a child, my family visited Pakistan (my parent's country of origin) for the entire summer. One day I, bored, asked for some movies to watched and my parents and uncle brought back some clearly bootlegged DVDs dubbed in Hindi/Urdu, and Bratz Kids Fairy Tales was one of them. I watched it so many times, you have no idea- I think that I might have wrecked the whole DVD with how much I watched it. (A similar thing happened later on when I obtained a clearly bootlegged copy of Bratz Fashion Pixie too but that's another, non-Red Riding Hood related story.) I wasn't surprised that it was eliminated right off the bat, but my childhood nostalgia dictated I put it here, or else I would be betraying the 7-year-old in me.

Shang, Tao, and Paotze:

Another childhood favorite of mine. This picture book has such beautiful art and I remember being very surprised by the story as a child. I found a PDF of it online to reread when the contest started and honestly it still holds up. The three sisters that are the Red Riding Hood in the story I feel are genuinely very clever. And for nothing else, look this one up solely for it's beautiful art which is just breath-taking whether you're a child or an adult!

Lamb:

Not going to lie I never played this game. My good friend who I adore submitted this to the poll and it immediately got eliminated and I just felt bad lol. But it does look cool & I trust their taste so I do think that this game is great. I want to play it but I am really bad at getting myself to play games.

Aku:

Samurai Jack is a CLASSIC and I dare you to not watch this clip and crack up. Mako was a gift of voice acting and I miss him so much. Also this episode is just pretty amusing.

Amy Lee:

My sister was actually the one to submit this and I will use her own propaganda here: "Evanescence was a voice of a generation." Honestly this song is kind of just okay, there are better Evanescence songs, but got to respect the effort they put into the music video. Who can resist to choose Amy Lee anyway?

The Path sisters:

Like many people who know this game, I know it through Izzzyzzz's two video essays on it. I didn't play the game afterwards, but I did watch some play-throughs since I don't play many games + it seemed mostly like a walking simulator anyway so I felt like I got the same effect. It is AMAZING and has so much story and analysis and I love shit like that... In particular, Scarlet, Ruby, and Rose are my favorites whose stories really resonated with me, even if I haven't exactly gone through their life experiences. Ginger too. And there's some really horrific imagery in Robin's...I would recommend everyone find a way to experience this game-- whether that's playing it, watching Izzzyzzz's videos, or finding a walk-through/analysis of it, it's worth it!

Lisette:

So this manga is sort of obscure but it is also sort of nostalgic to me. Well, nostalgic by proxy. My sister read it when I was younger and told me some details about it and for some reason it stuck with me. Like??? For no reason. It's not even that good lmao. The first chapter right off the bat is pretty edgy & handles sensitive topics very badly. But goddamn if I do not think about random elements of the story for no reason. I don't really remember shit about Lisette but hey this picture of her looks really cool.

Red:

If you notice a theme among these being "nostalgia" you would be right, as this was another nostalgic offering from my childhood that I would watch semi-annually. I was also fond of the sequel, though I thought it felt like a different series than the first one. (Which isn't unusual with animated sequels to popular movies, but the fact that the sequel was set-up by the ending of the first one implies it was planned? Weird). But anyway Red is iconic and funny and voiced by Anne Hathaway and also her sad emo song "Red is Blue" sometimes still gets stuck in my head, so take that as you will.

Chacha:

I know absolutely nothing about this series. But it looks very cute so I like it. I love cute magical girls they deserve the world. Also I looked it up and apparently the Studio who did the Akazukin Chacha anime would later do the Yu-Gi-Oh animes from the 2000s and 2010s, so there's the obligatory mention of nostalgia.

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