#i don't super love this angle but the second take looks infinitely worse so here u go | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

clay-cuttlefish · 7 months

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Into Infinite Frontier. It's bad in here.

The Next Batman: Second Son

I really don't like the direction this takes Renee, it's a nasty piece of character regression, but I like Jace and the Fox family drama enough that it's not too bad of a time.

Jace gets deadnamed constantly. He's not trans, but he's repeatedly referred to by his birth name in order to upset him and because his family won't make an effort/think he's making a big deal out of nothing, so...

It starts almost promising, like Renee's seriously considering if she's willing to put herself back into policing to prevent whoever else might become the Commissioner from doing something worse, but nope. She's just On Board With Cop Shit again.

Sure, she's ~conflicted~ about being the Commissioner, but it always feels like either a worse version of how she developed in Gotham Central or like a completely different character wearing her face.

Hadiyah my friend Hadiyah. She hasn't had much room to breathe, but I have a lot of thoughts about how she could develop, ideally once Renee gets her development back.

Batman #107-110

It's frustrating. This is meant to be a rough patch for her, Bruce tells her not to forget how to ask the right questions and she's obviously conflicted, but that never gets developed properly. She just gets More Cop about it.

It hasn't actually been that long, but two years where she's regularly showing up and it sucks feels a lot worse than two years mostly offscreen.

DC Pride 2021

I wish I lived in a world where this story had an impact on canon. A former defence attorney turned city councilwoman is exactly the kind of love interest who could anchor a longer Question story.

I Am Batman #0

Hi Hadiyah <333

Justice League #68-71

Genuinely what the hell is Vic's job in Checkmate, other than Oliver Queen nepo hire.

He talks but he's barely a character. Literally just hanging out.

I Am Batman #2

This is the moment where Renee goes from "a bad job at following up on her character development being restored" to a full on "she would not fucking say that".

Fear State

God it's just so frustrating. I don't know what else to say. It's frustrating and miserable.

"You don't know how to turn the clock back, and you're too afraid to let it tick forward." Scarecrow means this as a criticism of Renee the person, but I think it's a better criticism of the writers. She had a way forward, she had connections and places to go, but no.

I Am Batman #4-5

I Am Batman is at its best when it's doing soap opera drama. The cop shit sucks, the action scenes are solid but not super notable, I am here for the Fox family imploding while Jace rams headfirst into danger.

This is an unhinged sentence but I wish Lucius had spent more time conflicted about saving his kid? He's a massive hypocrite when it comes to Jace, so I buy that he'd be quick to pivot from going along with murder to backing Jace's efforts, but it's so quick.

I Am Batman #6-10

I like the angle that Jace is a city employee a lot. He lives in a world where Gotham nearly implodes constantly, every spy agency in the world turned evil a couple years ago and it hasn't been fixed yet, and the multiverse is real and frequently in danger, so fuck it superheroics are legal.

Look, I get what they're going for with Strike Force Bat, but the ragtag group of unpopular cops worked for Gotham Central because they were all decent people (by cop show standards).

Hadiyah's been doing the thing where she drops the word Question into every appearance so far, but it's particularly obvious here.

Honestly the thing that keeps me from being completely sold on Hadiyah (aside from how bad the handoff is) is that she's already good at Question things. She's reflective, good at investigation, aware of her relationships and how they affect her, etc, which means there's less room for her to grow and find meaning. I think there are a lot of good angles for how wearing the mask will change her, but I'm not sure the story has one yet.

#clayposts #clayreads #the question #vic sage #renee montoya #...hadiyah doesn't have a last name yet. hm.#hadiyah dc

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